Brody Goes to the Barn

It happened at last! Brody had his first visit to the barn to meet his cousin. He loved it! He poked his head into every stall to introduce himself to each of the horses. They were all quite pleased to meet him and he remembered all of his manners.

Unfortunately, Ribbon was less than pleased about meeting Brody. She wasn't even curious about him. She acted like he was a very annoying little brother. It was a little comical. She pointed her snooty little nose straight in the air and laid her ears back. And he tried so hard. He's heard so much about her and he was so eager to meet her, but all she wanted was be left alone to eat her dinner. Maybe she just needs some time to warm up to him. :)

"Hmm," my supervisor at the Willamette Historical Center pondered, tapping her fingers together. She looked at me with a suspicious smile. "I'll be right back." She disappeared into the back room and returned with a cardboard box full of old pictures. "Someone donated these pictures and we need to decide which ones are relevant for us to keep and which ones we should sent to another historical center in Oregon."

I settled into a chair and began sorting carefully through the century old photos. Most were portraits taken at studios in either Salem or Portland so the studio was labeled, but not the identity of the person. A few were picture postcards addressed to "Aunt Nora" from "Lucille." One picture simply had a first initial to identify the person in the post card. Why would you only write one letter to remember who the person is? Didn't they know that someone in the future would want to know their entire life story and all they would have is a picture?

There was also a copy of a poem cut out of a newspaper folded up inside a photo book.

Such is Life

Clyde Ralston

We walked o’er the farm where the wild clover grew;

He told me he loved me, I thought it was true.

Oh, girls, don’t believe men whatever you do,

Another face charms them and they forgotten you.

I sing of my love in this heartrending rhyme,

I know Fred’s a-courting a girl at this time;

She thinks she has got him, but won’t she be vexed

When he wearies of her and flies off to the next?

He tells you the sweetest things ever you heard.

You raise your eyes doubting, he says, “On my word.”

I scarcely know why I am writing this stuff,

It puts Harry Arlington all in a huff;

He says I don’t love him as much as I ought;

I don’t think I do, now I’m sure that he’s caught.

Bob’s coming this evening; he’s wealthy, and so

Just which one to marry I really don’t know.

You say this is flirting; perhaps so, and yet

The lesson Fred taught me I cannot forget.

Tho’ I may be guilty, ‘twas he did the harm;

He stole my heart from me last year on the farm.

I would have been true had he made me his wife,

While Bob, he is rich, and I – well such is life.

Among all the loose photos was a scrapbook. There were no pictures, but there were calling cards and card sized business posters. A few pages were filled with Bible verse cards that the little girl probably got in Sunday School. After some further research I discovered that the scrapbook belonged to a little girl born in 1881. She probably began the book in 1887/1888. There were calling cards from her sisters and cousin. I was able to find the rest of her family and who she married, I even found a baby picture of her daughter as well as one when the little girl was five years old among the collection of pictures. It's so fun! It's like a treasure hunt back in time. :)

In case you are wondering about the pictures from the last post, Heather and I moved into a house. We've been looking for a house for the last year and a half, but never found one that we liked. Then David and Heather got engaged and they started looking as well. They found a darling house that would not be available long. So, Heather and I moved. In June (when they get married) I'll move out, but it is quite lovely for now.

Brody helping pack.

Vegan Marionberry Scones

I am not vegan. I did, however, find myself without eggs, milk, or butter and wanting to make some scones at 11:30 the other night. I couldn't even go through the usual trading process with Heather of, "Are you going to eat that tonight? Can I eat it and buy you more tomorrow?" because Heather didn't have any eggs, milk, or butter either. So, she looked for eggless, milkless, and butterless recipe while I searched for substitutes that we might have in our refrigerator. Heather found this recipe on allrecipes.com. (It's actually Vegan Lemon Poppyseed Scones, but of course we didn't have any lemons or poppyseeds - so it became marionberry). The result was actually quite delicious. They weren't as dense as regular scones. The batch of eight scones didn't even last 24 hours.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup margarine - oil
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced - marionberry jelly - Just as much as you want
• 2 tablespoons poppy seeds - marionberry jelly
• 1/2 cup soy milk - I used vanilla coconut milk instead
• 1/2 cup water

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease a baking sheet.
2. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Cut in margarine until the mixture is the consistency of large grains of sand. I like to use my hands to rub the margarine into the flour. Stir in poppy seeds, lemon zest and lemon juice. Combine the soy milk and water, and gradually stir into the dry ingredients until the batter is moistened, but still thick like biscuit dough. You may not need all of the liquid.
3. Spoon 1/4 cup sized plops of batter onto the greased baking sheet so they are about 3 inches apart.
4. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes the preheated oven, until golden.

A Lovely Day

Today was a lovely day for a birthday. After a very wet night, the sun came out this morning and it wasn't too terribly cold. I got to talk to my mama first thing when I woke up. Then I listened to a message left on my phone by my sister singing an interesting rendition of "Happy Birthday."

Today was a day filled with the usual Tuesday activities (running - semi-regular, relaxing at home, volunteer at the historical society, feed the horses at the barn where Ribbon lives), and speckled with phone calls from family, texts from friends, another odd rendition of "Happy Birthday" from Katie, and lots of facebook birthday wishes.

When I came home Heather was making a three-course dinner that was DELICIOUS! We watched Psych, Once Upon A Time, and Pan-Am. It was delightful!

I love Christmas time and I am not ready for it to be over. So, I was so glad when I walked into the barn Tuesday night to feed and found it as festive as possible. Green garlands and red bows were strung along the aisle. Every stall door had a stocking hanging on it, stuffed with apples and carrots. It made me smile when I saw how Christmas-y it was, especially because I was really sad to leave all my family in California after Christmas.

Ribbon's Stocking.

Ribbon munching happily on her warm mush mixed with apples and carrots. You can't really see them but there are even ornaments hanging on the garlands.