I decided to post this today instead of making a Sunday post, in case someone isn’t aware this is happening and would like to try to view it tonight!
The camera on my phone is next to worthless for night shots, I discovered, so this is the best I managed last night. Hoping for better tonight!
In the wee hours of Saturday morning, we got a special astronomical treat here in the LC Valley. A massive solar flare triggered a G5 (the biggest class on record) coronal mass ejection (CME), and the edge of it hit Earth. This caused the largest geomagnetic storm in 20 years, and in plain English, we got to see the Aurora Borealis/ Northern Lights all the way down here!
The event is supposed to last through the weekend, as at least one more G4 CME is headed our way. If you like, you can check out the prediction map on NOAA’s website where the Northern Lights are most likely viewable tonight and tomorrow night. The top half of the US is in the zone!
During a recent bout with a cold, I spent a couple days in bed seeking low key, relaxing distraction from my stuffy nose. Often this comes in the form of cooking videos, and I was happy to discover some Mary Berry on Tubi. I took notes on a couple recipes, and once everyone was feeling well I started making them. This one we liked so much, I made it again within a week: Mary Berry’s Roasted Sausage and Potato Supper.
The original is very onion heavy. This works if you like onions, but over half my kids prefer less, not more. It’s also a huge amount of food–it fed our family of 10!
The second time I made this, I doubled the potatoes, halved the onion, and added in cauliflower, carrots, and more sausages because it just seemed the thing to do. It made two pans, and my dreams of leftovers…didn’t happen. Because we still ate it all. Haha!
Roasted Sausage and VegetablesPan Dinner
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, cut into wedges
2 red peppers, seeded and cut into 1" pieces
1/2 head cauliflower, cut into 1" pieces
3-4 carrots, cut into 1" pieces
3-4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 pounds of little new potatoes, halved (or red, quartered)
15-16 sausages, uncooked in casing, pricked several times with a fork
2 teaspoons dried thyme (or 2 Tablespoons fresh, chopped)
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups broth of choice
1) Pre-heat oven to 425 °F.
2) Place all ingredients EXCEPT broth in a large bowl and turn with a spatula to coat evenly with the oil.
3) Divide between two large pans, making sure sausages are on top and not covered with any veggies. Roast ~30 minutes or until sausages are golden brown.
4) Remove from oven, place sausages on a plate or tray, give the veggies a stir, then return sausages to pans, turning so the un-browned side is up.
5) Add the broth. Roast another 20 minutes, or until the sausages are browned and the potatoes are tender.
Notes:
* We've made this using an Irish pork sausage and an Italian seasoned chicken one. It was delicious both times, and I look forward to experimenting with other flavors!
* My pan sizes (pictured above) are 10x15" and 9x13". The 10x13" was not large enough to handle the original Mary Berry recipe on its own.
It all began with a box of Louis L’Amour paperbacks. Dozens of paperbacks. I told the kids they could each pick one to keep, but the majority were going bye bye because space is a premium in our small house, and I already have hundreds of books in storage. The older readers promptly dove headfirst into the box, and I didn’t see them much outside of meals for nearly two weeks. Yes, they were thoroughly saturated by the end. But they also had their favorites, and so we added them to our personal library.
Sometimes after a blog break I have difficulty figuring out how to pick it back up. Making the time to craft posts is a challenge during the best of weeks, but with months of backlog, right now I’m thinking it’s best to say “those were great memories” and just start writing again where I am right now.
Some events, however, are worth a recap, even if it’s just a photo. Or two. Or three.
Back in January/ February, I had the pleasure of assisting my sister-in-law Annie Oakley in horse hunting for my niece. After test riding two horses on two different occasions, they decided to get both as one of my nephews took a shine to Rusty just about as quickly as my niece latched onto Rosie. I’d brought Pokado to one tryout and Squeaky to the other, so they were ecstatic to hear that both horses would still be in their lives.
In the 14 years we’ve lived here, we’ve seen record highs in the summer (118 °F, 2021) and record lows in the winter (-10 °F, 2024).
Two weeks ago the air still hummed with lawn mowers, and a few shoppers at the grocery stores still wore short sleeves. Two days ago we got this.
Topping out at 8″ with a high of 4 °F, I can guarantee no one is wearing short sleeves now! 8″ of snow, by the way, is about average for us. The super low temps…not so much. Go a little north or south of us for a much higher volume of snow…and much colder temps!
Frost on the windows.Cat, bird, man.Feeding the sparrows.
Our house is cozy, and we have no trouble finding ways to stay warm. Fixing wool sweaters, baking, playing piano and violin, working on the basement remodel…these are just a few of the inside activities that has filled our hands.
Referenced in the previous post (2010 newsletter), now with extended collar and hem.Remodel work.Squeaky getting creative with pie crust. Apple pie about to go in the oven.Little helper!
It was late morning, and I was in a race to beat the mailman to my mailbox. I was looking for an envelope that fit an “unable to forward, return to sender” Christmas card (because, for the first year ever, I used not only all the cards and envelopes for the year, I used all the spares from previous years too). Finding nothing upstairs, I went down to the office to check the paper cupboard. I found what I needed, and then I found something else.
In one of the bottom-most paper slots I caught a glimpse of typed paper. Pulling it out, I saw it was The Hawknest Herald 2010. Not my first newsletter–those I’ve been sending out since 2005 (pre-Dearliest!)–but the first from Hawknest, our name for the mountainside home in Idaho. I read it, I enjoyed it, then I noticed it wasn’t just one copy, or two. There was a whole pile of them, and in the slot next to it was a stack of envelopes, fully addressed, half stuffed.
I’d never mailed it.
Why? I don’t remember, exactly. But I do remember that year was so overwhelming in so many ways. Pokado’s birth, the move to Idaho, reducing square footage while more than tripling the number of people in the house…in the end it doesn’t matter what stalled my Christmas newsletter. I found it, here it is, and I hope you enjoy this peek into the year we moved to Idaho.
Names changed for the internet, pictures added for fun.
I heard this for the first time in the last week, a charming Christmas carol that I felt was perfect for Christmas Eve. As I researched it and found unexpected connections, my appreciation grew until I think it’s now one of my favorite lesser-known carols. This track is #2 on our CD “The Only Celtic Holiday Album You Will Ever Need.”
My research began here, and imagine my surprise when I reached “It is a translation of Luther’s Christmas Eve carol Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her, first published in 1535 in Geistliche Lieder.” I grew up in the Lutheran church, but even with my moderate knowledge of Martin Luther’s teachings and pot-stirrings, there are many of his writings and lyrics I have never read or heard, like this one.
Of course that warranted further study, which led me to this page, where wouldn’t you know it, Bach of all people incorporated verses of Luther’s carol into his own Christmas works. Why yes, I think that’s super cool.
I come fra hevin here to tell The best nowells that e’er befell To you thir tythings trew I bring And I will of them say and sing. To you this day is born ane child Of Marie meik and Virgin mild. That blissit bairn bening and kind Sall you rejoyce baith hart and mind.
Lat us rejoyis and be blyth And with the Hydris go full swyth And see what God of his grace hes done Throu Christ to bring us to his throne My saull and life, stand up and see What lyis in ane cribbe of tree. What Babe is that, sa gude and fair? It is Christ, God’s Son and Air.
The silk and sandell thee to eis Ar hay and sempill sweilling clais, Whar thou greit glorious God and King As thou in hev’n war in thy ring. And war the warld ten times sa wide, Cled ouer with gold and stanes of pride Unworthie yit it were to thee Under thy feet ane stule to be.
O my deir hart, yung Jesus sweit, Prepare thy creddil in my spreit! And I sall rock thee in my hart And never mair fra thee depart. But I sall praise thee evermoir With sangis sweit unto thy gloir. The kneis of my hart sall I bow, And sing that rycht Balulalow.
And, the last two verses of Martin Luther’s Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her(From Heaven Above to Earth I Come)
14. My heart for very joy doth leap, My lips no more can silence keep; I too must raise with joyful tongue That sweetest ancient cradle-song–
15. Glory to God in highest heaven, Who unto man His Son hath given! While angels sing with pious mirth A glad New Year to all the earth.
Every now and again, I listen to a CD I’ve heard a hundred times (or so it seems) and one of the tracks seems new, unheard. Special. Such was the case this year with “Some Children See Him,” on Mannheim Steamroller’s “Christmas Extraordinaire.” The arrangement is so peaceful, and I wanted to share it with you.
Creative Wending 