Thanksgiving to Advent, Go and Bound

Quote of the Day:  Advent: the coming or arrival of something extremely important. I decided to join the Advent Photo A Day Project. I like the photo challenge, and the word challenge. 

Dec. 1 is Go. I felt I already had "GO" down. It's part of my signature, after all. Go. Create. Inspire! And, GO, I did this past weekend with a show at the Guthrie on Friday night (see my review of Born Yesterday), and a trip back to the metro on Saturday for the Brainerd Warriors football championship game. They lost to Owatonna, a great team. And, I feel like I'm ready to GO, jump on the bus of life, and experience many things.

Photo for Dec. 1, GO!

We went to "Born Yesterday."

December second's word is "Bound." Hmm. It's a strange word. When you look at the definitions, one says to leap or move forward. Another definition is to be tied up and restricted. You can be out of bounds in a sport, or life. You can also bound up the stairs. You can be bound by the norms of society, or bound into a new adventure. Weird. I'm bound and determined to write a new play. So, how do you take a picture of that? Joy and I have a great slogan for our Primo Art Spa, In a world of creative constipation, we're here to get things moving. You can be bound up by the cheese of life. Ha!  I'm bound to get things moving in my creative life. I'll start by playing the piano. My new play is called Grace Notes: Piano Bench Confessions. That's bound to cause some dialogue.

Advent Photo #2 Bound.

I hope the strings on my piano are bound tight!

I'm bound to get the creative energy flowing when I sit down to play, or teach.

I also joined Mark Koopmans' bloghop for December 24, 50 States of Pray. 

I also want to mention that I'm thankful for Thanksgiving and all the people who came to my house, and the ones who had other plans, and especially for the Biker Chef who cooked the most delicious meal.

It was a double Weber Thanksgiving, with pork shoulder on the right, and turkey on the left.

Biker Chef and the bird.

Mr. Happy, at the center of attention, as usual.

Full plates

Full house

Full tummies

Full of fun

Full of ideas for Christmas

Full of Love

Full of Gratitude

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  What are you thankful for?

Happiness is...

Quote of the Day:  lyrics from the musical You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, the Happiness Song:

Happiness is finding a pencil

Pizza with sausage

telling the time

Happiness is learning to whistle

tying your shoe for the very first time

Happiness is playing the drum in your own school band

And Happiness is walking hand in hand

Happiness is two kinds of ice cream

Knowing a secret

Climbing a tree

Happiness is five different crayons

Catching a firefly

Setting him free

Happiness is being alone every now and then

And, happiness is coming home again

Happiness is morning and evening

Daytime and nighttime too

For happiness is anyone and anything at all

that's loved by you

How was your Thanksgiving weekend? Mine left me singing this song. Here are a few things that I'd add to that list:

Happiness is dinner with family

Bobby and Zachary,

Charlie and Eric, too.

Happiness is Leo on my lap

A long winter's nap

A hot cup of brew!

Happiness is a brand new drum

A song to hum

Sharing them with you!

Happiness is being at home

Being an artist

Living the dream!

I started this blog post at 6:00 a.m.

Then, I had an idea for the photo.

I had to wait for the sun to rise.

Tried a few shots indoors.

Didn't turn out.

I had three takes outside.

This one is the winner.

The slightly pinkish glow is from the the sunrise.

Happiness is waiting for the sunrise,

pausing to enjoy it,

and capturing a great photo.

If I had shopped at all this weekend, it would have been on Small Business Saturday. All I got that day was a cup of coffee at a locally owned shop. Mint mocha....mmm. Love the owners there! I bought the drum, a djembe, from the downtown music store last week.  I need it for music at my church. Love chatting about music with Don at Bridge of Harmony! Then, I slipped over to Downtown Art & Frame where I bought paint and drooled over the fancy fibrous and textured paper. I used some of the paper I already had for my nieces' Christmas journal. Our family is passing journals around this fall, writing in them, or making an art page as in my case, then, the last person to have the journal wraps it up and gives it to the owner at Christmas. It's the best gift ever!

How's your shopping going?

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  What's on your 'Happiness' list?

Reflections

Favorite Photos Friday

Quote of the Day:  Let's do a "Ferris Bueller" pose. Said by my boys as they stood at the window on the 9th floor of The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. We had a few minutes to look around, and found this view to be spectacular.

Shot with flash

Tried again and turned off the flash.

Even though Charlie looks a little distorted, I like this shot better.

More reflection and color.

I took these two while standing out on the deck of the 4th floor with the boys. I think we're looking at the "Endless Bridge."

We didn't quite understand the "endless" part, but it was dark and a little cold, so they didn't explore very far.

This shot is pretty, in a mystical kind of way.

I think the blues are beautiful.

Go. Create. Inspire!

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving (in the USA), and a great weekend with friends or family, wherever you are!

Journaling Prompt:  What's your favorite part of a big feast like Thanksgiving?

The Kitchen Table

Quote of the Day:
Perhaps the World Ends Here
by Joy Harjo


The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what, we must eat to live.


The gifts of earth are brought and prepared, set on the table. So it has been since creation, and it will go on.


We chase chickens or dogs away from it. Babies teethe at the corners. They scrape their knees under it.


It is here that children are given instructions on what it means to be human. We make men at it, we make women.


At this table we gossip, recall enemies and the ghosts of lovers.


Our dreams drink coffee with us as they put their arms around our children. They laugh with us at our poor falling-down selves and as we put ourselves back together once again at the table.


This table has been a house in the rain, an umbrella in the sun.


Wars have begun and ended at this table. It is a place to hide in the shadow of terror. A place to celebrate the terrible victory.


We have given birth on this table, and have prepared our parents for burial here.


At this table we sing with joy, with sorrow. We pray of suffering and remorse. We give thanks.


Perhaps the world will end at the kitchen table, while we are laughing and crying, eating of the last sweet bite.


"Perhaps the World Ends Here" from The Woman Who Fell From the Sky by Joy Harjo.

I found this poem at poetryfoundation.org.  I can't remember if I first read it on someone else's blog or on the Writer's Almanac.  Such great words to think about as we gathered for feasts, conversations, and games.

Grandma's Thanksgiving table, my boys, and lefse!

Many, many games of Scrabble - my mom's favorite game

My parents don't have a computer, thus no internet, and the farm is in one of those black hole voids where you can't get cell service.  We played board games, talked to each other, and watched several Christmas movies. 

My sister and I made lefse.

Try to roll it so thin that you can see the words through the dough.

The main ingredients in lefse are potatoes, flour, and butter or oil.  Sometimes, they turn out like this and you spread more butter on them, sprinkle sugar, and eat.

Sometimes they turn out like a face-melting mess.  This dough was not cooperating!

My mom said that to really get to know someone, you need to eat together.  Much more than butter and recipes are shared at a kitchen table.  We ruminate over the flavors of life.



Journaling Prompt:  What are your favorite family recipes?  Where did they come from?  Write about times you shared them.

The Turkey Day Comfort Zone . . . Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving, aside from being a hopefully-heart-warming family holiday, as well as a dietary cautionary tale, is also a fairly rigorous exercise in domestic decision making, wouldn't you agree? So much to contemplate in preparing for the whole shebang. Almost invariably, it requires a bushy flock of post-it notes sticking out of cookbooks, at least three trips to the market in close succession due to overlooked ingredients, and one protracted search for that huge roasting pan that you know you saw on a shelf in the basement last Easter. Well, anyway, you think you saw it down there. 

Despite the little stresses, we have enduring affection for this holiday all the same. It annually reminds us of how lucky we are, how gratitude uplifts us, and of how much we value everyone we love. It also reminds us of how much satisfaction and joy we get out of baking!

This year, as far as baking went, I opted for tradition. That decision allowed me to linger, one might say, in the wide and expansive Turkey Day comfort zone. Yesterday I bustled around in the kitchen for hours. The end result was a full-flavored pumpkin pie made with heavy cream and enhanced with a tiny bit of dark rum in the filling; a replay of the best apple-cranberry pie recipe I've ever used (and which can be found in loving detail in my blog, right here); and, three-dozen buttery dinner rolls, formed in three 9" cake pans--the kind of rolls that snuggle more closely together as they rise.

Though I don't have a new recipe to share with you today, I just wanted to tell you that I'm so grateful for the friends and acquaintances I've made through my interest in baking--both online and in person. I sincerely hope you have a festive and blessed Thanksgiving!

:)  Warmly,
Jane