{bits & pieces}
The weekly “little of this, little of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
My mom has been holding down the {b&p} fort lately, as I imagine you’ve noticed. I’m finally back in a routine, after the holidays!
I say “after the holidays” because things have quieted down and yes, it’s technically Ordinary Time. We had our travels and we had our 2nd annual hot cocoa gathering and we even celebrated The Artist’s birthday, which comes in early January as a kind of wrap-up-the-feasting sort of deal.
But we’ll be hanging on to our Christmas cheer until the Feast of the Presentation (also known as Candlemas)! People may call us curmudgeons for keeping an Advent observance that involves no Christmas carols until Christmas actually arrives — but darn it if we don’t party hard on the other end!
I actually have to keep stopping myself at my instinctive desire to adopt any and all Christmas trees I see out on the curb: “Why would they get rid of that? It’s a perfectly good, shapely Christmas tree! This waste is madness – quick! I have to stop the next passing car to see who will help me haul this up to my apartment?” Oh right. It is well into the new year and I don’t actually have the space for that (no doubt extremely dry, needle-shedding) vegetation…
In the meantime, the days are lengthening again. A strange January thaw and some sunny days have had me reveling in early afternoon sunlight flooding my kitchen.
And I’m back in the Daedalshop, as I like to say (code: back at my kitchen table), returning to the routine of making pysanky after a Christmas hiatus. I just got the most glorious yellow on these duck eggs and I’m planning them to be a set for a giveaway for my Instagram followers, so do get on there and keep an eye out for me if you’re interested! I think they’ll make exciting Easter decorations, just to think ahead a little to the next liturgical feasting season!
And yesterday morning, early in my 3rd trimester, we finally got around to an ultrasound for Chickapea, who seems to be doing well! I would share a picture of that, too, except that The Artist accidentally pocketed the photos on his way into the studio so I didn’t have them around when I was writing this. Maybe next time.
Spoiler: This mom thinks: Baby is cute.
On to this week’s links!
This week’s headliner, because it is fascinating: That Time I Turned a Routine Traffic Ticket into the Constitutional Trial of the Century. I was so excited to read this, because I’ve felt a general uneasiness about traffic cameras (I mean, they are objectively just rather Orwellian, aren’t they? is there any arguing that?), but didn’t know how to articulate it on any constitutional terms; and a specific uneasiness about the time that one nabbed us back in Montgomery County, where the story of this article takes place. Let me give you a few juicy excerpts to help convince you to read it and perhaps share it:“I then asked the question one is taught never to ask on cross—the last one. “So, you signed an affidavit under the pains and penalties of perjury alleging probable cause to believe that Adam MacLeod committed a violation of traffic laws without any evidence that was so?”Without hesitating he answered, “Yes.” This surprised both of us. It also surprised the judge, who looked up from his desk for the first time. A police officer had just testified under oath that he perjured himself in service to a city government and a mysterious, far-away corporation whose officers probably earn many times his salary.
“… One might say that the traffic camera is a sign of our times. Its widespread use and acceptance reveals how far we have drifted from our fundamental commitment to self-government.”
Speaking of personal freedoms, I just got an alert from a friend about the option to opt out of FamilyTreeNow, a new website that has personal information stored and collected on all of us. I appreciated knowing that this was out there and having the chance to say, “no thank you,” so I thought you might as well.
Care to see photos of some very tiny boxwood carvings from the early 1500s? I would love to see what tools were used for this beautiful, intricate work!
A fun and beautiful pastry – the Brioche Star. From my mom: “I made this recipe for the Epiphany. I posted it on Instagram and many asked for the recipe. Here it is — it’s not hard! But it does use a lot of butter and eggs — oh well, we just have to sacrifice ourselves. I put lemon oil in the dough and used one jar of Bonne Maman wild blueberry preserves for the filling.”
From the Archives:
12 Things to Stash that Will Help you Get Supper on the Table – have you read this one already? I remember that something truly “clicked” with me when I read it. Obviously I grew up watching my mom pull these things out of the freezer and whip dinners together, but somehow it made things come together for me when I read them all laid out in a list, now that I have my own kitchen to manage.
Rosie’s adorable DIY fabric memory game.
Laundry Problems Start with Clothes: an explanation of how to tackle the problems of laundry systems before they start. (Auntie Leila says that she keeps getting emails from gals who are drowning in laundry; this post is the essential first step to getting control of the situation!)
In the Liturgical Year:
Today we remember St. Felix (who, as it happens, is a patron saint against perjury! See excerpt from first article linked, above!)
~We’d like to be clear that, when we direct you to a site via one of our links, we’re not necessarily endorsing the whole site, but rather just referring you to the individual post in question (unless we state otherwise).~
Follow us on Twitter.
Like us on Facebook.
Auntie Leila’s Pinterest.
Rosie’s Pinterest.
Sukie’s Pinterest.
Deirdre’s Pinterest.
Habou’s Pinterest.
Bridget’s Pinterest.
Habou’s Blog: Corner Art Studio.
Auntie Leila’s Ravelry.
Auntie Leila’s Instagram.
Rosie’s Instagram.
Sukie’s Instagram.
Deirdre’s Instagram.
Bridget’s Instagram.
The post {bits & pieces} appeared first on Like Mother Like Daughter.
