The Calling

Yesterday, Boo came home from school, and while we were working with her on her homework, she mentioned that she had written a poem: she'd been walking the track at recess, and rather than listening to music or texting on her phone, she was watching the woods in the distance, imagining.....

The Calling


There are things out there
that you may never know.
Creatures far wiser than you.
 Faster! Stronger!
The Dark! The Light!
Through the day
and night.
But yet we still hear the howling call.
Through the night the loud cry wakes many afraid.
 As night grows longer the fear grows stronger.
But do not fear
For not all is this way.
The creatures of the bright.
Creatures of the light.
 Creatures who protect.
All through the night
And through the day.
Saving the poor souls.
But wait!
Listen!
Careful now!
Do you hear the quiet howl?
 Slowly it grows louder!
Stronger!
Power!
The wild ones come!
Kind, evil, wild, free.
Join them!
Join me!
Hear the Calling!
Follow me!
Be free!
Run to the wood to hide in the mist.
Go with the Calling!
Let it protect you.
With the Calling you will be OK.
Come now!
Hear the Calling!
Hear!
Us!
Howl!

c 2015-11-17 Boo.

I love this!

Yours, in admiration!
N.

                                                                                                                                                           

Happy Birthday, Boo!

Welcome to the teenage years, Boo!

Yours, with our love, and perhaps a tiny bit of apprehension,
N.

And so the (pre)-teenage years begin

LOML and I have tried very hard to say, almost every day, almost every morning and evening, to Boo and to Skibo, "I love you".  We say it in the morning when we leave, or when we drop them at school, or in the evenings at bed time: and they say it back, and kiss us. 

And tonight, telling Boo to turn out the light and stop watching youtube at 10:15, the response was a (pre)-teenage sullen stare. I know tomorrow she will be back (temporarily?) to her usually lovely self, but for me, temporarily, I am

Yours,

Heartbroken,

N.

Zucchini

LOML and I went visiting some local organic farms with friends this weekend.  We had a lovely time, cut short by having to pick up Skibo from the movies.  One of the things that we scored was a zucchini, of a type we've never seen before.  I think that I am going to stuff it and cook it for dinner tonight.

To give an impression of the size of it, that's a full sized lazy Susan that it is sitting upon.  And yes, it's much more spherical than it is cylindrical!
Yours, also more spherical than cylindrical these days,
N.

Boo's Blog (private for now)

Boo has decided to start a writing blog!  For now, it will have to remain hidden and private, but I'm enjoying seeing her develop as a writer, and as a skilled computer user.
In addition, I bought a book in our local craft store this weekend: a book to teach children to code, and both she and Skibo have been working through it.    It uses Python, and incorporates the Turtle language: they've both drawn octahedral flowers constructed from 8 octagons rotated about a single vertex, and Boo has written simple code to ask a user to input their name, and their favourite food, and then have the program output " likes ", and then report what the first and last letter of the name are.  
This latter task involved her understanding that in Python, name[-1] will return the last element of  a string or list, and understanding that it indexes from 0.  The name[-1] fact made her squeal with delight!

Yours, terribly proud of both of them!
N.

Carnitas

Making this tonight: quite delicious!

Carnitas, my adaptation of several recipes

6 lb pork shoulder, boneless (I had a few bones I removed)
1 quart chicken stock
Orange juice
Zest of an orange
1 small can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
5 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 stick cinnamon
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Cut the pork into 1-2 inch cubes.
Put in a heavy pot, add the chicken stock, and enough orange juice
to cover the meat.  Add the remaining ingredients, bring to a boil,
stir and reduce the heat to simmer.  Simmer uncovered for 3 hours,
and add more salt to taste.  The pork should be very tender.

At this point, I still had a lot of liquid left, and the recipe I
was using suggested that it should mostly have reduced away by now.
So, instead of slavishly following the recipe, I heated the oven
to 450, removed the pork from the liquid, placing it in a roasting
dish, and turned the heat on the liquid up to high.
I put the pork into the oven, turning it occasionally, until it
crispened up nicely.  When the sauce was reduced to about a cup or
two of thick liquid, I added it to the pork, and stirred it to
distribute it well.

Served with small corn tortillas.

Yours, in anticipation,

N.

Squashed

Posting this so that I can find it on my phone....  This is a rather good recipe for
squash casserole.

Squash Casserole

4 lbs yellow squash, sliced lengthwise, then cut into 1/8 inch slices
2 medium onions, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
3 eggs, lightly beaten
Half cup heavy cream
2 cups grated cheese (e.g. Italian blend, cheddar, parmesan....)
2 cups crushed buttery crackers (I used Town House Wheat crackers)
3 tablespoons melted butter.

Preheat the oven to 475 F.  Working in three batches, toss the squash
in olive oil and salt and pepper, spread out on a foil lined baking sheet,
and cook on a high rack in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until lightly colored
and beginning to caramelize.  Set aside and allow to cool while cooking
the other batches of squash.

Set the oven to 350.

Spread the onions and bell pepper on the baking sheet, and bake 8-10 minute
until the onions are just beginning to turn color.
Mix together all the vegetables, 1 cup of the grated cheese,
stir in the 3 lightly beaten eggs, the cream and one cup of the
crushed crackers.

Pour the mixute into a buttered 13x9 baking dish. Stir the crackers in the
butter, and stir in the remaining cheese. Top the casserole with the mixture.

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or so (checking to make sure that the topping
doesn't burn --- I ended up turning the temperature down after 20 minutes).

Yours, done chopping, now to mix and bake,
N.

Climbing the stars

Boo has written another story, a metaphorical delight!

Climbing the Stars

I walk through the door out to the open air.  I heave myself up the wall to the roof.  I lie there on the roof, staring at the sky, and the stars, and the galaxy.  And slowly, slowly,  I rise to my feet.  I stand tall and proud, a small but powerful little girl.  I stretch my arms like I do in yoga with Mommy.  And then I start to jump.  Little hops at first, then higher, higher, higher!  Then I reach while I jump.  And then suddenly, I'm not jumping and reaching, but grabbing.  Grabbing on to the closest star, I pull myself up.  I jump again, grip the next star, and pull myself up.  Again and again, higher and higher I
climb, until I can't climb any more.  I've reached the top of the sky!  I reach out and touch the heavens.  Then, slowly I spread my arms out wide, and fall off the very last star.  I feel myself drifting from the heavens, so I spread my wings and land on a star.  And then, carefully, I make my way down the stars, and climb back into my safe little bed.

Yours, delightfully inspired,
N.