Ice Cream

ABC Wednesday
The letter is I
For ICE CREAM
which most everybody loves

Here is the recipe for a special Italian Ice Cream

Old Fashioned Stracciatella (vanilla Bean Ice Cream with Shards of Chocolate)

A favourite, consisting of a vanilla bean custard, churned, with the addition of a stream of decadent melted dark chocolate added in the last minute of churning.

So - you heat 250 ml of heavy cream and 500 ml of half and half with 1/4 tsp of salt, 1 Tsp of corn flour, 1 vanilla pod, slit in half,  and 3/4 cup of condensed milk .  Bring to a boil, then  lower the heat.

Separate five nice large brown eggs and stir the egg yolks with a little of the warm milk, whisking constantly as you pour.  Add to the remainder of the warm milk, whiskig constantly.

Cook it over low hear, stirring and scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon until the custard has thickened and will coat the back of a wooden spoon.  Then, just for good luck, cook it for another three or four minutes.

Leave it to cool completely, then strain, removing the vanilla pods.  Pour it into the bucket of an ice cream maker.

Freeze the custard in the ice cream maker for about an hour,

In the last few minutes melt 85 gms of dark rich chocolate, chopped, in a heat resistant bowl suspended over a pot of simmering water.  Then leave to cool for a minute.

In the last two minutes of churning pour as thin a stream of the chocolate as you can manage into the ice cream.  The chocolate will harden on contact and shatter. Allow it to sit overnight in the freezer.

If, perchance, like me you do not have an ice cream maker, here is a way to make

 ice cream  by hand,  and wing it with the chocolate shards.....

Prepare the custard, then chill it over an ice bath.  

Put a deep baking dish made of something durable into the freezer

 and pour your custard mixture into it.

After forty-five minutes open the door and check it.

As it starts to freeze near the edges, remove it
 from the freezer

 and stir vigorously, - then return it to the freezer.

Continue to check the mixture every thirty minutes,

 beating it up as it's freezing, with a stick blender 

or a hand held blender, if possible.

When it is a good consistency do the chocolate thing, as above.

The whole thing is going to take about 2-3 hours, so leave yourself a lazy afternoon to tackle this ice cream making, - the results are worth it.

Enjoy!

Many more variations on the letter I here at ABC Wednesday 

with thanks to Roger and Denise.

The Good and the Bad

Well, we'll start with the BAD.....

I was out in the garden the other day, - stubbed my toe which somehow caused a mechanical failure in my left hip - which is why I am walking with a cane....

And the GOOD!

There is an elevator in the theatre where we are going to hear the Irish Rovers perform tonight!!

The GOOD just keeps on happening.  The loom is in a stage of undress right now,

 while I decide whether to retain the remnants that are still threaded and sleyed, 

as a dummy warp, and just tie on to it.

I think I have made up my mind, as a consequence of a little more confidence

 gained with the outcome of the recent project.  

Very prosaic, - just kitchen towels, but I am pleased with them 

and think I may attempt some lovely linen huck towels 

with the four cones of linen that linger/languish in my stash, 

so the loom will have to start off naked....

Here is the loom, half dressed, - and the towels as they came from the loom,

 and then the towels after they were washed and pressed and hemmed.....

  The yellow one is missing from the last picture, - it has already been claimed.

I hemed the towels yesterday morning as I listened to another wonderful concert from Berlin.

Isabelle Faust, violin soloist playing her beautiful old violin nicknamed 'the sleeping beauty' to acknowledge the 150 years it lay unused in an attic in Europe.

More Beethoven - his Violin Concerto in G Major, and then, after the intermission,

the Pastoral, my favourite.

As I listen I am transported to quiet woods, a stream and in the trees the flute courts the nightingale, the oboe flirts with the quail, and the clarinet quavers to the cuckoo.

Just lovely, - I enjoyed it so much!

Today I am favouring my hip, so that I will be in good shape to hear the Rovers,

 grown old, but still with that old Irish magic.  

We have their twentieth anniversary CD - this will be their fiftieth.

I count among the GOOD my reading of Lewis Thomas and his little book of essays,

"The Lives of a Cell, notes of a biology watcher, "

Although it was published first in 1974 and Lewis Thomas died in 1993,

it still contains for me a great deal of wisdom and keeps my perspective

on a steady track.

The book is said to be 'a blend of hard science, elegant language and thoughtfulness....

guaranteed to intrique both scientist and poet'. 

 I would add good common sense to that!

I am also reading 'the life-changing magic of tidying up (the Japanese

art of decluttering and organizing) by Marie Kondo

I was seduced into buying it by my night-time musings about all the 'stuff' we

accumulatd over the years, and what are my plans for it after the children 

have gathered those things which are most precious to them, to add to their

stashes of STUFF?????

However, after learning how to fold socks in the most practical manner, and realizing that 

I must throw all my clothes on the floor (every last stitch) before I start discarding

and the same goes for books!) and that this must all be done in one fell swoop,

I decided that this girl and I are not on the same page, and have not lived the same life.

She has not been married for almost 68 years, had six children, - small dear tots who 

have laboured over crayoned cards that say "I love you Mother" -

or received small bouquets of wildflowers from damp grubby dimpled hands, 

and then dried them for posterity.

Charles beautiful blue work shirt that matched his eyes so perfectly

hangs in my closet, next to my clothes, - and how could I toss it away, even if I did thank 

this item of clothing for all the joy it brought me (as Marie advises her clients to do)???

Well, I continue reading to the end, but I have given up on the premise

that the magic of tidying will dramatically transform my life, - 

or even make me sleep better at night.

Lunch time - I must go and have a bit of yogurt, or maybe something more substantial

so that I can get by with just a smidgin before going out and about tonight!!!

Can't think of anything else BAD to write about, except the lonely

hours that still persist at times.

Oh, I just thought about something else NOT SO GOOD.

I got up during the night and filled a hot water bottle to comfort my hip.

At 4:11 a.m. I discovered the hot water bottle had sprung a small leak

(or I didn't fasten the top firmly enough)

which is why I spent the rest of the night in the big chair

with Callie tucked in beside me, quite happy with the company.

Happy in Budapest

ABC Wednesday
March 4th, 2015

The Letter is H for Happy

Remember Pharrell Williams and his Happy Song - wasn't it great!  Didn't it make you feel like dancing!!!

Here's how it affected the inspired in Budapest....

How about you, - could you listen on your MP3 and do a little fox trot around the kitchen???

While you do so sing a happy thanks to Roger and Denise and all the rest of the Hilarious Helpers.

More Hs here, at ABC Wednesday.

Saturday Snaps

It's a concert day, from Berlin, but a morning concert here, starting at 10:00 am. with live streaming half an hour before the baton first marks the beginning notes.

I settle myself with my knitting and await the arrival of the orchestra.  The cello's are already in place, and soon the audience is clapping the orchestra on to the stage.

More clapping and the first violinist arrives, -  and the orchestra starts tuning up

The guest pianist, Helene Grimaud arrives, and the Russian conductor, Valery Gergiev.

The concert opens with the first few bars of Beethoven's Fourth Concerto in G Major, - a small piano solo, and then the bassoons, the clarinets, the french horns and cellos and the flutist join in.

My knitting falls to my lap, and I am mesmerized by the piano, and the expressive, quiet intensity of the andante movement.  I think 'what marvelous things mankind has learned to do with fingers and an apposite thumb'!

The Rondo is more vivacious and I find my foot tapping to the rhythm - so beautiful.

I take up my knitting again during intermission, and I must confess also during the Prokofiev symphony that follows, -

I am so impressed with Helene Grimaud, who is not only a young French pianist of considerable note, but also a writer and an animal activist.  So talented, and so serene at the piano in contrast to some who play beautifully but are painful to watch.....

The concert is over   It is lunch time and a I rustle up some yogurt and an apple and take them down to the loom room, where I spent yesterday and finished a blue tea towel and started a pink one, and now I must wind pink bobbins and see how much of my stash I am going to be able to use on this last bit of this warp, - and before I start another!!!



The sun is shining brightly, - no clouds in the blue, blue sky, but the wind that has blown them all away is a trifle chilly, so after a bit I find my garden gloves, put on a coat and gather some bulbs that I want to plant......

Here is a picture of the lovely blue crocus I bought at the grocery store a few days ago. (well, it was more purple, but my phone camera sees blue!)

They were beautiful for a few days, but then  the blooms faded and died, and I thought if I dug a couple of small holes I could just ternderly empty the pots into the garden and hopefully next spring they will poke through again ....so I did!

I couldn't resist a beautiful Hellebore in full bloom as I passed the flower corner (in the store) and came home with a gorgeous plant, which I also plan to put into the garden as soon as the weather says O.K., - now!!  Callie is finding it difficult to find space on the table that flanks the front window, where she sits and says menacing things to visiting cats, what with pots of bulbs and flowering narcissis and the amaryllis that is slow to grow.

My son-in-law has been busy in the garden, doing things that I find difficult now - and in the case of the great repair job he has done on the garden shed, things that I never could have managed.  However, he brought an extra wheel barrow to the garden, and how could I resist filling it with bits of prunings and dry leaves and the ever ubiguitous  cutch grass that I am trying to remove from amongst the flower beds.

I had a little nip of sherry, - warmed up a beef pot pie that has been awaiting me in the freezer, and now I shall say good-night and after my nightly session with gmail, and facebook and Skype, I will go to bed and sleep contented with the day......

A little poem that makes me feel that way, - contented!

Praise What Comes

surprising as unplanned kisses, all you haven't deserved
of days and solitude, your body's immoderate good health
that lets you work in many kinds of weather.  Praise

talk with just about anyone,  And quiet intervals, books
that are your food and your hunger;  nightfall and walks
before sleep.  Praising these for practice, perhaps

you will come at last to praise grief and the wrongs
you never intended.  At the end there may be no answers
and only a few very simple questions;  did I love,

finish my task in the world? Learn at least one
of the many names of God?  At the intersections,
the boundaries where one life began and another

ended, the jumping-off places between fear and
possibility, at the ragged edges of pain,
did I catch the smallest glimpse of the holy?

Jeanne Lohmann

G is for Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss) and Graduation

ABC Wednesday
The letter is G
and it's all about Ted  (Theodor)  Geisel and Graduation

Starting with Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss as he is known to millions of readers of all ages) and the wonderful poems he wrote to delight his readers,  I am thinking in particular about the last poem he wrote at the end of his life, when he was battling cancer.

"Oh, the Places You'll Go"

It is well known and most appropriate to those starting out in life, at birth, or about the beginning of a new venture, - say after Graduation, and his little book containing the poem is a popular gift for new babies and those preparing to leave school behind and face the Great Unknown.....

"Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away.

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own.  And you know what you know
And YOU are the guy who'll decided where to go

You'll look up and down streets.  Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

.......................

Dr. Seuss is not all roses and honey.  He acknowledges the challenges

and the loneliness we might encounter...

I'm afraid that some times
you'll pllay lonely games too.
Games you can't win
'cause you'll play against you.

All Alone!
Whether you like it or not.
Alone will be something
you'll be quite a lot

And when you're alone, there's a very good chance
you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.
There are some down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much you won't want to go on.

But on you will go......

....................

Somehow you'll escape
all that waiting and staying.
You'll find the bright places where Boom Bands are playing.

With banner flip-flapping,
once more you'll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky.
Ready because you're that kind of guy!

...................

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed)

..............

A great and encouraging overview of what lies ahead and how to deal with it, told in the kind of verse that keeps you reading and amused and challenged.

Sometimes when I stir in my sleep at night and reach for the hand that is no longer there I waken and think of Dr. Seuss and his poem (poignantly) and the possibilities it opens 

no matter where you are on time's schedule..

Oh, the Places you'll Go

I suppose the die-hard materialist would have little choice - you go up in flame or decompose.  But for those whose mind is open to other options - 

Who knows?  Who knows?

You just never know Where You Will Go, or what adventures await.

If you would like to hear the whole poem read here is a nice Youtube rendition....

More Gs here at ABC Wednesday

with thanks to  Denise and Roger and Gallant helpers.

The Weekend

1. A sunny day.  A walk to church, and then a lovely, lazy Sunday afternoon after such a pleasant day on the town yesterday.

We were off early Saturday morning, ( my daughter-in-law and I)

A beautiful spring-promise day - the trees had a faint aura of green, so early in the year, and the sun shone down through the morning sun, on to the lake.

and all the necessary purchases made by noon, so time for a leisurely lunch at Salty's on the lakeshore in Penticton. I had a most delicious sea food chowder, - mussels, clams, shrimp in a lovely red tomato soupy-sauce, and Terry enjoyed fish tacos and a nice spring salad.  Topped off with a Gingerbread Cheese Cake. - a specialty of the house.

There was a stiff wind blowing as we parked on the lakeshore, - not cold, but pretty brisk.  Enough to put white caps on the dark blue waters.

We stopped at the Flower Shop (which contains an enormous variety of flowers and garden accessories and jewellrey and bangles, and various other things to tempt the unwary shopper.  Over the years I have become more 'wary' and don side blinders (mentally) before I open the doors to treaure land.  For the first time in history I left the shop without purchasing anything, - although I greatly admired the pure white orchards and the glossy green orange tree with tiny oranges here and there.  I think the flower shop is a morning adventure, before the budget has felt the pressure of other purchases!!

The day continued bright and sunny as we returned to the Similkameen.  We passed the pretty lake community where all the willows are raising their golden limbs in welcome to spring

and the new calves are out in the meadow with their mothers

We had bought a new doorbell, and an added sound box that I planned to put in the loom room at the back of the house.  We had this nice drive home, little knowing that installing the new doorbell was going to be such a problem.

In the beginning, the batteries in the main doorbell button affair had laid down and died during their months on the shelves of the Hardware Store,  and they required us to go and get new batteries in the village.  Then, although the appendage was supposed to be audible at 150 feet, it was silent when we installed it in the loom room, just 40 feet away.  No Westminster Chimes to alert me when I am at the loom.......I was thankful for a daughter-in-law who was so patient and capable and cheerful, even when it didn't work!!

Well, life is made up of pleasant surprises and disappointments,  and ever the twain shall meet!!!

I visited this afternoon at No. 44 Scotland Street, with Alexander McCall Smith, whose new adventures there arrived in the mail just the other day.  Callie and I dozed a bit, read a bit more about the residents on Scotland Street and enjoyed the sun shining through the prism 

that hangs in the front window.

We warmed up some chili for supper and watched the finals

of the Canada Women's Curling -

great excitement, lots of frantic sweeping instructions

making the air ring above the rink;

a very close competition, and in the end,

the very last rock,

Jennifer Jones led her team to a fifth championship.

It's back to the loom and out in the garden tomorrow!

While waiting for the Avon Lady

I hit the 'New Post' button with not a clue as to what I will write about!!!!  I seem devoid of inspiration!

I have been weaving this morning while I wait for the Avon Lady to visit with my order - the Avon Lady is a good friend - Callie is especially fond of her and loves the special attention she gives the furry creature greeting her at the door.

 Callie is also curious about the time we spend weaving, and often sits beside me, watching the shuttle being thrown back and forth, and the treadles moving up and down, up and down!  I am two thirds through the first blue towel, and am looking forward to changing the colour of the weft and the pattern - a great venture for someone with a short attention span!  And I speak of myself, not Callie.

She is a sweet cat, - demanding, but very affectionate, - at one time she used to lie on Charles' tummy as he watched TV in the recliner, - now she lays her head upon my breast and reaches her paws up to my neck, and is positively "suckey" - I think that's what the grandchildren say of her loving ways.

Both she and I are happy with the way February is opening itself to spring, - we have both been house-bound for too long, and when I closed the garden gate to make it secure for her, and opened the little cat door on the porch, she was quite ecstatic and was off into familiar corners of the garden where she watches the villagers who walk the lane, and probably all sorts of bugs and strange creatures that inhabit the garden.

The Daphne is in bloom, - so early.  And the Hellebore in the front garden, - although that in the back, which doesn't get as much sun, is reluctant to open its stubby green buds.  The weatherman says three sunny days starting Sunday, and I look forward to raking up the leaves that an early winter snow covered in November, and if I put them into windrows my son-in-law will come with his mower and chop them into little bits to nourish the lawn.

The other day, while the clerk who looks after the flower display in the local grocery store was putting out this week's plants and flowers, I treated myself to a pretty bowl of double white narcissis, and a small pot of purple crocus - the narcissis is so fragrant, - I have changed the place where I sit at the table so I can be closer to it and inhale the lovely smell of spring!

Soon the bulbs in the garden (which are shooting wonderful green swords all along the side bed) will be swelling with lovely pregnant buds.  The teasels on the nut tree grow rounder and fatter and more golden each day,  and I am on the watch for the scarlet stubs of rhubarb.

And here is the Avon Lady, and I have not put up any pictures of catkins or cats or flowers, but I will post this anyway, and save photos for another day.....

Frogs

ABC Wednesday
February 18th, 2015

The letter is F and as you have probably already guessed, F stands for Frogs, and here is Red Skelton to entertain you with a poem about those little green creatures.

Enjoy, - and for more great Fs fandangle over to ABC Wednesday, here, and say thanks to Denise, Roger and all frivolous helpers who keep ABC Wednesday on the map, so to speak.

This, that and the other.....

I woke this morning to a bright blue sky - oh heavenly, heavenly...

Soon there was a rosy cloud hugging the mountain tops to the east,

 and the day was beginning to look quite promising.

Well, it was quite promising.

I had a date to go for lunch with Margaret and her daughter Susan, 

who each Sunday drives down from Kelowna to take her mother out and about 

and to a new place for lunch each week.... 

 A splendid daughter!

Margaret is one of my dearest friends from newly married days,

 and farming days, and raising a family at the same time days, 

so we have many memories to share.

Today I was included in their Sunday adventure

 and we set off to Osoyoos, and lunch at Spirit Ridge, 

the wonderful venture that the Osoyoos Indian Band has achieved under the direction

 of their exemplary Chief, Clarence Louie

We set off down through the Lower Similkameen Valley, with the sun shining on snowy peaks, and the meadows suggestive of the colours of spring.

Up over the Pass that skirts the US border

Soon we were overlooking the lake and the vineyards and orchards as we descended into and through the lovely touristy town of Osoyoos.

and up the hill to Spirit Ridge and  the NK'MIP vineyard and resort

Lunch was delicious.  We sat by the window and chatted and admired the view.

we took the back road to Oliver, awash in vineyards,

The sun on the mountains shadowed the contours of the hills and vales

and revealed the small rills and valleys, hidden so gloomily by the last months' 

mists and pewter sky.

 We went past  Macintyre Bluff, whose geological past is

absolutely fascinating -

and I was thrilled to see the shadows cast by eager limbs, the grass turning green

 and the sap rising

spring-time yellow in the willow trees

Around Vaseaux Lake and the Bird Sanctuary, we came at last

to the turn around spot and went westward again towards the Similkameen

and home.

Well, that's the this and that.....

As for 'the other' I have been dressing the loom in left-over cotton,

and now I am weaving!!!!

Very prosaic tea towels, but it gives

me much pleasure and relaxation to have the shuttle moving

from hand to hand, through perfectly lovely sheds,

and the pattern growing

under my hands.

Weaving and Sunshine - what more could one ask !!!!!!

A poem by Robert Bly entitled 'The Third Body' caught my attention today, the chosen poem for

 "A Year of Being (which I read assiduously each day and even commit to memory 

some of those lines that I find especially appropriate to life as it is these days.....

A man and a woman sit near each other, and they do not long

at this moment to be older, or younger, nor born

in any other nation, or time, or place.

They are content to be where they are, talking or not talking.

Their breaths together feed someone whom we do not know.

The man sees the way his fingers move;

he sees her hands close around a book she hands to him.

They obey a third body that they share in common.

They have made a promise to love that body.

Age may come, parting may come, death will come.

A man and a woman sit near each other;

as they breathe they feed someone we do not know,

someone we know of, whom we have never seen.

I mused upon the words and thought, 'yes, that could be who keeps me company through the lonely nights and the sometimes barren days.'.

Since I have lived alone I find myself talking sometimes to the cat, sometimes to inanimate objects, sometimes to various body parts, like back and knees and nose 

and sometimes even bladder.  

And often to this 'someone we know of, whom we have never seen'

 but who was created from all our years together,  

all our contentment, all our passion.

In order to dispel the 'blah' of February I decided I would return to the loom 

with purpose and enthusiasm, 

and so I found a promising looking pattern for tea towels described as "Peacful Rhythm Towels" - just what I needed to keep myself on track and cheerful, 

and to accomplish my goal of using up as much of my wool and cotton stash as possible.

Well, this involves a lot of talking to the Back, which gets weary leaning over the loom,

 threading the heddles. 

 And the Knees, which may creak and groan as I bend them and kneel, 

but are much more recalcitrant when I start to get up! 

 In order to appease the Back I have been threading the heddles in small portions,

which allows for a lot of traffic back and forth along the hall way.

On one journey to and fro I decided half way down the hall that I would go back and get a cup of coffee, and so I turned back to go to the kitchen.  

On my way I thought about a pair of scissors I needed that were in my bedroom.  

Well, - bedroom, yes - that's right by the ensuite, 

and my bladder, over the years, has become quite familiar with this small room

 and often anxious to visit there.  

So, of course, the suggestion was made and that over, we started back for the coffee, 

and then back down the hall to the loom room. 

 I am not sure what 'someone we know of, whom we have never seen' 

thought about all these perambulations,

 but I know that if Charles happened to be looking down

 he would have furrowed his brow and said "I never should have left her alone!!"

Well, the heddles are all threaded and now I have replaced the reed and am starting to sley it

- it gives me a lovely feeling of accomplishment, 

even though my body parts may complain tiresomely.

And I know what I am going to do tomorrow!!  

Sley the dent a bit at a time, - tie on to the front beam, 

and start the shuttle going back and forth!!!!

Callie sits beside me as I work, curious as to what I am doing, 

and eager to keep me company, I think.  

Along with that dear 'third person' created by such long familiarity and love.

Lady Ella

ABC Wednesday
February 11th, 2015
The letter is E

for ELLA FITZGERALD

The Queen of Jazz - The First Lady of Song.

Ella Jane Fitzgerald was an American jazz vocalist with a vocal range spanning three octaves!!

She was noted for her purity of tone, her impeccable diction, her phrasing and intonation

and a "horn-like' improvisational ability,

particularly in her scat singing. (Google)

In honour of the season of Love, threee special recordings.....

Enjoy!!

Many thanks to Roger and Denise and all Elegant helpers who keep this meme

 circulating and bring pleasure to all who take part.  

To see more great Es click here for ABC Wednesday

Dingbats and Doggerel

ABC Wednesday
February 4th, 2015

The letter for the week is D
The subject is Dingbats and Doggerel

Starting with the Doggerel I go to visit with my old friend, Ogden Nash, who has huddled on my book shelves for nigh  on to seventy years, entertaining me on many occasions with his humorous verse, - his elegant doggerel.  (Doggerel - light verse, usually of irregular metre, often dealing with nonsensical subjects, and looked down upon by many litur guru' ists  -  not connected with the church but a doggerel word for literary critics)

Here is an example from Nash's 'Good Intentions" which seems especially relevant on these gloomy sunless February days.

Here We Go Quietly Nuts in May

Do you hanker for April showers,

Or a rarefied day in June?

Give me a grade-A May day,

And please deliver it soon.

I am weary of branches naked,

Creaking like lovelorn cats;

The earth underfoot half baked 

And the sun overhead ersatz.

Send me a balmy zephyr

To play me a rigadoon,

And I'll gulp of my grade-A May day

Till my hiccups hammer the moon.

And another little brief verse about the Porpoise

I kind of like the playful porpoise,

A healthy mind in a healthy corpus.

He and his cousin, the playful dolphin,

Why they like swimmin like I like golphin.

As to Dingbats, well, probably the most well-known is Edith,  in Archie Bunker, but Dingbats also refers to a type of font similar to Wingdings that provides the writer with all sorts of signs, symbols and graphics.

And to a 'Paul Sellars'  word game popular in the United Kingdom and in North America, where it is known as Whatzit.

Dingbats are 'cunningly disquised names, phrases and sayings that are turned around, upside-down, sideways or jumbled up.  You need to work out the hidden word or phrase on each card.  It could be the size, position or direction that will give you a clue.  Sometimes the pictures combined with a word or a number will give you your answer'  (thanks to Mr. Google)      .

Examples   -  ALL world.         (it's a small world after all)

                    Q ♂♂♂E2  (three men in a boat)

                    Mail       Male        (postman)
Sounds like a most entertaining way to exercise the brain.

For more Ds drop in at ABC Wednesday, here, - with many thanks to Roger, Denise and all Dependable helpers.

Sunday evening

Well, at one time I could follow a game of football with some excitement, 

but I seem to have lost my enthusiasm, and although the Super-Bowl is on the TV,
 with all its amazing commercials, I am only getting glimpses of it as I pass through 

on my usual happy hour/supper time routine, 

and I am going to switch when the Great British Bakeoff comes on 

as I find it much more fascinating than the Patriots and the SeaHawks 

(though I would like to see the Seahawks win and I think their mascot was most impressive 

as he led the team out onto the field!!!!

.  And when I went to consult Mr. Google about a photo of him I also discovered these facts......

Ryan Asdourian can walk down the halls of his office building 
on Microsoft's Redmond campus and nary a head will turn.
Put him in his Sunday outfit, though, and heads pop out of offices,
smartphone cameras appear and one person after another stops to greet him -
especiall in these days of Seahawks playoff fever.
Such is the double life of Asdourian, 32, a Microsoft employee
who is also the man inside the costume of 'Blitz'  the Seattle 
Seahawk Mascot.
Most days of the year, Asdourian, a ten year Microsoft veteran,
works on getting developers to create apps 
for the Windows platform.

On game day Sundays and for charity events, Asdourian dons the blue
fuzzy-headed big-beaked costume, which adds
muscular padding and three inches to his already six foot tall frame.

His weekday presentation patter goes silent
while his physical antics grow bolder and bigger.
"When I'm in the costume there is a character for Blitz...
you transform"  Blitz, he said, "is the Seahawks
biggest fan.  He pumps up the crowd, loves kids, loves to be goofy,
has a lot of fun.  You're excited
and you're representative of the team,
so you end up walking a little bit differently,
carrying that excitement with you."

I really had planned to watch the whole game, while I knitted another lace scarf, but I do miss Charles to comment and cheer with!
Not great sport fans, but we could get quite involved when the stakes were high....
 I remember pacing up and down the garden, outside,
when the Penticton Vs were winning the World Title all those many years ago,
 - it was just too fraught to listen to (radio - before TV)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

It is later now.

I watched the Bakeoff and was fascinated by the sugary carmel creations

and the European Yeast Cake

And then I got lost in Downton Abbey

and watched Lord Crawley scuffle on the floor

with the thin art dealer who was prepared to take advantage

of Lady Cora.

An elegant evening soap opera, I think, although

it does have educational overtones.

I switched back to the football game and was just in time

to see the fantastic fumble recovery and

the heartbreaking end to the game.

At least to Seahawk fans and other westerners. 

And so goes Sunday evening - I didn't get a lot of knitting done.

Lace patterns take a fair amount of concentration

and I found the needles stilled in my hands for

long stretches of time .

Did you remember to say White Rabbits this morning ?

I woke about two a.m. and took advantage of my

wakefulness to call upon the White Rabbit

for a pleasant, sunny February.

I woke at seven to find a light dusting of snow of the ground.

What does that say for the Wite Rabbit;  and

just how much faith should one put in his magic?

Or is it up to each of us to live day by day,

accepting what comes with good will  and gratefulness?????

Enough philosophizing - I think I will spend a bit of time

trying to master Candy Crush which

I have taken up instead of Luminosity.  Much more fun to see the candies

crushed, and just as much of a challenge to the brain.

P.S  I am not sure why Blogger has changed backgrounds in mid stream
but so be it.....

Though we need to grieve your loss

You dwell in that safe place in our hearts

Where no storm or night or pain can reach you.

John O'Donohue

My Sister

July 7, 1930 - January 24, 2015

Dorothy Alice Ruth (Thompson) Duguid

A bright light in my life

A few memories in tribute....

Though our mother bequeathed to us both

her love of threads and fabric

and a portion of her wonderful creativity

my sister received the gift in spades;

and along with it 

my mother's generosity

and giving spirit.

My house, and that of her children and grandchildren, I'm sure,

 is full of her beautiful pottery, her sewing projects and her exquisite needlework.

Out in the garden, for the last thirty years,

a ceramic owl she made has kept stray cats at bay

and has sheltered under the peonies and iris and various shrubs.

and she had a lovely garden

Five and a half years younger than me

we did not have the closeness growing up that

sisters born closer together would have shared,

but later, especially after we lost our mother 

who she had cared for so dearly and patiently in her late teens,

even though we lived far apart there was a

relationship that I cherished.

She was the little one at home when I first started school,

 and for companionship she had a

loyal and loving bull terrier who was with her constantly.

As one of her daughters has remarked she is probably

running free in the fields of Heaven

with Jabby at her heels. 

 I like to imagine that image!

She had such a busy and energetic life -

As a teen-ager she and a friend started a lending library in our home

(school libraries at that time were strictly for research, and not for the 

pleasure of reading)

a wonderful cook, - her recipes are treasured in my handbook of cookery;

she made her pottery skills and her kiln available to the classes she taught; 

and in later years she was a caring health aide and a comfort

to the sick and elderly.

I was in awe of her craft room, where her creativity

abounded in so many different and ingenious ways. 

And so pleased when she took up and mastered the Computer

and we were able to share all sorts of digital endeavours.

She was so proud of her children and her grandchildren,

and took such delight in them, and in conveying tales about

their visits and their accomplishments.

After a decade of suffering and sickness

I think that death, in the end, was a friend to her,

and I cannot begrudge her the release from pain,

but oh, I shall miss her - her laugh,

the news of her family,  our conversations about

politics and religion and children

and just everything that sisters talk about with a dear familiarity.

Rest easy, my lovely sibling.