End of the harvest

Remember last spring when I made all of those hopeful statements of what a great garden I was going to have this year? How I was going to compoast, blah blah blah. 

Here are the pictures that sum up the bounty of my harvest.   I grew a few peppers.  In total, there were four and one more still clings to the vine and a handful of cherry tomatoes.  There were a few big tomatoes, too, but hardly worth the effort it took to water them.  There wasn't any effort to plant them as my mother did it for me.

I think I'd better keep my day job and hope that I never reach a point where I have to grow all of my own food.  The Mathews family will be pretty hungry!

   

Voila...Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

The really yummy, even if you think you don't like pumpkin* Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffin Recipe

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 cup sugar
1tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 stick butter (melted -- real butter, of course)
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling -- just plain pumpkin)

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (Will and MR encourage more chocolate chips)

1/2 cup dried cranberries

Whisk together wet ingredients (butter, eggs, pumpkin) in one bowl then add chips and craisins and blend together stirring well.  Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and spices in a separate bowl.  Gently fold in pumpkin mixture just until dry ingredients are moistened -- be careful not to overmix.

Spoon into greased muffin tins. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.

Makes about a dozen regular-sized muffins.

*Disclaimer: Marc does not like pumpkin OR these muffins so the title isn't quite true.  A lot of other pumpkin dislikers like it though.  Me, I like pumpkin.  I thought I didn't like pumpkin for a long time but I was young and stupid.  Now, I know better.  Pumpkin...good and good for you!

The Cathedral Writing Group

Writing is good for you.  I promise  It's something anyone can do and something everyone should do. 

I'm a huge fan of daily writing, not that I accomplish writing every single day, but I do believe it's a powerful means to knowing yourself better and understanding your story.  We all have a story to tell and we all tell our stories differently every time we tell them.  Knowing our own story can help us relate to other people and see the mysterious ways that God works in our lives.   Personally, I find it's an important part of my prayer life as well.  When life feels like it's spiraling out of control (and frankly when doesn't it!), I find writing brings the same kind of peace and balance to life that I get from running.

This Fall, after much deliberation and prodding from my friend Elizabeth who is the Minister of Christian Formation at Christ Church Cathedral, I am leading a writing group that meets on Thursdays at 12:15.  It's an open group with folks who make it in when they can armed with their pens and journals, I don't "teach" writing, I merely facilitate and I send group members a daily prompt (except Sunday) via email.  During our meetings at the Cathedral, we do a variety of exercises to explore writing and talk about what we find in our writing. 

While we don't use a particular text, Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg is probably my favorite writer who writes about writing.  I like Julia Cameron an awful lot too, author of  The Right to Write and The Artist's Way. 

If you'd like to be a part of the Cathedral Writing Group, let me know!  You can also be a virtual member and I'd be happy to send you our daily writing prompt. 

Top of the Muffin to you...

Remember that Seinfeld episode?  Brilliant, but then again, weren't they all? 

Oh happy times when the morning starts with pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.  Thank goodness the great pumpkin shortage of 2009 is over and a bountiful pumpkin harvest is at hand.  I have been checking the baking aisle at the grocery for months looking for my canned pumpkin and the empty "pumpkin" space is finally full!  Can you believe there was actually a crowd of us?  Well, two of us!  My larder formerly known as the pantry (had a nice appointment with a British client last week who showed me her "larder") is now full of pumpkin!  Six cans.  Just in case they run out again before my pumpkin tooth is satisfied.  I just couldn't stop myself from stocking up. 

Let me know if you want the recipe.  They are really yummy!

Race for the Cure

WEG...gone for a whole week as of today.  I still want to talk about it.  That and I have 100s of random pictures of horses doing reining, dressage, driving and dashing across road that I have no idea what to do with now.  Want to see them?

We're getting on with life here though.  Yesterday, was one of our favorite annual Fall events:  The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.  I ended up as the mom alone with a pack of ballet girls and a couple of boys at the race who ALL abandoned me as soon as we got to the festivities. After the race started we all managed to catch up with each other.  I ran the whole way, some of the girls took a short-cut (yeah Sarah for your fabulous run -- if ballet doesn't work out I think you might have a cross-country future) and the boys claimed to have not taken any shortcuts but somehow ended up beating me across the finish line anyway and I ran the whole way.  Hmmmm...They did claim to be highly motivated by the free stuff available at the end of the race.

Longing for excitement

One of the Double Dans demonstrating that you can
train your horse in the comfort of your living room.

When I drove to ballet last night, it was so quiet.  I miss the world and the odd things they do with their horses. 

At least, I  have the Race for the Cure to look forward to!

Good-bye World

Dear World,
Thank you so much for coming to Lexington for the World Equestrian Games.  Thank you for spending so many fun-filled weeks here, bringing your gorgeous horses and making Lexington the coolest place to be on the planet!  It was a great time. 



Driving World Championship

 Thank you, as well, for telling us how nice we Kentuckians are and how genuine that nice-ness was.  I think you are certainly nice, too, for noticing and for saying so over and over again!  You were a lot of fun and reminded me that I live in one of the most beautiful places in the U.S.  If you hadn't been here, I probably wouldn't have ridden my bike out Legacy Trail four times (!) or even gone to the Horse Park once before the end of the year, much less 6 times in two weeks. 

When you told us you were going to come visit four years ago, I never really believed that World Equestrian Games would live up to the hype.  In actuality, you vastly exceeded every expectation I had.

Again, World, thank you for coming.  I hope you have safe travels home and will come back to see us again soon.  We'll miss you!

With Best wishes,
Gwen