It’s been quite the week, dear friends, and I’m so glad for Friday and sunshine and fried potatoes with sausage and apple vanilla tea and a movie night with dear friends and naps in the sun and the hope of getting better.
Doc told me yesterday that I was dying before they got the right meds in me this week. It was a sobering thought. Made me sit quietly and do a lot of thinking.
I have a park down the road from me that is a good place for thinking.
I wandered through the trees and looked up into a glowing canopy of green.
I rounded a corner on a little trail I found and discovered this lovely perch. I clambered aboard, found a good sitting spot among the moss and ferns, closed my eyes and just sat. The trickle of water over stones, birds singing merrily, sun warming me up beautifully, it was just what my heart needed.
And I thought you might like it too, so I took a shaky little video. If it makes you seasick, just close your eyes and listen, the creek sounds wonderful. 🙂
I write to you with a grateful heart today because at long last I know what’s been causing me such pain the last three months: an obscure virus from the Ecoli family. I am on the right treatment now and each day I’m getting better and stronger. 🙂 I’ll have to do a lot of resting for the next while, but I’m so happy to have answers and the hope of getting back to my old self in the near future.
Thank you SO much for all your wonderful notes and phone calls and texts and emails through this painful time. You’ve made a dark time so much easier to bear. 🙂
Today I’m celebrating beautiful things, like these lovely views from inside Bled Castle in Slovenia. 🙂
How are YOU doing today? What beautiful things are making your heart happy?
Although getting lost can be quite an adventure, getting found again is so very wonderful.
After the grand comedy of errors our first night in Albania (click here for the tale), we finally traversed the maze of Tiranë – thanks to the finger-pointing, arm-sweeping, head-nodding directions of numerous Albanian gas station attendants – and found our hotel, the Vila Baron.
Words cannot describe our utter relief at seeing the golden glow of lights shining in the darkness, the assurance of a smiling lad at the gate waving us in, and the immeasurable comfort of big welcoming hugs from our hostess.
It was nearly midnight but the dear lady and her two sons welcomed us as heartily as if it were the middle of the day. They hauled in our luggage and beckoned us into the dining room where they served us delicious homemade pasta and glasses of red wine that washed away the stress of the previous hours.
At last we trudged groggily to our rooms, utterly exhausted, pausing to smile at the individual pairs of house slippers laid out for each of us, before falling into bed.
We were asleep within minutes that night, and nearly croaked at our 5 a.m. wake-up the next morning. But the views from our windows were so worth getting our heavy eyes open.
I felt like a fairytale princess on my balcony with roses clambering up the stone walls.
The sun flooded the valley with light, opening up vistas we never imagined on our nighttime meanderings through the blacked-out city.
Hastily packing our suitcases, we arrived blearily downstairs to find our lovely hosts beaming and urging us to dig in to a buffet table lined with trays of sliced cheeses and meats, baskets full of bread, and little white dishes filled with yellow butter and jewel-tone preserves. I couldn’t believe they had stayed up so late to cook us dinner and woken only a few hours later to make us breakfast. Truly, such hospitality goes far above the call of duty.
With my breakfast in hand I found a seat on the balcony, delighting in the cool morning breezes as I sipped my delectably strong coffee and took in the views of the Albanian countryside.
All too soon it was time to load the van and head out to explore Albania.
We bid farewell to our wonderful hostess who gave us squeezy hugs like a beloved mother would, waving good-bye as she watered her flowers.
How to Rest Well in Albania:
Plan for the unexpected. A 2-hour trip in the day time can turn into a 6-hour one at night. Leave in plenty of time to arrive at your hotel in daylight if possible.
Secure a good, inexpensive hotel like the Vila Baron. For only 30 Euro ($42 USD) a night, you get secure parking for your vehicle, complimentary breakfast, and free internet. They also have late check-in which is a comfort when things don’t go as planned.
Choose a hotel with a restaurant included. After a long day of travel, it is so nice to have hot food ready a short walk from your bedroom. Vila Baron serves delicious homemade Albanian and Italian food. Although we’d just spent a week in Italy, we all agreed that the best pasta we ever ate was at the Vila Baron in Albania.
Take time for a glass of wine or hot herbal tea with dinner. The stresses of travel melt away and you can fall asleep much easier in a new bed.
Bring ear plugs. I never leave home without them. Every new place has strange noises, construction at odd hours, and random horns honking. Block them all out with ear plugs and sleep like a baby.
Choose a hotel with breakfast included. Especially if you’re road-tripping, it is wonderful to start your trip with a full belly instead of trying to find a place early in the morning.
Take time to visit with your hosts. A little kindness goes a long way and new friendships, no matter how brief, are what great trips are made of.
Hello, dear ones! I’m still basking in the utter bliss of a sunshiny weekend. It may still be cold here in Washington, but this gorgeous weekend gives hope that spring weather may be just around the corner.
I had to rest most of this weekend, but today I was able to get out for a walk and oh, how wonderful it was!! All sorts of folks were out and about: kids cheering and laughing over a game of volleyball in the park, a father and daughter fishing from a bridge over the creek, and an elderly couple strolling through the woods with their sturdy walking sticks in hand. It felt so companionable to bid each other hello, smiling in shared enjoyment of a glorious day.
Everything looked beautiful today, from the glittering stream to the sun-dappled leaves in the forest, but my favorites were the white flowers positively beaming in the sunlight. Do any of you know what these ones are? There were whole trees filled with blossoms.
It was a peaceful, happy sort of afternoon, with breaks to sit on fallen logs and listen to the wind in the trees and the gurgle of the creek wending through the woods. It was just what I needed to clear my head, fill my lungs with fresh air, and remind me how beautiful life is.
While I recover from these wretched viruses I have to avoid wheat and corn. It was OK the first few days but then I started craving bread and baked goods something fierce. My friends Darren and Nicole are also going wheat-free for a while and having similar cravings, so I decided we simply had to have something decadent to eat to help us be good.
I made my favorite Dark Chocolate Tart but used buckwheat for the crust instead of wheat. It worked just dandy but turned out so dark it was almost black! I decided to view it as looking “extra rich” instead of “burnt to a crisp.” 😉 The buckwheat is very hearty but somehow the maple flavoring softens it and makes it a good wheat-free alternative for the luscious truffle-like chocolate filling. It was a lovely treat on a sunshiny afternoon.
1 stick butter, melted 1/4 cup sugar pinch salt 1 tsp maple flavoring 1 cup buckwheat flour
Ingredients for Filling:
1/4 cup Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa 1 cup coconut milk 6 Tbsp sugar 1 1/4 tsp instant instant coffee or espresso powder 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 1 large egg, lightly beaten
Directions for Crust:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Mix butter, sugar, salt and maple flavoring in medium bowl. Add flour mix until just blended. Don’t worry if dough seems too soft.
Press all of the dough evenly into bottom and sides of 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom.
Bake 20-25 minutes, or until crust is deep golden brown.
Directions for Filling:
While crust is baking, place butter, sugar, cocoa powder and coconut milk in a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring, until mixture is blended, smooth and begins to simmer around edges.
Remove from heat and stir in espresso powder and vanilla.
Just before crust is ready, whisk egg thoroughly into hot chocolate mixture.
Directions for Tart:
Pour filling into hot crust and return to oven. Turn off heat.
Leave tart in oven until it quivers like soft Jell-O in the center when the pan is nudged, about 10-12 minutes. Cool on a rack.
