Sun and Fog

This morning was one of those mornings that came too early. I either get up to walk Chaucer, or I get up because I want to go for a walk with Chaucer. 5:45 came awful early this morning, but I forced myself up and out. I am so happy I did. Some mornings in the park can be kind of dull. I mean nothing really stands out, its peaceful, but that is all it is. And then some mornings can be magic. It was absolutely beautiful out there this morning. The fog was rolling in off of the river and the sun was burning just on top of it lighting up the trees on the hill behind it. Amazing. I took a few pictures that I am really happy with this morning. I will post a couple here. I especially love the second one down. Remember, if you click on any of the pictures they will link to a bigger version.
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Nora in Wonderland

Girls are .... girls. This is possibly the wisest thought I have ever had.

Periodically, Nora disappears upstairs and comes down "en-costume." My absolute favorite was about a year ago when she went through this spurt of dressing up in Henry's Spiderman mask and, complete with super hero moves, saved us all from certain death. Today, she went upstairs, came down with this outfit, and went outside to collect flowers in her bucket.

I am so glad I have Nora.

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Spring

In springtime, the only pretty ring time
Birds sing, hey ding
A-ding, a-ding
Sweet lovers love the spring--


Willy Wonka?

Nope...

Shakespeare.

About to Bloom

Even before I started seriously hiking through Rutland State Park, I knew about these three trees. Two of them are Cherries, and the last is an apple. When these things are in bloom you can smell them from half a mile away... no exaggerating. I am pretty sure they are going to bloom this week :)

Meat Ravioli

So... meat ravioli... have you seen them anywhere? It seems that cheese ravioli has successfully overthrown the entire pasta world and driven out meat ravioli. Or at least driven it into hiding in cans from franco american.

I finally gave up trying to find these and, like all things that end up good, decided to make them myself. I took about ten minutes of online research and decided to go with a couple recipes. The first, for the pasta, came from here. The second came from a nice blog honoring this woman's italian grandmother... here.

Let me just take a second and let you know that the pictures are going to have to come in a group at the bottom of this post because of the limitations of the app that I am using to write the blog... sorry about that...

I have only made pasta once before, and really that's even lying. I tried to make pasta and succesfully made some sort of quick hardening paste. This time, I wanted to go with something that I could make in my kitchen aid. I am happy to say that this pasta comes out amazing. Its easy too! The meat filling is quite good as well, though be warned if you try to follow this, it makes about twice as much as you need, I would cut the recipe in half.

By the way, I put on a pot of spaghettis sauce and sausages right at the start and let the thing cook over low the whole time I cooked... this takes a while. The whole process took about two hours for me, but I tried to be all fancy with the ravioli.

Here is what I did for the pasta.
2 1/3 cups of all purpose flour
1 cup of semolina flour (I found this at stop and shop in gardner, but it is listed as "pasta flour"
1 teaspoon of salt
1 Tbs olive oil
4 eggs
2 Tablespoons water

Easy right? Actually, in all honesty, it was really really easy. So, pour out the flours in the bowl of your kitchen aid along with the salt and the olive oil. Mix on slow until it is nicely combined. Whisk the eggs together with the water, whisk it well because you want all of those egg whites nicely fluid. Pour the egg water mixture slowly into the bowl containing the flour mixture while the beater is still running. Give this enough time to really let it combine... don't go too fast. When it is combined, test the wetness of the dough by grabbing some and trying to form it into a ball. The dough should hold together but not be sticky. It should feel dry.

Form the dough into two nice balls and wrap them with plastic wrap. After you have done that, press the balls into two flat rounds and let them sit at room temperature for at least half an hour and up to 2 hours.

Once the dough has set long enough its time to form it into pasta sheets. These instructions are exactly my attempt at using the kitchen aid pasta rolling attachment for the second time in my life.... If I committed and cardinal sins, you can let me know...

I took the first round and rolled it to about 1/2 an inch thick with a rolling pin on a very lightly floured counter. Its important that the pasta rectangle doesn't get too wide for the pasta rolling attachment. The first round I made ended up a bit too wide and the pasta bound up on the sides which then tore it as it went through. I then took that torn sheet and folded it in half again length wise, pushed in the edges until it was the right width again and sent it through again. This really did the trick. I did this again and I had a nice smooth sheet. I sent this through the pasta attachment again and each time adjusted it to the next thinnest level, finally ending up on the second thinnest level, on my attachment, that was level 7. That round wound up being four very long (about two feet long) sheets of pasta. I took a glass and pressed the top onto the pasta, creating round cut outs and actually made the ravioli before I started on the other round. Here is the recipe for the meat filling:

Meat Filling:

1 pound 85% lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 small carrot, grated
1/2 stalk celery, diced
1/4 cup pecorino romano cheese, grated
1/4 gup parmigiano reggiano cheese, grated
1 tsp nutmeg (or to taste)
1/2 tsp allspice (or to taste)
salt and pepper to taste
extra virgin olive oil
1 egg

Put a table spoon of oil in a large pan and sweat the onion, garlic, carrot and celery over medium high heat. Once the onions are translucent, put in the ground beef and cook completely. Drain the meat after if you have to. I didn't. Take that yummy mixture and let it cool. Once it is cooled, combine it with the cheese (I only used parmigiana btw) and the nutmeg and allspice and put it in a food processor with the cooled meat mixture. If you want to season the mixture with salt and pepper, now is the time. Add the egg and process it all until the mixture is nice and pasty. (just a few good pulses)

Raviolis:
Take the first sheet and cut out rounds using the top of a glass. The rounds might not cut completely, it doesn't matter, you can rip it out the rest of the way later. You could also go the easy way and just cut the pasta into squares. Put a scant tablespoon of meat in every other round. Take the empty round and lift it out of the pasta sheet, carefully not letting it tear. Dab your finger in a glass of water and paint the edges of the round lightly with water. Put the empty round on top of the meat-filled one, wet side down, and seal the edges by pushing down with some pressure. Pick up the ravioli and crimp the edges about every half inch... see the picture, its easy but a bit hard to describe. Just keep on going until you have all of the pasta done. I just tossed them in a bowl and they were just fine. And that is that! Get a pot of salted water boiling at a light boil and drop the ravioli in. When they float to the top of the water, they're done. (It took about three minutes.) Oh, and important... don't throw away the scraps from the pasta sheets! I took a pizza cutter and cut them into one inch strips. Throw them in the water after the ravioli is done for about a minute and serve it along side! If you had that sauce going while you worked, you will have a deeply meat flavored sauce and have it all read to go. Good luck!

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The place in between

I am including yesterday's picture in this post... Nora and the flower. I took it at the playground in Paxton.

Today however, was a super packed day. We started by risking the lives of every one in our family, as I took both Henry and Nora to Purgatory Chasm. Actually, it went really well. Nora slipped once, that is all. They both loved it too. Henry was dying to climb into every nook and cranny that the place had, but he kept a good head too and didn't crawl into anything too foreboding. I was really nervous about Nora slipping into something that I couldn't get her out of.

For those who haven't been, Purgatory Chasm is a big...chasm... that is filled with tumbled down boulders. These boulders nicely stacked themselves haphazardly along the floor of the chasm and created tons of tumbled rock caves. Some of these go straight down into the abyss, directly beneath your feet. It was these that had me jumping to keep both Nora and Henry directly in sight at all times.

Henry took the scouting job and blazed the trail for Nora and I followed, hands wide open to catch any five-year-olds falling to their death. They checked out quite a few caves, and by the end, Nora was all too brave and was literally jumping from boulder to boulder... God help me.

While we were there, I kept noticing tons of police officers in the woods and along the chasm. I learned that they were looking for somebody while we were there, but it turns out that the person that is missing is only truly a missing person and not some serial murderer... whew. I hope they find him, that doesn't seem like the best place to be lost in. Although, today it would be tough to stay lost there. There had to have been a thousand people in that park. There were troops... troops! of kids from some YMCA. I cannot imagine taking a group of twenty or so ten-year-olds there and remaining sane. It was a great trip.

We met up With Sara McRell and her kids for bowling later at Bogey lanes in Spencer and then went to Dairy Queen... go Vacation!

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mazes on the sand

This morning I was walking through the state park in the fog. I do love it when its foggy, although, the last time it was really foggy out there I came face to face with a bear. It got me to thinking about crossroads. There are all sorts of older tales about meeting the devil at crossroads. I never really understood that. What is up with a crossroad being an evil thing? There are a few crossroads in that park, and I find myself a bit nervous, wondering if there is a bear going about his own business and not seeing me going about mine. I think this might be something that people in earlier times found disturbing. Anyone could be there, and when you start to know who should be in your town, outsiders seem threatening.

I am kind of proud of the picture today. I really like it. I didn't see any bears today, but I did see this guy at full sprint going across the dirt road. I know I am the guy interrupting his business here, but he didn't seem to mind it all that much. They leave these tracks in the dirt when they move, like mazes. They are kind of beautiful in their own way... kind of.

U. S. S. Salem

I just spent a very busy two days with Henry aboard the U.S.S. Salem. It was pretty amazing, truth be told. The Salem is a Cruiser Gunship and man, it definitely has guns. It reminded me of lego ships that I built when I was little and went way overboard with the guns... they were massive and everywhere. We stayed overnight on the ship courtesy of Henry's cub scout troupe.

Henry pretty much stayed with Nicholas Tuttle, one of his closest friends, the whole time. At times, we were given run of the ship and could go anywhere not roped off for safety reasons. That meant that all of the scouts could climb the huge guns and sit at the turrets. This, I am absolutely sure, was Henry's high point of the trip.

We ate in the mess hall and slept in the racks. The racks consisted of three bunked hammocks stacked on top of each other with about a foot of breathing room in between. There were about 20 of us in one tiny little room. Henry and I were lucky enough to get two top bunks that were next to each other. I say lucky for Henry's sake. It didn't matter to me... I never really slept. Many, many, many snorers in that room.

The trip in its entirety was great. The cub scouts were thrilled the whole time. Henry was nonstop in pretend mode. (He was fighting "the flood" with Nicholas, and by the sound of their conversation, nearly died several thousand times. He also was targeting real planes flying overhead from Logan. I am sure those passengers never even knew the peril they were unwittingly facing.

There is something primal about sitting aboard a ship fully pimped out for destroying anything in its path. Even pacifists must feel this down deep in their bones. Outside, on the green next to the ship, there was a very small german submarine rusting away. The swastika was still visible. I have read pretty extensively about World War Two. Even in my mind, and Iam very far removed from such things, it remains a dark place, and in college, I was shown some images that I wish I never had been. This hung in my mind as Henry enjoyed his way around anti aircraft guns and cannons that were able to shoot planes out of the sky at 18 miles away.

Still, I am left impressed and maybe a bit scared of what we, as humans, are capable of.

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SMOKEY

It is a rare occurrence when on my morning walk I encounter someone and am happy to see them. At best it is a nuisance because Chaucer gets all crazy, at worst, it is an intrusion. The morning, as stated before, is for me a much needed meditation time, a time for breathing and listening. However, this man sometimes appears out of the forest.

I am going to call him S.M.O.K.E.Y. A: because he smells terrifically like cigarette smoke, and B: Spirit Man Of Knowledge Ethereal.... Yup. I have only seen him a couple times, and I have walked the old dirt roads of that park since I was in my early teens. Every time I have seen him he comes at me sideways...right out of the woods... literally, he walks out of the woods, not down the road like a mortal would. I think I may have mentioned him in a previous post at some point. The last time I saw him I was miles into the woods and he just walked out of behind an old oak tree. This time, he came out of an especially dark grove of pines. Oddly enough, its not creepy. I know it sounds all stalker and preyish, but he is a really nice guy. He always has this point-and-shoot camera with him and we compare pictures. He speaks really slowly and every time he has met me he has spoken about indigo buntings. This seems trivial, but on my list, they are the king of birds: black feathers that shine bright blue due to the diffraction of light through the hairs of their feathers. I have always wanted to see one, and he just seems to have scores of pictures of them on his camera. He is the Spirit of the Woods after all so that seems to make a lot of sense.

I saw him this morning, and as always, he had a treat in his pocket for Chaucer. He also had stories. He walks a ten mile route through the park every day. He has fed moose, he held a baby grouse in his hands, he rode a bear, bronco style through a wandering troupe of girlscouts... alright, maybe not that last one, but he has pictures as proof of the other two.

We talked for about ten minutes this morning. I admired his new pictures, he probed my knowledge of gold finches, and he walked away, down the road and into the woods on the right. And that was that. Gone. Just another mystery.

I am also including a picture of Henry. He rushed out into the freak hail storm we had for 30 seconds today. Exactly what I wanted to do too.

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kiddos

They're so sweet.

Center

This morning was the first morning since the clocks changed that I was able to get out and walk Chaucer before school. It felt so good to be out there, by myself, in the morning air. It was beautiful too. No flies... although, the first black flies of the season appeared at my house this afternoon... not welcome.

Center.

I sometimes think it is some magical thing. When I was younger, I distinctly remember feeling like the world was spinning too fast and that one day I was going to fall off of it. I just remember feeling that everything happened around me and I was thrown to the winds of it all. I don't feel that way anymore, usually, but I still struggle with finding center. For me, it is a feeling of control, of peace and, I don't know... Chi? Like feeling rooted to the ground around me. I felt that way this morning. This could be for a couple big reasons. I am completely current on all correcting. I am through the winter months. I am past MCAS. I am looking at the beginning of the end of the quarter and year.

Getting out in the morning helps me find my center. I am not thrown into my work day and then buffeted by the whims of hundreds of teenagers. It is VERY important in my job to be in control of yourself and the happenings around you. Things can go sidewards incredibly fast during a school day, or even in one class. I am rooted, immovable, I have found my Chi and am centered again.

The picture is of a Catbird that followed me on my walk this morning. They are amazing birds. They can mimic hundreds of other birds' calls, even hawks and predatory birds. Pretty little things...

Easter

Coloring eggs... getting up early and playing guitar in the bitter cold... Ham and Lamb and Fam. It was a nice holiday.

Pete and Henry's

Henry did a great job in school this week, and for his reward, I took them out to Pete and Henry's in Royalston. When I was a kid, this place was known for having the best chicken nuggets around. I haven't been for years, but both of my kids are kind of Chicken Nugget conosuers.

It took a little over half an hour to get there. From here it takes about half an hour to get anywhere, but it is seldom that I go deeper into the woods, and Royalston is nothing if it isn't deeper into the woods. I actually drove down roads I hadn't driven down since I was really young... like in my teens. I went past one specific graveyard, bordered by a white picket fence, that my sister and I used to try to hold our breath for the entire length while my parents drove by it. The roads get old going that way, bordered by those old white pillar things that had the wires strung through them. The way follows Millers River for a while. Actually, Pete and Henry's itself sits right next to the river. Right outside of the restaurant there is an old closed down bridge, and it must have been closed for a good while, because I can't remember it ever being open. The memory of the restaurant itself is one in my mind with this bridge. I have special love for the Millers River. I caught my first trout in its deep tan water.

Pete and Henry's is one of the old style restaurants, the restaurants of my childhood: the kind with drop ceilings and wood paneling, filled with people with too much facial hair and t-shirts without brand logos on them. The food was great. I think that this restaurant might have had the first chicken nuggets in the area, way before McDonalds ever thought of them. Still, they are a whole different thing. They are soft and juicy, just as I remember them, except, I think they used to have some sort of apple dipping sauce. They didn't serve that, unfortunately. Still, I think that Henry and Nora were completely impressed. The waitress offered Henry frog legs. I think he would have taken her up on them if I hadn't talked up the chicken nuggets so much on the way there.

I am posting a few pictures tonight, just trying to capture everything a bit more completely.

Also, did you see the moon tonight?! I can't help but post a picture of it.

Uncle Bob

Yesterday, on a clear, cold, spring day, they buried Robert Locke. His family came to my house afterward, fifty or sixty of them all packed in here. I don't really know a lot about Jenny's Uncle Bob, but who does. The man didn't talk. He did here and there, but he was just like the rest of Jenny's elders... stoic.

I have a couple solid memories of Bob. He always walked down to the little store on 68 to get his paper and what not, every morning. I told Perry, his son, that and he laughed..."The whole town probably knows him for that." Perry told me that his father ate the same exact breakfast every day... oatmeal and blueberries that he picked in the summer and froze. He also told me a few things that I didn't know; His Dad literally had never gone to the hospital before his stay 6 months ago...he died in his 80's. His father had tons of chickens, like hundreds at one point, and sold eggs around town on top of his other job at "Wayne Roy" (I think I may have misspelled that). He had rabbits too, and I think I remember that. He was an excellent gardner, Perry said it was out of necessity rather than pleasure, but that it turned in to something that he loved, or at least liked.

What I remember most about Uncle Bob, was that he was calm, reasonable and good. He seemed like he could hold everything together really well, and that he married Aunty Fran who was really fun, and funny. He was a really good guy. If God has respect for pureness of spirit, genuiness of character and decency of action, then Robert Locke is eating at his table right now... oatmeal and blueberries, I am sure.

Dragonfruit

I took my kiddos, with my parents, to Wegmans yesterday. I have never been there before. Jenny had taken Nora previously, but Henry and I had yet to go. Jenny told me that Henry would love the place because of the restaurant there. Henry has an unbelievable curiosity and capacity for food. He loves good food. He has real taste and isn't afraid of spice, culture, anything really. He tends toward clean food, which I love of course. He tends to turn from saucy things and would be just as happy with a salad as with other things. So, Wegmans was a treat for him.

For lunch he chose three types of spring rolls and nan. Oh, and a slice of cheeseburger pizza. We walked around the store afterward and he saw a dragonfruit. This is something that he has known about for quite some time, I think he read about it in a book. This is the first time we had seen one in person. So, of course, I bought it for him. Nora then got to choose something for herself, she chose... corn holders. You know those things that you stab into the ends of corn on the cob... they came in a fine assortment of colors.

So the picture is of our dragonfruit. It is a bit waxy on the outside, and gives a bit if you squeeze it. The inside however is crisp and tastes a bit like a kiwi. It doesn't have a pleasant smell... slightly acrid, But it tastes good enough.

The list of exotic fruits/food that we know about and haven't tried is growing, not getting smaller. We have tried all sorts of things: starfruit, passionfruit, lychee fruit, uglifruit, cactus pear, on and on. God knows what the future could hold for Henry. Watch, he will probably grow up to be some sort of world-traveling chef or something.

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