When Will I Learn?
“You know, you don’t have to go camping if the weather is going to be awful,” remarked my wife as she eyed the leaden winter sky. Despite the deteriorating weather, I stubbornly clung to my plans. Sure, it was December, but the forecast was for light rain and...
Book Club
Our wives were scheduled to do a zoom book club meeting Sunday afternoon; it seemed like a good time for Andy and I to load up the dogs and head to the woods. ...
Halloween 2020 -Part 3: Striking Camp
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Halloween 2020 -Part 2: Samhain
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Halloween 2020 -Part 1: Pitching Camp
Ever notice how traditions spring from repetition, almost without our noticing? Apparently, my brother and I have a traditional Halloween camp-out. Every year, we go up in the woods, camp, carve Jack O'Lanterns, hunt mushrooms, drink too much, and eat too much....
Pterodactyl
just above me, huge, silent, missing one secondary feather from the left wing, a heron glides across the pale blue plate-glass dawn
The Kiss of Contagion
You feel the warmth rising, the gentle caress of contagion brushing across your lips. You try to deny it, to push it away. But there is no denying what you feel in your chest, the ache at the back of your throat. It has caught you, and you will not get free. You may...
Morning Fog
Long before daybreak Roosters crowing in the fog of winter snowmelt
Last Night I Heard Your Voice
I know you think I don’t miss you when you’re gone and it’s true, I keep busy all day long and fall asleep before I get to bed. But last night I heard you call my name. I woke up in the dark, in bed, alone. I reached for you but found only tangled sheets I swear that,...
Throwback Thursday
1~4~2016 Home at last Driveway white with snow Happy dogs
Slow Cooker Beef Stew
Stew is one of the easiest, most comforting foods to make. With slightly more attention this slow cooker recipe would work just as well in a Dutch oven or even in a kettle on the stove-top or over a fire. You hardly need a recipe, but the dredging the meat in flour...
Dutch Oven Shepherd’s Pie
I love Shepherd's Pie. The thick filling of meat and vegetables, topped with mounds of mashed potatoes, makes the perfect comfort food. The sound of it bubbling, the tantalizing aroma, mixing with the smoke from the coals as it leaks out from under the heavy lid of a...
Mashed Potatoes
There’s not much to making mashed potatoes. They are tasty, filling and inexpensive. If you don’t finish them at dinner, you can fry them in butter for breakfast. Ingredients 1/3rd cup of buttermilk, more or less 4-6 baking potatoes, peeled and cut up 2 cloves...
Sparassis Lasagna
Essentially, I just substituted the Sparassis for lasagna noodles. I actually did half cauliflower mushroom and half noodles in the same casserole-my wife doesn't like mushrooms. I had some of each, and the Sparrasis half compared favorably in texture and presentation...
Borscht
When my wife and I were first going out, I had her over for dinner. I made this recipe. Almost everything in it came from my garden. Amy was so impressed. I hardly garden at all anymore, and I haven't made this more than once or twice since. I don't know why. It's...
