Still Hoping

Inauguration Day has come and gone, and I am eager to see what the  next four years will bring. No matter what, I am very pleased that President Obama has been given another four years to carry on his work. This fact says to me that the election of a black man in 2008 was not, as some people claimed,  a fluke; the people have elected him once again.  The misguided goal of making Obama a one term president, overtly stated by some of our supposed leaders,  has bitten the dust.



So, now, will our elected officials come together or will there be four more years of dysfunction? We'll see.


"The most evident of truths - that all of us are created equal - is the star that guides us still...just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall."

-President Barack Obama

Inauguration Day, 2013-

Yes, still hoping.

Beginning Again

Theme Thursday - AGAIN

I love beginnings...the chance to start all over...and so I  welcome this new year. However, I am again  taking  a slightly different direction on the new year's resolution road. As of a couple of years ago,  I have given up making these annual goals because, to tell the truth, it never worked particularly well for me. Instead I have begun attempting new year's  evolutions. You see, there's not quite so much pressure involved.

So, without further delay...this year's evolution attempt is: LOWERING THE BAR OF EXPECTATIONS. I would love to say that I thought this up on my own, but I did not. Instead I borrowed the idea from the very wise Marin County, CA writer, Anne LaMott. There's nothing deep or hugely complicated here. All it really means is to me is LIGHTEN UP, go with the flow, and stop over thinking situations.

Yes, I am going to work on that.

See what else is happening at Theme Thursday.

Undecking the Halls

It's time to get out the storage boxes and return all the Christmas decorations to their cardboard prisons, to be incarcerated until Santa returns again in December of 2013, leaving me with only the memories of this very well-celebrated Christmas.  The newly inflated numbers on my bathroom scale tell me it's high time the partying ended, so I welcome the return to normalcy... and the birth of a new year.

My Favorite Things

Luther Burbank's Home

The Christmas season is my very favorite time of the entire year, and this year my camera and I got busy in order to record some of the pieces that make up this special period.

#1

It all began early in December with the annual open house at the beautifully decorated Luther Burbank Home and Gardens, one of my most-loved events in  Santa Rosa. Volunteer that I am, I put on comfy shoes and took my place in the Burbank greenhouse to pass cookies and serve hot spice tea to eager visitors from all over Sonoma County.

#2

 I love that there is so much to see and do during this festive season. I attended my first cookie swap this year; I didn't even know these parties existed, though I now understand that they are quite common and enjoyed by many. Where have I been?

I arrived home with 3 dozen tasty cookies and recipes to match. My contribution, pictured at the bottom, was white chocolate coated almond clusters. The recipe also calls for dried cranberries, and the combination of sweet, salty and tart is quite delightful. The only problem was that I ate the recipe's required salted almonds, a particular weakness of mine, the night before I was to put together my yummy clusters, so I had to head out to the market in the morning in order to replace what had disappeared the night before. Oink.

Entertaining and social gatherings in general make this such a fabulous time of year; I love getting together with friends and family.

The red and green dominates and, of course, the Lennox plates jump out of their dark and lonely storage cabinet and join the festivities.

#3

The yard is pretty much at rest during this season, but not the olives and the berries. Oh, no! They are putting on their seasonal show.

  

The only bad part of this is the ripened olives fall from the tree onto the path leading to the front door, get stepped on and then tracked into the house leaving their messy juices on the floor.

And...

The round and merry berries stay on the bushes until they slowly begin to shrivel and ferment, attracting hoards of greedy robins who proceed to feast and get tipsy.

#4

The food!!! I already mentioned the cookies, but that is just the beginning of the delicious temptations of the season: turkey and stuffing, mince pie, eggnog, candy of all varieties, and maybe a spot of Korbel Brut or sparkling cider since the occasion is so unique.  However, appearing on my table this time of year is a hearty treat: minestrone. I usually make it well before the holiday, when the weather is just starting to get cold and comfort food begs to make its entrance.

I've tinkered with the recipe over the years, and this year I added 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes to the mix. The pleasing result was a minestrone with a bit of a bite, very subtle but unmistakable. It's a keeper!

#5

I've always been one to go overboard in the decorating department, loving all the glitz and glimmer. As the years have elapsed, I've toned it down quite a bit; but it is definitely still one of my favorite Christmas things.

I so enjoy  pulling loved treasures out of storage boxes, saying hello to them after a long separation, anticipating how wonderful they will look all around the house as the fun times ahead are royally celebrated.  Later, disassembling them and putting them all away... well, not quite so much fun.

#6

I start playing holiday music right after Thanksgiving because the couple of weeks before Christmas is just not enough time to enjoy all my favorite carols and songs.

I've got quite a mix of songs I relish, from Elvis to Chanticleer; but my very favorite sound of the season is almost any version of "Angels We Have Heard on High", also my mom's best-loved holiday song. I can remember loving to belt it out when I sang in the church choir. And, hey, I still know my alto part! I sang it with Ella Fitzgerald just yesterday.

"Let There Be Peace on Earth" is a close second. What a shame all of us can't adopt the sentiments found in this lovely treasure and live them the rest of the year. In the words of John Lennon, "Imagine, if you can."

So, these are my "raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens" for this extraordinary time of time of year.

May your holidays be joyous.



On the Rocks

OK...it's an annual tradition with me: paperwhites and vodka, surely one of the oddest pairings ever. I love to bring a little zip into these dreary December days, and nothing does it better for me than forcing paperwhites, commonly destined for early spring in the garden, indoors in a rock- bottomed glass vase. The secret ingredient, vodka, stunts the usually drooping greenery allowing the fragrant blossoms to take center stage. Here is the oh-so-simple recipe, courtesy of Cornell University.

Plant your paperwhite bulbs in sand, rocks, or marbles. Water them and let them grow to 1-2 " tall. Pour off the water and replace it with a solution of 80 proof vodka and water - 1 part booze to 7 parts water. Use this solution to nourish the paperwhites as they grow, topping off as needed. Differing from the sober water version of forcing, these semi-soused stems will be about 1/3 shorter and hold up the blooms in a wonderful, showy display of loveliness.

Go for it.

Lucky Thirteen

I'll never forget the day I picked her up, a 9 month old pug pup that her original owners no longer wanted because they thought she was too much to handle. That same sweet pug, now a little old lady, turned 13 this week.

I immediately named her Winnie, thinking that her given name of Taz did not suit. These days she spends most of her time napping on the couch or on her cushion. After a series of doggie health problems, our walks have gotten shorter and shorter. Now it seems we are barely out the front door when I will note her tightly kinked tail starting to uncurl, the signal that the walk has ceased to be fun for her.

The arrival of little sis, Cleo, has done much to keep Winnie, a devoted couch potato kind of  dog,  interested and active. They've been best buds for four years, rarely out of each other's sight and always side by side on the bed at night, snoring in harmony.

So, happy birthday, my dear Winnie!

A Mississippi Miracle

I've checked in with Jane on her forty-third birthday, and it sounds like she is celebrating it in style: present opening in the morning before the boys need to depart for  school, lunch out with Nate, and shopping in order to spend a gift certificate in the evening. The focus for everyone's birthday is, rightly so, on the birthday person; but on this particular birthday, I always reflect- for at least a little while-on what was going on with me that eventful and joyous day.

I had time to prepare for the birth since labor was induced, so I decked myself out in my cutest maternity dress...now there's an oxymoron if there ever was one. As I recall, it was a black and white mini number, hitting my legs a couple of inches above my knees. I must have looked like a blimp on stilts as I sluggishly waddled into the hospital in Meridian, Mississippi. However, I thought I looked pretty spiffy, considering the situation. Two hours later I was flat on my back in hospital garb, throwing up, so what did it matter?

Mission accomplished: a baby girl was born. Standing with an admiring group of strangers peering through the nursery window at all the pink and blue bundles, I was shocked as a large man pointed at my sweet baby and loudly stated, "Hey, y'all! Look at that one with them big jowls!" I was completely unfazed by the rude remark and the laughter that followed because my husband and I knew she was the most beautiful baby we had ever seen.

And she still is.