Back to somewhat normal

Or not... we heard from Claire last night, just a moment in time, but I heard her voice and I feel relieved. She gave us her address so we must turn back to a simpler time, one that involves pens and paper and the post office. I love getting letters. However, since the newspaper and writing notes quickly, my handwriting looks like chicken scratching in the dust, so I may type my notes.
Speaking of chicken scratching... we had a conference on local food and farmers markets this past week. I got home on Saturday night just whipped. So in addition to the grant, a talk and the press conference on March 3, I have to do conference wrap up. Yikes.
The only thing I could do yesterday was cook. Oh Boy, I forgot to shoot a photo of my pies. There must be something comforting about baking, because I do it when I need to get away from everything. Pie baking of course doesn't take but about 30 minutes from freezer to oven. So there wasn't too much down time there. We had one of our farm raised chickens with potatoes from our garden and rhubarb pie from whoever I stole rhubarb from this past summer.
It was yummy and I mean yummy. Naturally I use lard in the crust. There is something heavenly about the crust begat from lard and organic flour from the Harvey Mill. Hmmmm, that made our dinner last night 50 percent if not more "local."
It was tasty and made me feel good. Of course, I'm always dreaming of chickens in my back yard. They would love it out here. For eggs and maybe if they got old, chicken noodle soup.
We are still surrounded by pheasants. They are so much fun to watch. When the sun peeps out just before it sinks for the day it lights the birds on fire. They hop from the ground to the branches of the spruce trees right outside our living room so we can watch them at the same time as the Olympics. So as the final week of games begins, and the final week of February passes by my eyes, I'm going to be so grateful for March to begin. Maybe my life will return to normal, and I will be able to weave. But that story goes on the other blog site www.spidersue.wordpress.com for anyone interested. That blog follows the story of my new loom room and gardening ... enough said.
I begin my week with the promise of spring, although I heard that March is coming in like a LION. That means out like a lamb and one month closer to gardening.