June 21st; the winter solstice; the longest night of the year.
The sun will set tonight at 5.01pm and not rise again till 8.03 am. A long, dark night is ahead. Harsh winter days are ahead, too, but, after this solstice, this time of standing still, the days will lighten and lengthen and provide promises of the warmth to come.
I have been quiet; gathering in the sunshine (when it appears); thinking and reflecting; allocating my physical and mental resources, carefully and sparingly. I have been reading your blogs, as and when possible, enjoying your stories, your creativity, your company. You filter through my screen, reach out with your words and images, and become the surround sound, the presence, of my silent space, until the phone rings, or the doorbell trills, and my real-time world reminds me where I am.
Where I am….in a kitchen, looking at dishes, waiting on the sunlit bench, to be sent to the dishwasher.
Dishes standing still, waiting to be washed.
In a kitchen, looking at the dishes, but sensing the sweetly fragrant camellias, at my back, on the sunlit table.
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- Sweet scented camellias
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- at my back
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- on the sunlit table
Yet, I am not entirely present, in this kitchen, for at the edges of my mind, I am dwelling in the time of my elders, seated at small kitchen tables, near old coal ranges, delighting in warm winter puddings, or bowls of hot porridge. And I am chuckling that this little girl, my mother’s big sister,
Best Apple Pie Maker in New Zealand
grew up to be the winner of a National Apple Pie competition in New Zealand, in the 1950s. ( Yes, cooking competitions existed before Masterchef) Who would have guessed it? She was a star in the making.
My aunt is NOT in this photo but these people are the placegetters in the 1959 Apple Pie Competition. ( The photo of my aunt with her prize-winning pie is lying somewhere deep, and presently undiscoverable, in family files, read junk piles! )
Best Apple Pies in New Zealand 1959 Placegetters in apple pie baking contest, holding their winning pies. Negatives of the Evening Post newspaper. Ref: EP/1959/2616-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/30664376
The darkness is coming; the sun is edging westward in the sky. Is it time to stop the memory clock and make a pie, perhaps?
Winter Puddings for 1957 or 2014 Maori Affairs Department. APPLE PIE – (Te Ao Hou – No. 18 May 1957). Ref: Mao18TeA. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/199657
Or should I light a candle, take up the aged photo albums, and dwell a little longer with the old ones?
The blessings of the Solstices, the still time, to you all.
© silkannthreades
I see you have posted a recipe for pastry on this post.. you could aways use that one. i notice in the small print that it comes from the Department of Maori Affairs… so its a Maori Apple pie… whatever next!!!
Yes, I put in that recipe mostly because I was interested to read what was considered a good, nutritious meal in the 50s. 🙂
Pie, yum! I’m salivating!
Yes, I have apples, I have flour, sugar etc; now I just need to get on with the job. 🙂
I think you should buy the pastry!!! Dont muck around making it!!
Do you use the flaky or sweet short crust?
You can use either. You can get one at the supermarket thats made with real butter but honestly I cant taste the difference and its quite a lot more expensive. just get the ready rolled pastry its fine… unless you want to be on Masterchef!!!
Not aiming for Masterchef! 😉
It’s a big job!
😀
How wonderful to have an aunt who makes award winning apple pie. It is my favorite, you know. Do you still have the recipe? I have never tasted an award winning pie…and I am very curious as to what it tastes like. 🙂
The whereabouts of the recipe is a mystery. 😦 I do like apple pie but it’s a very long time since I have had one. Today, I saw that one of our up-market stores is selling them for the equivalent of about $US 18.00…..must be a good pie!
I think you should make one they very easy!!!! deceptively easy!!!!
Really? I am encouraged to try. 🙂
Note to self…get in the pie making business! 😉
YES!
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Already winter over there, already summer over here, time flies! Glad to read you again. Hope everything is good with you 🙂
Time flies, and I am glad to see you again. Have you finished your thesis?
Unfortunately I haven’t, I am having so many problems… I was about to submit it at the begining of June and my tutor got fired. Without his signature I am unable to submit. So hopefully after summer I’ll get another tutor to sign my thesis. I’m not a happy person right now but I know I have to be patient and find a solution!
Oh, how incredibly frustrating. Sending you bucket loads of patience.
Thank you, much appreciated :))
It was the solstice here too. Now the days will begin to get a bit shorter and we will edge towards fall. Oddly, I miss the cooler temps and wonder if as I age I get softer about the seasons. I used to dread winter but now, without a long commute to work, I am actually thinking it is not so bad. xo Joanne
Well, I certainly appreciate that I no longer have to commute to work; stand in the cold at the bus stand etc. I am very lucky to be able to stay warm in bed until the worst of the morning chill has dissipated. 🙂
That is perfect. To stand in a warm kitchen, with a hot cup of coffee and look out the window at the snow- that is the ideal way to deal with winter!
Indeed!
Happy winter solstice Gallivanta! I’ve been out at the beach, celebrating it with a group of women. What a special time this is. Apple pie sounds like a good dish for the season, even if you are not a prize-winner.
I was wondering how you would be celebrating. I am sure you will have a post soon. Looking forward to reading your solstice story.
What a gorgeous post! Very poetic! And you have a great baking heritage 🙂 We just celebrated Swedish midsummer (which, as you can imagine, is a BIG deal)… although it might as well have been midwinter. Bitterly cold and hailing the other day. At least the light is beautiful 😛
How disappointing to have winter like conditions for midsummer. I am wishing you warmth and sunshine for your travel time. 🙂
So far away on the other side of the world and yet so close…days stretching and shrinking like the tide. Wrapping warm wishes around you like a sweater…
Mmmmm…that feels cosy. Thank you.
Enjoy the way that you wove many dimensions of the human condition within this post. Certainly the celestial changes are interconnected to our daily lives. Solstices mark occasions for deeper thought, which prompted you. Nicely done.
Thinking about your last post on San Francisco and your ancestry, and your comment, here, my mind turns to this old song
That’s such a kind gesture, and the entire video introduced me to a song that I did not know. The title is perfection. Thanks.
The title and lyrics have always appealed to me.
I am very happy that the shortest night has now passed – I look forward with you to my two extra minutes of daylight each day now, even though another 2 months of winter stretches ahead. The 21st of June is my mother’s birthday and it always amuses me as I phone her that she is celebrating the longest day! (National Apple Pie champion is no mean feat 🙂 Did you make a pie or dwell with the old ones?)
And I hope your mother was celebrating well! The Apple Pie competition must have been a big deal in its day. My aunt won an electric oven, latest model, and I think there were other prizes included, too. Worthwhile entering, anyway, even if the winners didn’t get cookbook deals like they do on today’s cooking shows. Alas I did not make a pie. That will be for another day. Enjoy that extra daylight.
Yes, the still point has passed again for another year, and the promise of earlier sunrises and later settings carry us forward, through the real cold of winter, on to another slow changing of the seasons. Nature provides so much interest and beauty in small, unexpected things.
Mary, the sun of the last few days has been such a blessing. It makes the frosty nights seem worthwhile.
p
Uhhh, I meant, PS- I am baking up a storm tomorrow. Chinese Almond Cookies (I think I’ll get them right this time), chocolate chip almond oatmeal cookies, pecan stuffed mushrooms, and good ol American grilled sirloin burgers, and Frenchified fries.
Heaven.
Cooking is one thing I can do that is purely good……as long as I don’t eat like this too often. 😉
Much love~
Ah, now I see where the ‘p’ is taking me… A PARTY! Is it? May I come? I would love some of the pecan stuffed mushrooms, and some of all the rest. Have fun with your cooking storm.
Your thoughts are flying but your fingers are at hummingbird speed…. 😀
You are baking! All is right in the world again! Yay!
Of course this post did not appear in my reader so I had to search internetdom for you, but it was so worth it. You are reaching in yourself and finding something amazing, the writing here, especially in the beginning, was just incredible. So transporting I wanted more.
Your family ties are lovely, but it is you I find amazing.
Yes, Cindy, I am starting to bake….and feel more orderly, except for the mess in the kitchen. 😉
I absolutely LOVE apple pie! The photo of your aunt is gorgeous (what beautiful eyes she has!) 😀
Gentle eyes, I think. Another blogger asked me about their colour. She has always been my aunt with the pale blue eyes but possibly that is the blue that develops with age and the silvering of the hair. And speaking of apples; do they grow nearby, or is it too tropical? When I lived in Zambia, without easy access to apples, I used my granadilla as an apple substitute. Worked quite well. I think you may well have granadilla in your area.
Gallivanta you have lived all over the world!… lets have a litany of everywhere you have lived and what you were doing there. you sound like a real gallivanter.Maybe gallivanter is the masculine and gallivanta the feminine????
jennyredhen, it has been a long time since I did any serious gallivanting! And I am glad of that. A litany will be revealed little by little, I think. To whet your appetite, here is a piece which I have yet to get back to. https://silkannthreades.wordpress.com/2013/07/19/out-there-forever/
A reflection of apple pie and days gone by. What a lucky treat for us, your readers. This gentle read reminded me of the serious amounts of cooking that took place for generations within my family. My nieces carry on some of the grand old traditions and I’m the one that got away. I do miss sitting down at a nice table, and mother always provided one, however I had other interests and providing that special meal never made it to the top of my important list of things I wanted to achieve.
I love it when you include your wonderful food pictures and thoughts along with perhaps a gentle prayer and maybe creatures from your out-of-doors. You have me beat hands down with your camellias. I grew beautiful ones in California but haven’t had a bit of luck since we moved from there. Be oh so kind to yourself as you continue this state of reflection. I’m thinking of you and know you are in God’s gentle hands as he guides you through your days.
Thank you Sheri for your generous support. I enjoy making special items but I am not so keen on producing entire meals for an occasion. I find that exhausting, unless other family members are around to help out. A little secret….the camellias come from the overflow from my neighbour’s boundary hedge. I struggle to grow camellias; in fact, have given up. But these little ones along the boundary are gorgeous and so sweetly fragrant. Be well. 🙂
A beautiful and poetic stream of consciousness style of posting – I enjoyed how your words flitted from dishes to plants to memories. And, like others, marvelled that you have just gone through the longest night of the year while we in the north have had the most light. What a big old world we live in.
Isn’t it a big old world! And I am glad it is. Thank you for your kind words.
Visiting with the old ones is a good thing to do on the darkest day.
I do think so. 🙂 They are good company. Unfortunately, that may not be the case for everyone but, although I had a few very scary-looking elderly relatives, the good-looking and the not so good-looking were all very kind to me.
I was reading this and thought oh no she got it all wrong….. until I thought a bit….of course we had our longest day! still without light at 9pm , wonderful! We rather have applepie with icecream as it is lovely and warm, not hot but warm, just nice. It it strange to think you need jumpers and I have a light dress on….I am sure you got your cooking talents from your aunt….. it stays in the family! 🙂
Ute, it sounds as though you had a lovely longest day. I think some of the elderly womenfolk in my family tree would wonder if I had any cooking skills at all. I had a great aunt who made the most beautiful sponge cakes and sponge rolls. She tried to teach me how to make them when I was a young girl but I still haven’t made anything close to her sponges. The same goes for my grandmother’s pikelets.
You need to gove yourself a bit more credit…. all the things you show on here are so beautiful and look yummy. One day you can impress me personaly…… I hope! 🙂
One day we will eat cake together, in style!
Oh yes! 🙂
I really like that you were sensing sweet scented camelias at your back on the sunlit table, and you included the dreamy pictures to capture the thought for me. Thank you.
It is raining here today, but I walked the dog anyway, knowing I might be sad later if I do not get out as much as I can and enjoy the world.
Thank you Lucy. And I am enjoying the image of you, out in the rain, with your dog, enjoying whatever the world has to offer.
🙂
,,Q,, This is my fat dog’s tail wagging for you. 🙂
That is really cute!
While you have your longest night, we here in the north have our longest day as the sun does not really even go down completely. There is something comforting about the longest day in the winter. It is as if you have permission to just sit for a bit and enoy the candlelight. I feel that with summer, every smudge and fingerprint on the window is apparent and the doing never stops!
Yes, I noticed in your recent post that you were thinking about cleaning windows at 10pm! And the children are not keen to sleep. 🙂 Winter time is definitely a time for resting. But, all the same, I know you will love your summer whilst you have it.
I’m sure our ancestors noted these markers in the year, the longest and shortest days, times of sowing and reaping, the inter connectedness of things – so I love being reminded of the Ying / Yang quality of Southern and northern hemispheres reading your post ….”when Yang peaks is shifts to Yin; when Yin peaks, it shifts to Yang”
Beautiful light in your kitchen and those camellias…. 🙂
I was at an Abbey yesterday saw a wonderful old coal range, perfect place to sit by. Solstice blessings for peace and balance across the miles.
The light was lovely yesterday even though it was not about for long. Yes, peace and balance across the miles. I wish some of it would swirl into the trouble spots of the world. I find it very disturbing that the world now has 50 million refugees http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/20/global-refugee-figure-passes-50-million-unhcr-report
It was a bit of a shock for me today to realize that on this, our longest day, you were experiencing your shortest. I suppose it makes me a bit of an odd duck, but I do love the winter and the long, dark nights. For one thing, it’s my season of rest. I like to think of it as lying fallow. Work slows, because of shorter days and weather, and it’s a good time for being home, lighting a candle, taking down a book.
I even had the experience of traveling to Stonehenge at the winter solstice. It certainly cuts down on the tourist traffic. I’m not inclined toward new-age-ish celebrations, so it was just as well.
My grandmother taught me how to make piecrust, and I still use her recipe, although I’ve substituted Crisco for lard. For one thing, good lard is hard to find now, and Crisco does just fine. In her household, pie was considered a perfectly acceptable breakfast food, particularly the fruit pies: apple, cherry, strawberry/rhubarb. Many a day I ate apple pie with a slice or two of cheddar cheese, and loved every minute of it.
I don’t make as many pies these days, and tend to make them in the fall and winter. But if a pie is necessary, I can whip one out lickety-split. Really, it’s my one great culinary skill, and a process that’s filled with great memories.
Tomorrow your day will be longer!
WELL…………..you know what I will want if I ever come to visit….pie for breakfast. YES, PLEASE. With cheese. I think that is an excellent idea. In fact, it is probably a much better idea to eat pie for breakfast than for supper. Also a good idea to visit Stonehenge in the winter. Apparently about 37,000 were there for this summer solstice!
I’m enjoying the summer solstice here. It’s after 9 p.m. here, but there’s still some light. Going forward each of our days will be a little shorter. . . and each of yours will be a little longer. 🙂
Yes, indeed. I used to love our summer evenings in New York State. We would be out in the nearby park till late and then come home just as the fireflies started to appear. Magical.
I went looking for an appropriate quotation about the solstice—whether for winter where you are or summer up here—and although I found quotations aplenty about summer and winter, not one mentioned the solstice. Maybe I didn’t look long enough, or maybe there aren’t any solstice statements worthy of being quoted.
I am not finding appropriate quotations either. Perhaps there’s an equation of poetic elegance available somewhere, like here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equation_of_time 😉 They look pretty but are very mysterious to me!
I recognized those curves as compound sine curves, but the equations (which didn’t appear for quite a while in the article) are indeed complicated. In contrast, you’d think a solstice equation would be easy (to find), but apparently not.
There should be one, n’est-ce pas?
Great minds think alike! We had apple pie for June 21st. It won’t be as nice as your aunt’s however. It was a “Traditional” pie lovingly handcrafted by Pam in the New World supermarket kitchen. Thank goodness today is 1 second longer!
Thank goodness for that extra second (to get the washing one second drier!) Mmmm…I will have to check out that Traditional New World pie. I am sure it was good. 🙂
I had to read your first sentence twice because I temporarily forgo you are in NZ and that winter is coming.
Your aunt’s apple pies must have been delicious.
The blessings of the still time to you too. 😉
I read in your latest post of your attempt to have some ‘still’ time by the sea. It sounded lovely.
The funny thing about my aunt’s apple pie is that I don’t have a clear memory of tasting it. I remember, in the 70s, asking her to make it for me, but I am not entirely sure that she did. She had a very tight household budget and I can’t imagine that she would have been able to produce a pie just to satisfy the curiosity of a teenager. One dessert I do remember that she made was ice cream pudding; a custard type dish that tasted like ice cream. I loved it; more than real ice cream, actually.
Good to “see” you posting again – on your shortest and our longest day. I’ve been thinking of you and visiting your “virtual kitchen” almost on a daily basis. Didn’t find any dishes waiting to be washed 🙂 It’s lovely to spend time with our elders every now and then. I don’t have many photos of my grandparents, but the ones I have I treasure. Luckily I have more photos of my mom.
You didn’t find any dishes waiting to be washed? Are you sure you were visiting my kitchen? 😀 What I like about the old photo albums is that every time I pick them up I find something new that I didn’t notice the last time. For example, this time, I noticed my grandmother’s thick, hand knitted woollen stockings. My mother and her sister had hand knitted clothes too. Imagine doing all the housework and knitting clothes for the family as well…..busy!
I know! My mom always knitted when I was little. When I was a teen she knitted long trousers for me. Red and very fancy. And a yellow summer dress of nylon thread. I loved it. Good memories 🙂
I hope you have photos of your red knitted trousers and yellow summer dress. I had a crochet (woollen) bikini which a friend’s mother made for me. Interesting things happened when it got wet but I loved it. It was red, and I have a photo of it, somewhere.
I don’t have any photos of those very specific garments here, but need to look when I go see my dad next…he has a huge collection of our childhood photos.
Ah, you have some fun times ahead!
Oh, go on, Ann! Make us a pie 🙂 Somebody was tempting me with blueberry cobbler online this morning, but I didn’t get any! 😦
Blueberry cobbler…..that is tempting. I guess I am going to have to make this pie….sometime. 🙂
I do hope you make a delicious apple pie in celebration of this longest night. Think of all those wonderful long evenings ahead of you to read a good book while enjoying a cup of tea (or even homemade hot cocoa!).
I didn’t quite get to making an apple pie but I did start to read a fascinating little book /memoir called Apricots on the Nile http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colette_Rossant by Colette Rossant. So far, Colette has only talked about mangoes and watermelons; I am waiting for the apricots to appear. I loved our time in Cairo, so I am enjoying reading more about that fascinating city.
That sounds like a fascinating book – I’ll have to read it, thanks for the recommendation. I hope to get to Cairo one day. I had apricot jam on my toast this morning which I rarely have so it’s a funny little coincidence.
As you mentioned Cairo, it made me think of a book I read a few years ago which you might enjoy reading called ‘Down the Nile’ by Rosemary Mahoney. It’s about her adventures rowing down the Nile in, well, a rowboat. An interesting read!
I love apricot jam; especially the homemade variety. Thanks for the introduction to Rosemary Mahoney; looks like she is/was a great traveller. Lots of her books here http://www.rosemarymahoney.org/ for me to ponder.
The image of your aunt is so precious! Best pie maker…do you have her recipes? That would be awesome.
Thank you Laurie. Unfortunately, I don’t have the recipe. But it could be tucked away with the newspaper article and the accompanying photo. Investigation required!
Happy Solstice! We are in our Summer Solstice where I am, the longest day of the year. I’ve learned to appreciate winter as much as summer, though. Those short days have their own beauty. Watching the sun make the annual journey, noting just where it rises over the eastern ridge…
Being as close as you are to the land, I can understand how you must have a deep appreciation of all the seasons. It is fun to follow the rising and setting sun. I see more of the setting than the rising because I am a late riser! Happy Solstice. Just by the way, I saw this in our paper today http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/registerguard/obituary.aspx?n=keith-j-mccree&pid=171096956 One of my fellow citizens who spent the last years of his life in your part of the world. 🙂 He was born in Christchurch but he loved your land.
Eugene is about an hour from where I am. I did not know him. It seems he had a very full, happy life. Yes, there is much to love in this land here in Oregon. Glad he was able to enjoy it!
And I am glad I have been able to enjoy some of it through bloggers based in Oregon.
As you know, I like ALL your blog posts. I’m always in awe at your storytelling skill, at the breadth and variety of your topics and the welcoming and generous tone that infuses your writing. I particularly like this one for all kinds of reasons.
The tribute to Solstice; the mood of remembrance and contemplation and, the picture of your aunt as a young girl. Who was to know that she’d become a champion pie-maker?
It’s also true that making/eating pies is one of the “ties that bind” in many families – including ours. I swear that my husband’s apple pies – made from our very own heritage apples – Wolf River — are the best. But doesn’t every family think theirs is the best? Part of the pie lore.
Thanks for welcoming us to spend this time with you.
I googled Wolf River apples and they must be perfect for apple pies. Yum. And I am sure your husband’s apple pies are the best. But you did make me smile. We used to think that the stove top custard that my parents made was the best custard ever. We couldn’t quite believe that our brand new sister-in-law didn’t think so. Turns out she was right, 🙂 , although I am still very fond of that plain custard recipe.
nice and emotional memories… I often miss my maternal granny, RIP… ❤ summer solstice here for about 10', wait and see… 🙂
my comment is STILL awaiting moderation… 😦
Here I am, busy moderating! Did your maternal granny make lovely food?
yes, healthy and yummy food… 🙂
* * *
@comments awaiting moderation… it’s frustrating and difficult to dialogue and to communicate…
Usually if I don’t answer immediately, I am away from the computer. 🙂 I wander about doing this and that and check in with my computer every now and then. It drives my family mad too, when they are trying to skype me. 😦
your folks will alawys come first… which is normal, logical and common sense! 🙂 my point is: if comments show up immediately, even if you’re away from the “machine” for a certain time, at least, your participants could dialogue and communicate… 🙂
I guess that is so. But it would also mean that WordPress had seen/approved your comment and not that I had read it. 😉 When I moderate each comment it means that I am paying very close attention to each comment and reading them carefully and with great interest. 🙂 And sometimes I read a comment and take time to think about it and then reply. Occasionally that process can take a few days because I want to answer each comment to the best of my ability. I am a slow thinker and processor ;).
Enjoy your summer solstice. Is it a lovely day?
yes, magnifique! 🙂
Excellent.
Oh, it’s so good to see you posting! I wish I could send you some Northern Hemisphere daylight and sunshine–and then you could return the favor when our long winter arrives. I’m like you–I get introspective in the winter and am drawn to the stove–everything about its warmth and the smells and the tasty treat helps me deal with the chill.
And you have serious chill to deal with! Ours is minor in comparison but I still feel it! At least, in our relatively warm house, I no longer have to worry about chilblains; the bane of my youth at boarding school and university.
Very nice post. For some reason, it feel so peaceful and with time nearly mean nothing.
I like your aunt picture. Half-smile(?), her eyes were so clear and makes me wonder about the real colors.
Such a sweet little smile isn’t it? Sometimes time doesn’t feel important. It’s almost like those of us in the past and those of us in the present are all in the same room. Each of us carries our ancestry within us. You raise an interesting question. I don’t know what colour my aunt’s eyes were when she was young.
i was worried about waking up early today and sure enough i did get up at 4 but put my eye mask and went into the dark room so got some more sleep. I would love to go to scandinavia one day for the summer solstice. funny how your family has so much talent and I hope you have practiced her recipe? Next time you come to London you can bring some over 🙂
Oh yes, I would love to see the summer solstice in Scandinavia. The colour of their solstice sky always looks so very beautiful. I am ashamed to say that I haven’t ever made a flaky pastry apple pie. I prefer short crust pies but I really must give it a go. I find it intriguing that in the fifties your excellence in the kitchen was judged by your apple pie skills. And, indeed, a good pie is something that requires skill.
Please send me a copy of the pie by email! Thank you! Peace, health and joy to you!
Pie will be sent piping hot, when it is made!
Thank you! 😉
hello Gallivanta, we are having the shortest night over here … but home to winter in a few more days … enjoy your long night, stay warm, have fun!
Thank you. I am sitting here in the kitchen, candle lit, and looking forward to a good long sleep tonight. 🙂
You are really talented in celebrating your longest night! I thought you did make it. The apple pie from your kitchen.
I have decided not to make apple pie tonight. But I would like to make it sometime this winter. Yesterday, I made some jaffa nut brownies like the ones I wrote about here https://silkannthreades.wordpress.com/2012/11/06/warmth-by-chocolate/ Chocolate is good for winter time! 🙂
Thank you for the link, but give me the recipe, please!
There will be many longest days for me in a week to come, the Ramadhan fasting month is coming. Daytime with no food and drinks, no lust and desires, no rude and harm others.
I wish you a blessed Ramadhan. And, maybe, you will get the recipe when I find it! 😀
Thank you very much, Gallivanta.
🙂
Beautiful! My days were once filled with quiet retrospection and meditative thoughts. I spent hours drawing in the beauty of the world and trying to project it out to those few who came in contact with me. No longer! Now I spend my days in a whirligig of activity, always running behind the ball, attempting to learn what makes a puppy tick as I have discovered I no longer know….. Your post reminds me of those gentler times and I am grateful to be reminded. Vulnerability is our greatest asset in an honest life. I have found most people respect it, I trust it is the same for you.
I have noticed that this has been a difficult period of time for so many people. Difficult times always precede great awakenings and forward movement. I feel the world is waiting for just this energy to spill out into it and help heal all the broken souls. It seems to me you have it.
I do remember the whirligig that accompanied my Jack, seven years ago. My chairs still bear witness to his desire to use the wooden legs as chewing sticks! Now, he is mostly the mature gentleman who quietly snoozes on the bean bag by my chair. Puppydom is a joyous, mad time. I know you are cherishing it! I am not a fan of winter but I am trying to learn to be comfortable with it; to see it as a nourishing time, and not a depleting time. 🙂
You my dear are simply amazing. You are getting more vulnerable in your posts and they show us all how good a human being can be.
In case you haven’t noticed, I have such respect and admiration for you~
Awww…too kind, Cindy, who gives me such pleasure with her funny blue jay tales! Although my lifestyle, and that of my parents, didn’t allow for much contact time with our elders/extended family, I have been, and I still am, blessed by a family tree full of fine examples of truly good human beings. ( I expect there are some scoundrels in there somewhere too! 😉 )
And to you, had quiet escaped me as we celebrate the longest day that someone else is deep in winter. Blessings on your day x
Thank you. I like to think of you enjoying that long day! Hope it’s a good one.
Thanks!
Its always good to spend time with the old people.
I was looking at my Grandmothers photograph today. She died when my mother was seven. I only have one photograph of her, taken when she was about 14 with her sister. They both had hair down to their waists … amazing
What camellia is that? It looks divine.
I was so lucky to know all my grandparents but I don’t have many photos of them in their younger years. There are, however, a few photos of some of the older ones, the women, in their youth and their long hairstyles are gorgeous. I wish I knew the name of this camellia. It is tiny and very fragrant and it hangs over my neighbour’s fence. Wasn’t it good of them to plant it on the fence line? 😀