update

Preserved lemons are yummy.

I've added them to rice dishes, to stew, to salads. I've mixed them in with the reheated combination-of-leftovers-concoction-to-clear-out-the-fridge. They helped immensely.

I have transferred them from their pretty mason jars to a plastic container in the fridge since I think the lemon juice acid might rust the jar

lid. And since they keep months or more in the fridge I'm sure to get through them before they go bad. Seriously, there is a lot of lemon juice in that jar. I am so glad I tried these.

In other news...we have snow. I grew up in New Brunswick and the final blast of winter always came in the form of a "St. Patrick's Day snowstorm." Well, this year, we've had Saints Patrick, Brendan, George, Fred, Mary...(ok, I'm making up the names now but do you hear my frustration?) Enough said on that.

All this crazy weather sure makes us wish we were back in Costa Rica....

I don't know what kind of flower this is but it's startling.

Some food shots

Happy Birthday CTM! This was his choice of cake and it disappeared fast.

The hot dog won for looks...

...and the black car came in 2nd for speed.

preserved lemons

Don't they look pretty?

I'll have to wait a month or more until they're ready. I've never used preserved lemons but have heard rave reviews. Since I had all the ingredients except the lemons and those happened to be on sale this week...well, it had to happen today.

birthdays that mark time

Seriously! She's fourteen? I know it's cliché to wonder where that time has gone but it has zipped by so fast. I tried to heed those warnings from older moms. I tried to stop and enjoy them as babies, toddlers, little ones. I wanted to savour it all. But there were diapers to change, bellies to fill, tears to wipe and all the rest too. I have enjoyed these "golden years" as my three kidlets have been independent from me and yet not too much yet. They no longer need their noses wiping but sometimes still the tears. And now she's fourteen. I'm not ready to take the gold out of the days. Rather I'll buff it up nice and shiny. I watch her grow, see those thoughts starting to sound so adult-like. I see her learning to navigate the world with integrity. And I'm proud of her. So proud.

I've not been in picture-taking mode for months. Instead, imagine...

...the sound of remote control cars endlessly circling has been the background along with frequent refreshings of our new worship CDs. The kettle has nearly continuously refreshed the teapot with yet another new flavour to be poured into lovely pottery cups just big enough for my hand and small enough to necessitate a refill, again and again--it was the year for tea gifts!
*happy me*

With cold sunny light pouring in the windows and a cozy woodstove within arm's (or back's) reach we have felt little need to venture far. A few walks or runs for the brave, church and gatherings with friends. Christmas weekend has been a haven. Our hearts are full to overflowing with our blessings and we have been challenged to renew the keenness of our awareness of God and our ears to hear him through a more intimate and deliberate relationship with him.

As today leaves thoughts of Christmas behind and turns towards the new year, so my thoughts turn slowly and thoughtfully to the next year and the plans that already start to fill it. I have a window of planning time--a whole week to work at some of those ideas I'd put off till 'later'. Likely 'a whole week' will be not nearly enough time but I hope to not waste it. Yes, it's Christmas holidays and we have friends to visit and turkey to eat. Life's pace is more relaxed though no less full and my mind has time and space to roam and to return refreshed, hopefully with ideas blossoming into concrete plans. I hope as this year unfolds for myself to be gentler with my family, more dependant on God and thus productive in lasting, satisfying ways. Ways that may not be obviously lasting but by their very rightness will be satisfying.

Perhaps my words are leaning towards the philosophical and esoteric. My apologies for the confusion since I am hinting only at my thoughts and not stating them clearly.

Ask about it over a cup of tea someday....

We saw the moon!

The moon was so bright before bed that we all trooped outside to be in the moonlight as though day. Even as we stood there chatting, the clouds blew in across the sky; not a flutter of wind at ground level but lots way up high. We looked at each other in dismay* as we wondered whether it would clear before the lunar eclipse at 2am. Not much we could do so we set our alarms and went to bed.

It was cloudy at 2am. The sky orange at first but then darkening to a smudgy charcoal grey and finally nearly black. But no moon. We checked all the webcams from the NASA website and although we did see the moon for a while most of the sites went offline from heavy traffic. And anyway, it just wasn't satisfying watching it on a screen. It didn't seem real. I had already been out to see the smudge in real life so when I glanced out the window hopefully, again, and saw a star I flew to get my coat and boots on. The boys had all gone to bed so it was just BTG and I who nipped outside and saw the moon! God cleared a little patch for us near the time of totality just enough to see the moon dark and red with a bright ring around its edge. It only lasted about five minutes--maybe ten but it was enough!

I had to share it. I saw the moon.

*fun to actually write that line!

There's lots going on around here. I just don't feel like blogging about it. I'll get back to it sometime.

So, after pulling (rather, digging) out all our kale plants months ago, I noticed yesterday that we have more growing again. I know I've mentioned that I have kale in past blogs. I just checked and found two references, one here. But I've not talked of it enough for you to understand much of how this new sighting makes me laugh and the kids groan. It's too bad I didn't take pictures the first year when I planted out 6 little seedlings that quickly grew to be huge plants. I didn't really like kale before I planted it. You'll discover that's typical of my gardening habits. I plant some things so that I'll learn to like them and with some exceptions I usually do. Of course there are some things I think I like that I learn to dislike. Well, I quickly learned to like kale. We had so much of it I had to eat or be eaten. Search for kale recipes online and you'll most often come across kale chips. Worth a try. And it became my favourite way to prepare the greens. You see, kale doesn't get mushy like spinach. It gets crispy. And when you add a little oil and sea salt to the mix it becomes a snack worthy of any potato chip bag. K2 shared my enjoyment--a little too much at times until I learned to double my batch size. The plants survived a few frosts, tasted fine and continued to grow until they were covered by snow. So much for my kale. I hoped that maybe one plant would survive the winter as the package said but it was a long shot.

So I thought.

The snow melted and first one plant then another and finally a total of 8 plants grew and thrived. (How good is your math?) We--as in me and K2--were eating kale in April long before any other plant showed its tips. They went to seed, I dug them up, giggled when a new one that had seemed dead resurrected and then went to seed. It has literally been months since I dug up each and every plant. I found myself craving kale so that I even bought some from the market to make my chips and stir-fry with my cabbage. It wasn't as good but I didn't have to inspect it as closely for caterpillars.

And now there's a good sized plant again on its way. Kale into November again this year and who knows? maybe spring? One day I'll post a picture for you and you can smile with me at the silliness of kale that won't go away.