Multigrain Date (or Raisin) Quickbread

I've reconnected with a recipe I made often before I was diagnosed with high blood sugar... and was told to limit my carbs.

I recently made "Multigrain Date Quickbread." a recipe in Anne Lindsay's Lighthearted Cookbook.

(My favorite of her many cookbooks...)

Here is the recipe online...

I wonder how it would taste made with soy flour and spelt flour (which are higher in protein)

Maybe I'll experiment another time...

My recipe comments indicate I first made it in July 1993!

Over the years, I've added notes like: Delicious even with 1 1/2 cups of oats and 1/2 cup of flour, instead of one cup of each...

This time I made the quickbread in muffin tins. I plan to freeze most of them, thawing them individually to eat as a special treat.

As colder weather approaches, I sometimes long for the comfort foods I enjoyed before I paid attention to my carb intake.

Changing Seasons, Changing Attitudes

For the first time ever, Terry mentioned going south for the winter...

I know we won't go - he never likes to leave the house in winter, even for a weekend away. It was easier when our son lived with us and was able to keep an eye on things...

But  I find it interesting that he talked about it...

The weather isn't all that cold yet, so we shouldn't really complain. Some mornings we awaken to find fresh snow on the ground. Not much, so far. A few hours later, it has mostly melted...

A few days ago, the college dome was put up, changing the soccer field into an indoor playing field. This picture shows it beginning to be inflated.

It's a big job, requiring lots of student help.

We've had to do a mental shift... Sunlight hours have become shorter. It's now dark by 6 pm... (By 7 my body thinks it's bedtime!)

Compared to our long summer days, life is very different now.

Do I Need To Set a Few Goals?

The beauty of retirement is that one doesn't have to do anything... But that can be boring!

The book "Happier At Home" made me wonder if I shouldn't set a few more personal goals. (Would I be happier if I did?!)

I do have some long-term goals: using up all my yarn and my quilting fabrics, sorting through books and clothing to get rid of things I no longer want or need. Eating more veggies. Walking more. Posting something on my blog every day...

What are some things I'd like to do more of? Bake - thought it's hard to find delicious low-carb cookies and cakes. Travel...

Then there are things I should do... sometime... Like get rid of (perhaps sell?) my remaining 300 copies of my Write it Right! spelling workbooks...

... and my excess pottery. (I have boxes full in the basement.)

Hmmm. Goal setting involves setting a time frame...

But I don't really want to deal with deadlines!

The beauty of retirement is giving myself permission to do whatever I want whenever I want!

How Quickly We Forget

Today is Remembrance Day in Canada - a day when we remember soldiers who fought and died in recent wars, starting with World War I.

The date of Remembrance Day is based on the day World War I ended - November 11, 1918.  That really wasn't that long ago.... before my lifetime, for sure, but a mere eight months before my mother was born. My father, a few years older, lived in Europe and remembered visiting his father, a cook on the front lines.

Every year, Remembrance Day would bring to mind those terrible times, World Wars I and II...

I've never been a serious student of history, so a lot of what happened must have gone over my head... because I was shocked to read - in the autobiography of Glenn Clark, a man born in the 1880's - that although World War I took 10 million lives, the year the war ended (1918), more than twice as many as that were killed by influenza!

Really?!!

A Google search confirmed that the pandemic Clark refers to in his autobiography was the Spanish Flu, which in two years killed an estimated 20-50 million!

The war and then the flu... Such great tragedies! I can't imagine living through all that!

How those events must have altered the world! And how quickly we forget!

New Gold Armistice Coin

For several years I studied botanical drawing and painting with local artist, Kerri Weller.

I recently found out that she designed a new gold coin that is being issued for Remembrance Day this year...

A whole collection of coins have been minted for the 100th anniversary of the Armistice at the end of the First World War.

I'd love to buy Kerri's coin - too bad they cost almost $3,000. At that price, I'd be afraid to keep it in the house!

Instead of admiring the coin, I enjoy this picture of it!

Signs of a Season Changing

Our beautiful autumn weather is still here.

But there are signs that winter is just around the corner...

Last Sunday we switched our clocks back to "regular" time. It now gets dark around 5 pm...

And two Sundays ago, we had our first snowfall.

Happily (for me - a non-skier) the snow disappeared a day later.

But my son reminded me that as soon as there is a significant accumulation, we'll go dog-sledding. A personal dog-sledding "voucher" was his Christmas gift to me last year.

I'm looking forward to the adventure... I even bought snow pants for the occasion.

But for now, I'm ready to wait... I'm in no hurry to see the return of snow.

Avoiding Knitting Pain: My New Approach

I have been an avid knitter for many, many years. For a few years now, my wrists have become sore whenever I undertake a new knitting project.

Any new (and exciting) project invariably makes me want to keep on knitting, even after my tired wrists begin to hurt.

(I know any non-knitters reading this might laugh at the idea that knitting could be "exciting"! But fellow knitters understand!)

A number of years ago, a friend who is an occupational therapist suggested I wear removable wrist splints, to keep my wrists still - and thus avoid painful twisting movements.

I tried... and I still wear them from time to time.  It works to a degree...

But not being able to move my wrist is not comfortable. I keep wondering if the new hand movements I am forced to make with the splints on will create new muscle pain.

For the past two years, when the pain becomes unbearable - when I wake up at night in pain - I've gone for physiotherapy. My hope was that physio would completely heal my wrists.

Unfortunately I never reached the point of total comfort. Wrists take a long time to heal. There is no quick fix. Equally bothersome is the fact that once I start knitting again, the cycle of irritation and pain begins all over again.

This year I'm trying a new approach: Online I've found some hand-stretching exercises for knitters. I do these daily. I've also bought a book on the ergonomics of hand knitting, hoping to learn what I'm doing wrong - what's irritating my hands - and how to correct it.

This may mean learning to knit holding the needles or yarn in a different way... Which makes me wonder if - after so many years of knitting - I can learn to knit in a different way and still enjoy it. My hands have developed their own "muscle memory": Will I be able to change how I knit?

For now, I've taken a break from knitting as I begin to read the book...

(Expect further updates to follow!)