Day Fifty-8+9: Time for a treat!

It's Sunday and the sun is shining.

A good day for a treat!

Yummy Sugar & Wheat free Muffins -

(for those of you who do like sugar, see amounts in brackets in italics)

It only takes about 10 minutes of preparation time, and 20 minutes of baking.

Eat hot!

1 and 1/2 cup oat flakes ( wholemeal wheat flour)

1 cup rye flour (white flour)

1 teasp. baking powder

1 teasp. baking soda

1/2 teasp salt

1 cup soya milk (buttermilk- omit the lemon juice)

squeeze of lemon

1/3 cup sunflower oil

1/2 teasp. vanilla essence

1 egg

1 generous tablespoon apple concentrate or rice syrup (2/3 cup sugar)

fruit of choice: for example

• 1 apple and one pear
• 1 apple and handful of raisins
• 1 apple and handful of blueberries (this is the one I made today)

Mix all the dry ingredients together

Mix in the fruit so all is coated with the flour mixture

Mix wet ingredients and stir into dry mixture

Put the quite wet dough in cupcake casings, makes about 12 big muffins, or 16 smaller ones.

Bake in oven gas 7, 225 C for 20 minutes

Then EAT! :-)

Day Fifty-seven: Word Play

Last night I was the facilitator at the monthly writers group.

Energy was low, pain was high. A day of rest and a few doses of painkillers made it possible to go.

So glad I made it, as this monthly gathering is high on my agenda.

The sharing of words, stories, poems, and written plays are wonderful.

To get us started I had brought a box of 'magnetic fridge poetry words'.

I asked everyone to take handful of them out of the box and try to create a sentence or quote from them.

Here are a few results:

• his cheery cherry tempest won't splash but shall float
• maybe my gentle splendid nephew slumber
• absent harmony can ignite corrupt idol- an interrupted fortress in manic melody - marry you?- our loveless hideous eclipse
• milky silent raindrops can cloak a swirling sultry malice
• did sleek cat who consume deluge cream flatter my faint golden sunburst
• smoke-river-tumbling- around together
• flower-pear-his-delight
• spirit-cloud-I
• ignore desire and we have spring orange colour (this was my draw from the box

After this funny start we read our stories with as topic the first memory of books, or writing. As always, we were treated to some wonderful. See apples and books for a version of my own story.

The night ended with a read-through of a historical play in the making.

A big thank you my fellow writers for a wonderful night of words.

Day Fifty-six: End of the Rainbow

How thoughts can chance in a second...

Nurturing my tired body in the bath, I was thinking about today's blog. About how I've met The Bull (M.E.) again and the need to rethink how 'we' can continue our walk to the fence of recovery, and about the recent blog/facebook discussion for the need to highlight M.E....

But post had arrived and there was a letter for me.

My blog-subject changed the very second I opened the letter.

Let me start from the start.

The town of Lismore has a weekly Alphabet Lotto to raise funds for community projects, like the creation of the Millennium Park, and the setting up of the Farmers Market, to name but a few.

When I am in the Credit Union, I buy a ticket. My four letters are (in alphabetical order) I.N.O.W. which if you play with the position of the letters would read I WON. I always thought this to be a brilliant headline in the paper: Corina Duyn predicted a win in the Mochuda Lotto, with the letters I WON.

Last Tuesday I was convinced I was going to get that phone call with the wonderful news of being the winner.

I sat in my study, and had brought the phone with me, just in case...

The phone rang.

The caller i.d. showed a local number.

It was a friend, who's number I had not yet stored in my phone's memory.

Yesterday I was in the Credit Union. I bought a ticket for next weeks draw and told them the story. Oh well, maybe next time.

The letter I received today had a cheque in it.

No, not for the jackpot, but one for the €15 consolation price.

I am still laughing!

The power of positive thoughts!

Day Fifty-five: Whirlwinds

This morning

I found myself

amidst a whirlwind

of colourful

autumn leaves.

This afternoon

a whirlwind

of words

were fighting

to exit

my head.

Day Fifty-four: The last of those glorious autumn days?

I can only hope that there will be many more days

where one is greeted by this beautiful autumn display.

I leave the rest of this blog speak for itself.

Day Fifty-three: something growing in my greenhouse

I walked into my greenhouse

polytunnel to be precise

and from the corner of my eye

I saw something moving

Robert

Lying in a seed tray

Growing?

Or just having found

a new place

to take in

the ever dwindling heat?