MICHI MAGICK

Just a cute shot of little Michi sleeping... There's never been another cat that's so purely love as Michi....

Fritatta Man

Here's J with his first fritatta. This thing was amazingly tasty not to mention hugely beautiful!! He used lots of portabella mushrooms, cheeses and some wonderful herbs. He could be the next vegetarian chef.. You're HIRED!!

Namaste!!

Happy 23rd Cooter!!

Cody's 23 today! He and his girlfriend, Becky, came for dinner. He wanted Johnny Marzetti, and old family secret recipe with PORK AND PEPPERONI!! Well, what could I do for his birthday wish but make him a big vat of the stuff since he hadn't had any since all five kids lived at home. I like the picture with our big window in it. I like that you can see the sunset. We have a really pretty view from that window sitting up high on the mountain as we are.

My Irish Name..... Jillian Marsh isn't Irish enough??

Your Irish Name Is...

Eimear O'Farrell

What's" your Irish Name?

Runnin' Against the Wind

This week I lost two old friends. Friends from back in 'The Day'. Friends I'd lost track of for many years, but whose lives touched mine as we struggled to change the world, be free, score something, hitchhike somewhere. Gypsyblood friends. Gabriel Marks Carerra and "Dirty" Kurt James, this one's for you. Sail on, brothers....

It seems like yesterday
But it was long ago
Janey was lovely, she was the queen of my nights
There in the darkness with the radio playlng low
And the secrets that we shared
The mountains that we moved
Caught like a wildfire out of control
Till there was nothing left to burn and nothing left to prove
And I remember what she said to me
How she swore that it never would end
I remember how she held me oh so tight
Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then
Against the wind
We were runnin’ against the wind
We were young and strong, we were runnin’Against the wind
And the years rolled slowly past
And I found myself alone
Surrounded bv strangers I thought were my friends
I found myself further and further from my home
And I guess I lost my way
There were oh so many roads
I was living to run and running to live
Never worried about paying or even how much I owed
Moving eight miles a minute for months at a time
Breaking all of the rules that would bend
I began to find myself searchin’
Searching for shelter again and again
Against the wind
A little something against the wind
I found myself seeking shelter against the wind
Well those drifters days are past me now
I’ve got so much more to think about
Deadlines and commitments
What to leave in, what to leave out
Against the windI’m still runnin’ against the wind
Well I’m older now and stillAgainst the wind
Bob Seger
Namaste......

More of My Movie Star Kids....

J found this picture of Michael Cudlitz (Band of Brothers) who has always reminded us of my son, Gabriel.... Now I just need a Matt Damon picture that looks like Beau... Day two of my new job and my back is killing me.. I need a good massage, chiropractic adjustment and a Vicodin!! Back to my couch of pain......... Namaste!

A Not So Hot Vegan Dish...

BUT, the Pumpkin Muffins on the Vegan Lunchbox blog were out of this world!!! I can't stop eating them and they're full of fiber, so tomorrow (my first day at my new job) should be interesting!! I used 9 grain, mill stone ground flour that we bought at an old working mill in Grantsville, MD. I was afraid it might make the muffins heavy, but they were awsome!! I used half vanilla extract and half almond just because I ran out of vanilla and I used more ground flaxseed and less sugar. I also doubled the recipe and made two dozen. I'll bet there aren't a dozen left and I made them this morning! Great Shmoo recipe!! See the link in the last entry for the link to her beautiful and inspirational site! Here are the little critters... Are they not gorgeous?? Ben spent the night with us, then Em came over with Alfie and we took a long walk. The weather wasn't bad (suppose to be in the mid 60's this week!!!), sunny but windy. We came back with pink noses. And I think Em has one arm now longer than the other since Alfie takes HER for a walk! I have no earthly idea what happened to Ben's pantleg on this picture! Now for the vegan dinner..... We've been playing with new vegan and vegetarian recipes and so far we've loved everything. This evening I made Pablano Pepper Mac 'n Cheese from an old Vegetarian Times. The recipe was SO wrong! It said it served 4, but called for a 1 pound box of elbow macaroni??? At any rate, it made a ton of noodles with a pablano and cheese sauce which was good, but not good enough to justify half a dozen dirty pots, a blender... well, I could go on but it was alot of work! I should have taken a picture of the sink and table covered with dirty pots and pans!! The dish was OK. We liked the mildly hot pablano pepper taste, but it was nothing to write home about. Tomorrow it's getting a makeover since there's a BIG bowl of it left and it doesn't seem to have any protein or anything else really nutritious about it, it seems like just a big side dish!! OK, pictures... Yes, it's GREEN!! Two of the pablanos were put in the blender with a roux of whole wheat flour and soy milk. Those green stripes on top are slices of pepper. Green mac 'n cheese.... We'll have to see how it turns out reduxed tomorrow!! That's it for tonight... Wish me luck at my new job... I lost 4 pounds since coming back from the dark side!!! Namaste!

My Sons are Movie Stars!!

Which one is Joseph Fiennes and which one's Casey??

Guess which one is Phillip Seymore Hoffman and which one is Cody..... I'm posting this at 7:33 March 4th. Let's see if this one takes more than three days to post... I must be doing something wrong....

Which Domestic Diva Are You???

You are TASHA TUDOR, beloved illustrator of

children's books. You greet each morning

with a twinkle in your eye. You are an

eternal optimist and have a firm conviction

in the goodness of life. Your hands are

never idle, and you spend your time

gardening, spinning, weaving, cooking,

milking goats, and tending chickens. You

live in a world of beauty, magic and

make-believe. Children, animals, and fairies

follow you wherever you go.


Which Domestic Diva are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Where's My Stuff????

If anyone can email me at jonsdove1@aol.com, I'd love to know what I've done wrong that my freaking blog is waaaaaay the heck down the page! I just added my flikr badge and now my blog has sunk down.... grrrr.. can't any of this just be easy?? TIA!
Namaste!

Cha Cha Cha Changes......

Life is shifting once again.... Monday I go back into the salt mines with the sincere hopes that this isn't going to be a quick burnout job. I thought moving from FL to the PA mountains where things seemed cheaper would enable both of us to stay home and sell our art. Not... With the cost of natural gas, we have yet to turn on the furnace. We thought we'd be smart and just use the electric oil filled radiators which work great. BUT, our electric bill was almost $400!! That means we've used up half of our CAP energy assistance for 2006! In ONE bill!! So, off I trudge to hopefully help others be directed to programs to help with their heating bills. Funny, huh? Anyhow, here are some new pictures of things I've made lately. We've gone back to vegetarian and I've been having a blast trying out new recipes! Here's the one I made tonight, Tofu and Rice Stuffed Peppers from http://groups.yahoo.com/group/We_R_Meat_Free/ . I'd definitely par boil the peppers first next time I make it. It was really wonderful!! We had raw broccoli slaw (with pineapple, apple, raisins and sunflower seeds) and applesauce with it. Last night we had Fabio's Portabello Passion which I think was from the recipes on PETA.com. It was Fabio-licious!! I could eat it every night of the week!!

Here's a new picture of the sisters, Nada Django and Michi Magick. Poor Michi has been so bred for a look that she can't even eat hard catfood. She gets several dishes of yogurt (orange is her favorite) during the day and handfed soft catfood. It's a crime what they did to her. The way she was bred just for a look with no thought that she'd have such a terrible underbite that she can't eat or that she thinks her muzzle is the length of a domestic shorthair, so she can't even wash her own face because she's licking the air instead of her paw and is unable to give herself a bath. Or that her eyes are so bugged out because her head is like a little biscuit, that her eyes run most of the time and she usually sleeps with them partially open. But, she's all love. She just loves and loves and loves me! (She is a rescue as is Nada)

And lastly are my first pair of socks for CIC. I have another pair done in wool in pink and white that turned out really cute and hopefully will keep a little child's feet warm.

Also, here's the first half of my yoga socks! I love this Opal yarn!! I was working on it at the hospital and a woman came over and asked how I could knit something so intricate without a pattern. LOL I had to tell her it was a self-patterning yarn. I started the second sock this aftern

oon.

And last, this is top shelf on my 'I want' list! A laptop lunch that's NOT plastic! I could really use this for work!! Here's a link to their site: http://www.laptoplunches.com/products.html and a great blog with beautiful daily photographs of a child's lunch in this lunch kit here: http://www.veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/

Please email me ideas for non wool socks that don't fall down! I think I'm going to end up going the whole way vegan again..... If you get Linktv, don't miss Witness! 45 minute documentary. Disturbing, beautiful. You gotta love Eddie Lama's compassion and gentle spirit. Here's another link to linktv's programming: http://linktv.com/programming/programDescription.php4?code=thewitness