Birthday Reindeer

Holly's birthday was December 5, a Sunday. We thought she might like the zoo. They aren't officially open in December, I guess, but they do a reindeer festival during the month instead. It was a nice day. This zoo lets people feed some of the animals with apple pieces or food pellets one can buy there. Holly seems to really like feeding the animals.

She tried really hard to get the lion statue to eat an animal cracker. He must have known he wasn't supposed to eat anything brought in from the outside.

When we got home, Holly fell asleep. We had to wait for her to wake up for cake and presents. This gave me just enough time to wrap her gifts and get the cake ready.



Souffle Day

Paymaan, Matt's brother-in-law, wrote "Happy Turkey Day" on his Facebook wall on Thanksgiving day. I replied with "Happy Souffle Day." We don't eat turkey, and it was just the four of us at home this Thanksgiving. I baked a cheese souffle.

I was inspired by the chocolate souffle Winter and I had baked and by the purchase of the souffle dish I had bought for the occasion and the gruyere cheese I still had in the frige, since Winter had opted for chocolate and not cheese. The cheese only had a little mold on it, which I simply sliced off and used the rest.

I've always been under the impression that souffle is really tricky. I remember an old TV episode -- I Love Lucy, I thnk. They were baking a souffle, and every time anything bumped or the phone or door bell rang -- or anything (maybe not the phone or door but all I remember it seemed any loud noise or bump) -- they checked on the souffle to make sure it hadn't fallen. After they would check it and it was okay, there was a big sigh of relief, with slumped shoulders and wiping of the brow. I think they made it to the very end, and it fell as soon as they pulled it out of the oven after all that. That's how I vaguely remember it, anyway.

I've never owned an electric mixer, and for some reason, since moving, I can't even find my whisk. I've been whipping up souffle eggs with a fork. They are supposed to form stiff peaks. On our first attempt, I whipped the eggs for what seemed to be a very long time. They never formed stiff peaks -- maybe soft ones. This time, it went much more quickly for some reason, and I even had two more eggs. Those white fluffy eggs looked so beautiful when I was done.

The cookbook I have said to cook the souffle at 300 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. I was supposed to stick in a knife at the end and wiggle it around and see if it came out clean to be sure the souffle was done. We bought several pre-made side dishes from Trader Joe's to accompany the souffle. They were supposed to be heated at higher temperatures for much shorter times. I didn't want to open the oven in the middle of cooking the souffle in order to get other things in or out. The souffle is supposed to be served as soon as it comes out of the oven so that it doesn't fall, so I didn't want to heat food up in the oven after the souffle came out, either. I decided if I put the side dishes in at 300 degrees, they could stay in for 1 1/2 hours with the souffle without getting over done.

After about 45 minutes, something made me feel like maybe the side dishes were very hot and had better come out of the oven. I took my chances and opened up the oven, and the souffle looked quite brown on top with wide crevices across it. I was afraid it would be burned on top if I left it in another 45 minutes. I stuck in a knife, which didn't come out clean. I removed the side dishes and the souffle. The souffle wasn't even the slightest bit warm in the middle. Matt didn't think it looked like it would get over done if I just put it in for a while longer.

I tried 10 more minutes. I took the souffle out again. It still wasn't warm or set inside. I put it in again. After about another 10 minutes or so, it seemed done. I took it out. We served it up, and it was delicious. Matt had leftovers later in the day, and said they were really good. I ate the last of it a few days later, and I thought it was still really yummy then.

I just couldn't believe that after all that souffle went through, it turned out so beautiful and tasty and was still delicious even re-heated. It was just one more thing to be thankful for on souffle day.



The Pippi Operation

Winter used to never like to watch "real shows" (anything live action that wasn't animated), except for a while, she liked "Elf" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." A while back, I was able to talk her into watching "The Princess Bride," and she became obsessed. More recently, she has enjoyed "The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking," "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" (This is the best movie I ever saw!! Why didn't you ever tell me about this movie??!!), "West Side Story," "Into the Woods," and "Annie."

Holly became interested in Pippi and Willy Wonka, too. She watches Pippi several times a day sometimes. Tonight, while I was cooking dinner, I had the Pippi theme song stuck in my head, which happens often. It reminded me of my hernia operation about four weeks back.

First of all, I was supposed to get there an hour and a half early to fill out paperwork, which actually took me about fifteen minutes. I wanted to make sure I didn't arrive late for my early arrival time, so we gave ourselves plenty of time. We, as in the whole family, because Matt had to come and take me there so he could be with the kids and also pick me up after, since I wasn't supposed to drive home. I got there almost two hours early.

The surgery center had a very nice waiting area with a fire place. I sat down and read a magazine by the fire -- something I haven't done in a very long time. After a while, someone came and took me to the preparation area. I sat in a recliner chair and talked to another nurse and answered all the same questions again for about the fourth time. Then she gave me a hospital gown and pajama bottoms and a robe. Before she started the IV, I used the restroom. They put in the IV and covered me in heated, soft, cotton hospital blankets. I reclined in the chair and read from "O" magazine.

My surgery started over an hour later than scheduled. Before I went to finally have it done, they thanked me for my patience. Patience? I felt like I'd had a day to myself at the spa. And now I was going to be put into a deep, sound, uninterrupted sleep.

As the anesthesiologist was putting me to sleep, he asked if I had a good dream picked out. I hadn't thought about that and said, "Yeah, no dream." I just wanted to sleep. That was all. Dreaming is so much trouble. It's like waking, not sleeping. Then he asked, "How about a vacation in Hawaii?" I answered, "Oh, a vacation in Hawaii -- that could be good." I think I was asleep at the end of this sentence. Actually, too, I think I still preferred no dream.

Well, then I went into a deep sleep, and the next thing I knew, I was waking up, hearing a nurse say, "You're waking up now Janelle." The first thing I noticed going through my mind was the Pippi theme. I began to wonder if I had wasted my Hawaii vacation dream on a Pippi dream. I didn't know. I didn't remember dreaming at all, which was the best. I was giggling inside because I really couldn't escape my everyday life, even under general anesthesia. I wondered if maybe I'd been singing it in my sleep or what other embarrassing things one might do under general anesthesia. Then I remembered they put a hose down my throat to keep my airway open, so I guess I couldn't have been singing at all. They do all kinds of things to try to make sure you stay alive under general anesthesia, which is kind of scary to think about and kind of comforting at the same time.

Waking up to Pippi made me happy I had woken up at all and would see my family soon. "Pippi Longstocking is coming into your world, the freckle-faced, red-haired girl. You otta know she'll throw your life into a whirl..."

And Snakes

Sometimes, when Winter's hanging out in the bedroom with me, she's really checking out what's going on in the greater world around us. She's spotted a couple hummingbirds through the bedroom window. One day, she was sitting near the window and told me she saw a snake. I thought she might be joking or maybe seeing something that looked like a snake but was something else. I asked really, was she serious, did she really see a snake. She told me she really thought she saw one. I checked out the window and thought I saw one, too. I grabbed the camera and took her and Holly outside. We sneaked around, very quietly, trying not to scare it off. I was able to get very close and stretch my arm out toward it and get several shots before it slithered off. I've never been this close to a snake in my own yard! It's so fun here.

The first time a snake was spotted, Matt was out mowing. He saw part of a snake. He had mowed over it. He showed it to Winter. The second sighting was not too many days later. He was working outside again, and Winter was hanging out with him. She asked him was this the other half of the snake he'd mowed over. He really didn't even know what she meant and went to check it out. While they were looking, a whole, live snake began to move. Winter immediately ran off, flailing her arms in the air and screaming bloody murder. I'm glad she stayed calm when I photographed this snake. She got right up close with me the whole time!

Living with the Salmon

We knew the salmon were supposed to come up the creek in September. We waited anxiously. I looked out the window and could see the creek quite clearly. I expected the salmon to jump up the rocks, like I've seen on video, but I didn't see them. We went and looked up close, from the little bridge and didn't see them. The next day, Matt was out working in the yard. He came to the front door, which was locked. He was yelling, "Salmon!! Salmon!!" I could hear him and was running around, looking for my shoes and trying to get the kids together to go out. He didn't know if we could hear him. He started ringing the doorbell. I yelled out that we were coming.

We went out and followed him down to the creek. We had to look for a while, and then we saw them. The salmon are here!! We were excited to see them but never expected to feel the awe that came over us then. We've lived here so shortly. I never knew much about the connection between us and salmon, but I looked for information on-line because I wanted to know if we could have friends who fish here to get salmon from the creek and have our own salmon bake on the fire pit outside.

I saw some talks on-line about protecting the salmon. One of the speakers was a native American man. He talked about how they had depended on salmon to sustain them for so many years. Now they're in danger, and the native Americans want to protect and sustain them in return. We were moved when we saw them, and watching them struggle to swim upstream is fascinating. I went out with Winter again the other day to watch the salmon. I was out with Holly one day because she just wanted to go outside. We just ran around the land for a while. She especially liked running in and out under the canopy of a tree, playing peek-a-boo with me.

When we came to see this house the first time, we weren't sure we wanted it because the freeway runs along above the creek. It's noisy. We were afraid it could make life very uncomfortable. The more we thought about it, the more we decided everything else here outweighed the noise of the freeway. When I go out with the kids, I notice how much I'm not noticing the freeway noise. I'm too preoccupied with their joy as they play. I'm too busy staring at the salmon. I'm too overcome with the surrounding beauty, and I'm so grateful to live here with the salmon.