By the dawn's early light

"Oh-o, say can you see, by the dawn's early light..."

The opening lines of our National anthem, although not the most descriptive of the poem by Francis Scott Key, have always painted such beautiful colors in my mind.

This morning, after nights of interrupted, restless sleep, I awoke with the very start of the dawn, when the sky is just slightly bluer than the black outline of the trees outside my window. I watched the sky lighten and brighten for over an hour, feeling a mixture of contentedness and inflamed inspiration, so fortunate to have witnessed the magic of an uncontrived beauty in our often over-processed and manufactured world.

At one point the thought to grab my camera flitted by, but I made no move to retrieve it. I suppose I knew subconsciously that any attempt to capture the colors, the mood would be nearly impossible; it was as if the dawn had been painted for me in that moment, only those moments, exactly as it was supposed to be seen.

I suppose I could attempt to describe the colors to you, Reader, the darkest of navy, the richest of cobalts, the truest cerulean, the lightest blue-butter-cotton sky, but such injustice I would do to you and the glory witnessed. My truest and best advice: see the dawn on a clear Spring morn, and hope to be as inspired as I.

"My profession is to always find God in nature." - Henry David Thoreau

"This is the true joy in life - being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy." - George Bernard Shaw

Friday the 13th Party...of 3.

We had planned a fun night of pizza, cupcakes, and drinking games centered around this past Friday the 13th, complete with a viewing of both classics "Friday the 13th" (1980) and "Friday the 13th II" (1982).  Sadly, only ONE PERSON actually showed up.  Wish I had known that before the three Family-size pizzas and 18 cupcakes were made.  ARRRRGGGG!

Not to be completely defeated, we rallied on, played the game (all 3 of us), gorged on pizza, and enjoyed my "Killer KupKakes", which turned out to be AWESOME!  By the end of the night our sides and faces hurt from laughing so hard; maybe it was meant to be just the three of us.

For a very decent recipe, try Alton Brown's Devil's Food recipe (although I HATE his frosting).  You can either make your own cherry pie filling (one of my faves by mybakingaddiction.com), or buy it in the can (I won't judge).  Bake the cupcakes, allow to cool five minutes, hollow out the middles, spoon in filling, top with cake you have hollowed out, and cover with a dollop of frosting once completely cooled.  


These little cakes look delightfully bloody, have a gooey gore center, and, of course, taste delicious! If prepared in a slightly "cleaner" way, these make for romantic Valentine's Day treats, too.

FUBAR

So, without working laptop loaded with the correct photo editing software, my blog has fallen sadly behind.  I will be trying to get everything uploaded from Poland, Mexico, Jerusalem, and in between in the next two weeks.  Unfortunately, it won't be chronologically accurate, but deal with it, okay?