winter

Warm Caramel Apple Cider

/ Jodi / 19 Comments

Warm Caramel Apple Cider

A friend who reads my blog asked me a few weeks ago to post a yummy warm drink recipe.  Well – when I recently tasted a warm caramel apple cider drink at a restaurant with my buddy, Janet after our Autumn Weekend Wandering trip, I knew it is what I would be trying.  And try we did, again!

Warm Caramel Apple Cider 2

You could certainly make this with fresh apple cider, but I had a box of Alpine Sugar-Free Spiced Apple Cider packets in the pantry that I thought would work great, and they did!

When there is a nip in the air and you have time to sit under a warm blanket by a crackling fire with a good book or while watching a favorite movie in your fuzzy slippers or enjoying some catch up time on the phone or in person with a good friend, make a mug or two of this warm cocktail that tastes like drinking warm apple pie or a gooey caramel apple.  (sigh…)

Here’s your yummy warm drink recipe, Melissa! Hope you enjoy!

Warm Caramel Apple Cider

Combine 1 packet Alpine Sugar-Free Spiced Apple Cider with 1 cup of hot water.

Add 1 shot (or as much as you like) Buttershots Butterscotch Schnapps.

If you want to “fancy it up” and make it special, you can garnish with a cinnamon sugar rim on your mug (simply dampen the rim of your mug with water and dip in cinnamon sugar), add a cinnamon stick and a fresh slice of apple.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Four Seasons of Sheltering Tree

/ Jodi / 24 Comments

Sheltering Tree Summer Notecard Brusho

It’s Sunday, and that means it’s time for another Guest Designer Inspiration Card for The Paper Players Challenge.

This week’s theme challenge is “The Great Outdoors” for PP252.

pp252
When I think of outdoors, I think of trees.  And when I think of trees, I adore how different they look in all four seasons (at least where we live here in Mars).

Sheltering Tree Fall Notecard Brusho

So I heat embossed an “empty” tree from the StampinUp Sheltering Tree Stamp Set with Early Espresso (Dark Brown) embossing powder onto four pieces of watercolor paper.

Sheltering Tree Winter Notecard Brusho

I then broke out the Brusho Crystal Colours again and sprinkled and spritzed different colors onto each tree to represent, Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring.

Sheltering Tree Spring Notecard Brusho

I backed each tree with a piece of Early Espresso card stock and then adhered to Very Vanilla for the card base.

I stamped some fun sentiments from the Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler to make them into basic notecards.

Doesn’t it make a fun set?

Hope you are enjoying whatever season you are in!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

March Came in Like a Fluffy White Lion

/ Jodi / 15 Comments
March Lion 2

From the front porch – the shrubs are nearly buried in fluffy whiteness

March Lion 3

Even this weeping cherry tree is barely above the snow piled up near it from clearing the front sidewalk

March Lion

There really ARE shrubs under that pile of fluffy whiteness on the other side of the front porch railing

March Lion 5

I never tire of this sunrise view from the back deck – no matter the season

march

or watching views like this… Mr. Cardinal clearing the snow off the seeds while Mrs. Cardinal waits patiently

If March came in like a lion in Mars, it sure is a beautiful fluffy white one!

And Bonus…. if legend has it right, it will go out like a lamb.

Looking forward to daffodils and tulips and crocuses and forsythia and all the delights that Spring brings, but for now…

I’m still enjoying March’s majesty.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Iridescent Ice Bubbles

/ Jodi / 40 Comments

icicle droplets

I was talking with a friend yesterday who asked how I was doing.   You know… just the usual small talk.

She commented, “I’ll bet you wish you were back in Florida with your friend in the warmth.”

And yes – I do wish I was back there, especially with my dear friend.  And especially because our high temperatures have barely reached double digits for the past two weeks let alone get above freezing….

Yet, as I explained to my friend, if it weren’t for these bone-chilling temps, I’m not sure I would appreciate the warmth of Spring and Summer or trips to Florida as much….

I truly love the beauty of the four distinct seasons we are fortunate to experience in my part of the world –  life here in Mars.  It always amazes me that our yard can look so differently in the different seasons, and the snow and ice I tromp through in the Winter to get to the mailbox is the same yard I lay in and walk through in bare feet in the Summer and pile leaves on in Autumn and watch life burst through in Spring.

And though the temperature was a mere 9 degrees F yesterday, the sky was a deep azure blue and the sun was shining so brightly and reflecting on the snow that I needed sunglasses.

It was melting the icicles on the back of our house, and they were glistening and sparkling like bright diamond shards against the clear sky.  And the crystal droplets created a beautiful sheet of frozen iridescent ice bubbles on the deck beneath.

Through the lens of my camera, there is so much beauty to be found.

Thanks for the reminder, Lori, and your continued support and friendship.    🙂

ice bubbles on deck from icicles dripping

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

PS  My top photo is another entry for the WordPress Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge Rule of Thirds with Bokeh

Winter Morning Moon over Mars

/ Jodi / 21 Comments

winter morning moon over mars

Dawn yesterday morning brought a fresh dusting of snow, single digit temperatures, and the brightest beautiful full moon.  I threw a coat on over my pajamas, slipped my feet into my rubber crocs, and set my tripod up on the side porch to capture the scene (and oh what a scene it would have been if you would have seen me!).

When my dad called for our daily chat at approximately 7:05ish (he’s a school bus driver in his retirement, and we are making up for lost time, so we talk every morning between his high school and middle school run), he commented on the beautiful moon he was looking at while we were talking.

It made me smile to think we were chatting and sharing the same moon together, if even for only a few moments.  Our morning chats are so special.  Sometimes I talk the whole time, and sometimes he does.  Sometimes we have lots to stay, and sometimes not so much, but it always makes me smile and is such a wonderful way to start my day.

Dad reads my blog every day, but since he gets up at 4:30am and is on the road before my blog posts each day at 6am, he always comments about the post from the day before.  I think it’s sweet that he always reads it (and sometimes finds typos for me to fix).  But it makes me smile, because he reads every single word – even every ingredient in my recipes (wondering if he would like it as he’s a pretty picky pop).  I’m so fortunate to have him in my life as one of my guys.

Hopefully he is smiling reading this (and hopefully there are no typos).  🙂

Happy Friday everyone!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

PS Look for a yummy cookie recipe post tomorrow: Chocolate Sprinkle Cherry Kiss Cookies!

Don’t Fence Me In

/ Jodi / 18 Comments

don't fence me in

The wonderful thing about taking a walk with my camera

is that even though I may take the same route every day,

when looking through the lens,

there is always something new to see.

Don’t fence me in!

 

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

The Little Log Cabin

/ Jodi / 14 Comments

little log cabin

Oh Little Log Cabin on the edge of the woods, what is your story?

What tales would you tell if you could

of life now and life then?

Are we doing it right?

You stand so solid and sturdy and beautiful.

You remind me to slow down, breathe deeply, gaze intently.

You do speak…

to my soul.

 

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Our Children

/ Jodi / 25 Comments

winter front yard bush 020115

My copy of “The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran arrived a few days ago.

And what a treasure it is.

It is a book to be savored in small bits and pieces,

with words to be read over and over.

Several people told me about the section on Children, so it was the first place I went…

On Children by Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

I love this.
I hope to think I have raised my boys this way…
respecting that they have their own thoughts…
not forcing mine on them.

It was the greatest privilege of my life to house their bodies,
but I will never own their souls.

I’m so proud of the men they have become.
Sometimes we have different opinions, sometimes we disagree, but I have, do, and will always respect them immensely…
and love them all the same.

This was not necessarily the way I was raised, but that only makes me feel all the more convicted about it.
I am honored to bend my bow with gladness, and shoot two blazing, sharp, strong arrows into the world.

May all of our children be as unique and individual as they desire, like each snowflake that falls and blows in the wind and catches on thistly bushes.  And may we love them all and cherish their beauty.

With much love and pride to my Jake and Nick,
Your Mom

Freeze, Thaw, Melt, Drip, Repeat

/ Jodi / 3 Comments
icicles dripping

icicles glistening and dripping from the back of our house 1/31/15

Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge:  Depth

On Joy and Sorrow

/ Jodi / 30 Comments

joy and sorrow winter pine snow icicle

A dear friend shared this amazing piece with me yesterday, and I had to share it.  It was in response to yesterday’s post,  Untold Story.

And this photo I took on a brief walk yesterday afternoon seemed to perfectly align with the message in the poem.

On Joy and Sorrow
Kahlil Gibran

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Some of you say, “Joy is greater than sorrow,” and others say, “Nay, sorrow is the greater.”
But I say unto you, they are inseparable.
Together they come, and when one sits, alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.
Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.
When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi