take a walk

After the busy-ness of Thanksgiving Day, when the meal is done and the dishes are in the dishwasher, there's nothing like taking a walk outdoors to process and decompress from the commotion of the holiday. The escape from the noisiness of the house to the quiet outdoors, breathing in the fresh, crisp air, putting one foot in front of the other at your own pace, thinking about just how wonderful it is to have the whole family together, brings about a calmness, a sense of peace after barreling through the day. This walk is the blessing that pulls all the moments together to fill a very happy heart.

 

the friday feed: spices

When having a house full of people, resorting to sheet pan meals is such a time saver. It's a technique that allows you to cook an entire meal on a single baking sheet. It's so efficient. All ingredients cook together in the oven at the same time, minimizing the need to monitor multiple dishes. Clean-up is easy. Only one pan needs to be washed after cooking, unlike using multiple pots and pans for different components of a meal. Sheet pan meals save time spent in the kitchen, which means more time for visiting and playing with the grandkids.

Last week the New York Times published a recipe for a Sheet Pan Chicken Tikka with Vegetables. I don't do much Indian cooking but this sounded really good, I knew most of my family would like it, and I wanted to try something new. Such a blend of spices, none of which were in my spice cabinet. How I wish stores would sell spices in smaller quantities. I would gladly pay more for a smaller amount.  But they don't so now these four spices are part of the seasoning repertoire. I know I will use the turmeric, ancho chili powder, and cumin seeds. The garam masala has a distinctive taste, one that Todd doesn't care for, so I will look for a new spice cabinet for that jar to get some appreciation and good use.

an attitude of gratitude

Tonight we give thanks for the great gift of friendship. Thank you for the circumstances that brought us together and have bound us into the sacred bundle of life. Thank you also for the gifts of our friendship: for knowledge that comforts, for words that encourage, for insight that blesses, for all the experiences shared, for the sweet bliss of deeply knowing each other ins os many ways; for history and a hope of the future, for conversation and laughter, for silence, for bearing each other's witness truly, for holding each other safe in our hearts with great love and tenderness.

~ Daphne Rose Kingma

 Gratitude art by Patricia Saxton

wednesday's words and wanderings and wonderings

"Let us in!" 

Ah, Days of Thanksgiving past. What a memory.

Last week we were in Cleveland for a couple days and drove home on Todd's birthday.  A stop at Sheetz to fill up the car and a purchase of coffee and Little Debbie Donuts took care of the on-the-road birthday breakfast. He LOVES those little powdered nuggets. One year I bought a powdered donut Christmas ornament for him, but it was Hostess, not Little Debbie, powdered donuts. Big difference.

I waited too long to place the Thanksgiving pie order and got shut out of apple pie. Pumpkin and cherry were still available. My daughter and I took a drive to a farm market in Yellow Springs to get apples and the market just happens to be right across the road from the well-known sunflower field. Even with the decay, there is a loveliness in the sunflowers' last days.

And this is what the holiday is about...all of us together. A driveway full of cars, a house full of the ones I love the most - a full and happy heart.

take care of yourself

My son-in-law and I had a conversation about modern medicine vs. holistic health. Was one better than the other? Holistic health sets itself apart from conventional medicine because it focuses primarily on restoring balance and treating the whole body, rather than isolating the symptoms and diagnosing a specific condition. We both agreed that both practices complement one another and can coexist. Holistic health empowers people to take charge of their health and keep their bodies naturally strong while modern medicine takes care of the infections and viruses that the body can't fight off. Many medical providers are beginning to see the value of traditional techniques and holistic practices and are working to incorporate them into their treatment services.

monday's mulling: smiling and writing lots of lists

It's the Monday before Thanksgiving. The kids - all eight of them (my 4 + 2 sons-in-law + 1 daughter-in-law + 1 fiancée), two little grandsons, and one dog - will fill the house. One of the Chicago crew is already here, the other Chicago bunch and the Cleveland bunch will arrive on Tuesday, and my Dayton son and his fiancee are just around the corner. Fresh sheets are on the beds, bathrooms are spotless, cribs are ready for the little ones, the refrigerator is at that delicate balance where there's food ready to eat but room to spare for the Thanksgiving fixings.

I like to write my lists by hand - planning the menu, then writing my grocery list with each dish and its ingredients listed. Then comes the official list that goes with me to the grocery store. In this you-can-do-everything-on-your-phone age, I'm an anachronism as I carry my list and scratch through the items as they're place in my cart. 

Christmas is one month from today...yikes! With Thanksgiving being so late, the transition to Christmas is a quick one. The kids will be back in three weeks to celebrate the family Christmas. The list writing for Christmas has begun: decorating, gifts, menus, lots and lots of to-dos. Seeing all of this "stuff" on paper is overwhelming but at the same time therapeutic. This is a road map to my goals and boy, oh boy, the miles are piling up quickly!  

first snowfall

Thursday, the 21st of November, two months into autumn, we woke to the first snowfall of the season. Around 7:30 a.m., I looked out my door. The air was crisp, the birds were silent, the neighborhood was cloaked in a peaceful hush. The children arrived at the school bus stop and the layer of snow muffled their excited little voices. I always love when it snows early enough to still catch some autumn colors on the leaves.It’s the clash of the seasons where autumn says, “I’m not done yet,” and winter replies, “I’m on my way.”

          "Kindness is like snow. It beautifies everything it covers." ~ Kahlil Gibran

happy birthday!

Happy Birthday to this loyal Cleveland Browns fan, a DAWG who bleeds brown and orange. He’s been through it all, starting as a 7 year old kid watching the 1964 Championship onto The Kardiac Kids, The Mistake on the Lake, The Drive, The Fumble, The Move, Rebuilding Since 1999, Factory of Sadness, The Helmet, and like the Energizer Bunny, he keeps on going! No matter what the Browns do, one thing never changes: Pittsburgh stinks. And for this past Thursday Night Football Game and an early birthday present, you and the kids watched the Cleveland Browns play the Pittsburgh Steelers in a snowstorm and the Browns won, bringing their record to 3-8. The less than stellar record doesn't matter. THE BROWNS BEAT PITTSBURGH!

Happy Birthday to this guy...Todd, House, THouse, the Godfather, the Toddfather, Cheese House, husband, Dad, and Grandpa.

And after 2 months and 1 week, we are once again the same age.

Happy Birthday, youngster!

the friday feed: kale

When did kale suddenly become an “in” thing? This leafy green has been with us since 2000 BC so how did the kale craze only start in 2012? Kale became popular quickly because of the super food trend and because of the variety of ways you can prepare it. Once people started hearing about how nutritious it was they went crazy gaga over it. It provides high amounts of vitamins and calcium, supposedly contains chemicals that prevent cancer, decrease cholesterol, and reduce the absorption of dietary fat. It became a hit with those who were following the organic and farmers markets.

My brother and sister-in-law grow kale in their garden. We were visiting and my sister-in-law mentioned that she had some kale in her fridge and would I like some. "Sure!" and she handed a grocery bag full of big leafy greens to me. Wow. What to do with all this kale. Todd is not a big fan; I like it but don't love it.

So what to do with 2 pounds of kale. Answer: To take care of the first pound of kale - Beans and greens with some kielbasa and fire roasted tomatoes.

A few years ago my daughter gave a cookbook to me, Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables by Joshua McFadden. In it is a recipe for a pasta sauce made with kale. Green, very green, pasta sauce. The ingredients are simple - kale, garlic, olive oil, Parmesan, salt and pepper. I chose Orecchiette, aka "the little ear", for this dish. 

It's a bright and refreshing sauce, light and tasty in the spring and summer, and brings and pop of flavor and color to the fall and winter months. 

throwback thursday

It's that time of year when the streets are lined with leaf piles and the leaf trucks come by to suck them up to take them to the city's compost pile. 

In our former house, we had a few trees in our yard, our neighbors had a lot of trees and those leaves blew into our yard. We also had two big dogs and their droppings got covered by the leaves. A Facebook memory from eight years ago popped up and it brought a smile and chuckle. 

It's that time of year...

In the backyard we have a small hill, nicknamed Turd Hill, where Ted and Hunter typically stop and drop. Yesterday was the day for fall clean up and the hill was covered with leaves and the dogs' land mines (they're 150 and 90 pounds. No little Tootsie Rolls from these guys!). It was a lovely day, not a crappy day, to work outside. 6 hours later my yard and gardens were clean, my boots have been scraped and scrubbed, and yes, I was pooped!

wednesdays words and wanderings and wonderings

One of my favorite pans...my kids gave it to me many years ago for Mother's Day. It's big and was a favorite for stir fries, cooking down tomatoes to make spaghetti sauce, making sausage gravy for the traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas breakfasts of biscuits and gravy - so much cooking and so many memories in that pan. And now I can't use it. I have a new induction stove and this is a stainless steel pan. The pan and the stove aren't compatible. Lots of life and life in that 5 quart pan.

This past week has been full of changes. My daughter and son-in-law moved to their new home that they purchased. It's lovely and even with the stress of moving, they are beginning to build new memories. Todd and I went to Chicago to help with the move. As my daughter and I were packing up the nursery, I got a  little lump in my throat. This was the room the kids so lovingly decorated in a cute jungle theme for their son to come home to, this is where the new parents rocked their baby for the late night feedings, the room where he recovered from his heart surgery. Lots of love and life in that baby's room as well as the rest of their former home. 

Now that we're back from Chicago, the moving stuff bug is still with me and I've been moving lots of stuff from the china closet to my new kitchen cabinets. Wow...three sets of china - the set that I got when we were married, a Christmas set from my mom, and another pretty set with ivy and thistles, once again compliments of my mom. They don't get much use but I'm not ready to get rid of them just yet. I've used them an Thanksgiving and Christmas, at bridal and baby showers, and during COVID just to set a pretty table. Lots of special times around the table with those dishes. And now with the empty china closet, Todd can store some of his office "stuff" in there to clear up his small space.

Times of transition are strenuous a time for reflection and and time for looking forward. They are an opportunity to purge, rethink priorities, and be intentional about new habits. We are creating a new normal.

parallel parking

When we visit our Chicago kids, we always park in the street. They each have a garage space for their car, parking garages aren't nearby, and even if they were, it would be very expensive to park in one.

My girls amaze me. They're parallel parking ninjas...masters of their environment. They can squeeze a car into a tiny spot in a back-in-straighten-it-out-motion. I need a few more attempts. If I don't have an audience, I can parallel park. It's the pressure of being watched or a car needing to pass by that puts me in a tizzy. Come to find out there's a word for the fear of parallel parking - parallelophobia. Hitting another car isn't the most common fear of parallel parking; it's holding up traffic. Having someone blast their horn while I'm trying to park is enough to make me say, "Forget this," and go find another spot. But deep breath, they can wait because chances are they'll never see me again.

monday's mulling:

Speeding up I-65 just north of Lafayette, Indiana, you can’t miss the tall, white windmills reaching to the sky. Less than 20 years ago, this area was just another stretch of flat farmland used for growing corn and soybeans. Since 2008, boosted by federal and local tax incentives, wind turbines have become an increasingly prominent part of the northern Indiana landscape.

This 20 mile stretch of 3-armed sentinels begins in Benton County, Indiana, and ends at the White County line, where Eastern Standard Time ends and Central Standard Time begins. Todd and I always check to see whose iPhone changes to CST first. (Mine does - he has a much older model, but is getting a new one soon. Then we'll see whose phone will "win").  The turbines also signal the last leg on our trip to Chicago.

Chicago was our home away from home Wednesday night to Sunday. Our daughter and son-in-law bought a house and we were there to help with all that a move entails: cleaning, packing, moving boxes from one house to the other, and taking care of sweet little grandson. This was a work trip so no photos from Chicago, not even of the cool mural that is across the street and down a few houses from the kids' new home.

On the drive home on I-65, a magnificent sunset graced the sky. The sun was a fiery red ball and illuminated the clouds with many different colors as it dropped to the horizon. We arrived at the windmills on the sun's last half hour of its descent and as we buzzed along at 80 mph, that's when the only photos from our trip happened. 

be back monday 💜

 

good things come in threes

Patricia Saxton and I first crossed paths at Wittenberg University when we joined the same sorority. She was an art major, had a free spirit vibe about her and also a depth in her personality that was (and still is) intuitive and disciplined. She had an eye for detail that brought something extra special to her art. After graduation, we lost touch but reconnected at Homecoming a few years ago. Thanks to that meet up at Homecoming and then social media, we have stayed in touch. She used to live in New Jersey and whenever we went to New York City, she would come to the city for the day and she and I would have fun walking, exploring, and talking. A few years ago Pat moved to Sedona and exhibits her art at the Rumi Tree Art Gallery and the Sedona Arts Center. One of these days I will take a trip to Sedona, hang out in her art studio, and hike around the Red Rocks with her.

This very successful artist, illustrator, graphic designer, and author sends out a monthly newsletter and she tells us what's going on in her life. This time around she talked about how good things come in threes and created a little piece of art to accompany it.

GOOD THINGS COME IN THREES

Things like… Primary Colors (red, yellow, blue). Primary Shapes (circle, square, triangle). Dimensions (length, width, height). Stooges (Larry, Curly, Moe). Stories (beginning, middle, end). Triathalons (run, swim, bike). Rock, Paper, Scissors (obvious). French Hens (not 2, not 4, but 3 of 'em!). Meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner). Days (morning, afternoon, night). Olympic Medals (gold, silver, bronze). Atoms (protons neutrons, electrons). And so on…

~ Patricia Saxton

 ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃ ᱃

And so on...

Art and words come together to make people think and so I the wheels started to turn. What are other things that come in threes? Without googling, here's what I thought of:

The Three Musketeers (Porthos, Athos, Aramis). Three Blind Mice (see how they run). The Three Bears (Mama, Papa, Baby). Rock Types (igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary). Branches of Government (executive, legislative, judicial). Greek architecture (Doric, Ionic, Corinthian). 

I hope that three good things come your way today!

wednesday's words and wonderings and wanderings

Working at the farm is done until next May. Whenever I drive out of my neighborhood onto Far Hills Avenue, a message pops up on my phone, "13 minutes to your destination." Driving to Treadway Gardens was a regular routine for the past five months but it's kind of creepy that my phone thinks it knows where I'm going. 

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I usually go to yoga 3-4 time a week but going to yoga took a backseat during my employment. Now that my job is over, I have returned to the studio. I was always moving while working at the farm. Moving through a yoga sequence is a different kind of movement and different kind of focus. I have come to realize that being at both, the farm and the yoga studio, is good for the mind, body, and spirit. 

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Todd and I are going to Chicago on Thursday. Our daughter and son-in-law bought a house four blocks from where they currently live in the Ukrainian Village. They've been moving a lot of small stuff to their new home and the moving truck is coming on the 15th to move the big items. Todd will help them move the rest of the small items and I will look after my 9-month old little sweetheart grandson. 

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We have season tickets for the University of Dayton mens' basketball season. The Flyers played Northwestern on Saturday and after the first half I was ready to go home. Northwestern shut them down. During the second half Dayton had moments of getting their act together and then Northwestern overpowered them. With six minutes left, UD hit a hot streak, Northwestern went cold, and Dayton won by 5 points. The crowd was loUD and proUD!

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Todd went to dinner with some friends and while he dined with his buddies, I fixed a tomato sandwich with the last fresh tomato I brought home from the farm. Duke's is my mayo of choice. This sandwich tasted extra good.

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It's also time to focus on Thanksgiving. My house will be filled with the people I love the most from the day before Thanksgiving until the Sunday afterward - all 12 of us plus Spanky the dog. Right now it's time for endless to-do lists, day-to-day charts of stuff that needs to be done, and menus for each day. Most times I'm good at going by the seat of my pants but for the Thanksgiving weekend I need lists, lots of lists. 

pink!

The color pink is a mix of red's passion and white's purity, a combination that symbolizes love, nurturing, and compassion. In Western cultures pink is the color for femininity, love, romance, caring, and tenderness.

Going along the feminity route...what do you think of this Pepto-Bismol pink bathroom? Sure does knock your eyes out! This gas station bathroom was a regular stop on I-75 just south of Lima when we drove to Findlay. The gas was always less expensive at this station. One time my curiosity got the best of me and I peeked in the men's bathroom to see if it was painted an equally obnoxious shade of blue. It wasn't. It was beige. 

Pink Nestle Quik. When my daughter was a little girl, she did not like plain white milk. Her favorite color was pink so in a desperate mom moment, why not get her to drink milk by turning it pink? Yes, Nestle Quik was loaded with sugar, but I found that by using about a half teaspoon of the Quik, it turned the milk pink and changed the flavor just enough where she would drink it. At first she wasn't too sure about this and I would say, "Here, try some, try some!" Pretty soon she asked for her Pink Trysome.

At the farmer's market, a row of cosmos line the exit driveway. These colorful, daisy-like flowers sit atop long, slender stems and bloom from summer through fall. They attract birds, bees, and butterflies. I'm going to plant some in my garden in the spring.

One of Todd's mom's signature salads or desserts (depending on when you wanted to eat it) at Thanksgiving was "Pink Salad." It's a light and fluffy and creamy mixture of cottage cheese, strawberry Jell-O, crushed pineapple and Cool Whip. So '70s but so good. Maybe I'll revive this salad when the fam is home for Thanksgiving.

Pink is also the color to announce the birth of a baby girl. On Saturday our little grandson FaceTimed with us and told Didi and Grandpa he's going to have a sister! Grandbaby #3 is due in mid-March. What a beautiful start to this season of gratitude. WE ARE TICKLED PINK!