Speak to us of marriage...

For T&S (oh bless!) who, once upon a time, chose the path of togetherness and with every "ever after", choose to begin the path anew.

Then Almitra spoke again and said, And what of Marriage, master?
And he answered saying:
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.

Love one another but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.
- The Profit, Kahlil Gibran

(And thanks to Ann, who long ago gave me The Profit, which seems to get wiser with the years.)

Photos and such

The Bruins Christmas day photo, 2010.

The Bruins playing before posing. Nico at work behind the camera.


Getting ready for dining.


Me phoning the folks on Christmas Day.


Some little 10-page journals that I made recently out of scrap paper: cute and colorful letter writing paper I've been saving for a special occasion. Most of it I got from paper vendors visiting us at SCAD (so you know how long ago that's been). I've had some projects in the kitty waiting to get started and I thought some nice booklet like this would be great motivation and fun to use.


Nico and his growing orchid collection. Of course, now he's moved on to cacti and succulents. We recently went to a cactus nursery near Hoek van Holland. Pictures of that at another time.


The beautiful view of our park back when we got our first snows. It was still snowing enough at the time to cover my scootmobiel.


Nico's community art. Maybe he'll get another chance, if the weather keeps up.

Hope you enjoy these photos. More later.

Chicken 'n' dumpling recipe

For EB and whomever else is interested...



Broth:
1 whole chicken + 1 stick butter (or marge, if you're that type)
Boil chicken in large pot until meat is almost falling off the bones, about one hour. Remove chicken from broth, place in pie plate and sit aside.

Dough:
1.5 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt (and pepper, as you like)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
2 tbsp melted butter (from chicken broth)
Mix all wet ingredients separately. Add to dry ingredients, which will have been mixed in a separate large mixing bowl. Mix well. Take two fists full of dough in hand and roll out flat with floured rolling pin. Slice into 2" wide lengths, and break into slowly boiling broth. When all dough has been made into dumplings, let cook on low and watch closely as you debone chicken. Dumplings do not need to cook long and are basically ready as soon as all chicken has been added.

Thanks to Mama Rosie for this recipe and makin' sharing the love possible in the first place.