Happy Thanksgiving wishes to the land south of us here in Canada. This photo was taken a month ago when we celebrated our Canadian Thanksgiving. The leaves are mostly gone now. Today turned cold with a rain that acted like it wanted to go sleety. Early this morning, the bit of sky not obscured with leaden clouds glowed pinky-red. It seems like snow will soon be on the way. 
My mother purchased it from a shop somewhere in the American southwest while on her honeymoon in 1950-something - back in the days when honeymooners took four to six months of traveling across the continent. She went in to purchase some dishes she saw in the window and came out with this. It has a Group of Seven appeal and the colours make me feel warm and cozy on an overcast November day.
It's been a long week and I'm tired. I've only posted once and that, about the treacherous but now deceased Sandra.
Shopping. I have no idea how you guys in The States handle two huge holidays so close together.
GG dumpster dived a wicker rocker - actually he got it from the cat lady across the road. I would have snuck out there in the dark and taken it. He boldly went and asked her husband in broad daylight. GG fixed it and stained it and I found a needle point cushion to accent it but I have no before and after because Fun sniped the camera for two days running and disappeared to a cow farm.
(Cow photo by Fun.)
Sandra was this despicable little creature whom Violinist took a liking to. Sandra lived in an aquarium refitted to house a tarantula. At first the aquarium was in Violinist's bedroom lodged between All Creatures Great and Small and A History of the English Speaking People. Sandra lived there entertaining mostly Buff's friends and she was fed every now and then with crickets from the bait shop in Town and other vermin Violinist kept locked up in little plastic bags and trays and boxes. That is until, Decadent Housewife while busily vacuuming and dusting and picking up dirty socks one morning, noticed two hairy legs sticking out from under the aquarium lid and extended over the exterior glass. Instinctively I reached to suck her up but hesitated thinking she might clog the line. I screamed instead, threw a book at the hairy legs and ran from the room slamming the door shut. "Tarantulas can't climb glass, Mom. She'll be safe in here," he had said.
A gorgeous award showed up a few weeks ago from Sue over at Living and Learning. Thank you Sue. Sue is a very sweet girl living in Japan. The award comes with strings attached - tell six things about yourself, that no one knows (or cares) about. Here goes:
And, like those chain-letters prepubiscient girls sent to one another back in 1960-something, which everyone said were illegal, I'm supposed to pass this on to six more blogs. (Were they actually illegal?) And it's up to those bloggers if they wish to keep the chain going. It was tough - but here, each for their own unique reasons and in no particular order, are my choices for Gorgeous Blogger Award.
See their soft dewy faces lying in the mud.
(Remembrance Day, November 11, 2009)
"Where was God when that bad thing happened to you?" asked Sunday's preacher. The message addressed the subject of God's people suffering, while He remains silent - the text: Romans 8:28, "All things work together for good to them that love God." It has never occurred to me to get angry at God, when rightly, humanly speaking, I could be - or at least, be perturbed even in the hardest situation. Whatever the bad thing - He is there. Why I've been blessed in this way I do not know. The pastor cited for illustration the stunning true story of David and Svea Flood. They did not experience the same, but their story shows that God was there.
Since discovering that bread dough doesn't need kneading to produce wonderful bread, I've been working with some of my own Yes-Knead breads turning them into No-Knead breads. This whole wheat with the addition of eggs consistently makes it into the lunch bags here now. 
I've been dividing the total amount of dough in every batch, into three even amounts and then each amount divided further into 8 individual buns needed for lunches. At Thanksgiving, each of the three amounts were subdivided into 12 rather than 8, providing a daintier dinner roll. If in a hurry or short on freezer space, I just make one pan of rolls and put the remainder of raw dough back into the fridge to use the next day. When left another two days, the dough develops a distinct sourdough tang. The eggs can easily be left out. If omitting the eggs just use 3 full cups of water in the recipe.
When risen, the dough looks quite different from that of dough which has been kneaded. It is rippled and quite sticky to touch. To manage this excess stickiness, spread a handful of all-purpose flour around the top. 
Gently work around the perimeter with the flour to loosen the dough from the container.
Tip the container upside down onto the work surface and let the dough slide out. Scrape off any remaining bits from the inside and add it to the dough.
Here is the dough. It has a spongy like appearance.
Gently gather the dough around the edges and fold that moist spongy part into itself.
Seal by gently pinching inward to itself, side to side and the ends. Turn it over. This is what we get.
Cut the dough into three equal size balls. Each of these weighed about 1 1/2 lbs. each.
Divide each ball into 8 smaller balls for lunch buns. Or 12 smaller balls for dinner rolls. Remember to keep that moist part away from your hands and toward the ball center. These will be a little more difficult to handle because of the high moisture content. Just dab them into the extra flour on the work surface.
Dip each formed ball into flour.
Set the rolls aside on pans coated with some lard and sprinkled with cornmeal. Let them rise in a warm place until doubled. Bake in preheated oven - 400 F x 15 minutes. Turn the pans half way through the bake time.
Correction: A reader wrote saying they got hockey pucks :/ when they made this bread. Thank you to another reader, Leila, who discovered that I neglected to include yeast in this ingredient list. It has been corrected. My apologies for this. The reader who had problems, however, did include yeast which should have been sufficient. 
Poetry. See, hear, smell, feel, think, know. The camera shift produced blue water in the second photo. But the sky is still washed out. If I buckled down and learned that PhotoShop thing I suppose that could be changed. Is it allowed? To tinker with the photography? 
October shaped up to be a month as full as every other. A few trips to utilize the Canadian Health Care System (Bow Down and Kiss the Earth), observing that my anesthetist looks more like Alfred Newman than Dr. Kildare, hearing a voice relay test results while registering zero to one consciousness, listening to strangers tell their unsolicited sordid medical histories, decisions about what colour henna to try next, waiting in the dark for Buff to get off work at The Chicken Place while observing the same gorgeous cat dumpster dive night after night and phone calls - phone calls from a particularly articulate English teacher discussing teen boys and how they function socially in a classroom setting - researching Boomers and something she called "hot writing" - I was tempted to ask her, her age. 
And too, there were the usual bevy of refrigerator messages -
Charles and Camilla arrive some time today in Newfoundland, Canada. No, Decadent Housewife won't be rushing down to the harbour front to greet them. Newfoundland is a very long way from here. Rather, this housewife has laundry to do and cooking and cleaning - despite having a few royals a way back in the family tree and a little old title. Oh. You want to hear about that? Really - it's nothing - maybe later. I've got men to feed.
