Christmas Decorations

I got started decorating for the Christmas Season and all that's left are the lights.  You may notice that there is a conspicuously missing tree.  I don't know if we'll be putting one up this year...if we do it will only be a mini one.  Oh and the wreath?  I made it myself!  Being not the crafty sort of girl, it was quite the undertaking for me.  My ambition was to create a monstrous coffee filter wreath with a giant red velvet ribbon, but this style seemed more manageable for a novice like me.

I might try to find a less expensive version of this dust ruffle and some red pillows for the master bedroom to add to the mix...hopefully Ross or Marshall's has new holiday stocked shelves.  If not, I may just be content with the current set up.  Or I shall repeat that sentence as a mantra of contentedness. 

Happy Holidays!

My Crazy Cat

My cat is more hard core than me. 

She whoops my butt daily. 

She does not contribute to the household according to Numbers Man.

According to me...

She is a still a silly kitten  on the inside. 

It just takes about 100 snaps of the camera to see it.



A Yummy Dinner

I ended up making a yummy dinner off the cuff tonight with some items I wanted to use up.  In any case, it was a hit and we'll definitely make it again in the future so I figured I'd share.

Ingredients:

1 Package of 6 puff pastry shells (I use Pepperidge Farm)

1/2 eggplant - chopped into 1" pieces

1 large tomato - peeled and roughly chopped

1 zucchini - cut off ends and chop into 1" pieces

1/2 onion - diced

3 garlic cloves - minced

1/2 bell pepper - any variety you please, I prefer red, but we only had green on hand

3 pieces bacon - cut into little pieces with kitchen scissors

1 tsp basil

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup white wine

1/4 cup grated parmesean cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven per the puff pastry shells as box directions specify.

While the oven is preheating - chop up all your veggies.

Stick puff pastries in the oven and bake as specified.

Dump the remainder of ingredients except wine & cheese in a large saucepan (I use an enamel cast iron dutch oven), cook over medium high heat for 15 minutes. 

Add in the wine & cheese to the cooked down veggies and cook another 5 minutes.

Your puff pastries should be ready now.  Pull them out of the oven, remove their tops and spoon in about one heaping tablespoon of the veggie mixture into each then cover again with their tops.

I served with eggs, just because we love eggs...but it didn't really make any sense so next time I'll probably serve it with pounded, breaded chicken breasts.

ENJOY!

Slides Down by Thrills

They say that God lives very high;

But if you look above the pines

You cannot see our God; and why?

And if you dig down in the mines

You never see Him in the gold;

Though from Him all that's glory shines.

God is so good, He wears a fold

Of heaven and earth across his face -

Like secrets kept, for love, untold.

But still I feel that his embrace

Slides down by thrills, through all things made,

Through sight and sound of every place:



As if my tender mother laid

On my shut lips her kisses' pressure,

Half-waking me at night, and said

'Who kissed you through the dark, dear guesser?'

~A Child's First Thoughts of God by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Welcome to the Frozen Jungle

We've been stuck at home since Monday, surrounded by a virtual skating-rink of ice and pillows of snow.  The top picture is from before the melt and subsequent freeze which led to the ice slick, when the roads were easy to nagivate and fun to photograph.  Now it's all I can do to keep my footing and not land on my heinie.  Even darling dog slid and fell, silly boy. 

Snow and a Sign

Does this mean I'm supposed to get a Christmassy red LL Bean tote monogrammed with my name on it??? 

Probably.

Maybe.

Most definitely!

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It's been snowing by the bucketfull here in King County, Washington....and while I think we all feel the slightest bit trapped and confused, tis a beautiful sight.

I'm happy, that's right.

Walking in a winter wonderland!



My favorite lines...

"I loved him.. once.

Until the color of my skin became a problem...the politics of my skin.

I walked away from Africa with nothing. No brother, no family, no lover, nothing.

Just a belief that words and compassion are the better way.

Even if it's slower than a gun."

 

~ From one of my favorite films of all time, The Interpreter.

In the Real World...

In the real world, not all leaves fall at once.  Some are left behind.  Some are pretty and some are ugly.    Some are so red they stand out against the white sky and the dark tree limbs like stop lights. 

Pause.

Think a while...

About the spaces between.

It has been windy...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The doors are twisted on broken hinges.

Sheets of rain swish through on the wind

where the golden girls ran and the panels read:

We are the greatest city,

the greatest nation,

nothing like us ever was.

~from "Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind" by Carl Sandburg

Summit of the Mothership

This picture is actually from earlier this year (March-ish I think), when we last went up to Mt. Rainier. Sometimes it is like another world up there. Other times not so alien a place.

I like the word "Summit"...it's a warm, full word with a definition that is fitting with the way the word feels in my mouth when I say it.

–noun

1. the highest point or part, as of a hill, a line of travel, or any object; top; apex.

2. the highest point of attainment or aspiration: the summit of one's ambition.

3. the highest state or degree.

4. the highest level of diplomatic or other governmental officials: a meeting at the summit.

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You're the top!

You're the Coliseum.

You're the top!

You're the Louvre Museum.

Only Stalks, Bare

Genesis 2: 25

"And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed."

Sky Water & the Sticks of Tomorrow

Most of the trees have dropped their leaves.

They stand as sticks, silvery white against the pool of sky water

In this northwest corner of the United States.

Papery orange is giving way and literally creating pathways

Into winter's winding winds while

I endure the shimmers of light that play tricks

With my drive time routine

And I pretend they're snowflakes.

Less of Me

John 3: 30-31

"He must increase, but I must decrease.  He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all. "

My Most Recent Love Affair...

...Is with this perfume.  I got a sample and am head over heels...it really does smell like clean, ironed linen!

The notes:

Infusion d'Iris Eau de Toilette introduces a new chapter in the sensory history of iris. Inspired by the search for the scent of the iris flower, the fresh and floral Infusion d'Iris Eau de Toilette combines delicate lily of the valley, powdery violet, sensual cedar and the Italian memories of clean, ironed linen. A fresh, woody, floral fragrance.

Fresh accord: neroli and galbanum essence. Floral accord: violet, lily of the valley, heliotrope. Woody accord: iris pallida from Florence, cedarwood.

Not to mention, the bottle is so modern, soft, and pretty, it will be lovely on display on the bathroom counter.

Fog Filtered Light

The mid summer sun shines but dim the fields try in vain to look gay

But when I was happy with him December was pleasant as May

There once was a time he and I picked flowers to braid in my hair

And the songbirds would sing sweet song of love that was tender and fair

No difference the seasons may quit our love was as warm as the sun

And it mattered not where did the snow

Or green grass kissed the fields where we'd run

~from "Pleasant as May" by Dolly Parton

Bonnie Dee Peacock

Meantime!  Here traipsed into town a little thing from away off down the country.  Near Polk: you wouldn't have ever heard of Polk - I hadn't.  Bonnie Dee Peacock.  A little thing with yellow, fluffy hair. 

The Peacocks are the kind of people keep the mirror outside on the front porch, and go out and pick railroad lilies to bring inside the house and wave at trains till the day they die.  The most they probably hoped for was that somebody'd come find oil in the front yard and fly in the house and tell them about it.  Bonnie Dee was one of nine or ten, and no bigger than a minute.  A good gust of wind might have carried her off any day.

From The Ponder Heart by Eudora Welty

Doubled then Halved

~*~*~*~*~*~

I forget "e" where some neglected "w"...

Depending upon the direction of your spirit

You can devise a gross remark or

A unit of togetherness.