Thoughtful Times...

So many ideas ramble around as the "holiday" season officially starts.  We've seen evidence of it since the end of August around here, what with stores displaying fall trappings for Thanksgiving and even hinting at Christmas before Labor Day.  What a rush we make of the days!

But here we are at the week of Thanksgiving, and those ties back to "ole days" raise lots of questions.  Who celebrated the first Thanksgiving on American shores?  Did they really eat turkey? I doubt there was dressing and gravy, and surely the pecan-sweet potato casserole was not even a dream at that point.  I teach American literature, so those controversies on exactly where and when that first Thanksgiving was noted continue to catch attention, especially as we examine what has been "re-envisioned" in history over the years.

But today--right now--I think it is a fortunate pairing that we celebrate Thanksgiving so closely paired with the day we celebrate the christian holiday of Christmas--another controversial date, but so goes custom.  Here we are, coming to a "count-your-blessings" time.  Some will have to search harder than others simply because life holds more a wealth of challenge than ease.  I had to think on that aspect on Sunday, as I sat in church and considered a simple cornucopia decoration.

So much plenty spills out onto the communion table...a place reminding us of great sacrifice and great grace.  Soon there will be a nativity scene in place and a chance to contemplate again that meaning of "blessing."  In fact, just that same day, in the evening, our church came together to begin the Christmas tradition of a chrismon tree in our sanctuary.  The ornaments are well over 30 years old, and yet even in their slightly worn shape, they bright light and grace.

I'm partial to several of them, most especially the lamb.  The abundance of them is surely a blessing--filling these large tree with a reminder of the many ways we see the Christ--the images that speak to that gift we still seek to understand.

In just two days, my girls and their families will be at home--here.  We will mix the holidays, too--setting together around a Thanksgiving table and talking of Christmas in the same hour.  These images are not just things we see but those we center deep in our lives, holding to them when moments may not be so good or filled with more questions than we want to acknowledge.

But, the season is upon us.  Be thankful.

Focus, learn, reknit.....and refuel!

I tell my students frequently, "Your focus is key--if you're not centered on the content, you'll be wandering around the edges and wasting time."  Well, I say to self, listen up!  While I'm loving the yarn and the pattern in the knit-along (by the way, first one other than Ravelry's Socks 2012 that I've participated in!) from Celtic CastOn, I should be adhering to my own advice and remember that I can't talk, wander around with "The Big Bang Theory," AND keep track of how many stitches I need to knit on what row between the cable-front and cable-back portions.  Yeah.  I should stay focused.

So, after finally frogging back to the cuff and starting the pattern over again last night, I'm making progress.  Look at those pretty stripes running along through the cable pattern!  Woohoo!

I also found out that instead of knitting the cable stitch off of the cable needle, it's easier with this one stitch cable to put the stitch on the cable needle, knit the next stitch, and then return the cable stitch to the needle and knit it from there.  Of course, that's probably something more experienced knitters already know, but I'm learning!  That shift certainly took care of much of the trouble of balancing three needles while I knitted between them!


All that work meant the need for some good soup, especially in trying to chase away the chill from outside, so I took a break from the needles and stirred up some bodacious potato-leek soup.  Really, it was a good excuse to use my beautiful Christmas present--a Biltmore "belly" soup pot.  The pic doesn't do the pot justice, but it's a dream to use!  What you don't see are the dumplings that finished out the soup--and after a bowl of it for supper, I was refueled and ready to knit again.  Who knows--I may just finish these socks in the KAL timeframe.  They'll be good ones for spring weather! 

Knitting along....frequent stops....

One afternoon years ago, when my kids were little, we were driving along and a church van in front of us gave vent to my sometimes kwirky sense of humor.  On the back doors of this passenger van were these statements:

(Left-side door in beautiful script)   ROLLING FOR JESUS
(Right-side door in standard block script)   FREQUENT STOPS

What a reality, I thought, and giggled at the sense of those juxtaposed phrases.  Isn't that life--we roll along with such good intentions and aspirations only to experience everyday life that pops in and says, "Whoa....just a second, Sassy--there are other things afoot!"

I am thankful that as I returned to my college campus in January this year, it was with great relief that some of the "extra duties as assigned" had been accomplished, and I could give more attention to my teaching.  In part, that has been possible, but I also looked forward to having a bit more time to do fun things, and last evening I gave in to that portion, whilst perhaps I should have been doing more grading.  Oh me....anyway, I knitted awhile on one daughter's camisole and then cast on a pair of socks that are part of a KAL (knit along) from Celtic CastOn--a neat little blog with great ideas and a welcoming writer.  Scroll down the page and you'll see the Business Casual socks for this KAL.  The yarn I'm using is one from my stash that has long since lost it's tag, but it's fine, soft and silky.

Here's my start:

So now I have two "distractions" that will provide that escape I need after reading several essays.  Really, to be fair to students, I need that break so I can give each paper the attention it should have.....yes, really.  And as I think about, it's not a stretch to appreciate the honesty, along with the humor, of that church van and its back-doors' message.  I believe, even if they didn't realize it, they were right on the mark.

Winter.....not soon enough!

Days turned into months (skip the weeks!) very quickly as fall began last year.  A torrent of work and other "opportunities" took my time and truly made it a fleeting glance experience.  With the start of the New Year, I have been determined to spend some time with things I truly want to give attention--like family, knitting, reading....and soon I hope, more writing.  One interesting result was this happy little giraffe, who turned out a bit larger than I think either I or my granddaughter expected. He's from Susan Anderson's "Itty-bitty Toys"--a great book with fun pieces.  I changed the horns and mane a bit from the original pattern, but the pattern is easy to work up.

The gloves are a "me" gift, and I have to laugh at this experience with using such interesting yarn from it's "Keltic" from Berroco. The two gloves initially look like they've been made in two different colourways, but I swear they are the same skein....just that lovely twist in tones and hues that are barely seen from one glove (the darker) to the next. Interesting!

And a fun little project was this little owl who became a quick posted gift to my sister who was in the throes of coursework in a graduate class.....having just been that road, I knew she could use a bit of a laugh and tangible hug, so this fellow did the job and was so much fun to knit!

Our mountains are covered with a nice bit of snow, but I'll have to say I've been disappointed that there isn't more--makes me jealous of places like Canada and Norway, but then the snow is probably always brighter across the fence!  The dusting we have will have to suffice for now....and I have to balance work and this other creative bent, so there we go--another resolution I suppose!  It's Saturday, though, and a rare one in that we are not on the road to family somewhere.  My bag holds several projects, so I'm going to continue to play a bit and get some of those things closer to finished!  If it would just snow a bit more.......

Summah-time delicious......

Some folks know the difference between a tomato and a garden tomato.  It's the immediate taste of "garden" that fills the mouth and makes the wait worthwhile.  For me, there's no replacing the deliciousness of that ripe, juicy first slice or bite....and immediately, I'm back in my Granny Wade's country kitchen, not a day over ten and no care in the world except where the barn kittens may be hiding.  Now that's a powerful reason to grow my own tomatoes! 

We're having a bumper crop this season, thank goodness.  My home-canned ones are just about gone and the prospects of having plenty to put up for the winter looks really good.  They'll go nicely with all the green beans we have put up on the shelf as well.

The added blessing on those tomatoes comes from the fact that a dear, sweet neighbor gave me the plants....and he does every season.  He and his wife have a natural bend to generosity and share with so many of us here in the neighborhood.  We watch and wait for his strong tomato plants every spring.

This neighbor is also the source of another great connection.  Several years ago (as in a decade or so!), he came in late fall carrying a cardboard box full of tiny little grapes, so small that a handful would be the only way to get a good taste.  He asked if I wanted some "fox grapes" he had picked and had an abundant supply, telling me that his wife had "juiced" all she wanted.  Of course, I said yes and then proceeded to ask how to juice them!  Little did I know what a special treat the jelly I would make from the juice would be for another member of my family--my mama. 

That Christmas, I gave away little jars of the jelly in packages, but it was my mama's reaction that would be the dearest gift to me.  She lifted it out of her Christmas bag and thanked me as she held it up to look more closely, noting that it was "really dark and dense"--and then she said, "Gracious, is this fox grape jelly?!"  I couldn't believe she knew, and she couldn't believe what she had in her hand, telling me she had not had any since she was a child and her family had moved "off the mountain into town."  She's a rarity for sure in this day, having really lived in a log-cabin, played with crawdads in the creek, and romped through the woods, which was her backyard.  At the moment she eyed the jar and it dawned on her what she had, she hurried to the kitchen, got a spoon, flipped off the lid and took a bite, beaming with delight.  I'll never forget her face in those seconds as she slipped back to her younger days on Boauger Mountain for just a speck of time.  She gets her own personal jars first every year that I have grapes.  

It may be the fact that the past few weeks have been complex and demanding and a few slower moments with a garden tomato helped draw things to a different perspective, but the bite was surely amazing. We can certainly need that shift in the midst of stress and demand, but I am humbled by such a simple thing, knowing that it is my early experiences, just as it is my mama's, that enable that shift.  And those simple things are all around.  Take, for example, this beginning of an oak tree--a volunteer that popped up in the midst of my front flower bed, apparently having been tucked safely under the nearby dwarf bushes.

I didn't know that the early leaves were such a beautiful pink--so
delicate and furry!  I've never seen the very top of an oak tree before, and how gaze-stopping it is!  I'm sure there have been other oak sproutlings, but in the thiry-seven years I've lived here, this one was a first for me.

So what's a body to do but get out the camera and do some looking.  Maybe it was the light that morning or just that I had taken the time to see--I'm guessing it was a mix of both--but there were eye-treasures everywhere, like the little trailing geranium of the two-tiered bee-balm that stretched up in perfect glory.  They were delighting my being for sure.

Such surprising hues and form!  Where have I been??

So the "summah-time" moves quickly on.  My lilies have bloomed out, the garden is giving goods each day, my overload of work still waits, and my camera sits ready for the moment I need a break and a breath and a sense of the abundant simple blessings around me.  I'm thinking those blessings epitomize grace in my midst, and how thankful I am it's here.

Our mountains'sputtering toward summer has given us an extended spring, complete with grateful plants and blossoms.  Green beans and corn rows are pushing along in the garden, along with a dozen or so tomato plants, some peppers, budding squash and zucchini, eggplants, cucumbers, and some already enjoyed swiss chard.  Well, yum!  My hydrangeas and lilies especially have been delighted with the weather and shown it..... 

Definitely this one is a smile-bringer and by maturity, the full blossom is that gorgeous blue rimming the new petals.  The bush came from a shoot in my sister's yard in Rustburg, Virginia, a small, quiet little town in the central southern part of our state.  Tucked in among the large oaks on that property, the bush was thriving along with several hostas, babes of which my sister was generous with to me as well.  There's an old adage that says the best hydrangea bush is one you've snitched, but I'm glad this one was a knowing-gift!  

The lily is one I bought and shared with another sister, and both of us have been delighted by the response of this gorgeous plant.  Mine was the smaller off-shoot, mainly because the plant was, after all, a present to her, but we share and I was tickled to find a small one sprouting for me to nip off and plant at home.  Each mature stem has had over a dozen blooms on each crown.....still going....wow.....



They will soon be gone, even with that number, and close by are a few others in apricot and yellow, but these definitely demand a special look!

So all of this outside beauty has tempted me away from knitting, but I'm trudging on, with more than I should have on the needles.......a tank top for my eldest, socks for me, socks for grandson, blanket for grandson, and a couple of surprises.  I think I just need to set a chair in the frontyard and take my knitting along......

When the wind gets taken out of one's sails, they must lie at rest for a bit.  On the evening of May 11th, my sails were resting, thank goodness, at the close of my school's graduation.  It wasn't that there were not still plenty of things rushing around my boat, mind you.  But I had just watched several students walk that stage who had been hard-pressed to get there, and it was a huge sigh and great gladness that whooshed that wind out to parts yon way.  Teaching at a community college (fair warning for anyone thinking on that possibility) challenges much more than just content agility and prowess.  Some of my students are the traditional 18 year olds--and a mixed bag in themselves as they come with good intentions, no intentions, or mixed intentions on what they should be doing as a college student.  The first few weeks of the semester with these young ones involves helping them to adjust to life away from high school.  Those who are ready, soar.  Those who are not wander around looking for sails.  Those inbetween ponder whether they want to hoist those sails or just look at how sturdy they are for awhile yet undetermined.

The non-traditional students come with myraid elements.  Some are married and working with children and extended family in tow.  Some are single parents balancing that plank of unsteadiness as they try to make ends meet and either work a full-time job at minimum wage or look for one as they manage college demands.  Some are folks who have lost their jobs as a result of plant closings or downsizing, and they enter that realm of "retraining" that most likely will involve much more than the job counselor let on as they signed up for a particular program.  They, too, balance families and responsibilities and choices as they navigate classes and a 15-week semester of them.

Some of those students are just coming for a good education.  They have a plan, and they follow it.

No matter which of those "types" they are, they move toward graduation, and it is indeed a marvelous day when they make it.  Our entire campus celebrates for them and with them as they reach that moment and we watch success stride the platform.  Sometimes the sigh is audible even through the shouts and claps.

On May 11th, I was ready for that sigh and the wind to die down and let my sails rest.  Those graduates were, thankfully and wonderfully, ready to catch the wind and roll.  It was a blessed exchange.

Now.....well, now I get to juggle summer courses, only at a much less stressed pace and fewer students, as I dig in (literally) to my garden and home.  The only word to describe this immensely neglected residence and yard is MESS.  My first day to actually pay attention to it was today, what with all the aftermath clean-up in my office.  I can tell you that my front yard garden looks much better--not done but better.  My stove looks amazingly shiny after I bowed to its need after breakfast.  I look in need of much water and soap.

But, there is a delightful part of the day, as my sails flutter just a bit in this switch of pace.  We had a delicious, albeit simple, supper tonight, and I made some bodacious cornbread with no recipe--just out of my head.  For the first time in some long time, that beautiful golden round flipped out perfectly from the skillet, ready and waiting for some equally delicious brown beans (pintos and kidney) I had cooked in the crock pot yesterday.  Take a look:

I'm telling you, it was delicious....just a bit of warm spices in the beans, and freshly chopped chives and onions......mercy.  I really don't know how that cornbread turned out so well.  Usually there are crumbling problems or it's too heavy or it sticks in the pan or it just doesn't have a good flavor, but not tonight.  It was golden and moist, with lots of nooks and crannies for bean juice.  Tomorrow morning, I'm sure some applebutter or butter and jelly will work just fine to go with breakfast.  I do love cornbread, and I'm especially proud of this one! 

Now just to be honest, I was in no hurry, having taken my time all day to "putz" around and do first one thing and then the other.  Isn't that, though, what a break is supposed to be?  Maybe it's the memory of just this kind of simple supper I had with my mom and sister as a child that makes it such a delight.  Mama never cut up chives for the beans, and she didn't add kidney beans to the mix, but the pintos and cornbread were absolutely the best.  She still makes the best beans, at a spry 85 years old!

It's that cornbread that gets me.  I pulled measures out of my head, hoping I was getting it right.  I fear I'll never make it this perfect again!  But the simplicity was real.  Here's the "recipe" if I dare call it that--I mixed 1 and 1/3 c. of stone ground cornmeal with 1 c. unbleached flour in a large metal mixing bowl, adding in 3 tsp. of baking powder, about a 1/2 tsp. of salt, maybe a 1/4 c. sugar, and after stirring that all together, I added 2 large eggs, beating them just a bit.  I didn't have buttermilk, so I used 1 and 1/2 c. whole milk that I had added 1 tbl. spoon of cider vinegar to make it clabber.  After adding the milk mixture to the bowl, I used a whisk to blend it all and then added 1/4 cup of melted butter.  The other half of the stick of butter was melting in the cast iron skillet that was in the oven that I had set at 400 degrees.  Once that butter was fully melted in the skillet, I removed it, sat it on the stove top, poured in the cornbread batter and returned it to the oven.  About 20 minutes later, my perfect cornbread was golden and sizzling, begging to be cut.  And it was delicious....and will be tomorrow!

Here's a little close-up--and it was as good as it looks!

Now the day is on to twilight, and there are dogs whining to be walked and a pair of socks I've been trying to finish since March.  They're the same ones pictured in the last post, and I'm working the toe portion now.....whew!  Projects aplenty lie all over my house, as does a whole armada of dust bunnies and unorganized stacks of.....stuff!  I'm catching up on some sleep, letting those sails come slowly from stillness to flutter to full swing and reveling in things both simple and complex that work out.