Friday, December 4, 2009

Today is another day! Of course, it always is but it never fails to amaze me. Yesterday I was a cranky woman. Not totally, I do work with my mind some, but more cranky than I liked. I was tired because the dear one was snoring the night before and I had to leave our pristine clean bedroom with fresh laundered, country air-dried sheets and go down to the lower depths. Normally I don't mind this. In the old days, pre-health diet days, I would make a big mug of hot chocolate and grab some cookies perhaps and my book. No problem. I trained myself by treats to enjoy what sometimes felt like banishment. The truth is that when I'm uneasy or ruminating about something bothersome - the man snores louder! It's a mystery.
So I didn't sleep well and I was annoyed by those perfectly deserved (truthfully, not all were deserved) remarks by the rejecting publisher, and I haven't gotten everything done that I want to. What a surprise to the other optimistic types out there! My garden isn't dug over for instance and I haven't planted my tulips and there are things in the house that need to be done. Yucky things like cleaning out the furnace/storage room and so on. I did clean some kitchen cupboards the other day - very satisfying. And so on.
But today - all things are the same and I feel fine. It's a new day. Laundered, hung on the line, rinsed by fall rains and sweetened by the wind. My very dear Babes Group is coming for our first session of Babes in Moneyland. We are using the wonderful book 'Your Money or Your Life' by Joe dominquez and Vicki Robin with their study guide for groups. I just printed it off ( I bought the pdf) and had to change both ink carteridges. arghh!
I made blueberry scones from a recipe in the Joy with a few alterations. OK - many alterations - I used a mixture of oatmeal flour and spelt flour. I didn't put sugar in it and I used yoghurt instead of cream. And I threw in frozen wild blueberries. They taste great! A little bland but the guests can use jam to sweeten it. I'll just slather on the butter. Good enough.
Now, I have an hour before they get here so I'm going to write on the wip. Perhaps I'll let my main protagonist, Kitty, ruminate on new days in an investigation. I can't give her these scones because the town she's in, Annapolis Royal, is already fattening up her and her cohort. Every time she and Sam go to interview someone, they get pastries or muffins or something. I must always be thinking of food when I'm writing.

7 comments:

Helen Ginger said...

Do you try out the food you're feeding your characters? That would be a hazard for me. But it does remind me that I should pay more attention to what my characters are eating. Perhaps give them some things that I never eat, just to live vicariously through them.

Helen
Straight From Hel

Jan Morrison said...

Ha! Oh, I'm totally living vicariously right now with my characters - they are eating lots of stuff I can't - Cornish pasties, home baked goodies, martinis. And yet, they never gain a pound! It's a mystery!

Elspeth Futcher said...

I'm taking your last sentence as my cue! I love feeding my characters. They all eat far more than I do, but then meals were served differently in the time period I'm writing. I love cornish pasties (and make them fairly well). I'll never turn down a martini; that would be rude. Besides, with a martini in hand I can give in to the temptation to quote Noel Coward. (I'm missing the smoking jacket and the cigarette holder though).

Elspeth

Stacy Post said...

Blueberry scones sound dee-lish, Jan! I hope your group meeting went well. Have you ever given your characters a grumpy day, or a snorer to disrupt their blissful sleep? My dh snores too, especially when he has a cold. It makes for a fussy wife. I'm sending hippie hugs your way!

Jan Morrison said...

Elspeth - I once went to a "Come as You Were" party as Noel Coward, smoking jacket, cigarette holder - the whole thing. You make cornish pasties? Be still my beating heart.

Stacy - the scones were a big hit oddly (no sweetener) and the meeting went well. Yes, I have given my characters a grumpy day but never a snoring husband. hmmm....

Elizabeth Bradley said...

I'm gluten-free and I am wondering what spelt flour is???

Jan Morrison said...

Spelt, kamut, quinoia are ancient grains - they are a wheat and I'm not sure they are gluten free but they could be. They are less acid-forming than durham wheat and seemingly ok for this diet to decrease yeast overgrowth. I would google ancient grains and see what comes up.