Tuesday, 15 November 2011

Lucky leaves

Somebody once told me that for every leave you catch in autumn, you get a lucky month in the new year. A few days ago, I remembered this conversation with a jolt. The ground was covered in frost and the trees were almost bare. For weeks, I'd been going for long, crunchy autumn walks under trees laden down with leaves, completely forgetting about the luck I might be able to catch. How could I have gone for my entire childhood without ever hearing about the lucky leaves?

Last year, after said conversation - I now remember it quite vividly - I spent an entire afternoon under the bows of the old oak trees in our village, no doubt oberserved by amused neighbours. It must have looked ridiculous - leaping to and fro, frantically trying to snatch the twirling leaves out of the sky. I didn't manage 12 leaves, I gave up at 7. Somehow, catching all 12 months of good luck seemed overkill to me.


Now here I am, more than a year later, looking back. I don't even remember where I put those lucky leaves. You're supposed to keep them somewhere safe or you won't get your luck after all. I wonder if you could describe the past year as lucky. Then again, what is luck anyway?

The dictionary defines luck as 'The chance happening of fortunate or adverse events' or 'prosperity, success'. Now that I've typed it out, I realise I wasn't really looking for the dictionary's answer to my question, but rather a more philosophical approach. Every person I've met so far in my life defines luck a little differently. Most link luck directly to happiness. I am no exception.

So, in retrospect, I must say that the past year has been lucky in many ways. I know this is not really the best time to reflect, with the New Year still more than two months away, but it's never too early to start, right?
My year has been lucky in so many ways: discovering true friendship, having some of the best times over the summer and of course realising that all this will always stay a part of me in my box of inspiration. So writing this blog is part of that too.

And I must say that catching luck no longer appeals to me now. If you really think about it, luck is only exciting if it happens by chance, something you didn't expect. Just like happiness. Trying to catch luck is an amusing game, exciting for children, and trying to convince yourself you can control it.

There are always ways in which we surprise ourselves, discover there are things to say that we never thought about before. It means that I can walk under the trees in autumn, under all those snowing leaves, without reaching for those spinning brown spirits of luck. But if one of them should happen to land gently on my shoulder, I wouldn't brush it away.

Love, x

Saturday, 5 November 2011

That Picture callled Life

This is a poem I wrote about happiness and about belonging. All the things that belong in a box of inspiration. 

A thick knitted sweater, splashing through puddles,
riding my bike between morning and night,
when the streets are empty, just me and the moon.
Cookies and milk, old children's books,
autumn leaves, that snow from the trees.
And saying goodybe, but I'll be seeing you soon.
All the colours of joy, in that picture called life,
I wish I could hold them in the palm of my hand.

Crying and laughing, all at once,
making a wish on New Year's Eve,
with the promise of new things, but never quite sure. 
A purring cat, and birthday surprises,
and smelling your favourie meal at the door,
being hugged goodnight, and feeling secure.
All the happiness and love, all the truth in the world,
and a box of inspiration that I find in my heart.





Love, x

Wednesday, 2 November 2011

Oatmeal Apple Cookies

I can't believe it's already November! Halloween came around so quickly, with pumpkins and sweets piling up in the kitchen from one moment to the next and ghosts and witches knocking on our door. And then, suddenly, I open my eyes to a crisp blue November sky. Quite shocking to think that Christmas is less than two months away and many important birthdays are coming up (inlcuding my own)! November just sounds so much more wintry than 'October' and I felt my sweet tooh nagging me for something nice and chewy ... so after a wonderfully cold November 1st walk, I decided to make myself a bit of a treat for dinner: Oatmeal Apple Cookies!

I only made 8 cookies, though they were about the size of my hand, since this was a new recipe I had found on the internet. The original uses raisins, but I was in the mood for something fruitier, so I used one of our delicious Braeburn apples instead.

Unfortunately they were so delicious, I forgot to take a picture! But this is what you should imagine them to look like: 

 (my cookies were a little spongier than these, with little bits of apple sticking out)

Here's the recipe:
3/4 cup all purpose flour (1 used 1/2 cup white and 1/4 wholewheat flour for more texture)
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp. white sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 large egg
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 cup peeled, cored and diced apples
2 tbsp. apple sauce

First, combine the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients in seperate bowls. Preheat your oven to 180°C. Mix the two, adding a little milk or apple juice if the batter is too dry. Now, make little mounds of dough on your baking sheet, making them higher than they are wide. Make sure to leave plenty of space between your cookies, or they will stick together! Bake them for 12 - 14 minutes or until they are golden brown. Make sure you don't have them in the oven for too long, or they will get too crispy!

These oatmeal cookies were easy, fluffy and just sweet enough to satisfy my cravings. You can exchange 1/2 cup rolled oats for sunflower seeds if you want more crunch, I will definitely try that next time! The apples gave these cookies just the right edge of tanginess and the rolled oats made them wonderfully chewy. 3 cookies straight out of the oven with some milk while reading Rudyard Kipling "Jungle Book" made my evening highly cosy.

Since we are, so to speak, right on winter's doorsteph, I have started to compile a list of winter must-have clothes. I don't know about you, but every season has a special colour for me. Autumn is definitely green and red and lovely dark plum colours as well as some soft beige tones and earthy browns. Some of the items are already in my closet, but many I still have to find!
Here's the list:

Dark red cardigan (check)
Dark green bulky cardigan (check, it's wonderfully warm, I'm wearing it as I type)
Red scarf
Beige mittens
thick red socks
Dark red or plum-coloured cosy sweater
plum-coloured lipstick
a dark brown skirt
colourful or interestingly patterned tights

Love, x