Everybody's Singing...

This guy is my spirit animal. Sissy that walk, Santa!

 All the bells are ringing out, and it's Christmas all over again!

However you're spending your time today, and whoever you're choosing to spend it with, I hope you're taking time to create magic in all that you do.  Oh yeah, and spread a little love while you're at it, it really does go a long way.

Merry Christmas, Season's greetings, God Jul, Joyeux Noël, Happy Winter Solstice ... And everything else!

xoxo 

The Cranberry Saw Us

1-handed OJ action shot ... My talent knows no bounds!

Each year when the pages of my calendar dwindle down to the last few, I've got one thing on my mind, aside from that lump of coal I earned from Santa, and that is ... Cranberry sauce!  Members of my family have a longstanding tradition with gelatinous goo that holds the shape of the can after being released from its confines, but when I was forced to give up all things processed, and eat like a homesteader things got a little complicated, especially the part about no refined white sugar, and I had to let go of such time honored treasures as these.  However, with a little research I was able to put together an incredibly simple, and successful recipe sure to cause riots with all your guests at your next gathering.      

The Gang's all here!

Here's what you need:

• 24 oz Fresh Cranberries
• 1 Orange - Juice & Zest
• 1 Cinnamon Stick
• 1/2 Cup Apple Sauce
• 1/2 Cup Water
• 1/2 Cup Pure Organic Maple Syrup

Here's what you do:
Wash fruit, and combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan, bring contents to a boil, turn temperature to Med-Low, cover, and let reduce for about 15-45 minutes, checking the mixture for your desired consistency every 15 minutes, and giving it the occasional stir. Let cool, remove cinnamon stick, chill in fridge before serving, and ... That's it!

Makes 4 cups (1 Litre).

What was I saying about complicated?  The most complicated part about learning to cook and bake without refined white sugar is digging up, and converting, or inventing the recipes in a sugar cane dominated world, but once you've done the groundwork, the actual recipes are a cinch!  Remember, you can always use honey in the place of maple syrup in my recipes, if you're into that sort of thing, but for my bee-sting allergy people out there (like me!), maple syrup works like an absolute dream.  Happy holidays & enjoy!

Original Boss Babe

 1990 Holiday Barbie in damaged box: $6.50


Trip to the beauty shop before she meets your 5 year old niece: Free


Kickin' it with your Homegirl 25 years later: Priceless

xoxo

Here We Go!

Patrick Rothfuss' Worldbuilders are at it again with their fundraising efforts barreling down the track of another record-breaking year on behalf of Heifer International.  Every year his assembled team of world-building minions roll up their sleeves to bring Geeks from all walks of life together for the greater good of humanity by raising money for people experiencing crippling poverty around the world.  How much money, you ask?  Last year brought in over $880,000.00 USD, an amount they're looking to beat this year, with 14 days to go and a total at $681,441.00 USD, and ***ALL DONATIONS MADE TODAY BEING MATCHED*** I think this will definitely be a bar-raising year!

How can you join the fundraising mayhem?  Several ways, actually!  From online auctions, to buying things from Pat's store, The Tinker's Packs (where all proceeds go to charity all year long, every single purchase), or just by straight-up donating on the Worldbuilders page, where each donation of ten dollars gets you an entry into the massive lottery of donated books, games, and deliciously dorky miscellany.  Get to clickin' if you want to get your hands on some swag whilst helping people feed themselves, their families, and rescue their village's economy.  Even though sales through Pat's website are constantly put toward charity, this particular event ends December 14, 2015 11:59 PM UTC-11 so, go (!) and donate now if you don't want to miss out, especially if you want your charitable gift to be doubled (ends today!).

xoxo

DEADLINE EXTENDED!!! New deadline now December 18, 2015 11:59 PM UTC-11.

An opportunity to match donations up to another $200,000.00 was announced in the wee hours this morning, causing Rothfuss to sound the rallying cry to #BilboItUp for one last major push.  With the total now blown past ONE MILLION USD, this is yet another record breaking CRUSHING year for Worldbuilders, and Heifer International AND it's not too late for you to join the madness!

November's Sky is Chill and Drear, November's Leaf is Red and Sear - Sir Walter Scott

Where has this month gone?!  Am I the only one who felt like I went to sleep October 31st, and woke up November 29th (mind you, with extremely vivid dreams of turkey, and cranberry sauce!) as if coming out of a NyQuil coma?  Or maybe it was that I was too busy enjoying it to count the days as they passed, and didn't realize just how late in the year it was getting until I woke up this weekend to frosty 28º mornings ... a rather sharp realization to drag me out of my harvest haze, if you ask me!

Illustration: John Rae

Here I am nonetheless, staring into the face of December elbow deep in drying herbs, flowers, and garden seeds cleaning, organizing, and preparing for the next planting season already. Thanks for the heads-up Aesop, baby!  You won't catch me out in the cold with nothing to gnaw on but a frozen fiddle (barring unavoidable disaster, of course).  At any rate, it won't be because I spent all summer singing, and dancing ... although, that doesn't sound like an entirely bad way to spend a summer ... balance in all things, yes?  

One of the things I'm living for right now is the Glass Gem Corn I grew from seed thanks to Garden Hoard -- a two person, organic, heirloom seed, Midwestern enterprise -- that I'm in LOVE with!  Katie, the owner, is an awesome woman with a wealth of knowledge to share, and a love for plants who wants to feed the world ... what's not to like?  Besides, I love smart chicks, and I'll take any opportunity to support her "fempire" when I can.  Anyway, back to the corn, it's decorative, it's edible, it's grind-able, it's poppable, and it's GORGEOUS!  Each ear is a complete surprise, even when plucking from the same stalk ... which totally tickled my colorholic tendencies.  

Keep in mind when growing, these are not the ears you get from a packet of hybrid seeds or what you find plumped up at the supermarket, Glass Gem Corn ears are much more elegantly sized.  Heirloom produce is typically not what our supersized-society (with exceptions, of course) is used to seeing or eating, however you do get the added bonus of unparalleled flavor, and a pretty high guarantee that any seeds collected will perform in your garden next season, and thus, you can create your own seed home-library without having to run to the store every year to replenish your seed stash.  If you're looking for new-to-you or unusual varieties of fruits and veggies to add to your garden, or you're brand new to this garden-gig, and just starting out pop over, and check out Katie & Christian's operation.  For a two person show, they've got a good selection, surprisingly great customer service and availability (I honestly don't know how they have the time!), and they hook their customers up with extra goodies every order.  

Happy planning & planting!

xoxo

After Apple Picking ...

... Or apple buying for that matter, though how the apples are procured really isn't important.  Just be aware that the sweeter the apple, the sweeter the sauce, so pick a palate-friendly variety because this is a no-sugar-added recipe, unless you like your applesauce to pack a pucker-up punch, of course!

Applesauce
In a 6 quart slow-cooker combine:
10-ish Cored, and sliced apples (Fuji is my apple of choice, skins on)
1 Cup water
1/2 Teaspoon ground Cinnamon
1/2 - 1 Teaspoon ground Nutmeg
1/2 Teaspoon ground Ginger
1/8 Teaspoon ground Cloves
1/4 Teaspoon ground Allspice (optional, because of the use of the other spices many feel allspice is redundant.  I think it adds more overall body to the flavor.)

Cook everything on High for the first two hours, and finish on Low for the last 4 hours.  Let cool a little, purée, and serve.
Yields 72 ounces.

Seventy-two ounces?!  Whether cooking for large gatherings or just a meal for one, I do most everything in large batches.  I find that once I've got all of my equipment out, it takes less effort, and is a more efficient use of my time to make a larger quantity than dragging out all of my culinary accoutrements every single time I get a hankering for a small serving of something, which can make getting into my freezer a bit of a Level 9, B-Type game of Tetris, but I find it's worth it.  It's especially useful having extra applesauce on hand for anyone with dietary restrictions (allergies, food intolerance, etc.) who need to swap out oils, or eggs from certain baking recipes.

For me, this applesauce recipe is an absolute autumn must-have, and it makes my dwelling smell like a fairy-tale cottage, you know, like before the misunderstood lady tries to coax children into her oven ... Happy Halloween!

Enough

Recently, I was asked to join one of those "live-streaming" events that's supposed to raise your personal vibration frequency, Love or Above by a woman described in her bio as an intuitive healer, and medium.  First of all, to me, live-streaming means "happening live, in real time, like, right-now" not pre-recorded, and spliced with other material (which this was), made obvious by the sort of canned, or scripted responses between the two hosts that made the entire flow of the recording awkward and leaving it sounding forced and unnatural, and the fact that 45 minutes into it, just after the guided group meditation began, the stream stopped, and when I pushed the play button to jump back in, the entire program started all over again, from the beginning ... Which I guess could be possible with a T.A.R.D.I.S. involved, but I don't have one, and neither did the hosts of the program, as far as I could tell.  But before any of that could happen, there I sat, headphones in place, my little .pdf worksheet open on the screen, switching gears back to the days of Nerd Girl note-taker-extraordinaire, poised, ready to pounce on every keyword mentioned.  If I wasn't yet completely sold on the program, I could at least take excellent notes, and maybe learn something new, or come to some greater understanding if nothing else.  Alas, this was not meant to be, as I soon realized, the worksheets didn't match the script, which made it increasingly annoying trying to fill in the notes, as the speakers sped through the mismatched content ... Undoubtedly dropping my personal vibration frequency in the process.  I decided to pack it in, sit back, relax, and just listen.  This, too, I learned, was a bit of a chore as well, trying to catch the actual content between all of the breaks, and pauses reminding the listeners — If you want to know more follow this address, go to the site, check out this link, don't forget our generous coupon code, and buy, buy, buy! — and the like.  It soon became clear that I was just listening to one extremely long (90 minute), not so cleverly disguised, advertisement to get the listener to spend hundreds of dollars on other products that will bring abundance to his or her life ... Uhm, ok.

The Raven

 What's an October without a little American Gothic Lit., anyway?

Mood Swings

So, I saw an ad the other day (how often does that sentence end well?) for something that actually looked interesting!  Skillshare is offering 3 months of access to over one thousand classes for 99¢ when you use this code at checkout → SSFB99 ← I'm usually not into this sort of thing, but so far all 99 pennies have been very well spent.

Enter Exhibit A: Fall Cottage, a mood board of a few of my favorite images right now that, to me, evoke a wonderfully cozy feeling that creeps in as fall begins its chill, thrown together with the help of Meg Lewis of Ghostly Ferns, and her class, Basics of Photoshop: Fundamentals for Beginners. 

1. Rose Gold Lariat Scarf, 2. Books via Lovely Reveries, 3. Joy in a Bouquet, 4. Sheep, 5. Grandmug Sango Nova Black, 6. Knitting Needles by: Anne Greene, 7. Damson Plums by: Moi, 8. Botanical Print: Cicadas from Brehms Tierleben (Brehm's Animal Life) vol. 9 by: Alfred Edmund Brehm, 1893, 9. Halcyon via Dorothy Rosenberg, 10. All Hollow's Eve by: Paul Parsons, 11. West Highland Terrier via Lavender Summers and Lilac Dreams, 12. Font

Ok, so I didn't reinvent the wheel here, and I'm not exactly a beginner either.  I did, however, learn new-to-me tricks that will dramatically cut my time on future projects, and who doesn't love to be more efficient?  Meg breezes effortlessly through the use of guides, simple yet high impact photo editing, beyond easy steps to apply clipping masks, layer organization, and more.  The thing with Photoshop is that one person is never going to learn it ALL, we learn what we need for our respective uses, and with there being so many different steps to achieve the same end goals, each person develops his or her own quirky way of navigating the program so, it's helpful now and then to, if not brush-up, at least see how other people are using it, try their methods, and add what works for you to your bag of tricks.  I personally believe there can never be too many Photoshop tutorials ... there is always something new to create, and a fresh, undiscovered way to create it.

That's all for now, I'm late for class!  I've only got 20-ish (+/-) saved lessons (so far) to dive into...

 xoxo

Plum-Crazy

Bowl by: Dirtkicker Pottery

Near my house, there's a perfectly obscured beach path known only to the adjacent inhabitants that comes to full life at the end of every summer with the most gorgeous Damson plums dripping from arched tunnels of rustling green.  Not typically one to get hands-y with things that aren't overtly mine, it took only one season of tripping, and slipping over spoiled, plums squished into the path before a silent oath was made to stop, at all costs, this gruesome plum-icide, and egregious waste in seasons to come.

This year with my trusty bucket in hand, and most demure and subtle, magenta hooded sweatshirt I was ready to enact my rescue-efforts-(quickly)-turned-full-fledged-plum-heist.  Three gallons later ... I, uhm, needed a plan, or better yet, a recipe, and one that didn't include refined white sugar and a multitude of other ingredients that aren't healthy for me to consume.  So I invented not one, but two plum spread recipes!

Directions [10D]

 Don't despair, Darling ... Dominate doubt, defend delights, dance defiantly -- daily.

I Don't Carrot All

Solar Yellow & Purple Dragon Carrots

"This strangely still pause between summer and autumn, greenery and gold, and the heat and rising wind that is once again readying itself to rush it all away in a climactic symphony of color and scent is - in my opinion, one of the best parts about living on earth."

- Victoria Erickson

I couldn't possibly agree more!

Six Word Story

"I'm nostalgic for memories never made."

-Whitney Cress

The Best Exotic Marigold Tea Recipe

August, for me (aside from watching films about pensioners moving to India), has been all about tracking down the best tea recipe to put all of my fresh summer 

marigolds to work.  I came up a little shorthanded ... Apparently, something my great-grandmother would have considered common knowledge is now somehow one of the great mysteries of the known universe.  The only natural method that I could find (that did not include drying the flowers in a microwave, of all things), or one having any sort of resemblance to a recipe was for an antiseptic tincture that I adapted for tea-time:

New Moon in Leo Mandala from the High Vibe Guide

• 1-2 Cups rinsed Marigold petals (snipped right above the green calyx that holds the petals on the stem).
• 4 Cups boiling water.
• Combine in French Press and steep until a rich, golden-red color appears, or combine in another suitable container, and strain to serve.

Sweeten with your desired sweetener if you're into that sort of thing (mine happens to be a pinch of Stevia).

That's it!

The taste is somewhat reminiscent of a dandelion tea, not exact, but the same kind of "body" is what you can expect.  This has definitely turned into a new favorite, and don't be timid, the more aggressively you snip the blooms from a marigold plant, the more it responds all summer long -- well into October (which makes sense with it being the "birth flower" for that month), and even into a very wet November last year around my neck of the woods.  Hopefully, by then I'll have my instructions perfected for drying & storing the petals in order to enjoy the tea throughout the chilly, hibernation months.  Until then ... Enjoy!

The Amazing Technicolor Dreamsalad

It's Summer!  Around here, that means an abundance of fresh, home-grown, leafy goodness to munch on.  I love having a garden to pluck from, and in the PNW you can pretty well manage this year round with a little research of what to plant when, even without cold boxes.  But what can you do if you're short on space?  Even in an apartment with a deck the size of a thimble, and a sliver of sunlight you can grow things to brighten up your meals.  Sometimes all you need is a sunny window, and a flower pot!  Some of my favorite, easy to grow, summertime edibles include:

• Red Romaine Lettuce (Often comes as a free gift from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds & can be successfully grown in an 11" pot)
• Nasturtiums - Both the blooms, and medallion shaped leaves are edible, and a source of both vitamin C & Iron.
• Marigolds (Tagetes & Calendula) - Cut petals at their base, and sprinkle over salads, or steep blooms in hot water for teas.  There is a laundry list of supposed uses, and health benefits of calendula blossoms, as well as praise for being a source vitamin C & Flavinoids.
• Pansies - Adorable sprinkled in salads, adorning deserts, or garnishing beverages, these little beauties contain both vitamins A & C.

If you're low on inspiration, look no further than Laurel Anderson's Wild Plate.  This gorgeous
non-cook book is loaded with fresh ideas, beautiful photography, and valuable, rarely shared tips and thorough explanations to help even the most rookie raw foodies out there!  I'm not one who follows a strict raw food diet, but as the temperatures climb I am one to avoid warm meals in the summer heat, and find myself flipping through its pages for new ideas.  If the raw food diet is something you're interested in, Wild Plate is not only the place to look for new smoothies, salads, and juices, but it will take you beyond the basics of raw cuisine, and walk you through what you need to know about raw food prep where others leave off, and gives you all the tools you need to start your raw food adventure!

My go-to Summer Salad consists of (vulgar amounts of):

• Red Romaine Lettuce
• Kale
• Carrots & Radishes (sliced into medallions)
• Black Olives
• Dried Cranberries
• Nasturtium Blooms
• Marigold Petals (snipped)

All tossed & topped with my favorite summertime Strawberry Vinaigrette by: The Gracious Pantry found here.  What I love about this really basic salad, and delicious dressing is that you can stop here, and have a beautiful dish packed with flavor, or  you can keep pushing it as it affords you the opportunity to get creative.  Want a little more heft?  Throw in some mushrooms!  Need more crunch?  Get out the celery stalks!  Swap out the lettuce for spinach ... throw in some walnuts, I mean, wherever you want to take it is totally up to you.  Bon Appétit, my lovlies!

xoxo

P.S. enjoy that blue moon tonight!

L'Amour

The mandala, or मण्डल (for those of you down with Sanskrit) has been used in spiritual practices throughout history, spanning the traditions of Tibetan Monks to Indigenous populations of the Americas, and beyond.  These "sacred circles" are nothing new, but are experiencing a certain resurgence in popularity.  Even late night television commercials are punting mandala coloring books for adults snuggled between scenes of trashy, American "reality" programming -- this makes part of me want to weep for humanity, but the other part thinks it's pure genius!  Who cares how the practice is introduced?  As long as what you need finds you, that's what matters ... Plus, if you act quickly, and call now(!) you'll receive two mandala coloring books!  Don't be greedy, give one to a friend, and spread the Zen around!

The meditative qualities of creating, coloring, or contemplating mandalas are supposed to be quite healing.  Coming solely from an artist's point of view, I can definitely grasp how this could be beneficial.  In the moment of pure creation, when you drop everything else, and surrender fully to becoming a vehicle for something authentic in a way that feels otherworldly is quite a magnificent, and powerful process to be part of.  Imagine honing that process to put the power toward a specific goal?  The results, could indeed, be quite awesome ... And at this point, I'm willing to open all avenues of healing so, with that in mind I reached for my High Vibe Guide by: The Cosmic Collective which consists of Sarah Wilder of The Fifth Element Life, Jo Klima of The Darling Tree, and KV of Aquarius Nation, printed off the first mandala corresponding to tonight's New Moon in Cancer, and got to work.

The theme of this mandala was focused on Self Love, and with that as my "mantra" I began working from the center and let the colors come to me without the force of my thinking-mind getting in the way.  I'm not exactly sure "self love" is what was coming through on this, or if I was just intoxicated by the scent of freshly sharpened colored pencils (seriously, I wish this was perfume -- somebody make this happen) having been away from them for the better part of a decade, but if this really is the visual expression of how I feel about myself, it certainly could explain, well, a lot actually. 

xoxo

[soh-shuh l]•[net-wurk]

I pretty much have a hate / hate relationship with all forms of social media.  Maybe that's a little harsh, it's probably more of a disgust for how we use (read: abuse) it that puts me off.  Here we are, surrounded by The Jetsons-esque technology -- stuff of pure childhood fantasy that most of us never thought we'd ever have in our daily lives, and how do we use it?  We show off, grandstand, thump our chests, bully, lie, cheat, even steal by snatching other people's content and passing it off as our own.  Frankly, we don't deserve it. Our technology has officially (if not far earlier than this moment) surpassed our maturity to use it, not just responsibly, but even graciously.

Step, if you will, through a portal with me to a time when Facebook was emerging from its infancy, before it was public, when it was only open to students currently enrolled in a college or university program.  Sure, I gave it a whirl.  A funny little place where you could keep in touch with friends, and peers, and annoy each other with "pokes," or mildly amusing posts to our "walls" (I mean, what WAS that fresh new term, it's like this personal, digital bulletin board all your friends can see ... WHAT?!).

And then, I deleted my account almost as quickly as I'd activated it.  There was something about those college days of waking up to be at the sewing lab by 6:00 AM before my 8:00 AM class, spending an entire day stomping all over a sweltering campus like a packhorse shlepping materials from one corner to another, finally getting to go home to gulp down a 7:00 PM meal just to turn around and spend the rest of my night in the CAD lab 'til 2-3 in the morning before going home again to catch a few zZz's to wake up and do it all over again that didn't jibe well with the neediness this burgeoning networking platform was creating.  The nail in the pixelated coffin looked a little something like this:

#LoveWins

Earlier this morning, The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that individual states can no longer ban same-sex marriage, stating that homosexual couples seeking permanent commitment deserve "equal dignity in the eyes of the law."  We're far from perfect equality for all in this country, but we're at least headed in the right direction.  No matter a person's feelings on the issue, I think we should all be wary of a government that wishes to legislate "morality," and I do hope this is seen as a victory for humanity in that we are free to make decisions, and live according to our individual values.  

Paint-by-Number

Oh My Darling, Clementine

Mouthful of Forevers 

I am not the first person you loved.

You are not the first person I looked at

with a mouthful of forevers. We

have both known loss like the sharp edges

of a knife. We have both lived with lips

more scar tissue than skin. Our love came

unannounced in the middle of the night.

Our love came when we'd given up 

on asking love to come. I think

that has to be part

of its miracle.

This is how we heal.

I will kiss you like forgiveness. You 

will hold me like I'm hope. Our arms 

will bandage us like flowers in a book.

I will write sonnets to the salt of sweat

on your skin. I will write novels to the scar

on your nose. I will write a dictionary

of all the words I have used trying

to describe the way it feels to have finally,

finally found you.

And I will not be afraid

of your scars.

I know sometimes

it's still hard to let me see you

in all your cracked perfection,

but please know:

whether it's the days you burn

more brilliant than the sun

or the nights you collapse into my lap

your body broken into a thousand questions,

you are the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

I will love you when you are a still day.

I will love you when you are a hurricane.

-Clementine von Radics

"From Etsy to Sweatsy"

"How a handmade mecca went from part of a movement to part of the problem."

In the above link, April Winchell, author of Regretsy: Where DIY meets WTF, and formerly of the website by the same name (may it rest in peace), discusses Etsy's fall from grace, its IPO announcement, and illustrates its journey from Main Street to Wall Street.

Hey, boys and girls, do you know how to spell "sellout?"

[Children together]

E-t-s-y...

Very good!

***

Apparently this topic needs to be revisited.  There seems to be a lot of confusion surrounding peoples’ displeasure with the metamorphosis of Etsy Inc.  In fact, instead of trying to educate themselves on exactly why certain business owners are disturbed by Etsy’s practices, we see the Etsy Apologists in full force, diminishing the concerns of said business owners, and likening their disagreement with Etsy’s direction to that of  a lovers’ quarrel.  To me, this is not only rude, but an irresponsible use of your voice, not to mention unoriginal.  Regurgitating something you read on a forum or in a comment section that someone else said, once, more than half a decade ago makes you neither clever, nor informed.  If you are at all interested in why people are unhappy, by all means, ask them.  They will tell you, most are not shy.  In fact, that's how I became aware of the many hypocrisies, and double standards, or no standards at all in some circumstances, that have become commonplace in doing business with Etsy.  I couldn’t understand why anyone would be upset with a company that provided an inexpensive platform to open a storefront, and sell wares from, and then I bothered to listen to what was happening to individual store owners, and the struggles they were facing, and how or why those struggles, and concerns may impact business, and business owners alike, in the future by continuing to align themselves with Etsy Inc.

Little Girl Found

Some love, when you finally find it, actually has no beginning at all. It is with you, alive the entire time.

Primordial.

Love of self, twin flames, children born or unborn, whatever love makes your soul vibrate in unison with the universe, celebrate it!

Ob-Sassenach

It started in earnest a couple of months ago ... Innocently enough, actually ...  A woman contacted me hoping I'd be able to make her a scarf inspired by some of the knitted garments from a recently aired television series. Not being one to traverse the waters of custom orders all that often, I admit the current of curiosity was a little too strong this time, and I was soon swept away. After receiving a collage of photographs, and screenshots from Outlander, and talking it over with my soon-to-be new customer who knew exactly what she wanted, with visual aids, how could I say no?

Having already seen the first episode by stumbling upon some free-promo-thing on TV, but unable to remember any neck-wear of note, it was down to Episode Two. I gathered my checklist of knitting accoutrement necessary for the undertaking: Large needles, practice yarn, calculator, notebook, pen & measuring tape, and settled in for some gauge swatching & TV watching. Instantly recognizing "Dwalin," and "Jackie Elliot," (and they're brothers! *swoon*) I figured it had to be decent, at the very least. The hour passed in combinations of knitting, glancing, number crunching, ripping out frogging, and starting completely over, until finally the scarf in question appeared on screen ... BAM, credits.  This won't do ... Episode Three!  I HAVE to see more scarf (or so I told myself). It went on like this for quite awhile, er, long after the actual knitting stopped, in fact.  I felt myself getting drowsy ... Just one more. I can relax on the couch and snuggle in and just catch one more episode (that's how I reconciled 5 & 6). But when Six ended with Claire storming past a group of Highland Scots, marriage contract in one hand, and snatching a bottle of whiskey from Dougal (Dwalin / Graham McTavish) with the other, after he'd just rescued her from Redcoats sending one scampering like a tiny mouse just by walking toward him whilst staring, I knew I had to get Episode Seven IMMEDIATELY ... And by any means necessary!

For whatever reason, I HAD to know what happened to these people next ...

Er ...

So, I basically ended up freebasing the entire first half of Season One in a single night (I'm now patiently biding my time through the mid-season break for Part Deux's return April 4th, 2015), and it wasn't enough.  I've never seen a more vicious-to- viewers mid-season ending than Claire trapped with Black Jack Randall about to meet her doom, just as Jamie Take-Your-Hands-OFF-My-Wife Fraser bursts through the window.

End Scene.  Credits.  That's all folks, for six months!

I was online ordering the first book before Sam Heughan got to the "e" in wife, and have since been burning through them as fast as I can get my hands on them -- Let's put it this way, if drone delivery were readily available I'd have been turning the last page of Book One with my other hand waiting outside my front door for a copy of Book Two to be dropped into it without lifting an eyelid.

My new shameless addiction aside, what I find interesting is how strangers have the ability shape each other's lives, and all because someone decided to go out on a limb and ask if I could do something for her, and by doing so, she has given something back to me that I've really come to enjoy.  Don't mistake me, I'm definitely not saying we all need to become followers marching single file behind the same drummer, or white knuckle each latest piece of pop culture shot out at us by The Machine, or freak out over frivolous television shows.  I mean paying attention to the ebb and flow of even the most casual encounters, because you truly never know where the next little spark to light your fire may come from, and that is always a gift to be thankful for. 


Oh yeah, and kilts.  Because, kilts.

Welcome

xoxo