Karen – Page 11 – This Old House 2

Strange Times Indeed

So how are you all faring in these strange and scary times? I go back and forth between OMGOMGOMG ventilators, deaths, hospitals without supplies, WTF! … and figuring out how to go to the grocery store without hyperventilating. The husband and I have had our typical Spring allergy symptoms and of course that leads to thoughts of… is this really allergies or the other dreaded “C” word? Do I have a fever? (no) Dry cough, trouble breathing? (no) So I’ve stopped watching so much of the updates on the news and I’m certainly not watching the blithering idiot in Chief as he blunders and blusters his way through his press conferences.

I’ve been walking the dogs, exercising some, disinfecting the house, fretting over whether I will have a job when this is all done. As editor of our small town publication, some ads have been pulling due to businesses already shuttering for good (that’s really sad) and events having been cancelled. If this goes on for a while, and I suspect it might, there will be no publication with not enough ads to sustain it. There are so many people who are suffering economically because of the damned virus. And there are so many people on the front lines taking care of us all – Doctors, nurses, grocery store clerks, truckers, postal workers, feed store owners, liquor store owners and dog groomers (because in the state of CT, apparently they are absolutely essential).

In our construction business, we’ve closed down the office where tenants come to pay rent or rent facilities, apartments, storage units. All work is being done online, e-mail, phone. If this drags on, our business will be hurt as well, as tenants who have not been able to work or draw a paycheck will not be able to pay rent, etc. I think this is going to have an effect on all people in ways we haven’t even thought of yet in the long run.

Strange times.

The good news? People are being forced to get back in touch with and tend their relationships, their home life, their cooking skills, fitness, reading, the great outdoors, crafts, art, quality time with children, the list does go on, and it’s a good list, at least.

Thank GOD for Netflix, AmIRight? I’m watching Outlander for the second time because I just can’t get enough of it. Even being deaf, I’ve started walking around the house practicing a wee bit uv a Scottish Brogue, do ye ken, because closed caption reflects the brogue and before I was deaf I had a keen ear for these things. It’s just fun. 😂

These two people have such crazy good chemistry I am very surprised they did not become a couple in real life, but alas, they did not.

I’ve been doing some cooking with simple ingredients I keep in the pantry… two recipes from the New York Times I’ll share with you here – They are super easy, delicious and you might have the stuff you need without venturing out to get them. They were both a hit with my family.

Pasta e Ceci – recipe HERE. I didn’t have escarole or Kale on hand so I used spinach and it was fine.

No-Knead Bread – recipe HERE. (this one is not my image) Absolutely delish and SO easy to make. You just need a little patience as it does require rise time.

A simple tip – wash those plastic grocery reusable totes in hot water in the washing machine and then toss in the dryer for a few minutes. They’re germ catchers, and this really works.

Some humor in these trying times…

Welp. That’s all I’ve got for today… wishing us all good health and good riddance to all the coronavirus madness in the near future, praying and begging pretty please to all the powers of the universe. And seriously, praying for all the people on the front lines who are taking care of business so that we all can still function through this test of all we hold dear.

karen

St. John, USVI – March 2020

We went, we saw, we conquered, and if I had known the whole world was going to turn into a shit show overnight due to coronavirus concerns, I probably would not have….. But since we did go… I will say we had an extraordinary time in an absolutely beautiful, stunning, magnificent place. Peter Bay, St. John, USVI.

Travel report– There were no reported cases of the illness two weeks ago on the islands, but that has changed since. Sanitizing wipes handed out in airplanes, most people brought their own and were wiping down all surfaces in their seating area, many masks, gloves, some hazmat suits, no joke. On the islands the airport did the same. JFK looked like a chemical war zone but that’s ok, people were being responsible. I have never appreciated my elbows and feet so much when using a public bathroom, didn’t even want to breath in there but you gotta do what you gotta do.

The islands of St. Thomas ( where we fly in) and St. John are definitely still suffering from the 2 hurricanes a few years back. The effects are still very obvious, some businesses still shuttered, there are still some gutted homes, some ruined cars and boats on the sides of some roads. Just google Caneel Bay 2019 and you’ll see a once beautiful resort in ruins. It sits there exactly like that today due to litigation and an uncertainty of what precisely can be done there.

That being said, what a naturally beautiful place, St. John. A particular member of the Rockefeller family deserves much credit for that. Laurence S. Rockefeller, a wealthy philanthropist and conservationist who died in 2004 , with a small group of his friends is credited with preserving St. John’s natural resources by sowing the seeds for V.I. National Park.
St. John Administrator Julien Harley said that without Rockefeller’s foresight, St. John would look vastly different than it does today.
“If the land was private, we wouldn’t be able to walk on the trails.
Thanks to the national park’s presence, St. John has a healthy economy that lures more than a million visitors a year.”

We rented a beautiful Villa for the week, something we don’t do often and it was such a beautiful location, an experience of a life time. I am so grateful that I got to do this with my children and their significant others. The villa was located on Peter Bay in a private community just 10 minutes from Cruz bay, the main hub and only tourist town on St. John. We were right around the bend from the world famous Trunk Bay, one of the most photographed beaches in the world. We swam with turtles in Maho bay, snorkeled among beautiful tropical fish like tangs, wrasses, angels, puffer fish in Trunk Bay and a sand shark cruised by my legs while standing around oblivious until he was about five feet away. It’s one moment I was grateful to freeze in near panic. We rode horses on the beach, we ate fabulous food and drank fancy fruity drinks. We slathered a gallon of SPF 50 Reef Friendly lotion on our limbs and still came home tan because the sun is that strong, the water that reflective. There are actually free lotion stations at the beaches, I kid you not, like the hand sanitizer pumps at hospitals mounted on the walls.

The icing on the cake was.. my son’s best friend came with his GF for a few days and they got engaged at the beach!

I took a zillion pictures, hard to choose what to share here ….. maybe half a zillion would do?

Image may contain: people sitting, table, sky, outdoor and water

Chef Lori came for two dinners and two breakfasts and she was the loveliest person! Delicious healthy food too –

Image may contain: 5 people, including Daniel Gilmore, Kristen Milano, Mackenzie Dostie and Mike Milano, people standing and people sitting

Image may contain: plant, outdoor and nature

Image may contain: tree, house, plant, sky and outdoor

Image may contain: sky, tree, plant, outdoor and nature

Image may contain: living room, table and indoor

My son on the right and his best bud since kindergarten days…

Image may contain: 1 person, standing and indoor

We had two iguana couples living among us – a pair by the pool and a pair in the trees next to the roofed patio… the males always kept a watchful eye on us. Those holes in the rocks are their cave.

Image may contain: pool and outdoor

Image may contain: plant, outdoor and nature

Peter Bay beach is private, for use by Villa owners and renters only – such a gift to have a beach this pristine and not crowded with people. Often we were the only ones on the beach.

Image may contain: tree, sky, plant, outdoor, nature and water

Image may contain: one or more people, child, outdoor, nature and water

Image may contain: Mike Milano, Mackenzie Dostie, Baillie Violano and Jimmy Yakimoff, people standing, tree, outdoor and nature

Donkeys live freely on the island – motorists are advised to drive slowly on the steep winding roads to avoid hitting them… and are asked not to feed them also.

Image may contain: cloud, sky, mountain, outdoor and nature

Dana of Carolina Corral is one hardworking woman who takes in all the rescues on St. John, including the horses she uses to provide trail rides for tourists. Her farm has been hard hit by the hurricanes and she relies on tourism and donations to take care of the animals in her care and make the repairs still needed. If you’d like to make a donation in any amount, and I can guarantee you it would be for an excellent cause and a very decent, caring, hard working woman… hit the donate button on her website… it will be put to great use and is very much needed. The horses in the picture below wouldn’t be here on this earth without her intervening. Water is scarce and she often has to buy it to give the animals. There are donkeys, goats, pigs, chickens, sheep, dogs and cats in her care as well – many dumped or injured with her as the only island rescue. And she’s doing it all by herself.

horsesstjohn.com

Image may contain: 1 person, cloud, sky, outdoor and nature

Image may contain: Daniel Gilmore and Kristen Milano, people standing, ocean, sky, mountain, outdoor, water and nature

Image may contain: 2 people, including Karen Amoia Milano, sunglasses, sky, outdoor, nature and closeup

Image may contain: 2 people, people standing, ocean, sky, outdoor, water and nature

Image may contain: 1 person, standing, plant, tree and outdoor

The LOTION STATION… I wasn’t kidding!

… one of these guys is not like the others…

Image may contain: 1 person, standing and outdoor

The newly engaged couple💕

Image may contain: 2 people, people standing and outdoor

Image may contain: one or more people, sky and outdoor

Image may contain: plant, flower and nature

Image may contain: Mackenzie Dostie and Mike Milano, outdoor and nature

Image may contain: Mackenzie Dostie and Karen Amoia Milano, mountain, outdoor, nature and water

Image may contain: one or more people, people standing, mountain, sky, outdoor, nature and water

Image may contain: Kristen Milano and Mike Milano, people sitting and outdoor

Image may contain: sky, outdoor and nature

Image may contain: ocean, outdoor, water and nature

Image may contain: water, ocean, outdoor and nature

Image may contain: Mackenzie Dostie and Mike Milano, people sitting and outdoor

No photo description available.

Image may contain: plant, sky, tree, outdoor and nature

Did I share with you in an earlier post my dear husband’s comments when I was trying on bathing suits to ask his opinion before our vacation? “That one’s good. It breaks it all up”…..

Believe you me, I wrung the hell out of that one with photos sent home…

“Breaking it all up here on Peter Bay”…..

Image may contain: Karen Amoia Milano, standing, outdoor and nature

So we’re back home, re-entered Coronazone… where the husband has had a cough for a week and I have allergy symptoms and it’s scaring the hell out of all of us… all of it, everywhere. I’ve been to the grocery store and dropped off groceries to mom, Dad is on lock down at the nursing home, and we are practicing hand washing to the Nth- degree and safe social distancing and hoping the allergy symptoms and cough aren’t the dreaded other dreaded C word. Seems a lot of people have a lot of symptoms they are monitoring, which is all we can do, besides being responsible and staying home when possible.

Stay healthy and sane, all – and WASH YOUR HANDS

Image may contain: plant, outdoor, water and nature

Karen

Should I Stay Or Should I Go

Due to business and farm obligations and a husband who is a very capable person who gets a lot accomplished but has an aversion to stepping out of his comfort zone which means going anywhere that he is not familiar with, which means no further than our state lines or the next state over more often than not, we don’t travel much. On occasion, I have managed to talk him into a nice trip somewhere outside “the zone”. Much goes into the actual taking of that trip, ’tis no easy feat, let me tell ya. I make sure all travel plans are laid out well in advance, the destination is mutually agreed upon well in advance, the accommodations are not complicated or iffy in any way, shape or form so that all hopefully runs relatively smoothly and the Mr. can actually relax.

That doesn’t mean the panic doesn’t set in on occasion, regardless. Case in point – Last time we went on a family vacation to St. John, USVI (ten or so years ago now) all was going well, we arrived on St. Thomas after a loong car ride to the insanely congested JFK airport, then an uneventful plane ride, non stop!… then landed on a tiny island airport runway that JEEzus CHRIST really didn’t look possible but hey, we made it, obviously … And the Mr. was still sane. You’d think the scary part was over, right?

We grabbed a van taxi that took us to the ferry dock to board the ferry that would bring us to the island of St. John. The Redhook ferry is not a huge boat – We’re not talking the Staten Island Ferry here – if memory serves me correctly there are two decks, upper and lower – and you could throw a ball in a game of catch from the front to the back if you wanted to. We had a pile of luggage and there were seven of us – we boarded the boat as the luggage was handed to the employees of the ferry – and somehow the Mr. lost sight of us for about 35 seconds. There was only one boat, we were all on it, and you could get a good scope of everyone on board in about 2 minute’s time. You’d have thought we left him on a deserted tropical island with Wilson the volleyball as his only companion for a month.

Then!… after the scorn was laid upon us thick and we reached our destination island, we walked up the street to pick up our rental Jeep. The Mr. suddenly became aware that everyone was driving on the wrong side of the road – and it was determined right in that same moment that I would be the designated driver for the week. Upon arrival at our rented villa, it was also determined that holy-mother’a God the driveway was so steep with no guardrail going down a cliff that said Mr. did not want to trust his wife to navigate, however, the fear of the driving on the wrong side of anything was just too much… and SO… he was indeed stuck with me driving Miss Daisy for the week.

And here we are… preparing to go on another family vacation to the same destination… and I saw the warning signs a few weeks back.

“Ugh, I’ve got so much work piling up, I don’t know. ”

” Jeez, this really isn’t the best time to be going on a vacation, you know? SO MUCH WORK. ”

” This is ridiculous, the stuff just keeps piling up! How can I go away and get anything done?”

Then (when he’s truly already made up his mind and there isn’t going to be any negotiations here at all) … “ I just don’t think I can go with you”.

The corona virus was all he needed to put a big exclamation point on the ordeal, feet dug into the mud of it. “I’M NOT GOING”.

And he’s not. And maybe that’s OK, less stress for me. I’ve done it before without him because the above scenario is not a new one. And.. he can watch the house and look after the animals. But also.. .maybe we shouldn’t go either? I’m on the fence. I’ve asked a few people who travel often, I’ve asked the local Pharmacist, too. They have said – just use the standard precautions – and WASH YOUR HANDS A LOT.

If we don’t go, we will lose all of the money we paid for this trip. And as I’ve said already, we don’t vacation often, we’re really looking forward to it. Anyone have any opinions or advice you care to share? In the meantime, I’ll be keeping an eye on the travel recommendations on the CDC website. So far, travel to the USVI’s is still green lighted.

Also in the meantime, here’s an awesome dessert being shared online that would be perfect for a St. Patrick’s Day Celebration…

Bailey’s Chocolate Cheesecake Pots

Ingredients

8 (+-140g / 0.59cups) double chocolate Digestive biscuits (in the US Graham crackers are a good equivalent)
360g / 1.5 cups full fat cream cheese, chilled
60ml / 2 fl oz double cream
60ml / 2 fl oz Bailey’s Irish Cream liqueur
100g / 0.42 cups caster sugar
30g / 0.12 cups cocoa powder

To serve

125ml / 4.2 fl oz double cream
½ tsp caster sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
Chocolate sprinkles

Method

Roughly chop the biscuits with a sharp knife. Tip: We prefer doing this so that you don’t end up with fine crumbs and powder as you get when you crush them.

Spoon the crumbs into 4x 250ml preserve jars. Set aside. Tip: If you don’t have preserve jars, you could also just use small bowls or drinking glasses.

Place the remaining cheesecake ingredients into a medium-sized bowl. Using an electric mixer beat on low speed just until dry ingredients are combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl then beat again on high speed until the color is uniform and mixture is smooth and has thickened slightly for 1-2 minutes.

Spoon the cheesecake mixture into the preserve jars on top of the biscuit crumbs, close the lids onto each jar, then refrigerate until serving time. Tip: The quickest and neatest way of filling your cheesecake pots is to use a piping bag. Fill a large piping bag with the cheesecake mixture, cut the end of the piping bag off, and then squeeze the mixture into your preserve jars.

Spoon generous dollops of the whipped cream on top of each cheesecake pot, then decorate with chocolate sprinkles.

Cheesecake pots can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days, but the biscuit crumb base will lose its crunch after the first day. Still tasty, though!

Just Kidding! No.. REALLY!

Last week our grain order was delivered.. and the wife of the fellow who would be bringing it texted me minutes before… Will is on his way – and he’s got a little surprise for you in the truck.

Surprise? What the ** could that be?

Well, lo and behold… … it was a kid.

That kind of kid. With a wee little cast on her wee little leg. She’d been squeezed a bit too tight by a kid of the human variety and sustained an injury that requires a cast. “Star” is being bottle fed while she heals… and then… have you figured it out already? I opened my big mouth and said – we’ll give her a home when she’s ready.

Then I said to myself, I said… Self? You ought go run that by the husband because he’ll tan yer’hide when he finds out you’re taking on more critters and you didn’t even consult. He is the payer of the big bills and the builder of the outbuildings, after all, and currently there is no goat house at this old house.

So I asked Will to excuse me for just a few minutes, and the wee bairn and I walked down to the house where the Mr. was sitting at his desk pondering bills. Oh, crap. Not the best moment to pounce this on him. However, upon first glance of the wee bairn in my arms with it’s cast and faux fleece jacket, he scratched her little chin and petted the star on her head and I said with the tiniest pleading voice….. can we keep her?

Right then I swear I expected the skies to open and the universe to fall to earth with the fury of fire and brimstone because that’s how it usually goes when I seek to add to the critters living among us and God help me I’ve done it a million times.

Instead… …you could have heard a pin drop, or my jaw hitting the floor, which is close to what actually happened.. when the Mr. said… “I wondered why you haven’t had goats here, I don’t mind”.

WHAT? What the everloving what?…. What did he do recently that he’s trying to make up for, that’s the burning question here.

But I think I don’t even care, because Star and a buddy not yet chosen or named will come to live on the farm as soon as they are old enough and her wee little leg has healed. We’ve got some work to do, will need a goat house of some sort and a sturdy, protecting fence. Stay tuned!

Have you noticed that little bit of scottish brogue I’ve inflicted in the words above? Have any of you been a fan of OUTLANDER? Oh, my Good Lord, how did I miss this all the way till Season 5 is out? I am madly in love with Jamie the Red, the love story that is Jamie and Claire, the mystery, the magical, the incredible countryside that is the Scottish Highlands, life in the 1700’s …I’m totally smitten, can you tell? The thing that has finally gotten me stay on the eliptical for 45 minutes is having Outlander on the screen in front of me. Friends have told me they have trouble with the accents so they use the closed caption to understand it all, LOL… that’s my method of watching anyway, but the accent is inflicted in the closed caption wording and I’m loving that, too. If you just crawled out from under a rock like apparently ME, watch a few episodes and see if you get hooked too. I understand the books are very good, of which this series originates, but.. the eye candy is the all important icing on the cake for this girl. Plaid has never looked so good.

Santa Pants

We get up pretty early around here, before the sun for sure. It’s just what we’ve always done, have not ever used an alarm clock because neither of us needs it. Now I’m not bragging here, let me be clear. I wish we got more sleep. We just… don’t. When I rise in the morning, first stop is the bathroom, then the dogs need to go out. They’re let back in and fed, coffee made, e-mail checked, news skimmed, then breakfast for the Mr. and I.

Then my daily commute commences – and often that means leaving the house in my pajamas. Today it was Santa pants and Snow boots, even though this is the mildest winter we’ve had in a long time with no snow to be seen for miles and miles.

My first stop is the chicken coop across the yard… where the girls are let out into their newly raked run, the water is changed, their feed tub filled. Treats like sunflower seeds, parsley and yogurt are dispersed and if it’s their lucky day, if the sun is out and the predators (hawks, coyotes, fox) not evident at the moment, they’re let out for a little while to free range while I’m up at the barn. Today was that kind of day.

While they’re scratching around in the mulch at the side of the garage just to piss the Mr. off, I head up to the barn to begin chores there – I’m greeted every morning by the nicker of all four horses. With all of them in the geriatric stretch of life, I’m grateful for all four of those nickers.

First they are given their grain – the big boys eat in their stalls, the littles are walked out to their day paddock and are given their grain and hay out there, unless it’s a bad weather day. In that case they’re fed in their stall. Every day the weather determines how the routine will play out.

Meds are administered to my two boys – Coady (red mini) has Cushings Disease and gets a pill for that, and Max gets eye drops to help ease the glaucoma that has developed in his left eye.

Once the big boys, Max 1 and Max 2 are finished eating their grain, they’re let out for the day into the fields. The littles would become obese if they had access to all that grass, so they have to settle for less.

Stalls are mucked next, and my trusty old gator is my best friend for that chore. After mucking stalls, refreshing bedding, cleaning water buckets and filling with fresh water, blowing out the tack room and rubber brick aisle with a leaf blower – I drive the gator to the back of the farm and dump it in the manure pile that slowly turns to fertilizer.

Once the animals are set for the day, in warmer weather months I head to the gardens to see what’s ready to pick, what needs tending, watering, etc. This year we’ve planted more blueberry and raspberry bushes in the apple/pear/peach orchard and we plan to apply some tips we learned from another farmer in Vermont – netting and “Protecting the Bloom”. More on that another day.

This photo is taken from one of the hayfields.. facing the houses and the road beyond them. The horse barn and chicken coop and orchard are on the left, our home almost at middle, and my daughter’s new home on the right. Tending this little farm has become a family affair, I don’t ever lose sight of that blessing.

Once outside chores are done, I head in to shower and do some house cleaning , perhaps some editing work in my little office. Speaking of that office… most of This Old House is decorated sort of in keeping with the feeling of country, old, comfy, rustic. This room has a totally different vibe. I chose blue as the accent for two reasons. My grandmother loved blue and all her decorating centered around it. I miss her still, all these years after she’s passed, and the hues remind me of her. Also, the kids and husband bought me that blue moon you see on the wall some years back while on vacation on Martha’s Vineyard. I saw it in the window of one of my favorite little shops. The colors and oldness attracted me to it, and the fact that we rarely go on vacation made it fitting, it must have been a Blue Moon that gots us all away together for a bit. The kids and husband bought it for me on the last day of our stay, it’s a reminder of love and family and the importance of taking time away from it all to just enjoy life. So I plotted the room vibe around Nana’s blues, the Blue Moon and the bohemian in me ( Love Those Shabby Chic Curtains!) My arts and crafts supplies are in the cabinet and dog beds are plentiful.

office?.. you say….

oh yes, the computer clutter is in the other corner. If you spot the little stuffed animals and are eye rolling just a little, you haven’t seen the four dragons hidden behind the printer. If I’m lucky enough to have grandchildren some day, they will have plenty of Grandmother’s toys to play with.

I’ve had jobs where I had to report to an office, where the work was more “cerebral”, where I got to wear grown-up clothes like heels and skirts and a smart suit, etc… where the pace of the day was at times chaotic, demanding, relentless, invigorating, exhausting, boring, and a few more words I’m not coming up with right now. I enjoyed most of my colleagues, and sometimes I miss the daily camaraderie, but most often I truly enjoy this slower pace of life.

My schedule is my own to create, the pay not in dollars (except for the editing.. thankful I’m paid for that) but in the very real satisfaction I get from tending to the critters in my care, (even the shit shoveling) the home my family lives, laughs and loves in, these fields we work that produce food for the table, hay for the horses – maybe even christmas trees for our holidays someday down the road if our new crop ever takes hold. I help with the family business when they need me… and thankfully, it’s enough.

I’m grateful for every day I get to do this, and to know I can do it all in Santa Pants is icing on the cake.

Breaking things Up A Bit

I have several things to share with you today, but this…. this…. well, sometimes you just gotta laugh out loud, the bust a gut type of laughter, to get past a certain thing. Which is what I did yesterday morning when I tried on a few of my bathing suits and asked my husband’s opinion regarding which one he thought looked OK. We’re going on a family beach vacation in the not too distant future, I’m a water bug and I’m trying to plan. After the third try-on he says… “THAT ONE… that one is good, it breaks things up a bit. ”

Right there is when the peals of laughter coming out of my own mouth went rolling down the hall, bounced off the walls and fell flat on the mudroom floor.

(Fucker)

So… anyone looking for me this morning will have found me in the gym… Breaking things Up A Bit…

The day did get better – we went treasure hunting at Brooklyn Restoration in Brooklyn, CT, where 90-something year old Rudy still presides over an acre of outbuildings packed with old house stuff. I’ve blogged about this place before, when we restored Gracie (this old house) we visited often for old hardware and other odd stuff our restoration guru Jeff and my husband needed to bring her back to life.

My son was looking for a mantel for his fireplace and a door for his kitchen pantry – he and his GF did find a door, no such luck with the mantel.

Oooh, the old treasures in these sheds.

That’s Rudy – just before he took advantage of our ignorance/Kind nature/stupidity and did not give us one iota of a deal, but that’s OK, I’m still very happy with my finds.

These items below are my new treasures – old hand forged kitchen gadgets that now hang over the kitchen sink on either side of our farm sign… a ladle, a strainer, and what we are assuming was a grater of some sort.

Our good friends Jeff and Raven met us there to help sort out what we’d need for my son’s house, and we should have let Raven negotiate with Rudy. He has a fondness for her, they are long time acquaintances due to Jeff’s line of work (restoration), he knows they know what he knows, and he is more kindly to her in the price department. Live and learn.

After the treasure hunt we went to a local restaurant, The Court House, which I believe used to be the actual Court House in the town of Putnam, where we enjoyed nachos and burgers in abundance.

I hope all is well in your neck o’the woods –

Karen

Love

It took a lot of years of beating myself up over whatever my physical and emotional shortcomings have been, perceived and real, to come to a place of acceptance and even love for myself. Why is it often the case that it is easier to be kinder to others than to ourselves? Life is so much more comfortable when we fully accept who and what we are made of, fully appreciate and nourish and celebrate! the good, embrace it whole heartedly. This I have discovered to be profoundly true. When we are capable of that, even the people we love, those who round out our lives and make them whole, benefit.

Love and Kindness are never wasted, they always make a difference, even when it’s not obvious – they bless the person who receives them, and they bless you, the giver. Happy Valentine’s Day, All – Wishing you much love in any of the many forms it can be found 💗

If Cake could fix it…

… this would be the one, I’m tellin ya – yes it’s from scratch, and there’s more work involved than throwing the mix in the bowl with a few eggs and water and mixing it up, bake, open the tub of fake frosting and pile it on. But…. the extra elbow grease for this one is soooo worth the effort. Delish! and so fresh tasting. This is not my recipe or photo, found it on the web somewhere…. I made it less complicated with just two layers, no one complained and it was almost inhaled, it was that good.

STRAWBERRY MOSCATO CAKE with CREAM CHEESE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients:

- 4 large eggs,
- 1 1/2 C strawberry puree
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 tsp strawberry extract
- 1/2 cup Moscato (that’s a sweet white wine in case, like me, you are clueless)
- 2 to 3 drops Pink gel food coloring
- 3 C cake flour
- 1 3/4 C sugar
- 1 tbsp plus 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 C canola oil
- 1/2 C unsalted sweet cream butter
- 10 large strawberries sliced thinly to go in-between the cake layers
- 1/2 cup moscato reserved- saved for after its baked ( I didn’t do this, forgot! )

Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting ingredients

3 – 8 oz box, cream cheese, softened
3/4 C unsalted sweet cream butter, softened
6 C powdered sugar
4 tsp vanilla extract
5-7 TBSP heavy whipping cream

Instructions

Strawberry Moscato Cake directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray the cake pans with pam baking spray, set aside
2. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, strawberry puree, moscato, vanilla, strawberry extract, pink food coloring, whisk until combined
3. Using a standing mixer, whisk together the cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt until combined
4. Slowly beat in the butter and canola oil until combined
5. Once the mixture looks like coarse sand, gradually beat in the egg mixture until combined. The batter will be very thick and fluffy but so good!
6. Evenly divide the cake batter in the prepared pans
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pans 10 min. then turn out.
8. drizzle the remaining 1/2 cup of moscato over each cake evenly (more if desired or forget this step altogether like I did)

Frosting Directions:

1. Using a standing mixer, cream together the cream cheese, butter, vanilla, powdered sugar and heavy whipping cream until combined and creamy and stiff with peaks

Directions to prepare the cake:

Once cake rounds have cooled, remove from cake pans and place onto a cutting board
Using the cake leveler, remove the domes of the cakes
Place one cake round onto the cake board
Scoop 1 C of the frosting onto the middle of the cake
Using the angled spatula, smooth the frosting out
Layer some thinly sliced strawberries onto the frosting
Place the second cake layer onto the first layer
Repeat steps with the frosting and remaining cake layer
Scoop 1 C of frosting into the piping bag and set aside
Once you have built your cake, scoop the remaining frosting onto the top of the cake and use the angled spatula to smooth it out
Frost the entire cake until smooth
Using the piping bag, pipe dollops of frosting around the edge of the top of the cake
Place sliced strawberries onto the dollops
Enjoy!

I’m trying to untangle myself from the anger and disbelief and yes, grief I feel every time I pass by the big screen in the mancave and see the news blaring at my significant other. I’m also trying to avoid glancing, however briefly, at the headlines on CNN and the like when on my computer .. BUT.. what I won’t do is bury my head in the sand all together. So I am still proactive in doing whatever my tiny little self can do, me, this drop in the proverbial ocean – I’m donating where I can, I’m volunteering where I can, I’m looking for the good anywhere and everywhere, and I’m trying to ignore the fact that some of my friends and family are supporting something I feel is absolutely intolerably unsupportable in any decent frame of mind, because I don’t want to hate people I used to care about, I don’t want to be disappointed continuously, it’s no way to live.

Have you ever heard of The Dowager Duchess of Devonshire? No?… me either.. until I saw this picture – and wanted to know more.

I ordered her memoir on Amazon, titled Wait For Me! It looks like just the tonic needed for my weary brain. That’s her up there …. this is me…

Uncanny resemblance, AmIright? … lol..

Sharing one more thing with you before I head up to the barn for dinner feeding and eye med administration to our old boy, Max. Are you a tea drinker? I’m not so much, however I love this tea – Harney & Sons Dragon Pearl Jasmine… the best way I can describe the unusual taste…it’s like a walk through the local nursery greenhouses when everything is in full bloom even though just outside the glass doors exists that thick New England winter-grey curtain, yet to be lifted by the greening tendrils of Spring.

Till soon –

This neck o’the woods

I could write all day about the current list of atrocities and tragedies in the news, but let’s heed the advice we’ve been giving each other here on this blog and focus on the good things in our lives, shall we? I want to thank each of you who stop by to read my musings and join the conversations, it’s encouraging to hear from like minded people, truly. #MakeAmericaKindAgain #MakeAmericaSaneAgain either would do.

It’s maple sugaring season here in the Northeast, but you wouldn’t know it by the current weather trends. We’ve had very little snow so far, the trees are tapped on our farm with a little flow, but the temps have not been cold enough overnight to get the sap flowing when the heat rises during the day. We don’t have a sugar shack here on our farm, so we take ours to the community farm Sugar Shack in our town, where volunteers process it, bottle it and sell it to continue to support the farm. You might wonder why pure maple syrup is so expensive compared to the fake stuff like Aunt J*mima, and the answer is there is so much work that goes into it, and so much tree sap is needed – 40 gallons of clear tree sap boils down to one gallon of actual syrup.

Have you tried Maple Water? I have found it in a few of the grocery stores in this area, but not all. I absolutely love it – light, refreshing, with just a hint of maple – it’s the pure maple water(sap) that comes out of the tree, is flash pastuerized and sold in stores. YUM! And it’s hydrating, it’s actually good for you! I’m not getting any compensation for saying it – treat yourself to a bottle if you find it in your local stores. Canadian runners have been using it to refuel for some time.

In my better health/better weight quest I have lost a few pounds and have gained some muscle, I’m not perfect with the food intake but I’ve made some headway. My clothes are starting to feel better on me and that is a good beginning. I continue to walk/hike/jog with the dogs, light weight training and all of this helps greatly with the Fibromyalgia I’ve been dealing with for the past five-six years give or take. If you suffer from the same, in my experience, keep moving – that’s the best line of defense. And.. eat much less sugar and dairy, much less processed foods.

L-R – My Sally and Frasier, K’s Gizmo on the right. Now that we live nextdoor to each other, we often take the dogs on walks together. It motivates us both to get out there and keep moving.

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

– Henry David Thoreau

Our dear old retired showhorse, Max, is now dealing with Glaucoma in one eye, thankfully not the painful variety. He’s on four different meds to try to stave it off for a while and seems to be learning to live without vision on the left. I’m glad we can give him the peace to deal with the handicap and he will not be shipped off to a kill pen like so many others, no longer useful. Another reason to be so very grateful for what this old farm affords us.

Our son has begun the construct of his home just over the hill, the foundation is poured… and I am over the moon to have both kids so close by. Over the years we will all benefit from this little patch of farmland not far from everything else, just the right mix of country and suburb. He and his GF have worked hard to begin and build their careers and are very excited about the plans they’re making for their future together, it does my heart good. 🧡

That’s my mom in the red hoodie up there, the one who leaves awesome comments now and then and hates her picture to be taken but I do it anyway because – I GOTTA BE ME- .. and I love my mom.

One more update – I’m not happy about global warming so a mild winter is concerning, BUT… I do believe, because it’s been so mild… this batch of christmas trees might just actually survive. Third time’s the charm? Stay tuned…

I’ll close this post with something to ponder. Why is it that men or the kids think they’re doing us a HUGE service when they lift a finger in the direction of cleaning up after themselves such as… oh, say… changing the toilet paper roll or washing the dinner dishes or flipping the load of laundry into the dryer or taking the trash out or putting the sneakers back in the closet instead of under the bench in the mudroom. Aren’t they also the ones making the mess? AmIright? Just sayin –

Karen

WTF

First the denials, then when caught red handed, the denial is twisted into a “so what”. How many arrests of people in his inner circle? How many times does he have to outright lie right to all of our faces, not fake news , bend our laws to suit his needs, hide his information from we the people? – BELIEVE HIM.

For those who think it’s OK for a draft dodging pussy grabbing tax evading lying cheating adultering porn star fucking reality TV President to abuse his power, to ask outside FOREIGN HOSTILE entities for help in his re- election, to withhold aid to foreign entities in exchange for help in his re election, to lie almost daily and sometimes multiple times in a day, to hide his finances from us, to mock and slander generals and intelligence community and women and children and gold star families and military who “had a headache” whose immediate family gains FAR more nepotistic benefit in the White House and financial gain opportunities than Hunter Biden or Chelsea Clinton or any other you want to smear or bring up ever could, conflicts of business interest in every fucking major country, is continuing to trash animal welfare and environmental welfare… he is truly one disgusting human being on every fucking level.

This is not about guns or rights or the economy or jobs or immigration – there are many problems that need solving and I happen to agree with talking points and solutions all across the political spectrum.

This is no longer a “Oh, this is just politics, they all lie, they all cheat” thing – This man is the devil. FOR GOD’S SAKE Believe him when he shows you who he is. I am so sad for this country, I am sad for what the GOP has turned into, not the Republican Party of my younger days and more importantly I truly thought we were a better nation, a more decent people. I’m seeing people I know mock teenagers, mock women for their looks, mock victims of sexual assault, mock women for standing up for women’s rights, (are you kidding me? How quickly we forget, or how ignorant we truly are, which is it?) Jew hate , gay hate, Immigrant hate, black hate, white hate, brown and yellow hate – racism is alive and well and stoked by the fires of the ignorant would-be King who spews garbage all over his social media regularly as do the hate groups that embrace him. The irony of the religious who support him!

Today’s outcome via the spineless bought and paid for GOP proves there are no checks and balances, we are a sea of fools adrift without a moral sail or rudder and we will be the cause of our own decline. We already are. Truth no longer matters, decency no longer matters, Greed will be our end. For those of you who will mock this post, Fuck you. You’ll never meet a kinder soul, and I’d give you the shirt off my back regardless of our differences if you needed it, that’s exactly why this is so horrifying to someone like me, to see the complete moral destruction of the fabric of this nation.

– Not a fucking snowflake, Not a Dem, not a Liberal, not a Republican – just an ordinary decent resident of these United States, Heartbroken for us all 💔