Well, I wish I could say that I paddled our canoe here this weekend, but such was not the case - my twin sister Bonnie sent me this photo awhile back saying that they'd hiked here.

While I can appreciate the climb that it must have taken to get to Birch Lake in the Flathead National Forest, Montana, it would have been a heck of a portage! Bonnie, shown here second from the right, says the portage to Birch Lake in the Jewel Basin would cover about three miles! The longest portage I ever remember doing was just under a mile - and my neck and shoulders took about two years to recover.

I have appreciated Bonnie's two photos, and thought I would share them here. She is quite the inspiration to me, hiking frequently in Glacier Park with her ladies group, and also leading some climbs for a local mountaineering group. I lived in the Flathead Valley for five years, when my children were little, and I never was able to be free to do the kind of hiking that she does. (However, I've made up for lost time now that my kids are grown, and almost gone.)

I say 'almost', because our youngest, Rahmat, is back home for a spell while he sorts out 'his plan'. It involves computers and math, textbooks, math problems, compass and protractor. I'm quite content that he is here, because he :
1. Keeps his room clean - for a guy. 2. Always asks what would be available to eat. This is important because some pantry items are off limits due to their necessity for an upcoming meal.
3. He is gentle and quiet, which means that we have a 'companionable silence' that is sweet. He is always imersed in a project that is interesting, even if it is something I can't really understand. I enjoy listening to his ideas and seeing his enthusiasm.
4. For awhile, I have the opportunity to feed him more wholesome meals than he'd get living alone. Guys just don't cook - or clean out the refrigerator often enough. I've been worried that he is too thin...but then my doctor recently told me that it is good for the heart and promotes longevity to be 'underweight'. So, not to worry.

However, I tend to celebrate a meal more if I see one of my children enjoying it! And, that is what I've done this weekend - just cook, while the rain ran in rivulets down the street. There is nothing more fragrant in a kitchen in the wintertime than home-made bread. These are the usual three loaves I make every week - whole wheat, with a smidgen of flaxmeal and wheat germ added.
I rolled out dough for bread sticks, adding a little Parmesan cheese and powdered sage. The sticks can be dipped into a salsa, or just enjoyed as a snack, like crackers, in front of the TV.
I really liked the Parmesan dough recipe, so I rolled it out and made these little 2 inch round yeast rolls to go with a potato -zucchini soup for dinner, pictured on the far right. I made a hearty tomato sauce/salsa for dipping and also for the base for a polenta lasagna I planned to make on Saturday.
This meal had asparagus wraps with the polenta lasagna, and cranberries inside baked squash. The asparagus is wrapped with thin ham slices, then dotted with mozzarella cheese and green onion. The polenta is just sliced, and layered with sauce, cheese, and topped with bread-crumbs.

I puttered on projects on the weekend, one of which was to caulk all the windows to help conserve heat. This is a fun project I've done for several winters now, and I couldn't help but chuckle at the weather-stripping - it reminds me of my spelt spaghetti! My goodness, between weather-stripping, spaghetti and bread sticks ....I've really been fixated with sticks and strands!

I had to move these two little figurines when I weather-stripped my window. They are an Irish pair, from the Celtic Shoppe down in the Proctor District not far from my house. I bought them over 10 years ago when we moved into this house. It's amusing, when it comes to home-decorating, much of what I've got has been given to me by neighbors and friends who want to get rid of stuff... and they think of me. I've got all kinds of dishes, teapots, nick-nacks, potpourri, candles, vases, and books that are cast offs or 're-gifted'. Most treasured are cookbooks, and I have quite a few.

I saw this memorable photo of our daughter Ruhiyyih recently, shown at Discovery Baptist Church's Nativity Celebration several years ago. Our daughter -in-law, Annie's mom (Kathy Hall) recently sent me a link to her photos this year of their current Nativity Celebration. Kathy is a professional photographer, and I thought her images were quite lovely. ( More on Ruhiyyih here, at Ruhiyyih's Reflections.)

Well, this has been a long post, regretfully, but I must add this final image, sent to me by my sister Bonnie. Now, originally it had some very begrudging commentary by Santa on 'modern architecture', which I'll leave up to your imagination. Just suffice it to say that as someone who spent four years studying art, it gave me quite the chuckle.