friday present: from fives to friends


After last week's Friday gratitude post, I've decided to continue posting this weekly gift of thanks. Five seems like a fair number for the list. 

1. Fives. 


I like fives, their evenly intermittent evens and odds. How easy multiples of five add, multiply, divide. And square root (not that I ever do that). I like how "five" contains F and V, because I like the intimate relationship that F&V share in English. I like how if you write F&V like so, it looks kinda like fave.

2. Scones. 

I've been trying to bake up a heat wave inside the house. It works, sometimes, but still I'm mostly cold. When others stop by to visit, they often mention the words: sauna or Turkish bath. Yet, there I am in some wool sweater, shivering lightly. Yesterday, I baked some apricot-currant scones (with a touch of orange zest). 

I think scones are the world's perfect breakfast, tea-time snack and dessert. So versatile, light and delicately sweet! I have been using this simple scone recipe from Allrecipes and adding whatever pizzazz is in our kitchen. I substitute wheat flour for white and plain yogurt for the sour cream, because we can't get sour cream down in these parts. And I've found grating frozen butter with a cheese grater to be the best way to handle frozen butter ever, especially if your kitchen has a limited stock of pastry-making appliances. 

3. Bubblebathable tub.

{rose bath found here}

We are moving in a couple of weeks to a more comfortable house. Yay! It's much smaller than where we are now, but it's better constructed. There's a foundation, insulation on the roof and in the walls, the windows are properly sealed, the water pipes are underground and everything inside is new and sturdy. 

Most houses here don't have foundation, and insulation is few and far between. Houses here mostly consist of two layers of plywood--with nothing in between them--and a painted corrugated or flat tin wall for the outside of the house. The inner pieces of plywood are painted directly and all the electrical and gas guts line the outside of the walls. The ceiling is similarly, one non-insulated layer of plywood, a crawlspace and a triangular tin roof. While not ideal, it's supportable in the summer when it's not that cold, but in the winter... Oh, you can imagine. 

Construction faux pas aside, our current house has a large bathtub, which is a pretty groovy find in these parts. The house we're moving into has a tiny half-size tub, so I'll be taking advantage of a bubble bathing this week and next.

4. Old tunes.


A while back, I searched and searched for a music player for Mac, other than iTunes. I couldn't find one, so I relinquished myself to the month-long task of organizing my music by hand (with the help of some applications, but nothing out there solved the disaster of my music library 100%). One of these days I hope to gather up some instructions for customizing your iTunes. There are lots of tutorials out there, but there are also lots of glitches making workarounds vital. Yesterday, I went to the Rock section of my library, and let it play for hours. When I left to teach classes Tom Waits was crooning, when I returned it was Dylan. Springsteen, Chris Isaak, Cat Stevens, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, a little Zeppelin. It's music we haven't listened to in ages, and it made for lovely lasagna making and eating music. Later we played Gin Rummy, which also reminded me how much I love fives.

5. Friends.


Who isn't just absolutely thankful for their friends. There are those friends that you may not speak to for months at a time, but you can just pick up easily from where you left off. There are the mini relationships sharing smiles and hugs in the supermarket, leaving you with a spring in your step. Then there are the lovely friends, who offer to send you things from the States (Thank you Laura and Tim!), the friends who mail you kindnesses (Thank you Ian and Claire!). And then there are blog friends. I had no idea I would start to feel connected to such people all over the world through blogging. Here are five of my current loves in alpha order. Check them out if you haven't already!


{lavender scone (yum!) photo from Country Days}

24 comments:

Anna Walker said...

I love how you have carried this out! I do love the Chanel No. 5 bottles! I also adore scones, I love the word and the taste, they're so english it's amazing! Have a great weekend! :)

Anonymous said...

I love the pic of the Chanel perfume bottle! I think I should get one just because it looks nice; I don't like the way it smells, sadly. Scones and bubble baths - love 'em too.

Claire Kiefer said...

Does this mean you got my letter already? Also: nothing makes me feel at home more than classic rock. love you, and have a happy weekend!

heather said...

@anna, thank you so much! lovely weekend to you too!

@bellini, isn't it a beautiful bottle though! i love old perfume bottles. a bubble bath with a good book and a glass of bubbly.

@claire, no, i haven't received your letter yet, our mail is lightyears away from being that fast! i'm just so darn excited about it! :) big love and sunny weekend wishes!

Joyti said...

All of your fives are lovely. I've heard of grating frozen butter, but I've never tried it. I was planning on making pie pastry soon, I'll have to use it for that.

THE ALTERNATIVE WIFE said...

What a wonderful post! You have such a lovely blog. I'm glad you stopped by mine and introduced me to yours. I'm your newest follower and look forward to following along :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Abby said...

I love this post! Scones are amazing. And magical. And tasty.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the "Chanel" photo recognition and introducing me to your sweet blog. Love the two finger "puppets" friends--very cute!

The Simply Luxurious Life said...

Scones do sound rather lovely right now and friends always a good thing, always. Enjoy your weekend. I love this theme. Must keep it up. =)

Eileen said...

What a lovely list! I particularly love the Chanel perfume bottle and the scones pictures. Good luck on your move - it sounds like a much more hospitable home for winter. :) I'm so glad you stopped by my blog, because it gave me a chance to find yours, which I love and am now following. Have a wonderful weekend!

ilovemyhouse said...

Hi, and thanks for becoming my follower :D. Just read some posts on your blog and the post about surrender was soo beautiful and soo right.Have a great weekend. XX

Poppies and Sunshine said...

Aww, you are the sweetest my dear! Thank you for the mention. I am so thankful for blog friends like you too. This blog community is so great! I love your fives today. Scones and tea are definitely the perfect combination!
Old tunes are the best. I love using Pandora for oldies music, especially since I don't have a lot in my itunes.

Anonymous said...

What a lovely post! I love sconces, bubble baths, and old music too! xo

S and O said...

hahahahah those finger friends are so cute!
hope your having a great weekend!

xoxo
Olivia

Unknown said...

How about this? A scone, in the bathtub, with Chanel No. 5 scented bubbles?! No friends, though, I prefer to bathe alone, lol! XO!

heather said...

@Indie, Frozen butter through the grater is the way to go, especially if you're not working with state of the art small appliances! So much easier.

@Dawn, Thank you for following!

@ihearthome, You're welcome. Thank *you* for stopping by!

@Bella, Thank you! So excited about moving, will start packing in another week.

@Linda, Thank you so much for your kind words.

@Poppies, You're welcome, really appreciate this lovely blog community. It surprised me, and I'm so happy to be here.

@Shari, You crack me up! I'm about to dip into the bath right now, and yes, by myself.

Lovely rest of the weekend to all! XO

love jenny xoxo said...

I love those things too, especially bubble baths and friends!! I'll try to do a post soon on how to make yukka, it's soo yummy!

Anna @ IHOD said...

Oh I am so glad you stopped by the blog. I have a feeling I am going to love yours:)
Cheers!
Anna

stephanie Toole said...

Love the finger friends..
And Love your idea for stringing the photos up.. I am so going to do it! I think now I just need to print out more pix.. hope that your weekend is fantastic!

Mariska Meijers said...

Dear Heather thank you for your lovely comment on my blog. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Faiza said...

I think bubblebathable is my new favorite word!

Hearts to you!

Rebecca said...

I cannot say in words how much I love scones (pronounced sc-oh-nz, of course ;) )

http://itscohen.blogspot.com/

Connie @ SogniESorrisi said...

A great list!

Jennifer Young said...

i like the idea of this post! beautiful words! good to remember that we have so much to be thankful for!
j.

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