Homer

A little something to brighten the day.

 

It's His Birthday

This guy, my only child, turns fifty today!

No one would put it together that he is my son. He looks absolutely nothing like me. He's tall and has a bulky frame. I'm short and small framed. He is built and looks like his bio-dad's family. Only his personality reflects who his mother is. He does have an opinion on everything! Fifty years, wow.

Life is a Crapshoot

 

I was knocked off my feet yesterday by some news, old news to all but me, that the man I was going to marry in the late '70s, but did not for various reasons, died in a motorcycle accident five years ago. I haven't known anything about his life since about 1982, when a mutual friend told me he had married. I had been pleased for him, he did want to be married and have children, which he did have. And grandchildren. This wasn't going to happen with me. I felt so sad. For his family and for the memory of someone I once loved. Long ago. I did feel there was some reason why Staying Alive was playing in my head when I woke yesterday. 

Staying Alive

I awoke this morning with this song playing in my head. Omen?

Don't laugh, but I loved the disco era. Believe it or not I could be quite flamboyant in my youth! It was fun, you could dance your heart out and be part of what everyone else was doing. I loved dancing. I still dance in my house, but I look like those old ladies you see in memes. 

I saw this clip and thought "If this isn't the image of cool, what is?" I love dancing, yeah. Sorry, I've got Bee Gees on the brain. Anyway...I loved to dance but I never had these moves. Stay alive. Stay cool.

It's going to be unseasonably warm today, a high of 80F/27C. The kitchen doors will be open, one to the screened porch, which makes the kitties very happy. Happy kitties, happy two-leggers.

This is the result of a 20 hour ferment of whole grain bread dough.

                                              Spelt                       Light Caraway Rye

I'm really pleased with it, lots of air in the crumb, especially for spelt. I bake the loaves in a dutch oven at high temperature for about 35 minutes. Mark tells me he doesn't like rye bread, he has said this for years. I make rye bread and don't tell him it's rye. He always says "this is good". Sneaky. When my son was small he loved tomato soup and clam soup.The reason he loved them is I called them red soup and white soup. I may have been born sneaky.

A Photo Says it All

Miss Havisham comes to mind.

Yes, I have no shame.

This morning while in the kitchen I happened to look up. The sun was shining and something became quite visible to me. I'm not showing this photo simply to point out the chandelier needs some attention. Seeing this brings home how many different ways one is affected by aging. What once was just another task becomes something akin to climbing Everest. Now I'm writing like a Dickens character. A very few short years ago it would not have looked like this. Ah, well....I will get it done. On a side - I bought this chandelier in an antique shop in the '70s. My father wired it and it's been in use since, moving from home to home with me. It's not showing in the photo, but its crystals twinkle even when dirty. I don't do fussy but this light fixture caught my eye and kept it.

I have been doing the overnight fermenting method with bread dough lately. I've done it on and off but am wired inpatient, so I did not like to wait. I've changed my mind. A world of difference in the crumb. Earlier in the week I made a light caraway rye, so good. I mixed dough yesterday for a spelt loaf. It will be formed, proof, and then be in the oven this afternoon. The whole grains make a dense bread, a long ferment opens the texture. I'm anxious to see how this one comes out. 

Yep, Miss Havisham meets Bread Woman. 

Frieda

Good Morning. We will see 68 F today! 

I have nothing of any interest or import happening at the moment. Stock is simmering, that's about it. I do have a very naughty, yet adorable, little girl kitty who decided to make herself comfortable on her two-legged mama. I am so glad she decided to knock on the door, come in, and live her life with us. She is a little pistol!

Bits of Things

I was AWOL yesterday. I sat at my computer for a few minutes and then gave up. I inherited my mother's terrible sinus condition and yesterday it kicked my butt. Much better today. Tomorrow I go in for a med check with the Nurse Practitioner. Otherwise, it's unremarkable in my life. Mark is busy, manageable busy. I am not! I plan to make a couple of loaves of bread, but we will see what comes of that. I'm looking forward to working in the flower beds that have been mostly neglected for a few years. That's not happening soon.

I'll leave you with this adorable photo of Chloe and Malika. Chloe adored the foals, I could not keep her out of the stall when one was born. The mamas weren't disturbed by her, so I let her have her way. This would have been in the late '90s. Such an interesting dog.

 

Accomplished

Finally.

I finally got my cleanup of the office done. I had absolutely no motivation to finish the job last week, but found my mojo yesterday. 

 

As I was dusting I thought back to what my life was for about twenty years and how, other than the barn, this is where I spent my time. I  spent most of those twenty years in the barn, but this was my inside place. We really did not use the front of the house at all, except 

for holidays or visitors. The past decade has been different, more proportional. Not running a business which included boarded horses(the horses came with people), and breeding mine and clients mares. Foaling those mares, often the clients mares as well, then raising them. Teaching them to be good citizens. This all consuming work was my world. It certainly kept me fit! 

So I got it cleared of all the items which were just set there, you know, until I got around to deciding what to do with it. So much from my mother's house that I didn't have time for then. Now the air purifier doesn't need to work so hard. 

It's a beautiful, sunny morning. Supposed to reach 58 F/14 C today. Not bad. I don't have any plans for the day, which means anything or nothing may occur. Maybe I'll pretend I'm a cat.

Just Stuff

Yesterday was the windiest day I can remember in a long time. The house was shuddering. I took this photo through the window, I didn't feel like walking around the house, so it's poor but it shows a fallen tree from the wind. I formed it into a tree after I planted it 30 years ago. It was a sumac I dug out of the tree line. It looked a lot like an olive tree. It was partially dead last year, so it went over, roots and all. As you can see, another is there to replace it. I'll be applying my bonsai skills on it.

Cats....many cats. They all love Mark's radiation belly, especially this one. You can tell by the sweatshirt lots of cats spend time on that belly!

Gatto knows how it's done.

 

McCool prefers to lay between my legs. He needs room to stretch out.

Today is sunny, just a slight breeze and will be 50F/10C. Mark is busy with his clients taxes, I'm about to resume The Great Office Cleanup. It went on hold for about a week. I was having a bit of despair over the collapse of a nation, but I got over it. One must, as it is, for the most part, out of our hands. All we can do is VOTE. There, that's the end of the doom and gloom. 

I think I will take a cue from the kitties. Enjoy life as it is at the moment. They have the right idea.