Book Review

Two weeks before Christmas I was wishing I had a good read to sink in to.  Something to keep my mind on track and semi away from the Holiday jumbo.  As luck would have it I logged on to the library's website and typed in Alan Bradley, the Flavia de Luce creator and found a fourth book in the Flavia series!  I was so tickled.  The book name is I Am Half-Sick of Shadows and it is based at Christmas time.  How ironic that was!  I requested it and picked it up in a few short days.  It feels so good to wrap my mind around a good story with twists and turns.  Here are a few of my favorite lines from the book.

Flavia: Most chemists, whether they admit it or not, have a favorite corner of their craft in which they are forever tinkering, mine is poisons.

Phyllis Wyvern: Kitchens are the hot beds of scandal.

Flavia: Grumblers are deaf to any voices but their own.

Dogger: I believe a man named Aristotle once said that we delight to contemplate things such as dead bodies, which in themselves would give us pain, because in them, we experience a pleasure of learning which outweighs the pain.

I recited that last one to myself when I was helping my husband gut a deer shortly after I finished the book. 

I currently have found myself hooked on another book to be reviewed soon.  And also I found a cool website called Goodreads from a friends blog who uses it.  I have desired to find a place to compile a list of books that I want to read and so forth without having to request them from the library before I am ready.  This seems to be partly what this website is all about.  I was hooked on it for over an hour last night.  Once I have finished my lists I plan to post them under the Reading tab of my blog.

Birdwatching at the DC

A month or so ago, when my mom gave me a shepperd's hook that mounts to deck, I hung a bird feeder right in front of the front window of the playroom at the day care.  It seemed like it took forever for the birds to find my offerings.  I almost got discouraged thinking the feeder was too close to the house.  But finally I spied a few House Finches had begun to frequent and then a few Juncos, a few Chickadees and today we had a Red Bellied Woodpecker.  I was so very excited.  I called the kids over to watch as he took seeds from the feeder and flew to the Dogwood tree in the front yard to crack them open.  His red head really caught their eye.

To my delight the kids have begun to take an interest in our feathered visitors.  I even caught one of the boys at the front window with the play binoculars and I asked "what are you looking at" and he replied "I'm looking at the birds."  It just tickled me.  I wanted to make some sort of a log of the birds we've seen. I pulled out a felt board (that won't lay flat since the day I made it) and printed pictures of each of the birds we have seen so far.  I glued them to more felt along with the name of their breed, not specifics, and cut them out to go on the felt board.  It hangs next to the window where we bird watch.  It will help them recognize birds that frequent by picture.  I will add more birds as they come along and plan to offer a different selection of food for them this winter. 

I can't wait until tomorrow when I bust out the homemade suet I made yesterday. Boy is that woodpecker going to be jolly!

A New Year

The first day of the year is one of my favorite days.  I always make a big lunch that includes all the traditional dishes of cabbage, black eyed peas, pork, apples and cornbread.  I am a country gal and I do cook with lard and am very proud of it.  This year our lunch included country ham (pork) from our pigs symbolizing rooting in to the new year, cabbage cooked in the crock pot in broth with onions and caraway seeds for money, black eyed peas with hog fat for luck and cinnamon apples for spicy love.  I made the last one up and it usually is made with red hots for "red hot love" but sadly I was lacking in the red hot department in the pantry so I made do with spices.  Still fantastic.  My New Year's lunch is always accompanied by guests because I also believe that the luck and such must be shared and somehow a different crowd is here every year.  I am just glad to share.

After lunch, I put my coveralls and rain boots on and Molly and I took a walk in the woods. We checked on the garden, looked for flint rocks and walked down the old trail on the edge of the woods. I also had to take care of chores outside myself because I have given my nasty cold to my darling husband.  If you can't share with the ones you love who can you share with?

I have thought about resolutions and actually thought about not making any.  However, I have come up with a couple of things that I love to do but with busy-ness have fallen short in doing.  So my two resolutions so far are to walk in the woods once a week and  make suet this winter for the birds.  I have done both today so I am off to a good start.  I also believe that what you do on New Year's day is what you will be doing all year.  So no fretting, no kicking myself for no reason and lots of love for what I have been given in life. 

What resolutions have you made for yourself so far?

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all. It's Christmas morning and I am up bright and early. I couldn't lay there anymore with hickory smoke smell still heavy in my hair and cream cheese that needed to be out of the fridge. It almost had nothing to do not being able to find one of my ear plugs in the bed. It is like everything knows it's Christmas. Miss Kitty, our barn cat, came in the house last night which is normally not allowed and Tommy crawled up to snuggle this morning at the top of the bed instead of the foot. We had our fifth annual Christmas Eve Hulsey tradition of smoking the meat for our Christmas day feast. It is always an experience. Uncle Randy always brings a ton of shrimp for everyone, lies are told, old friends are remembered and this year there was someone else in the top of the barn instead of the barn owl that hung out last year. We laugh and cut up and just love on one another and there's no place else I'd rather be.

This happens in one of the old tobacco barns.  The smoker keeps us warm and there are Christmas carols on the radio in the other room... and every now and then Blue Christmas is heard by one of us... Elvis style.

 

 I had three chickens, a boston butt and sweet potatoes on this year.  The rest are ribs and turkeys.

I would love to say that nobody burned his hand or pissed his britches but I can't.  Merry Christmas!