Saturday; January 16th, 2021 

I have been held captive in the kitchen, this afternoon.  A willing captive, - a sweet surrender to a roasted chicken and a crazy chocolate cake.

And while the baking was going on, perched on a stool, delighting in Mary Oliver.....

You may not have the recipe for Crazy Chocolate cake, and I will include it in this post in case NOT.  It is now my favourite - I gave up others ways of making chocolate cake long ago, when it became apparent that it was to become a staple in the kitchen drawer, available to all lovers of chocolate when they came home from school, or wherever they might have been dawdling, or working.

This chocolate cake manufacturing effort takes one large pan, a big silver vegetable spoon for stirring, and the following ----

Dump in the large pan, (- glass is nice.  I use the blue one....)

3 cups of flour, 2 cups of sugar, 5/8 cup of cocoa, 1 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of vanilla

stir well, then pour over 2 cups of cold water and 2/3 cup of vegetable oil (no veggie oil in my fridge so I used a cup of apple sauce instead) and 2 tsp of vinegar.  Keep on stirring! When everyone gets to know the neighbours well pop it into the oven (350 degreesF) for 30/40 minutes.  

Sit down and read a bit of Mary Oliver, or Jane Kenyon while waiting for the oven to perform its magic....

This chocolate cake never fails, - and only a spoon and maybe a cup to wash!

The oven is nice and warm, - just right for roasting a chicken for supper.  Stuff the chicken with an apple - easy peasy, and treat it to a buttery covering.  It comes out with lovely roasted skin and sweet slices of chicken - well, you know how nice roasted chicken is!!

If you want to you can ice the chocolate cake, but it is quite satisfying without getting all fancied up.

I have a potato baking in the oven, and soon it will be supper time.  What I need most is someone to share it with ❤❤❤

 Wednesday, January 13th, 2021

An update on 'joy in winter"...... and that lovely amaryllis that provides so much of it....

Blue skies and sunshine - and a fairly respectable temperature on the gauge!!!!

Lovely, - what more can you ask for in January...

Well, a beautiful blossom, soaking up the sun as it skims the mountain top and shines in the south window.

What a pleasure to gaze upon while I sip my morning coffee!  The second cup gets sipped - the first is what gets the engine going for the day, and is poured down liberally.....

Not all my bulbs are so generously gorgeous, but this one never seems to fail me.....

Lots to be thankful for....

p.s.  - after dinner (supper, really - whatever is eaten while watching the news must be a little bit of 'supper') I have settled myself in the computer room, but a little something keeps nagging at me to go and finish winding the warp that I started this morning (and interrupted to have a little after lunch nap!)

Perhaps I will do that, when I have said what I have to say, which isn't much!  The sun came out today,- the sky was blue, but the wind was cold, so I thought "spring" from indoors.  I have a feeling that there may be a stirring of green shoots in the side garden, and one of these days I will bundle up and go and see. In the meantime I let Bruce out to roam the garden, and watch from the little back sun porch!

I felt, for the first time since Christmas, a strong urge to get my looms dressed - well, the Glimakra is - just waiting for me to finish the little krogbagd thing-a-ma-jig I'm working on.  Too small for a rug - perhaps I will frame it and hang it in the loom room.

January seems to be lagging along, slowly - the days aren't swift, - but then, neither am I.  It seems a long time since I have been able to go outside and lounge around, reading and listening to birds and other garden sounds.....  Being 96 I have a little grudge about this - there aren't as many springs looming on the horizon as there was when I was 69 and I do want to take advantage of each lovely day....

Oh dear, - am I complaining, - or just stating facts.....