At the Last, Rain

A long, cool April, followed by the final thawing in May, stayed high and dry for the most part; there was a little cracked dust on the path between the lilac and the spruce.  But after many long, sunny days (for which we counted ourselves blessed: it is hard to want more clouds after the long winter gloom) at the last, rain. 

"Come over the hills and far with me,

And be my love in the rain."  --Robert Frost

"If I had the power the storms for to rise,

I would make the wind blow out and I'd darken the skies,

I'd make the wind blow high, and the salt seas to roar,

Till the day that my darling sailed away from Culmore." 
--Cara Dillon

"To the bad parts of America my love I'll go see,

For it's there I know no one and no one knows me, 

But if I don't find her I'll return home no more,

Like a pilgrim I'll wander for the maid of Culmore." 
--Cara Dillon

"I am the daughter of Earth and Water,

the nursling of the sky..." --P.B. Shelley

"One morning you found me, alone by the shore;

You harbored me, bleeding, heart-shaken, and sore.

You built me a thatched hut of white on green turf:

But loud in my ears drummed the sound of the surf."

--Ania, "The Song of the Selky"

"One nature danced to man's fiddle and pipe,

But another sang notes of a song's archetype.

With one self I longed for an anchor in earth,

But another was chained to the sphere of my birth."

--ania

"The ocean is dark, and the ocean, it's wild,

But the ocean is loved by the ocean's fair child."

--ania

"Oppressive, melancholy breezes sigh

With grays that cloud all clarity of forms

With memories and half-forgotten dreams

Like ghosts, or mist, or cobwebs in the light

Of early dawn."--ania

 

"I thought I had forgotten,

But it all came back again

To-night with the first spring thunder

In a rush of rain." --Sara Teasdale

"A raindrop falls, and nevermore the same

Falls from the self-same sky, or colored clouds--

As silver arrows showered once they came,

Another time with wind and thunder loud,

with stormy passion, flashing bolts of light,

They struck the shattered earth as with a fist:

And once a scarlet sun sank into night 

Among the hills and swirling rainbow mist."

--ania

Battening down the hatches... Ozarkian style

October 29th- Welcome ashore, Hurricane Sandy! Power outages?! Bah! This Missouri-born girl snaps her fingers at you.  What is a little wind and rain to good old-fashioned American fortitude, brashness, and "just plain thing-ness"? (quotation courtesy of Jeeves and Wooster!)

"Rain may fall and wind may blow,

And many miles be still to go,

But under a tall tree I will lie,

And let the clouds go sailing by."

-J.R.R. Tolkien

-Final roses in the front garden.

-My rendition and translation, edits included, of a favorite recipe (original in Polish):

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake 

Crust:

3/4  c. chocolate cookies or graham crackers

1 tbsp. cocoa

3 tbsp. melted butter

3 tbsp. melted dark chocolate (chips or baking chocolate)

Cheesecake:

1 lb. (or about 2 cups) of cottage cheese, strained, or farmer’s cheese

3/4 c. white sugar

1 egg white

1/2 c. melted chocolate

1 tsp. vanilla (or almond extract, lemon juice, or other flavoring.)

Ganache:

1/2 c. cream

1/2 c. dark chocolate, chopped

Topping:

2/3 pint of raspberries (or other berries: strawberries, blackberries, currants, etc.)

about 1 c. seedless raspberry jelly or jam (or other flavor, complementary to berry choice)

1 c. heavy whipping cream

2 tsp. sugar

*Requires a 9” springform pan for baking. For a taller cheesecake, use an 8” diameter pan.

1.  Prepare your pan by greasing the bottom and lining with parchment paper.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In small bowl, crush cookies into fine crumbs (a potato masher is good for this, especially with crushing graham crackers).  Add melted butter, cocoa, and melted chocolate and mix.  Press firmly into bottom and sides of prepared pan.  Put into the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

2.  (In medium to large mixing bowl) blend or process cheese in food processor or with mixer until as smooth as desired.  Add white sugar and mix.  Then add egg white, followed by vanilla.  Separate out about one quarter of the cheese mixture into another bowl and add melted chocolate (to the smaller portion).  Stir until completely combined.  Take the pan with the crust out of the refrigerator and spoon the chocolate cheese mixture into the pan first.  Spread evenly over crust.  Then spoon on white mixture, and smooth the top, careful not to mix the layers.  Put the cheesecake into the oven, and immediately turn down the oven’s temperature to 275 degrees.  Bake for about 45 minutes or unti l the cheesecake appears fairly firm on top.  It may not look done; that is okay.  Turn off the heat and leave the cheesecake in the oven for an hour to cool slowly (leave the oven closed; the cake will continue baking for a while.)  After an hour, remove cheesecake from oven and continue to cool at room temperature until completely cool (or overnight).  It can be put in the refrigerator after it has cooled for some time at room temp.

3.  Spread the top of the cooled cheesecake with a layer of raspberry jelly and some of the berries (if desired), sliced.  Then chill while preparing your ganache for the next layer.

4.  Chop the chocolate finely and put in a bowl.  (You can also use a food processor to chop the chocolate coarsely, but make sure the chocolate is cold and you don’t process too long, or the friction will melt the chocolate.)  Heat whipping cream in a saucepan on the stove quickly over medium high heat, until it just boils and remove immediately (be careful not to burn or curdle!!).   Immediately add the cream to the chopped chocolate and stir completely.  Your ganache should look shiny and dark.  Add to the top of the cheesecake by pouring or spooning it over the jam and berry layer.  Do not spread ganache; just let it coat the cheesecake.   Return the cheesecake to the refrigerator or freezer for another chill.

5.  Meanwhile, whip your cream with sugar (I added a few drops of vanilla to this as well.)  Spread on to the cheesecake (Yay!! This is the final layer!)  And top with your choice of berries, curls of shredded chocolate, etc.  Refrigerate until serving.  Smacznego!!!!

"I sit beside the fire and think 

of people long ago,

and people who will see a world

that I shall never know.

But all the while I sit and think

of times there were before,

I listen for returning feet

and voices at the door."
-J.R.R. Tolkien

Faces in the October Rain

Outside the latticed window pane
The maple branches stretch, palm-upward, wet and dark
Upraised to silver streams en route to earth from heaven,
Coursing over skin-like bark.

Refreshed, refined, the cold mist hanging
in the air, another season's growth complete,
The tattered yellow leaves, now shaken down and lying
Scattered at the feet,

Bear record of one more year
And summer passing.  Enveloped overhead
The geese pass too.  A shaggy spruce leans, thoughtful,
On a deserted garden bed.