Lazy W Marie

Carpeing all the diems in semi-rural Oklahoma...xoxo

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a girl and her horse

She loves him so much. I can see it in every movement, every word, every giggle. He loves her, too, like he loves no one else. They communicate in a secret, amazing way.

dusty joc black n white compressed

Her thin, muscular legs wrap around his belly, guiding him and loving him. Her hands brush and braid his mane or his tail. Her arms wrap greedily around his thick neck while her tiny feet endure hoof smashes and the occasional tap-kick. She pretends to scold him for this in a voice dripping with patience and understanding.

She leads him in circles and urges me to ride him, teaching me what she learned while she was gone. Such an incredible trade, an unexpected gift. She cleans his hooves and extends his legs forward to stretch and cuddle some more. She combs her fingers through his long, fuzzy, gray and white winter coat. She teaches him and loves him and needs him and is needed.

She shivers in the cool breeze but insists on keeping her skin (such a beautiful olive wrapping) exposed to the sun, she craves it so much. Then I bring her a blanket anyway so she can stay warm but also cuddle against him, warm on both sides now. She is as swaddled and kissed as when she was a baby, and watching her I feel every impulse in my body as before, everything in my heart and mind firing off with love and energy and hope for the future. Her future.

She holds his hoof and he holds her heart, and at this moment everything is exactly how it’s supposed to be. And I whisper thank you, thank you, thank you to the One who makes it possible.

XOXOXO

browned butter pecan sandies

Do you need another cookie recipe? I have stumbled on a new favorite and would love to share it with you. This time it happened by first making a failed batch of an old stand by, and I’m not sorry. Here’s the story.

pecan sandies, cookie recipe, browned butter

My sweet baby sister celebrated another birthday this month (Gen’s birth story according to me can be found right here) and I really wanted to send her some shortbread to nibble while she pretended we were having either coffee or Earl Gray tea or whatever she fancies. She lives way out west and has built a beautiful life there. I miss her so much, but anyway. xoxo

Shortbread. Though I make this all the time, for some reason the batch that day was overly dry and crumbly. It fell apart even before it was slipped into the oven, then after cooking it became even more fragile. There was no way that shipping it to Los Angeles would yield anything resembling a cookie. The birthday girl would wind up stirring crumbs into her tea and maybe walk away feeling quite unloved. Like a sad kangaroo.

Clearly the old stand by recipe needed more moisture or less dry stuff or something.

I started by knocking off 1/4 cup of the called-for flour. And browning the butter because I have the biggest kitchen crush right now on Joy. And let’s add pecans because our Grandma Stubbs always gave us Pecan Sandies and even though they were store-bought they were so good. Grandma made us feel loved, so surely this would do the trick for Gen’s birthday, right?

Ingredients:

1 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
pinch sea salt
1 stick butter
1/2 cup pecans (chopped is nice)
dash or two cinnamon

PS browned butter

PS dry

PS mix

PS cut

Method:

Cook the stick of butter in a small skillet, allowing it to get frothy and golden brown. Stir in the pecans and cook them with a dash or two of cinnamon then remove from heat before the butter burns.

Meanwhile, combine the flour, sugar, and salt.

Pour the browned butter and pecans into the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon. (Since there are no eggs in shortbread, I see no need to let the butter cool.) The mixture will be somewhat dense but also on the dry side, not sticky like normal cookie dough.

Form it into a ball and smash it flat onto a baking sheet, massaging it gently into a circle. (No need to grease or line the sheet. The butter in the recipe is plenty.)

Score the shaped dough with a serrated knife, but don’t cut quite to the bottom. You just need to perforate it. Finger-crimp the edges if you want to.

Bake at 350 degrees for ten or twelve minutes. Allow to cool.

Trace the perforate lines again with your knife, separating the cookies. Cool some more.

Eat exactly one cookie to make sure it’s delish (it will be) then package the rest of them sweetly and ship to your nearly perfect baby sister.

PS cookie compressed no sticker

Okay, not nearly. She is totally perfect.

GENNY tadah

I hope you try this! It’s a quick and simple fix for when you’re craving shortbread. Excellent for tea time or with a late night glass of ice cold milk. Even better for baby sisters who amaze you with their fortitude, independence, and loving nature.

Happy Birthday Month Gen!
And Happy Baking Friends!
XOXOXOXO

marathon monday: playlist for tempo

It’s Monday again and I am happily perched at the top of another marathon training week. Week 7 to be exact. We are approaching the halfway point.

Last week was weird because I accidentally wrote on my planner the mileage plan for a different program (still unclear how this happened) so I followed that and wound up running way less than I should have for my real plan and way less than I was ready for. Then Handsome and I rested hard like serious business all day Saturday and Sunday, so by this morning my legs were bouncy with energy. Energy to spare.

The llamas have energy to spare, too. They have been filling up on sweet, soft hay like 24/7 plus all the treats they can wheedle out of us, and this cold yet abundant sunshine puts them in the best mood! They are my running buddies and I love them.

Dulcinea is behind me there, facing off with Romulus and Meh. There is always a gentle conflict. xoxo
Dulcinea is behind me there, facing off with Romulus and Meh. There is always a gentle conflict. xoxo

My correct plan this week has me running 4 miles, then cross train, then 7 miles, then 4, then 13. Since I had extra energy today I did light weights plus 5 miles, and it all happened pretty quickly. It was fast for me, at least, which in this game is all that matters. I felt so amazing at the end that I almost ran more but decided to stick mostly with the plan. But I have to say… While endurance is my overall goal, the (relative) speed is addictive.

Do you happen to remember last May when the Monican recorded an entire vlog in answer to my Twitter question about speed? Click right here to read her entry and maybe watch that vlog. She’s really great, and this stuff was so helpful to me. One of her tips was to use music to improve cadence, and today’s run here at the farm brought all of that back.

So I thought it would be fun to share the songs on my phone that help me run a little faster. Okay? Okay. Cool.

  • Rap God Eminem
  • Smack That Eminem
  • Happy Pherrell Williams
  • Black Widow Iggy Azalea & Rita Ora
  • White Walls Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
  • Can’t Hold Us Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
  • I Will Wait Mumford & Sons
  • Problem Ariana Grande featuring Iggy Azalea
  • Come With Me Now Kongos
  • Best Day of My Life American Authors
  • Shake it Off Taylor Swift (shut. up.)

My actual running playlist is much, much longer than this (major props to Handsome for this), but these are the songs that I shuffle to help my legs move. The tempo of each one is quick and sustained, and all of it is addictive. Very helpful.

Do you have your own tricks for running faster? Do you have any great running songs you’d like to share? Thanks Monican for your guidance! Pace times are gradually improving here at the W.

Shake and Bake
XOXOXO

dinner club with a reading problem turns four!

Hello, and happy Literary Saturday! This week I want to send a big, loving, grateful anniversary wish to all of my book club girls. This month Dinner Club With a Reading Problem is celebrating four years together. Four years! And I am so happy.

What started as just a fun way to socialize and indulge in a favorite past-time has blossomed into a truly nourishing wellspring. Something that feeds us and challenges us in unexpected ways. What a wonderful surprise to discover such a sisterhood at this stage in life.

 

Our "Red Dress" photo shoot at the Oklahoma State Capitol in 2013. This was an event aimed at awareness of heart disease for women, a gesture of love for our own Stephanie.
Our “Red Dress” photo shoot at the Oklahoma State Capitol in 2013. This was an event aimed at awareness of heart disease for women, a gesture of love for our own Stephanie.

 

Over the past four years our membership and attendance has fluctuated a bit, ranging from the four original women to about 26 at one point, now hovering at close to a dozen. Most of our gatherings enjoy the energy and glow of nine or ten amazing friends who feel a lot like sisters now. Sometimes our husbands or children make happy appearances. And a few times we’ve welcomed out-of-town guests, which is the best. We’ve also been incredibly fortunate to interview our chosen authors three times.

austin

beauties

We schedule dinners about every six to eight weeks, depending on the time of the year. The hostess sets a food theme, sometimes related to the book and sometimes to the season, and we all run with it to build a ridiculous pot-luck style feast. The DCWRP ladies are all excellent cooks and luxurious shoppers, so no one goes home hungry! Our name, after all, points clearly to our food obsession. By this time next week we will have gathered at Kerri’s house to discuss Goldfinch, and the dinner theme is salads. I am so excited! Because, KALE.

food and flag book club

food summer

table spread

shark

We take our carbs seriously.

Though the aim of each gathering is to review and discuss the book we’ve just read, then plan the next event, book club now is all about the friendship we share. We have become closely knitted together, and no matter what is happening is each other’s life we always feel safe and supported. We share marriage and dating stuff, changing family dynamics, career stress, grief, joy. All of it. We are a group of excellent listeners, and if that isn’t the breeding ground for friendship then I don’t know what is.

quote women separated

An excerpt from The Help.

We’ve experienced ups and downs ourselves, too. Like any group of friends (especially women?) we have had conflict and separation, then gentle and happy reunions, and we’ve learned a lot about each other along the way. This book club has a wonderful momentum that just carries us not only from one title to the next but from one life event to the next. And I am so grateful.

gunfight

Speaking of titles, I should be ale to tell you easily how many books we’ve read together, but I can’t. It’s a lot, that’s for sure. We probably read six or eight per year, at different paces depending on the volume and the busy-ness of the months. (Ahem, Bonhoeffer anyone?) Sometimes we choose two books at once if we are craving two types of literary nourishment.

2 books

Our book selection process is a bit random, but it does allow everyone a chance to have input. We simply draw names at the end of each meeting, and that person comes to the next discussion dinner with the title we’ll read that next go-round. This way she has time to look around and make a great choice. With such a variety of personalities and lifestyles in our little tribe, we have enjoyed a wide array of reading material. I love it so much!! Most books we read I might never have considered on my own, and everyone would probably say the same.

When I wished my friends a Happy Fourth Book Club Anniversary, a few of them offered these sweet words…

book club quotes

 

This warms my heart!

And just for fun, here is a list of wacky traditions we’ve accidentally formed at Dinner Club With a Reading Problem:

  • Whenever possible, we get Amber to narrate aloud a racy passage from whatever book we’re discussing. She has the perfect voice and sultry countenance for it. It’s awesome.
  • We always eventually descend into uproarious laughter. We’re neither quiet nor terribly ladylike. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
  • Somehow we always work into the conversation something about whether or not we wash our new bed sheets before using them. It’s a more divisive topic than you’d expect.
  • Melissa brings us the most amazing coconut-lime cake you have ever even dreamed of. It’s the perfect balance of delicate and decadent, and when she brings it we know it’s a special occasion.

coconut cake and blooms book club

  • Stephanie is our group’s token non-reader, but she does make a valiant effort. We love to check in with her to see if she has read more this time, and she loves to tease us about whether a book is being made into a movie.
  • Everyone loves to tease me about two books I have chosen over time: Don Quixote and The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. Just, whatever you guys.
  • We have an official logo hand drawn by Joanna, and we’ve made it into t-shirts! In fact I am wearing mine as I type this.

t logo

 

The world is filled with all sorts of book clubs. Big and small, corporate and private. They’re all special. But none of them compares to this group. Dinner Club With a Reading Problem possesses a magic which none of us has alone. As a group we enjoy something that makes each of us better, and this coming year I look forward to seeing how we push that energy out into the world. Ideas abound!

Thank you for your friendship, ladies. Thank you for every page we’ve read together, for every bite of sweet and savory food we’ve shared. Thank you for the tears and laughter. You are the shiz-nay. Happy Anniversary!!

roses

 

“That’s What She Said.”
~All of us at some point
XOXOXOXO

farm update: january’s breath of summer

It’s Wednesday afternoon, and my biggest work is done, miles ran, house clean and quiet except for normal Lazy W sounds. Schedule clear until dinner with friends tonight. I am forcing myself to sit down with a salty snack and cold drink, just to offer a quick farm update and return some emails. Because really, I’d much rather chat with you outside. So would you if you were here.

The weather here in Oklahoma, in case you haven’t heard, is temporarily glorious. So glorious it makes being indoors a little difficult. I get antsy. Warm afternoons, cool evenings, starry nights, and abundant sunshine day after day. The fresh air is intoxicating, so our windows are all open. Curtains billowing inward like a dream then sucking back against the screens with no warning. Rooster crows and buffalo chuffs making the silence fuller, warmer. Sunlight streaming in and colliding with the disco ball, scattering silver blurs all over the living room. I love all of this. It’s like magic, this symphony of beauty for every sense. Every spring I remember just in the nick of time why we live here, just when I was about to start packing boxes and move either to the Equator or the city.

The animals are blissing out, too. Egg production is up from six or seven per day to nine and sometimes even eleven. And we’re getting minty green ones still, which are my favorite. There’s a lot of, um… chicken romance happening all over the farm, so if things go well our little flock could make it possible for us to hatch out some gorgeous feathery babies again this year. We have a greater variety of breeds now, too, so this could be fun.

The llamas have rearranged their pecking order since Dulcinea has recovered from her pregnancy. Interestingly, while she was El Preggo, she was very clearly at the top of that adorable little totem pole. Then came Romulus, then Meh, oblivious to being in last place. (Llamas seem to be matriarchal, which could be why an expectant mother rose to the top despite her youth. This is my unprofessional observation-based opinion.) Now recently, Dulcie has fallen to the bottom, with her baby brother above her and Big Daddy Rom up top. “Where obviously I belong,” he seems to say with his stately gaze. Anyway, she’s doing great. The fall from grace has actually made her more cuddly to us, so we like it. Handsome really seems to be enjoying his extra cookie time with the llama he has always called Little Bit. xoxoxo

Yesterday we were pulling up the driveway at a particularly warm, still moment and saw Chanta napping in the sun. He was all folded up against himself, basking, no halter on his face, breathing with his entire body. The sight was beyond precious. I snapped these photos showing his startled wake-up. The fourth photo, had I managed to take it, would have been him stretching his legs and neck as far as they would go. And yawning. He is the yawniest horse I have ever seen.

chanta 1

chanta 2

chanta 3

Tulips are breaking ground. This is said with a great measure of self control, because as soon as anything breaks ground, I can think of little else besides gardening. This, together with the insanely gorgeous temperatures, makes it difficult to remember we are still finishing up January. About 50 days still to live fully until the official start of the loveliest of all seasons.

Live fully, Marie, live fully, Carpe every single diem.
Don’t waste too much time reflecting on the past or anticipating the future.
Today is beautiful and important.

On that note, I’ll wrap this up and go scoop some manure for composting. I hope wherever you are that the weather is kind to you. I hope if you are still in winter’s bitter grip that you have lots of soup and fuzzy blankets nearby to warm your bones.

Count your blessings. Make the most of today. The days add up.

“A garden is always a series of losses set against a few triumphs, like life itself.”
~May Sarton
XOXOXO