The Two Little Princesses

Here's the youngest princess. Her sister thought it would be fun to dress up and who is Stella to be left out? We went outside to take pictures and of course I thought all the pictures and expressions were cute so here are a lot! Dressing up is a favorite of Marina's and pretty much a staple in our house, we have a whole section of the toy box dedicated to colorful scarves and dress up.

One day Marina found our drawer full of gloves, scarves, hats, and other winter wear. Next thing I know Marina is dressed up as a "chicken" with gloves on her feet and a beak and everything, all from the winter clothes. And of course she was clucking.
She looks pretty comfortable as a princess . . .

Our Daily Walk: A Look at Langley at Sunset

We love admiring the beautiful homes, fields, flowers, and friendly people in Langley. Our daily walk brings all these elements together. What a wonderful way to wind down for the evening. And exercise too.

Here's our bunny friend who I have seen multiple times as we walk past his/her home.
It's getting bigger!

Rolling hills of cow pasture (above)

Bird House Row

Sunny Weather on Whidbey! Our Double Bluff Beach Day

We visited the beach for the first time this summer to enjoy the sun, sand, and water without our jackets! It was just barely warm enough for Marina to swim in the water. She has always loved swimming at the beach, seemingly oblivious to the cold. Me on the other hand . . . I'll sit in the warm sand. If it is especially hot I'll go swimming, otherwise I'd rather watch people swim! What a beautiful beach. Also a off-leash dog beach/park. So we usually get to enjoy watching happy dogs running around with their equally happy owners. Stella enjoyed her first sand experience. Grabbing and feeling and grabbing and feeling in a constant motion. She is 5 months old and taking it all in. She laughed as she watched her sister leaping in the water. She can really relate to other children. She laughs more at Marina than anyone or thing! Marina singing, Marina dancing, Marina being silly. This girl knows funny when she sees it. Marina makes me laugh too come to think of it. If I'm lucky I'll be laughing most of the day. And singing. Singing about our day or making up singing stories.

Daddy's Circle: A Poem in Celebration of Father's Day

Daddy’s Circle

I remember being little

I was scared of getting sick

I was scared of dying

You so gently and fiercely

Told me that you knew

I would live a long time

You have a sense for these things

There was no need to be scared

You said, and I lived on that faith

Now that small child is all grown up

And funny, how you were right

There is no need to be scared

I am alive

Death is birth

and birth is death of something else

I am alive as the circle

that never has an end

By Candice, father’s day 2008

Nature: A Mirror to Our Inner World

death of a tree

tree: thriving, growing, living and dying simultaneously

birth

growing toward the sun and into the earth

As I was walking today in the woods I realized that nature is a perfect mirror for our inner state of being. There is a bit of everything in nature, as in our bodies. At a cellular level, in each moment we die and are reborn. Our bodies are continuously creating ourselves, as a constant state of being. Nature, too, is in a state of rebirth and death, all in the same moment. Each death makes way for the cycle of birth and on . . . Even the shapes and contrasts in each tree, flower, pebble of sand reflect the diversity of experience in our lives. A tree may have a multitude of dead branches, yet it is flourishing and growing and reaching toward the sun. When it is time to let go of the branch, it happens. The branch falls to the ground and nourishes other plant life on the forest floor. The tree may grow another branch that better suits it, ad infinitum. As nature lets go, so do we. We are always free to choose our own unique experience, just as the tree grows a new branch or drops an old one.
We each have a unique perspective and a unique body and a unique way of expressing our self. How can life ever be dull when you realize that each person has something (or many things!) you can learn from to expand your own experience. Often it is the people I least expect to learn from that I gain the most insights from. It is that process of letting go of our assumptions about who people are and really listening that brings forth the most intimate knowledge of ourselves. Ah, nature . . .

Chicken Sausage and Pinto Bean Soup

Yes, we still need warm & hearty soups here in the pacific northwest!! Brrrrrrr, it has been wet-cold for the last week with pretty much non-stop rain. This is good soup to make when you want to surprise your friends with a dinner. The recipe makes a lot of soup and it is a lot of fun to share it . . .


The Vegetables:
2/3 medium sized butternut squash: pealed, seeded and chopped small
1 onion, chopped
6 carrots, chopped
7 stalks celery, chopped
2 cups of chard or spinach chopped into 1" squares or smaller

The Other Stuff:
sprig of: rosemary, thyme, parsley and 2 bay leaves
4 TBS soy sauce or tamari

The Protein:
3 cups dry pinto beans soaked 6-8 hours
4 chicken sausages (or more if you like)
1-2 whole chickens, leftover from a dinner (ie: most of the meat is gone and bones remain) to make soup stock. You can freeze these used bones and take them out for these occasions.

• Cook the chicken bones in a 6-quart pan with 5 quarts of water for 3-4+/- hours. The goal is flavor and nutrient rich soup stock. I put the soup pan on the stove top on a low simmer early in the day and just let it cook while I go about my day. Then around 4-5pm I start the rest of the soup.

• Add the soaked pinto beans and "other stuff" (rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, parsley) and cook for another hour.

• Make sure the pinto beans are soft, but still well-formed before adding the vegetables. Add the chopped vegetables, except for the onion and the chard/spinach.

• Cook the onion and sausages in a separate pan with some olive oil until the sausage is hard enough to cut into rounds. Make sure the pinto beans and vegetables are all soft (done) before you add the sausage to the soup. Cut sausage into rounds and add it and the onion to the soup.
  
• Turn off the heat and add tamari, and 10-15 minutes before serving add 2 cups of chard or spinach and sprinkle parsley over the top. The heat from the soup will cook/soften the greens, but they will also retain their brilliant color as long as they are not over-cooked.
  

Serve with baked polenta, or all by itself! This is a complete meal in one bowl.

Freshly Picked From the Garden: Cool Loving Vegi & Rice Noodle Stir Fry

I have been using as much of the bounty from my garden as possible. Here I am including lots of spinach, a walla walla onion, and radishes in a stir fry with rice noodles, sardines, and feta cheese. I enjoyed that this meal was easy and quick to make, especially while I was taking care of my two children and other things (like 12 puppies)!

Here's what you need:

1 box of medium thickness rice noodles, precook and set aside to add to stir fry
2 cups spinach, chopped
1 walla walla onion, chopped
4 radishes, quarter
1 carrot, chopped in rounds or grated for color
1 tin of sardines in olive oil
sprinkling of feta for everyone's dish of noodles
tamari/soy sauce to taste
After you have prepared the vegetables and rice noodles, heat up a pan on medium, add 1-2 TBS olive oil and simmer all the vegetables until lightly/medium done, add rice noodles and 2 TBS tamari/soy sauce and cook until noodles are warm. Divide between bowls, place sardines on top of noodles and sprinkle top with feta and more tamari if needed.

Puppies at the Farm, one month old!

There's nothing like a farm with puppies! Our black lab mutts are one month old now. My friends Eric and Rose Soroos and their two boys came over and Eric, an amazing photographer, took these puppy pictures. They are just lovely! Checkout our puppy blog for more of Eric's pictures and more information on the puppies: http://www.lucyhaspuppies.blogspot.com

Spinach Scramble Sandwich with Jack Cheese

We have 30 laying chickens so we make lots of scrambles. Especially this time of year when the eggs are coming abundantly. Here is a recipe that I cooked this morning with spinach from my garden and eggs from my chickens. Makes enough food for 2-3 people. This can be a breakfast or lunch meal.

6 eggs
1/4 cup grated jack cheese
1 cup cut small fresh spinach
salt and pepper to taste
2-4 piece of toast, depending on how many people are eating and butter to taste (we like the sprouted Ezekiel bread)

Scamble eggs in a dish or cup, preheat pan to med-low. Add 1-2 TBS olive oil. Pour scrambled eggs in and cover for 1-2 minutes. Add cut spinach, salt, pepper and stir until cooked to your desired softness. I like the eggs moist, but done. Add cheese on top, cover until cheese is melted.

Toast bread until lightly browned on both sides, butter and scoop eggs on top. Enjoy with a cup of hot tea.

Vicky's Birthday Chocolate Cheesecake with Red Berry Syrup Recipe (wheat & gluten free!)

A special birthday calls for a special cake. My mom's birthday celebration was on June 1st and she requested a chocolate cheesecake. Here is a wheat and gluten free recipe that we all loved. The crust is Ginger cookies and it adds a nice zip. I added a raspberry-strawberry-cherry syrup on the side and it really made the dessert! My daughter Marina enjoyed helping me make the cheesecake. Her favorite part was stirring and testing the chocolate that was melting on the stove top. I melted extra chocolate to make the words on the top of the cake. (If you want to do this just melt bittersweet chocolate and using a spoon or fork draw the words or pictures).

Cheesecake Crust:
1 package of Mi-Del Ginger Cookies
1/2 to 1 stick of butter, or enough to form the crust

Preheat oven to 350F.
Put cookies in a blender, when completely blended add chopped butter and blend into a ball. Butter a pie dish and then press cookie-butter mix into a regular sized pie pan, starting from the inside and moving to the outside and then up the sides. Bake pie shell for 10 minutes. cool completely.

Chocolate:
8 oz bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate
1 TBS butter

Melt chocolate and butter on low heat, preferably on a double-broiler until completely melted. Allow to cool, but not solidify!

Cheesecake Insides:
2- 8 oz cream cheeses
1 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup sugar

Mix the sour cream, eggs, sugar and vanilla in blender until well mixed (30 sec). Add 1 cream cheese at a time, blending between each. Then add cooled chocolate and blend.

Put it all together:
Pour cheesecake insides with chocolate into the cooled pie crust and cook in preheated 350F oven for 35 minutes or so. I check frequently and notice when the cheese part feels solidified and dry-ish to the touch. It should jiggle, but when you touch it there will be no moisture on your finger. Turn off oven and leave cake in for another 10 minutes. Place on a cooling rack when you remove cake from the oven. Refrigerate for several hours before serving, or overnight.

Serve with Berry Syrup:
1 cup any berries (I used frozen raspberries, cherries, and strawberries)
1/4 cup sugar

Place berries in a pan on low heat. Bring berries to a slow boil and add sugar, stir frequently and cook for 5 minutes on low-medium heat. Cool and pour into small pitcher or used (but cleaned) vinegar or similar pouring container. Refrigerate and serve with cheese cake.