MARIE'S MUSES

I am a little bunny.
Eyes on the sides of my head.
I see to the left and right,
Behind me and ahead.

I am a little bunny,
These are my very long ears.
They help me hear many sounds,
I can hear from far and near.

I am a little bunny,
My strong legs are for jumping.
Warning others of danger,
I use my feet for thumping.

I am a mother bunny,
With a white and fluffy tail.
I lift it up into the air,
Babies now follow my trail.

~author unknown

Occasionally I get up to other things besides cooking and writing cookery books. I also love to write children’s stories and have been doing so for years. Mostly just for my own children and grandchildren, and mostly still just sitting on my computer, waiting until I have more time to do the illustrations for them. I also love to sew and do crafts, making character dolls in particular, although I don’t seem to have a lot of time to do that these days either, now that I work full time. When I was a stay at home mom I used to get up to all sorts of crafting during the days after the housework was all done and my babies were at school.

I used to ply my wares at various craft sales around the area I lived in back in Canada. Occasionally my sister or a friend would do them with me. My sister was a very talented crafter as well, although I don’t think she does many these days either. What fun we used to have together on those craft sale days. I don’t think we ever really sold tons of crafts, or at least not as many as we had hoped to sell, but we did have fun together spending the day, just the two of us, with no children or husbands demanding any of our time. We’d laugh and talk and remember days gone by and just sit there . . . being sisters and loving each other. I miss those days, when we lived close to one another and could spend time together. It seems we rarely hear from each other now and I fear we are growing apart. I must do something to prevent that from happening . . . Anyways, I digress.

This morning I was going to tell you about something I do besides cooking and I have gone off on another tangent. J

About a month ago, I volunteered to participate in a Doll exchange on the web. A bunch of doll artists and crafters getting together and each one making a doll to exchange with another artist. I was so excited to be included, and it gave me the impetus to get my fingers back into something they had been itching to do for a very long time. I have been working at it during my spare hours for a couple of weeks now and it is finally finished and ready to pop into the mail, where it will be winging it’s way (that’s if rabbits have wings and I think mine probably do) and into someone’s heart across the Atlantic ocean.

I don’t think she will mind me sharing here with you first, and with any luck she may not even notice, or perhaps it will get her all excited in anticipation for the little lady who will soon be passing through her doorway and into her heart.

I used to make rabbits and bears, and sometimes other dolls such as gingerbread dolls and even lambs and pigs. Each one a unique creation and full of loving stitches and pieces of my heart. They were my babies when I could no longer have babies of my own . . . I took to creating them from bits of fabric and notions.

Isn’t she beautiful? Her name is Belle (short for Hare-abelle) Whimsey.  Notice the fine details, such as the lovely blue and white polka dot bow which holds up one of her pretty long rabbit ears . . . just so . . . not to mention her long delicate whiskers . . . perhaps if you are quick enough you might perchance to see one twitch.

Or how about that lovely torn yellow fabric ribbon that graces the front of her slender neck and the front of her jaunty little jacket with the yellow star buttons,  and . . . how could I resist . . . I just had to pop a sunny flower in there. Look how she clutches her little baby girl so close to her heart.

Of course they are dressed up in their finest "Go-To-Visiting-Friends" clothes and will be on their very best behaviour . . . they promise . . . they truly do. Look, they’ve even brought a gift ofa lacey little cutwork egg . . . so sweet!!

From the top of her head, right down to the lovely gingham rickrack edging on her gathered pantaloons, she is designed to please and to work wonder into the eyes and hearts that fall upon her. I hope she does . . . please, that is . . . and I hope that she won’t forget me. It is a bit of a wrench to let her go . . .

Ohhh. . . On cold and bitter winter weekends just such as we had this past weekend I like to break out the comfort food. We went for a long walk through the orchards on Saturday afternoon and we had to cut it short . . . The wind was cutting right through us even though the sun was beating down on our heads. We hurried back to the cottage and it’s warmth, much to Jess’s dismay and I put together an innard warming comfort supper, fit for a king, my Todd. He did enjoy it!  (Oh, I do love to make him happy!)

Serves 4

This is comfort food at it’s best. Quick to do and it uses things that I have in my larder and fridge most of the time. This is delicious!

800g potatoes (use a good mashing or baking potato)

4 fat pork sausages (use one full of flavour such as a Cumberland)

1 small red onion, peeled and sliced finely into half moons

200g bag of baby spinach leaves, washed and dried thoroughly

3 TBS extra virgin olive oil

2 TBS good quality pesto (make your own or buy the refrigerated kind, that stuff in the jars is nasty)

The juice of 1 lemon

Peel the potatoes and cut into chunks. Put them into a pot of lightly salted water and bring them to the boil. Cook for about 15 minutes, until tender. Drain well.

In the meantime, heat the grill (broiler) in your stove and cook the sausages under it, until thoroughly cooked, turning them frequently until they are nicely browned all over. (Alternately grill them in a lightly greased pan on top of the stove.) Set aside and keep warm while you finish the mash.

Roughly crush the well drained potatoes with the tines of a fork, leaving them quite rustic looking. Tip in the spinach leaves and the sliced onion, carefully folding them into the hot potatoes until the spinach begins to wilt slightly.

Mix together the olive oil, lemon juice and pesto. Carefully stir this dressing into the potatoes, adding a touch of salt and pepper for seasoning if required. Gently toss it all together to mix and coat well.

Serve hot with the grilled sausages piled on top. A heated crusty loaf goes very well with this.