Sven Loves Danger Girl

Abby chatting it up with the Roosevelts.

I am spending the weekend with Abby in Poughkeepsie NY. Our first afternoon included lunch at the Mill House Brewery and a visit to “The Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park –  the world’s longest elevated pedestrian bridge. It spans 1.28 miles over the Hudson River in upstate New York.”

Here is a view from the bridge looking south.

And a view looking north.

Letter to My Husband Far Away

The house is not empty without you.
It thrums and bumps, the walls relax and sigh.
The water heater dutifully comes on, rumbles
with heat, waiting for your shower to start.
How many times today have I heard
your truck in the driveway, the floor creak
with your step, felt your breath against
the back of my neck. At least that often,
I’ve turned to tell you something,
or hand you a piece of cheese or plum,
but it’s two more days until you return.
It’s just me in this room, with this plum,
with this good fortune, with this far-flung love.

by Gillian Wegener

Rugbrød is a Danish rye sourdough bread, dense and chewy. I made this delicious version at home using my starter.

It was very easy to make, just required many hours of rise time. I had a recipe – but of course I had to tweak it (to make it my own!).

• 2 cups rye flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup starter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• water

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl with enough water to bring the dough together in a big shaggy mass (I used about a cup and a half).  No kneading is required.

Cover the bowl tightly with cling wrap. Let the dough rise for 12 to 24 hours until it has doubled in bulk. The longer the rise the more sour the flavor.

Divide the dough evenly between 3 small loaf pans. With wet hands flatten the top of the dough. Cover and let rise for 2 to 3 hours.

Bake at 325 degrees for one hour. Allow the loaves to cool. This bread will last on the countertop for a week or two. The little loaves freeze nicely.

“Now, in general, Stick to the boat, is your true motto in whaling; but cases will sometimes happen when Leap from the boat, is still better.”

~ Moby Dick

My first knitting teacher said that when you buy yarn you are buying many hours of knitting pleasure. That exactly sums up my feelings.

I purchased this beautiful shawl as a kit from Ysolda Teague. So the yarn choices were made for me. The yarn was a pleasure to work with and the colors are very appealing.

And this shawl was designed by Nadia Crétin-Léchenne of NCL Knits. I used some yarn I had on hand. Fun and quick to knit!

Usually I when I make bread I use 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/2 white bread flour. But occasionally I splurge and just use the bread flour. It makes a gorgeous and delicious loaf. And yes, I happily slather with real butter!

I knitted these slippers while we were in Colorado. Today I ran them through a couple of wash cycles to accomplish the Magic of Felting!

The knitting was fast and fun. And I LOVE the way they turned out.

The felted fabric is dense and heavy. The slippers fit like a glove. I can’t wait for winter!

Slipper pattern courtesy of Arne & Carlos –

Insomnia

After counting all the sheep in the world
I enumerate the wildebeests, snails,
camels, skylarks, etc.,

then I add up all the zoos and aquariums,
country by country.

By early light I am asleep
in a nightmare about drowning in the Flood,
yelling across the rising water
at preoccupied Noah as his wondrous
ark sails by and begins to grow smaller.

Now a silhouette on the horizon,
the only boat on earth is disappearing.
As I rise and fall on the rocking waves,
I concentrate on the giraffe couple,
their necks craning over the roof,
to keep my life from flashing before me.

After all the animals wink out of sight
I float on my back, eyes closed.
I picture all the fish in creation
leaping a fence in a field of water,
one colorful species after another.

~ by Billy Collins

This is surely the most complicated fortune ever! We had to diagram the sentence to figure it out.