Jenny Linsky Halloween

Jenny's Moonlight Adventure (New York Review Children's Collection, a Jenny's Cat Club Book)Jenny's Moonlight Adventure (New York Review Children's Collection, a Jenny's Cat Club Book)

Jenny's Moonlight Adventure

hedge-makers

As we enter fall wind, rain, and storm season, I re-enter the grief cycle over Dad's paralyzing injury a mere 2.5 months after we brought home our children from Russia.  Here is a small slice of that time:

After all the hub-bub of Dad being airlifted to Harborview, I was the last person at St. Joe's. As I left they handed me a blue bag labeled "Patient Belongings" (or something to that effect).

I didn't happen to glance into the bag until I walked through the lobby. Shoes. That's all. Nothing else he was wearing had survived the experience, just his shoes. That he would never wear again.

I completely lost it. Loud snarfly sobs and eyes too full of tears to see so I just covered my face with my hands and stood there. Within one or two moments I was surrounded. Someone held me in a bear hug. Other people draped arms around me. People patted my shoulders. No one spoke. No one murmured tiresome platitudes. They just formed a privacy hedge around me until I quieted down. Tissues were tucked into my hands.

I said thank you with my eyes still closed. I could feel people stepping away. After a deep breath I opened my eyes -- no one loitered near me. No one approached me. I was too raw for contact, no matter how kind, and my hedge-makers seemed to know that. I took a deep breath, and walked out the door.

Pillars of the Earth

Set in medieval England, The Pillars of the Earth was a great read. It deserves more of a write-up than I have the energy to create. If you like your history wrapped in story, this is a great choice. It would pair nicely with the Brother Cadfael videos if you wish.

Because the internet was invented for the posting of pictures of one's pets

 

I have a friend that lost both her kitties last summer (so sad! so unfair!) and then got a puppy and is now considering getting kittens.  Obviously, I say "Do it!"

my favorite cookbooks

When summer fades, I like to revamp my cooking.  This is the time of year to read cookbooks and mess up the kitchen.  What are your favorite cookbooks?  Here are some of mine.


Alice Bay Cookbook: A Savory Sampler from Washington's Skagit Valley - our Christmas morning quiche comes from here, as do my shortbread cookies.

 



The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest by Mollie Katzen.  All things hippie are found in this book.
 
 


How to be A Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson. And all things decadent are found in this one.

 



Joy of Cooking by the Rombauer Becker group.  I thought this was such a boring book when I first got it, but it really is the go-to book when I need to learn something.

 







My favorite cookbook is my Grandmother's 1956 Betty Crocker cookbook. When I got married, my mom passed it down to me, battered cover and floury interior and all. It falls open to all the right pages.

October by Robert Frost

October

O hushed October morning mild,

Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;

Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,

Should waste them all.

The crows above the forest call;

Tomorrow they may form and go.

O hushed October morning mild,

Begin the hours of this day slow.

Make the day seem to us less brief.

Hearts not averse to being beguiled,

Beguile us in the way you know.

Release one leaf at break of day;

At noon release another leaf;

One from our trees, one far away.

Retard the sun with gentle mist;

Enchant the land with amethyst.

Slow, slow!

For the grapes’ sake, if they were all,

Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,

Whose clustered fruit must else be lost –

For the grape’s sake along the wall.

-- Robert Frost