Not Yet Spring…

Winter is reluctant to give up her icy crown…

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Snow Ice Cream

One of my fondest childhood memories is making snow ice cream with my mother.   On snowy winter days she would bundle us up and send us outside to play.  Before we came inside to warm-up, Mom would hand us a pot to scoop full of clean snow.

This is a wool glove that I wore as a toddler. It’s mate was lost on an outing when my own children were still tiny enough to wear the gloves.

After we sere stripped of our wet, frozen mittens, boots and scarves, we would gather in the kitchen to turn snow into ice cream.

My mother’s favorite flavor of ice cream was vanilla, which is what we usually made.  Although you can certainly make any flavor that you prefer.  When my brother was able to talk my mom into making chocolate instead of vanilla, she flavored the milk with PDQ (do you remember that?) and then poured it into the snow.  The directions are really so simple that I hesitate to even call it a recipe.

Snow Ice Cream flavored with ground vanilla beans, served in an early 19th century pink luster-wear bowl. The tiny spoon is a silver-plated child’s spoon from the late 1800’s.

Snow Ice Cream

fresh clean snow

milk

sugar

vanilla or other flavoring

Put in as much milk as you would like to achieve the consistency that you prefer.  The sugar and vanilla are added to suit your taste.  Stir well and eat immediately.

On the next snowy day take a few  moments to try this recipe and make a lasting memory of your own.

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The Pleasures of a Good Book in Winter

One of my chief passions in life is reading.  There is something wonderful about books.  They can entertain you by transporting you to other times and places, or they can educate you on any subject that you desire.  They are the perfect companion for almost any occasion, but especially on a cold winter’s day.

There is nothing better than curling up in a high backed wing chair, beside a roaring fire with a hot cup of tea and a good book.

These are some of the books that I love and would recommend.

My list of perennial favorites includes all of Jane Austin’s books, any Mary Poppins book by P.L.Travers and the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis.  I re-read these books every year or two, always with a great deal of pleasure, and in fact they are the only books that I can bear to read over and over again.

If you wish to travel back in time, any of these books would be a good choice.

Blindspot by Jane Kamensky and Jill Lepore

A Wicked Way to Burn, A Mischief in the Snow, and No Rest for the Dove by Margaret Miles

The Tale of Hill Top Farm, The Tale of Holly How, The Tale of Cuckoo Brow Wood, The Tale of Hawthorn House , The Tale of Briar Bank, The Tale of Applebeck Orchard, and The Tale of Oat Cake Crag by Susan Wittig Albert.

The Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries by C.S. Harris, What Angels Fear, When God’s Die,  Why Mermaids Sing, Where Serpents Sleep, What Remains of Heaven, and coming out in March Where Shadows Dance.

Death on a Silver Tray, The Tainted Snuff Box, The Bloodied Cravat and Murder in the Pleasure Gardens by Rosemary Stevens.

If you are a Jane Austin fan try any or all of Stephanie Barron’s Jane Austin mystery series, or The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austin by Syrie James.

I’m currently reading A Marked Man by Barbara Hamilton which is a mystery about Abigale Adams.   I’m on page 88 and so far I really like it.  There is another book in this series called The Ninth Daughter, which I haven’t read, but I plan to.

When you are in the mood for a beautifully written faerie tale I would suggest any book written by Patricia A. McKillip.

Excellent non fiction choices are:

Woman’s Painted Furniture 1790 – 1830 by Betsy Krieg Salm.

Connecticut Needlework Women, Art and Family 1740-1840 by Susan P. Schoelwer.

American Folk by the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

American Folk Dolls by Wendy Lavitt.

Labors of Love America’s Textiles and Needlework 1650-1930 by Judith Reiter Weissman and Wendy Lavitt.

The Kingdoms of Edward Hicks by Carolyb J. Weekly.

Those are probably enough recommendations for now.  If I went through all of my bookshelves, this post would be never ending.:)

Do you have a favorite book that you would like to suggest as a good read in winter? 

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Frozen Fun

When was the last time you made a snowman?   It’s still as much fun now as it was when you were a child!

This tiny fellow is only a hands length tall.  He’s perched on a metal post, guarding the walkway to my side porch.  His eyes are tiny bits of coal that I gather and save when I find them in my flower beds.  They are the remnants of long ago coal deliveries, from when my house was heated with a coal burning furnace.  His nose came straight from my vegetable bin and his scarf is a bit of scarlet dyed batting.

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Snowy Day

Snow Day or snowy day?  On Tuesday we received a late night visit from Jack Frost.  He stayed to play until Wednesday morning and by the time he left we had another eighteen inches of fresh snow. 

Our personal winter wonderland with a clean white blanket of icy flakes from 2-1/2 to 4 feet deep!

These are the sights that met my eyes, when I peered through my windows upon waking.

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Happy New Year’s Day

Ringing out the old year and ringing in the new with images of the  holiday season.

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