lately

3.14.2014


Lately, in just the last few days, the first blossoms on cherry and plum trees have appeared in our neighborhood.  The buds were so teasingly promising for so long, and this week they all seemed to burst at once into glorious spring bloom.  Joy.

Lately, Thor and I have been spending more quality time with my husband.  He started his new job in Portland last week, and it's been so nice to have him on more normal hours and home in the evening, to be able to go out and do things with us or just be here to have dinner together.  And it's wonderful that he doesn't have to constantly be on his cell phone or laptop working when he is home.  I think I love his new job almost as much as he does.

Lately, I've been reading more.  I watch two neighbor girls for a couple of hours before school and take them to school with Thor in the morning, and then after school we always have a houseful of neighborhood boys.  It gets loud.  Very loud.  I love that Thor's friends always want to play at his house, but my introverted quiet-loving self sometimes screams (silently, of course) for utter and complete silence.  A morning at the library alone is bliss.  This week I picked up a couple of books for Thor and a few for me.  I'm just over halfway through The Distant Hours; while I like it okay, I'm still hoping it turns into the book I can't wait to pick up.  

Lately, I've been making bread.  A no-knead bread from a book of easy artisan breads, a whole wheat/soy flour dough recipe, has turned out really nice a few times.  I grew up on my mom's homemade whole wheat bread that she even ground the flour for herself.  So good.  We never had store-bought bread until I was a teenager, so I was bound to have a taste for homemade.  I do like both, but there is quite a difference, and for me there is nothing like warm fresh homemade bread.  Today I am going to tweak this recipe a bit by eliminating the all-purpose flour in it and using just whole wheat, soy, and dark rye flour, similar to my mom's and sister's recipes.  

I've also been sprouting alfalfa, as well as a mix of organic adzuki beans, mung beans, peas, lentils, tricale, and fenugreek, and they are so good on homemade bread.

Lately, I've been running.  And when I say running, I mean walking/running, then more walking/running.  I'm super slow, but I'm doing it.  It was my goal for this year to try to get out and run a little bit every now and then, and it has turned into that thing I can't wait to get out and do almost every day.  I feel better than I have in years.  I'm only up to five miles max right now and not making any lofty goals, but the rewards are so great (feeling strong in body and mind) that I just want to keep going further.   

Have a great weekend!   See you next week.

Watch:  Blackfish
by mlekoshi