I had such great aspirations for keeping up this blog in a more regular fashion, but obviously I didn't follow through.

It has been wonderfully busy around here though. D. and I went for ten days to visit my parents in New England, and had a wonderful, amazing time! We went to an orchard and farm stand, hung out with family, went to the playground, and went on walks in the beautiful Fall weather.

Daniel fell in love with the beech tree in my parents' front yard that has been very special to me for many years.

He also enjoyed picking up pine cones (and smearing sap on Mamma's shirt) and giving me bright maple leaves.

When we got back it took me a while to find the rhythm of my home again, but now things are coming along nicely. I am working on some knitting projects for various Christmas gifts for friends and family. My knitting skills are extremely basic, so I can't make anything very fancy, but I found a few nice basic hat patterns, bought some pretty yarn to make them up in, and I am improving. I think I will post pictures when I have a chance.

The highlights of today have been:

~dancing around the living room with Daniel to my Carole King Pandora station

~several long walks with Daniel in the mei tai, enjoying the cool sunny weather

~eating apples with peanut butter (and also peanut butter right off a spoon...!)

~dinner of gourmet pizza from our favorite restaurant (free with a gift certificate) and heirloom tomatoes with fresh basil and mozarella

~looking forward to an evening out with my husband at a mixer for graduate students at the university.

October Roses

One of the wonderful things about living in Texas is that today, on the feast of St. Therese, I could pick red roses from the bush behind our neighbors' condo to decorate the table and the home shrine.

I got a spray of three full blown roses, for the Trinity, and one tiny bud, for the Little Flower. They are just lovely next to the icon, sprawling out of my white cream pitcher!

Later in the evening, another neighbor knocked on the door and gave me two more roses, one small and red and one sunset yellow, also in honor of the feast day!

On the subject of roses, I got a wonderful book from the library, Pink Ladies and Crimson Gentlemen: Portraits and Legends of 50 Roses, which I have been greatly enjoying. The photography is stunning, and the stories of the creation of the roses and their namesakes is fun too!

Beanie's Birthday

On August 26th, my son turned 1 year old.

Peaches

Last summer, during the end of my pregnancy, all I wanted to eat was raw summer fruit -- plums, peaches, nectarines, just plain or at most cut up in a little yogurt.

This year I have discovered the delights of baking with stone fruit. A few weeks ago we got a couple pounds of plums from the produce co-op, and to keep them from going to waste, I scoured my recipe books for a good recipe to use them up.

I finally found one in my 1971 copy of Joy of Cooking -- Apple, Peach, or Plum Cake Cockaigne -- and have made it a couple of times, once with just plums, and once with a few peaches thrown in.

Yesterday we found gorgeous peaches for a very good price per pound, so I bought two big bags and just spent the afternoon slicing and peeling them and then laying them out on cookie sheets in the freezer. Once they are frozen, I divided them into one cup baggies so that I can easily bake with them during the winter.

Apple, Peach, or Plum Cake Cockaigne (from Joy of Cooking)

Use a 9 x 9 x 2 1/2 in. pan. Preheat oven to 425.

If the fruit used is very juicy, reduce the liquid in the dough by at least 1 Tbsp.

Sift before measuring:

1 c. all purpose flour

Resift with:

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. sugar

Add:

1 1/2 to3 Tbsp. butter

Work these ingredients like pastry.

Beat well in a measuring cup:

1 egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Add enough milk to make 1/2 cup.

Combine with the flour and butter to make a stiff dough. Pat the dough into the pan with a floured palm or spread it in part with a spoon and then distribute it evenly by pushing it with fruit sections when you place them in closely overlapping rows.

Use about:

3 to 4 cups sliced, pared apples or peaches, or sliced, unpared plums.

Sprinkle with a mixture of:

1 c. sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

3 Tbsp. melted butter

Bake about 25 min.

"...She went from mystery to mystery with more and more courage. She was a long time playing with the shells, and longer still looking at the rock pools, exploring each miniature ocean from horizon to horizon, but at last she was ready for the fairies' cave. She did not feel at all afraid as she pushed past the green rock and went inside. Since she had run into this strange place through the horns of the horseshoe she had felt no fear, only awe. She had discovered a new country, but it was her own country. In this place where one was alone that one might listen, she felt at home as never before. In spite of its mystery it was so clean, so simple, and so safe. Nothing befouled the air one breathed, the music that was heard and yet not heard, like the sound of bells caught away by the wind, was without confusion, cold and clear like crystal..."

--Elizabeth Goudge, from Green Dolphin Street

This passage makes me miss the places, now so far away, that are my own country...

We are now mostly (mostly) settled in our new apartment. The boxes are all but unpacked, and this afternoon the workmen are coming to finish installing the oven (which sticks out three inches from the wall due to an inconveniently placed door frame) and put a doorknob on our bedroom door. We seem to have sorted out the massive communication problems with our landlords, and hopefully life can settle into a quiet routine.

The big uncertainty now is about what my husband will be doing this year. After having trouble finding work for the summer, we decided that the best use of his time would be to take a couple of summer classes so he could be finished with his course work as soon as possible.

And of course as soon as we made the decision, he was offered a job. Not just a summer job, but a permanent one. We are just waiting to hear whether the hours will permit him to continue with his core classes (one of the inconveniences of the UD phd program is the three-year Tuesday/Thursday 3:30-5 pm cycle of required courses) and he will probably take it.

It will slow down the speed with which Amos can finish his degree, but it will be good to have some steady income after living so precariously for the past few years.

Daniel is growing apace! He is now walking a little bit, and eating more and more solid food. I have to say that I have mixed feelings about the solid food. For someone who has found exclusive breastfeeding such a physical and emotional burden, I am surprised to find how sad it makes me to share feeding duties with my husband. I treasure more and more the time we spend together in the evening as I nurse him to sleep, and I find myself holding him for a few extra minutes for a snuggle before putting him into his crib.