an exquisite confection

 Looking at the date of my last blog post it seems that I’ve dropped off the edge of the earth. Not so! Nor have I been wallowing in a grey mire. Quite the opposite! I’m cheerful and content - how could that be? I have no idea but I’m going with it!

Carm of course has to bear the brunt of my good mood. Subjected to bad singing and even worse dancing, he averts his eyes and probably covers his ears, but even so, doesn’t make me feel stupid or self concious. He’s a good husband.

You may remember that at the beginning of January I decided to cut carbs (sugar, flour, rice, potatoes), which I have mostly done. I only lost a few pounds but at least I was back to pre Christmas cookie marathon weight (more or less). I could double down and make more of an effort to reduce calories BUT. I had a dream the other night that perfectly put into words what I’m feeling. Yes, I’d like to lose weight, but more important than that is keeping myself mentally well. Cooking does that for me. Now is not the time to take draconian measures.

To that end, we got a set of silicone ‘egg bite’ molds for the instant pot. The package arrived on Friday - I immediately made ‘Starbucks copycat egg bites’ - a perfect low-carb breakfast - easy to make and can be refrigerated or frozen. Here’s where we take a turn to the dark side… cheesecake bite recipes abound and gosh, these silicone thingamajigs should be good for more than one thing.

This is a terrible discovery! Just the name makes them wicked - it’s just a bite after all! I made the second batch today. They are super easy but somehow use every utensil and bowl in the kitchen. Maybe that will put me off - ha! Fat chance!

we’ve eaten them so fast that I haven’t made a topping yet! Next time I’ll swirl some jam or something to make them look pretty.

Kirsten mentioned that she’d read an article about cbd being good for hot flashes, apparently the cbd interacts with the same areas as temperature control. I’m on day 3 with mixed results.

The weather has been super cold (-26C at 7am this morning) but at least we’ve had a few days of sun! A blessing!

“I suspect music is auditory cheesecake, an exquisite confection crafted to tickle the sensitive spots of... our mental faculties.”

~Steven Pinker

a calm pure harmony and music

 I wished I had realized that yesterday was Robbie Burns day as I would have cooked up a Scottish meal, not haggis as I had no sheep innards, but maybe a hunk of meat with some mashed potatoes and turnip. Alas, we had to resort to an ancient bottle of scotch from the back of the cupboard. They say that it won’t age in the bottle but we were darn sure this one had as it was so smooth.

It’s been a lazy few days with nothing happening of note. I got out on the snowshoes on Sunday with Adia. She managed much better wearing a coat. We did our usual virtual visiting. I cooked the normal sorts of things. 

I’ve barely gotten out of my pjs and off the sofa for the last few days - what’s the point? I haven’t been feeling depressed or discouraged, just blah. So this afternoon I gave myself a shake and said ‘just do it!’ and got up, put my headphones on, and grabbed the vacuum. Belting out ‘Saturday Night’ while I zoomed around the house put some zing in my wing.

Does this mean I’ll get out of my pjs earlier tomorrow? Probably not!

Oh! Today is the exact half-way point between our last day camping at Kirsten’s and May 1st, the day we could conceivably be back in the camper. Also, maybe by May 1st we’ll be able to have socially distant laneway visits which would break the loneliness of isolation. When will we have our vaccines? When will we be able to have celebrations inside the house with food and drink  and jocularity? The news tonight suggested that this might not happen before September. 😣

It’s snowing again.

The number of covid-19 cases worldwide has reached 101 million with 2.165 millon deaths. 

“This is my ambition, which is founded less on anger than on love, founded more on serenity than on passion. It is true that I am often in the greatest misery, but still there is within me a calm, pure harmony and music. In the poorest huts, in the dirtiest corner, I see drawings and pictures. And with irresistible force my mind is drawn towards these things. Believe me that sometimes I laugh heartily because people suspect me of all kinds of malignity and absurdity, of which not a hair of my head is guilty — I, who am really no one but a friend of nature, of study, of work, and especially of people.”

~Vincent Van Gogh

flaming fudgie-o

 The sun is shining brightly today and as it moves to the west the filth of the window is highlighted in a spectacular way! I’m not focusing on that though, instead I’m finding joy in the way the sun reflects off Spikes fur, making him seem like a golden orb. Adia’s fur has more of a coppery sheen.

You may be wondering what the heck this is a photo of. Well, it’s a Fudgie-O cookie not burning in a hot campfire. Not burning? We were at Presqu'ile for the first time and since Mom & Dad & Olaf were visiting we enjoyed a crackling fire. I don’t remember who decided to put the cookie in the fire, I imagine it had fallen on the ground, but by gosh the darn thing never burned up! It retained its shape for absolutely ages and may actually have been there the next morning (who can remember, it was 2007). Olaf and I were talking about it the other day but I couldn’t find the digital photo - it was NOT in the directory that it should have been in - I looked at almost every photo I’ve taken since 2001. Today, in a flash of weird memory I recalled that it might be in the printed album that I made of our first year camping… and there it was.

I got outside on the snowshoes this afternoon - it was too cold for Adia so my walk was cut short when she started 3-legged walking, but I still enjoyed 15 minutes of fresh air. I had to re-break my trail as it had been filled with snow the other day and took great pleasure stepping with a swish into the fluffy snow. Adia trailed behind me at the beginning and then with a mighty effort she leapt through the deep snow, overtaking me in a flash. 

Later, stepping into the livingroom with my face plastered with an orange hued turmeric facemask, Carm commented that I looked like Trump. Well, so I did! I had a laugh and took a photo. I love the feeling of the paste drying and tightening on my face, imagining all of it’s goodness passing through to my skin. You can guess what sort of lazy day I’m having!

“That night Anne knelt sweetly by her open window in a great sheen of moonshine and murmured a prayer of gratitude and aspiration that came straight from her heart. There was in it thankfulness for the past and reverent petition for the future; and when she slept on her white pillow her dreams were as fair and bright and beautiful as maidenhood might desire.”

~Lucy Maud Montgomery