thankful thursday

My world.

It's filled with things that make me feel thankful.

I tend to notice many of these things, daily.

Maybe it's years of practice.

Maybe I'm just lucky that way.

~~~

With the theme of thanksgiving so prevalent today,

I thought I'd share a few of the things that came to mind.

No strawberries in my garden this year,

but many in my freezer. 

Sweet-smelling reminders of hot summer days.

Today, this little bowl took the edge off a day so cold

the gate latches were all frozen shut.

~~~

And this bird?

It may not realize by what amazing luck

I was able to (somewhat) repair this feeder,

previously dismantled by several bears.

But I'm confident this bird is 

pleased with the outcome.

Which makes me very glad I decided to try.

~~~

And do you remember 

a couple of months ago,

when Lily was suddenly dead lame?

This morning, like most mornings,

when I hung up Lily's feedbucket 

I gave her a pat and told her how glad I am that she healed so quickly and so well.

A happy outcome with any animal, and any injury,

but this was a little special.

Because this was Lily's first year as a mamagoat,

and she is a natural.

With a good, sound attitude.

She has a lot of promise.

So every day that she was on three legs

gave me cause to feel anxious.

Likewise, every day since

has given me cause to feel joyous.

And I do.

~~~

I hope everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving Day - today or any other day - has a lovely one! And I hope all your days are filled with things that make you feel thankful.

It's a nice feeling.

~~~~~

monday note

It was a bit cold when I woke this morning.

Fortunately, by the time I went outside to feed,

the temperature had risen.

After chores, I lit the first fire of the season.

November is often a mishmash of weathers, and I won't be at all surprised if we see a return to warm - or even downright balmy - days before the Real Cold settles in.

But this Autumn day was a Winter day.

~~~~~

apples

Miss Ruth Kellogg demonstrating correct postures for various forms of housework. 1921-26.
Source: Div. Rare & MS Collections, Cornell U. Library

Since my first trip to the orchard, I've been doing a little bit of this nearly every day. Peeling and slicing a few apples.

Some of the slices have been going directly into the freezer, lined up neatly on a tray. The following day, those individually-frozen slices are popped into a labelled bag, and the tray is used to freeze the next batch.

Can you see traces of pink?
These are Macintosh.

Come Winter, I hope to do some very nice baking with these beautiful frozen apples. Won't that make Winter a warmer, friendlier place to be?

Well, that's my plan. Here's hoping.

I'll let you know.

~~~

Meanwhile, there's been some Autumn baking with fresh apples. Mostly, I've been tinkering with one simple recipe, changing up and experimenting. Remember the accidental apple-cranberry bisconey?

Last week I tried making it again: with apples, no cranberries, less sugar, and lots of cinnamon:

It came out with a dense, moist texture.

Not bad.

And yesterday, I tried another riff: making the batter a bit richer and more cake-like, mixing a whole cup of cranberries into the batter, and then adding sliced apples to the top.

Again, quite different in texture and flavor. Again, not bad.

Very surprising the way some of the cranberries migrated to the surface, right over the apple slices.

How did they do that?

~~~

For a person who doesn't really cook much, I am having a lot of fun in the kitchen lately. And it's all because of this:

A small, nearby orchard with a wonderful array of apple varieties. Such fun choosing! Hmmmm...certainly the old familiar Macs I grew up with, but also, well, I'll try a few of these Spitzenburgs (could Thomas Jefferson be wrong? about apples???) and I'll add a few Winesaps, and some Rhode Island Greenings, and oh, I almost missed the Golden Russets, and...excuse me for a second, I'll just carry these out to the car and then I'll be back in for the cider.

Oh. The. Cider.

The gloriously fragrant, snappy-sweet cider.

In the past two weeks, I have never been far from a glass of cider. I think this pressing may be the very best fresh cider I have ever tasted in my entire cider-loving life.

I wish I could pour you a glass right now.

Come on over.

Seriously.

~~~

I'll be going back to the orchard in a day or two, because I am out of apples (!) and about to open my last gallon of cider (!!). I'm waiting for a day that's warm enough to take Piper with me, for a walk along the stone walls.

It's a pretty place, this old orchard, where hard work - so often the backstory to "pretty" in a human-altered landscape - is evident everywhere you look.

The view also offers a nifty example of relativity!

I mean, look here:

Trees, right? An orchard full of big, fruitful trees.

But then you put those very trees next to a forest: 

Whoa! Quite a shift in perspective, no?

And then, you put that forest into a forested landscape as far as the eye can see:

Relativity: just something to think about while you're peeling Autumn apples and keeping an eye on Winter.

~~~~~ 

wordless wednesday

~~~~~

and the winner is

Sorry about the quality of this photograph.
I didn't want to risk taking the scarf out of the bag!
Things happen around here.

Thank you to every reader who entered my little giveaway for the traditional Ethiopian scarf. I enjoyed your varied examples of inspirational people, some very personal and others more publicly-known figures, past and present. And now I have some new inspiring people and books to follow up on - thanks!

There were 24 entries in total. I used the popular and magical Sequence Generator on random.org to find the winner:

 # 7

And counting down from the first comment, the 7th entry is:

KathNovember 6, 2013 at 6:31 AM
I am going to read about Dr Hamlin, she sounds like an amazing lady. Thank you for bringing this work to my attention and offering this beautiful scarf as a gift to one of your Internet friends.

You are very welcome, my internet friend! Please drop me an email with your mailing address, and I will send Piper straight to the Post Office with your package.

Or maybe I'd better drive? The pond is on the way to the Post Office...

 

...and we wouldn't want any accidents.

Now, Kath, just one more thing...who inspires you?  :)

~~~~~