Good Ol' Parritch

I just made porridge for breakfast. And not that wimpy kind that you poor boiling water over. I just made old fashioned, rolled not cut, stick-to-your-ribs, pull-your-stomach-down-to-your-toes, porridge. I have been making porridge now for nigh on twenty years. Hubby likes it. I make it about once every week or so. This time I threw in some apples and a little granola and some pancake syrup to sweeten it. And you know it was really good.

Have you ever noticed that sometimes you can be eating something regularly for years and years and then suddenly you realize just how good it is. I mean porridge is fairly normal food, but I think I had forgotten just how good it is. I tend to think that a glutenous mass of grain is not necessarily the most appetizing thing in the world. But pop a spoonful in your mouth and mm... mm... mm... it's just delicious.

I realize that I'm starting to sound like an add.

Have you ever heard the story of the Magic Porridge Pot? Well my porridge pot this morning is a little like the magic porridge pot. I made waaayyy too much porridge! We'll be eating porridge hot, cold and nine days old at this rate. So I guess I'll have to make a few porridge muffins later on.

Porridge Muffins
2 cups porridge (already cooked)
1 egg
1/4 cup of oil
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 c milk

Mix all the above ingredients, add dried or fresh fruit... such as apples or bananas and pour into muffin pans that have been greased. Bake in usual manner at 350 degrees for 20 - 30 minutes depending on your oven. They are good for breakfast too.

Bon appetit!

Been There Done That

Life is pretty simple these days. It's pretty much the same old same old for the most part. That's why on Saturday I didn't blog. There isn't a whole lot to say when life is blandly normal. I have been reading other blogs instead. Mostly blogs that I follow anyway but then I have been surfing a bit too. And of course, I'm following along with all that is happening in Haiti.

I've been finishing the Christmas cleanup.... I know, I know.... that was weeks ago and we should be done by now.... but we had a little set back this week in the form of our new coffee table. It was bigger than we thought and so required some shifting of other things in the living room in order to accommodate it. We also moved our TV and computer and DVD player. This is no small feat since there are so many wires that criss cross our room either above or below, that it is a maze which is not easily untangled. I still have two speakers to hook up. I've also been organizing my studio. This too is no small feat since there are things I had forgotten I owned needing to be put away..... but of course with any stash you don't want to throw stuff out just because you haven't used it in a few years... (that would be horrible)!!! Hubby brought in some boxes from the shed and I have been sorting through that. I did find some rovings from New Zealand that are a blend of Possum and Polwarth ..... mmmm. Can't wait to spin some of that. Hubby keeps checking on me when something comes out of a box that I get excited about. He says I'm making weird noises..... any noise that signifies delight is ok with me!

But for today I'm back at the jacket commission...... and even though it seems like a never ending process, I am making progress.... that's good.... very good. But I do have to say, I will never take another commission again as long as I am working on the Masters... am I repeating my self??? You bet.... been there done that!

Dawn Comes Sneaking Over The Horizon

Yesterday by mid morning the sun had come out and more welcome sight you have never seen. Suddenly the temperatures soared and I watched the snow melting off my roof.

Drip, drip, drip, it was a pleasantly warm afternoon.

Problem: with all the new changes with our house we have discovered that our upstairs is just too warm. I don't sleep well when it is warm and so I have been opening the window in our bedroom at night.... even in the dead of winter.... we don't even have all of our windows in our bedroom properly insulated and still it is too warm!

This morning I got up and came downstairs in a fog bank.... not the wet kind.... but the kind that muddles your head.... mostly because I took some pain medication for my bad back in the middle of the night. Hubby took pity on me (he's so sweet) and got me a drink of juice which helped to clear some of the fuzz from my brain. And so it was that the sun came creeping over the horizon with a bleary eyed me able to watch. Nothing is so heavenly as when that sun hits the top of our trees in our yard.

Blue skies, nothing but blue skies......

For Christmas I had moved the computer under the steps and there is no window there so it is good to be back where I can look out the window and see the goings on of the world around me. I love to watch the sheep and the alpacas, and even the deer that drift across the yard in their ongoing search for food. (They always stop at our hay bails.) It is a peaceful scene laid out before me. The sheep are gathering at the fence posts for their morning scratch while the alpacas are still lying in for a chew on their cuds. There's a deer at the bails licking up seed on the ground. And behind me the sun has risen golden, changing the blue of the snow to a pinkish gold. Oh happy morn...

A nice cup of tea and a wee spin before I head off to town...

Hope your day is a golden sunrise too....

Walk Through The Woods

This is a hard time of the year to get through, there is no doubt about that. It is dark till quite late in the morning. When it is 9:30 before it gets light (on a sunny day) and dark again by 5 p.m., you have a tendency to want to sit by the fire and read or just veg. Yesterday was a day for vegging out by our fireplace. The forecast has been calling for warm temperatures all week and while warm temps are generally good this time of year, it sucks since it doesn't come in the form of a chinook wind with glorious sun to perk you up.... no, this warm is coming and carrying with it, freezing rain. My poor sheep are looking bedraggled and sad. Yesterday I sat and read and looked out at my sheep and listened to the radio news coming out of Haiti... and then around late afternoon I couldn't take it anymore, I felt I would sink into mid winter blues, so out the door I went for a walk.

Usually this time of the year, I stick to road walking but yesterday, the bush was calling to me and so after checking to see if the trails were packed with snowmobiles running over them, I felt I could handle a short walk through the bush. I entered the woods where thick pines and spruce border the trails in quiet solitude. I instantly noticed the peace and tranquility of the forest silence. All around me the pines and spruce brooded in their dark green garb. The only noise I heard was the sound of Duff galloping past in pure joy of getting out to sniff new scents, and Tootsie yapping after Duff in an effort to keep up. Shortly they disappeared into the bush ahead and all went silent again.

It was only after about 5 minutes of walking that I had this weird sensation that something was watching me.... I looked up to the right and I am not sure why, but there in all it's wild silent beauty, was a Great Grey Owl. He flew through the tops of the pines seeking a new branch from which to get a better view of me. I of course, stopped dead in my tracks as I watched him/her beat her wings and slip between the trees like a ghost. The thing that amazed me was the quiet of its flight. I could not hear a sound. The wings were beating but it was amazing how silent the beat of its wings were..... and it was huge. I would have to say that if it stood on the ground next to me it would have been about 25 inches tall. Awesome!!!!

I quickly found a fallen tree trunk to sit on, and there I sat watching that owl while the owl watched me too. In the back of my mind I hoped that Tootsie (the Shi-tzu) would stay away for a while and stay with Duff as that owl would easily pick up wee Tootsie and fly away with it's daily meal. The owl watched me and I watched it for a while... I'm not sure how long... but probably no more than ten minutes. Then silently, and with more dignity than I would have thought possible, it spread its wings and jumped off the branch and carried on it's silent way winging through the branches of the pine and spruce.

Such moments renew your pleasure in just being alive. (And Tootsie didn't get eaten....)

Wow I'm glad I went for a walk.

Sometimes You Just Have To Be Gross... Sorry

(I give you warning.... if you have a weak stomach or are sensitive to all things disgusting then you may want to forgo reading this post!)

Our old dog has been giving us trouble for months.... every so often she will have a period of time when her gaseous bowls rear their ugly head by clearing a room in less than 10 seconds flat! I have put her problem down to age and an inability to deal with some types of food. We have been trying to see if her problem stems from what she has been eating and this is not easy since most dogs will have trouble whenever there is a change in their diet. But quite honestly the last food that we have been trying is the worst to date. She is not any less energetic but when her bowls gurgle I know that I have to get her out in short order!

Yesterday our wee dog came into the house and ooh la la... the hum was just plain nasty..... so with a clothes pin attached to my olfactory protuberance, I tackled one of the nastiest jobs ever. I don't have a weak stomach at all, but that butt cleaning job put even my hurling urges to the test. So you can imagine my dismay when the wee pooch entered the house this morning with once again the same problem attached to his hind quarters. Hubby took pity on me and cleaned the horror from the wee pooch's bum and gave me a reprieve, but I am seriously disturbed with what is happening in the canine end of our family.

The current dog food that we are using is Purina Dog Chow dry dog food. I think I will visit the deep freeze today and see if I can find some old deer meat from last year's kill and see if they do any better with that stuff. One thing is for sure... there will be no more Purina Dog Chow in this house.

You have to wonder what the dog food companies put into dog food when your animals are experiencing such horrible results. It can't be nice to have your stomach gurgling and growling all the time and what those poor dogs are suffering when they go out the door and out of my sight.... well I wouldn't want to be them that is for sure. Poor dogs.

So I'm sorry about being gross but when you run a farm sometimes gross things happen... and I guess this is one of them.

How Horribly Scary

One of the problems of thwarting the media form of TV means that when disasters hit there is almost a sense of unreality. When the Tsunami hit a few years back it was many weeks after the event that pictures started to filter through my email... pics of the aftermath. I have noticed since then that any kind of catastrophe really doesn't touch me in the way that it touches people who are inundated with pictures on the evening news. Now when catastrophes hit, I seek information rather than waiting for information to come to me.

Today I have sat here trying to find out as much as I can about Haiti. It is hard to know what is real and what is not. I've listened to CBC mostly and can only imagine the devastation.

Two years ago Hubby and I started supporting a child through World Vision. The child we support is from Port au Prince, Haiti. Her name is Rosa de la Cruz. We of course will not know for a while if Rosa is alive. We can only pray that she and her mother have survived this horrific event and that she is safe.

Please, I ask you, if you have a moment, say a prayer for this little girl and her family and all the children who are and will be so affected by this terrible event.

And if you can..... donate.... this very poor country will need so much help.

I will go now to look again at the World Vision site.

The Jackie Chan Version Of Tai Chi

Daughter #2: Mom, what are you doing?
Me: I'm following this Tai Chi video.
Daughter #2: Why?
Me: I've always wanted to learn Tai Chi.
Daughter #2: Cool!
(silence)
Daughter #2: Mom Tai Chi makes you look like you are Jackie Chan in really slow motion.
Me: Har de har har!
(more silence)
Daughter #2: Hey Dad, Mom looks like Jackie Chan in slow motion.
Hubby: (with a large grin on his face) You do look like Jackie Chan in slow motion.... I think it's the hair.
Daughter #1: (coming down the stairs) Why are you watching Mom.... hey Mom did you know you look like Jackie Chan in slow motion?
Me: (sigh)