WELCOME THE NEW!!

"A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other."

YULE BLOG

"You know you've grown up
when none of the things you want
for Christmas can be bought at a store."

ALL IS CALM. . . . (cause the precious children aren't up yet!) I am enjoying the moment. Sipping my coffee,watching the fire, and listening to Melissa Ethridge belt out:

It's time to let go of all our past
And let go of what's to come
What do we have, what do we have not?
What do we need that isn't here?
This mindless, numb, consuming
Is driven by a subtle fear
It's time we stopped believing
That there will not be enough
I know they said it on the TV
So turn it off, break the chains
Step outside and feel the love
Choose only love

Now that is more like it. FEEL THE LOVE. . .
Ben is wagging his tail and nuzzling me.
Yep, I can feel the love!!

What if we could create peace on Earth?
I wonder what that would look like
What if we all stopped believing the line
That happiness comes from a stork?
What if we all started spreading the news
There's nothing to fear anymore?
What if we all took the time to be still?
We are connected, one family of light
Hallelujah

So I am taking the time to be still. Enjoying the peace before the "family of light" gathers and it is time to eat, drink and be merry!
Hallelujah!!

BEATING JACK FROST

In my previous post, I mentioned Jack Frost biting at my toes. We had unseasonably warm weather all fall. My "winter" garden was flourishing. Then the thermometer plummeted to the twenties. That's Fahrenheit. For those of you Fahrenheit-challenged, -2 or -3 Celsius. So one frosty morning, I remembered I had better harvest or end up with green goo.

So just thought you might enjoy seeing the December produce fresh from the garden.

ROASTING CHESTNUTS ON AN OPEN FIRE. . .

And Jack Frost IS nipping(CHOMPING) at my toes . . .

But this roasting chestnuts has got to be a urban myth!! Imagine you will, a lovely bag of chestnuts!! You can even imagine them IN FRONT of an open fire!! A friend of mind gave me such a bag and I SHOULD HAVE just thrown them INTO an open fire, but instead I thought I would prepare them for eating. I vaguely remembered that some years ago, I had made this same decision and regretted it. I was making some stuffing and found that the peeling was so tedious, I said I would NEVER do that again. But alas, the memory faded and I thought that perhaps, I just didn't have the correct technique. So after doing some research on the internet. . . I began the task of MUTILATING the chestnuts. There was nothing wrong with my technique upteen years ago. It was fairly easy to shell the outer shell, but to remove the "pellicle" (the pinkish inner skin) proved to be "hellicle".
I did manage to rescue a few. . . enough to flavor some soup possibly. . . In the future, I will honor my gut feeling. . .

BUY THEM PEELED!