Ups and Downs

In a week with a fair share of ups and downs, seeing Bruce engrossed in a book warmed my heart.

Where the Crawdads Sing is the book he is reading; the sixth to do so after he gave it to me earlier this year. Now that is some serious re-using, huh? As well, he, like the rest of us, got into it pretty quickly. Although I've yet to finish it, I'm nearly done with the Nickolas Butler novel, The Hearts of Men, and to say it is full of ups and downs is a serious understatement.

So just what was a downer then? Well, I've had yet another flop come out of my kitchen, this time in the form of a Gingerbread Cake that I made for Michelle's birthday dinner last night. Doesn't that sound festive? Not the flop of course.

I used a Molasses Buttercream frosting, and my idea of decorating, a little clump of caramelized ginger in the center. You might be wondering where I got the idea, so let me tell you. In my search for the Gingerbread cookie recipe given to me by my mother in law, one I've had for our entire married life, I came across a spice cake recipe from years ago. The only thing is that, although it called for the above type of frosting, that part was cut off, so I turned to the internet. Voila...here's the one I used. While just doing a search to include that link, I see Nigella Lawson has one as do others, but alas, doing the search for just the frosting gave me the above result.

For her birthday Michelle likes me to make comfort food and that I do know how to do without much problem. Or, at least I used to. Anyway, last year she requested fried chicken served with mac and cheese, and this year she wanted meatloaf and mashed potatoes.  Following our meal it was time to light those candles and cut the cake! Oh no! It is crumbling!! I wondered why. Then we bit into it and my heart sank....very little spicy flavor and a texture that was indescribable. Dry and flavorless is one way to describe it. The frosting was good though.

The truth is, I'm still uncertain as to why it was so dry, but my research suggests that perhaps I cooked it too long. Anyway, in a real first for me, I trashed all that you see, shoving it down the disposal, big hunks at a time. Next year I am just going to make a Texas sheet cake which never fails!

Speaking of baking, well I guess lots of folks are this time of year, we had a get together at Pam and Glen's beautiful home on Sunday night.

That would be Glen on the right, and Pam is in the background wearing glasses. Anyway, she made some very scrumptious brownies that were as tasty as they were attractive.

Every now and again she has folks over for a soup party, always a treat. As were these amazing cones that Sally made using her Grandmother's recipe. Alongside this tray was a bowl of perfectly whipped cream that you spooned inside. Oh my goodness! Heaven in a cone!

There began a discussion regarding the practice of sifting flour. Some of us do, some don't. I'm generally in the don't camp, but to see if it really makes any difference, while making another batch of the sugar cookies, I sifted.

To tell you the truth, I don't think it made one iota of difference. What I'd really like to master is having all batches of cookies turn out the same shade, something that eludes me in spite of using the same cooking time. Plus I rotate the cookie sheets. Yet, they turn out....

that back row....

As well, my cookie scoop literally fell apart as I was making them, thus I went back to the tried and true two spoon method. While it works beautifully to put the dough on the sheet, they are never quite as round as when using a scoop.

A few days ago, I think while I was baking, I got a call from Westminster Towers regarding Maureen so I do what I do. Put some shoes on, and drove over which, thankfully, is fairly close because driving in Orlando is not for the faint of heart. But that's a story for another day. Hopefully the situation is straightened out, yet this last visit left me feeling plenty down in the dumps. Clearing my head was next on my agenda so I stopped by Lake Davis on my way home for a little walk . It was lovely that afternoon, something that cannot be said for a good part of the week which, although not too cold, has been mostly gray and gloomy.

The puffy clouds! The changing Cypress trees! Plus, I finally got a decent close up of the Blue-Winged Teal that reveals where the name came from.

Isn't that such a lovely shade of blue? Wish I would see one in flight as is pictured here. Now that shot really shows off those colorful wings!

So that was definitely an up. As was seeing the owl again once I returned home!!!

It just so happened I glanced out the window and there he was! Plus, the Hooded Merganser has a girlfriend now. They've yet to come any closer and this is as far as my zoom will take me. Or us, for that matter.

Her head is sort of a cinnamon color; as is so common in the avian family, the male is usually flashier. As you can well imagine, because no female was around last year, this sighting got me pretty excited. Adding something more in the up column, two otters were playing near the shoreline this week after going AWOL for the last two or so months.

Bruce has been a busy beaver at the church, repairing more wood as they paint the side porches. He is not a man who enjoys too much leisure time, so having these projects is a bit of a godsend, if you will. Last week, while we were visiting Maureen at the same time she reminded me of a cell phone pouch that I made for her last year. That one went missing, so I made another one, as well as a potholder. Quite the combination, huh?

The potholder was for me as the ones in my cupboard are not fit for company. I'd made the small blocks as practice and they remained on my sewing table for ages. Don't look for a pattern because there is none, merely sewn together at random. It took me far too long to make the pouch because I am so bad with making stuff up, however, eventually it all came together and I took it over the next morning. The good news is that it is large enough for her phone, glasses, and Chapstick. Count me shocked when the house phone rang yesterday and the caller was Maureen telling me how useful it was. Why so shocked, you ask? Her ability to use said mobile phone is not without challenges, so receiving a call was nothing short of a miracle. Maybe an exaggeration, but not by much.

There were struggles this week trying to buy gifts for our London loves that were not resolved. Well, that's not entirely true as I did manage one gift. Every year it is such the challenge to buy gifts for our children, who, btw, would say the same thing about us. Perhaps it is a lack of imagination on my part? This is such a first world problem, right? As Christmas approaches, our first without Carol, I am reminded what a blessing it is to even be alive.

your friend,

Gail