All Things Nice

 

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Today I am flooding my page with all things that are nice, because in the light of what we have been going through in the year 2020 to date, we could all use a little bit of nice.    

MUSIC 

 

Best I love September's yellow.

morns of dew-strung gossamer,

Thoughtful days without a stir,

Rooky clamours, brazen leaves,

Stubbled dotted o'er with sheaves --

More than Sprng's bright uncontrol

Suit the Autumn of my soul . . . 

~Alex Smith 

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Oddly enough yesterday I almost forgot about it being the Anniversary of 9/11.  I never thought I would ever forget that date.  Its like the Corona Virus has wiped my brain in some ways.  I did however remember late in the afternoon what date it was and my mind went back to that horrible day when the whole world changed.  Instead of dwelling on the horror of it however I thought about the many, many examples of cream that rose to the top on that day.  The heroes.  About how the world banded together in a unison of support and love for America and for the world a beautiful unity of caring, compassion, and humanity. 

Yesterday was also Doreen's Birthday so I spent a few moments remembering her. I miss my friend.  

 

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"I wish I was a poet like the men that write in books

The poems that we have to learn on valleys, hills an' brooks;

I'd write of things that children like an' know an' understand,

An' when the kids recited them the folks would call them grand.

If I'd been born a Whittier, instead of what I am,

I'd write a poem now about a piece of bread an' jam."

~Edgar A  Guest  

Yesterday was a bread and jam kind of day.  I had some for my supper in the evening. Very naughty. One slice whole wheat with peach jam and one slice white with strawberry jam.  It made me think of my ex-mil Elizabeth.  She is in her 90's now and has an independant apartment in a home for the Elderly in Berwick, Nova Scotia.  Elizabeth and I got on line a house on fire.  She was always one of my favourite people. I used to love to watch her eating Toast and jam.  She was always on a diet. She would break her toast into small pieces and each piece got a full spoon full of jam dabbed on top.  It was almost like my being there gave her permission to throw caution to the wind.  I think we all need someone in our lives who allows us the permission to just let our hair down and be. And we all need bread and jam suppers every now and then.

 

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Run, by asheers 

I know that dogs only live a fraction of the time we have been given here on the earth, but they do pack an awful lot of life into those 12 or 14 years.  Oh to be able to run through the fields and throw all care to the wind, to feel the breath of the air brushing past my face, ears flapping, and the bounce of the earth beneath my paws.  Such happy, such bliss . . . 

Speaking of happy  . . . 

 

I told myself that each month I would use a portion of my earnings from writing for Home Chef World and buy myself a food prop to use in my writings on the blog.  This  month I bought a happy mug from the Scandanavian pantry.  I also bought a spoon to match.  

 

They just make me happy looking at them.  We all need a little bit of happy now and then. 

  

I am about to go into my season of Hygge.  It is my favourite time of year. It is a time of change.  When the earth starts to let go and transform into its season of resting.  We get permission to let go also.  To celebrate moments. Be it standing in the back garden listening to the sound of wild geese flying south for the winter above our heads, or drawing a wooly throw across our laps as we listen to the logs crackle in the fireplace.  

Last year I had just been out to the fridge in the shed to put something in it and was on my way back to the house when I had to stop just for a moment.  The geese were flying over head, so low I could almost touch them.  I was frozen in place and in wonder.  Oh how I wished that I had been able to take a photograph of the golden light on their bellies. It was but a moment in time and was over almost as quickly as it had arrived, but it has stayed with me forever.  

 

Something which has been on my wish list for many, many years now.   A Hudson's Bay Point Blanket.  

"The Hudson’s Bay point blanket, with its familiar off-white background and green, red, yellow, and blue stripes at either end, has remained exactly as it looked when it was known as the Chief’s Blanket. According to Hudson’s Bay Company, the colors don’t hold any special significance and were chosen simply because they were popular and used the most reliable colorfast dyes at the time. The black stitched lines, or “points,” at the top of each blanket have not changed either; they were the means by which a trader could gauge the size of a blanket without having to unfold it. The only real change is that the wool now comes from sheep grazing in Yorkshire; Hudson’s Bay Company continues to sell the blankets in Canada, and Woolrich holds the official license to sell them in America." 

Yes, they cost a bomb which is probably why I don't have one, but you gotta have a dream in order to have a dream come true.

 

As a child, one of my favourite stories was that of Heidi.  Heidi's life on the mountain was so joy filled and vividly portrayed that I used to dream of such a life.  With a straw covered bed in the loft, and a supper of bread, goat's milk and cheese.   

We had tall pines outside our home and I can remember listening to the wind whistle through them at night sometimes and thinking this must be the lullaby that Heidi fell asleep to most nights . . .  

 
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I love to go out in late September 

among the fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries 

to eat blackberries for breakfast, 

the stalks very prickly, 

a penalty they earn for knowing the black art 

of blackberry-making; and as I stand among them 

lifting the stalks to my mouth, the ripest berries 

fall almost unbidden to my tongue, 

as words sometimes do, certain peculiar words 

like strengths or squinched, 

many-lettered, one-syllabled lumps, 

which I squeeze, squinch open, and splurge well 

in the silent, startled, icy, black language 

of blackberry-eating in late September. 

~Galway Kinnell 

They are almost done now, the blackberries. We have left the rest on the bushes for the birds to enjoy. There is a custom here in the UK that one must be done with the berries by Michaelmas, which is the reason for Michaelmas Dumplings.  They combine two of the best things about September.  Apples and blackberries.  

 

 *Michaelmas Dumplings*
Serves 4

Printable Recipe

Fluffy apple filled dumplings floating on a sea of thick purple blackberry goodness!

8 ounces of blackberries (half a pound)
1 medium sized apple, peeled, quartered and cored
healthy pinch of salt
140g of self raising flour (1 cup)
25g of butter (2 TBS)
granulated sugar
cold milk
300ml of water (1 1/2 cups)

Sift the flour and salt together into a bowl.  Drop in the butter and rub it in with your fingertips  until it resembles fine bread crumbs.  Stir in the sugar.  Stir in about 4 TBS of milk and mix together to a soft dough.  Divide the dough into four and press each quarter into a flat circle on a floured board.  Mould the circle of dough around a piece of apple, bringing it up the sides and over the top to cover it completely and sealing it totally shut.  Repeat four times.  Place the water in a medium sized pan.  Add a heaped dessertspoon of sugar.  Stir to dissolve and then bring to the boil. Add the blackberries, place the dumplings on top, cover and simmer for 25 minutes, until the dumplings are nicely risen and fluffy.  Serve warm with lashings of cream, custard or ice cream! 

I haven't made any yet this year.  Perhaps I should small-batch the recipe. Now there's an idea for today . . .  and with that I will leave you with a thought for today  . . . 

☾ ° ★° * 。  

• ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • •。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
*If you can't do anything about it,

then let it go.  Don't be a prisoner

to things you cannot change.

~Tony Gaskins˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • •。★★ 。* 

Oh, I do not like this new blogger. It is taking some getting used to . . . 

 

In The English Kitchen today  . . .  a gorgeous dessert.  Deep Dish Chocolate Chip Cookie, for one.  Oh my goodness.  Dangerous, tsk tsk  . . . 

I hope your Saturday is filled with all things nice.  Don't forget! 

 
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And I do too!!