Mail and Moomin: Places to find peace

Hey there everybody! 

I've been upset and angry at developments from the White House these days, and though I'm trying to keep up with everything that's going on, I also need to step back and find peace and enjoyment in life to keep my head and not get bogged down or hopeless.

 For me, making mail is part of that peace.

In January I kept making snowy wintry mail, which in some ways feels unseasonal. It's like, Christmas is over, I'm ready for spring!

We did have some really unseasonably warm days here too. On the day of the Women's March (we had 5,000 people show up in our town!) it was like 60 degrees!

But it's gotten cold again, and there were flurries on and off all day yesterday. I'm really rather grateful for it, as the mud was getting intolerable. We had to put Hubble in the bath to wash off his paws every time he had to go outside. 

 So I've kept on with winter, sending the last of my beautiful quilt cards that I love so much, and using snowy scenes from all the children's book dust jackets that my library was giving away.

Here's a fun Christmas gift from my sister-in-law:

 A handmade solar system coffee coozy! I love it!

And here's that monstrous pup:

 He was sleeping like this, I don't know how he kept his legs that straight while asleep. 

And bar art from trivia night:

And another place I'm finding peace and happiness these days: Moomins!

 

I'd heard of Moomins before but had never read a book until now. I am two chapters in and I just love it so much. It's like a Scandinavian Winnie the Pooh. It's funny and cute and peaceful and a little bit weird.

I highly recommend it!

Cranberry Chess Pie

I've been wanting to make this pie all fall, and I finally did it for a family Christmas party. There couldn't have been a better occasion, it is so festive looking.

I got the recipe from a really cool pie blog called Nothing in the House.
I had never before made or even had a chess pie. It's one of those kitchen staple pies- sugar, butter, flour, eggs, milk or buttermilk, and a little cornmeal.

Here's a link to the recipe.

And boy, did it turn out great! The cranberries are a real nice tart burst to go with the sweet chess filling. I kind of thought that the chess custard tasted kind of like sugar cookie batter that hadn't been cooked all the way. I will definitely be making this pie again.