Happy New Year

Hi friends and family!

We were to have our biennial New Year’s celebration with our Virginia friends, but alas, they came down with the norovirus. Instead, we were able to celebrate with local friends with a fantastic fondue party. Perhaps the best part was that they turned their clock ahead to Rio de Janeiro time, so that at 9:00 we could taste our champagne and call it a night.

Nah, the best part was the cheese. B and A made the cheese with a recipe from some family-friendly site, so it was made with apple cider instead of beer or wine. The cheeses were brie and mozzarella, flavored with a bit of mustard, salt, and pepper. Fantastic. Extremely yummy. I don’t even usually like the cheese course. Also? They lightly steamed the broccoli. So it actually tasted good with the cheese. (Apparently, the mushrooms also benefited from their light sauté.) And good bread and the thinnest apple slices. Mmmmmm. L and J’s pastured beef and chicken and broth was fantastic as well, and I dare say our chocolate was pretty fantastic too, with brownies, pretzel rods, bananas, and cinnamon graham crackers plus L and J’s Rice Krispies treats.

We sure are bummed to have missed our VA friends, though. Littlest one is nearly two years old and we were especially looking forward to meeting her.

So, anyway, I haven’t done much reflection on the year as a whole, but I think I’m going to do a few things somewhat resolution-like.

1) Back to the desserts-in-moderation guideline: no more than two sweets in a week, and some weeks can have none or one. This way I can thoroughly enjoy whatever the sweet is, and also have a clear guide to help against overindulgence.

2) I am finally leaving disgusting GoDaddy. I am either going to transfer my domain registration to Canvas Dreams or to Gandi.net, whose prices are comparable but who have better ethics. Canvas Dreams is even committed to sustainability.

3) I signed up for a daily photography challenge at Mamatography, which should be fun.

Nothing else comes to mind right now, but I may come back and add something later.

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Protected: Thanksgiving photos, and some others

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Thanks

Dear Jesus,

Thank you that I am alive, with plenty of clothes, a strong safe house, food to eat, a secure job for my husband.

Thank you that I have a husband who loves me as best he can, and a daughter whose burning fire is a delight and a crucible for my sanctification. Thank you for extended family, including grandparents who love Amy and let us get away from her sometimes.

Thank you that I have some friends who understand, who respect, who empathize, who take interest, who pay attention, who listen, who are interesting, kind, and available.

Thank you that my drive to create finds some satisfaction in music, scrapbooking, sewing, knitting, gardening, cooking, blogging, and other pursuits.

Thank you that the earth still turns and the sun still shines and the rain still comes and goes, and that there is a growing number of people who are working to find and promote more sustainable ways of living.

Thank you that you are mine, and I am yours, despite many things.

Thank you that I am who I am, and that it’s okay.

2010 “Though the fig tree does not bud…“
2009 Thanksgiving prayer poem
2008 How I spent my Thanksgiving vacation
2007 Home again
2006 Thanksgiving, deep in PPD, days after Amy comes home

And, to all the black holes out there today, who feel the howling yowling wasteland, my heart goes out to you today, and I hope that your list of things you’re thankful for doesn’t feel paltry, a mockery, and a slap in the face. May you hold the gratitude for real, and the grief and rage and terror for real, and may peace find you.

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My mothers’ day gift

“It’s me, dressed up like Tiana; that’s my crown, and those are dream clouds, and stickers.”

Sticky buns, clafoutis, and more

Busy weekend!

Friday Amy and I went to a Good Friday service at a local church; I like Good Friday, because it is quiet, somber, unhindered by food and social extras (that, while fine and pleasant in themselves, are not intrinsic to the meaning of the holiday), and of course reminds me of the center, ground, foundation, of my faith. We were a half hour late, but that was okay.

Saturday was gloriously not wet. We cleaned the house somewhat, I washed winter outerwear (but Amy’s coat still is dirty on the white parts), I made a gate for my garden, and stayed up rather too late preparing overnight sticky buns for the church Easter breakfast today. They were fantastic, though. I used this recipe, except I added more finely chopped pecans to the filling. The topping was not as thick as my mom’s, but I didn’t mind that difference. The pecans still got that glorious taste.

Today was also gloriously not wet. We invited a family for Easter dinner; they brought the ham and we made the sides. Roasted asparagus, scalloped potatoes, and an almond-blueberry-peach clafoutis. Yum. Just above the two specific recipes on this page, there’s a paragraph of general notes that I used for my version. The fruit to batter ratio was rather too high, but delicious anyway. The blueberries and peaches were from last summer’s picking excursions. I froze many of the peaches whole — the skins did NOT slip right off with a rinse under cold water, but that’s likely because the peaches weren’t quite ripe when I picked them. They tasted great anyway. I didn’t thaw the fruit, either.

April 21

Today I have trusted Jesus for twenty-three years.

I am confident, and I see, that God was moving in my life years before that, and Scripture tells me his eye saw me long before I was born. Following him has not been without trouble, without doubt, without change — but that’s not unexpected. The world is still broken, and under the curse; we’re in the now but not yet, as Jesus’ work, though complete, is not yet brought to fullness.

On this day, which also commemorates the final meal Jesus ate with his disciples — when he washed their feet as the lowliest servant would do, when he explained his coming sacrifice with symbols of bread and wine broken and given to them — I continue to look to him with hope and trust, for today, for tomorrow, and for the glory to come.

In a basket sits my chocolate bunny (dark, of course), Mark’s peanut butter egg, and a set of five mini bunnies for Amy. In the fridge are six uncracked hardboiled eggs waiting for a little girl to color them. Three more that are cracked wait for me to decide how or if to color them. At church there’ll be a breakfast as well as the worship service; I’m either making Easter bread or pecan sticky buns or both.

Things are greening outside, despite the cold and wet; it IS spring.

All these things are pleasant, because all of life, including fun, is in him.

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Felted stockings

Before felting. Knit with Cascade 220 wool from a pattern I found on Ravelry. (Non-Ravellers can see it here.)

And after felting! You can still tell that I knit the cuff in ribbing, but they’re nice and fuzzy soft and a more manageable size. I don’t know if they would have continued to felt and get smaller and thicker, but I’m happy with them the way they are.

I am going to try needle-felting the names on, and maybe a snowflake on each leg. What do you think — Daddy, or Dad? Now she calls him Daddy, but will that be embarrassing when she’s older?