November 2021 Musings

                                                                           Thankful

         Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends! And to my friends who don’t celebrate Thanksgiving- Happy November! Thanksgiving is a great time of year to count your blessings and focus on what you are thankful for. It’s so expected, though, that I was tempted to write something completely different this month and go in another direction altogether. And let’s be honest, it has been a HARD couple of years! It’s been so hard, in fact, that I decided I really should focus on thankfulness even if I wasn’t inspired to. Actually, ESPECIALLY if I wasn’t inspired to! And I decided to focus on simple things that I am thankful for. Of course there are the big things as well- teachers and health care workers come to mind. What heroes they have been through these difficult times! Sometimes when the world seems to be spinning out of control though, it is good to focus in, to find the magic in the mundane. With that in mind, here are only a few of the first things to pop into my head when I count my blessings this year…

         I am thankful for:

          -The writing community on Twitter. When you bring a group of people together who dream of a different reality, who have characters of all kinds living in their heads, and who have stories inside themselves that need to be shared and then read by others, camaraderie and magic happens. Trust and support happens. And fun happens.

          -My little boy’s shiny, golden hair. We haven’t taken him for a haircut in months because of the pandemic. It was in his eyes and tickling his ears, so I cut the sides and bangs for him but left the rest. Now he has a little mullet straight out of the 80s! It’s so cute that it makes everything he does even funnier than normal, and can’t we all use a good laugh right now?

          -My youngest daughter’s love for reading. She is the most like me when it comes to loving books! Right now she is reading one of my favorite Rosamunde Pilcher novels, and it is such a joy to be able to talk to her about the characters like they are real. “I met Pandora!” she will say, and my heart sings. Or, “I just read a chapter about Henry, and I love him!” Is there anything better than talking about a book you love with someone who loves it too?

          -Christmas Carols! Especially the old, classic ones with the choirs and the magical, tinkling bells. If you want a little pick-me-up, just light some candles and put on a Christmas playlist the next time you’re cooking supper, and you’re guaranteed to feel like a kid again, or at least a happier version of your current age!

          -Sunrises and sunsets. I see the spectacular sunrise from my kitchen window in the mornings, and the beautiful orange and pink sunsets from my living room window while I write in the afternoon. It always reminds me of Lamentations 3:22-23- THROUGH THE LORD’S MERCIES WE ARE NOT CONSUMED, BECAUSE HIS COMPASSIONS FAIL NOT. THEY ARE NEW EVERY MORNING; GREAT IS YOUR FAITHFULNESS. There is peace in knowing that the sun comes up every morning, and with it hope for another day.

         -Savory Winter Vegetable Pie. Yep, I’m thankful for pie. Our family transitioned to a vegan diet many years ago, and it’s one of the best decisions we have ever made. That first Thanksgiving though, I was confused. What could take the place of the turkey as the center of the meal at our dinner table? Enter the pie. I will include the recipe for you down below, and I hope that it blesses your family as it has ours.

         -You, if you are reading this now. I am thankful for you. Thank you for taking the time to visit my website, and to read my musings. I appreciate you. I have no way of knowing what season of life you are in right now, though I would love to hear from you in the comments, but I do wish you the very best this holiday season. If you are able to come up with your own little list of things to be thankful for, I hope that you are blessed when you contemplate all that is good in your life. And if you are going through an extremely difficult season and it is hard to even find small, simple things to be thankful for, then I understand, and my thoughts are with you. I pray that you will find a way out of your difficulties, and that you are able to dream a new dream. Don’t give up.


         -Stac’s Savory Winter Vegetable Pie-

         Mix 4 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour together with 2 ½ teaspoons 
of salt, 1 ¼ cups of canola oil and 6 tablespoons of water. This will create 
your oil dough crust. Press most of it down into a foil-lined baking pan, saving a little to use as a topping. Next, fill a large pan with 2 tablespoons of oil, 2 chopped potatoes, 1 chopped sweet potato, 2 chopped carrots, 2 chopped pieces of celery, and 1 small chopped onion. Add 3 cups of water, then sprinkle salt, thyme and sage to taste over it all. Bring to a boil, then stir in 2 tablespoons of oil mixed with 3 tablespoons of flour. Turn it down to simmer for 15 minutes. Now pour it (carefully) into your crust, and crumble the remaining crust all over the top. Bake for half an hour, or until it is a nice, golden brown. Now…..enjoy!

         This freezes really well, and I always double the recipe and make two, then freeze one. During the winter, there is always someone who could use a nice hot meal, and with some bread and a dessert, you’ll have just the thing to bring. Or , serve it to your own family when it has been one of those hard days and the very last thing you feel like doing is getting into that kitchen and cooking !

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