The Archives

And let’s be real — they are. Wasn’t it Spurgeon who, when asked how he reconciled the doctrine of predestination and human free will, said he didn’t, because there was no need to reconcile friends? Well, ditto chocolate and pears. … Read More

Ingratitude is an art form for me. Why do I spend so much time on this blog exhorting all of you to lift your eyes up, to spot the graciousness of God in your trials, to give thanks in all … Read More

Discombobulate, a noun: the state of being discombobulated, out of sorts, wonkydonks and upheaved. (English majors everywhere, pull your claws out of the plaster on the ceiling. I am fully aware that I made all that up. You’ll live.) It … Read More

You cannot say I didn’t warn you. Let the long rambles about Advent traditions begin! There was a time when Ann Voskamp was not woke and at least a little bit less flaky than she perhaps now is, and as … Read More

We saw the first hail today, pelting about the yard like they owned the place (which I suppose, in that moment anyway, they surely did). I guess that makes it official — winter has arrived. For years, wiser heads than … Read More

Last night, during the final doorknob question (the most important topics come up at that last moment before the last goodnight is said, when your hand is on the doorknob… it is when you think you have checked all the … Read More

Normally, I would never consider something as prosaic as oatmeal for this feature. But here’s the thing, and with absolutely no underlying spirit of accusation, there are people (I mean, I don’t know them, but I have read about them) … Read More

As we embark on the first planned hiatus from blogging in honor of 3 days spent with Superchick at her lovely abode for Thanksgiving (squee!! And yes, I know you are all wondering — what will she do with all … Read More

The first time I can recall being told that I would be a tough act to follow, I was about 13 years old and it was the woman cutting my hair. At the time, I recall having no idea what … Read More

Have we known each other long enough for me to offer up one of my favorite, most difficult, and absolutely most fun recipes to make without you smirking and closing down the screen? Kindly recall that I have also offered … Read More

I am not much of a list writer, actually. But here goes. Write a blog. Pointer fingers are overrated when you are hunting and pecking, chicken-style, anyway. Wash half of my hands. As in, one hand. Ever seen a kid … Read More

It all started at 2 am this morning when I awoke with that awful feeling in my throat that serves as a flashing hazard light, informing me that I am set to feel sick for a bit. Something about the … Read More

It is so strange to realize that I have suddenly (because it did feel sudden… wasn’t it only about a year ago that my inner thought dialogue sounded exactly the same as it did when I was 16? And yes, … Read More

Recently, I attended a ladies’ fellowship evening at church. It was hosted by a gracious woman with a beautiful home and there was intentional conversation and teaching about hospitality, which explains/justifies the two different cocktails I learned how to make … Read More

I obviously lack maturity. If you have been here longer than about ten minutes, this will not astound you (though you could strive for politeness and stifle the snort and eye roll), so maybe it is not surprising that when … Read More

That’s right — this one is for you, my non-baking soulmate of a reader. The one who reads all my blither about creaming butter while munching on Cheese-Nips and sipping Merlot and giggles over my folly and wonders why I … Read More

Now, some supercilious humbug could be reading this and argue that it seems to them that the veracity of the title depends heavily upon the nature of the question (not my regular readers, you understand. But theoretically, one of you … Read More

Over the summer, I had a temporary lapse of sanity and attempted (once again) to learn the art of making sourdough bread, chiefly because I really like eating it. I engaged with hell itself and requested a whole collection of … Read More

Now observe my Herculean effort to keep this burst of words both ladylike and dignified. So, the human subconscious is really a striking piece of Divine handiwork when you think about it. It has often been observed that if there … Read More

Somewhere along the line, mail started getting less fun. I historically love getting mail, but that enthusiasm has been dampened by all those pesky bills and bank statements and, most recently, politicians lying through their teeth at me in print … Read More

Last year, I finally looked it up. I mean, if your heart is seeking to take a name in vain every six months, you sort of want to know whose name to use, amiright? The answer is William Willett, the … Read More

I have grown silly happy fond of Saturdays. They are made up of work, no doubt, but there is also the hint and anticipation of rest to come, combined with the extra time at my fingertips that is normally devoted … Read More

I have been studying to write a women’s Bible study on the book of Jonah (you wouldn’t believe how much is packed into that little tiny book. The mind grenades are flying) and came across a quote by Charles Spurgeon … Read More

I am in the process of burning our lunch. It is not a conscious decision, and there are no smoke alarms going off (yet. Side note: if you have been reading up on the blog, you may have stumbled upon … Read More

It has just been one of those days. I don’t know why they hit out of nowhere, or why it seemed today to hit every female at Feodora, but I think I have changed my clothes about 10 times today … Read More

When I was in high school, there were 2 solidly unfortunate trends that coincided in a most unattractive way: low rise jeans and tramp stamps. You may be such a classy person (I would expect nothing less of my readership) … Read More

No one in their right mind makes bagels from scratch. Now that we have gotten that out of the way… So there I was, mixing up the sponge for my first attempt at poppyseed bagels last Saturday, because what could … Read More

This is the last Sabbath breakfast post of October, so I suppose we have eased into autumn slowly enough… time for a pumpkin recipe. Back in the day, we used to summon my Glamorous (and highly quotable) Friend from her … Read More

It is not too late. By the time this is published, we will be withing spitting distance of Reformation Sunday and it is not too late for you to fling yourself headlong into celebration of the incredible kindness of God … Read More

It all started with me getting excited about a bowl of oatmeal. Not gonna lie (I never lie to you, reader, you should know that by now), I find this embarrassing on a number of levels, not the least of … Read More

Once a month, the men at church gather on a Sunday evening to sing and study and fellowship. I am all for this. Yet it must be admitted that we are creatures of habit and pattern and to have Sunday … Read More

The weekend was blessed with rain, after an unusual streak of many dry and sunny months. Seattle was about to lose its tourism attraction and the anxiety over the risk of becoming just like every other liberal, crime-infested, climate-obsessed mecca … Read More

This is atypical. Moms may get sick last, but we are not supposed to get sick longest. I swear it is in the handbook, right after that bit about no longer being obligated to eat the oatmeal you make everyone … Read More

Want to know another fantastic thing about cranberries (assuming you are all caught up on recent posts and don’t need me to spin another sonnet in admiration of cranberries. Save both of us the time and hop to the archives)? … Read More

(Not to be confused with Italians, who may or may not lie, being human and all. Have you watched the acceptance speech of their newly elected prime minister? Makes you want to be Italian. If you watch one political video … Read More

Sometimes I think it must have been fun to be a Pharisee. It is sort of the way I sometimes feel when I see bimbo college girls. Years ago, a friend was grieving over the shallow obliviousness of her younger … Read More

The fevers have broken! Kind of like morning breaking… only brighter and with a worse taste lingering in our mouths. What is that, anyway? The entire inside of one cheek is all bumpy and gross feeling and I couldn’t figure … Read More

Once upon a time, a jazz musician married a horticulturist and she has been wheedling for him to dig her a cranberry bog ever since. My logic is darn near irrefutable: he has a Bachelor’s degree in horticulture with an … Read More

Insert that thing about best laid plans. I had such gorgeous cranberry plans for this feature, but alas, I am the besickened caretaker of the house of plague and thus, there is only appropriate offering this weeked: Cardamom Rice Pudding. … Read More

I just finished feeding chili cheese Fritos straight to the mouth of a kiddo in a bubble bath while reading Calvin and Hobbes out loud. The facts are undeniable: The Quail have fallen sick. And thus, blog posts are late, … Read More

When God wants to exfoliate a wife’s soul, He sends a Man Cold. Don’t pretend you don’t know what I am talking about. Ask any wife, especially any mother, and if the home has been ravaged with colds, if children … Read More

Ok, fine. Fall can happen. I have bid adieu to every last remnant of summer and am now thoroughly ensconced in acceptance, and I can prove it to you: I have just pulled an applesauce cake out of the oven, … Read More

Quail the Second dragged her exhausted self into my kitchen this morning while I was warming up apple cider on the stove and declared, with a sobering degree of gravity, that she was suffering from Skittle Face. This gave me … Read More

16 years from the day of birth. 16 years to struggle, to laugh, to triumph, to worship. Dark morning, lit by a full moon (it must be in her honor — God is kind like that), by heaps of candles … Read More

In honor of the sweet 16 of Quail the First, which fortuitously falls on a Sunday this year, today I shall offer you her (and our) favorite and best special breakfast, and the perfect addition to a Sabbath breakfast feast … Read More

There are birthday presents piled in my bedroom, only barely hidden, because the Lord is good and the Conqueror of death. That’s right — my oldest quail turns 16 years old this weekend. And my mind is blown. All birthdays … Read More

I am not much of an animal person. It’s not personal. I don’t have any opinions about whether or not you want your dog to sleep on your pillow or if you are that person who goes through the Starbucks … Read More

I don’t think I am cut out for walking. Throughout the last week, I have been experimenting with using walking as a viable form of exercise. Every day around lunch time, I see my 2 elderly neighbors don their large, … Read More

If you have been hanging around here for the last week, you know that I got generally hacked off at my skinny jeans, my pain, and… well, yeah, basically those. Wooly baa lambs don’t waste a lot of energy feeling … Read More

So, I was making apple dumplings for the first time last weekend. I grew up watching the Apple Dumpling Gang, so I have always known they are a thing, apparently worth mining for gold to get, but actually never knew … Read More

It is October 1, and there are bright yellow leaves beginning to flutter down onto the road. Fall is rife with memories for me, memories of romance and grief and everything in between. So as I urge you on to … Read More

I suddenly remember why I never made it to the Olympics. As a doe-eyed youth (you can’t picture it, can you? Go take a swig of black coffee. It helps the imagination), I aspired to go to the Olympics running … Read More

Within 45 of minutes of punching that gleaming “publish” button on yesterday’s post, I dug out an old beat-up pair of sneakers (ok, fine, honesty police — I had someone tall and useful dig them out for me. Happy now?) … Read More

It doesn’t happen often, but this morning as I puttered about my kitchen, I found myself drawing a big fat blank on what to talk about today. All that I can come up with has an unfortunate tendency towards the … Read More

I recently brought shame upon myself by admitting that I am internally nothing more than an old man belting out, “You kids get off my lawn!” at every phrase I find personally distasteful, and then I proceeded to name some … Read More

I was a young mother when I first read the quote: “Expectations are the death of relationships.” (Side note: I used to think that transitioning from being a “young mother” or perhaps more aptly, a “mother of young children” to … Read More

…would be a muffin. And a totally legit breakfast choice. I have been threatening, er, promising to convert you to eating cake for Sabbath breakfast and today we shall make our first true foray down that sugar-laden trail of joy … Read More

I sometimes worry that Pharoah is my spirit animal. If you have taken my (dare I say) absolutely brilliant advice and joined me in the Bible Reading Challenge, then you know we are currently in Exodus. My eldest quail became … Read More

Quite a few years back, my grandmother read a book about eating for your blood type that I think was a bit popular in weight loss circles at the time, though I don’t believe that was why she read it. … Read More

There are phrases that I absolutely hate. Actually, I seem to be gaining more and more of these phrases as I get older, which is probably a sad predictor of just what a cranky person I am going to be, … Read More

As I stood at my kitchen sink this morning, listening to the incessant roar of traffic out my window, the candle on the windowsill flickering as I worked through 55,000 pods of borlotti beans, I contemplated how many things have … Read More

I am married to a fun man. He has the best ideas, so when he said he was able to take a Saturday off so that we could take the kids to Mount Rainier for the first time, even though … Read More

On the way to Mount Rainier, there is a Waffle Stick stand. Don’t know what that is? Neither did we! But the Beloved has had the itch to take our kids to Mt. Rainier all summer and today, we finally … Read More

I am choosing not to let it hurt my feelings that of the thousands (…) of readers I must have who just aren’t admitting it out loud (smart. Always look busy), not a single one noticed that I broke my … Read More

We own cats. I feel that I have already made a fair number of startling confessions on this blog, so by this time, you really have no excuse for being shocked when I tell you that I am not a … Read More

Of all the places we have lived (and there have been a few), Feodora owns the market on all things perpetual, interminable, unremitting and unceasing (Yes, I am aware those are all synonyms. Aren’t you glad I didn’t bother to … Read More

My beef is not with pumpkin spice. As I see it, pumpkin spice is like platform shoes: it can be done fantastically, something Mary Tyler Moore would pull off with class, or it can cause necks to break. Granted, my … Read More

There are myriad different levels and brands of fatigue. There is the 36 hour labor fatigue, the sitting in Seattle rush hour traffic fatigue (which, it is worth noting, sometimes gets confused with being homicidal, but it isn’t. It is … Read More

“Definition of Luddite : one of a group of early 19th century English workmen destroying laborsaving machinery as a protest broadly : one who is opposed to especially technological change. The Luddite argued that automation destroys jobs.” This is an uncomfortable admission for me. I feel my hypocrisy … Read More

It’s happened. The first day of school here at Feodora has come and gone and in the blink of an eye, fall has arrived. Like, we could literally see our breath this morning. SO. WRONG. But there have been signs … Read More

The weather has not turned to autumn coolness, and I was standing in the yard with my cup of coffee, following the instructions I had been given to “Watch!” Normally, this is when I hold my breath while the quail … Read More

I would never dream of so maligning the characters of any of my fluffy and darling quail as to suggest that there have picky eating tendencies. Perish the thought. But there is a particular giddiness I feel when I stumble … Read More

I know. Enough with the peaches already. Get a new fruit, get a hobby, GET A LIFE. And I solemnly swear to get right on that… next week. But come on — this is my last Sabbath breakfast pitch before … Read More

Credit where credit is due: today’s post comes with a nod to the Beloved, who walked out to breakfast this morning with toilet paper stuck to his face, the remnants of a shaving battle that he apparently lost. He burst … Read More

My sister (huh… I just realized I don’t have a pithy non-name for her the way I do for everyone else I mention in the blog. That-Gorgeous-Creature-Who-Is-Literally-Everything-I-Want-To-Be-When-I-Grow-Up feels a little wordy, though definitely on the nose… let’s call her Superchick … Read More

I have made the conscious decision to try and make use of my local Communist cell, er, library, as it were. Now that a very pleasant person, willing to speak slow and use small words, has taught me how to … Read More

School may be throwing me an evil grin from just around the corner, cackling about how my mornings spent in superfluous baking and Wodehouse novels are a mere blink away from being over, but the perfect watermelons live on (ha, … Read More

It is a running joke amongst my bevy of quail (side note: did you know that was a thing? I always thought it was a covey of quail, but apparently bevy is the more appropriate classification), that their mater is … Read More

This week’s Sabbath breakfast feature (now just recklessly trying out titles, because even though I think there is somebody reading all my nonsense, y’all are eerily quiet in the comment section and offered no suggestions) is distinctly seasonal. As in, … Read More

There is something mysterious that happens on the eve of company coming over. I have a theory that it is a gene that lurks quietly until word comes that a toddler you did not birth is going to come in … Read More

Until today, I could not have told you just what it was that Daffy Duck was blithering about. And to be fair, his mama’s succotash could have been a suffering and I would not dream of diminishing his pain by … Read More

In a world full of money making schemes, a few basics rise to the top (according to the interwebs, and we have established the flawlessness of this method, no?). Listed towards the top, actually, is blogging… Step One: produce excellent … Read More

They say even negative attention is attention… It all started with my husband’s teeth being made of butter. Well… and probably years of my feeding him butter. I can accept some share of the responsibility here. But he had developed … Read More

“Buckle is a dessert which combines fresh seasonal fruit, a rich cake batter, and a streusel topping. The result is a rich, dense cake with a moist crumb which is sometimes compared to coffee cake. It is an excellent summer dessert, and can … Read More

UnPublish(Able) is adding a new feature! I can hear your thoughts screeching to a halt — it had features before this? Yes, silly. The “welcome to the show” feature, the “hoo boy, aren’t you glad this isn’t your brain?” feature, … Read More

Edith Schaeffer was known to describe the worthwhile effort of making a home beautiful using whatever God gave you, telling stories about the lean years when table decorations consisted of whatever sticks and wildflowers her kids found and brought inside. … Read More

I blame Mo Willems. If he had not introduced the whole notion of Nanette’s Baguette to the world, after blessing our socks off with great pieces of literature like Elephant and Piggy, Knuffle Bunny (Mr. Willems, if you are reading … Read More

Do follow my train of thought, please. It started with dinner last night. As I have perhaps already mentioned 18 or 19 times in the last 7 days, my floor is flush with perfectly lovely peaches, plums and glorious pluotts … Read More

Seeing as I have already devoted a silly amount of space here to waxing poetic about the stone fruit in Washington State in August, I will restrain myself today. Suffice to say, the peaches are beautiful. What do you do … Read More

If ever there was an idol thoroughly ripe and ready for a great heaving into eternal hell fire, it has to be the idol of simplicity. This leapt to my attention, not for the first time, this morning when I … Read More

I hate that my computer thinks I misspelled that (that and wow, I often misspell the word misspelled… awkward), because it rubs my face in the fact that I live in a world largely unfamiliar with pluotts. A cross between … Read More

Hot days in Western Washington are a different beast than in Eastern Washington. While the weather is overall much more moderate over this direction, I did not realize when I moved here that there actually are people with no air … Read More

I hate biking. Before you take to tsking me (because seriously, if that is your heart’s desire, start with something bigger, like my tongue ring, that I think Star Wars is boring or my propensity to sneak ice cream from … Read More

I have long debated with myself whether this observable talent of mine is more of a superpower or a spiritual gift — perhaps you can solve the internal dithering for me. A definitive word from you, the readers, and I … Read More

I was reading the blog of an old friend this morning, someone who has become a sensation in the homesteading world. Yes, I think, ironically, that is a thing. You would think that internet fame and grubbing out your living … Read More

It seems to me that there are basically two ways to break into a new community. You can either dole out small pieces of information about yourself, breadcrumb style, and assume it will be like the frog in the pot … Read More

Years ago, I was introduced to a workout program called T-Tapp by a drop dead gorgeous friend of mine, who also happened to lose a ton of weight doing it (the two are not related. She has always been a … Read More

In the Hebrew (ha! I love starting a sentence that way. Makes it sound as if I have a clue about anything in Hebrew. Kind of like when people say, “Now that I’m in my forties…”), the word Feodora means … Read More

Stereotypes are fun. Let’s take a look at some, shall we? And I bring this up (heaven forbid I ever have a train of thought and fail to punch your ticket for the ride) because I got it into my … Read More

The drive across Washington State in midsummer is a feast for the senses. Actually, it is a literal feast too, if you do it right. It was not a conscious decision to acquire 80 pounds of peaches, nectarines, apricots and … Read More

One of the most prominent reasons that I never started a blog before (apart from all the ones I have already referred to elsewhere, of course. You have not read those? Is it possible that you are not, how shall … Read More

It should be noted right off the bat that if you badmouth Google, you will pay. In my experience, the primary currency they extract comes from the nerdy henchmen living in their mother’s basements who run Google Maps, modern day … Read More

It makes me sad to think that I live in a world full of people who don’t know who Tito Puente is, or that his version of Take Five is even better than the original (you win the bonus round … Read More

I swear. These are all connected. If you were to take this title to heart in a last-shall-be-first sort of way, I think you would discover depths far beyond what I even write. You may also get a headache. Forewarned … Read More

I’ve been thinking a lot about hiding. And not only because that huge batch of towels I washed by hand in my bathtub the other day turned out to smell disturbingly like the baked feet of a person who has … Read More

It’s a funny thing. On Friday of last week, I was bemoaning my utter lack of usefulness as a human being. I honestly don’t know why the zombie apocalypse is a concept in my mind, but I know for darned … Read More

A smarter person would have stopped making fun of things by now. Because sure enough, anything that I really commit to open mockery, especially if I have done so on the record in a public forum (say, Thanksgiving dinner), is … Read More