bee creative

tea and oranges

I will probably never write a cookbook

But if I do it will be about how to be a creative cook.

Here's why:

1# I rarely measure so I'm not sure that my results are repeatable.

2# I mix things up a lot.  As in, "hmmm, that needs to be used up.  I'll just toss that in too." 

 

An example:

Pumpkin soup with wheat berries, apple, kale and cheese.

For the base I cooked about a cup of frozen diced pumpkin in about a cup of water until the pumpkin was soft.  I added a pinch of salt and blended it with an immersion blender. 

And then I tossed in leftover wheat berry salad that was a mixture of wheat berries, kale, diced apple, and cubed jack cheese with a vinaigrette dressing.  About 1/2 cup.

I will make it again...at least some version of it.

Enough for one big bowl or two small bowls.  

 

 

expansion

"Auk, auk..." The ravens across the street greeting dawn.

I'd been up spinning and knitting...

Energized yarn.

This is a single ply yarn that hasn't had the twist set. 

I understand more about spinning today than I did yesterday.

I've decided to make a pillow with the first yarn that I've spun on the spinning wheel.   

I moved the alphabet lights to a corner that needed a little brightening. 

Considering:

How words expand understanding.

The act of blowing air, of breathing, into the balloons to expand them.

The balloons filled with light, illuminating words, illuminating dark.

 

Different kinds of energy. 

 

of yarn and gingerbread

After a bit of research I figured out I was missing something:

The string on the left... 

It's going to take practice (definetly thick and thin), but I have yarn.

I haven't been able to fill up a bobbin yet, so I'm just unwinding what I manage to spin into balls of yarn. 

Break time included gingerbread:

I will make this one again. 

 

26 origami balloons

26 origami balloons, one for each letter of the alphabet:

H is for hope, J for joy, P for peace... what I wish for all.

And then S is for

spinning wheel! 

My parents know someone who was done with this spinning wheel, so she gave it to them to give to me. 

I've already been playing (without much success yet) and can't wait to say thank you!

 

 

 

more dark than light

 

I wish I wasn't afraid of matches.

I would light candles more often.

We did get snow yesterday.  Beautiful fluffy flakes.

It will mostly be gone by the end of the day I'm thinking. 34 degrees F at the moment, rain likely, a predicted high of 40.

While I was outside flocks of little birds were flitting through the garden.

My kind of magic.

Happy Solstice! 

 

on the bus + project card for a cowl

Each year one of the local buses is decorated for the holidays.  For the first time (even after riding the bus for over 5 years!) I have caught that bus not once, but twice.

They also play music so I've included a link to one of my favorites for this time of year, "Two Thousand Miles" by Holly Cole.

One of my latest bus projects:

Hoping to wake up to snow in the morning...

o is for

Orange peel candy.

I'm still boiling this batch. 

Candied orange peel is wonderful with tea.

And because it comes to mind...

 

 

practice stars

I am following these directions.  I need to practice more, maybe try different paper.

And I've posted this before, but another poem that I return to every December...

"Crepuscular midnight stands by the road, where the stars have spilled from its purse.  You cannot go over the road past the fence without trampling the universe."

Boris Pasternak "Steppe"

when words form pictures

Something about long nights and short days always brings me back to reading more poetry.

And,

I have to confess,

I get so caught up in the combinations of beautiful words that I sometimes forget to think about what the poem means.

Wallace Stevens poem, "Sunday Morning" is that way for me.  I get stuck thinking about:

"Late coffee and oranges in a sunny chair, and the green freedom of a cockatoo upon a rug..."

and

"The day is like wide water, without sound, stilled for the passing of her dreaming feet..."