Gonna try this newfangled mobile thing and see how it works! Wish me luck!
Happy Hanukkah from all of us!
Got up early this morning to cook the turkey bird. Bird is in the oven and smells amazing already! Sitting here sipping my coffee and thinking on Thanksgivings past. Missing my loved ones.
I asked my kids the other day what was their favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner:
The olives and pickles tray was my Grandmother’s thing. Every Thanksgiving we had baby dills and sweet gherkins, and green & black olives. And I always got to eat as many as I wanted. 😛 Grandma made sure of that.
Family traditions are fun like that (sometimes).
So we’ll have some pickles and olives on the table. A pumpkin and pecan pie. A turkey with cornbread dressing, sweet potatoes and green bean casserole… maybe. And give some thanks for what we have, each other.
I started this dreadful journey some years back in 2011. I can’t believe that it has been 4 years now. A lot has changed in those 4 years!
I’ve learned a few things along the way:
Some of the things I’ve heard over the years:
I have had far more positive reactions to my dreadlocks than I have negative. The negative comes mostly in stares and upturned noses. Their loss. You don’t go on a dread journey to win a public opinion contest.
If I could do it all over again… I think that I would tell myself to doooo eeeeet much earlier than what I did. So instead of 4 years of locked living, I could be like a decade now. 🙂
So thanks to those of you who have helped me on my journey: Amanda who knotted me up, my sister, my mom and Thing 1 for countless hours of maintenance. And for all of you beautiful people out there with locks who inspired me. ❤
Dreads on the Kenai
https://animoto.com/play/77tLof8uL2WR2rRPz6YqPw
Wishing you both a very Happy Anniversary!!
It is definitely spring around here. Highs in the 50s and three nights in a row without the wood-stove… yep. And rain, we’ve had some of that along with pea-sized hail. It hails a lot here. Sunny one minute, hail the next. At least it seems that way! And it sounds really cool on a metal roof.
The ground is a sponge right now. Walking around my place feels squishy. Much too wet to plant anything yet. I have 4 flats of veggies sitting here in my kitchen windows anxiously waiting their future dirt homes.
I re-potted my avocado tree this week as well. It wasn’t quite root-bound but close. It is a good three feet tall now and branching out.
I need a sun-room for all of my plants!
…it was a bit unorthodox, but it works for us!
Since the kids are still quite young we had some fun making a Pesach tablecloth telling the story of the 10 plagues. We used some inspiration from Challah Crumbs coloring pages and fabric markers and got to work. I spaced ten circles around an oval, each representing one of the 10 plagues that hit Egypt-recorded in Scripture, encircling the Hebrew word for Pesach on our tablecloth. We don’t use the typical seder plate, so our table-cloth is sort-of our seder setting.
Thing 1 and I did most of the work. I sketched out the rough drawings and she got to work coloring in the motifs. Starting with #1, her specialty (Egyptology) and making her lettering look like it has little highlight bubbles… 🙂 She is proud of her little signature marks and she is quite creative (and knowledgeable about Egypt’s history).
Thing 2 and Lil’ Bit preferred to play outside, they didn’t realize all of the fun we two were having… until they came in, and great wailing and gnashing of teeth came to pass when they discovered only two motifs remained! *gasp*
Once we finished our art work we heat set the cloth. We’ll add a few finishing touches with some white puffy paint so our table-cloth will be textured. Then some hemming of the two ends. Another project for another day is making some matching napkins and matzah covers.
We enjoyed various modern Passover songs, including the best ever… Bohemian Rhapsody parody. You should watch it. Our meal was a seasoned, seared beef roast, sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts & matzah w/karpas and charoset of course. And wine. White Merlot is yummy! And of course, it was enough!
Much to Thing 2’s dismay, Thing 1 discovered the afikomen and was awarded a cash prize. With a lesson about grace and mercy, Thing 2 and Lil’ Bit were rewarded with small gifts of their own. Teaching moments… once a homeschooler, always a homeschooler.
We have a few new recipes to try this year for our week of Unleavened Bread but are already looking forward to next year and our cool tablecloth. ❤
Wishing you love & light as we observe the memorial of the Exodus and the Passover; our festival of freedom from slavery & exile and returning to our homeland.
Today marks the second anniversary of Dad’s death. Two years.
It seems surreal.
Like it hasn’t been that long, and yet, like it’s been ages.
I’ve been out at the cabin the past two weekends which helps a lot. Finding comfort in and around his things. His world. This is one of the last photos I had of Dad before his accident, Kim sent it to me. Dad was waving, seems so appropriate now.
Photo credit: Kim Good
It’s time for a glass of rhubarb wine, and a toast to the man, to the legend! Love you Dad.
Author Unknown
P.S. Last year I made a remembrance wreath and hung on Dad’s cabin door. The little notebook I put there has had several entries by the friends who have stopped by. Reading their words, knowing their love for Dad, is comforting. ❤
Alaska on my mind... 