Horses, goats, and hounds...oh my!

Visiting with goats and chatting with dogs, these experiences are par for the course on a good long run.  The day after Christmas I did my typical trail run just as the sun was coming up, we were heading out to the inlaws for second Christmas, so I needed to have my run squared away nice and early to have plenty of time to get cleaned up for the party and whip up a salad to share with the masses.  I have been dressing creatively for early morning runs, with temps in the 30s just before dawn, this thin blooded California girl has needed to bundle up to survive the chill. 

Wearing legwarmers (and armwarmers) my brother gave me a few Christmases ago. When he gave them to me, I bet he didn’t imagine me wearing them in public while running all over town!

At my favorite water fountain I spied a sneaky goat stealing hay from the horse’s feed bag.  The horse disapproved with low snuffling sounds, which deterred the goat for a few seconds, then the pilfering of  his breakfast would resume.  Other barnyard antics included these two fluffy kids head butting one another half heartedly, getting distracted and tired, then ending up resting their heads on one another, turning their sparring into a morning cuddle. 

As I left the trail and approached the freeway overpass, a white curly dog stood alone on the sidewalk watering a nearby patch of weeds.  I didn’t like the idea of this little friend being so close to the freeway traffic, so as I jogged up I called him over to check his collar.  Retirement home to right, new housing development to the left, and no other humans out on the sidewalk didn’t bode well for his being in the right place.  This cock-a-poo like mutt hopped up on the low wall between the sidewalk and the retirement home, seemingly so I could read his tag with greater ease.  Thanks, pup!  The address matched that of the retirement home and just when I was thinking how appropriate that a retirement community should have a communal dog for the residents to love or allow them to bring their longtime companion when with them when they move in, a friendly, “WooooWhoooo,” was called out from the covered patio.  I looked across the lawn to find a woman wrapped in an afghan swaying contentedly in her rocking chair giving me a reassuring wave.  “Is he with you?” I shouted across the lawn.  “Yes, thank you!” came the reply.  As if on cue, my snowy fluffy friend glanced back at me as if to request I release my grip on his collar then bounded off across the grass in the direction of the rocking granny.  Luckily that little doggie didn’t need my help at all, but how lovely to discover that my assumption that a retirement home wouldn’t allow dogs was dead wrong.  At least there is one facility in Claremont where canine companions are welcome. 

This reminded me of an episode of the Twilight Zone where a man and his dog somehow die during a hunting trip and an angel meets him on the road and invites him to follow him on the path to heaven.  The angel explains that the dog is not allowed so the man refuses to follow and takes a different path.  Eventually he arrives at the gates to heaven and he and his dog are welcomed.  When the man asks the true angel about the other man he met on the path, we are led to believe that the first invitation would have led him to hell, because an afterlife without dogs would be equal to damnation.  Similarly I imagine a retirement without our furry friends would be a wicked sentence to give to seniors.  This sounds like a campaign worth starting if there isn’t one already begun.  I would be interested to know if senior centers or retirement homes.

Random beauty on the trail.

Season of Change

 

This weekend I had a magical long run.  There were fallen leaves were underfoot and the humming birds did abound.  Even the always difficult first mile was absurdly mild, the uphill left me undaunted, I found myself gliding down the trail, embracing the elusive runner’s high!  

My magical run!  You can almost feel the runner's high, right?

 

Other than the constant that is my weekend long run, life is constantly shifting and like a good animal, I’m trying to adapt.  Since our sugar detox, there have been items in our pantry that needed to go bye-bye.  In fact, we have been eating less gluten for over a year now, and I’ve held onto my canisters of all purpose flour, wheat flour, viral gluten and more just in case I had to bake bread, though I’ve rarely even tasted bread over the last 18 months. In accordance with the yogic yama, apaigraha, non-hoarding or non-collecting, I am constantly trying to let go of that which no longer serves me (trusting that if I let it go and it is something I truly need it will come back to me). Why is this so hard to do with food?  Today I repurposed those containers and filled them with rice flour, coconut flour, coconut sugar and almond meal.  

Upside down view of those canisters, I'm fancy like that!

 

Likewise I took all of the brown sugar and granulated sugar I had I my well stocked baker’s pantry and make a batch of sugar body scrubs, some to use as an exfoliant and some to give away.  In addition, as a result of our healthier diet and my ongoing commitment to fitness, lots of the clothes I’ve held onto for the last 10 years don’t fit quite right.  I went through closets, cupboards, and dressers to weed out three bags worth of clothing for donation.  

Donations

 

Eliminating items that no longer fit my lifestyle or me and finding ways to gift these things that I once loved but no longer need to those who might enjoy them was quite satisfying. 

Yet, needing comfort food in the face of change, I made cookies!  Gluten-free lower sugar cookies, to be sure, but none the less delicious.  I make about 2-4 cups of almond butter weekly with my food processor, to bake with, to enjoy on an apple or banana, or simply to suck off a spoon with some raw milk in the evening if I’m hungry before bed.  I know butter sounds indulgent but my almond butter is made simply of almonds, a small amount of healthy coconut oil and a sprinkle of sea salt; very nutritious.  So by association I’m going to call these healthy cookies or at least healthier cookies!  

 

Ginger molasses cookies

1 cup almond butter

2 eggs

3 tbsp molasses

1 tsp maple syrup

2 tsp grated fresh ginger

(Blend these ingredients in a bowl with a hand mixer)

¼ cup coconut sugar

¼ cup coconut flour

1 tsp baking soda

¾ tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

¼ tsp allspice

½ tsp salt

1 sprinkle freshly ground pepper

(Combine these ingredients, whisking together, then stir into the wet mixture until Incorporated).

At 350 on baking sheets lined with parchment paper drop 1 tsp of dough, spaced 2 inches apart (it will spread considerably).   Bake for 5 minutes, rotate the cookie sheet, then bake for 5 more minutes.  Allow to cool slightly before removing with a spatula.