The randomness of Writing

I know this post is going to seem random to those of you who still follow this blog after all of these years.  It has nothing to do with bees or …

The randomness of Writing

How to talk to your daughter about her body

What a beautiful post on talking to your daughter–or to yourself!

Pink Atlas Sewing Machine Manual

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atlas by brother, atlas manual, atlas sewing machine, etsy, sewing machine manual, the home gnome, vintage atlas sewing machine, vintage pink sewing machine, vintage sewing

More buttons and levers (Photo credit: Aidensdame)

For those of you who have managed to track down the elusive and beautiful Pink Atlas Sewing Machine by Brother, I now have two manuals available in my Etsy shop.  These are updated versions of the one that was available several years ago.  Enjoy!

Pink Atlas Selectomatic Sewing Machine Instruction Manual Instant Download

Pink Atlas Sewing Machine Manual Straight Stitch

Telling the Bees

“Marriage, birth, or burying,
News across the seas,
All your sad or marrying,
You must tell the bees.”
– Celtic Wisdom

Wordless Wednesday: Moses and his girls

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big cats, moses, photos, wordless wednesday

Moses and two of the sweetest girls I know. 🙂

Scrumptious Grain Free Low Carb Nut and Seed Granola

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Coconut oil, Granola, Honey, low carb granola, nut and seed granola, nuts and seeds, Sunflower seed

James and I love breakfast cereal.

Breakfast cereal does not love us.  Especially if it contains oats.  Oats hate us.  🙂

How to have a delicious breakfast “cereal” without sacrificing our gastro-intestinal comfort?  Well, I obviously had to come up with a delicious alternative.  We picked up a granola cereal at Big Lots that was chock full of oats and pumpkin seeds and flax seeds.  It’s really very tasty but quite easy to see that it’s high in sugar and carbs!  So, online I went in my search for a wonderful breakfast “granola” that would suit our palates!  I looked on many sites and ended up combining several different recipes.  Most recipes called for the addition of coconut flakes and dried fruit–which I despise!  Another hurdle, aside from the fruit and coconut, was how to give the granola the nice body and crunch that oats give regular granola.  Well, that turns out to be fairly simple.

Rather than continuing to talk about it, let me just show you the recipe and take you through how I made it!  First, some photographs of the finished product:

The recipe–>

3 cups whole raw almonds

1 cup sunflower seeds

1 cup pumpkin seeds

2 T (or however much you want) flax seed meal

1/3 cup raw honey

1/3 cup coconut oil

2 t cinnamon

1/2 t nutmeg–or more–as you like it

2 t vanilla

As you can see from the ingredients, these recipe is easy, easy, easy.  Pulse the almonds in your food processor until they’re chopped up into little bits.  The next time I make this, I’ve decided to chop 1/3 of the almonds pretty finely because the almond meal provides the crispiness of the nut and seed granola.  The other 2/3 of the granola can be as fine or as chunky as you like.  Do the same for the pumpkin and sunflower seeds.  Mix in some flax seed meal.  I put this dry blend into a cast iron skillet at this point, in readiness for the next step!

In a saucepan, melt coconut oil.  Add honey, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Bring to a boil and turn off heat after all ingredients are nicely combined.  When liquid has cooled somewhat, add vanilla.  Pour liquid mixture into nut/seed blend.  Coat nuts and seeds thoroughly and then spread evenly onto a cookie sheet/jelly roll pan.

Bake at 300 degrees for about 30 minutes.  I cooked mine for a little less and came *this close* to burning it–so do be careful!

Allow mixture to cool because these oils will burn your lips!  Eat with milk or by the handful!

And, since some of you may be wondering, it wasn’t an inexpensive recipe but I don’t think I’ll be able to eat much of it at a time!  We bought the ingredients at W*Mart and here’s what we spent:

2 lb bag of raw almonds: 9.97

1 lb bag of sunflower seeds: 2.98

1 lb bag of pepitas: 2.98

coconut oil: 6.99

honey: from our own dear beehives!

all other ingredients: staple items in the pantry

This recipe made two quart jars full and I have enough nut/seed ingredients to make another batch.

Related articles

• Grain-Free Granola. (lusaorganics.typepad.com)

A Mighty Consolation

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Chronicles of Narnia

English: Map of Narnian world as described in The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For a long time, this has been one of my most favorite passages from the Chronicles of Narnia.

From The Last Battle—

Seven Kings and Queens stood before (Tirian), all with crowns on their heads and all in glittering clothes, but the Kings wore fine mail as well and had their swords drawn in their hands.  Tirian bowed courteously and was about th speak when the youngest of the Queens laughed.  He stared hard at her face, and then gasped with amazement, for he knew her.  It was Jill: but not Jill as he had last seen her with her face all dirt and tears and an old drill dress half slipping off one shoulder.  Now she looked cool and fresh, as fresh as if she had just come from bathing.

Related articles

• Our Mighty Fortress (hedesignedme.com)
• We Are Family (craigkuehn.wordpress.com)
• Fiction Review: C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (19thlevel.blogspot.com)

Beautifully written! Thanks for sharing these thoughts on this momentous day.

Poor Richard's Almanac

Does this sound like any form of government you know?

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

“That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,

“That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer…

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Moses the Cat

giant stray cat, a photo by Becca(at BrightHaven) on Flickr.

Becca and the Hat