Rainy Weekend

Spent part of the weekend at Gaothorne, but the forecast for upwards of three inches of rain, coupled with the ever-present fog, caused us to re-think our weekend and head back to flatter lands on Saturday afternoon. Nonetheless, it was a productive weekend. Read some short stories from Self-Help by Lorrie Moore (yes, that's one of the books in that picture below), made significant progress on Mabry's quilt, and even started cutting out the next long-overdue family baby quilt for Ryan, worked on two essays for class assignments, made some delicious French toast for Sunday lunch, and yummy homemade potato soup for Sunday supper. I hope to have some quilt pictures posted soon.

My Favorite Potato Soup Recipe:

Peel and cube 3-4 medium sized potatoes; place in pot with 2 chopped green onions and 1 large stalk chopped celery, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and between 1 and 1 1/2 cups water. Stir, cover, bring to boil, and simmer 10 minutes. Do not drain! Mash everything, add one can evaporated milk and 1/2 stick butter (use less butter, and non-fat evaporated milk if you want to make it somewhat healthier). Stir and heat (medium-low heat) until butter is melted. Serve with fresh ground pepper, additional chopped green onion, chopped cooked bacon, and/or shredded cheddar cheese. Serves about 4. Thickens up and tastes even better the next day.

Book Addiction

Tonight I discussed my book addiction with Alison. She wisely assured me that this is a healthy, wonderful addiction, and nothing to be ashamed of. The thing that I am ashamed of is the number of unread books that I have. Here is a photograph of some of the books that are sitting around the house currently, waiting for me to read them. Even as I type this, I see two books on a side table that escaped the photograph. There is no telling how many more books are hiding on shelves, in stacks on the floor, in closets, etc., that should be included in this collection. These books come from libraries (I have library privileges at not one but two libraries - a sure sign of a book addict), my own purchases, gifts from friends, loans from friends. Thirty-seven books begging for my attention, all of which have appeared in only the last three to four months. And I'm leaving out the library books that I have checked out and returned without reading - probably at least a dozen in the last two months. Books on evolutionary biology, spirituality, birds, race, etymology, and writing; books of literary fiction, southern fiction, short fiction. Perchance I should blog less and read more.

Ice floes in the New River

The New River, near Zaloo's Canoes (Ashe County, NC).

New Year's Eve Project

Alison requested that I make her a small bag for her iPod and accessories, so my New Year's eve was spent on this fun little project. We designed the bag as we went, and everything came from my stash of leftover fabrics, buttons, etc.

He is lined with a black starry sky fabric.

Yummy Cookies for Christmas

Alison baked a batch of wonderful chocolate cookies over the weekend. They are called Chocolate Crackles because of their appearance, but they are actually moist and chewy.

Here's the recipe:

4 squares unsweetened chocolate

1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar

4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups plain flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup powdered sugar

Melt chocolate. Blend with oil and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each. Add vanilla, flour, baking powder and salt. Mix. Chill dough several hours. Shape into small balls and roll in powdered sugar. Bake on greased cookie sheets at 350 degrees, 10-12 minutes.

Happy Carilloween!

On October 29, I finally got my nerve up and climbed to the upper reaches of the Wait Chapel steeple tower in order to watch Ray (previously mentioned in this blog as organist extraordinaire), who plays the Wake Forest University carillon twice weekly. For Halloween, Ray played Bach's Toccato & Fugue in d minor, Thriller, and the theme from Harry Potter. As a grand finale, Ray let me play the bass line while he pounded out "Think of Me" from Phantom of the Opera. Very scary stuff.

Further Birthday Celebrations

Another weekend in the mountains, and this time my family had a few surprises in store for me. Alison put together a PowerPoint show of photos and memories of my first 50 years. And then we were visited by Andy Rhodes of the North Carolina Falconry Guild. Andy brought along Sophie, a beautiful female Harris Hawk. Here is your cool raptor fact for the week: Harris Hawks hunt in packs.

Sophie's bells and jesses (see September 13 post).

We had a wonderful weekend with the Dunclan - lots of porch time, convivial beverages, and perfect fall mountain weather.