Rejoicing in Spring..

A Bee Buzzes Contentedly On A Mustard Plant...

This weekend finds us in Portland. We are here for Caelin to race - his first of the season...He is VERY happy to be "back in the saddle" as it were.. And I am happy to be down here in Portland, it has one of the best, race tracks I've ever been to. Built within a park and kept very nicely by the city..

Here I find lots of wonderful birds, otters, beavers, bugs and beautiful flowering trees.

I feel the joy of spring everywhere, and found this beautiful poem celebrating spring, by Robert Frost. I have loved his poetry since I was introduced to his poem "After Apple Picking," by my English Literature teacher in High School..

Tomorrow, I will continue to celebrate spring and head to the Portland Farmers Market to thrill in the feast for the eyes..., fruit, vegetables, exotic plants, baked goods, so many gifted growers, farmers and craftspeople, all in one place... I SO love a good farmers market, don't you?

I hope you enjoy this poem.

A prayer In Spring - By Robert Frost

OH, give us pleasure in the flowers today;

And give us not to think so far away

As the uncertain harvest; keep us here

All simply in the springing of the year.

Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,

Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;

and make us happy in the happy bees,

The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.

and make us happy in the darting bird

That suddenly above the bees is heard,

the meteor that thrusts in with the needle bill,

and off a blossom in mid air stands still.

for this is love and nothing else is love,

To which it is reserved for God above

To sanctify to what far ends he will,

But which it only needs that we fulfill.

Creating Eye Appeal...

Fresh flowers in the dining room..

This whole week, I have devoted my energy to transforming our home into a show house...

Its been quite a learning experience, and its not over yet.

Our real estate agent sent us Mary Poppins (that's not her real name!) a few days ago, she specializes in "staging homes" for selling, and folks, she really knows her stuff... She handed me a sheet of paper and told me to take notes. We cruised from room to room and she dictated whilst I wrote all the little secrets that make a home beautiful and desirable... I learned quickly about what to remove, and what to keep, how to present, and organize ... for example today, in order to make our walk in closet more attractive to a would-be-buyer, I arranged all of my hanging clothes in order of color, I was surprised at what a difference it made to the whole space.. Small things can make a huge overall difference..

We are selling our home and hoping to move into a bigger house, but we'll see what happens. I am definitely from the camp of one step at a time. I find that the more "things" I have to worry about the more I stress..., and the more I stress, the more unhappy I make myself. Some people are worried that we might sell right away, and where would we go? Again, I cannot worry about something that hasn't happened..

Instead I am simply focusing on the tasks in front of me. This week, I have gone through every room in the house and decreased the contents of each room by at least fifty percent... I've sorted and packed and organized..., and you know what? I am astonished by just how much "stuff" has been "stuffed" into our little house..., and I'm amazed by how much we still have left even after the sorting!

Packing up a families various accoutrements in order to move is proving to be quite eye opening. After removing so many "treasures," I'm finding that the spaciousness has created a sense of appeal that is very gentle to the eye and for some reason a lot less troubling! Having stuff means you have to take care of it, handle it, clean it, sometimes move it..., I didn't know it until now, but the weight of everything had become a burden.

Now I find myself loving every room in the house, whereas before I avoided nooks and crannies, (probably because they'd acquired a kind of negative energy) I now find myself pausing and just standing, feeling the flow of good energy circulating around me and through our home... (thank you Mary Poppins!)

Coyote comes to work...

Look who I spotted at lunch time today...Coyote (canis latrans.)

I watched him for a few moments before he noticed me. He was prancing almost, I

read that they walk on their toes, which allows them to detect their prey underground or

even under snow. He then came to a complete stop and arched his head and neck, and seemed to be staring at the ground, actually, I think he was listening, perhaps to a small rodent near to the surface.., he looked so intent and then postured himself like he was about to pounce, but then changed his mind when he saw us watching him, he turned quickly and trotted away, stopping occasionally to look over at us... I was very pleased to have had my camera on me.. (a practice I am trying to adopt more and more.)

I have a great deal of respect for Coyotes, and think them beautiful creatures, even though they are considered by most farmers to be a dangerous predator that needs to be exterminated. I admire their resiliency, and their adaptability to ever changing environments, and the fact that they play a major part in keeping down the rodent population, which I give major thumbs up to!

I found Barbara Kinsolver's book "A Prodigal Summer" very helpful in helping me to understand the crucial part that Coyote's play in balancing local ecosystems..., and what happens when top predators are eradicated, because of myths, fears and biases.

Normally they are nocturnal, feeding/scavenging for food at night.. but the fellow I photographed today was out and about at 1pm, in the middle of the day and in the middle of an industrial park, with cars an people coming in and out... what could he have been thinking?

Perhaps he has a litter of hungry pups to feed, and like a lot of other Dad's out there, he's just looking for a job so he can feed his family?

Patience...

A Newly Hatched Butterfly Dries Its Wings

Sorry for being absent without a word..

I've been sick with strep throat and did not have energy to open my laptop!

I apologize, as one of my good friends reminded me today, that its probably a good idea to write a line or two, even if its just to let us know that you "feel like your dying right now and can't write!" (even though that might be a tad melodramatic for me, point taken:)

For the past week I've had lots of time on my hands, time to sleep, rest and mull things over.

I've had a big list of chores to do, but could not get to them, I was very frustrated. I had major cabin fever, and wished for energy that I just didn't have.

This past

Sunday, I felt good enough to venture outside for the first time in days, I sat on the walkway in our garden and soaked up the lovely, gentle, healing warmth of the sun. This is where I spotted the little black and white butterfly, drying out its wings... I observed his patience ..., if he took off too soon before they were fully dried out, the delicate membranes might have torn and he'd never have been able to fly, on the other hand, he was vulnerable to birds and other predators whilst he patiently waited for his wings to be finished...

I find that when I take a moment or two to look and see this beautiful life around me, and give my energy to something as small as this young butterfly, I come back to myself. It only takes a few minutes or maybe hours, (in those moments, time loses its hold on me.)

After a while, the butterfly spread his wings and took off, and I felt the best I had in days.

Cupcakes for Isabel...

What is it about cupcakes? Isabel has an absolute passion for them, like nobody I else I know.

When she travels somewhere new, she likes to go on- line to find the cupcake shops in the area.

Whilst visiting my brother in Surrey, we stumbled on a very sweet cupcake shop called "Mirabelle's Cupcakery"... Isabel insisted we go there - twice in fact... The first time she went in alone, just to suss the place out, and bought one cake to see if they were any good.. the second time, I went in there with her, with the hopes of taking some fun photo's..., I like to ask people if their ok with me taking photo's, and in fact, I've never been told "no", however this day, I was told "no"... which was disappointing. The place was very charming, decorated in 1930's decor..., it would have photographed nicely.

So, no photo's, but Isabel talked me into buying cupcakes for all the family (for breakfast!)... I quite enjoyed myself actually, each of the different cupcakes had been named after a famous Hollywood actor or character... Dolly Parton, Forest Gump, Johnny Cash, Scarlet O'hara, Doris Day etc... So, we bought one of each.

I was thinking I would enjoy just watching folks demolish these delightful little creations with just a little bit of envy, when I found myself asking,,, "I don't suppose you make Gluten Free cupcakes do you?" And to my great delight, she said yes, and pointed to a lovely vanilla one with cream cheese frosting, and raspberry on top!... Wow, my lucky day...

So armed with a box of cupcakes and several pounds (British Sterling Pounds) lighter, we headed to my brothers house, where I photographed them, then Isabel cut them up so that everyone to try a few. The kettle was put on, and everyone came into the dining room for cupcakes and tea... (a very un- English breakfast!)

What's the strangest thing you've ever had for breakfast?

Winchester Cathedral et al..

Photo's of Winchester (the streets were a little Harry Potterish in places)

So, we popped over the English channel (or should I say "under"), by way of the Eurostar train.

I don't know what I was expecting, but I think part of me was dreading going under the channel, but, with Isabel and Caelin to keep me distracted, we saw light at the end of the Chunnel in no time, and quite suddenly we were no longer in France, and we were in England.. It was such a comfortable experience.. I would happily do it again.

From my brother's house in Surrey we drove roughly 45 minutes to the delightful town of Winchester...,,, does anyone remember the 60's classic "Winchester Cathedral" sung by the New Vaudeville Band??? I remember it clearly, I was 5 years old when it came out, it made #1 in the pop charts here in America... It seems like just last year!

It was lovely to walk around this very old English town with its Tudor buildings and cobbled streets. The famous cathedral looked brilliant in the afternoon sun, sadly we didn't have time to go inside, as we had other journeys to make. However, I did find a few minutes to pop into the store I've heard so much about from other bloggers... "Cath Kidston." She's an English designer, who's become as well known as Laura Ashley it seems... With a speciality of vintage, Kitchy, 50's style, household, clothing, haberdashery (don't you just love that word?) She also designs fabrics, wallpaper and jewelry.... I must confess, when I walked into the store the first time, I had was so overwhelmed by the cheery-ness of the whole place, I had to leave.. it was an overload to the senses... But, I thought I'd give it another chance as we were walking back to the car park... Instead of being overwhelmed by everything, I focused my eyes on just the kitchen stuff, and found some lovely tea mugs with bright and cheery patterns... The shop keeper wrapped them so thoughtfully and well in bubble wrap (so well they made it back to the US without any breakages.) I brought back a catalog from the store, and my daughter Isabel sat at the kitchen table tonight circling all of the Cath Kidston stuff she'd like us to order!

It was so lovely to spend time with my 2 brother and their families...

Nobody makes my laugh like my 2 youngest brothers..

I think I'll have to go visit them again soon, I miss the laughter... and the love.

Food In Paris..

A Selection of typical faire available on the streets of Paris... sighhhhhh....

Before we left for France and England, Selena a blogging friend of mine, AKA http://apronthriftgirl.typepad.com/ had said to let her know how things went for me being a gluten free eater in Paris.. She too is gluten intolerant and over the past couple of years, we have shared recipes, and tips on where to eat when traveling (mostly within the states,) and generally commiserated with each other about living life without "real" bread...

I can't remember which of my girls asked me a couple of years ago, what my favorite thing to eat in the whole world was? I answered without a pause,,, Bread...

I LOVE bread, crusty, artisan, nutty, seeded, pecan raisin filled, sourdough, baguette, levain... you name it... and I have LOVED it to bits..., but alas..., it did not love me, or should I say the protein (gluten) in the wheat used to make bread, did not love me, and in fact had made me quite sick for many years without me knowing it. Which is why I no longer eat any foods with wheat, barley, rye or oats...

So here I found myself in what must be the "BREAD EATING CAPITAL OF THE WORLD".... I have just one question... Does everyone walk around this city with a baguette in their purse, backpack, or back pocket, ready to pull out and chomp at a moments notice...? It seemed that every time I walked outside in Paris, there was someone, walking along pulling a fresh baguette out of its paper sleeve and taking bite after bite of tasty, crusty, crunchy delight! Even our taxi driver had a half eaten baguette in the front passenger seat of his vehicle!

So truthfully, this was a not so easy part of the trip, and if I could do it over, I would rent an apartment, where I could make food, I would go shopping in the open air markets, and learn to forage for GF foods like I do at home...

In fact, when I return to Paris, I shall rent an apartment, and do research to find where the Gluten Free bread is to be had, because as I have figured out,,, The French do food like nobody else..., and somewhere I just know, there is a GF bakery hidden away in some corner of Paris, selling, the BEST GF breads, croissants, and all manner of tasty treats done exquisitely well, because exquisite food is what Paris is all about, and why would their Gluten Free food be any different?