Gettin' By the Best I Can
I adore making things as many of you already know. Today as the mighty Christmas holiday is so near, I thought I’d show some of what I have accumulated to cook with. Why not?
You think this is a bunch, you should see the big ol’ pantry! And the 20-pound capacity flour bins with white, whole wheat and cake flours!
I went nuts over porch chimes for a few years, so even though that ended a while back I yet have plenty. Some don’t really chatter, they glitter or twirl. Here they are!
Here’s to the grand holiday season starting today, all the family get-togethers and sharing.
My ever most favorite power tool of my beloved scroll saw, a really nice one from Germany that I got decades ago. The cabin was new and the place needed a place to hang your coat:
The experiment worked out, so next I tried making a…
Then I wanted something more fantastic, something for fun. Imagine this fella in the sky! I have it hung high up on the wall in the art room.
Then I got me a wood burner pen, oh boy!
I did lots with that dear scroll saw and the pen with its neat attachments. What fun! I set it all aside when life interrupted. Now, so many years later, I have some interesting ideas for that set-up…. let’s dust it off and see if it still works, eh?
No, not Yogi Bear (though I do really like that ol’ dude!), it’s what I call yogurt. I’m down to my last cup of yogi today so…
It’s time to make more! I need to use a spoonful of the last cup to make the new batch, sort of like sourdough bread only made with milk!
The fermenter is just a mild heater. Once the heated milk has simmered at 185 degrees until done, cool it to 115 degrees F and mix the spoonful in well. Fill the clean cups. Put the little lids on! Leave the covered fermenter on all night and in the morning, we have eight more cups of YOGI to enjoy! Yum!
I made some peachy preserves and put a glob of that into each cup of yogi I get out, but more on the peaches, blueberries, grapes, strawberries, cherries, raspberries and the multitude of apples later!
When I was a kid, my home sat across from a slate field with poplar trees and honeysuckle vines. To either side were wildflowers and all sorts of trees, but the honeysuckle vines always caught my attention.
One huge bonus in woodland life is the abundance of wildflowers in the spring, and they vary until late fall. Enjoy the pictures!
BTW, the whole saying the title came from is:
Spring has sprung
the grass has riz
I wonder where
the flowers iz?
There are a few natural things around my country cabin that I consider truly precious. This is a shot last night right behind the back porch. I’m not sure where the bluish cloudy places on the hillside came from, oddities do occur here.
This is why I went out and tried to take that picture:
Striving to help the light and dump the dark
Trying to keep busy sewing dresses, skirts, jackets
or painting on canvas
Weeding the garden
Making bread, yogurt, cookies
Writing…
Job ripped from me, no friends, no pay, alone
Reason for eating regularly?
Reason to keep my heart beating?
Reason to imagine soaring sheep?
Sheep bleating in the clouds – yes, I could pull another crazed story from my brain. Forget it.
Today? Cozy in my homemade jammies and housecoat, what about today? Get dressed!
Too much sewn , I don’t need more bread or yogurt, nowhere too hang anymore paintings, all outside is dormant. Another story or book? Nobody reads them, so why?
In the early morning sun’s shadows, I walk to the end of the long gravel driveway and see the wild yellow narcissus plants budded out. I look closer. Many new ones, the established ones have big, tinted buds, and there! There are a few in bloom! Spring’s grand harbinger! Possible hope? Barky nudges my knee for a pat and wags her tail.
Here are a few views of my Christmas decorations. Have a wonderful holiday!
How Would You Do It? 