...ANOTHER SUNDAY AT BILLINGS CREEK...

Despite the gray cloud cover, and the bitter (at least compared to what we have been used to this winter) cold, we decided a Sunday hike was in order. Our last Sunday hike was along Billings Creek and that was, to say the least stunning. This time we decided to hike along the other side of Billings, which put us smack up against some of the oldest, most impressive and largest of rock outcroppings in the area.

This rock outcropping, jutting itself so magnificently, looked not unlike the hull 0f some ancient ship embarking on a long journey.

..a closer look, upwards...

These mighty rocks diminish us, while at the same time they fill us completely with the magnitude of themselves and the ancient ones. Here in the Driftless area it is easy to see the results of the parting of the ice so very long ago.

...a little bit of history...

The Driftless Area or Paleozoic Plateau is a region in the American Midwest, noted mainly for its deeply carved river valleys. While primarily in southwestern Wisconsin, it includes areas of southeastern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa and extreme northwestern Illonios. This region includes elevations ranging from 603 to 1,719 feet (184 to 524 m) and covers an area of 16,203 square miles (42,000 km²). This region's peculiar terrain is due to its having escaped glaciation in the last glacial period.

The term "driftless" indicates a lack of glacial drift, the material left behind by retreating continental glaciers.

Typical terrain of The Driftless Area as viewed from Wildcat Mountain State Park in Vernon County, Wisconsin

The earlier local phases of the Wisconsinan glaciation are poorly understood, but the last involved several major lobes, the Des Moines lobe, which flowed down to Iowa's capital city on the west, the Superior Lobe (and its sublobes) on the north and the Green Bay lobe and Lake Michigan lobes on the east. The northern and eastern lobes were in part diverted around the area by the Watersmeet Dome, an exceedingly ancient uplifted area of Cambrian rock underlain by basalt. The Green Bay and Lake Michigan lobes were also partially blocked by the bedrock of the Door Peninsula, which presently separates Green Bay from Lake Michigan. In earlier phases of the Wisconsinan, the Driftless Area was totally surrounded by ice, with eastern and western lobes joining together to the south of it. Regarding the origin of the Driftless Area, a particular new concept or train of thought involves the pre-Illinoian continental glacial ice originally flowing over the Driftless Area while depositing pre-Illinoian till (only that till which is older than 790,000 years old) upon it but then periglacial erosion later removed it when the ice retreated and uncovered the area. This was done through anticyclonic snow-bearing winds episodically dropping a large amount of snow which consequently gradually removed superficial sediment by solifluction and snowmelt sheetwash processes.

In the adjacent glaciated regions, the glacial retreat left behind drift which buried all former topographical features. Surface water was forced to carve out new stream beds.

This cave was assessable from the other side of the rocks, and one could actually walk through to get to this opening.

...another jutting ship...

This rock structure stood out among all the structures we saw, the color, the shaping, and the small arch so perfectly formed. above, and we stood in awe.

Everywhere we looked we saw the 'strokes of the Master'.

And here, as difficult as it is to see, and though it seems a bit early, is the emergence of the first skunk cabbage we've seen.

Some folks experience 'God' in church on a Sunday, we experience 'God" in the magnificence of nature's Cathedral.

LAMPSHADES

Finally, I have gotten back to weaving, though a bit unconventional, as I am once again weaving on the metal frame of an old discarded lampshade. I decided to do this one in wool warp and wool weft.

You can see the frame in the background.

Lots of lovely wool yarn, some of it from the Fairbault Woolen Mill, and some from a now defunct carpet mill down south.

I have been commissioned to do two lampshades for a friend, and this smaller one is to be in soft, light colors with flecks of blue, etc. These are the yarns I have chosen.

Once the frame is warped, the butterflies of yarn made, it is on to the actual weaving...

It is a slow process but is wonderfully meditative....

Close up of the weave and the colors...
I am hoping to complete this in the next couple of weeks and get on to the second, larger frame.

JANE'S EGGS

This post will primarily be about food, but I wanted to say that Freddie and I took another unbelievable hike yesterday, and unfortunately I choose not to take my camera along. It was a terrible mistake! ! We hiked along the mouth of Billings Creek, entering where it spills into the Kickapoo River, and it was one of the most stunning hikes we've taken. I cannot say how many times in our 2 1/2 hour hike I lamented my decision to leave the camera at home. Next time.

On to the food....

The other day a friend of mine gave me some goose and ducks eggs that she had gathered from her pampered, well-loved geese and ducks. She wondered if I would experiment cooking/baking with them. I thought that would be fun and embarked on this venture.

...goose egg on the left, large chicken egg on the right...

Goose eggs are quite, quite large, and after some research found that one goose egg equaled somewhere between 2 and 4 chicken eggs.


Goose egg shells, unlike chicken egg shells, are tough to crack, thick and hard.



So on to my stint in the kitchen.

When I was a child one of my favorite desserts (also one of my father's three favorites) was tapioca pudding. As a child I loved rolling the little small 'pearls' around in my mouth as I was eating the pudding. I thought them rather magical. Oh, and the pudding delicious, too.

I am not sure why tapioca occurred to me but I decided that one of the things I would do with the eggs was make the pudding. I believe my mother used Minute Tapioca, but I went for the long route and purchased the pearls themselves.

These 'pearls' 1/2 c. had to soak overnight in 2 c. of room temperature water

They are tiny and actually look like little pearls.

After soaking overnight, they were soft.

In a double boiler heat 2 1/2 c. milk until just no longer cold. Add 1/4 tsp. salt and tapioca and heat until small bubbles appear at sides of pan. Cover, turn heat to very low, and cook for one hour...never simmering or boiling mixture.

Here they are slowly heating in a double boiler....


While they slowly heated, for an hour, I separated the eggs, beat eggs yolks with 1/2 c. sugar until light colored, then added a little of the hot mixture to the yolks and blended well. When the hour was up I added this slowly, mixing well, to mixture in the double boiler. I raised the heat to medium and cooked about 15 minutes until mixture was quite thick. Meanwhile I whipped up the egg whites until stiff..

Which I then folded into the thickened tapioca added 1 tsp. vanilla and refrigerated it.

Now, on to the other goose and duck eggs.

They were so vivid in color and after cracking into a bowl, thought they looked like a flower.

I thought a good use for these would be to make some pasta, fettuccine to be exact.

...1 1/4 c. all purpose and 1/2 c. semolina flours mixed...

addition of the yolks (9 yolk equivalent) a 3-4 tbs. water and 1 tbs. very good extra virgin olive oil

slight kneading and resting in refrigerator for at least an hour

then to the noodle machine where first the dough is passed through the rollers to re-knead it,
then passed through the cutters, these being the fettuccine cutter

then left to dry for several hours.

On to a delicious supper of the proverbial salad

traditional Sicilian Sunday 'succo' (tomato sauce)
with meatballs
grated Romano cheese
fresh snipped basil

This transported me back to my grandmother's kitchen where my father made homemade pasta quite frequently. Homemade pasta melts in your mouth.

A good glass of wine and a husband who truly appreciates good food, what could be better?

ABUNDANT BLESSINGS

Despite a brisk, cold wind, last Sunday was a beautiful sunny day. Freddie and I spontaneously decided we'd try hiking the Reserve thinking that being in the woods would protect us from that harsh wind. We were correct.

What a blessing is our life here in the Kickapoo Valley, surrounded by such natural beauty, living so close to the 8000 acres of Reserve land, to say nothing of the fact that Freddie grew up on that very land before it was Reserve. He knows those acres intimately, and never fails to guide a stunning hike.

Here is Weister Creek, the heart of F's extended family's original homes. There is a massive fallen tree spanning the creek, on which we carefully inched our way to the other side in order to stand beneath the most beautiful rock walls one could imagine.

Rocks jutting into our path...

How deceptive this photo is. We had just climbed almost straight up to reach the top of this shelf. I truly mean straight up. It was almost technical, and in spots it was on all fours in order to find steady footing on vertical expansions. Trying, but so much fun.

In the stretch of woods that we hiked, we were almost constantly surrounded by lovely hemlock trees, nearly 10 acres of them.

Little ones sprouting all over...

...the ground completely littered with the tiny cones that had fallen....

What looks like sky in the background is really the Kickapoo River, which is only barely frozen over in spots. The ice blue you see, is a bit of ice.

Just one of the stunning, massive rock outcroppings.

This stretch was like a cathedral, silent and holy seeming and we, as silent as the trees, traversed our way among them.

...and near the end of our three hour hike, this magnificent old, nearly dead tree, twisted and gnarled, and somehow wise.

FRIENDS...ARTISTS...FOOD...FUN...INSPIRATION

Once a month a gathering of exceptionally creative women meet to share their artistic talents. These talents are many and varied, but most of the members sketch, draw, and/or paint in any number of media.

We have several sketch books, which are traded each month after a 'showing' of what the person who took it home has done that month.

Evan's work

Evan's work

Susan C's work (I think)

Susan C's work

Nancy's painting

Susan's work

Monica's work

There were several other offerings of wonderful art work, of which I either missed taking a photo, or the photo itself was so inartistic, I could not bring myself to include it here.

After enjoying a lunch together, we 'exchanged' valentines. We each brought a homemade a valentine, either entirely homemade, or put together from found materials, and these were randomly selected by the group. What a wonderful variety of 'cards' we were privileged to see and to take home.


Evan's hand drawn valentine...

Olga's gathered seeds and basket...

Joanne's heart-shaped potholder and woven heart...

Susan's multi-media card

Janet's valentine photograph of vintage jewelry from her past...

Susan G's felted heart...

I regret that I have missed some of the sketch books and some of the valentines, but at this first attempt to chronicle our Artlings group, this will have to do. Perhaps I will leave the photo taking to my friend and fellow member Janet, as she has superb skills in that area.

This group is warm, supportive, and so inspiring. What a lovely afternoon, a lovely gathering of friends, a lovely tribute to art and women.