*

these are tender days i walk through, as if all of life an egg to be easily crushed, smothered or instantly gone. at once i feel protected and sheltered, thankful beyond compare for all that has been given to me. yet dissheveled and healing from wounds long since uncovered and made to bleed again. i have been away, so concentrating on my work, here at the practice, my blog is a dear distraction. alas i am back, briefly, because of the quickly approaching holiday. a belated self portrait. last winter, sporting my long long scarf made by the mommom in my life. it is indeed the dark part of the year again. and boy does it feel that way emotionally too. although i was feeling rather sprite and untouchable, despite my nana's death, things were looking up. but blow after blow. and that isn't complaining, pure truth. when a member from the body of christ is lost, for whatever reason, it is a difficult time. trying to understand god's decision to affect one family more than any other is an impossible task. i have oftened wondered about the protection god has granted and provided for me and the rest of my family. i am reminded that there isn't anything that i can do to protect myself anymore than what god does on a daily basis.

all that i can do right now is pray. pray with every ounce of my being.

in other ways, around this corner. my life. i am going to bake something for thanksgiving, which we are doing at aunt cathy's on friday, outside in the blistery weather, though hopefully sunny. i have not quite made up my mind, muddling over pumpkin pie, apple pie, pumpkin cupcakes, or my jungle gym choc. chip cookies. the jungle gym is the name i just gave them. because they've been getting rave reviews. shocking me. the secrets to baking a good cookie are as follows,

use the purest ingredients, not necessarily organic though. real butter, that sort of thing. no egg beaters. don't worry so much about measuring, always try to round up a little. i have the recipe...