I've never been one for making New Year resolutions... in fact, I'm not big on celebrating the change to a new year, at all. I had a bad experience with ringing in the New Year at a neighbourhood party as a child and it's always just kind of stuck with me and filled me with angst toward the fun that most people I know plan for and look forward to all year long. Parties are just not my thing and up until now, resolutions have been something I just didn't feel the need to bother with, I suppose in almost a completion of my personal New Year celebrating boycott. But this past one has been a very different and difficult year for me and I actually find myself truly wanting to make the upcoming year a better one.
Just enough.
That's all I need. That's all I want.
Just enough nourishment to keep my mind and my body working well and strong.
Just enough words that will lift my heart and keep me looking forward with a smile.
Just enough brave to un-clip my own wings.
Just enough fear that there is still room for wonder.
Just enough confidence to overcome hurt.
Just enough expectation to offer my own promise.
Just enough space to feel protected and content.
Just enough patience to accept the time my body still needs to heal.
Just enough hankering that wasteful wants won't overshadow my honest needs.
Just enough.
Thursday, 31 December 2015
Wednesday, 16 December 2015
Happy Adoption Day, DAY!!!
It's snowing today, as it did on that day... that lifetime just two years ago..... when my heart so gratefully ex-PLODEDDD with love, overtaken by my sunshiny Day! He crawled instantly into my lap and burrowed straight into my heart, and that is a day I never will forget!
 |
| "Day-O, Day-O. Daylight come and me got a new home!! The first time I ever saw a Greyhound meet new people and crawl up on their lap! Day says I love them and they love me so let's head on up to Thunder Bay. Congratulations Gillian and Enzo and Day." Photo and Quote thanks to Steve, our Adoption Coordinator |
 |
| Days huggy-needs just continued from there, he's my cuddle-bug-snuggle-bug-answer-to-prayer. |
 |
| He's become my sweet little follower, ready to help in whatever might be... rowing, doing laundry or even decorating the tree, it doesn't matter what it is, he's always there for me! |
 |
| He's made many friends, one who even comes to-call... his girlfriend, his sweet Maggie Mae! Greyhound Party Photo (bottom right) credit goes to Earl's dad, Rick |
 |
| Day used to have to play with his glass-friend every day, but now a brother he does have to share in the fun! Day and Play, they make quite a pair and their PlayDays have only just begun. |
 |
| Sometimes Day just lays and disappears, into memories or future plans... I don't know. I worry and ask him just what's on his mind but before long, he's back with his demands..... |
 |
| .....from bum-lifts to second-breakfasts, he makes his every wish known. |
 |
| He does have his moments'O'naughty... but all in good fun and he loves FUN-a-TON so it's all in all just really swell! |
 |
| If ever I'm down, Day happily clowns around... doing his best great impressions of 'Sid'! |
 |
| He loves to sleep in comfort, tucked tight in a mess-of-a-nest! |
 |
| But, maybe most of all, Day loves to celebrate, special days with a treat of PUPcake... it matters not the size or even the shape. He just likes to share his treats and and his joy..... |
and so a VERY...
Monday, 14 December 2015
Oak Island or BUST!!!
Is anyone else as fascinated as I am with The Curse of Oak Island on History Channel???!!
The first I ever heard of Oak Island was when I was a little girl. My dad had been a huge lover of all things history and had told of the island we might one day visit in our family travels. Growing up in our hometown of Thunder Bay we were pretty much situated by nothing but lakes and forests and sat close to midway between the east and west Coasts of Canada. My dad loved driving and family road-trips so we did a lot of exploring in his wanting to sharing all of Canada with us. Everywhere we went he took us to explore museums and forts so we could learn the history of our country which he loved so much. We did make it all the way to the west coast when I was eight years old, my sister was four and my brother thirteen, which couldn't have been an easy feat for my parents in keeping the three of us happy and entertained for an over three thousand kilometer drive (each way) in our lime-yellowish '73 Ford Crew Cab truck and tent trailer; how they survived us through the prairies is still beyond me. We never did make it, as a family, to the east coast before my dad died but I still hold hope of one day getting there, of seeing and exploring the beauty.
I'm not actually too sure of why we never took that trip east, maybe it was merely a timing thing. We had moved to Southern Ontario for a few years before thankfully coming back home to Thunder Bay, but in that time away my dad had taken a new position as a forestry safety consultant and he spent every week 'on the road', travelling from site to site; I guess it just must have become a chore to road-trip rather than the adventure it had always been for him before. In any case, we never did get to visit Oak Island and learn about the history that, even today, is still being discovered there. Still, it is a really special thing to be able to follow along with the program and to be able to actually see how things are happening, how the discoveries are actually being made.
We're fortunate to live in this age of technology - well, in respects such as these, anyhow - there is much about technology that I feel incredibly unfortunate about, but that, I might tackle in a future post. This post is about the good side and for me it means I can see-to-understand the methods being used in the search. Thanks to my parents own love of books and reading, I developed the same revere of the written word along with all of the gifts it offers. I was taught to dream through books I could immerse myself within, reading was how I learned that everything is possible. I have to admit though, that technical reading has always challenged me. I mean, it's not the escape that my brain naturally seems to want to take within a book and I could read one chapter on ground drilling set-up and bits and casings... maybe a thousand times over but I still would be likely to have pictured it in my mind all wrong simply because I don't have the knowledge of what the equipment really looks like or how it really works. That's just one more reason I love this show.
I've seen many comments and message boards that bag on the show for the lengthy and repeated recaps but I am grateful for the flashbacks because I don't feel like I get left behind if I didn't fully understand the first telling. It almost feels as though the questions I had from the first showing are answered when the next telling is told, maybe in just a slightly different wording. What really helps me is the visuals they offer, for my mind, a light dawns with pictured description. Maybe if I had actually been brave enough to ask questions in high school history class and been offered recaps, I might have actually passed the class! It was kind of horrible to do so horribly in history class when I was so fascinated by history in real life.
And then there came this show!
How I managed to even see an ad for the program is somewhat of a mystery since I record everything I ever watch, which truthfully, is generally only Hallmark movies since the Stargate franchise left the airways and I record just so I don't have to sit through the ads... yet somehow, the ad for The Curse of Oak Island premier found me just hours before its first-ever run time. I immediately set the dvr to record and have been hooked into the hopes and the angst, the theories and evidence, the determination and ingenuity and maybe most of all, I've been hooked into the true camaraderie that's clearly been found in the findings of the search.
Reality television is not something that generally interests me and I prefer, instead, to disappear into a make-believe world on the rare occasions I watch television. This is different reality, though... it's not based on celebrities looking for a new fit in the headlines and it's not about non-celebrities trying to become celebrities by turning sex tapes into careers..... it's about real, actual and tangible history.
And I love it!
And I'd love to know more.
I think about it as I watch each week and I wonder, how? How did the Rick and Marty Lagina get themselves from enthralled with reading a Reader's Digest story, all the way to actually becoming an integral part of that very story that captured them so many years ago? How did two young boys keep their dream, their vision of searching to find a long ago lost treasure on a small island far from their home, alive for fifty years? How did they make their place in this enveloping puzzle happen? How did they know what first steps they would need to take to physically claim their spot on the island... and how did they summon the courage those first steps would take? How did they research? How did they know what was reliable in what they did research for so many years? How did they not only trust in their thirst of the quest but how did they not allow themselves to be talked out of their childhood dream by naysayers? Or were there naysayers, at all? Maybe there weren't, maybe their lives have been filled with encouragers, maybe they were taught to believe.
So many hows but the whys, from what I have gathered while watching, are simply that of belief. Rick believes in the in the deeply rich history of the island and Marty believes in his big brother. And the absolute trust they have in one another is glaringly unwavering.
What brought me to begin watching the show was simply the mention of Oak Island and the memory I had of hearing the story from my dad but what has kept me coming back for every episode is the respect for teamwork and fellowship the men of Oak Island seem to share. The brothers, along with their friends, their teammates, really are invested as a single full-on unit. Even though their hopes, expectations and personal desires may differ within their own personal prospects, they trust in one another to move forward together and nothing spoke that fact greater to me than when on the unpopular end of a vote, Marty admitted defeat on a positive note, saying simply, "I will respectfully disagree, but I will wholeheartedly participate." And he did. They really are "one in, all in" and they all stand with that decision.
The sibling dynamics are also something I find to be pretty hysterically familiar. Sometimes I can't help but to giggle at the personality differences between Rick and Marty as they so closely relate to my own sister and I. I am a total dreamer and I truly believe that anything is possible if we just would let ourselves take the chance while my sister sees and focuses only on every single possible obstacle that could ever even remotely possibly occur. I think Rick must just be a much greater skilled charmer than I am in getting the adventure-bug caught. I just think... my sister thinks twice. Rick just thinks... Marty thinks twice, even for something as simple as an ocean dip to swim off the muck of a dirt-filled day; Marty asks, "How cold is this water?" And Rick answers, "Who cares??" It's pretty awesome!
The only one thing that I am not so keen on is the name of their clubhouse, The War Room. I get it, I really do... the word 'clubhouse' probably didn't make the final paring when compared with the heavy-hitting sound of 'war'. I'm just glad that that Rick and Marty, for their part, seem quite honestly to be on the good-guy side of searching and that they really do intend to "do good" with whatever treasures they may find in their incredible quest of bringing the lost once again into the light.
The first I ever heard of Oak Island was when I was a little girl. My dad had been a huge lover of all things history and had told of the island we might one day visit in our family travels. Growing up in our hometown of Thunder Bay we were pretty much situated by nothing but lakes and forests and sat close to midway between the east and west Coasts of Canada. My dad loved driving and family road-trips so we did a lot of exploring in his wanting to sharing all of Canada with us. Everywhere we went he took us to explore museums and forts so we could learn the history of our country which he loved so much. We did make it all the way to the west coast when I was eight years old, my sister was four and my brother thirteen, which couldn't have been an easy feat for my parents in keeping the three of us happy and entertained for an over three thousand kilometer drive (each way) in our lime-yellowish '73 Ford Crew Cab truck and tent trailer; how they survived us through the prairies is still beyond me. We never did make it, as a family, to the east coast before my dad died but I still hold hope of one day getting there, of seeing and exploring the beauty.
I'm not actually too sure of why we never took that trip east, maybe it was merely a timing thing. We had moved to Southern Ontario for a few years before thankfully coming back home to Thunder Bay, but in that time away my dad had taken a new position as a forestry safety consultant and he spent every week 'on the road', travelling from site to site; I guess it just must have become a chore to road-trip rather than the adventure it had always been for him before. In any case, we never did get to visit Oak Island and learn about the history that, even today, is still being discovered there. Still, it is a really special thing to be able to follow along with the program and to be able to actually see how things are happening, how the discoveries are actually being made.
We're fortunate to live in this age of technology - well, in respects such as these, anyhow - there is much about technology that I feel incredibly unfortunate about, but that, I might tackle in a future post. This post is about the good side and for me it means I can see-to-understand the methods being used in the search. Thanks to my parents own love of books and reading, I developed the same revere of the written word along with all of the gifts it offers. I was taught to dream through books I could immerse myself within, reading was how I learned that everything is possible. I have to admit though, that technical reading has always challenged me. I mean, it's not the escape that my brain naturally seems to want to take within a book and I could read one chapter on ground drilling set-up and bits and casings... maybe a thousand times over but I still would be likely to have pictured it in my mind all wrong simply because I don't have the knowledge of what the equipment really looks like or how it really works. That's just one more reason I love this show.
I've seen many comments and message boards that bag on the show for the lengthy and repeated recaps but I am grateful for the flashbacks because I don't feel like I get left behind if I didn't fully understand the first telling. It almost feels as though the questions I had from the first showing are answered when the next telling is told, maybe in just a slightly different wording. What really helps me is the visuals they offer, for my mind, a light dawns with pictured description. Maybe if I had actually been brave enough to ask questions in high school history class and been offered recaps, I might have actually passed the class! It was kind of horrible to do so horribly in history class when I was so fascinated by history in real life.
And then there came this show!
How I managed to even see an ad for the program is somewhat of a mystery since I record everything I ever watch, which truthfully, is generally only Hallmark movies since the Stargate franchise left the airways and I record just so I don't have to sit through the ads... yet somehow, the ad for The Curse of Oak Island premier found me just hours before its first-ever run time. I immediately set the dvr to record and have been hooked into the hopes and the angst, the theories and evidence, the determination and ingenuity and maybe most of all, I've been hooked into the true camaraderie that's clearly been found in the findings of the search.
Reality television is not something that generally interests me and I prefer, instead, to disappear into a make-believe world on the rare occasions I watch television. This is different reality, though... it's not based on celebrities looking for a new fit in the headlines and it's not about non-celebrities trying to become celebrities by turning sex tapes into careers..... it's about real, actual and tangible history.
And I love it!
And I'd love to know more.
I think about it as I watch each week and I wonder, how? How did the Rick and Marty Lagina get themselves from enthralled with reading a Reader's Digest story, all the way to actually becoming an integral part of that very story that captured them so many years ago? How did two young boys keep their dream, their vision of searching to find a long ago lost treasure on a small island far from their home, alive for fifty years? How did they make their place in this enveloping puzzle happen? How did they know what first steps they would need to take to physically claim their spot on the island... and how did they summon the courage those first steps would take? How did they research? How did they know what was reliable in what they did research for so many years? How did they not only trust in their thirst of the quest but how did they not allow themselves to be talked out of their childhood dream by naysayers? Or were there naysayers, at all? Maybe there weren't, maybe their lives have been filled with encouragers, maybe they were taught to believe.
So many hows but the whys, from what I have gathered while watching, are simply that of belief. Rick believes in the in the deeply rich history of the island and Marty believes in his big brother. And the absolute trust they have in one another is glaringly unwavering.
What brought me to begin watching the show was simply the mention of Oak Island and the memory I had of hearing the story from my dad but what has kept me coming back for every episode is the respect for teamwork and fellowship the men of Oak Island seem to share. The brothers, along with their friends, their teammates, really are invested as a single full-on unit. Even though their hopes, expectations and personal desires may differ within their own personal prospects, they trust in one another to move forward together and nothing spoke that fact greater to me than when on the unpopular end of a vote, Marty admitted defeat on a positive note, saying simply, "I will respectfully disagree, but I will wholeheartedly participate." And he did. They really are "one in, all in" and they all stand with that decision.
The sibling dynamics are also something I find to be pretty hysterically familiar. Sometimes I can't help but to giggle at the personality differences between Rick and Marty as they so closely relate to my own sister and I. I am a total dreamer and I truly believe that anything is possible if we just would let ourselves take the chance while my sister sees and focuses only on every single possible obstacle that could ever even remotely possibly occur. I think Rick must just be a much greater skilled charmer than I am in getting the adventure-bug caught. I just think... my sister thinks twice. Rick just thinks... Marty thinks twice, even for something as simple as an ocean dip to swim off the muck of a dirt-filled day; Marty asks, "How cold is this water?" And Rick answers, "Who cares??" It's pretty awesome!
The only one thing that I am not so keen on is the name of their clubhouse, The War Room. I get it, I really do... the word 'clubhouse' probably didn't make the final paring when compared with the heavy-hitting sound of 'war'. I'm just glad that that Rick and Marty, for their part, seem quite honestly to be on the good-guy side of searching and that they really do intend to "do good" with whatever treasures they may find in their incredible quest of bringing the lost once again into the light.
Wednesday, 9 December 2015
Christmas is Coming!!!
I love Christmas.
I love decorating and baking. I love the music, the memories and I love the meaning that I believe in. Maybe most of all... I love the light of Christmas. The soft glows from carefully decorated trees in windows, the outdoor displays, ice and snow sculptures glistening in warm light graciously offered by the moon and stars. It's a sparkle that just can't be beat and it brings me a joy I can't even begin to describe.
Another of my greatest loves is in writing stories for children. I've not been able to have kiddoes of my own in life but I love being an aunty to my niece and my nephews. I love being silly and laughing hysterically with them and I especially loved the cuddly storybook times shared with them when they were little. I thought it would be fun to share both of my loves in this looking-forward-to-Christmas post... Christmas lights and story time. I wrote this little story-poem a few years ago when I was worried I might just be losing my own Christmas Spirit but thankfully, I found it again... just in time.
The Christmas Light
Decorating for Christmas
Hattie loved most of all to do,
it was all she planned and dreamt about
each day, the whole year through!
Snowflakes, ornaments
and lights flashed through her mind,
as she remembered all the good and fun
festivities now behind.
But looking forward into the future,
to all the grand surprises it held,
kept her waking with a smile each morning
cheerfully springing herself out of bed.
It seemed to take almost FOREVER
for another year to work its way through,
and marking each calendar day that passed
brought excitement that grew and grew and grew!
And then at long last, the evening had arrived,
Hattie's family gathered 'round to decorate,
but something was off, something just wasn't right
and their decorating would simply have to wait.
It was the lights that were not working
to brighten and warm their Christmas tree,
even her dad couldn't figure what was wrong
so new lights, they supposed, would have to be.
"They're very old lights anyhow,"
Hattie's dad explained with a shrug,
"we'll go buy some more in the morning..."
he promised with a reassuring hug.
So early the very next morning
Hattie sat quietly ready in wait,
to go out and find the most perfect lights
for her family to celebrate.
Finally Hattie's dad did awake
and got himself ready to go,
while she sat waiting in anxious agony
from watching him moving SO SLOW!
It seemed an eternity had passed
when, at last, they were well on their way,
but Hattie looked forward with hope
that this would be their day.
She knew they would find the most beautiful lights
then rush home to string them 'round the tree,
so they could cast their perfect, glimmering light
and make the tree one incredible sight to see.
Hattie hadn't realized quite what she was in for
nor the difficulty she would endure,
because the perfect lights sat in wait just for her
and of this she was positively sure.
The store, she soon discovered
was filled up WAY past full,
with garlands,ornaments and light sets
stacked row... upon row... upon... ROW!
It would almost certainly take them
the whole day long to find,
the right lights to offer their tree
it's own bright and wonder-filled shine.
There were boxes upon boxes
from which she would have to choose,
and she wasn't sure she had what it takes
to fill such decision-making shoes.
There were long cords, there were short cords,
some looked old and some brand new.
There were green bulbs, there were red bulbs,
there were yellow and orange bulbs, too.
There were clear bulbs, there were blue bulbs,
even pink and purple to boot!
There were star-shaped, there were icicle-shaped,
there were teardrops and bells, as well.
There were candle-shaped, there were snowflake-shaped,
and others of which she couldn't even tell!
They were all so bright and pretty
each in their own special way,
so why none seemed remotely right
was something she just couldn't say.
Disheartened, they headed in silence
back outside and over to their car,
the lights having proven much harder to find
than anything else had, by far.
'If only it had been the bows...'
in her mind she forlornly thought,
for she'd already seen so many of those
she'd proudly and gladly have bought.
Even the ornaments that carefully hung
upon hook after hook after hook,
would have been far easier a choice
and she could tell after just one quick look.
There were still a few more stores
in which they would surely come to find,
the lights-of-perfection in wait just for them
the ones she could see in her mind.
All too soon were they to find
that they'd wasted the whole, entire day,
so Hattie and her dad returned home with no lights
in moods of regret and dismay.
Hattie sunk into a sadness
she'd never before ever known,
where nothing seemed able to cheer her
so she spent all her time on her own.
She'd sit and she's stare right straight into the tree
wondering why in the world it was so,
that the lights in her mind she could so clearly see
were causing her heart so much woe.
And then came the night
peaceful and special it should have been,
but was the wrong time altogether
to Hattie it did seem.
They strolled their way through the Festival of Lights
which had each year before seemed so bright,
but Hattie grew sadder with each passing step
giving all, even her, a great fright.
Hattie's Christmas Spirit was gone
and what would happen if it never returned,
would she find peace and joy in her heart ever again
or live the rest of her life feeling spurned?
And so the family quietly left
having seen only half the displays,
with plans to return and finish their walk
but for now had to be on their way.
The service was soon to begin
and they just didn't want to be late,
for they always tried to be to Church right on time
especially on this one special date.
It was the Eve of Baby Jesus' birth
and Hattie's heart, at last, began to lift,
she was shown once again the true meaning
of our one True and Heavenly gift.
It had never been the tree lights, after all,
that had always made the season so bright,
it was all the love and joy so openly shared
upon a perfect Christmas Night.
Back, once more, at the Festival
wandering slowly to finish their tour,
a disaster quite suddenly happened
to threaten the spirits of all there, for sure!
Every single string of bulbs
at once just ceased to glow,
but it was thanks to spirit-filled Hattie
the others smiles again shortly showed.
Standing there in the now darkened park
in a crowd where grief did course strong,
Hattie raised her eyes to the Heavens to find
the light she'd been searching all along.
She pointed to the star shining brilliantly
from far above them in the eastern sky,
instantly it warmed each and every heart with joy
as Angels serenaded on high.
The meaning of Christmas had made itself clear
and Hattie would never forget,
even though it had taken a little while to see the truth
she had not one single regret.
And so they'd gone home in elation
to yet another surprise waiting bright,
and had stood 'round together just gazing in awe
at their Christmas tree now bathed in light.
Every old bulb shone warmly in splendor
more brightly than ever before,
they had witnessed the Miracle of Christmas
in pure faith now their hearts did all soar.
I love decorating and baking. I love the music, the memories and I love the meaning that I believe in. Maybe most of all... I love the light of Christmas. The soft glows from carefully decorated trees in windows, the outdoor displays, ice and snow sculptures glistening in warm light graciously offered by the moon and stars. It's a sparkle that just can't be beat and it brings me a joy I can't even begin to describe.
 |
| A Christmas tree never loses its magic! |
Another of my greatest loves is in writing stories for children. I've not been able to have kiddoes of my own in life but I love being an aunty to my niece and my nephews. I love being silly and laughing hysterically with them and I especially loved the cuddly storybook times shared with them when they were little. I thought it would be fun to share both of my loves in this looking-forward-to-Christmas post... Christmas lights and story time. I wrote this little story-poem a few years ago when I was worried I might just be losing my own Christmas Spirit but thankfully, I found it again... just in time.
The Christmas Light
Decorating for Christmas
Hattie loved most of all to do,
it was all she planned and dreamt about
each day, the whole year through!
Snowflakes, ornaments
and lights flashed through her mind,
as she remembered all the good and fun
festivities now behind.
But looking forward into the future,
to all the grand surprises it held,
kept her waking with a smile each morning
cheerfully springing herself out of bed.
It seemed to take almost FOREVER
for another year to work its way through,
and marking each calendar day that passed
brought excitement that grew and grew and grew!
And then at long last, the evening had arrived,
Hattie's family gathered 'round to decorate,
but something was off, something just wasn't right
and their decorating would simply have to wait.
It was the lights that were not working
to brighten and warm their Christmas tree,
even her dad couldn't figure what was wrong
so new lights, they supposed, would have to be.
"They're very old lights anyhow,"
Hattie's dad explained with a shrug,
"we'll go buy some more in the morning..."
he promised with a reassuring hug.
So early the very next morning
Hattie sat quietly ready in wait,
to go out and find the most perfect lights
for her family to celebrate.
Finally Hattie's dad did awake
and got himself ready to go,
while she sat waiting in anxious agony
from watching him moving SO SLOW!
It seemed an eternity had passed
when, at last, they were well on their way,
but Hattie looked forward with hope
that this would be their day.
She knew they would find the most beautiful lights
then rush home to string them 'round the tree,
so they could cast their perfect, glimmering light
and make the tree one incredible sight to see.
Hattie hadn't realized quite what she was in for
nor the difficulty she would endure,
because the perfect lights sat in wait just for her
and of this she was positively sure.
The store, she soon discovered
was filled up WAY past full,
with garlands,ornaments and light sets
stacked row... upon row... upon... ROW!
It would almost certainly take them
the whole day long to find,
the right lights to offer their tree
it's own bright and wonder-filled shine.
There were boxes upon boxes
from which she would have to choose,
and she wasn't sure she had what it takes
to fill such decision-making shoes.
There were long cords, there were short cords,
some looked old and some brand new.
There were green bulbs, there were red bulbs,
there were yellow and orange bulbs, too.
There were clear bulbs, there were blue bulbs,
even pink and purple to boot!
There were star-shaped, there were icicle-shaped,
there were teardrops and bells, as well.
There were candle-shaped, there were snowflake-shaped,
and others of which she couldn't even tell!
They were all so bright and pretty
each in their own special way,
so why none seemed remotely right
was something she just couldn't say.
Disheartened, they headed in silence
back outside and over to their car,
the lights having proven much harder to find
than anything else had, by far.
'If only it had been the bows...'
in her mind she forlornly thought,
for she'd already seen so many of those
she'd proudly and gladly have bought.
Even the ornaments that carefully hung
upon hook after hook after hook,
would have been far easier a choice
and she could tell after just one quick look.
There were still a few more stores
in which they would surely come to find,
the lights-of-perfection in wait just for them
the ones she could see in her mind.
All too soon were they to find
that they'd wasted the whole, entire day,
so Hattie and her dad returned home with no lights
in moods of regret and dismay.
Hattie sunk into a sadness
she'd never before ever known,
where nothing seemed able to cheer her
so she spent all her time on her own.
She'd sit and she's stare right straight into the tree
wondering why in the world it was so,
that the lights in her mind she could so clearly see
were causing her heart so much woe.
And then came the night
peaceful and special it should have been,
but was the wrong time altogether
to Hattie it did seem.
They strolled their way through the Festival of Lights
which had each year before seemed so bright,
but Hattie grew sadder with each passing step
giving all, even her, a great fright.
Hattie's Christmas Spirit was gone
and what would happen if it never returned,
would she find peace and joy in her heart ever again
or live the rest of her life feeling spurned?
And so the family quietly left
having seen only half the displays,
with plans to return and finish their walk
but for now had to be on their way.
The service was soon to begin
and they just didn't want to be late,
for they always tried to be to Church right on time
especially on this one special date.
It was the Eve of Baby Jesus' birth
and Hattie's heart, at last, began to lift,
she was shown once again the true meaning
of our one True and Heavenly gift.
It had never been the tree lights, after all,
that had always made the season so bright,
it was all the love and joy so openly shared
upon a perfect Christmas Night.
Back, once more, at the Festival
wandering slowly to finish their tour,
a disaster quite suddenly happened
to threaten the spirits of all there, for sure!
Every single string of bulbs
at once just ceased to glow,
but it was thanks to spirit-filled Hattie
the others smiles again shortly showed.
Standing there in the now darkened park
in a crowd where grief did course strong,
Hattie raised her eyes to the Heavens to find
the light she'd been searching all along.
She pointed to the star shining brilliantly
from far above them in the eastern sky,
instantly it warmed each and every heart with joy
as Angels serenaded on high.
The meaning of Christmas had made itself clear
and Hattie would never forget,
even though it had taken a little while to see the truth
she had not one single regret.
And so they'd gone home in elation
to yet another surprise waiting bright,
and had stood 'round together just gazing in awe
at their Christmas tree now bathed in light.
Every old bulb shone warmly in splendor
more brightly than ever before,
they had witnessed the Miracle of Christmas
in pure faith now their hearts did all soar.
Wednesday, 2 December 2015
It's Gnocchi, Dumplin'!
It seems there are some who would be interested in a "recipe post" and because I love to share, I am saying YES to the request and giving recipe explaining a go.
I need to be from-my-heart-honestly clear, though... I absolutely HATE cooking. I'm actually not big on eating either, I don't get excited about 'foodie-stuff'. I don't care about fancies or fusions, about props or presentation, heck, I don't even care about variety. Food just doesn't impress me and if I lived alone my refrigerator would be filled with a water jug, a cheese tray, a vegetable tray and a fruit tray (all pre-prepared) and I would live on pasta and perogies (both home-made in huge batches and then individually-sized frozen) so I would only have to actually cook every once in a very little while. I'm not bad at cooking. I know how to cook and I do it daily but it's a chore; it's something that needs to be done and is certainly not something I actually want to be doing. Maybe it's the clean-up part that I hate the most and have let myself come to a point where the dread of cleaning has grown to overshadow what could be the joy of cooking. I think I really did like cooking at one point but now it's a chore that just sucks!
Having admitted all of that - please don't hate me - there are a few things (always comfort foods) my family will request I make for our Sunday Dinner get-togethers and I am more than happy to cook up a storm for them... maybe because I know how much they really enjoy their favourite dishes. Whether it's old-school macaroni and cheese with fried balogna and home-baked beans, lasagna with ceasar salad and milk powder rolls, apple pie, spaghetti with meatballs or even just a big ol' bowl of mashed potatoes or stuffing as a side dish, it doesn't matter, I find I truly love making because my family loves enjoying and I love the company of my family!
We had a pork roast dinner at my moms house this past Sunday and I made the mashed potatoes. Because there was left-over potatoes, the request for last nights dinner (Tuesday) was Gnocchi and as I was pulling the potato container out of the fridge I thought... hey... why not document and share this family fav??
I have never used an actual recipe, except when baking sweets, I prefer to 'cook by feel' but I did actually log the measures for this batch as I made it so it would be easier to share. My methods are not authentic but they work and this is a top favourite of my family... coming in a close second to the number one favourite of lasagna.
**They do take a little time but are totally worth the work! And to make it a much simpler dinner I try to always have my premade gnocchi and meatballs frozen and at the ready for really easy dinners so I only have to make a nice fresh sauce on the actual day... cooking the gnocchi (directly from frozen) as explained below.**
So, here it is... get ready for a gajillion pictures!
Gnocchi with Tomato Sauce (and meatballs if desired)
Gnocchi Ingredients: (room temperature)
2 cups Mashed Potatoes
2 Eggs
1/8 tsp Salt
3 cups Flour (divided)
Directions:
Step one:
Combine potatoes, eggs and and salt in mixing bowl and mix to combine well. You can always mix by hand if you don't have an electric mixer, I just prefer to mix the lazy way.
*I always use red potatoes and leave the skins on when making mashed because I don't like to give up the extra skin nurtients and I also like the extra texture that skinless mashed potatoes just can't offer. Skin on, skin off, plain mashed, gralic mashed... it's all good, don't be afraid to give it a go with whatever mashed recipe you love... I even sometimes make gnocchi with leftover mashed squash.*
Step two:
Add 1 cup of the flour to above and mix well. Swich from blending blade to dough hook and add in another 1 cup of the remaining flour. Combine well using dough hook on low speed.
Step three:
Continue adding wee bits of flour until the dough is an un-stickable, workable consistency. It may take more or less than another 1/2 cup, depending on how much moisture the mashed potatoes have.
Step Four:
Take the beautiful gnocchi dough and head to the rolling station!
Line a tray with a cotton cloth and sprinkle lightly with a little of the remaining flour or just sprinkle directly over the tray if you don't want to use a cloth... I just find it easier to pick up the cloth and shake the lil' dumplin's loose when it comes time to cook them.
All the rolling tools you will need are your hands, a knife and a fork... as well as a little flour for rolling and forking.
Step five:
Cut or pull off a handful of dough and snake that baby out, just like you used to do with Playdough! Roll it out until that rope is about 1/2" - 3/4" thick and then cut it into 1" pieces.
Just a note - these little 1" rope cut pieces (pictured left) can totally be your finished gnocchi dumplins if you just don't have the heart to FORK them! But I'm a sauce junkie and I love that forking makes perfect nooks that sauce can settle into for extra saucy sauciness!
As for the 'forking' technique: press fork into remaining flour and then press firmly into dumpling... seriously... press FIRMLY, it's fine if it even breaks right through - stick those babies to your work surface! Be sure to press fork into flour before EVERY fork press into each dough piece.
Step six:
Roll the dumplins by scraping them up and into themseves from beneath... here's a video snippet to hopefully show what I clearly have not clearly explained with my words.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qqqBjt9_-k&feature=player_detailpage
And here is a picture of what the gnocchi should look like after rolling...
Step seven:
Lay the lil' dumplins close together (but not touching) onto your prepared tray. When finshed rolling all of them just pop them into the refrigerator until ready to cook. I usually make them first thing in the morning and then it isn't a ton of work all at once.
*If freezing the gnocchi, just freeze on the tray and then shake them into a freezer bag or seal frozen in a food saver bag for an easy future dinner.
Step eight:
Really? Do you really want another step right now?? No, I guess not! You've done enough work for now... go watch a movie and relax for awhile!
Step nine:
COOKING!!!
Step ten:
TOSSING!!!
If you have a favourite sauce, by all means... use it, I'm sure it will be delicious!! My favourite is home made tomato sauce with either crumbled ground beef or meatballs in it and it works fantastically for tossing the gnocchi because the oil from the meat naturally rises to the top of the sauce when cooking and left undisturbed... so DON'T stir the sauce until after stealing a few tablespoons for tossing! Just scoop a few spoonfuls of the oil (juuuuuust enough to coat) and toss gently.
If you don't have a favourite sauce and want to try mine, I will post my own sauce recipe below.
*I coat the gnochhi with the oil because coating them with the thicker sauce tends to make them soggy where the light oil just keeps them free and losse without breaking them down.
Step eleven:
ENJOY!!!
Whether you prefer it plain (like my mom) or with parmesan (like me)... I hope you love every bite!
Basic Tomato Sauce
I like to can my own tomatoes and that's what I use to make my sauce but cans of tomatoes from the grocery store will work just fine!
Tomato Sauce Ingredients:
1 quart Crushed Tomatoes (or one 28 oz can)
Water (to equal that of the crushed tomatoes)
1 can Tomatoe Paste
Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Minced Garlic
1/2 Tbsp Onion Flakes (I use 1/2 a whole yellow onion if my mom is away,she is "allergic" but actually she just hates fresh onions)
1-2 tsp Sugar (to taste, depending on the acidity of the tomatoes you may need more or less)
1 Hot Pepper (for a little heat, if desired)
2 Tbsp Fresh Parsley (or Basil... whatever I have at hand in the freezer; mix'n'match is good, too)
Salt and Pepper (to taste)
Step one:
Coat bottom of large pot with olive oil over medium heat. Add in garlic, onion, salt and pepper to saute slightly for a few seconds... just until heated and well-combined.
Step two:
Add tomato paste to above and mix together gently.
Step three:
Add in the tomatoes, water, sugar and parsley... stirring gently to combine. Bring to a simmering boil then turn the heat down to medium/low. and cook gently for an hour-and-a-half to two hours or until desired consistency stir every half hour to check on sauce thickness.
Give it a taste about halfway through cooking and add in more salt if needed.
When it's done to your own preffered consistency, it's ready... ENJOY!!
Note about the hot pepper*If you want just a little heat flavour without actually having heat, put the pepper in whole without slicing... I like a hint of heat without having it HOT so I cut a tiny slit on either side if the pepper just to let out a medium heat. For a full-on hot sauce feel free to squish the seedy heat out of that soggy-cooked pepper after simmering in the sauce.
*If I am using meatballs in the sauce I just drop my pre-made, pre-frozen meatballs into the simmering sauce for the last forty-five minutes of sauce cooking time. Drop them straight in while still frozen and try not to disturb them too much while cooking but make sure they are all safely and cookably covered with sauce while not being too squished in. They should be cooked through with the forty-five minute cook time but if you are unsure just cut into one as a check test.
Basic Meatballs
2 lbs Lean Ground Beef
2 lbs Sausage Meat (hot or mild)
4 Eggs
1/2 cup Breadcrumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese
1 Tbsp Dried Parsley
1 Tbsp Minced Garlic
1 Tbsp Onion Flakes
2-3 tsp Salt
1 tsp Pepper
2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
*Add in a little extra breadcrumbs and parmesan if mixture feels it will be too wet to roll into balls.*
Directions:
*To freeze... Place freshly formed meatballs on a parchment-lined tray and freeze. Once frozen, just pop them off the tray and into a freezer bag or a food-saver vacuum bag and set them back into the freezer until you have use for them.
And there it is... a favourite family comfort dinner. Feel free to make your own substitutions and please, if you try making the gnocchi, let me know in the comments how it turns out! It's way easier than it appears and I hope you will love it as much as my own family does!
I need to be from-my-heart-honestly clear, though... I absolutely HATE cooking. I'm actually not big on eating either, I don't get excited about 'foodie-stuff'. I don't care about fancies or fusions, about props or presentation, heck, I don't even care about variety. Food just doesn't impress me and if I lived alone my refrigerator would be filled with a water jug, a cheese tray, a vegetable tray and a fruit tray (all pre-prepared) and I would live on pasta and perogies (both home-made in huge batches and then individually-sized frozen) so I would only have to actually cook every once in a very little while. I'm not bad at cooking. I know how to cook and I do it daily but it's a chore; it's something that needs to be done and is certainly not something I actually want to be doing. Maybe it's the clean-up part that I hate the most and have let myself come to a point where the dread of cleaning has grown to overshadow what could be the joy of cooking. I think I really did like cooking at one point but now it's a chore that just sucks!
Having admitted all of that - please don't hate me - there are a few things (always comfort foods) my family will request I make for our Sunday Dinner get-togethers and I am more than happy to cook up a storm for them... maybe because I know how much they really enjoy their favourite dishes. Whether it's old-school macaroni and cheese with fried balogna and home-baked beans, lasagna with ceasar salad and milk powder rolls, apple pie, spaghetti with meatballs or even just a big ol' bowl of mashed potatoes or stuffing as a side dish, it doesn't matter, I find I truly love making because my family loves enjoying and I love the company of my family!
We had a pork roast dinner at my moms house this past Sunday and I made the mashed potatoes. Because there was left-over potatoes, the request for last nights dinner (Tuesday) was Gnocchi and as I was pulling the potato container out of the fridge I thought... hey... why not document and share this family fav??
I have never used an actual recipe, except when baking sweets, I prefer to 'cook by feel' but I did actually log the measures for this batch as I made it so it would be easier to share. My methods are not authentic but they work and this is a top favourite of my family... coming in a close second to the number one favourite of lasagna.
**They do take a little time but are totally worth the work! And to make it a much simpler dinner I try to always have my premade gnocchi and meatballs frozen and at the ready for really easy dinners so I only have to make a nice fresh sauce on the actual day... cooking the gnocchi (directly from frozen) as explained below.**
So, here it is... get ready for a gajillion pictures!
Gnocchi with Tomato Sauce (and meatballs if desired)
Gnocchi Ingredients: (room temperature)
2 cups Mashed Potatoes
2 Eggs
1/8 tsp Salt
3 cups Flour (divided)
Directions:
Step one:
Combine potatoes, eggs and and salt in mixing bowl and mix to combine well. You can always mix by hand if you don't have an electric mixer, I just prefer to mix the lazy way.
*I always use red potatoes and leave the skins on when making mashed because I don't like to give up the extra skin nurtients and I also like the extra texture that skinless mashed potatoes just can't offer. Skin on, skin off, plain mashed, gralic mashed... it's all good, don't be afraid to give it a go with whatever mashed recipe you love... I even sometimes make gnocchi with leftover mashed squash.*
Step two:
Add 1 cup of the flour to above and mix well. Swich from blending blade to dough hook and add in another 1 cup of the remaining flour. Combine well using dough hook on low speed.
Step three:
Continue adding wee bits of flour until the dough is an un-stickable, workable consistency. It may take more or less than another 1/2 cup, depending on how much moisture the mashed potatoes have.
 |
| Falling off hook and sticking to fingers. Sticks to hook, NOT to fingers... perfect! |
Step Four:
Take the beautiful gnocchi dough and head to the rolling station!
Line a tray with a cotton cloth and sprinkle lightly with a little of the remaining flour or just sprinkle directly over the tray if you don't want to use a cloth... I just find it easier to pick up the cloth and shake the lil' dumplin's loose when it comes time to cook them.
All the rolling tools you will need are your hands, a knife and a fork... as well as a little flour for rolling and forking.
Step five:
Cut or pull off a handful of dough and snake that baby out, just like you used to do with Playdough! Roll it out until that rope is about 1/2" - 3/4" thick and then cut it into 1" pieces.
Just a note - these little 1" rope cut pieces (pictured left) can totally be your finished gnocchi dumplins if you just don't have the heart to FORK them! But I'm a sauce junkie and I love that forking makes perfect nooks that sauce can settle into for extra saucy sauciness!
As for the 'forking' technique: press fork into remaining flour and then press firmly into dumpling... seriously... press FIRMLY, it's fine if it even breaks right through - stick those babies to your work surface! Be sure to press fork into flour before EVERY fork press into each dough piece.
Step six:
Roll the dumplins by scraping them up and into themseves from beneath... here's a video snippet to hopefully show what I clearly have not clearly explained with my words.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qqqBjt9_-k&feature=player_detailpage
And here is a picture of what the gnocchi should look like after rolling...
 |
| Top - nicely forked Bottom - neatly pinched |
Step seven:
Lay the lil' dumplins close together (but not touching) onto your prepared tray. When finshed rolling all of them just pop them into the refrigerator until ready to cook. I usually make them first thing in the morning and then it isn't a ton of work all at once.
*If freezing the gnocchi, just freeze on the tray and then shake them into a freezer bag or seal frozen in a food saver bag for an easy future dinner.
Step eight:
Really? Do you really want another step right now?? No, I guess not! You've done enough work for now... go watch a movie and relax for awhile!
Step nine:
COOKING!!!
- Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil.
- Add gnocchi dumplins to pot and VERY GENTLY move them with a plastic or wooden spoon to keep them from sticking to the bottom of the pot when they sink. Continue to move them carefully every 30 seconds or so until they float to the top.
- As soon as they all float to the top, they are done... depending on how hot your stove element is, this should only take a few minutes so DO NOT leave them unattended; they usually float before the water has a chance to come back up to a full boil.
- Drain immediately and gently shake off the excess water before returning the pot or a serving dish... I use the pot because I'm too lazy to wash an extra serving dish.
Step ten:
TOSSING!!!
If you have a favourite sauce, by all means... use it, I'm sure it will be delicious!! My favourite is home made tomato sauce with either crumbled ground beef or meatballs in it and it works fantastically for tossing the gnocchi because the oil from the meat naturally rises to the top of the sauce when cooking and left undisturbed... so DON'T stir the sauce until after stealing a few tablespoons for tossing! Just scoop a few spoonfuls of the oil (juuuuuust enough to coat) and toss gently.
If you don't have a favourite sauce and want to try mine, I will post my own sauce recipe below.
*I coat the gnochhi with the oil because coating them with the thicker sauce tends to make them soggy where the light oil just keeps them free and losse without breaking them down.
Step eleven:
ENJOY!!!
Whether you prefer it plain (like my mom) or with parmesan (like me)... I hope you love every bite!
Basic Tomato Sauce
I like to can my own tomatoes and that's what I use to make my sauce but cans of tomatoes from the grocery store will work just fine!
 |
| My overcrowded kitchen during canning season... |
1 quart Crushed Tomatoes (or one 28 oz can)
Water (to equal that of the crushed tomatoes)
1 can Tomatoe Paste
Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Minced Garlic
1/2 Tbsp Onion Flakes (I use 1/2 a whole yellow onion if my mom is away,she is "allergic" but actually she just hates fresh onions)
1-2 tsp Sugar (to taste, depending on the acidity of the tomatoes you may need more or less)
1 Hot Pepper (for a little heat, if desired)
2 Tbsp Fresh Parsley (or Basil... whatever I have at hand in the freezer; mix'n'match is good, too)
Salt and Pepper (to taste)
Step one:
Coat bottom of large pot with olive oil over medium heat. Add in garlic, onion, salt and pepper to saute slightly for a few seconds... just until heated and well-combined.
Step two:
Add tomato paste to above and mix together gently.
Step three:
Add in the tomatoes, water, sugar and parsley... stirring gently to combine. Bring to a simmering boil then turn the heat down to medium/low. and cook gently for an hour-and-a-half to two hours or until desired consistency stir every half hour to check on sauce thickness.
Give it a taste about halfway through cooking and add in more salt if needed.
When it's done to your own preffered consistency, it's ready... ENJOY!!
Note about the hot pepper*If you want just a little heat flavour without actually having heat, put the pepper in whole without slicing... I like a hint of heat without having it HOT so I cut a tiny slit on either side if the pepper just to let out a medium heat. For a full-on hot sauce feel free to squish the seedy heat out of that soggy-cooked pepper after simmering in the sauce.
*If I am using meatballs in the sauce I just drop my pre-made, pre-frozen meatballs into the simmering sauce for the last forty-five minutes of sauce cooking time. Drop them straight in while still frozen and try not to disturb them too much while cooking but make sure they are all safely and cookably covered with sauce while not being too squished in. They should be cooked through with the forty-five minute cook time but if you are unsure just cut into one as a check test.
Basic Meatballs
2 lbs Lean Ground Beef
2 lbs Sausage Meat (hot or mild)
4 Eggs
1/2 cup Breadcrumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese
1 Tbsp Dried Parsley
1 Tbsp Minced Garlic
1 Tbsp Onion Flakes
2-3 tsp Salt
1 tsp Pepper
2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
*Add in a little extra breadcrumbs and parmesan if mixture feels it will be too wet to roll into balls.*
Directions:
- Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl, mixing gently but thoroughly.
- Cover well and let set to marinate flavour in refrigerator for at least two hours.
- Roll into evenly sized balls and add desired amount to already cooking sauce and cook through as explained above; this recipe will make a lot of meatballs so freeze the rest for easy meatball dinners in the future.
*To freeze... Place freshly formed meatballs on a parchment-lined tray and freeze. Once frozen, just pop them off the tray and into a freezer bag or a food-saver vacuum bag and set them back into the freezer until you have use for them.
And there it is... a favourite family comfort dinner. Feel free to make your own substitutions and please, if you try making the gnocchi, let me know in the comments how it turns out! It's way easier than it appears and I hope you will love it as much as my own family does!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)