Monday in Nod

 The current view outside my window invites a bleakness of spirit.

Another 10+" of snow fell overnight and it is snowing still.

I know it won't stay long, yet that is of little comfort as it seems that any snow this time of year, no matter how soon it melts, is more wearisome than during winter proper.

The cold reaches deeper, the wind bites harder and, at least for some, sleep beckons more insistently.

{Liza Bean}

Since I had no intentions of venturing out, I baked a boule of artisan sourdough wheat bread.

Thinking it's going to be another soup night.

While the bread was baking, I pulled the last stitches in my Easter stitch.  This is He Is Risen - a design by Jenny Hoffman (Country Rustic Primitives). 

 

This evening I will return to my hooking on "Early Bird" by Lori Brechlin of Notforgotten Farm.

(Sorry for the crappy photo...I was too lazy to take it off my frame to photograph...some Mondays are like that.)

And then, later, of course, I will lose some hours with a book.  This is one I just finished:

I had previously read and posted about Ms. Setterfield's "Once Upon a River" (you can check that out here) and loved it, so I had to read another of her books.

I was equally enthralled.  

It's hard to condense this rich book in a few sentences, other than to say it is a haunting story, beautifully and magically written.

It begins with a young William Bellman shooting a rook with his slingshot...and the turns his life takes after.

A little bit of Dickens...a little bit of Poe...a lot of wonderful.

And, finally, a Mia update for those of you who inquired.

Mia came home from the NICU sooner than anyone anticipated.

Unfortunately, however, after a few days at home, she was struggling to breathe and had stopped eating, so ended up in the ER and a brief stint back in the NICU.

She is once again home and, once again, doing well. Thanks to everyone who prayed, and who wished her well.

And that's a Monday in Nod.

The Lull Between Storms...

 The sun is dancing off the icicles making a fairy-tale light, but the light and the allure are deceiving.  

We are just digging out from a major storm that dropped ~15" of snow Wednesday afternoon and Thursday (ALL day Thursday)...and another 3-4" on Friday.

The ubiquitous turkeys who aren't graceful enough to fly to a tree for left-over fruit and seeds are left scavenging the gravel in the drive. (And they seem none to happy about it.  Then again, turkeys never seem to be happy.)

And there is another storm moving in tonight - this one promising to bring more snow...and ice. 

Yup, that's exactly what I'm thinking.

Storms, like pregnancy, bring out a nesting instinct in me...which, inevitably, leads to comfort food.

The consumate comfort food - mac n' cheese...on the decadent side.
 

 Then I made some bordelaise sauce and the smell of it simmering all day was like a blanket wrapped around me.

The wait was so worth it.

{Pommes Alligot, Asparagus, and Strip Steaks with Sauce Bordelaise}

And I baked some bread...

...and cheesecake.

{It may look a bit "naked"...I did add homemade caramel topping and fresh whipped cream eventually...but couldn't resist a taste test. Trust me, no one would have missed the caramel and whipped cream.}

If the storms keep coming, I will need a new wardrobe.

Nesting, at least for me, also involves some sort of handwork. Since my hooking mojo is still on its walkabout, I took solace in my needle and thread.

I think I am pleased with both the linen and floss choices on this piece.

Perhaps the fog is beginning to lift?

And since no proper hibernation is complete without a book, of course, I've been reading.

This author is new to me, but she captivated me with this tale with her beautiful and melodic prose.

The tale begins with a little girl who is brought into an ancient inn on the river Thames on a dark midsummer's night, most surely dead.

But, by magic or miracle, she lives.

Three families stand at the ready to claim her as their own but, she being mute and amnesic, cannot explain what happened or to whom she belongs.

The book is a mix of fiction and fairy-tale - of just the right kind in "my book."

I enjoyed it more than I initially thought I would, and its messages, like many rivers, run deeper than one first believes.

*************

Lulls are a good thing....