Bracing for Winter

I have decided to just ignore the next few holidays. No decorations, nothing that will have Lee asking about when the kids are going to come. They are to stay home and stay safe. We will do the same and have celebrations closer to summer when the virus should be better controlled and vaccines are available to all of us. I just started this 927 page book to read aloud to Lee. Might take all winter!

Here are some illustrations from My Life in Clothes and the Fairy Book.

And an unfinished fairy page. I don’t have too many pages left in this book but thanks to Lorraine I have more books to draw into.

And those four days of scarves and haiku….

Organic cotton

in earth tones of stripes and dots

by Gudrun Sjodren.

 

Two long plant dyed scarves

twisted, knotted with tied ends

makes a neck warmer.

 

A very complex

patterned, layered and dyed scarf

I bought in Bali.

 

Mary and I both

wanted this scarf so we cut

it in two pieces!

I will take more photos of my sketchbooks from travels, etc. and post them another time. But the other day I found this piece of writing I did from a “taste” prompt in a writing class. My mouth watered as I read it!!

Lick off a spoon Poem

Homemade Fudge

For this I will use my largest wooden spoon.

I am sure I read somewhere that you need to use a large spoon.

It is a big pan with high sides.

The sugar has started to dissolve in the water.

I clip the thermometer to the side keeping it‘s tip off the bottom.

I stir it and taste the simple syrup on the spoon.

Now the cocoa powder is stirred in.

Taste again to make sure it really does taste like chocolate.

Boil to soft ball stage – 232 degrees Fahrenheit.

Just in case the thermometer is off a bit, begin tasting at 180 degrees Fahrenheit.

Finally! 232 degrees.

But just to be sure it is soft ball stage, drizzle some from the spoon into cold water.

Lick the spoon.

And reach into the water to shape the drizzle into a soft ball.

Eat the ball.

Remove the pan of fudge from the stove and stir in the butter.

Stir vigorously til the fudge just begins to lose its shine.

Try to pour quickly into an 8 by 8 buttered pan.

OOOOhhh. Some has hardened in the pan.

Use the spoon to scrape it out – one mouthful at a time.

 

I found some other worthy bits of writing in old computer files and will post them later. I need to get this finished while I still have wifi at the house. The cleaning lady is cleaning. The caregiver will be here in an hour. I need to make a grocery list that starts with wine.

More later.