A great dog walking day!

As you can see, I got to play with Emma yesterday! We romped and ran and played fetch for a long time. And I did get to walk that new dog, Beacon, in the woods yesterday, too! All in all I was out for about 5 hours in the woods walking dogs. I was really happy. But, man! was it cold yesterday!! It was in the teens for most of the day and horrifically windy. I was toasty warm and dry, though. I have a really good selection of layers to choose from. Here is what works for me:

• Long underwear, preferably silk or tech-wick. My body does not like polypro much at all.
• The next layer is either thin fleece or thin, soft wool, or perhaps cotton if I don't think I will be perspiring too much.
• The next layer is either a medium weight fleece or sweater
• Optional next layer heavy fleece vest
• Choice of next layer (depending on temperature, weather circumstances like rain etc...) is either a thick Eastern Mountain Sports fleece jacket or rain gear (I have a rain suit). If it is really cold, as it was yesterday, I don my down jacket.
• Hat with flaps
• Turtle fur turtleneck/scarf
• Wool mittens, or if it is under 20 degrees thinsulate gloves
• Hiking boots.

I also tank up on fluids and make sure I keep sunscreen and moisturizer on exposed skin. I stay away from lotion or water based moisturizers because, duh, they freeze on my face and that is not so very comfy or good. First thing in the morning I put a warm washcloth on my face and then apply Weleda Rose Oil which has a high concentration of Jojoba oil (an oil which is molecularly similar to sebum, our own natural body oil) then top off with SPF25 moisturizer.

So there you have it, my all-weather system. I believe what they say, "There is no bad weather, just bad weather gear!"

On to cool stuff!

Your Daily Dose of Cool Things:

Dream Dollars

I love imaginary worlds, and especially imaginary worlds with wonderful art involved. So I jumped when I saw this. The engraving is really marvelous! So is the story. Go take a look!

A different Battle Chocolate

A very interesting battle ensued over in Italy about the constitution of "chocolate". Personally, I think this is great. But, I bet Mars Co. is quaking in their boots about now.

Your Daily Dose of Wonderful Design:

Decor8

This is a really fun site! I always find wonderful ideas here, and it is cheery and bright and spirit-lifting! Plus, they have nifty clicky links on the sidebar. Go stroll. Oooh! Pwitty!

Green Designs

"Green Design Furniture Co. is one of the few remaining artisan furniture manufacturers that produces the work of a contemporary designer. Founded in 1993 by inventor and designer Douglas Green, we are located in Portland, Maine’s historic Old Port district. Building on a tradition that began with the Arts and Crafts movement, our woodworkers combine a reverence for handwork with the progressive use of modern thinking, tools, and technology." (from Greendesigns.com) I will state, though, that the name is misleading. I see nothing about environmental practices, so I am assuming Green means Green. As in Mr. Green-Jeans. Too bad. Still, nice stuff!

Your Daily Dose of Inspiring Words:

Image by Geoffrey Todd Smith

"Sometimes, fate is like a small sand tempest that is continously changing its direction. You change your course, trying to avoid it. And then the tempest also changes its direction, following you. You change your course once more. And the tempest does it once again. And the reason is that the tempest is not something that comes from a far place and has nothing to do with you. This tempest, in the end, is you. It’s something inside you. The only thing you can do is accept it, fall inside and close your eyes and your ears very strongly, so as they don´t get filled with sand, and cross it very slowly. And inside it there is no sun, no moon, no direction, sometimes there´s even no time. There is only white, delicate sand, as bone´s dust, dancing on the top of the sky. Imagine a tempest like this." Haruki Murakami - Kafka on the shore.

Your Daily Dose of Wicked-Good Food:

Lunch of homemade tortilla crackers, filet mignon medallions and kale sauteed with olives, garlic and lemon.

One of the best toys in my kitchen cabinet is an electric tortilla press. Imagine a waffle iron but instead of the bumpy plates, there are flat ones. I mix up a dough, which varies depending on what I feel like munching, but this time I used 1 /12 cups white wheat flour, 1 egg white, 3 Tablespoons of olive oil, enough milk to moisten to a dough, 1 Tablespoon of flax seeds and salt. Leave the dough to rest for a bit to relax the gluten. Since you are unlikely to have a press, you may roll out one ounce balls of dough with a roller until they are very thin and place them in a dry, hot pan to cook, flipping after a few minutes. The kale was simple. Olive oil, torn kale, salt, and sliced olives marinated in garlic and lemon. As for the beast, well, the best is the best, and that was so tender I could eat it with a spoon.

Guess what? We are expecting 6 more inches of snow tonight!!!!!! Wheeee!!!!