Pumpkin Pie Muffins: A Keeper from the Recipe Box

I dug out my pumpkin recipes today. I don't know if it was seeing that pile of pumpkins in Kellogg Saturday that inspired me. It may have also been a trip to Starbucks this morning on my way to a teacher inservice that did it. The pumpkin spice latte was a perfect way to start the day. Here is one of my favorite pumpkin recipes.

Pumpkin Pie Muffins
2 cups flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teas. baking powder
1/4 teas. baking soda
1/2 teas. salt
1 teas. cinnamon
1/2 teas. ginger
1/4 teas. cloves
1/4 teas. nutmeg
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs, slightly beaten
3 tablespoons molasses
1 teas. vanilla
3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts
3/4 cup dates ( or raisins)

Preheat oven to 400. Grease or paper a 12 cup muffin tin.
In a large bowl, stir together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. In another bowl, stir together pumpkin, butter, buttermilk, eggs, molasses, and vanilla until blended. Make a well in center of dry ingredients; add pumpkin mixture and stir just to combine. Stir in nuts and fruit.
Put batter in cups and bake 20-15 minutes. Remove muffin tin on rack to cool. Cool five minutes before removing muffins from cups. Store in airtight container. These also freeze well. These are very moist and a perfect treat for a Saturday morning with a friend, an after school snack, or a breakfast companion with coffee or tea. Enjoy!

Sibling Assignment #40: Moments of Everyday Life

This is the sibling assignment I gave this week. "Think of a poet that has inspired your writing, your thinking, and/or your view of the world. Use your words, the poet’s words, and images to illustrate how this poet has influenced your life." Raymond Pert's is here, Silver Valley Girl's will be here.
I focus on significant events when writing memoir. It may be a room from childhood, a garden at Grandma’s house, or a Thanksgiving dinner. Ted Kooser has changed the way I write about these memories. His poetry takes moments of everyday life and creates lyrical images using topics we can all relate to: a dying father, a cancer patient, or a farmer that lost his land. He chooses his words carefully so we are at the farmhouse, his grandmother’s kitchen, or out in a rainy morning. His words have inspired me to observe quiet moments in a poetic way. In his book The Poetry Home Repair Manual he states, “While you sit quietly scribbling into your notebook, memories and associations rise like bubbles out of the thick mud of your mind. Interesting words pop up, colorful images.” Here are some examples his words:

"It’s a kitchen. Its curtains fill
with a morning light so bright
you can’t see beyond its windows
into the afternoon. A kitchen
falling through time with its things”
A Room in the Past

”She is being helped toward the open door

that leads to the examining rooms

by two young women I take to be her sisters.

Each bends to the weight of an arm

and steps with the straight, tough bearing

of courage.”
At the Cancer Clinic

After Kooser was chosen the United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004 – 2006 he began American Life in Poetry. This weekly newspaper column has allowed me to read other contemporary poets, has provided a collection to use in teaching and it has introduced readers in America a poem each week.

I began to write memoir so I could begin to understand the connections in my life and the family around me. Ted Kooser writes about those delicate connections. In announcing his appointment as Poet Laureate, Librarian of Congress James Billington said, "Ted Kooser is a major poetic voice for rural and small town America and the first Poet Laureate chosen from the Great Plains. His verse reaches beyond his native region to touch on universal themes in accessible ways." Ted Kooser helped me go back to my small town and make sense of the images, words, and stories. For that I have been inspired and grateful.

There are many poems of his that I love. The one I am sharing in this assignment is The Spiral Notebook from Delights and Shadows which won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 2005.

A Spiral Notebook
The bright wire rolls like a porpoise
in and out of the calm blue sea
of the cover, or perhaps like a sleeper
twisting in and out of his dreams,
for it could hold a record of dreams
if you wanted to buy it for that,
though it seems to be meant for
more serious work, with its
college-ruled lines and its cover
that states in emphatic white letters,
5 SUBJECT NOTEBOOK. It seems
a part of growing old is no longer
to have five subjects, each
demanding an equal share of attention,
set apart by brown cardboard dividers,
but instead to stand in a drugstore
and hang on to one subject
a little too long, like this notebook
you weigh in your hands, passing
your fingers over its surfaces
as if it were some kind of wonder.
Ted Kooser
"Remember that the greatest pleasures of writing are to be found in the process itself. Enjoy paying attention to the world, relish the quiet hours at your desk, delight in the headiness of writing well and the pleasure of having done something as well as you can." Ted Kooser

I am going to take his advice and focus on one subject at a time and do it as well as I can. You can learn more about Ted Kooser here. You can learn more about American Life in Poetry here.

My Love for Autumn Revisted

While driving through my hometown today and capturing digital images, I was reminded of where my love for autumn began.

This a street corner by my early childhood house. I clearly remembered the vivid colors of the trees on this street from when I was five years old. Growing up the grocery store always let us know when Halloween was coming.
Now the hills are covered with new growth since the smelter has closed. I loved the mix of foliage and the blend of fall colors from this view. The mix of plants, flowers, and trees in my Mom's backyard is another example of autumn brilliance. I love to be reminded of how beautiful autumn can be. Happy Saturday.

Friday Night LIghts: Homecoming More Than Twenty-Five Years Later

I don't think I have been back to my high school homecoming for at least twenty-five years. A perfect time to return to Teeter's Field in Kellogg, Idaho for the annual event is when your niece is running for homecoming queen. The football game was between the Kellogg Wildcats and the St. Maries Lumberjacks. Before the game the family got warmed up with Mom's homemade chili . We bundled up and headed to the game, thankful the rain had subsided. We were relieved there is now grass turf. Back in the day it would have been a messy mud fest .

My sister and I got in position before halftime down on the field with cameras ready as The Princess was escorted in for the crowning. I didn't get many good pictures, but above she is on the right in the beautiful black dress and white shawl. You can see better pictures of The Princess on my sister's blog here. We didn't care that she didn't win. It was a memorable evening that included Mom attending a football game after a long hiatus, my other two nieces running around having fun with their friends , my brother-in-law driving one of the royalty cars, my sister being photographer for The Princess and other candidates, and me being able to sing the school fight song after each touchdown which was quite frequently. The Wildcats won 61-12.

Late Afternoon Thursday: Relaxing and Reflecting

It was such a delight to come home today and enjoy the late afternoon sun, a fire in the gazebo, Isabelle in the chair, the trees turning color, and JEJ waiting to converse about our days.

Annie loves to walk the property and she stands out among the falling leaves by the pond.By the gazebo the pond reflects the autumn trees, the shrubs close by, and the late afternoon sky. It makes a perfect location for relaxing and reflecting after a hectic Thursday.
Our newest " most photogenic, cutest kitten ever" Kit decides to get acquainted with Isabelle.

As we sat enjoying the fire in the gazebo discussing the day, this was the view looking west. Once the day warmed up and the sun came out, it was a perfect autumn day for relaxing and reflecting.

A Letter In October

Ted Kooser's poetry has a way of catching images then illuminating words into poetry that makes sense to all of us. Enjoy A Letter in October as we celebrate the beauty of autumn.

A Letter in October

Dawn comes later and later now,

and I, who only a month ago

could sit with coffee every morning

watching the light walk down the hill

to the edge of the pond and place

a doe there, shyly drinking,

then see the light step out upon

the water, sowing reflections

to either side -- a garden

of trees that grew as if by magic --

now see no more than my face,

mirrored by darkness, pale and odd,

startled by time.While I slept,

night in its thick winter jacket

bridled the doe with a twist

of wet leaves and led her away,

then brought its black horse with harness

that creaked like a cricket, and turned

the water garden under. I woke,

and at the waiting window found

the curtains open to my open face;

beyond me, darkness. And I,

who only wished to keep looking out,

must now keep looking in.

--Ted Kooser