Shinhatsubai!

this is just to say

Popping in to post some photos to fill up the space.
These were taken by my sister, which I Poladroided.

Rosenbaum House , Florence, Alabama











At and around Forks of Cypress, Florence, Alabama
 

wednesday afternoon miscellany

Christmas wishlist:
Simply Breakfast: More Please
3191: A Year of Mornings
Uh... Kindle? Pretty please?

Christmas craft:
Clothespin church tutorial at Bloesem
Origami stars at  A Foothill Home Companion
DIY cereal gift box at Green Upgrader
Little birdie advent calendar and a candy wreath how-to at Skip To My Lou 
Martinmas laterns at Uncommon Grace and Mayfly

not-necessarily-Christmas cooking (The "I've got two chickens and a new-to-me vintage roasting pan from Nana" edition):
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Pot-roasted chicken and vegetables
Zuni Cafe's Roast Chicken
Thomas Keller's favorite roast chicken

Christmas listening:
The New Possibility: John Fahey's Guitar Soli Christmas Album (thanks to Angry Chicken)
December, George Winston (A childhood favorite, though I didn't realize it until now)
Light of the Stable, Emmylou Harris (so very nice)
and the supercute A Lovely Way To Spend Christmas, from Kristen Chenoweth

my own song

"Each person who ever was or is or will be has a song. It isn't a song that anybody else wrote. It has its own melody, it has its own words. Very few people get to sing their own song. Most of us fear that we cannot do it justice with our voices, or that our words are too foolish or too honest, or too odd. So people live their songs instead."

-Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman

I used to have a great song, but I haven't heard it in a while. Maybe I just haven't been listening.

roundup

 

mending the Christmas whirligig

contemplating:
Light Keeper
Bread Meeting
(from Holy Experience)
Are You Good at Waiting? (from Go To Bethlehem and See)
I'm a Recovering Unconscious Consumer (from Five More Minutes)
The Story of Stuff
The Waste No Food Challenge (from The Non-Consumer Advocate)

loving:
This Sara Crewe homage (at The Unicorn Diaries)
listography
twitter

cooking and eating:
These paper baking baskets (at Wild Yeast) are genius. I don't know why it never occurred to me to make my own!
Veselka's Cabbage Soup (from Smitten Kitchen) looks nice and warming.
This mushroom casserole (From 101 Cookbooks) will be on the table tonight.
Magic Coffee (from Study in Brown) sounds tasty.

Christmas crafting:
"Joy" snowflake trees (from The Long Thread)
Nordic house ornaments (from Orange Flower)
Little house ornament (from Pimp Stitch)
Fabric tree tutorial (from Resurrection Fern)

cut and paste

(I just noticed that the URL for my last post is super long and crazy. I was editing a draft post and ended up writing a whole new post from the same page without thinking. Whoops!)

I've started journaling, after a nearly ten-year hiatus (in a notebook that is at least as old). It feels good to actually write things down for my own record. I've forgotten what it's like to "talk" things out with myself (or with God, in my prayer journal), to put down the thoughts that run around and around my head.  I'm also trying out visual journaling, which is a lot of fun, and a great help to kickstart creativity. I'm a notorious notebook hoarder, so I've got plenty of pages to fill. I've noticed that it's helping me in my feeble attempts to study Scripture. If I use magazine clippings or sketches to illustrate a particular passage, it tends to stick better.

Not a bad way to remind myself of my future goals, either.

partake

"Why is saying grace a good eating habit? Besides being one of the most common ways for families to worship on a daily basis, a mealtime blessing makes you more conscious of what you're eating. Consider naming the food as you give thanks for it. Don't just consume, partake. If your eating habits are bad, one reason could be that they are unconscious; you take food for granted. A little ceremony before you eat could make you more aware of eating."

-from "The Yankee Way to Simplify Your Life: Old-Fashioned Wisdom For a New-Fangled World"

weekend miscellany

craft:

• Indy-style bullwhip made from duct tape. This is so cool, I might need to make my own and play Indiana Jones in the backyard. I'm not too old for games, right? Maybe I'll just pass this on to some kids that I know.

• I've been making pleated bags, getting back in the crafting gig. I bought a ton of corduroy for dirt cheap, in lots of great colors like charcoal and navy and grey. 
  pleated bag links:
  Etsy
  a simple tutorial
  more tutorials at U-handblog

etc:

• Real Simple blogs. I've stopped subscribing to Real Simple, in an effort to curb my magazine addiction. But every so often, I cave in and buy an issue. The blogs (and the website as a whole) are a good online stand-in for the real thing. 


• Speaking of Real Simple, this "How To Fold Anything" feature is awesome.


• Heard of Mygazines? Like I mentioned, I have a weakness for glossies. I think it's brilliant, but I don't know how the publishers feel...

eat:
I made a birthday cake for my boss the other day. I'm quite proud of it, though the photos I took at midnight don't do it any justice. I used a recipe for a devil's food cake with chocolate ganache from Martha's Baking Handbook. Instead of peppermint flavoring for the ganache, I used orange flavoring. It was a delicious triumph. And surprisingly easy, since it was my first officially decorated cake.

martha martha martha

The new issue of Martha Stewart Living might just be my favorite one so far. How to save heirloom tomato seeds, green tomato pickles using jarred pickle brine, chowder recipes, and Shaker style.





Beautiful, no?

love : gene kelly

I love Gene Kelly musicals.
Singin' in the Rain, 1952



An American in Paris, 1951

saturday morning

Tearing the house apart, looking for my coin collection. No luck, but I've stumbled on other things along the way.

1. mums, 2. mamaw's apron, 3.paper, 4. bag of marbles, 5. banner, 6. a mess