MUFFIN

Muffin is such a cute word that it gives me joy to make them.
Be sure to drain the pumpkin well!
With the pumpkin I made -

Pumpkin Pecan Oatmeal Muffins
1 c. flour
1 1/2 c. quick cooking oats
1/2 c. chopped pecans
1 t. baking powder
1/2 baking soda
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. cloves
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. oil
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1/2 brown sugar
1 c. canned pumpkin or fresh (nicely drained) like mine

Raw Sugar for topping

Mix first eight dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl mix remaining ingredients except raw sugar. Pour wet into dry and mix just until flour is moistened. Do not over beat! Scoop batter into greased muffin tin and top with a sprinkling of raw sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

Optional: Add half a cup of moist raisins to batter for an extra pop!

Heidi is a pumpkin muffin eater
But it gave her a wider seater
On this problem she did not dwell
'cause her husband loves big buns well

Pumpkin Drama

Back in late September, or October I bought a blue pumpkin at that farmer's market.
I think it is a Queensland Blue. Anyway, today I cooked it.
I put it in a pan with 3/4 cup water and covered in with foil.
It cooked rather quickly. When I took it out of the oven it had doubled in liquid. I turned my back to do something and when I turned around to deal with the pumpkin again all the liquid had disappeared!
Some weird magic suction had taken place sending all the liquid into the cavities.
Freaky!
Don't you love the crazy shade of green the pumpkin changed to?

The flesh smells yummy. More about the pumpkin later . . .

Glister

A couple weeks ago I got the second issue of Glister. Glister's home is charm. Did you ever see that movie The Enchanted Cottage? It came out in 1945. It's sappy, but kinda fun. It reminds me of the story of Sir Gwain and the Lady on one level. Anyway . . . Glister's home is sweetly enchanted. That's all I will tell you.

One of my favorite sights on the way to New Ulm was a hillside in Wisconsin that was peppered with cows! They make think of cheese . . . which reminds me of what I had a Tina's . . . Camembert baked in Pillsbury croissants (baked according to manufacturer's directions) . . . then sliced and served on a cold piece of apple. HEAVENLY!!!!!!

Camembert is better then brie, I think. But brie works if you can't find the Camembert. I made some baked brie yesterday and served them up with Pink Lady apples (my favorite). Anyway, apples and baked brie went great with squash soup. Randy liked the brie, too.

Just a reminder to click on the images to get a close-up look! Happy autumn ya'll!

For Real?

Prior to Halloween Ariana would have nothing to do with her costume. But when October 31 rolled around she seemed to calmly, although not enthusiastically, embrace the costume. I am amazed that at six months she seemed to "get" what the holiday was about.

How is it that "Afro Man" can have a smooth hairless chest? Schick, I don't know.

Ah, the beauty of the Wisconsin Dells. We took Kadie to Martin Luther College, in Minnasota, to check out the campus and programs. What a lovely destination New Ulm is. I love it! I think it is a great choice. She has one more place to check out, Tri-State in Angola Indiana. I doubt it is as pretty as MLC, and I doubt that they men with better potential for being a good husband. I might be wrong.

WASP stands for . . .

Wieldy Aggravating Stinging Pest

Sorry Sister I was in the hospital again! &^%$@!!!!
Last week I went honey extracting and at one point I was standing in a swarm of bees, kinda freaky but I never felt threatened.
Ironically, on Sunday I went to an Antique show with Randy and was stung by a wasp. I went to the bathroom, sat down and was immediately stung. Yes, it was a wasp because I killed it.

I had an allergic reaction- no big deal it's usually gone in 24 hours. But no not this time, I got an infection the size of a dessert plate on my thigh. It was hard, hot, and really itchy.

Now I will scream whenever I see a flying insect because I might get stung and that can be really expensive. The cost of medications alone . . . grrrrrr.

I'm kinda sorry I killed it so quickly. I wish I would have suffocated it in a baggie for a little while, fed it just a little poison, then burned it with a match, stretched it on a rack, pulled its parts off one by one, and then finally, stomped on it! (It's Halloween what can I say?)

A Bee-utiful Time

My student Sierra hooked me up with a honey producer. Her grandpa keeps bees and is good friends with a man who holds the equipment to extract honey from the hives.

The experience was sensory overload for me. There was so much to take in. A few loose bees few about. The room was warm, filled with the sounds of the wax shaver (which trims the wax off the closed cells) and the honey extractor. Also, the room was bursting with the sweet smell of bees wax.

Bees wax is just intoxicating for me. Whenever I smell it I am reminded of this cryptic art show I went to. In the far back room of the gallery was this large installation of a large curving wall made from 12 x 12 tiles of bees wax. The scent of the wax filled up the entire gallery. Also, when I smell bees wax I think of the solid perfume I made, and pysanky egg decorating.

There are so many interesting facts concerning bees and honey and I could begin to list them, but the thing that I came away with is how romantic the process is . . . really. Oh sure these men could spouts off facts, but in doing so you could see how smitten they are with these fascinating insects.

Flowers, pollen, dances, sweet, golden, black bees, nectar, extracting, centrifugal force, wax lighter than honey, vats, raw, queen bee, workers, drones, hive, scavengers, casings, cocoons, . . . even the vocabulary is exciting.

It was one of the most thrilling experiences I've ever had.

OH! And they gave me this huge container of honey fresh from the vat, just out of the hive . . . All these creative ways to thank them are going through my mind.

How to manage life as a superhero

Ugg! Managing my life is tough! Now I have added a new blog and I'm having trouble separating my identities. Suddenly I can't be springgirl anymore because I haven't figured out how to create separate personal profiles for each site. I don't want anyone who doesn't know I'm springirl to find out I am springgirl. Suddenly I understand the life of a superhero. Living with two distinct identities, trying to keep them separate from each other.
It seems sometimes that my life requires supernatural powers to get through the freakin day. Often at the end of the day I am feeling like I am in need of some super human strength to get it all done.
All this superhero talk has inspired me to listen to Soft Bulletin by the Flaming Lips.
"Is it getting heavy?"
"Well, I thought it was already as heavy as can be."
"Tell everybody waiting for Superman that they should try to hold on the best they can.
He hasn't dropped them, forgot them, or anything.
It's just too heavy for Superman to lift."

I'm no hero, but sometimes it feels like I'm expected to do miracles like Superman.
If it weren't for those really fun moments of flying I'd stop, but . . . when I'm not being chased or I'm not chasing the flying is . . . breathtaking.

Another Blog!

Please visit http://artsprouts.blogspot.com/
to see images of my students' art work.
Professionally it is a great tool for sharing what I do with other art teachers.
However, even non-teacher can be inspired by sprouting creativity.