Kupa goes for a walk with the weekend blog introductions

Today I shall return to one of my favourite weekend posts. Introductions.  There is so much to see in the blog world. The sheer strength of us as a collective is awesome. So here a few of the pages that I visited and particularly enjoyed this week.

To sandwich Mimo between my wee peacock pages with these ordinary images is an anachronism.  Mimo is one of the most evocative photographers to visit these pages.  Her work elevates the spirit, it is full of love and soul and a searching empathy.  I am not exaggerating. For sheer beauty and gutsy images Mimo is an extraordinary talent. It drives me crazy when people say, oh you must have a very good camera.  Mimo could create an image that would break your heart using  a matchbox with a hole in it.

Now here is a newish blogger to my pages.  I think a few of you know her already. Choc chip uru from go Bake Yourself.  She  is witty, delightful and informed.  She loves chocolate, though I will not hold it against her because she also loves to bake. She lives in Aussie,  makes a mean pavlova and exudes a refreshing joy  in her work. I am looking forward to knowing her better.

Now, Lois is a lady who writes a blog that  I am incredibly proud to follow. Lois is fighting Leukemia with so much  spirit and punch. She endlessly astounds me.  Illness is part of the cycle of living, it hits many families but Lois is facing more than most and she meets every twist in her recovery with incredible clarity, transparency and optimism.  I wish she were closer so that TonTon and I could visit. Because she is getting better!! 

Rantings of an Amateur Chef is a clever fellow with a refreshing earthy approach to his food. He likes to eat and he likes to cook!  What else is there! And he is determined that his family eats well. Well what more can I say. His food is Good to eat!  And I am thrilled to have found him. 

Now, we all know sawson and her incredible, exotic food but if you missed this post please have a look. It is for Greek Yoghurt. It is so simple.  I make a lot of yoghurt, I eat it every day and all my animals eat yoghurt on Wednesdays (it is Stomach Health Day on Wednesday) , they may pucker, they may moan, they may turn their heads  but they all eat that yoghurt on Wednesdays and  with Sawson’s recipe if I start it on the Monday I can make enough foreveryone by Wednesday!  And it works! Plus it is rich, thick and tasty. 

I am sending Love, love to my friend Viv  the poet, who is recovering as fast as possible from a mishap. Get well Viv!

Now I know there are piles of you who love the Other Celia, but really, check out this chocolate easter egg.. sublime!  Celia has spectacular taste and her chocolate (and I am not a chocolate fan as you know) is a feast for the eyes.

And now for a Thank You. The other day I was talking about gathering a wee bunch of farm animals and taking them to the old folks home. I was saying how I wanted animals they could hold and touch. Much like they have held and touched their own loved ones all their lives, their babies, their children, their husbands and wives, their mothers and friends,  their dogs and cats, their birds.  In a retirement home Touch has Gone. Many of the old people TonTon and I visit have been farmers,  they have handled animals every day of their lives. They love to hear the stories from the farmy.  They love to tickle their gnarled hands into the Ton’s fluffy ruff as they talk. So with the encouragement of my blog crew (you guys) I plan to stuff as many baby farm animals into my cooking oil car as I can and take them TO the older people who are in the retirement homes. So they can watch them grow. When the animals  get bigger there is the stock trailer.

Jess who has been reading along with me for almost a year now, was excited by the idea,  she called out in her comment and said “I have the perfect llama for you. Her name is Breezy. She is so sweet and so gentle and perfect. I want to give her to you for your project”.   A llama. What an amazing thought.

So in high excitement we exchanged addresses and ran for the maps and to our absolute dismay we discovered that we live too far away from each other. Vermont and Illinois includes a lot of roundtrip miles.  Too far for such a beautiful animal. Too far to drive with a stock trailer.  Too long for busy farmers to be away from their properties. We have had to concede that Jess’ most magnificent offer will not work. The world is not a small place it is big.

But I want to publicly thank Jess, the mother of the llamas. For being so impulsive, so wild, so beautiful  and so loving and so incredibly kind. For wanting to give me such a valuable and much loved animal, hoping  that TonTon and I  could walk her through the front doors of the retirement home and seeing the wide wide smiles and reaching hands of the lovely people who live there.  But sometimes dreams do not come true. And sometimes that just has to be OK.  But Jess honey, that was a wonderful dream.   You are so special.   I hope that one day we can meet and I can thank you properly.   But for now Thank you truly for being such a good, generous person.

Good morning. Easter Sunday here. But someone forgot to give the animals the day off.  So Ton and I had better get busy.

Take good care today. Have a  lovely day.

Celi