A Haven for Vee

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

March in Maine

 The color of March in my valley is brown...

~ Gladys Taber


Yes, mine, too, Gladys. Brown and ugly. Very.   




Back Yard

Rhubarb is Up

Front Yard

It would be tempting to whine a little. Okay, I may be pouting some.


Still I have a crockpot with a pot roast simmering on the counter. Thank you, Kitty. My son and his boys are going to enjoy a delicious meal tonight. 🙏


And I have guests coming for lunch. Yippee! It's so cold today that the fake fire will be crackling. 


Warmer days are coming. ツ

Love,

Vee


 

Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Possible Post and More

 Let's see if I can make sense of today's entry. I am always looking for blog worthy topics. I was looking for the recipe for the bread below because I prefer it to soda bread. It is, after all, time for such things. 

Tea-Soaked Raisin Tea Brack

Why, yes! I do love butter!


For whatever reason, writing is not as easy for me as it once was. So imagine my surprise when I found the post below hiding in a notebook just ahead of the recipe for the bread named above. How perfectly serendipitous.  I wrote the post in June of 2018. I'm using it today.  And what a title!

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Possible Post


You and I are not what we eat; we are what we think.


                                                           ~Walter Anderson




Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?

                                                          

                              ~Winnie the Pooh 



As so often happens, I find a new think to think every time I read my favorite blogs. This time it was about thought itself: what do I find myself thinking about? I had never truly considered it, but now that I have, I am surprised, even shocked. 


Perhaps the few things I share may also shock you. Perhaps you'll try paying attention to your own thought life. I was once told that if we could be privy to another's thoughts, we would be frightened to death. I believe it. 


For starters, I do not think in complete sentences. No. I think in little snatches of thoughts, sometimes in pictures.


I am something like the White Rabbit who runs along looking at his watch saying, "I'm late. I'm late for a very important date." 


"I've got to get going. Get going. Do something. Move. Move. Get going." Apparently, I am cracking a little whip on myself much of the time. 


Sometimes I practice double think especially while reading, watching tv or listening to the radio. This may or may not be productive. Double think is a simple repeating of what is heard or read. "Many wonderful choices" is a fragment of a commercial, for example, that has been running through my head for about twenty minutes.


There's also a fair amount of negative self-talk. Guard that stuff! I'll be paying closer attention. 


"Ouch. Ouch. Ouchie" figures prominently in my thought life. Lots of pain as I grow older...pain upon rising, bending, climbing stairs, you get the picture and may be able to relate.


"Oh John. Oh Mom. Oh, Oh, Oh."  Well this bit goes without saying.


My prayer life is greatly reduced... sometimes only "Dear Lord." Then my wee little mind wanders off to some far less important thing.


                         And what blogger caused me to ponder all this? 

Linda B! She wonders why she is not giving God the praise that He so richly deserves. I've been wondering the same thing. Obviously, I am much too busy with my fascinating thought life. 😏


You can find her post *here.*



Happy summer! 



Psalm 139


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Recipe for Tea-Soaked Raisin Tea Brack



Tea-Soaked Raisin Tea Brack


1 cup raisins

1 cup strongly brewed tea

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

¾ cup brown sugar, packed

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 egg 

Rolled oats for sprinkling


Brew one cup of tea. Pour over raisins in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight or 8 hours. 


Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Create a well in the center of the flour mixture. Pour in the egg, raisins, and tea. Stir until just combined. Do not overmix. Then, pour into a prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle rolled oats on the top of the loaf. 


Place loaf in an oven that has been preheated to 350 degrees. Bake until the top is browned, about 1½ hours. (Mine was done in 1 hour and twenty minutes.) When done, cool slightly and remove from loaf pan. Allow to complete cooling on a wire rack. 


(This recipe was amended from the one listed in my Recipe Box in the sidebar.)


Have a blessed week and a wonderful St. Patrick's Day!


Love,

Vee