Sunshine and Snow

Sun shining through snowfall

     I am not a fan of winter. I don't like to be cold or cold and wet, or chilled or being wrapped up in multiple layers in order to keep warm. That said, I do love the look of winter, especially when there is sunshine involved. This morning, I had to take my son into town and as soon as I stepped out of my front door, this was the image that greeted me. I took a picture with my cell phone camera, but it doesn't quite capture the snow that was falling, which made the whole scene very magical. Sometimes beauty can distract me from discomfort, isn't that wonderful? It was 1 degree outside, 1 degree, a single lonely digit. But the sunshine made the snow glitter and shimmer and it was ok, better than ok. It was the beginning of a lovely day.

End of the Season

Holidays 2010 Survival Badge

     The Epiphany has passed and for me, so has the Christmas and New Year holiday season. The spirit remains, but all the decorations need to be put away, the radio is back to pop and oldies from the 70's and 80's, as well as NPR, my very favorite station. And although my new badge says, "I survived the holidays 2010," I enjoyed every minute. I love family time, cooking, visiting friends, decorating and remembering what the holiday is all about. The Reverend at our church gave a wonderful sermon on last Sunday. The part that stood out the most was to envision myself with a "team Christ" shirt on at all times. Although he didn't put it quite that way, you get the picture. Would it change the way you live your life if everyone could see that on your person? Would you be kinder, more forgiving, more pleasant, more honest...all those things that you feel are Christ like characteristics? I'd like to think I would be, but recently had it challenged. While visiting a friend, the conversation moved to less kind words about a mutual acquaintance that had burned many bridges over the last few years. And although I wanted to be kind and forgiving, it was very difficult. How do you forgive another person's lack of kindness? And then how do you tell your friends that you are over it without making them feel that you are preaching? They may not be ready to move on yet and still need to vent to a friend. I know there has to be a healthy balance, but I think it will take me a long time to really find it, but I am intent on finding it. And I respect everyone's religious and spiritual beliefs. Or lack of, for that matter. No judging, no bible thumping, no preaching. We all have our own journeys and adventures in this life.
     What do I see on the horizon lately? School starts again soon, Valentine's Day is around the corner. I want to make a few Valentine's Day cards before school starts, since I may not have the time once my classes are all under way. So I'll be collecting some fun images to play with and hopefully, I'll have a couple cards finished by next weekend. I am also being pulled by my torch and know that I have to spark my torch up this weekend, no matter what! Glass needs to be melted and beads need to be made!!! And then there is my kitchen. Enchiladas want to be made today, so I think that is what we will have for dinner. Either that or a caprese salad type pizza. I know, so completely different, but what can I say, the taste buds want what they want. More snow here as well, hoping to spend the weekend all snuggled up at home, creating, creating, creating...!

Christmas, New Year and Cooking

Christmas Trees Christmas Card 2010

     This is is the second Christmas card I made this year, which I said I would post at a later date. Again, created with visual journal techniques. The Santa card is my favorite, but my husband liked this one too, so we sent both styles out this year. I really love the freedom of creating these types of images using so many layers and mediums until I'm happy. It is pure play, and I'm so joyful when I have all my art supplies out and can just create with intuition, doing whatever makes me happy in that moment, I highly recommend it.
     Moving onto the new year. I made a list of resolutions in my last post, but later realized I left one out that I have to include. So resolution #14 is to have three meatless dinners a week. My intention is not to eventually become a vegetarian, I am a professed meat lover. However, considering the latest research about red meat (which is my favorite kind of meat), which is less than favorable, and considering that I don't think I get enough veggies in my weekly diet, I want to try this idea out and see what happens. Will I feel better? Lose weight? Save money? Lower my cholesterol? Thrill my family? Try new veggies? Create new recipes? Turn into a vegetable? Who knows, but I can't help feeling that this is a good thing, so on the list it goes! I'll keep you posted. And by meatless, I mean nothing with a face, no fish, no fowl no animals.

"Sorta-Bubby's" blueberry muffins

     And now for my baking fiasco. I made muffins. Blueberry muffins. All wrong. I got this wonderful new cookbook from my friend Jo in New York, "Bubby's Brunch Cookbook." It has a wonderful blueberry muffin recipe that I couldn't wait to try. Soooo, a couple nights ago, I woke up at 4:30 a.m., which I rarely do, and decided to whip up some muffins and surprise my kids at breakfast. I gathered the ingredients, preheated the oven, and began. I decided that the muffins would be better if I used my new demerara sugar instead of the white granulated sugar the recipe called for. Sigh, first mistake. Since I had to cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy first, I realized almost immediately my mistake, but too late. The demerara sugar is much coarser than the white sugar and would not completely dissolve and create that light and fluffy mix, and I beat it f-o-r-e-v-e-r! Oh well, I thought, just add the rest of the ingredients and pray that they are still edible. So I finished up and as I was scooping the thick batter into the muffin tin liners, I thought, "this batter is really thick, too thick." I finished filling the tin with batter and placed it into the oven. Then I sat down with the book and reread the recipe. It called for 12 Tbls of butter, which I believe is = 1 stick of butter, at 4:30 a.m. At 5:15 a.m., 12 Tbls is = 1 1/2 sticks of butter, because that is when my brain is fully engaged! And I still had another batch to bake, lol, and since the blueberries were already folded in, there was no way to add more butter, oil or anything. The muffins did turn out well enough. Out of the 24 I made yesterday morning, there are none left this morning, a good sign. But I now know that I should not be near an oven before 5:30 or 6 a.m. So, what I made were "sorta-Bubby's" blueberry muffins, and they were "sorta" good.