Brin's Bargain Books

Okay. Strange time for this picture, I know, considering it was taken last summer as I lazily napped and read alongside the Dolores River in Colorado. Not Christmasy at all.

But here's the thing: while this little house is warm and Christmasy, the boxes of books scattered around are not. This little place is woefully short on space! So I've decided to fill my little book shop powered by Amazon with some titles I've lovingly read from the past few years at Freeman House. Some books were ones I've read and am ready to send along. Others were gifts or duplicate copies. Others were craft or cook books that I learned from and think someone else should get to as well....

If you're so inclined, hop on over to the book shop and grab something for yourself or a friend. (Click the link above... or the "my book shop" icon on the sidebar.) And please note that some of the books have my inscriptions or scribbling in them (where indicated only), or that if you'd like me to inscribe the book or write a special message, I'd be glad to do that, too. I even have some Freeman House cards left, the others destined for the history books...

Wishing you a cozy afternoon. -Brin

A Happy Thanksgiving

It was the best Thanksgiving I've ever had. I held no hopes or expectations going into Thursday - what with the nightmare this year has been - but maybe that's why. It was a perfect day, and thinking of it now makes me gulp back happy tears. The day was just what I needed, and I'm still warmed by the comfort of it all.

I hope yours was just as wonderful.

Before it's back to the real world tomorrow, I'm settling in near the glowing tree tonight with a stack of books, a mug of hot chocolate, the flicker of candles and lots of Christmas music. Let the holidays begin....

Five Days of Thanks

I've had such abundant beauty in my life. All my life. It may be a simple offering, but today I'm thankful for the quiet beauty I've seen, breathed, experienced, lived. There are so many instances I look back on, but these are a few favorites from the past two years:

For the beauty of the earth

For the glory of the skies,

For the love which from our birth

Over and around us lies,

Lord of all, to Thee we raise

This our hymn of grateful praise.

-Folliott S. Pierpoint, 1864

Five Days of Thanks

Though I ebb in worth, I'll flow in thanks.

-John Taylor

It's a simple thing I'm giving thanks for today, this first of five days I'll offer up something I'm deeply grateful for.

Today I'm grateful for meals. Humble meals, family meals, hot meals, short meals, fancy meals, early meals, alone meals, big meals. When I look back on the tables I've pulled up to this year, I see faces and places I treasure. I recall favorite dishes and new dishes. I see hearty breakfasts and lunches with friends and dinners small, cozy, and contented. I taste drive-thru tacos and homegrown salads, Japanese cuisine and Mom's pot roast...

I see the faithfulness and blessing of a generous God, who never fails in His provision to me.

As I start seeds for another year of meals, I look back on this year's and feel my heart grow heavy with thanks. Never has someone who deserves so little been given so much.

Thanksgiving Lessons Learned

The Pilgrims made

seven times more graves than houses.

No Americans have been more impoverished

than these who, nevertheless,

set aside a day of thanksgiving.

- H.U. Westermayer

This year's Thanksgiving centerpiece, made from things I had, things I gathered and things I've been given. I wanted to enjoy it all week long, not just the day of.

This year has afforded me many opportunities to examine my heart. Am I truly thankful? Do I live a life of thankfulness? The answer was, predictably, not always. But to my surprise, I found seeds of thanksgiving I hadn't known were there:

I found that raw, honest thanks sometimes proves itself in the midst of tears. In the midst of new graves and lost houses.

I found that it's one thing to hope on blessings, but it's an entirely different thing to hope on the Blesser.


If the Pilgrims - who spent days digging graves while their houses lay unbuilt - can be thankful, so will I. So must I. And the thing for which I'm most thankful this year? That while seasons change and blessings and loved ones come and go, I am justified by grace...

...and still I stand.

Sick Day

Sick, I think, so I'm taking a slow day.

Here I sit with the ottoman, covered with my chocolate brown blanket (a gift from the beloved Sall). Chai tea is steaming, tissues are nearby. I'm reading this. I'm flipping through this and making plans to copy the Ralph Lauren room for my new little study/home office. They look odd in this picture, but I adore those dark walls.

Also getting some knitting done. How appropriate that it's the makings of a hot water bottle cover? It's this one, by Sarah Dallas. I can't wait to finish and show you, but it may be a week or two.

(No, it's not your eyes. My camera's playing out on me. Must, must get a new one for Christmas!)

Millie's under the weather, too. A nasty allergy. Poor thing had to get a cortisone shot. I heard chocolate labs are prone to skin rashes and allergies. Is this true? She's at my feet, gnawing on a peanut butter-flavored dog chew. And sighing. Lots of doggy sighing down there.

The tea's cold. Going to risk getting up for a warm refill. The heat doesn't get turned on until Friday and I have to carefully plan trips outside my cozy cover comfort....

Millie and her best friend, Bella the Chihuahua, adore road trips.

But the open road can get tiring.

Our soldiers and their families know that all too well.

I cried with you today, Ft. Hood. Continued prayers going up for you all...

Pecans, Pie and Pony

A gray, gusty, golden-leafed afternoon. When lunch was done, I drove the short drive to family land on O'Farrell Road. I was on a mission. I had pie on my mind.

Surely I've mentioned it before - how I love picking up pecans, coming home to roll out pie crust, drizzling warm chocolate and a bit of cream over my fresh-from-the-oven pecan pie. Only I'm running out of pecans from my Freeman House stash. Time to hunt for more.

Pecan picking isn't as easy as it sounds. For one, pecans are clever. They wear these tan-and-brown jackets that perfectly camouflage them among the damp earth and crunchy leaves. But look carefully enough and you'll find them. You'll go cross-eyed several times in the process, but you'll find them.

I started my hunt near the property fence under a canopy of pecan and cedar trees. Traces of my Great Grandfather remain stamped here at his old homestead. A barbed wire-scarred tree tells of a long-gone fence. The shed in the background reminds me of garden and farm implements, fishing lures, seedlings. I started here, among my memories, and began filling my cotton bag with pecans. Within an hour I was done. Seems the squirrels and worms had first hunt.

As did Pecan. He's one of the miniature ponies now living on Henry and Belle's farm. He plodded alongside me as I picked. He caught me up on the goings-on at the farm. It was a good talk.

I'm off to make pie now. Time to narrow down this year's Thanksgiving pie offerings. Besides the stand-bys (Bourbon Pecan, Chocolate Creme, and Pumpkin), I'm considering two others: Joy's Buttermilk Pie and Lisa's (Sweet) Pinto Bean Pie.

Glad I still have a week or two to think on it....

B, E, R, and B: until we're all together again... and until the day it all makes sense... my heart and prayers are with you at Fort Hood.

For the LORD comforts his people

and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.

Isaiah 49:13

Hands

So I've jumped on board with the wristwarmer craze. How could I not? Over the weekend I began working up a knitted prototype using stash yarn. I still need to finish out the thumb hole... and work out the pattern... but I think I'll be very happy with these. (Click your colors and your row preferences in Biscuit and Jam's Random Stripe Generator and get stiching. Easy!)

Hands. While using mine to make something to keep them warm this winter, I began studying my ole mitts. I've always loved hands. Grandma's hands. My piano teacher's hands. That guy I (stupidly) married's hands. Some soft, some skilled, some capable. I have a thing for hands.

Have you heard this song? Your Hands? It's a big favorite on the iPod right now. I listened to it all morning on repeat.

As I go about my day, using my hands, it's good to know I never leave His....

Keep your eyes open to your mercies.

The man who forgets to be thankful

has fallen asleep in life.

-Robert Louis Stevenson

This morning my eyes blinked open and I found myself wishing for henrybella's. A homemade muffin and hot coffee sounded good. I rolled over and pulled the covers up and made a blanket tent over me.

I've been in such a funk lately. The dust has settled and I've realized: I've been angry. Angrier than angry. I miss waking up in Freeman House, letting Millie out to play, and walking to the bakery.

I miss opening the doors... putting the coffee on... heating the oven... writing the day's menu. (Gosh, a Downtown Turkey Sandwich and Butterscotch Brownie Fridae sounds good.)

Or whatever. It all sounds good.

I miss the people, too. Old friends and new popping in. Such a happy time. I imagine book shops and sweet shops must be among the happiest places to be. Mine was, I'll tell you that. Henrybella's was a great place. I miss it today.

But I also realize that if I'm not thankful - or worse, if I'm angry over loss - I'm shutting my eyes to mercies. I'm bedding down in a tent and falling asleep in life, a life that holds new mercies every morning.

Today I remember. Today I may cry. But today I will breathe a prayer of thanks that I had any of it at all. What mercies! What joys! And what could today possibly hold?

Maybe it will hold a muffin. And some hot coffee. That really does sound good.

Chicken Tikka Masala

The beginnings of Indian food. Heavy food for a heavy heart.

Hope your week is going well. -Brin

Love, Handed Down

Bright, cold morning. I'm warm underneath the quilt my great-grandmother made my mother. I'm sleeping under love, handed down.


My new job is going well; thanks to those who've asked. I'm a bundle of nerves as I stay preoccupied with expenses until my first paycheck arrives. (Who works five weeks before getting paid? Oil and gas folks, that's who.) A long commute - three hours driving each day - means I'm crashing on the floor with family until I can afford to make the drive from home. My car's broken down three times now and each day is an exercise in faith. I'm exhausted but hopeful. And so thankful. So, so thankful. A good job in this economy is a blessing only heaven hands out. You see this too, right? How God reached down and arranged dates and people and places so I'd be in just the right place at just the right time for this incredible provision?

He loves us. Oh how He loves us.

I'm living under love, handed down.

Oh....

...my desperation works to your advantage if you've been eyeing some of those handknitted HouseHelpers over in my shop. Rumor has it that a handful of sets (including new Christmas ones!) are less than $7. Whoa!

I'm a bundle of nerves lately and so have turned, with increasing desperation, to my knitting needles. It's therapy. Comforting, happy therapy. The result? Something new for my Etsy shop: a collection of handknit hats, each embellished with vintage ribbons and buttons. They're so perfect for upcoming blustery days. I love these. I just love these.

Would talk more, but feel one of those How in the world is this all going to work out without me dying first? headaches coming on. Better go find those knitting needles again. ...