Clyde and the Catnip

I had some dried catnip so I thought I would put it in a bag got Clyde to play with. I think he liked it!

He was moving so fast it was hard to get his picture.

What a silly boy he was over a bag of dried catnip. I wondered why cats love it so much, and found out that it has something in it called nepatalactone. According to what I've read, male unneutered cats react strongest to catnip. Clyde is neutered which makes me wonder how he'd behave if he wasn't fixed. He eventually got the bag open and dumped the contents all over the rug.

This was dried catnip; I grew some this year and was curious as to how the cats would be with it. They ignored the plants completely. Go figure.

Catnip isn't just for cats, however. A member of the mint family, the plant has been used in the past for a broad range of medicinal purposes. However, today it is mainly used as a tea for its mildly sedative quality. Chewing the root is said to produce the opposite effect and can make a person quarrelsome and jumpy.

Next summer, I'll be sure to dry more of the catnip for my cats. I think I'd find more relaxation just watching them play with it than I would drinking catnip tea.

Time for the New Year's Bonfire!

Once again we'll be burning our New Year's bonfire, and we'd like to invite you to share it with us.

Each year, we write our troubles on pieces of paper and toss them in the fire on New Year's Eve, allowing us to start the year with  lighter load. If you would like us to burn your troubles in our fire, send me an email at susannaholstein@yahoo.com, or leave a comment below and I will be sure they go into the flames.

If you prefer not to say what the troubles are, just say "Burn This" in your message and that is just what we will do.

The tradition of fire as a purifying ritual goes far back in man's history, and in Scotland fire festivals are still held on Hogmanay (New Year's Eve). I didn't know the history of fire-purifying rituals when we started doing this in 2000 but it seemed like a good way to start the new year. We've burned hundreds of troubles over the years and it feels good to know that for one moment, we are connecting with someone we might not know, and offering a small service to them as we toss their notes on the fire.

I am looking ahead and hoping for a better year, one that has more peace and less sadness, more joy and less stress, and health and plenty for all.

Wordless Wednesday: Looking at Snowflakes

Twas the Day After Christmas...

...and all 'round the house,

the snow was a-fallin',

no sign of a mouse.

the birds were all feeding,

on oodles of seeds,

the red birds and snowbirds

and some you can't see...

It was a beautiful snowy day, perfect for reading, watching the birds and relaxing, since we had nothing else to do--a fortunate fact given that the roads were terrible and it was pretty cold. Better to be inside, looking out.

Let's play count-the-birds. How many do you see in the following three photos?

If you're a birdwatcher, you probably have several bird books that you keep near the windows just in case a stranger arrives that you've not seen before. Do you have a favorite identification guide that you use? My favorite so far is the Audubon guide, for its detailed photos, but the Petersen field guide is good for the descriptions it offers. What books do you recommend for bird-watching?

My first bird book I remember well--I was 19, living in my first house and we had many birds coming that I never had seen when I lived at my parents' home in town. Evening grosbeaks, flickers, purple finches were all a revelation to me. My brother Bill bought me a small identification guide as a gift, and I was hooked. The little book is still around, living these days at my son's house so they can identify the visitors to their feeder too. That's the best thing about books--they get passed around and around; probably the best recycling item on the planet.

My Favorite Things: In the Kitchen

This is the first of a series of regular posts I will be writing in the coming months. First, you might have noticed that I am finally adding advertising to my blog. I'm a little ambivalent about it, but the fact is, it's time for the blog to start paying its way. With retirement coming in May for me, I'm seeking new ways to pay the bills that will not stop coming when the paychecks stop. So, if advertising on my blog will at least cover my internet cost, I will be a happy blogger.

I promise you, my good readers, one thing: I will not promote anything that I do not personally believe to be worthwhile. The content of some ads are out of my control (you can just bet I would not have George Bush's book on here if was my choice!) but the items I link to and write about are things I have read or that have good reviews elsewhere (the librarian in my speaking), or items I have used or people I know and trust have used and spoken well of--or items that have had good reviews (down, Librarian, down!)

Having said that, I am going to start this series with a kitchen tool I never thought I needed, and actually kept down in the sink cabinet for months because I thought it took up too much counter space: my KitchenAid mixer.


It was actually my mother's mixer, and when we were cleaning out the house after Dad passed away, it ended up with me. Several of my sisters already had them--our aunt had been a food editor at Good Housekeeping for years, and she apparently had mixers to give away from time to time. I brought Mom's mixer home and made space for it on the counter. And never used it. So during a spring cleaning, I put it away in the cabinet.

I got it out again last year at Christmas and my goodness, what was I thinking? Do you know you can actually mix stiff cookie dough in it? And a lot of other things too. Suddenly the mixer became an important tool in my kitchen and I am lusting after the many attachments that can be added to make it even more useful, like juicers, grinders, etc. Mine has a dough hook, and one day I will get back into making bread and try that hook out too. I wish my mixer was red, but shoot, I'm just glad to have one at all!

If you  cook from scratch or do a good bit of cooking, then consider a KitchenAid. I'm a hard sell when it comes to appliances and electrical gadgets, but this, in my book, is no gadget--it's a necessary tool for anyone who likes to cook.

And just for fun, I'm adding the hand mixer, the red bowls, and the mixer cover to the links! I love those red bowls. Maybe they need to go on my "Santa" list for next year.

 

Microfiction Monday: It's a Bird's Life

Take One:

Two calling birds!

I said two calling birds, not pigeons.

Who sent the casting call to these guys anyway?

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Take Two:

pigeon-gray sky

brushed chrome water

in a monochrome world

birdsong breaks though steel,

floats, dripping melodies to earth

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Your turn to try writing a story based on the above picture! Go to Susan's Stony River blog for details on how to play. I can't wait to read what you have written.

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If you like short-short stories, check out these for some winter reading:

Boxing Day

I don't think Larry and I will be making the rounds with boxes of fruit and such for our servants, as was the custom in Old England in Queen Victoria's time. Mainly because we have no servants, darn it. Can you imagine life with servants? Actually, I can't because I cannot imagine askign someon else to do my work for me.

But we do hope to have company. Lord willing and the snow quits falling, Susan and her family will be here. That means Christmas all over again for us, and I am so hoping they can make it. Our granddaughter Jordan and her husband and baby are planning to stop by too, so we will have a wonderful day if everyone is willing to brave the new snow that fell overnight and is still falling this morning. Larry, Derek and Tommy had an interesting time getting Tommy's car out of here yesterday evening--the snow had melted just enough to make things very slippery.

No pictures to share because if you can believe it my camera never came out yesterday, not all day. I was busy getting ready for Derek's family to come in the evening, cooking a turkey and all that kind of thing. It was a beautiful evening with them and the grandchildren, but I never once thought of my camera. Ah well you will just have to imagine the fire, the tree, the presents, the eggnog, the turkey, and the happy faces.

I hope all of you had a memorable day, and are having a restful after-Christmas glow today.

Preparing

It is so quiet this morning. Menfolks are sleeping and I am in bed too, playing with this new laptop. After a long, roundabout journey of a month, it finally arrived. A backlog of orders, snow and a clueless UPS delayed delivery for days. But all is well at last and after such travails the machinf actually works. Amazing.

Like most of you, I will be busy with cooking and cleaning today. The gifts are wrapped and under the tree so all that's left to do is make a mess in the kitchen. Mincemeat tarts, pies, and maybe a cheesecake, and a couple batches of cookies are on the schedule. We'll see what gets done. Mostly I want to listen to Christmas carols and enjoy the quiet of this country place, the snow still covering the ground and my youngest son who is home for the holiday.

One thought to leave you with before I get busy:Christmas is for kindling the fire for hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart. --Washington Irving

Merry Christmas Eve, friends!

The Longest Night: Ruminations

How quickly we come to this point. It seems that only a few days ago we were still gathering in the last of the gardens. Now the tomatoes shine brightly in rows of jars in the cellar and potatoes nestle in their bin while outside the ground is snow-covered and icicles hang from the eves. And yet, we are only now saying good-bye to autumn and welcoming winter. It seems that autumn invited winter to a sleepover this year and winter forgot to leave. In this part of West Virginia we have snow on the ground almost continuously since the beginning of December, and only two days this month without precipitation of some sort--mostly snow.

But tonight we see the slow return of the sun as daylight stays longer, a minute or two at a time. In olden times great celebrations welcomed the sun's return; today Christmas has overshadowed the earlier date of Solstice and most of us have never experienced the old ways of welcoming winter and the sun. Last night's eclipse drew more people out than usual, I expect, to wonder at the magic of a winter night. I did not get up to see the eclipse--call it old age or just plain tiredness, but although I woke up and considered getting up, I did not. So I missed it, although those who did venture out tell me we had cloud cover so what they saw was a hazy red moon and a red glow across the sky. Which I would have found completely fascinating.

I admit that December is one of my favorite months. I know that is at odds with many people in the northern hemisphere, but consider my reasons. In December, we finally have time to slow down. Evenings are long and quiet, with no cookouts, lawns to mow, gardens to tend, or visitors dropping by. We have time to read, reorganize and recover from the hectic pace of summer and fall. We have the holidays to look forward to-cards to address as we think about friends and family, shopping for others and thinking about them as we wrap gifts. We can look out at the world from our warm houses and see the shape of the hills outlined in white and gray, watch the redbirds, sharp in relief against the snow, fighting at the feeder. We can tramp around collecting evergreens and fill our homes with their scent. We can bake and add to the scent sensation with cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla. We can go to bed early if we want.

Poets have ways of describing this season, like this poem, one of my favorites:

I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December
A magical thing
And sweet to remember.

We are nearer to Spring
Than we were in September,
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December.

- Oliver Herford, I Heard a Bird Sing


Then there is this, a reminder of how it is when we have been outside, and then come in to bed:


Before going to bed
After a fall of snow
I look out on the field
Shining there in the moonlight
So calm, untouched and white
Snow silence fills my head
After I leave the window.

Hours later near dawn
When I look down again
The whole landscape has changed
The perfect surface gone
Criss-crossed and written on
where the wild creatures ranged
while the moon rose and shone.

why did my dog not bark?
Why did I hear no sound
There on the snow-locked ground
In the tumultuous dark?

How much can come, how much can go
When the December moon is bright,
What worlds of play we'll never know
Sleeping away the cold white night
After a fall of snow.

-  May Sarton, December Moon

In Winter Morning Walks, Ted Kooser sees a portent of spring in his poem for December 21, when the temperature was five degrees:



Perfectly still this Solstice morning,
in bone-cracking cold. Nothing moving,
or so one might think, but as I walk the road,
the wind held in the heart of every tree
flows to the end of each twig and forms a bud.
  
 So, even though more snow is in the forecast and there is still a good covering on the ground, if we look we might see, as Kooser did, some small sign that Nature is preparing for spring while we prepare for our holidays. It is as it should be; the cycle continues, and we continue on our way too, moving forward with hope into a future unknown and yet somehow familiar with plants that surely come back every year to line our path.

Microfiction Monday:

Over the River and Into the Woods

"Plum pudding?"

"Check."

"Roasting pig?"

"Check."

"Mistletoe?"

"Check."

"Kiss?"

"Not on your life!"

Want to play? Visit Susan at Stony River and you can find all the information you'll need, along with al ot of other entertaining information. Here's the gist of it, from Susan's blog:
"Microfiction" means the shortest of short stories. Think Aesop's fables, comic strips, or even jokes: complete stories that can be told in under a minute. For this game, the limit is a tweetable 140 characters or fewer."

So, use the photo Susan provides to write a story in 140 characters (that includes spaces and punctuation!). You can google a character counter to make it a lot easier. Here' s a link to one I use.

Have fun!

Finally--The Tree

We finally got serious about getting a tree and getting it up this weekend. We found one that looked pretty good--a field tree, not a bought tree. It gets harder to find trees in the wild because so many of the Virginia pines left on our land have grown too big to use as a Christmas tree. I would like to buy a root-balled tree again, but the prices are outrageous so that option is out. Last year we cut one on our land for the first time in a long time, and this year we cut one again. I think I'll be looking for a candidate for next year, and start trimming now to improve its shape.

This year's tree was the top of a taller tree. Can you see Larry in the photo? The tree was pretty tall, about 15 feet or so, I'd guess. We cut off the lower part and kept the top eight feet or so. Then we trimmed the branches a bit, and this is the result:

It's bigger than we usually have, but I like it. The open shape of these trees makes them easy to decorate, although it also means a few bare spots. Still, who needs perfect? A perfect tree would be out of place in this house, I think.


This tree reminds me of the trees of my childhood. Dad would go out to a friend's farm and tramp around until he found a tree that was big enough for our house. Mom and Dad liked ceiling-scrapers, which meant trees that were 12 feet tall. Usually the trees were pretty broad too, and the result was a spectacular pine that took up a good chunk of a large living room. It took about 1000 ornaments to decorate it, and those were all put on during the night of Christmas Eve.The finished tree was a sight to behold, glittering and shimmering with lights and glass balls. Mom made beaded ornaments too and those were the real highlight of the tree, with new ones added every year. I feel fortunate to have a few of those special ornaments, along with some of the vintage ornaments that graced their tree.

Last year I packed Mom's ornaments separately, along with my favorites of the glass balls. Where did I put that box? 'Tis a mystery, and one I hope we solve soon. If I could just remember where I put it, I'd be completely happy, but that box has eluded me so far. This is a small house and there are only so many places it could be. It's here...somewhere. Finding it will be tomorrow evening's task.

We got the tree up just in time for two friends to come over for dinner and gift-giving. We were moving fast to get everything done and cleaned up--the side effect of leaving it to the last minute. Now if I can just get the rest of the cards done and the gifts wrapped, I'll be in good shape. I won't be doing much baking this year--since Larry is diabetic the cookies and goodies are just too much temptation to put in his way. The fruitcake, mincemeat tarts and pumpkin pies will probably be the extent of what I make. It won't hurt me to stay away from the sweets, either!


How about you? Is your tree up? Use the linky to show us your tree.

Snow on Snow on Snow

Yesterday was one of those busy but laid-back days when we took our time and did things we wanted to do, not had to do. Breakfast, shopping, a drive to find a tree and mistletoe. The drive was the best part of the day.

It has snowed, rained or otherwise precipitated every day but one in December. To me that makes a perfect December, but I know many people don't share my love of snow. Some days are small flurries, like yesterday morning, some have been gullywashing rains, and there's also been sleet, freezing rain...and snow. Our biggest snows have been about 5 inches; most are 2 inches or less, enough to make everything pretty but not too much trouble.

Here are a few photos of where we went on our drive:

Down Route 2, along the far western edge of West Virginia and the Ohio River. There did not seem to be as much snow along the river as there is at home.

Taking the long way home up a road called Trace Fork, so named because it was a major Indian trail from the Ohio River into central West Virginia, and then onward to points north and south.

Yet another Trace Fork barn, on the farm where a lady once lived we grew such pretty flowers in her fenced yard.

Near the head of Trace Fork, this beautiful farm opens up to the ridge. In the far back of the photo you can see where the road will go in a few minutes.

Taken from the ridge above the last farm pictured; you can barely see the ribbon of road skirting the edge of the trees in the left center of the picture. That's where I was when the last photo was taken.

Ah, this beautiful West Virginia ridgeland!

Far below, you can see just barely, some smoke drifting from the center of this photo. There was a house trailer almost completely burned out when we passed there. I don't know if the trailer was burned intentionally or not, but when we passed it there were still flames inside and no one was around. Very odd.

A tree full of mistletoe! We did not bother this tree however because we don't really know this landowner and I would not want to ask. We have another place to get it, a little closer to home, and permission too :)

And then on to home,

fire and eggnog. Perfect before leaving for an evening out.

A Busy Day Ahead

To do today:
Get a tree
Find some mistletoe
Do a little shopping to finish up the list
Buy a few things for tomorrow's dinner with friends
Clean!
Put up the tree
Put up the mistletoe
Go to a party
Sleep

Hope everyone has a fine day!

Vintage Thursday: Fireplace Mantel

Sometimes I notice how a particular place in our house has collected items with links to so many memories.

Take the mantel over the fireplace in the log room. What might seem to be simply a miscellaneous collection of vintage items is actually a look back in time.

For example:
The little woodcutter on the right end was bought in Canada by my son Jon and his wife. They got it for Larry because the woodcutter reminded them of him.

The kerosene lamps came here when we first moved in, our only light before we installed electricity in 1989 or so.

I used the butter churn to make butter from the rich yellow cream from our Jersey cows, Dollie and Honey.

The small gray and blue crock was a gift from a very good friend, locally made by another friend.

I used the washboard in our pre-electricity days to do small amounts of laundry; large amounts meant a trip to laundromat and hanging out lines and lines of clothes, even in winter.

The cowbells were worn by our two Jerseys, and I remember so well hearing their ringing as the cows grazed around the pasture. We no longer keep milk cows, and I still miss them.

The stone that is just barely visible near the left end of the mantel says "Tale Teller." I bought it on my very first trip to the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN, in 1997.

Just past the stone is a tall coffee grinder I bought in 1975 from my friend Reta who had an antique shop then--as she still does today. I used to use it daily to grind our coffee.

The two cast iron spiral candleholders are the most recent additions, bought in Petersburg WV--I was told they came out of a Masonic lodge.

Then there is the mantel board itself. It was one of the joists we used to build our tobacco barn in 1982; when we tore the barn down a few years ago, every board in it was re-used somewhere around this place. This one was still lightly scented with the rich smell of burley tobacco when we put it up.

And the stones for the fireplace? They came from right here on this farm for the most part. A few were leftover cut stones from when we built the root cellar back in 1986--Larry used a hammer and chisel to slice them like bread to use in the fireplace. The others were sandstone gathered from around the farm.

Look around your house. Do you have similar collections of memories in nooks and corners, on shelves and in cupboards? Stop a minute and take a little trip back in time, right in your own home.

And don't forget to visit Coloradolady's blog for many more posts of neat vintage collections.

Quick Gift Idea: Pumpkin Butter

 So here we are, less than two weeks to Christmas, and you still have a few names on your gift list. And not much cash in your pocket by this point, probably. If the people you still need gifts for like good food, then Pumpkin Butter might be just the thing. It's inexpensive, quick and easy to make, and delicious, a good combination for a great gift.

I didn't haven any fresh pumpkin because mine got fed to the chickens by he-who-shall-not-be-named. So I headed to the store for a few cans, and the results were perfectly satisfactory. The recipe probably cooked up more quickly too, because the store-bought puree tends to be thicker than my homegrown kind.

What you need: pumpkin, sugar, apple juice or apple cider, ginger, cinnnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Some recipes also call for mace, but I didn't have any on hand when I made my butter. You will also need jars and lids.

4- 15-oz cans of pumpkin (not the pie mix, just plain pumpkin puree)
1 1/2 cups of apple cider or apple juice
4- teaspoons ginger
1/2- teaspoon cloves
4- teaspoons cinnamon

2- teaspoon nutmeg
3- cups granulated sugar

Wash your jars and sterilize them. Put the lids and rings in a pan of water and bring them to a boil to sterilize them too.

Then:
1) Combine all the ingredients in a 6-quart saucepan, preferably a heavy one with a thick bottom. 

2) Bring to a boil, stirring almost constantly (it will scorch pretty easily, so pay attention to it). 

3) Reduce heat to low so the mixture simmers and cook, continuing to stirring even more often, for 30 minutes or until mixture is so thick that your spoon leaves a trail behind it that does not close up. The butter will "plop" if you don't keep it stirred well, and you will have pumpkin decorating your walls and stove; since it's very hot, you will be sporting some nice little burns too. It will also scorch easily, remember. So just stand there and stir; it's worth the trouble.

4)  When your butter is thick, remove the pan from the heat and ladle the butter into your hot jars. Put the lids on, tighten them and turn them upside down to seal. 

This recipe yielded 16 half-pints of pumpkin butter, along with a bit left over for a batch of biscuits which I promptly made--and didn't get any pictures of because they disappeared too fast.

(NOTE: All recipes I have found for pumpkin butter recommend refrigerating for immediate use, or freezing for up to six months. All cautioned against trying to process and store like other jams, butters and jellies. I followed these recommendations and stored my pumpkin butter in the fridge before giving it to friends.)

Add a pretty label, a doily or round of fabric and some ribbon around the lid, and you have a lovely, homemade, inexpensive gift. (And if you're lucky, the giftee will return your jar for future use.)

Wordless Wednesday: Inside Looking Out

Before the storm--see the white line above the lamp? That is the first of the snow blowing in.

Next morning.

Study in black and white.

 

 

Inside warmth, outside snow.

Cat on a warm couch.

Kitchen windowsill.

The beginning, and the end.

(click on any photo to make it bigger)