Macrochelys temminckii

Alligator Snapping Turtles (Macrochelys temminckii) can live to be 200 years old. I've seen some biggies back home...they could've been CENTURIES old. Once I picnicked by a human dug pond in the city. Surprised out of my meditative chew, a sudden crunch of leaves and twigs neared. Mouth gaping, a great turtle waddled to the water, its hooked beak less than a foot from my bare legs twisted in the grass. I reached a hand out in bravery to keep rhythm on its peaked shell. In its determination, the turtle didn't stop to hiss, but slid into the jeweled water. I brought my hand to my heart, for safekeeping.   

get free

i'd like to run and jump on your solitude

tweet tweet tweet

                         @emcegg

thinking about you

Lindisfarne

Nettle Garlic Buttermilk Biscuits

Aaaaaaaamaaaaaaaazing....

Nettle Garlic Buttermilk Biscuits 

Makes 12 biscuits 

• 2 cups organic unbleached flour
• 1⁄2 teaspoon fine Himalayan pink salt
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 cloves fresh garlic, crushed
• 5 tablespoons organic salted butter
• 1 cup organic buttermilk (1.5 percent)
• 3/4 cup finely chopped fresh nettle leaves

• Thick gloves for harvesting and chopping the nettles

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Combine flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a large mixing bowl and stir thoroughly. Using two butter knives or a pastry cutter, add the butter until the mixture resembles a crumbly meal.

2. In a separate bowl, combine buttermilk with finely chopped garlic and nettle leaf. Add this liquid mixture to the dry ingredients and gently fold together to form a soft dough.

3. Turn the dough onto a floured cutting board, knead gently until it just comes together adding a little more flour if needed, and roll the dough out until it’s about 1⁄2-inch in thickness. Using the rim of a small glass, cut the dough into 3-4 inch rounds and place on an ungreased baking sheet.

4. Bake the biscuits for 18 minutes or until light golden brown.

5. Remove from the baking sheet to avoid over-crisping your biscuit bottoms and serve warm fresh from the oven with butter. Enjoy!

More about nettles on my work, work, work blog: http://mountainroseblog.com/nettle-garlic-buttermilk-biscuits/

a lil obsessed...

FAWM

FAWM = February Album Writing Month

so, i'm not really a musician...but, i am writing 14 songs in 28 days.

eeeek!

maybe you'd like to take a listen?

soundsuits

moonshower

to a child running wild through florida sunshine, snowflakes were divine. pure fantasy. fluttering from the sky like the tooth fairy. something cut from folded paper and made sparkly with glitter during circle time. now, bones grown and wrinkled, i run into the flooding luminescence of streetlights, ignoring bare skin and the screech of rubber tires to turn white in the awe of swirling crystal and moon glow.

smiling at the absolute wonder of simple things

sweets

just wait and you'll see

whiteaker block party

ships

I've lost people.
waking to find them a memory.

will I watch them all go
or will I become lost in them?

my heart aches at the thought,
but I know it comes.

it is not important to pass everyday,
but to have a day with them.

to see them
and feel them
to give and take of them.

they may not come back
or stay
so always love the worst of them.

good is easy
good is given.

I will miss their perfect darkness
or they will miss mine.

to always meet them clear
and tender
is to honor their fragile beauty

in gratitude of this strange, sinking gift.

Do you know what I mean?

play. repeat.

caribou 

swim

four tet 

there is love in you

play. repeat.

hardcore pollination

 
Artist Opens First Plant Porn Theater

Cover your Iris!

exhale

Early morning. Late breakfast. First snatch of free time in three weeks and the sun is actually shining! I'm celebrating with Darjeeling and Rose bud tea, plus a spot of honey from my friend's hive.

Elvira surprised me with a sweet and much needed "cheer up!" gift of eight eggs from her fancy new chickens.  I made an omelette with English white cheddar, Lacinato Kale, and plenty of cracked black pepper, atop sprouted grain toast with Marionberry maple syrup glazed soysage.

Perfect medicine for my Saturday morning blues and ample fuel for a spring walk to the nearby hospital, where my dear friend awaits kisses and back rubs.

The Gypsy

Who my father was, what country I'm from,
In vain the people ask me
The first never existed and my home...
The earth that gives me fruits and flowers.

Wherever destiny leads me,
I find a smile, I find a love.
Why should I worry about thoughts of the past
When the hours of the present are glad to my heart?

It's true that tomorrow could cast a turbid veil over
The serene breezes waiting for me.
But if today, my skies are all blue,
Why should I worry about things that may not happen?

I am a plant, never frozen or bare,
That defies even the harshest winter.
If a leaf falls here, another will grow in it's place.
In every season I am full of flowers!

S.M. Maggioni