my blog

recipes, adventures & herbal inspiration

Cake, Care, and Winter Happinesses

Cake, Care, and Winter Happinesses

It is shiveringly cold today, with an icy wind that goes right to your bones and sets you a-trembling. In between dashes to the laundry line to hang up wet clothes (brrr!), I've been staying nice and warm inside, making cauliflower potato soup, doing dishes, and...

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Bring Out the Mama Bear

Bring Out the Mama Bear

Yesterday afternoon as thick, black clouds blotted out the sun and made our little world wonderfully dark and still, I sat on the veranda with my Luna girl and just enjoyed it. Grass parrots flitting about in streaks of color, occasional bleats from the newborn goats...

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Things That Restore

Things That Restore

I'm taking advantage of a lull in our lovely but chaotic week to have a coffee, a bit of coffee cake, and a new episode of Midsomer Murders. It feels so good to sit awhile and catch my breath, think through my errand list for this afternoon and relax knowing dinner is...

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Beach Comforts

Beach Comforts

As we packed up our rain-drenched camp, Bear and I were sore and tired, not looking forward to 3 hours in the car to get home. As we loaded the last few items and tied down the tarp, our friend Adam made our day by inviting us to his place to rest our bones on his...

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Medieval Camping and Other Fiascoes

Medieval Camping and Other Fiascoes

Sometimes the best laid and dearly loved plans run thoroughly and utterly amok. This past weekend for example. Bear and I had been working hard for months getting ready for a medieval reenactor's weekend with swarms of our best loved medieval friends. We were looking...

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An Autumn Campfire and Homemade Hungarian Sausages

An Autumn Campfire and Homemade Hungarian Sausages

It was a jolly and exhausting weekend with our good friends, Sue and Vincent, as we worked hard and played hard in preparation for our first medieval event of the season. There was new garb to model with whoops and catcalls from cheeky onlookers, menus to plan, and a...

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Good Days

Good Days

After a still, cloudy day, the late afternoon is streaming through the trees casting long shadows over the grazing goats and dancing across my bedspread. It's been a good but busy week, and I'm basking in this moment of quietness and light. It's been so nice to be out...

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Rest, Play, and Be Very, Very Gentle With Yourself

Rest, Play, and Be Very, Very Gentle With Yourself

"Rest, play, and be very, very gentle with yourself." That's what my new specialist told me when I went to see her a couple weeks ago. She knew the therapies we're trying would knock me flat for a while, so she wanted to make sure I was taking the very best care of...

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Autumn Mornings

Autumn Mornings

“I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house." Nathaniel Hawthorne The storms have passed and Autumn is here in full, golden glory. The world seems rich, as if everything has been dipped in shimmering amber. Especially in...

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