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how do you navigate change?
This post from HandPicked Nation (via Small Measures) really touched me this morning/afternoon. So much so, I wanted to share it with you!
After shedding some tears and feeling the ping of their loss, it makes me want to be positive. strong. and looking ahead with gratitude.
Happy Friday Friends!
ONE LOVE-
time keeps on slipping… some more
Boo!
Did I scare you?
Haha!
It has been that long that I am positive that all hope was lost. Which is fine. Because, boy oh boy, has it been intense. So intense that I literally called my mother and a few goods friends back in July and told them it was time to stop writing. I felt like I was loosing all sense of focus. Also that I was, and still am, ready to just do it and stop talking about it.
Well, a little has gotten done. So, we’re doing. But an awful lot of things have gone untouched. Several amazing wonderful things are happening and many deeply sad things, too.
We grievously lost the battle of cancer with this sweet gal at the end of July (and boy do our hearts still ache deeply, it literally aches as I write this), THEN 5 weeks and 2 days later we lost this equally sweet and important gal to simple old age, just one year after the loss of this special guy. Oh, we’re not done! Then, amazingly, after quite some time of unsuccessful attempts we get pregnant!! (Same thing happened with RCB. We were so emotionally and physically caught up in the experience of loosing our black lab that we got prego without even realizing!). Not to mention that we sent our wee sweet lad off to Kindergarten!!!! Can we say big year for us? (not the same as the bird big year, although I think it would be fabulous to find and see as many species of bird as you can in one year) Or a big 5 months! It is all so overwhelmingly wonderful, yet unbelievably sad at the same time. We’ll grow and strengthen with the losses and soar with the gain.
So, I took time to just be. It’s going great. The house is quieter with only two cats and a kid. (Chi-si is living in the studio with my in-laws. While she is sad about the loss of her buddies she is thrilled to have her ma and pop around!). However, we laugh constantly that the cats took responsibility for filling in the gap where the dogs were concerned! They beg at the dinner table, are constantly in and out and sleep with us for the loss of the warmth!
Now I am ready to journal, explore and share again. I miss writing. So, keep your eyes and ears open! We’ll see what we can’t explore together! New horizons!!
Happy to be back! Hope you are all well!!
ONE LOVE-
the taste of lavender
Ever so often we head west and anchor ourselves down in the State of Colorado. Last fall when settling into a weekly resident in Mancos, Colorado I scuffled through Ansley’s stash of readable material and found Edible Magazine. From there started a lengthy conversation and sharing of regional recipes. The premise of Edible Magazine is to feature a region and its local, seasonal culture. (There is not one for Western NC just yet but I am definitely keeping my eye out!) I always enjoy chatting with Ansley about food, gardening and babies! Just our thing!
There were some specific recipes that caught my eye that had been shared in the spring edition of Edible San Juan Mountains. (Mancos is located in the San Juan Mountain region of CO) Excited to share Ansley’s hubs, Barry, headed to the printer to make copies for me. For nearly six months now I have been looking for an excuse to make this drink, The Green River Martini. It is infused with Honey Lavender Simple Syrup. Seriously.
When our beach trip arose and our friends, the Wheeler’s, agreed to join us for one of the two weeks I knew I had found my excuse. We headed out to the yard and picked 4 cups of fresh lavender and set it out to dry (makes two cups). Packed the lavender and the honey and loaded it to the Outer Banks. Week one consisted of making the simple syrup and letting it marinate. It smelled exactly like it was going to taste. Floral, light, heavenly.
The martini itself is a bit complicated in flavor but over ice it mellowed out and was pleasant to sip on a warm afternoon. But the syrup has many purposes. The best I’ve experienced thus far is over vanilla bean ice cream (yes!) or dolloped in a warm cup of green rice tea. The taste of lavender is delicate and floral and purely satisfactory. A pleasant way to embrace summer.
ONE LOVE-
making the shift
Boy, is it good to be home!
Something I adore about holiday, as much as the actual holiday, is the return home. Stay away long enough and a certain deep gratification is aroused. We’ve returned to cooler temps, lovely afternoon showers and happy animals.
Also upon return is the motivation to really get things done. We’ve talked long enough. The flower beds have an appointment with my shovel and hands as well as the mulch pile. The dead locust trees have finally met their end, leaving their sole purpose to warming the fires this winter.The grass is cut, the house is clean and the corn is canned! Other projects on the to do list, each with their own appointment, will be met with determination!
Other things I appreciate about holiday is the reminders while away. When you slow down, put work aside and really partake in the break, you are reminded of things you like to do. Like, sitting on the porch and reading a book. Doing yoga. Coloring with the kid, etc. Prior to holiday I did loads of coloring, but rarely any reading and definitely not yoga. Coming home I have brought these little treats back. Making it a point to treat myself. Balance the day with 15 minutes of reading. 10 minutes of yoga in the morning. While those aren’t ideal amounts of time to indulge in these habits, it is still a treat. I don’t lose my day, my work or my time with my child. And that is exactly what a holiday is! Sweet reminders that, yes, somehow, it can all be done!
ONE LOVE-
summer bundt
Finally got around to baking the triple berry buttermilk bundt cake.
The original (grand) plan was to bake it sunday night so the kids would wake up to a pirate breakfast on monday morning. The pirate breakfast happened but the bundt cake did not. Instead, there was a marvelous spread of italian sausage, turkey bacon, eastern nc bbq and pancakes. It was that good. Got the pirate energy going!
However, the bundt cake ingredients were gathered and waiting in the side stage for their grand entrance. Determined to get it baked we decided that our beautiful, stormy afternoon was a perfect time to get it rolling for breakfast the next morning. The blueberry, strawberries and peaches collected from the fruit stand across the street were perfectly ripe. A blending we will go! (surprisingly there were no blackberries available so we went with peaches. They work magically!)
While it was moist from baking on a rainy day it turned out fantastically! If you ever find yourself on holiday with a hankering to bake something, go for it. You don’t have to have all the fancy (while those make life a lot easier) kitchen tools to get it in the oven. A little patience, a kid or two to help with the stirring and the laid back energy you gain on vacation, you can get it done. Everyone around you will appreciate it and enjoy it!
ONE LOVE-
fresh local yummy
Who says you can’t eat well on holiday?
With friends, family and birthdays upon us we have been blessed with a bounty of local goods. Enough local goods to last the remainder of the holiday and into the canner upon arrival of returning home! My brother (yea, that guy) graced our tables once again!
The corn has arrived.
As well as a bushel of fresh, local Blue Crab
It’s what’s for dinner!
For RCB’s 5th birthday (!!!!!!) we gathered around the table, cracked the crab, slurped the sweetest corn and chomped shrimp. It was fun, full of laughter, sheer enjoyment, not to mention absolutely delicious.
However, 10 of us could only eat but so much leaving us plenty of leftovers. On holiday, this is great! Lunch the next day was just as delicious and grand as the dinner. Cracked crab to make crab salad for crab rolls (mimicking lobster rolls), cut the corn and blended it with raw vegetables, ginger and jalapeno (oh. my. so. good.) for a vegetable salad. A super compliment to the crab roll.
Dinner served the shrimp its final purpose. Tossing the shrimp in some fettucini noodles with asparagus, avocado, red onion and garlic. Seasoned with sea salt, black peppercorn, and olive oil. Sprinkled with red pepper flakes and parmesan chunks. Light and satisfying, full of flavor. A nice meal to round out the rainy afternoon while sipping on a crisp white wine.
Our future consist of ferry rides, island tromping and lunch al fresco. The kids are getting their groove, sharing and playing nicely. Waves have been surfed. Sandcastles built. Epic card games played. Happy food consumed.
ONE LOVE-
Base Camp
At least for the next couple of weeks!
(all photos by sweet cove musings. Taken with the i-phone 4. Please ask permission before using)
Happy 4th of July! Wherever you are may it be full of fireworks, fun, family and friends!
Choose your celebration and be safe!
ONE LOVE-
No Signal
(photo from google image)
After many discussions, and for more reasons than one, we have FINALLY called it quits on the T.V.!!!! I couldn’t be more thrilled with our decision. We nipped it in the bud.
Already, we’ve sat on the porch before bedtime, ate dinner alfresco per daughters request, played kickball in the yard, hung with the pups, dabbled with the paddle boards, read several articles and have gotten a lot further along in paper work than we have all summer break. I have visions of getting novels read and tea sipped this winter by the fire. Long nights of deep discussion while noshing on freshly baked goods.
Of course, we will do net-flix-a-booger. We aren’t totally going A-Wall! I will have to catch up on How I met your Mother on occasion, maybe a little Dexter too. The little one would miss Curious George terribly on those not so feel good days. But there is a lot of time to be filled now that there is dead air. I’m positive we will have no trouble filling it.
Just more of that fine balance coming our way!!
ONE LOVE-
random musings
I realized today that my mother was probably calling our girl dog, Kaya, “he” all weekend because we affectionately say (regularly to her) “Hey shoushand (thousand with an sh), how ya doing shon (son with an sh).
We just chuckled when we had the revelation 🙂
Update: Kaya was diagnosed with a terminal cancer three months ago. She has gone through surgery, well, basically hell and back. However, her wound has healed, her heart is truly happy and her tail is full of wags. Last weekend she ran laps with Whiskey and Martini, two playful labs. She continues to chase the UPS and FedEx trucks (along the invisible fence line).We are grateful for the quality we are getting on a daily basis. This week would be the end of her three month sentence. With each extra day we get our gratitude is grander and deeper.
ONE LOVE-
sweet musings from the cove 