Chime in! :-)

We haz front porch! Well, the start of one, anyway...

We also haz front door (that's missing a piece of decorative molding), garage door (that's installed incorrectly, waiting for a new panel to replace a dented one, and missing its window grilles), window trim, soffits and fascia, and a bunch of construction crap in the front yard...

The city decided this would be a good time to do road repair in our new neighborhood (*sigh*), so the red dumpster and construction trailer had to be moved off the street and into the yard. The street work is making us nervous - it's supposed to wrap up today but they seem to be behind schedule, and we have three large freight trucks showing up Monday to deliver all the cabinetry for the house! (Monday is also our 24th wedding anniversary. Are cabinets the traditional 24th anniversary gift?) :-)

There's a lot going on with the new house in the next couple of weeks (along with my annual yard sale with Robyn next Saturday because I'm clearly a glutton for punishment), so my camera and I will do our best to keep up with it all and I'll post more update photos when I can.

But meanwhile, now that we have at least a rudimentary front porch, I've got wind chimes on my mind!

Wind from the Sea by Andrew Wyeth

We don't get wind from the sea of course, but we do get plenty of breezes off the mountains. Which works for me, since I love wind chimes! But my favorite set, Gregorian Alto Woodstock Chimes I bought on a visit to Maine more than 20 years ago, is done for. We want to hang a replacement on the front porch that sounds a little different, and BW and I have narrowed the field of contenders to these five. Care to give a look and listen and chime in (nyuck) with your favorite(s) in the comments? Your opinions may help us to decide on one...

Celestial "Moonrise"

Celestial "Zodiac"

Celestial "Celtic"

Victorian Garden "Coventry"

"Shalom"

(If you happen to be in the market for a set of these yourself, you'll find them much cheaper at Amazon, but without the nifty audio samples.)

And if you haven't yet gotten your fill of the sound of wind chimes, here's a lovely chime-accompanied contemplative video for your meditative pleasure...

Enjoy an easy, breezy weekend! :-)

Speaking of critters...

While we're on the subject of critters, here's a video filmed by a camera-snatching seagull cinematographer...

Apparently there is some debate over whether this video and its story - that the seagull stole the guy's GoPro camera in Cannes, France and deposited it on the castle wall, where the camera's owner had to climb to retrieve it - is real or faked. Well maybe I'm gullible (*snork*), but I think it's real - don't know how some of that footage could be faked! And GoPro makes very small, lightweight cameras that can be helmet-mounted, so it's I don't think a seagull would have a problem flying off with one. What do you think?

Tea & Scones

As promised in a previous post, here's a sweet treat of tea and scones...

We had vegan oatmeal cinnamon scones during our stay at the Elm Cottage B&B in Searsport, ME last summer, and our hostess Janet shared her recipe for them. (I've also found an almost identical recipe on this and a couple of other web sites, but its original author remains unknown). The recipe originally called for 1/2 cup of margarine, but Janet made them with applesauce for our no-added fats diet and was pleased with the results.

I made these scones a couple of weeks ago from Janet's recipe, then again last weekend with a cranberry-orange twist. The original recipe and my cranberry-orange variation are below...

Vegan Oatmeal Cinnamon Scones

Recipe from Janet Williams, Elm Cottage B&B

with Cranberry Orange variation

Variation by Laloofah :-)

1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1/3 cup brown sugar (I use Sucanat)

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup unsweetened organic applesauce

1/2 cup raisins (or dried cranberries)

1/3 cup organic soy milk (I use vanilla)

2 tsp demerara sugar (optional, for sprinkling on top)

1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional, I don't use)

For Cranberry Orange scones:

1 tsp orange zest

3/4 tsp orange flavor

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in food processor or large bowl. Cut in applesauce until mixture becomes uniformly crumbly. Stir in oats and raisins or craisins. Add soy milk, and - if using - orange zest and orange flavor. Mix gently until a soft dough beings to cling together.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface and pat into a 7-inch circle. Cut into 8 wedges and place them on an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake at 350ºF for 15-18 minutes until golden brown and firm when pressed lightly in the center.

You can make these with other dried fruit as well: chopped dates, apricots, blueberries, cherries, apples or pears.

And what goes better with scones than a nice cuppa? We ate some of our scones with our morning mug of Dandy Blend, but as an afternoon or evening treat we enjoyed them with this delightful Naughty & Nice organic chocolate peppermint tea, a generous Christmas gift from my friend Rose. Made by Remedy Teas in Seattle, it's a Limited Edition Holiday Tea that I couldn't even find for sale on their web site during Christmas. I don't know if it will be available next year, if it's only sold in stores or only in the Seattle area, but if you can get some next year I highly recommend it. With all organic ingredients that include peppermint leaf, raw cacao nibs, honeybush and rooibos, it's really delicious. It smells divine, and look how pretty it is!

It brews prettily too, in a festive red color...

Is that gorgeous tea, or what?

So some friends joined me for tea and scones the other day, and as we were debating (or dozing, as the case may be) our way through various topics, the subject of how to pronounce the word "scone" came up...

We agreed that it depends on where you come from. I said that we, and every other American we know, pronounces it with a long o, as in "stone." The Mad Hatter argued that when in England (where they certainly know their scones!) we heard it pronounced with a short o, so that it rhymed with "gone." And the March Hare reminded me that while on a trip to Scotland we visited Scone Palace, where the word was pronounced Scoon, rhyming with "spoon." (The March Hare apparently didn't want to use my preferred rhyming word, "loon," in the Mad Hatter's company). ;-) The Dormouse just snored, so I don't know what he thinks.

And what about you?

Yep, I used "loon" as my rhyming example in the poll, and the Mad Hatter can just deal with it. Besides...

;-)