soul walking

I read the title of my last post and laughed.  The end of January and the beginning of February were more of the same.  My Dad caught COVID and then turned to me saying his legs were very swollen.  Congestive heart failure.

I have spent a lot of time at my Dad's.  He is actually doing well.  I took him to the doctor as soon as he mentioned his legs were swollen.  It was one of the symptoms my Mom had that all was not right.  I do not take that symptom lightly.  He was still coughing last week and tired but the swelling had gone way down.  The diuretic they put him on is also helping to break up the crud in his chest from COVID.  Hopefully, his heart will heal some.  I truly think COVID may have triggered the congestive heart failure.

I have been treating my eye.  During all the health concerns with my Dad, I saw my opthomaligist again.  I am now seeing a cornea specialist.  My eye was healing and now it is not.  It got worse.  They do not know if it is an allergic reaction, a bacterial infection, viral infection, or fungal.  Right now, I am being weaned of the sterioid drops before I see the cornea specialist again.

During all of this, I was reading a book about New Orleans.  I texted my Beloved and said I wanted to go visit again.  He said when?  And that was how hard it was to make it happen.  My soul needed the visit.

We stayed at the French Market Inn on Decatur.  Other then pricey parking, it was a really great location for all we wished to do.  We ate at the Gumbo Shop in the Quarter both nights because they were just that good.  Plus they had gluten free and vegan options.  We drove Uptown and at breakfast at Surrey's.  Another great experience.  Then we walked the neighborhoods.  Fifteen miles later.

I took pictures of houses because we are remodeling.  We are expanding the shop and remodeling the house.  The house needs tender loving care after all these years.  There are colors on houses in New Olreans.  We walked past House Floats.  Something that has happened in the city since COVID.  We eventually ended up back in the Quarter.

We walked and shopped a little bit in the Quarter.  Found some photography in the French Market we loved.  I splurged on myself and bought handcrafted hats from Fluer De Paris.  Since I am supposed to wear a hat every time I go outside, it was a practical indulgence even though it was very much an indulge.  I tried a dress on and, if I have a formal event to go to, I will either go shopping again there or make myself something similar.

It was a lovely time.  No worries about my Dad.  No children included.  We will go back soon with the boys.  We have a couple places we wish to go back too.  We will go camping first though.  That is if my life does not go sidewise again.  Then I will need another long walking day in the Crescent City.

I made it to 2022

I made it to 2022.  That is about how I feel right now.  The month of December was mad when it came to the business.  Which was a good thing when it came to the business but not a great thing when it came to things like remembering to wrap presents.  

Myself and my Beloved went to my Dad's for Christmas and the week after.  Snohomish and Bellingham got more snow that stayed longer then has happened since the 1960's.  My brother and sister with their families were also at Dad's for that week so it was interesting.  The main roads were clear but none of the side roads.  My Dad's four wheel drive truck was wonderful.  It also means I am starting to think about a four wheel drive truck for my next truck.

When I was up there, I went and saw my morphologist.  The axe head to the face caused my left eye to be inflamed.  I was telling them in ER that I was not seeing as well from my left eye but it was not as important as my laceration and slight TBI.  Nothing was healing with my eye and I even felt like it was getting worse.  Diagnosed as an inflamed eye.  There are currently drops going on and there have been three visits so far.  There is healing but we will see what my next appointment brings.  I may need to see a corneal specialist.

After the snow.  After one of the best meals out I have ever had at El Gaucho's for my Dad's birthday, time to head back to Texas.

We actually did not get all the way back to Texas.  Our second flight was cancelled and we spent the night in Las Vegas.  We just took it as a grand adventure.  I found a great last minute rate at the Bellagio.  We had dinner at Spago's on their deck.  We watched the fountain show.  It was lovely.  The Spago dinner was lovely but it was too close to the El Gaucho dinner to judge it fairly.  I would have dinner there again with out a qualm!  The only thing was that in less then 24 hours back to Texas, I was back to Washington. 

I think busy, maybe even manic busy, is how my year is going to go.  We are going to try to be better about camping.  I want more beach time.  More surf time.  More walking time.  I want to time to play outside.

I hope your holiday went well and the start of 2022 is going well.

baquette feuilletee

I have a friend who sends me Tic Toc videos with food in them.  Since I have been trying to eat more plant based, I have not been eating kouign ammon or croissants.  When the lovely lady sent me this recipe, I went umm.

It is a baquette dough that has been laminated with cold butter.  I had leftover calzone dough that I thought I could try with this.  I found a vegan butter that worked here.  When it comes out of the oven, it is brushed with a simple syrup.  I did the basic one but you could easily add cinnamon or orange. 

This did not last a day.  I shared but ate most of it and it was better then most croissants or kouign ammon that I have eaten.  I found it to be really easy to make but I also find laminations easy.  I used one book fold and one envelope fold.  Just like I do for croissants.

baquette feuillette

Note:  I used the french site Barley Sugar and Gingerbread as a go by.

2 tablespoons sourdough starter (remember to refresh yours)

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup water

1 cup flour

2 tablespoons olive oil  (you can use up to a 1/4 cup)

1 teaspoon salt

4 ounces butter (the vegan butter I like best for this is Mykonos - it is cashew based.  Also, this is about 20% the weight of the dough)

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon melted butter.

In a large bowl, mix the sourdough starter, 1 1/2 cups flour, and 1 cup water.  Cover and let become bubbly.

When the batter is bubbly, mix in the rest of the flour, the olive oil, and the salt.  When it is as mixed as well as possible.  Knead until smooth.  Let rise in a warm place until it rises until double.  You can slow this down by putting it in the refrigerator and it will have more flour.

Once the dough has risen, beat the 4 ounces of butter until soft and then roll it out into a square.  Put in the refrigerator, flat.

Roll the dough out into a square that is about twice to three time as big as the butter square.  Place the cold butter in the middle.  Pull the points of the square to the center of the butter and seal.  Fold the two parallel outside edge to the middle, letting them meet. Fold the dough again in half, along the line where the dough meets.  Refrigerate for a half hour.  Roll out into a large square.  Fold by thirds.  Refrigerate for a half hour.

Put parchment paper or a silcone baking mat on a cookies sheet.  Roll the dough out into a rectangle.  Cut the long edges so they are even and the butter shows.  Cut three strips lengthwise.  Twist the strips and place them on the baking sheet.  I rolled the edge pieces into roses because I did not wish to waste them.  Let rise 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  The recipe I used as a guide said almost 450 degrees Fahrenheit but that just felt like too much for me so I went with  my gut.

Bake for 20 minutes.

While the pastries are baking, bring the sugar, water, and vanilla together to a boil.  Turn down and simmer over a low heat for 15 minutes. 

Melt the butter.

When the pastries come out of the oven, brush with the warm syrup and then brush with the melted butter.

Soooo good!  I need to make them again but I also do not need to eat them in one sitting either!

And back to my happy place

We went back to my Dad's, mostly to go to our mountain.

We went to work.  The field needs to be cut this time of year to get it ready for winter.  The blackberries are not as overwhelming as lower down the mountain but they are still a force to be reckoned with.

The colors!  The temperatures!  We actually stayed in the machine shed one night.  Small boys, Tall Short Person, my Beloved, and myself.  We had forgotten our gear in the madness of packing for a plane ride and we just did not have the right anything.  We went back to my Dad's afterwards and came back up to work.  But during the day it was so nice to wear a sweater.

We have been back a week and I have been trying to play catch up since.  I will say that it was wonderful and I need to go up there more often when I am at my Dad's.  It is just for soul healing.  We are considering getting a kit cabin to put up on the mountain.  Something that we can put up quickly and maybe heat.

The next two months are going to be crazy for work and travel.  We have been invited to a few holiday markets but it does usually end up being a six to seven hour day for me.  I will be traveling to  my Dad's at least once before Christmas.  And the healing continues.  The endurance is sslloowwllyy coming back and I get dizzy less often.

needle book

I travel a lot.  Mostly because of my Dad but when I can I like road trips and camping.  I also like to take classes and learn.  When I do, I always carry a sewing kit and my crochet hook.  I usually have at least one project with me too.

I really like this fancy hand needle brand from Japan, Tulip.  I find they work best for me.  They come in a plastic test tube with a cork stopper.  Because I travel with one of those, I find the plastic cracking.

I took the time to create a needle book from the supplies I had in the house.  I took the time to hand sew it. Partially because it is so small.  A big part of it is I am trying to take longer with projects because then I change the length of time I create and I slow how much I create.  Even though I use  a treadle sewing machine, I am going to slow the process down of the next dress I make by hand sewing it.  Presents I will still probably stitch on a machine.  I got teased that a treadle sewing machine is fast fashion for me. 

I also seem to do a lot of mending.  It is surprising how much mending I do at my Dad's!  Whether it is for him or me.  It fits into the little pocket bag I have well and I won't have anymore breaking plastic.

I am healing. The stitches are out.  The bruising is slowly subsiding.  I am still swollen and I tire easily.  I walked two miles yesterday and that was very much my limit.  I am going to either walk the two miles again today or walk to the library.  The rock gym and skating for myself is not going to happen this week.  In conclusion, I am doing scar maintenance and resting.  Everyone is surprised how well the largest scar is looking.  I am also still so pleased with the Harris County Health System.  A MD/PhD took out my stitches and my chart is really well documented.  Yes, I am the person who reads all the pages of the charts and discharge papers I have access too.

More healing to come.