Gardening

Gardening has been my hobby lately. We moved into a new apartment recently that has a small backyard. I love it. I've got some ferns, ivy, annual flowers, fruit/veggies (tomato, watermelon, bell pepper, & jalapeno pepper), and herbs (basil, oregano, parsley, rue, marjoram, lemon verbena, lemon balm, rosemary, thyme, lavender, and mint).

Return from Camping & A Recipe

Hello all!

My husband and I went to CMA's Beltane festival. It was a lot of fun, although it rained pretty much all day Thursday and Friday. Saturday was mostly clear, with a few spots of rain and Sunday was practically perfect. So, at least the weather had a continuous improvement.

I had never been to a pagan festival before, so it was an interesting experience. I really got a kick out of (for 4 short days) knowing that I wasn't a minority in my beliefs, that alone was relaxing and calming. I really enjoyed the food...the group I was camping with are all very food-focused and every meal was wonderful. Each family/couple in the group was responsible for making one dinner and one breakfast; my husband and I made hot dogs and mac n' cheese for our dinner and french toast with turkey bacon for our breakfast. I spent time the week before the camp-out adapting my french toast recipe for camping. I really enjoyed the recipe and will share:

Renny's Camping French Toast
2 Cans Evaporated Milk (total of 22 oz.)
1.5 Cups Water
1/3 Cup Meringue Powder
1/4 Cup Cinnamon
2 tbls. Syrup (I used' Cary's Sugar Free)
30ish Slices of Bread

Stir the Evaporated Milk, Water, Meringue Powder, Cinnamon, and Syrup together until very well combined. Heat a skillet lightly coated in oil to a medium-low heat. Dredge the bread slice in the Milk mixture coating both sides and shaking off the excess. Set the bread in the pan and fry on both sides until golden brown. Serve warm-hot with Syrup.

Will feed 12 hungry people.

Book Review: Out of the Broom Closet

Out of the Broom Closet
Edited by Arin Murphy-Hiscock

I really enjoyed this book; it's a collection of fifty stories/essays on different individuals' coming-out-of-the-broom-closet-experiences. The book has a great variety of stories, from individuals coming out in Christian communities, coming out in Muslim communities, being accepted after coming out, being shunned after coming out, coming out as a teenager, midlife, or later in life. I was able to closely identify with some stories and with this great variety I was able to contrast my own experiences; which has been really useful in examining where I am in my current coming out process.

I think this book is a great read for any Pagan, but I think this is an especially useful book for people considering and planning to come-out.

It retails at: $12.95, but you can find it used or new for anywhere from $5-10 at Better World Books, Amazon, or Half.com.

An update.

Things have gotten crazy. I apologize for getting out of whack with my blogging. Things that have been going on:
1. I was laid off in Feb.
2. I spent a lot of time figuring out how to get on unemployment and writing over 103 applications.
3. Moving by surprise. We didn't think we'd be moving, but our old place started treating us badly and so we looked at what was available. We found an amazing place that we love and are enjoying making into a home.
4. In-laws-visited. (it didn't go well).
5. Dealt with depression thru-out all of this...it was really trying and I'm hoping I'm thru the deepest murk. I think things are moving forward.

I'll be updating more often now, but my head really isn't in the "blog" right now, so I'll come back later with something deeper soon.

Chao!