Returning

Two days of continuous rainfall, water standing ankle-deep, I'm beginning to think a pair of webbed-feet would be fitting.

Temperatures are unseasonably warm, and will remain so throughout the week.

There are shoots popping out of the ground everywhere, which is a little discerning, since we are still in the depths of winter, and snow is still a possibility.

I think Mother Nature has a wicked sense of humor.

Row, row, row your boat......

 

 

 

 

Talking In Their Sleep

"You think I am dead,"
The apple tree said,
"Because I have never a leaf to show -
Because I stoop,
And my branches droop,
And the dull gray mosses over me grow!

"But I'm still alive in trunk and shoot;
The buds of next May
I fold away -
But I pity the withered grass at my root."

"You think I am dead,"
The quick grass said,
"Because I have parted with stem and blade!
But under the ground,
I am safe and sound
With the snow's thick blanket over me laid.

"I'm all alive, and ready to shoot,
Should the spring of the year
Come dancing here -
But I pity the flower without branch or root."

"You think I am dead,"
A soft voice said,
"Because not a branch or root I own.
I never have died, but close I hide
In a plumy seed that the wind has sown.

"Patient I wait through the long winter hours;
You will see me again -
I shall laugh at you then,
Out of the eyes of a hundred flowers.

Edith Matilda Thomas  (1854 - 1925)

Wintering

I'm beginning to get cabin fever, and just as slightly warmer temperatures arrive, an entire new weather system is headed our way.

More snow, and sadly combined with frozen precipitation.
The school children have been afforded  extra days  off school,  and yet their presence outside has been scarce.
Back when my daughter was young she would spend an entire afternoon outside with her neighborhood friends, sledding and building snowmen, only returning to the warmth of  home for a change of gloves, and some hot chocolate. Nowadays, it seems like the children stay inside and play computer games or watch TV.
Times have changed.

Hobbit Days

As with much of the nation we are experiencing a blast of cold winter weather.

It's predicted for much of the coming week, so hearty soups are the go-to meal of the day.

 

 

I've made a fifteen bean soup today, chocked full of country ham, celery, onions, tomatoes, carrots, garlic, and chili spice.

Served with a slice of buttermilk cornbread, it's the ideal comfort food, on a blustery cold day.
Come join us for a bowl.

 

 

 

 

We'll leave the light on for you ! 

 

 

 

 

If you feel like making your own pot, here's the original recipe.

• 1 lb. smoked sausage, ground sausage (browned in pan), ham hocks or diced ham. Our favorite is to use a leftover hambone with some meat on it.

• 1 pkg of Hurst 15 Beans
  1 lg. onion, diced
  1 clove garlic, minced
  1 tsp chili powder (optional)
  1 can diced tomatoes (15 oz.)
  Juice from 1 lemon
  Bay Leaf

• 
  

• I also add:  

  Two stalks of celery
  Three cubed potatoes 
  Two sliced carrots

• Optional: Hot sauce or crushed red pepper to taste

 Original 15 Bean Soup® recipe Hurst Beans

Iced Over

 If given the option, I would have chosen snow.
Soft, white flakes blanketing the ground.
Instead, we are covered in ice.
Trees, houses, vehicles, bird-feeders
.No snowballs today.

 

 

 

Silenced

Mother Nature threw down her blanket shortly after sunrise, just in time for an artic blast moving through the area.

Our first snowfall of the year, magically transforming the landscape.
Soft, wet snowflakes shutting us off from our little world as we know it, cocooned in a blanket of white.
Silenced.

Announced by all the trumpets of the sky,

Arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the fields,

Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air

Hides hills and woods, the river, and the heaven,

And veils the farmhouse at the garden's end.

The sled and traveller stopped, the courier's feet

Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit

Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed

In a tumultuous privacy of storm.

The Snow Storm ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Soup's On

Cold winter days seem to go on forever.

Even when the sun shines brightly, the wind is still bone-chillingly bitter..
It's the perfect time to warm up with a hearty bowl of homemade soup.
Today's choice is White Bean and Ham soup.
Enjoy 💗

Navy or Northern Beans
Cabbage
Onions
Carrots
Celery
Ham Hock
Smoked sausage or Kielbasa sliced
Chicken Stock
Bay Leaf

Basil
Garlic powder 
Salt and Pepper

Soak beans overnight, discard water, add chicken stock, ham hock, smoked sausage, herbs, and seasoning, bring to the boil and then simmer for one hour. 

Add chopped cabbage, onions, carrots, celery, continue to simmer for an additional hour and a half.
Add water if needed.

Serve with buttermilk cornbread, or your favorite loaf of crusty bread.
Yum !

Snowing

   

                                                       Out of the bosom of the air,

Out of the cloud-folds of her garment shaken,

Over the woodlands, brown and bare

Over the harvest-fields forsaken,

Silent, and soft, and slow

Descends the snow.

~  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Nesting

We have had the strangest warm weather these past few weeks.

Here it is, the middle of winter, and the temperatures have reached a balmy 71 degrees,  folks are running around town, in shorts and flip-flops !
The Iris shoots are popping up out of the ground, twelve inches tall already.

Today....all change.
We are in for a true taste of winter, temperatures down in the thirties and  nightly freezes are in the forecast.

A good excuse to stay home,  indulge in a nice pot of tea and left-over Christmas cake, and some rather lovely reading material.

Hope all is well and cozy in your little corner of the world.

  

                                                                                 🏡            

Winter Days

A damp and sunless morning.

There is a list of  chores as long as my arm waiting for attention, but my motivation seems to be running on empty.

I've been gathering Christmas decorations  here and there, and today marks Epiphany  but not quite ready to devoid the tree of its ornaments or remove the twinkling lights in the kitchen.

Sparkly encouragement is welcomed.