Plants

Last spring I wrote a lot about starting a garden. And then I didn't do it. The garden plots are half way across town and are almost not worth the effort. If my landlord would let me plant a garden right there in the yard, you can bet I would be all over that. But I don't think he would appreciate me digging up all his grass and whatnot. Plus, there are tons of rabbits living by my house.

The other day I was talking to a friend about the garden plots and she thought it was a great idea. So we're going to plant a garden (for realsies this time). Even if she decides to back out or whatever, I think I will still go for it. Because it may be half way across town. It may use more gas to get from my apartment to the garden than it does to get from my apartment to the grocery store. But there's something fulfilling about growing one's own food.

My family had a garden almost every year as I was growing up. I've been out of my parents' house for almost four years now, but when I go to visit in the summer, the first thing I look for when I get there is to see how the garden looks (and if there are any zucchini ready to pick!). It is one of the things I miss most about living at my parents' home. Planting, harvesting, enjoying the vegetables. One of the reasons I look forward to owning my own home (and land) someday is that I'll be able to have a garden. (Well, several gardens: vegetable, herb, flower, etc.)

As I sit here, pondering gardens... I wonder about my predilection for wooded areas. Maybe it comes not from the intrinsic naturalness of the place, but instead because I am surrounded by the cycle of plant life-seedlings bursting forth, growing and thriving plants, and those that are returning to the earth to provide nourishment to the next generation. Odd, that that should just now occur to me. Do plants have spirits? Can an oak tree spirit be a guide? Witches (and non-witches) are guided by wolves and panthers and turtles and mice and dragons all the time. Can the spirits of plants help guide us through life as well?

Thoughts to ponder on this cold winter's night (one of the last, supposed to be 57 next week!).

Snow Ice Cream

With all that extra blizzard-snow just laying around, I thought Camden and I would do something with it... Make ice cream!! I hadn't done this since I was a kid, and it was lots of fun.



Get your snow! About 4 or 5 cups, unpacked. Scoop it up now then store it in your freezer until it's time to add to the mix.



One cup milk! Real milk or fake milk, it seems to work just fine.



1/2 teaspoon vanilla



1/2 cup sugar



Stir until the sugar has dissolved into the milk



Add snow to the milk/sugar/vanilla.



Stir! Quick, before it all melts!



We added some chocolate to ours, about 1.4 cup Hershey's chocolate syrup. It looks like malt-o-meal and has an odd texture... But it's still yummy!

Happy Imbolc!

Winter wonderland

It was actually warm enough to enjoy some time outside this afternoon! So Cam and I went and tromped around the park (I made a snow angel) and we also made a snow man!







Camden donated his scarf and hat to the snowman, so the poor thing wouldn't melt. Though, the real danger is from rabbits tearing it down during the night to get to that scrumptious nose!

Pay it Forward

Found this over at Mother Moon's blog and I like it! So here I am, following her example.

A simple little exchange of sorts. The rules are as follows:

* Create something hand crafted for the first five people who leave a comment on this post who say they wish to participate.

* To play along one must be willing to likewise repost these instructions and also create something handmade for the first five people who comment on their post.

* All gifts are to be created and handed out during 2011.

Just a warning: My gifts are likely to be baked goods. Mostly because that's all I can "hand craft." (Though other options for you are a knitted scarf or hat. Or... Something. Like coasters. Or smudge sticks! ;) hehe) Just be sure to leave your email address so I can email you for your physical address.

Winter's End (almost)

(Photo by thanq)

At this time of the year, we are solidly in Winter's grasp. It's as though she knows her time is growing short, so she begins to throw everything she can at us. Imbolc is just around the corner, which is the beginning of the end of winter. This is the time of the year when the natural world is quietly slumbering and slowly gathering its strength to awaken in a few short weeks in a riot of color and life and breath. A time where I begin to get Spring fever and crave green and warm sunshine and gentle rains. It's as though I can feel the energy gathering in the world around me, and I can feel its affect on me.

I've been cleaning and organising my house almost nonstop for two weeks now. Not to say that it is any cleaner or more organised than when I began, but well, I've been trying. ;) Of course, this has probably been helped by having out of town visitors and new furniture (a "junior" loft bed for Camden) which facilitated a whirl of furniture moving (SFMA, anyone?) and other organisation. But I'm still ascribing most of the fault to the building energy I feel every time I step outside.

I've also been channeling some of this energy into more creative outlets. As I said in an earlier post, my senior recital is coming up this Spring. And I've been spending lots of time in the practice room preparing and learning the pieces I've chosen. I feel like I've gotten a lot of work done in the short time since the semester started.

I can also sense some of the effects it's having on Camden. We are slowly making strides to clearer speech. He's still not as vocal as a "typical" 4.5 year old, but he is more vocal than he was a year ago. But more than that, he's beginning to add end sounds (previously missing without prompting) to his words. Sometimes it's the wrong sound (rote or roke as opposed to rope), but any attempt is a step in the right direction.

I want to buy some crocuses. And, uh, let them "escape" into my (rented) yard. Crocuses are my favorite part of Spring, because they are its heralds. I smile every time I see them, especially when I see them poking up through the snow. Anyway. I hope you all are enjoying this time of quiet energy. I am!

Bowling!!!

My parents came to visit Cam and I earlier this week, and I managed to convince them to take us bowling. And it was SO MUCH FUN! I hadn't been in years, and the last time I went, I did very poorly. So it was nice to go and have fun and do well. (I bowled a 128, which is pretty average, right?) Camden had a fun time, also, and has already started bugging me to go back. hehe Silly kid. :)

My new favourite cookies

So I've been craving chocochip cookies for about a month and a half now. But, you see, I have an issue with cookies. I don't like hard cookies (generally). And I don't like "chewy" cookies, because they are either soggy or are only "chewy" for a day or two, after which, they are hard as a rock. I like cakey/soft cookies. Ones that stay soft if stored properly. So anyway, I wanted soft, cakey, delicious, chocolate chip cookies. And the only chocochip recipes I have make the usual crumbly, brittle, hard cookies. Ew.

So I went searching!

And found one! Well, okay. I altered it a bit in order to make the cookies I wanted, not to mention I was missing an ingredient or two.

Recipe for 24(ish) Chocochip Cookies

1 1/2 C flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
2/3 C butter, softened
1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 C white sugar
1/2 pkg instant vanilla pudding
1 egg
3/4 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 c chocolate chips
3/4 c chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Sift together flour and baking soda; set aside.
Cream butter and sugars.
Mix in pudding mix.
Add eggs and vanilla.
Stir in the flour mixture.
Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

Bake for 10 minutes.

That was the recipe I started with. I added some flour. (Don't know how much! I'm so terrible at keeping track! lol) I also substituted almond flavoring for vanilla, which I was out of. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I should have used almonds instead of walnuts in my cookies, but that may have been overkill.

These turned out to be absolutely delicious (as you probably guessed, what with the title of the post and all). Definitely in my top three favourite cookies.