SNOWDAYS!

the rumors of way more snow have taken hold,
and everybody up here in the woodsly goodness is getting ready
for a barrage of flakes that'll bury us all under another 'nother blanket
of wintry white woe and worry.
yeah.
it snows up here, often and a lot.
that's part of the charm of the place, i guess.
i mean, i've been living up here for some time,
shoveling my way out of the Folk Life & Liberty Fortress
whenever it gets packed and pressed full of snow.
there might've been a year of two where we didn't get smashed under storm after storm-
and during those winters, the local retail weirdies all panicked about
the 'snow traffic' generated by the ski mountains.
i'll tell you something- new englanders LOVE complaining.
if it snows, it's too much snow.
if it doesn't we're all gonna starve.
if it's cold, it's too damned cold,
and if it's hot, it's too damned hot.
nobody likes where they are, and nobody goes anywhere else.
maybe they've got something good goin' on?
maybe they're scared of the great big bad world full of opportunities to grow?
maybe they're ugly?
man, i don't know.
i chose to live here, and i'm still feeling happy about it.
then again,
it's easy to live anywhere if you've got a space you feel is your own -
i've got my old busted haunted house, which i F*ing love.
i've got my career, and my very own place for it, at AMPERSAND TATTOO.
and i've got a working oven.
it may not sound like much to you, but that's a whole world of expertism to me.
i'm where i'm s'posed to be, doing what i'm s'posed to.
it's all really happening, and that's the whole point.
the people in my life who overlap and interlock with my northern life
are all important, too.
that's the catch.
nobody loves it here like i do, but i belong here.
that's the kind of heartbreak that aches all day long... and then all night, after that.
everything i need is here, everyone i want is forever anywhere else.
*
well, that's not exactly uplifting, but you know what IS??
i baked up some specialty lemon cookies ( 'wow, these are very lemony', or so i heard)
and they tasted bright and light and totally like it wasn't subzero degrees outside.
check the teleport:

GLUTEN-FREE!!!
yeah. i wanna share my time and my passions with breezy,
and that often means leaving the wheat out.
no big deal.
they're still very good,
and they're also the lightest and the crOmbliest little cookies i've made in an age.
y'wanna bake up some cirtrusy sunshine circles for your face?
ok.
-
*
GF LEMON SUNBEAMS!
-
preheat your oven to 375℉
-
in a medium-sozed mixin' bowl, cream together:
1 cup sugar;
1/2 tsp salt;
1 stick ( 8 T ) vegan butter;
1 tsp vanilla;
1/2 tsp lemon extract;
1/2 lemon zest.
mash well, then add:
3 T unsweetened plain coconut yogurt;
1 cup bob's gf all purpose baking blend;
1 cup mama's gf almond flour blend;
3 T tapioca;
1/4 cup unsweetened fine coconut flakes;
1 tsp baking powder;
1 tsp baking soda;
1/4 cup unsweetened almond/coconut milk.
-
combine thoroughly, and shape into golfball-sized blops
 (i got 2 1/2 dozen)
and bake on non-stick trays for 12 minutes.
let 'em cool for 5, then gently remove them to a rack to cool completely.
you know i iced 'em.
i had to.
rules is rules, and plain cookies aren't invited.
-
lemon juice, powdered sugar, lemon zest, and a drop of vanilla make for an easy
molto-italiano-style icy sugar toppin'.
and i also added yellow sugar sprankles.
uh-huh.
too much is the right amount, man.
MORE little sunshines is clearly the choice for uplifting the days during blizzard season.
*
we've got MORE snow coming.
yup.
even after we've all admitted that we are powerless over the weather, time and again,
still, nature wins,
and drives her fickle point home with a blast of arctic berserker fury again.
hmm?
no.
i don't like shoveling.
that doesn't mean i don't have to do it.
winter in the woodsly goodness is NOT for diapery waterbabies.
it's for the stout and stalwart warrior poets of the forests and mountains.
i remind myself over and over, that of all the places i've been,
this is where i belong the most,
and sometimes that means i'm cold af and moving mountains of snow;
never quiet, never soft.....