To Amuse and Delight

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Tasha Tudor Day 2013

Honoring Tasha here today with one of my favorite of her quotes...


"I’m very fond of men. I think they are wonderful creatures. I love them dearly. But I don’t want to look like one. When women gave up their long skirts, they made a grave error…" ~Tasha Tudor

Monday, August 19, 2013

You never know.

 I sat in the dermotolagist's office waiting and fretting. I was there for a procedure that the doctor assured me would take all of 15 minutes. Such a short visit I could surely bring my girls and leave them in the waiting room. 

Well, it actually took two hours. That's were the fretting came in. I wondered how my 9 year old was holding up with nothing to occupy her. She's the type who just can't sit still. Thoughts of her bouncing off the walls and her sister getting really annoyed with her made me anxious.
 I had left a Molly Makes magazine with them. I brought it along for me to look at while waiting. When I finally emerged I found them o.k. (but hungry!) and that aforementioned 9 year old immediately started telling me about all the animals she was going to make. 

The next morning, all by herself  she made this adorable lion and a wolf. Today she made a Kangaroo with a baby in it's pocket. She's not done yet. She has a pile of felt ready to go. We will soon have an ark full of creatures.

There I was thinking the worst, worrying for no reason. It made me think how often this must happen. How our imaginations run wild, making a neutral situation into a bad one. We never think that good might come from an unplanned (maybe even unpleasant) situation. Most times we  fall into the habit of expecting the worst. 
But really you just never know.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

What's for breakfast?

 I don't have a huge appetite in the morning. I like picking though. A cup of good tea is essential. After that we pretty much eat whatever our bodies want. That could mean anything from soup, salad, salmon, to the more traditional oatmeal. Our tastes are seasonal. Pancakes are definitely a fall thing. Fresh baked buns, winter. Tea is the only constant in my breakfast offering. My littlest one needs the most food in the morning. She can't sit still, always burning energy. She wants miso soup, my goat cheese, berries and olives. So she gets it. It keeps her busy and satisfied.
One of my summer day breakfasts. I wake up with a craving for very vinegary salad, so that's what I eat.
During the summer we enjoy pesto bread for breakfast, tea and bedtime snack. My daughter could live on this stuff and sometimes she does. Along with our daily salad dressings it's another way to get loads of fresh garlic into us.
Some days (quite often), this is all I want. I crave good butter. Every day. Some fat is needed in the diet. This is how I take mine, with no guilt. 
We do eat "real" breakfast foods too, like oatmeal or waffles. When the mood strikes I make my all time favorite Vitamix recipe whole wheat waffles. While my girls are having oatmeal with maple syrup I might be eating my oatmeal raw, with lots of seeds or nuts and a shredded apple. Food, like all of life is best lived when it is not monotonous. When I wake up I never know exactly what the day will hold, there are so many choices, so many possibilities. As the seasons and our moods change, why not what's on our plates?

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Yarn Berry

My daughter was busy working on Photoshop. "Don't look!", "It's a surprise!" she said whenever I would walk by. She surprised me with this Yarn Berry that she based on my berry blog post.
Of course I had to share it here!
Then we went picking again...

I promise my next post will have nothing to do with berries.