Homemade Bread

When I was growing up my mom always made homemade bread. She ordered wheat from a food co-op and made fresh flour in her grain grinder. It was heavenly. At the time I rebelled against acquiring much skill in the area of baking, but recently I have been trying my hand at homemade breads and have happily discovered it seems to be in my blood.

My family is celebrating my mom’s 60th birthday this weekend and I want to bake something special. Any suggestions? Below is a photo of some Irish soda bread I made a while back. It was pretty easy and very good.

You can find the recipe here.

A Happy Beautiful Earth Day to You

Here are a few pictures I took while on a walk the other day. I thought it would be especially appropriate to share them on Earth Day! I attended some wonderful lectures yesterday by an amazing woman who is both a pioneer in mountaineering and also a famed chemist. I am hoping to share some of what I learned in a later post. Until then, I hope you all have a beautiful day!

A Gilded Cage

The sun was out today and we are promised more this weekend. It was beautiful! People are so much happier in the sunshine. Have you noticed? Sadly I have a lot of homework to do, but happily I can read outside just as easily as in. What will you be doing this weekend?

I’ve been “collecting” lovely vintage birdcage images for a while and thought I would share them. If one had to live in a cage, I think some of these would be quite elegant…

Away, away come away with me

Do you feel like running away sometimes? I do. Would you like to come? Where shall we go? Lately I’ve been longing for the coast…

The Cello: The Souls Voice

I have always promised myself that I will learn to play the cello before I die. I have a violin so I need to learn that first. Unfortunately, an apartment is not the most accommodating place for acquiring new musical skills. Eventually I will be back in a house. Wherever and whenever this happens it must have a music room. I can’t wait for the day I will be reunited with my piano…

Aren’t these images inspiring? What music are you listening to these days?

And if I were to ever get a tattoo it would look something like this piece by Man Ray …

Camaraderie with Lonely Places

{images found here}

Oh Dear…

 

My luck has turned. My beloved laptop is slowly failing me… I’m trying to remedy the problem, but I haven’t been able to post very much because it doesn’t seem to love me anymore. I’ve already had to rewrite one paper today because it shut down in the the middle of a save. I was only able to recover computer language and professors do not seem to like that.

The good news: Spring has arrived to the Pacific Northwest at last! I will be out forgetting my troubles in the grand sunshine!

Where the Wild Things Are

Last Monday my brother, his wife-to-be, and I took our niece to the movies. They played this extraordinary preview. I am so excited to see this movie! (Arcade Fire in the background just added to the wonder!) Although it’s so far away, it seems somehow appropriate that it would come out in the fall! My dad used to read this book to us when my little brother and I were young and it was one of my very favorites.

When I was little I used to promise myself that I would never be one of those grown-ups that sighed and declared they wished they could be a child again because it was so carefree. I used to feel offended by this because I felt that just because I was a kid my problems were still big and important to me. I do not wish to betray my past self, but I do feel a deep sense of longing for childhood when I watch this preview…

Modern Day Gypsy Life

These wonderful photos are from a larger collection that can be found HERE. I highly recommend checking them out, they are very moving.