Boreal Witch

Yule is one of my favorite holidays. Actually, we have so many traditions that all of December seems like one big holiday.

Since we are living in an apartment again, we had to do things differently this year.

We don't have a fireplace, so our Yule celebration didn't include a bonfire this year.  We had some  sparklers that I picked up from a garage sale this summer and lit those instead. The boys had a blast. We also had a delicious dinner with the most amazing salad I've ever eaten (recipe here) and a caramel/butterscotch fondue for dessert. Sadly, Robinson was sick with strep throat and was unable to enjoy the food as much as he would have if he was well.

Our lease says that we cannot have a real Christmas tree, so we bought a large wreath to hang all of our ornaments and lights on. It was a bit crowded, but the boys enjoyed the novelty.

Their ornaments turned out great, too. Arthur chose to commemorate his holiday program; Balin, his time on the farm, Robinson, his journey down the Al-Can; and I chose to celebrate my new-found love of biking. 


We did, however, continue a few of our favorite traditions. Our gingerbread "house" this year was actually an AT-AT. There's a Lego Luke Skywalker on top (that was Arthur's idea). We had a tough time with it. Its first and second heads were too heavy and broke off, so we decided that this would be one of the AT-ATs that had fallen in the battle on Hoth. It took forever to finish this thing (mostly because of the combination of winter break and Robinson's illness), but the boys had a blast decorating it. Next year we're going to shoot for an X-Wing!

My friend Andrea made a special trip to visit us. She went to UPS with me and lived just down the hall freshman year. She's in Minnesota now. We haven't seen each other in (I kid you not) about twelve years, so it was wonderful to catch up. We also caught each other up on some of the things other UPS friends have been doing and worked on some wedding presents for our friend Rin, who got married February. There are plans in the works to visit her this summer...the boys were utterly fascinated and smitten by her. Isn't it funny how you can get together with old friends and everything's just like old times?

Our families are very generous and the boys received all kinds of gifts: toys, books, clothes. They spent most of the morning putting their new Lego kits together, with Arthur helping Balin.

I'm not sure where Balin's interest in fire fighters came from (he was a fireman for Halloween - maybe that's part of it?), but he got a lot of fire fighting gifts, including two pairs of pajamas and the Lego firetruck. (I didn't notice until now, but he's also sporting his fire truck t-shirt!)

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Blessed be.

My boys love dogs.

They love, love, love dogs.

Especially Arthur. Whenever there's a dog out walking with its owner, Arthur almost always asks if he can pet it. He loves his Uncle Johnny's dogs. He often speaks of wanting a dog.

I, however, know that getting a dog now would be like welcoming the flu or some other contagious disease with open arms: a disaster. See, the boys would be excited about said dog for a day or two and then I would be the one walking it, feeding it, cleaning up after it...oh, no, no, no, no, NO.

I like dogs as much as the next person, but if the boys ever got one, they would be the ones taking care of it. End. Of. Story.

Robinson's brother, John-Charles, and his partner, Hugo, live in Ohio. I've mentioned to several people that this is fairly close to us and they look at me like I'm nuts. I guess I've lived in Alaska way too long when I consider a seven-hour drive "close."

Anyway, we invited them to Thanksgiving. They accepted.

And they brought their dog, Patches.

Now, by my tone you probably think I'm some kind of dog-hater. I'm really not, although there are some dogs that are a little too much for me. I like low-key, non-hyper dogs. Growing up, my family only owned one dog and that was a long-haired Dachshund named Schatzi. She was an older dog, so she was pretty mellow, but she was a little dog which meant that whenever anyone came over, she'd bark at the door for about 15 minutes, and even after our guest entered. 

Patches is about 15 years old, which is quite ancient in dog years, but this dog has the sweetest disposition I have ever had the pleasure of being acquainted with. The boys loved her. They loved watching her chase squirrels. They loved watching her eat. They loved sneaking her food (yes, they did...so sorry, John-Charles and Hugo!). They loved petting her. And they loved all the doggie kisses she gave them. They want to see her again. And soon.

While we're hoping for a trip next summer, we'll still be waiting on a dog for our family.

Someday, boys, I promise.

Blessed be.

Who out there doesn't like Thanksgiving leftovers?

Me, for one.

I know, it's positively un-American.

You should know by now, my dear readers, that I'm not a big fan of leftovers in general. Thanksgiving leftovers generally become new meals: stuffing is put into meatloaf, deviled eggs become egg salad, and turkey is usually added to soup.

Robinson was very, very sad to see the turkey meat go into this delightfully delicious filling, but I wasn't. These sandwiches are heavenly. And, if you eat this filling between a leftover roll, you'll be killing two birds with one stone!

One the Menu: BBQ Turkey Sandwiches
5-6 cups cooked, shredded turkey
1 onion, finely chopped*
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1/2 pepper (your choice of color), finely chopped
1 tbs olive oil (or oil of your choice)
2-3 cups of BBQ sauce (any kind), about 1 standard sized bottle
Leftover rolls or buns

Saute vegetables until soft, about five minutes. Add turkey and BBQ sauce. Heat through, then serve on rolls.

* I'm not sure how your family does Thanksgiving, but mine always had a vegetable plate. Always. For this meal, I just chopped up leftover veggies and threw them in this dish. If you don't have these particular vegetables, try something else or omit them all together.

Blessed be.

I've been meaning to write. I have, really. One of my boys is now in school and the other still naps in the afternoon, which (one would think) would give me lots of time to blog and catch up on other things.

October has flown by. The month was full of candy and parties and costumes. Arthur was Luke Skywalker and Balin chose to be a fireman. Would you believe that I had to make his jacket because I couldn't find one anywhere? Costumes for both boys cost a whopping $20. I was a bit overwhelmed with everything going on this year, so I didn't make a new costume. Maybe next year. 

Provided that I come up with a really good idea.

And if, of course, I'm feeling ambitious.

We bought our pumpkin from the Farmer's Market this year - the typical orange variety. I tried to spice things up by convincing them we should get a warty one. That was a resounding "NO!" They did, however, like the smooth white ones, so maybe next year we'll be able to convince them that we should get one of those.

Their idea of cool changes on a whim, so they might like the warty ones next year.

Arthur loved pulling the pumpkin guts out. Balin was a little less interested, but he liked the end result. Arthur designed the face after one of the Halloween luminaries we saw at Shopko.

There were also the customary cut cookies. As you can see, dear readers, both boys have frosting on their lips. After they plastered their cookies with frosting, they decided to devour the remainder.

Really, there's no other way to do it.

We ended up going to Carter and Anders's house for dinner the night of Halloween. We were hopeful that the weather on the boys' first actual night of trick-or-treating would be nice, but it poured. The boys played with their friends while Robinson and I hung out with their parents. All in all a nice evening, though not the one we had planned. 

Hope your Halloween was a blessed one. I thought about my grandmother and Karen all day.

Blessed be.

It's still kind of surreal being in Wisconsin. I mean, I've been hearing stories about snow in Fairbanks, but here it's been so muggy lately. Today it must be nearly 75 degrees with the humidity. I'm certain I'll melt away before September ends.

On the bright side, we've been processing a lot more. In Alaska, we'd harvest rhubarb and blueberries and, on the rare occasion, something from our garden. Here, we've already made strawberry jam and syrup, pear butter, apple butter, tomato sauce, sun-dried tomatoes, zucchini chips, frozen shredded zucchini, and so many pickles. A month ago, I had nightmares about pickles.

To celebrate, here are a few pear recipes that I hope you enjoy. The first one I made up, but the second is from the Blue Book of Canning. This is the Bible of food preservation.

Crock Pot Spiced Pearsauce  
just like applesauce, but made with pears

1 tbs ground cinnamon
1 tbs ground ginger
1 cup water
lots and lots of pears (approx 10 lbs)

Place water and spices at the bottom of the crock pot. Peel and core pears. Add pears until the crock pot is almost full. Cover and cook on low for about 9 hours.

When the pears are ready, you can mash them yourself with a potato masher or food mill or, if you'd rather the pearsauce a little less chunky, you can put it through the blender.

Makes about 9 cups.


Pear Butter
makes about 8 pints

6-7 lbs pears (about 20 medium)
1/2 cup water
4 cups sugar
1/3 cup orange juice
1 tsp orange zest
1/2 tsp nutmeg

If you are planning on canning the pear butter, wash and sterilize all jars.

Peel, core, and chop pears. In a large saucepan, combine pears and water. Cook until pears are softened, about 20 minutes.

Mash or blend pears, then combine with remaining ingredients. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture is thickened. Process, freeze, or refrigerate.

Blessed be.

Arthur starts school next Tuesday. School supplies have been bought and left in his locker. His first week menu has been planned. His bus ride has been scheduled. It's all become so real. I've been excited for this day for five years and I find myself - surprisingly - a bit sad.