Mooning

This was suppose to be posted a week or so ago. Sooo here you go!

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It's been getting cold 'round here. I guess it's to be expected, since it's December an' all. But 'round these parts winter isn't always a chilly experience. Up until the past couple of years our winters were very mild, with some of them being down-right warm. Like, 70 degrees and up.
Thankfully things have taken a turn for the more festive, and we've had a few really good snow storms the past couple years.
I'm still holding out for a white Christmas this year, but we might've missed our chance. Last week we had almost three days straight of rain rain rain. Rain. Not snow. :(
ANYway, I dunno what all that was about. I suppose it's a pretty chilly night tonight. There's also a full moon, of which I took some pictures. It was pretty exciting, 'cause I currently have a tripod, and it's my first night-shot  with my new camera.

This is the Start

 I haven't posted a lot of my photography, mainly because I didn't have a very good camera. But now, now I have a good camera, and I'm excited to let y'all view the world through my lens.

Today, I'm actually gonna post some of the photos I printed in my film class (Photography II). Our last class for the semester was today, so I brought all my photo junk home and scanned all my prints onto the comp. Now they are ready to share!

Behind the Fence
Self portrait

 

Hog Island Sheep

Spinning Wool

Cracked Pot

Mattingly

Michel & Jaydon

In case y'all noticed, these photos aren't cropped. That's why there are sloppy edges and white boarders. I could crop them on the compy, buuuuttttt I'm not. :)

Since I haven't really gotten into the whole blogging thing, I might try turning this into a photography blog. I might be more into that. We shall see, though. Christmas break is in a week, so that might be a good time to revamp my blog.

Forever Me,
Jemarie

I *haven't* made my bed, but I'm gonna lie in it anyway!

I love cozy beds. And they always look so much cozier when they're unmade, don't you think? That's a good excuse *not* to make it. It's more inviting, and you look forward to going to sleep (or more so if you're a college student like me and always seem to have late nights).
Winter weather makes beds even more cozy (and harder to get out of in the morning). So when I got out of bed this morning and longingly looked back as I headed out of my room, I couldn't resist the urge to capture my cozy bed on camera.

Yeah, not very good quality, but still a lovely memory to catch! Hopefully, one day soon I'll be able to better capture these moments.

The Old Man is Snoring

It's a nice, cold, rainy day today, perfect for stayin' home and baking! So that's what I'mma doin'. I was suppose to be baking some "harvest" breads for a Halloween event, but the event is postponed. Instead of just sitting around doing nothing, I decided to continue with my baking plans, since, I should probably test recipes before I serve them to a stranger.

First recipe up:



Applesauce Bread
I ended up changing this recipe a bit, based on some of the comments people posted about the recipe.


Ingredients


1/2 c    unsalted butter, softened
1/4 c    dark brown sugar
1/8 c    sugar (white)
1 c       all purpose flour
1 c       whole wheat flour
1 tsp    baking powder
1 tsp    baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp    ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp    vanilla
1 c       unsweetened applesauce
2          large eggs


Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (325 degrees F for dark pans). Grease and flour 8x4x3 in. pan.
2. Cream butter and sugars (brown and white). Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Do not over mix - a few white streaks are okay. Pour into pan and bake for 40-45 min..

Makes 2 loaves.

Other options

Add raisins, walnuts, or chopped apple! The recipe suggested 1 c raisins and 1/2 c chopped walnuts. I, instead, added about 1/2 c chopped honeycrisp apple for one loaf (I would do no more than 3/4 for the whole batch). To add any of these ingredients, fold in after other ingredients have been mix well.

Results!

Very moist and tender. Not too sweet, - 'cause it's not cake! - but just sweet enough. Doesn't have a lot of apple flavor, though. I don't experiment much in my baking, so I'm not sure how I would fix that...Perhaps somebody has an idea?

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Second recipe:

Fudgy Bonbons

Not sure where this recipe originated, but I got it from my mother, who got it from her mother, who got it from her mother. I like to think of it as a family recipe. :)

Ingredients

Cookie dough

1 12 oz package of chocolate chips

1/4 c butter

1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

2 c flour

1/2 c finely chopped nuts

1 tsp vanilla

60 Hershey's Hugs (or any bite-sized chocolate candy)

Icing

2 oz white chocolate 

1 tsp shortening or oil

Instructions

Cookies:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine chocolate chips and butter and melt until smooth. Add sweetened condensed milk and mix well.
3. Add flour, nuts, and vanilla and mix well.
4. Shape 1 tbsp of dough around each Hug, rolling between hands to form ball. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 6-8 min. Cool on cookie sheet for 1-2 min, then place on wire cooling rack.

Icing:

1. In double boiler over low heat, melt white chocolate with oil.
2. Drizzle icing over cookies.

Serve warm for melt-y center! Makes 5 dozen cookies.

Results!

DELICIOUS cookies! They're extremely fudgy and rich. Definitely requires a glass of milk. 

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The house has such a nice, cozy feel and smell...it makes me wanna curl up with a book or a good movie  - with a cup'pa tea and a slice of bread! Yeahhhh sounds good. Toodles!

Flying and Thud

Here I sit at my computer, desperately trying to hold onto the pleasant dreams of Anne and Green Gables, knowing that as soon as I start doing something else unrelated to reading that wonderful series, the normalcy of life will drop like a ton of bricks. And I will cry.

Right now, I just wish I could be absorbed into L.M. Montgomery's fantasy land of Avonlea. Life is so boring and dull as of late, and I just wish that something, ANYTHING, would happen. Stuff was always happening to Anne. Is reality ever as eventful as the goings-on in Anne's world?

If only I could read for eternity and never have to worry about the responsibilities that come with growing old. I would stay in that dream land as long as there were books enough to transport me there.
I use to day dream that Peter Pan would come to my window at night, even though I wasn't a story teller, and fly me away to Neverland, where I would never, never have to worry about grown-up things again. Even now, I anxiously await to hear the soft gliding of my unlatched window sliding open.

Which, now that I think about it, would follow the clatter and clang of trying to pry the screen off the window first.

I guess I'm coming out of my reverie, now that I'm starting to think logically. And even though I've just finished the last of the best books in the Anne of Green Gables series, I look forward to finishing it and reveling in the comradery I've found in Anne's kindred spirit. Her and I think a lot a like, I do believe. Not entirely, but a good deal. It's nice to have someone understand you, isn't it? Even if they are fictional.

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I do realize that I was suppose to give a daily account of my missions trip from many moons ago. I've kinda been avoiding my blog since I was never able to pen all that happened that week into written memory. But I was so inspired by my reading that I just had to tell someone my thoughts, even if that someone might be no one. So as of now, good riddance to that dreadful journaling that's been haunting me all summer! Perhaps someday I'll give a better account of that revealing expedition, but for now I'm putting it behind me. Let's play pretend and just suppose that I've already written it, okay? Thanks, pal.

Blessed by the Best

Just a couple days ago I returned from a 9-day-long missions trip to California, and let me tell you, it was an eye opening experience. 6 of those days were spent at the Dream Center in L.A., where we teamed-up with them to minister to the lost and the broken of the inner city. The experience that hit me the hardest was ministering on Skid Row. This is essentially where the city moved all its homeless people, basing a lot of the city's homeless and social service providers in this area to keep the homeless there.
You would not believe the number of homeless men and women milling about the streets. One missionary told us that there are 10,000-15,000 homeless in L.A. (or was it in Skid Row?). 10 to 15 THOUSAND. But seeing as many homeless people as we saw, I wouldn't doubt it. The sidewalks were lined with people and their shopping carts of possessions, most of them strung out on drugs and/or alcohol.
Seeing so many homeless people, hearing their stories and understanding how lost and forgotten and unloved a lot of them feel has made me greatly aware of how blessed I am. I have loving parents who've been married 25+ years, a loving family and loving friends; I have a roof over my head, clothes on my back and 3 square meals a day (not to mention in between meal snacks!); I have always had a job, I have a high school education and money to pay for a college (and parents who will gladly pay if I cannot); I live at home and have a car at little to no expense to me -- and all that is just the "necessities". God has given me abundantly more than I could ever deserve. And why? Just because He can; just because He loves me.
It's hard for me to understand why He would give me so much, and them so little. However, I do understand that God does everything for His glory, because He is holy and worthy. I also understand that we will never completely understand God and why He does what He does. It's seems like such a cop-out answer, but it's totally true.

I'd like to end this post with a song. Hopefully, I can be the kind of Christian that will praise His name, no matter the circumstances.

P.S. - I will (hopefully) be posting journal entries from each day of my trip to Cali. Stay tuned! :)

An Unexpected Adventure

So today after a meeting at work, I decided to take a walk on one of our trails. It was a trail I've never been on before, but it's always looked so inviting. However, since I was alone, I was only going to allow myself to go as far as was in view of our administration building (which was still a fairly satisfying distance).

I started down the trail in a good mood, enjoying the nature and the walk. As I neared the end of my trek, I grew more and more reluctant to turn around. So once I got to the bend that took the trail into the woods and out of view, I decided I would walk around the bend, just to see where it went, and then turn around. I came around the corner, and low-and-behold: a inviting, grassy slope! It was so intriguing that I decided it wouldn't hurt to climb to the top of the slope, just to see what was on the other side. As I made my way up the slope, a beautiful little pond came into view! I had known that there was a pond on our property, but I hadn't known where, and I surely hadn't been expecting it to be so close. Standing at the top of the slope, I let my marvelous discovery sink in.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something off to the left of the pond: the most breath-taking little trail I've ever beheld! It was a grassy path that wove slightly in and out of the underbrush, making its way through the trees that lined the pond. Small white flowers that dotted the lush undergrowth were accentuated by streams of sunlight pouring through the canopy above. It was so wonderful that I just had to walk down it, just to the end. Then I would turn around. So I followed it around the pond, relishing every moment. Then I came to a fork in the path. One direction lead back to the barnyard and to admin., the other continued around the pond. At this point, I had already surpassed all the limitations I had set for my journey - might as well go all out and take the more "exciting" path around the pond! So I did. The rest of the trail was more open and not as exciting as I had expected, but still just as beautiful, and way better then ending my little outing.

Once the trail reached the opposite end of the pond, I could tell it was about time to turn around. The other end of the pond stopped right at the edge of thick woods, and I wasn't really dressed for a grand, hiking-adventure. But as I neared the end, a pale, wooden structure peeked through the growth around the pond. I quickened my step, and low-and-behold (again): a cute little bridge! The bridge crossed over a tiny stream that fed into the pond, and then stopped right at the edge of the woods. The trail continued on the other side of the bridge, but it was less manicured and definitely required better footwear than sandals. All I could do was stand on the bridge and gaze out across the pond, trying to make the adventure last,  knowing that it had to end. After a few pictures and a sad farewell, I turned and wandered back down the path, veering off in the direction of the barnyard and my car.