Are you dreaming of such days?

"There he got out the luncheon-basket and packed a simple meal, in which, remembering the stranger's origin and preferences, he took care to include a yard of long French bread, a sausage out of which the garlic sang, some cheese which lay down and cried, and a long-necked straw-covered flask wherein lay bottled sunshine shed and garnered on far Southern slopes."

~from The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham

in front of the fire

I have had a wonderful day with two daughter- in -laws and a daughter.
The other daughter- in- law worked today but we all gathered around the 
table last night for food and much laughter. This was the first time since
Christmas but there was one missing: #4 son . He came home late last night from the mountains where it has been very cold and snowy and the ski resorts are singing hallelujahs. Earlier this week,  he sent photos from his apt. window that looks over campus. 

Hope you are warm where you are. When your kids are grown, they hang
together, so I am here in front of the fire in a quiet house. 

                       Looking out from son's apt. to Kings Street in Boone
                       and the campus of ASU and the mountains in the distance

Comradeship and serious joy are not interludes in our travel, but rather our travels are interludes in comradeship and joy, which through God shall endure forever. The inn does not point to the road; the road points to the inn. And all roads point at last to an ultimate inn. ( from Charles Dickens by GKC)

A Child of the Snows      by G.K. Chesterton                                         

There is heard a hymn when the panes are dim,

And never before or again,

When the nights are strong with a darkness long,

And the dark is alive with rain.

Never we know but in sleet and in snow,

The place where the great fires are,

That the midst of the earth is a raging mirth

And the heart of the earth a star.

And at night we win to the ancient inn

Where the child in the frost is furled,

We follow the feet where all souls meet

At the inn at the end of the world.

The gods lie dead where the leaves lie red,

For the flame of the sun is flown,

The gods lie cold where the leaves lie gold,

And a Child comes forth alone.

- G.K. Chesterton

Postage goes up

on Sunday. 
No mail on Sunday , so I say it should be 
on Monday.

I want one of these

cold but no snow

another image from Murmuring Cottage tumblr..... nothing like this here
but it certainly is cold. 

I keep thinking of Heidi. 
Going to start rereading it today. 
Going to make some sort of Jamie Oliver soup or chili.
Made Morning Glory Muffins this morning putting in hemp seeds, flax seeds,
nuts, and whole wheat flour and some of the carrot NAKED drink. 
Quite moist.

I always have wanted sheep. 

Rereading DEATH BY LIVING : LIFE IS MEANT TO BE SPENT by 
N.D. Wilson with my students. I cried this morning.  Something touched
me so deeply in the words at the end of chapter 8. Then I passed it 
to my daughter as I had tears. She said, " Oh, no. Now I am going to 
cry too?"

Good for our souls to have tears.

onto onions

After dinner, lasagna was so good. 

Inspired to make English Onion Soup or these potatoes:

Making Lasagna, British syle

Yes, to my sister , who I introduced to Jamie Oliver's cooking 
and his British fanfare : Jamie Oliver's Lasagne. I had it 
at Jamie's Italian. I don't have any butternut squash so it is 
minus it. I used what I had in the house. He has said exactly
those words on his cooking videos. I wish I could get his beer
here in the States. I had it at his restaurant in Kingston Upon 
Thames. Waiting for the lasagna to cook, so here I am. 

This leek, spinach, and ricotta lasagna looks good too. 
I have learned about flavor from this Brit. 


From his 30 minutes meals...... a corker , he says:

Yum.
Spending time with Jamie learning.
Well, I do have asparagus.
hmmm......