Daughter #1 tagged me in a post over the weekend. It seems she was going through items that had been in a storage shed for 15 years and came across a tin of hand made Christmas ornaments she and I made together when she was little. They were salt dough gingerbread men and I’m amazed they lasted this long. Three of them were broken beyond repair and disintegrating, but she laid them out on a paper towel and took pictures of them so I could remember with her.

Pardon the mess…we are still a work in progress here!

Well, we’re making progress here. My back pain was much improved after seeing the chiropractor on Friday and sitting on ice packs several times Friday and Saturday. Thank, God! It was becoming alarming…I don’t have time for this, you know. All that sitting gave me an opportunity to knit. Last year, I bought tons of that cotton yarn you knit dishcloths out of and I’m just about finished with it. I love tucking a little homemade something into a card or under the ribbon of a larger gift. Homemade spells love in my book. I’ll have a whole basket full of dishcloths and that ought to last me for quite some time and I can move on to other things.

*che-wink*   *che-wink*   *che-wink*

I opened my eyes and listened to the cheery *che-wink* of an Eastern Towhee rummaging around in the leaves and lower branches of the flowering quince on the creek bank outside the open window. Yes…it was cold. But I had a pile of blankets on me and slept like a stone in the chilly air coming down the holler. I stretched and opened my eyes, rolling over and squinting without my glasses, trying to catch a glimpse of the beautiful bird with the black jacket and russet vest. I saw a flash of the showy “V” of black and white on his tail feathers as he fluttered off to another resting place.

The last time I came out to the farm, I expected to stay two nights but I had a dinner engagement wrong in my mind and had to cut it short. Then, there was all the hullabaloo surrounding Thanksgiving. Then I hurt my back and haven’t done much of anything since Saturday night. I do not like to take pain medication, but I did give in for the first couple of days. Then, just like clockwork, I stopped and my mood took a nosedive. It always does and that’s why I don’t like to take that stuff in the first place. So, if I was going to be blue, I knew where I needed to go. 

My Great Great Grandmother…Nellie May

I talked to my grandma about just about everything. We had a very close relationship. I was the first granddaughter. We held a special bond. I just figured out the other day my grandma was only forty-seven years old when I was born, yet she always seemed “old” to me. Which is ridiculous because the woman could work circles around most men. She never shied away from a hard day’s work. She told me stories of her childhood. How she shinnied up the silo and bellered at the old bull. How she spent the majority of her childhood at her paternal grandparent’s house. How she only went through 8th grade in school so it was important to her that we all were well educated.

Photo Credit: @QuoteILoveU via Twitter

There are countless ways to live in this world. I used to operate without a safety net. I never read the instruction manual. I flew by the seat of my pants and wondered why things never changed for me. Every day, day in and day out, I made what felt like really bad decisions. It turns out…there are no mistakes. Only lessons. And God is a funny guy…He’ll keep bringing you serving after serving of the same stuff till you learn the lesson you’re being presented with.

Blue Jay out the bedroom window

I tried to call my brother on Thanksgiving and couldn’t reach him. He’s in a new place and the number they gave me that’s supposed to ring into his apartment rings into more than one so whoever gets to it first answers. If it’s a client, they politely tell me his lives next door and hang up. Which is fine, but he hasn’t answered his cell phone either. I sent a note to his staff person and she called me on Friday afternoon to say my brother had lost his cell phone. And, she had just found out the phone doesn’t ring into his apartment only so she’s going to rectify both things next week. She let me video chat with him and that did us both a world of good. But, until I could see and talk to him…I was in a funk.

My Bialetti Moka Express, made in Italy

We were going to put up the tree yesterday, but the sweet Mr. FixIt was so sore from doing the Turkey Trot with the kids on Sunday, we decided to just have a lay low day. I fed the sourdough starter. Emptied the dishwasher and and made my morning coffee. Lately, I’ve been using a Moka Pot for some excellent lattes. This is the way to make espresso without investing big bucks in a machine. 

I just had to show you this AMAZING sourdough starter. I bought a one ounce jar of starter from King Arthur Baking Company and was thrilled to see it arrived fresh. And look…after only two days of feeding, this thing has taken on a life of its own. It is aromatic and rich and so active…I’m just thrilled! I can’t wait to get in the kitchen and started baking sourdough again.

I need this in my life!

I took a look at my new starter yesterday morning and it was ever so slightly fluffy. Not a lot of bubbles, but not dead looking either. So, perhaps the bleach in the bleached flour didn’t kill my yeasties after all! I Googled it and couldn’t get a definitive answer either way. I sent a question to King Arthur Baking Company and got the following response: