Neighborly :: Revisited

Sorry for the disappearance.  I'm kind of in a hard place.  The lovely neighbors with all those kids I mentioned a while back?  We hang out a lot.  At least the kids hang out here a lot, anyway.  The mamas are still wary of me unless then need something.  (eggs, matches, garbage bags etc.)  And here is my problem.  They need a lot.  More than I have to give, sometimes.  They are now without gas, without electricity, and cooking in the back yard.

We often struggle to make the ends of our budget meet, but comparatively, we are doing just fine.  Their poverty is staring me in the face and I have no idea what to do, or how to help.  We can't really support two more families, but how can we sit here in our largely empty, well heated and well lit house while they are just across the street, cooking over an open fire?!!  (not to mention that it is, in fact, November and while winter is nothing like Maine around here, it can still be bitterly cold)  I need wisdom.  I need direction.  I need to know what will actually help them and not just put a band-aid on the problem.  They already see me as 'wealthy' and, well, I am a bit of a bleeding heart.  I would happily give them our dinner tonight, (and did last night) or pay to have their electric turned back on, but really, that is not the problem.  It would just get turned off again next month.  I am at a loss.  Well.  Not really. I know what it would take to be helpful and to be very honest, it is more time and energy than I have to give.

I've seen others at our church care for those in need and I know that that level of caring for others right now, would swamp and capsize the little ship that is our family.  I called several friends who have been in similar kinds of relationships and they heartily agreed that this is a job for a church (or a larger organization), not one family.  So we start on this journey.  There are things I can, and have have already begun to do, but it's only a beginning.  If you do this sort of thing, say a little prayer for our family and the family across the street. 

See you Monday.

Starting the Holiday Knitting!

This year, I have time, gumption, and sensation in my hands (oh, and no postpartum depression).  I will be making things for Christmas!!  Sometimes for our family, sometimes for other families.  I have this sweet little Christmas stocking on the needles right now and it's a whole new world of intarsia and stranding.  I'm slightly intimidated.  See how the letters are puckering up?  Not sure how to make it STOP doing that.  I'm gonna get a few rounds further along and go back and fiddle with it.  The pattern is from Annie's Woolens and is very cute and only slightly hair-pulling inducing.  (Don't try to knit this and watch Hulu.  Bad things happen, I tell ya.  There will be a lot of frogging and tears.)  I've got lots of other ideas and things lined up in my queue over at Ravelry.  More than I could ever actually get done!  But still, it's fun.  Happy brisk Thursday!

I asked for Wonder

The baby is awake at the crack of dawn again.  I grab her, sure I smell a poopy diaper, and lurch down the stairs, my joints and muscles protesting and reminding me of my impending birthday.  I grumble and muster a little smile and a 'good morning' for my wide awake wee one as I change her wiggling bum.  Then the dog makes her needs known.  I cringe at the thought of opening the door to the cold air and just open it wide enough for her.  Then this catches my eye.  A beautiful moment that I would have only caught if I had been awake (and let the dog out to pee) at exactly this time.  I am stunned, bowled over by the colors and the glory of an autumn sunrise.  I asked for Wonder.  He delivered.

What about you?  Did you find wonder in your day?  Go listen to this song by Susan Enan on my friend's blog.  It's putting words to how I feel this morning.

Wonder

It's quite easy for me to get lost in the daily shuffle around here.  I suppose this is the struggle of every human, no matter what their job or station.  We grow up, put on our big girl (or boy) undies and head out into life, clad in the requisite gray, black, or brown, ignoring the world around us in an effort to get things done.

Today I want to take the opportunity to find wonder.  To find something like these three leftover birthday balloons suspended in a stream of heat from the vent, and to think, as a friend said when she saw it, 'It's kinda magical', and it is.  I know the principles of thermodynamics (etc) behind it, but still it is a bit magical.  I hope you find a bit of wonder in your day today.

Vegan Carrot Cake - for birthdays and lessons learned about friendship

The back story:
For the first time ever in my thirty-some-odd years, I have friends who are vegan.  (Yes, yes, I lived a sheltered life.  I grew up in Texas, people!  'Vegan' is practically a cuss word there, and being one is almost worthy of a boot up your a$$ or at the very least, making you a social pariah!)  When asked to events at their house where they requested vegan or vegetarian food be brought, I was sorely tempted to show up with a side of beef, or some hog jowls.  Seriously.  I am stubborn girl.  I don't like being told what to do.  (Ask my Mama)

But after some conversations with women much wiser than myself (and being directed so some even wiser texts), I got a grip and embraced the idea that showing up with vegan food is loving my friends well.  And THAT, I really do want to do.

Cora bird's birthday party was this past weekend and I invited those friends.  I decided to Vegan-ize my Mama's carrot cake recipe.  (can I just say I love my Mama.  She writes her recipes with instructions like 'whoop together the following ingredients' - pronounced 'whup' and I know just what she means)  I actually made both a vegan version and a regular version and so was able to compare them side by side.  I could detect only the slightest taste variation, but both were equally good!  So here it is:

Mama's Carrot Cake (Vegan-ized)

(1) Beat together the following:
1 cup vegetable oil OR 1/2 cup oil, 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 cups packed brown sugar
4 eggs ( for vegan version substitute 1 cup silken tofu blended smooth in the blender (I used Mori-nu Silken Tofu (firm) and added a 1/2 tsp of oil to get it to blend better) 1/4 cup of Silken Tofu for every egg you replace

(2) Sift together the following:
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon


Add (2), the flour mixture, to (1), the egg or tofu mixture.


Fold in [mix and match] (we used the carrots and the pineapple this time)
4 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts are our favorite)
1 cup raisins
1 cup dates
1 cup crushed pineapple -well drained (she means it!!)

Pour into a greased (with veg. shortening) and floured 9x13 casserole pan. Bake 45 minutes at 325 F.  (add 10-15 minutes for the vegan version) Cool 10 minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack. (or leave it in the pan because you didn't listen to your mama and didn't drain the pineapples enough and it threatened to come apart on you because it was so moist!)

Ice with Pillsbury Cream Cheese Frosting, (which oddly enough has no dairy products in it.  Mysterious!) if you want to serve it as cake, or leave it plain for breakfast bread, which is also awesome!...and don't expect any leftovers. 

Pumpkin day!

I'm just getting this post in under the wire (it's 11:11pm - cakes to make and all that) but we wanted to wish you a very safe and very fun Halloween. Here's our little one in the pumpkin costume I've been working on, enjoying a little snack of leaves!

See you Monday!

One Glorious Year

A friend asked me how I felt about my little baby turning 1 year old, and honestly, I hadn't had a moment to to slow down and apply my brain to that thought.  Today is a good day to think about it.

I don't often wax 'religious' on this blog, although my faith is not just a part of my life, but the canvas my life is painted on, but I have to say this: God knew what he was doing when he sent me a girl.  There was a place in my heart that needed softening, a tenderness that was there, but hiding.  Cora brought that out.  From the moment they first handed me this small bundle I felt love, fear, wonder, confusion, joy.  It is no simple thing to love a child.

She was so very tiny, so new, so precious, so perfect.  I've watched her grow these last 12 months from the sleeping little bundle that Matt and I could pass back and forth, literally with one hand,  (we called her a 'single scoop' since we could scoop her up with one hand.  She's a whole gallon now!) to this beautiful, joyful, curious being who fills up my days with light (and sometimes frustration) as she explores her world around her.  She laughs when others laugh, she loves to sit in my lap and turn pages as I read her books, she says 'Oh!', she is no shy little violet and is just as loud as her mama and papa.  I love how she holds my face with her little hands and tries to say the words I say. (but only manages a lispy 'essss' sound)  She has a temper, and is very opinionated.  When I tell her no, she argues with me in baby talk!  Literally!!  But she wakes up with something to say and a smile on her face.  She sings when she hears music and dances when I turn on the radio.  I could just go on and on.  I can hardly wait to spend time with her each and every day!  I'm so glad it was this little girl that came to be with us.  My precious girl, Happy Birthday.

October (1 day old)

November

December

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

And today...my beautiful girl on her first birthday