Tag Archives: comfort

The Kitchen

Here, in the USA, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving next week. It’s a holiday that is always on a Thursday about the third week into November.

It is meant to be a day of giving thanks and gathering with family and/or friends and eating the most delicious comfort/fall foods you can get your hands on.

Unlike Christmas season, Thanksgiving is simple. No gifts. Just fun and food.

Easy.

Until I moved into this “temporary” house with the most annoying kitchen. I’ve lived several places with tiny kitchens. But this one is just annoying.

It’s cute and homey in some ways….. that is, until you start to prepare a meal or bake bread…. or prepare to make your favorite pies .

My rolling pin is longer than the width of the counter.

I could clear my counter space completely, but there is no where to put the things that normally live on the counter. The floor is good (keep dogs out while baking).

Then there’s the day when you decide to overcome your fear of applying icing in a one of those bag things with the tip to make pretty cake tops.

I did not know you had to twist the other end so icing comes out onto the cake and not all over the hand that squeezes the bag and then onto the counter and then the floor…. here doggies….

Frustration. But I will prevail! I will make those pies and those cornmeal crescent rolls and the sausage rolls and whatever! By golly! I will!

And someday soon, I hope, we will move into a house where you can dance in the kitchen and actually smile while you bake.

And then I will even invite friends over to partake of my creations.

Happy Thanksgiving……. Enjoy!

not mine but I have no doubt I can ace this just as well as this gal…..

Cate B

Let’s Have Another Cuppa………..

A fellow blogger started posting “if we were having coffee……….” on her blog site now and then.  She starts off by stating the above and goes off from there about what you would possibly talk about.  I thought it was such a great idea.

Since I like my site to be a place that is homey and warm I thought I’d do that now and then from the standpoint of what I stated in my “About” page: “I call this “Let’s Have Another Piece of Pie” because to me, pie represents more than a piece of incredible sweetness, but a moment of bliss with people you love.  It brings to me a type of peace that flows and flutters around a room of nostalgia and contemplative thoughts – even if I’m alone at the moment.  Add a piece of good home-made pie to those moments and you’ve got a recipe for joy!”

With that in mind, I actually made a pie yesterday.  A savory pie.  A Chicken Pot Pie as we call them in the USA.

So, if you came to my house, I would set a place for you and cut you a great piece of this pie and I would tell you how happy I am to have you with me.  I would also tell you how I tend to be a homebody and rarely make the initiative to get together with people that I love.  That is a downfall for me.  But when I get together I just love it and reflect back on what a great time I had and my heart gets encouraged by the company.

I would pour you another cup of coffee or tea and ask how you have been.  I really want to know.  And how about those Kansas City Royals?

I would not bring up politics and hope that you wouldn’t – that just gets me in a tizzy!

More pie?  Then I would tell you about my grand daughters that I care for while the kids attend University.  I would tell you that I love being a part of their upbringing and giving them a safe and secure second home.  I would also tell you that it is hard and some days I feel like I’m not doing anything for the greater good.

I know you would comfort me and encourage me and I would be looking forward to more times like this together with you.

So, next time I may just make a sweet pie.  So much more fun with coffee.  Thank you for coming by…….

Enjoy!

cate b

What Uma’s Do

It is now my summer time.  It actually started about two weeks ago.  The university is pretty quiet now and I don’t have my sweet grand girls five days a week.  I am still adjusting to the quiet and the freedom to stay in my pjs for hours.

The girls did come over for a few hours the other day.  Since the first one was born, Lucy, I sang to her.  She liked to fuss a lot with me and singing certain songs always worked to comfort her.  They still do at the age of four.  One song I sang to her was Sloop John B – I changed the words a little so I wasn’t giving her ideas to drink all night and get into a fight to: Singing all night – till it was nearly daylight.  It works.  Her other favorite is JJ Heller’s song, The Boat Song.  She both loved the song and the music video on youtube.

Penny, however, didn’t take to those songs.  Her comfort songs became How Much Is That Doggie In The Window, Jesus Loves Me, and Shake it Off by Taylor Swift.  She can watch that video over and over.  She travels to a different beat.

Since I took up the Ukulele a couple of years ago, I play their songs for them (except for shake it off – I do that a cappella).  Well, I must show you what Penny June did with my uke.  I normally don’t let them play it.  But I put her hands in position and off she went……. I am bragging, I have that right, I think she is a natural.

Drum roll please…….. Penny June singing and playing How Much is That Doggie in the Window……..

Enjoy!

cate b

The Circle of Life

This week, a fellow blogger, Terry, lost her brother Al to a terrible disease.  She is not only his sister, but his caregiver.  My heart is with her and her family.

Also, a dear friend of mine, Jill, lost her brother to another terrible disease just this morning.  Again, a piece of my heart is with her and her family.

Death is a part of life.  The part we humans hate.   But is must happen.  Grief is both terrible and beautiful.  Those of us who have lost loved ones know what I mean.

However, when death comes it is hard.  It is uncomfortable and yes, inconvenient.  The world around us goes by as if nothing happened.  Those of us who got stopped in our daily tracks by death wonder – how can they just keep going as if nothing happened?  But life does move forward and we must, as times passes – simply because we are alive.

Babies are born everyday.  Everyday there is new life.  Everyday there is death.  It happens and even though we do not understand it, it happens anyway.

My prayers are with my friends and their families.  My prayers are with you all that have loved and lost.  Prayers that help you ride the waves of grief and let healing and comfort fill you in the days and years ahead.

May you find peace and comfort.

cate b

Scratch a dog and you’ll find a permanent job. ~Franklin P. Jones

Several years ago, and four dogs later, I had an incredible desire to have an Airedale Terrier.  I even got a key chain with a picture of one.  Thing is I was never around one.  I thought perhaps I had seen one or met one at one point in my life but I just cannot remember where.  Even my older brother said we never knew anyone with one.

So the time came to get a new puppy with the new house we had just bought.  Airedale Terrier here I come!  But no, everyone in the family wanted a Siberian Husky.  I read up on them and I was not convinced.  They tend to run and get into all kinds of trouble.  But no matter how much I debated I lost.  So my husband, with a smile on his face, loaded me into the van and we drove about three hours up into the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania to pick up the last husky pup of this particular litter.  We walked in their house and the lady picked up this gangly legged , blue eyed puppy and plopped in into MY arms and talked to my husband about her dogs.  I looked into those blue eyes and he looked into mine and he shook and so did I.  I sat in the back of the van with him as he proceeded to throw up on my feet.  I house trained him and everything else he learned.  I was his Alpha dog.  And he was wonderful – Eryndil was his name and he lived a ripe and healthy life with us until he was thirteen.  When he was about eleven we finally got our Airedale.  I named her Hayley Mills – after my favorite childhood actress – and we call her Hayley Mills, the full name.

DSCF6364This is Eryndil.   And here is Hayley Mills and Eryndil together.  He wantedDSCF6348  nothing to do with her – she wanted everything to do with him.

 

 

When he passed away she was a little lost and so were we.  But I have to say Airedales are very people attached and she prefers us to any other dog.  She now has a brother named George Bailey (yes, the character in It’s A Wonderful Life) who is a basset hound/border collie mix.  A snuggler.

When I got Hayley Mills I fell in love.  She is the smartest breed dog we have ever had and there are times she scares me because I think she is actually part human.  For real.  When our grand daughter Lucy came along that dog took to her as her own.

uShe loves to snuggle her girl and try to comfort her.  Hayley Mills weighs eighty pounds and lets Lucy sit on her and play horse.

 

 

 

 

There is nothing more comforting than a dog (except God) when you feel down or life hurts.  They are faithful and kind and love you even when you are a jerk. I’m glad we waited to get this Airedale because the joy of knowing our husky was wonderful but also because this Airedale – Hayley Mills – is perfect for me.

gbGeorge Bailey

 

 

 

 

 

mail.google.comHayley Mills today.  She will be four this year.

 

 

 

 

 

The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too.  ~Samuel Butler, Notebooks, 1912

Enjoy!   cateb

Another Day, Another Story

The last 24 hours were a little rough.  Got to keep looking up and keep looking!

I have found that when you go through a major change in your life you need a focal point; a constant in a way.  Like in LOST when Desmond was loosing it on the freighter (sorry if you’re not a LOST fan – don’t want to loose you) – he needed a “constant”.  In his case it was Penny, the love of his life.  Well, in my life since I moved to this “new land” it’s whatever reminds me of where I came from.  Just a simple little reminder of what was and then I can look to what is and what is to come.

Too Weird?  I don’t think so.  It is something familiar.  So, today while feeling a little out of sorts I wanted tacos.  Not Taco Bell kind of tacos, they can be had anywhere.  I wanted something that reminded me of Southern California.

I spent most of my adult married life in Southern California and South Jersey.  So it had to be tacos smothered in fresh cilantro.

I thank my wonderful Lord that there is a small Taqueria here that sells just that!  Boy were they good and yes, the comfort food works!  Changed my outlook on the moment and I was able to see deeper and more healing things in a better perspective.

Ah, the small comforts of life that aren’t related to what we are going through but definitely have a wonderful sweet effect!

😉