January

It's like the trees are waving to the clouds...

And the fences have fur...

Cows at the "cow-feteria"...

 Some days, this is the most color we see here!

PURE HAPPINESS!  There's nothing like taking a Brittany pup for a tromp.  Really.  

(Used the "sports/action" setting on the camera to catch this shot.)

Layers of ice over the grass...

The edge you see here has a layer of air underneath it.  The ice is rather like layers of flaky pastry in a croissant, if you can imagine.  Each layer is distinct and separate which is interesting to look at, but cuts the cows' feet a little after a while.  When they come in to feed, you can tell they're tender and very careful about where they choose to walk.

At the end of the day, it's good to have a pal to hang out with!

Adventures in Sourdough

I know.
Some people have adventures in Abu Dhabi or Greece.  I have adventures in sourdough.  It's cheaper and more accessible, but I'm finding it takes approximately the same time frame as those other adventures.

In order to have a sourdough loaf by Friday, I have to start last Sunday.
Seriously!

Here's the wording off the envelope of starter:
*ahem*

Place water, flour and culture in the bowl; mix until smooth, then cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 24 hours in warm draft free place.

Okay...good enough....I expected the starter to take a while.

NOW...to make the bread:
Take a portion of the "mother sponge" and put it in a bowl.  Feed it (add 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup flour) and let it rest for 6-8 hours at room temperature.

After the baby sponge is all happy and restored, add the remaining ingredients to it, mix until smooth, then let it rest for 6-8 hours. (We're about 42 hours into the recipe and all I've got is some well-fed, well-rested baby sourdough.)

On floured surface, shape the loaf and place it in a greased pan, cover with plastic wrap AGAIN and....wait for it....let it rest for 4-6 hours until doubled in size.  (I would HOPE it would grow...I mean, my goodness!...48 hours of this pampering!)

Finally I get to bake the loaf in a hot oven that has carefully been prepared with steam so its little crust will be just so...for about 40 minutes.

That's right, folks.
FIFTY HOURS from start to finish!

But wait.
There's more.

The directions also say:
(I'm not making this up.)
Think of the Mother Sponge as sort of a pet; you want to feed it (recommended twice a day) and let it acclimate to its environment.
The Mother Sponge will become more sour when held at room temperature and fed often.

The tricky thing about this sour Mother Sponge is that she really stinks.  REALLY stinks.  Last night, when I was caring for Her Royal Spongie-ness, making sure she was fed and acclimated, Angus said "Mom!  I think the cat pooped in the house!"
Um...
Actually, no...but you pegged the odor, kid.

The one loaf I managed to produce was pretty good.  Not 50 hours and twice daily feedings to the Mother Sponge good, but pretty good.  I'm not sure what to do, now, though.  Should I give baby sponges away to my friends, as one would with kittens?  Or would it be more appropriate to give them to people I DON'T like? (As one would with kittens?)  Bake it all up and never go there again?  Bury it?

Who needs to go abroad, when such thrills can be had in one's own kitchen?

Christmas

The people walking in darkness    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness    a light has dawned.3 You have enlarged the nation    and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you    as people rejoice at the harvest
Isaiah 9:2-3a

We have also seen a movie or two during Christmas vacation.

You'll sort of wish you hadn't seen this picture of a "manly elf".

(According to Angus, elves ALL wear their pants pulled up to their armpits. 

Really.)

Maggie makes them sit on her lap and "be friends".

She's CONSTANTLY telling Tessie, "Cats are friends, not food..."

It's very baffling.

First, we can't touch the presents or tear off the bows.

Then, for no apparent reason, EVERYONE is touching presents, tearing off paper and bows!

Now...

Not allowed to touch the presents, again.

*deep puppy sigh*

Evening sky...

Eerie morning sky, with the rained upon snow...

Soon, we'll go sledding!

Isn't it odd and lovely?

As though the prairie has turned to glass!

I got very homesick for the ocean this morning...

This truly is how my kids have looked for most of Christmas vacation!

Of course, we're only on Day Five, and the Santa Threat has been removed...

She has had enough of frolicking in the snow!  Can't we all just go back to the house and take a nap???

The day after Christmas, I always feel like the tree looks...

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  I chose not to take pictures of Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, simply because sometimes I end up missing the moment in trying to capture it; this year, I was part of it.  It was very good.

(Apologies for the mess on the blog.  PLEASE don't "share" any of my posts on social media!  I can't get that crummy function off of the template, but didn't want to wait any longer to write a post.)

All is merry and bright!

Naughty AND nice...

It's sort of a moment to moment thing.

Same story here...

I only got a couple pictures of decorating the tree...it got kind of wild!  Kids and puppy were all excited and couldn't stop wiggling.

Maggie pointed out to me that our tree had a San Francisco 49ers color theme going on.

I don't know what she's talking about....

Snowed in...

Alice is STILL a bookish sort of cat!  She's also well loved by Tessie Lou.

That's our home this evening.  I hope things are happy in yours, too!

Family Fashions

It all started with Aunt Bert showing me funky little mismatched outfits and patterns for baby Hattie (her granddaughter).  The more we looked at them, the more we realized these fun, free-spirited fashions were right up Maggie's alley!  Grammy Karen Dutton has been sewing Maggie skirts for several years now and she wears the dickens out of them; one is almost transparent and still she loves it.  We're all about unique, one-of-a-kind couture, especially if it's made by someone we love and admire.

So, Aunt Bert decided she'd work with Maggie on a design for an outfit.

They started with a basket of fabric and loads of enthusiasm....

Maybe these two pieces would look good side by side.  (You can see Maggie just got home from school because she's sort of frazzled.  You can ALSO see that her fashion choice that day was a little Bohemian, anyway!)

Here's the preliminary drawing, with the tiny little swatches attached.  This would change in about 10 minutes...

Ooooooo! I know it's supposed to be mismatched chic, but this is actually coming together sweetly!

Considering the options....

They worked really hard at making every piece of fabric work in the design.  One of the funny things was that Maggie was big into the symbolism of the fabrics.  "This one is an animal print, because I love wildlife."  and "I think a summer fairy would be better in this fabric, don't you?"

Each swatch was numbered and each number assigned a layer in the design.

Taaaaa-daaaaa!  

Here's the final design, all sewn up with love by Aunt Bert, modeled by her co-designer Maggie!

It's absolutely perfect for this little girl!

(And she feels beautiful when she's wearing it.)

Last night, we played "Fashion Show" and this is Maggie's pose.  She is so proud of the design and the process!

See the skirt?  There was fabric left over from part of the outfit, so Grammy Karen sewed a little skirt to go with it!  It's PERFECT with the top and adds another option for summer...

A more sedate picture of the same ensemble...

But wait...there's MORE.
We found this fabric in Billings at the end of our family vacation this year and Grammy Karen sewed it into a wonderful twirly skirt that matches the tie-dye.  You can't imagine how fun it is!

Happy girl with new duds and ideas for more...except this time I'm going to work with her on sewing her own.

Thank you, Aunt Bert and Grammy Karen!

(She's wearing the designer duds today to the Art Center to show her friend and artist Jordan.)

What's YOUR super power?

I was at a birthday party a few weeks ago where the mom had done a spectacular job (as usual) decorating her daughter's birthday cake and pulling together a really fun time for the kids.  One of the other moms complimented her and then asked me what my "Mom Super Power" was.  She had noticed that each mom in the community seemed to have a special talent for something....cake decorating, organizing occasions, games, making people feel comfortable and at ease at functions.  And she wondered what I thought my super power was.

Well.
Um...

I really didn't know what to say!
I make a decent pizza from scratch?

It took awhile, but I finally figured it out.
I can play.

When our little school took our field trip to Helena, I was Coral, Queen of the Mermaids every time we went to the pool. If you've never been mermaid royalty, let me tell you...it's one of the best gigs going!  All the splashing and diving and boiling of little shrimp in the hot tub; that's good stuff.

And at school, I'm Queen Seabring of the Fairies.  I'm a summer fairy, which stinks this time of year, but all the little wizards and fairies help me through the cold, dark months until once again, we shine.

I've been a monster, a wolf, a troll, a patient for the nursiest nurse around, a mail woman...whatever is needed in the game at the time!

The ability to completely suspend any sort of dignity and just BE someone or something else is a super power, I think.  My kids' birthday cakes leave something to be desired and I'm always running late on the decorating for holidays, but we have a wonderful time in our own little world(s)!

What's YOUR super power?

It's my opinion...

There's this thing going around Facebook right now where people are sharing "little known" facts about themselves according to the number that a friend gave them.  At first it started with itty-bitty numbers, but now it's outrageous...one person came up with 24 "little known facts" about herself and wanted to share more...more....MORE!  There's almost a desperation to reveal all these little things about themselves to the world, to appear interesting and likable.  And the Facebook peoples are eating it up!  More! MORE!

I was thinking about this when I ran this morning...

Couple things, here...

I know people love to tell about themselves.  And I love to hear their stories!  But it feels rather cheap to me to put it on the billboard of social media.  Not only that, but then it's triple-double shared via Google +, Twitter, and other formats I'm completely ignorant of.  (And gratefully so...)  Is it that important that absolutely everyone you've ever come in contact with knows you're scared of spiders? (Little known fact #1 on most lists that I've seen.)

Perhaps it's silly, but I like a little mystery in relationships.  I like discovering things in people without them telling me everything up front.  It's fun when something comes up and there's a sort of mutual confession...
"Honestly, I'd rather have onion rings than dessert any day..."
"You WOULD?!? I love onion rings, but only if they're done right!"
And so forth.
Sometimes those are the places I figure out little known facts about myself, too.

I don't want to make anyone feel badly about revealing their stuff on Facebook, about playing the game with everyone else.  I guess I'm just thinking out loud on my blog, explaining why I won't be joining in.  After all, Crazy Mary posts give you w-a-y more information than you need all the time! (I don't know why my blog feels more private, like a mutual journal, but it does...)

Goodnight, Moon...

When I was young, the night really scared me.  I liked seeing what was coming, liked the surety of life in the light...it's a hay bale, darn it! not a big hairy, scary thing waiting to pounce on and devour me. (You know..those things exist in every child's mind, don't they?) My family didn't go camping and we sure didn't light fireworks very often, especially in July when it was hot and dry and likely to start fires, so we didn't spend much time outside in the night. I read a lot; anyone who reads Nancy Drew knows that the bad stuff goes down in the dark. Wicked people lurked in the night! And wolves!

*shivers!*

After I had kids, I stopped sleeping.  Not stop-stopped, but there was no more of the secure, deep sleeps I had known when I was younger (and more naive, maybe).If something woke me up in the night, I was A-WAKE.  There was no going back to peaceful slumber...my brain was going and I had to be up, because goodness knows one cannot just lay in bed with a busy brain and a still body.  

And I'm still that way.  

BUT...

I found out that I love the night.

I love BEING in the night. 

There's such a peace I've found being out with the stars, with the moon in all her stages.  

It's going to sound really strange, but I love going for walks with friends in the dark because when we talk, there's nothing to distract from the thoughts that are shared.  It's somehow safer to share things...it feels private and insulated.  

It's easier to share things with God at night, too. 

I've given up trying to put myself back to sleep.  I've been given all sorts of advice on brain tricks; how to bore yourself into rest...apparently, my brain is too weirdly wired to be able to hypnotize itself like other people's can.  I usually end up getting up and letting the dog(s) out, wandering around out in the yard if it's a nice night saying goodnight to the moon and trying to breathe in the starlight.  Then, I go back in and read whatever strikes me and sometimes pray a little, wandering back to bed around 3:30 if the book is boring or making coffee at 4:30 if the book was thrilling. 

Last night, I stood out in the gorgeous dark with the big, sweet old moon and twirled slowly, thinking about how many people before me had seen those same stars in the same patterns, thinking of people I love and those who need love....

Then, Tessie bumped around my legs, telling me it was time to go back in...all the cats were accounted for...

Goodnight, Moon.  

We go for a big walk...

Before you see the photos from the walk, you MUST watch this little clip from Looney Tunes.  Then and only then will you have an idea of what Twilla and Tessie are like when they're together...

Chester and Spike

"Let's go find a bird, Twill! You wanna find a bird, Twill? We could find a bird, Twill!"

(This is moments after the "Aaaaahhhh, shuddup..."  You'll notice the contrite ears on Tessie...)

Somehow, she got behind and is hurrying as fast as her little legs can carry her to hassle Spike again.  I mean, Twilla.

"Want to run in the grass, Twill? We could run in the grass, Twill! You'd like to run in the grass, Twill!"

Finally...worn down by all that exuberance....they go for a run in the grass, to Tessie's absolute complete delight! I love the ears.

Occasionally, she pulls a really elegant, poised look, an a-l-m-o-s-t point...
Isn't she pretty?!

A-a-a-a-a-n-d then we break to this.
In fact, almost 1 out of 10 pictures of Tessie has this "action shot" sort of feel.

This is a rare, special moment where no one is getting chewed on, scratched, barked/meowed at, etc.  It won't last long.  You can see it in her eyes.

Finally, when she can take it no more, she collapses into a snoring puppy pile in Maggie's lap!

That's the puppy report for this week!

Book Report!

Okay, so it's not REALLY a book report, because I'm still reading it and no one assigned it.  (Although, if someone had told me 20 years ago that I'd be reading this sort of book voluntarily, I'd have laughed!)

Our book club is doing cookbooks this year as a genre.
I KNOW....how odd is that?
We've been in the book club business for 14 years, now, if you can imagine, and some years are trickier than others.  We nearly folded this year because there was rumbling about how no one had time to finish the book before the next month, no one had time to meet once a month, etc.  But because everyone in our group loves to eat and are wonderful cooks, we decided to do cookbooks so there's no plot to follow and they're useful long after the meeting.

I was looking for something interesting, even though my turn isn't until February, and stumbled across....

It's not a cookbook, but it has a couple recipes in the back.  It's basically just about how Thomas Jefferson went to France after the American Revolution and before the French Revolution to drum up money for the new United States (since France was a key ally in helping us gain our independence from Britain), and dug around through the French culture to see what was useful to bring back to America.  

The book talks about the culture of the colonies at the time (austere and proud of it), the culture of France at the time (excessive and not ashamed of it), slavery (illegal in France), cuisine (see descriptions of the cultures), fashion (see descriptions of the cultures), personalities of the Founding Fathers (Ben Franklin was fond of kissing everyone in France, John Adams not so much) and so forth.  I can only read a little at a time because I don't HAVE time to sit down and read right through.  It's a little dry...no John Grisham here, folks...but since I just finished a novel about Marie Antoinette, it ties together rather nicely and I'm already there in my head, setting-wise.

(Every time I read it, I think of my friend Sara Hagedorn Calvert...)

Now then...

Any ideas for cookbooks?  Leave them in the comments!  So far, we've done a self-published Montana Silversmiths cookbook, Gooseberry Patch, and a Southern Living "Off the Eaten Path".  I was thinking of maybe doing a cocktail party in February, a la Breakfast at Tiffany's, which would mean canapes and cock/mocktails...what do you think?