Five Things Friday

Yes, it’s that time again! I wasn’t sure I could come up with Five Things again so soon, but life is full of little wonders that really are worth a second look,don’t you know?

Before we start cataloguing today’s little wonders, though, a shout-out to any tech-savvy Bloggers who might help me understand the disappearance of the “You may also like” widget that happily appeared at the bottom of each post — for months, if not years — and directed readers to earlier, related posts. More importantly, do you have any advice on where I can find/how I can install a replacement. Blogger has been changing lately, in funny incremental ways, and I’ve lost other widgets just as suddenly (Twitter’s doesn’t work on Blogger anymore, nor does my Flickr seem to). But I’d thought this last, the “You may also like,” was a Blogger widget originally, although I might be mis-remembering.

Any help would be much appreciated.

And now for the tour of the little delights of my week:

1. I made a simple pilaf, and then sprinkled it with pomegranate seeds, which you already know I love for their juicy beauty and seasonal exoticism. I followed this recipe which I’d pinned when I came home with the first fall pomegranate a few weeks ago.

 2. This beautiful creation was lying, rain-sodden, on the ground beside my bike one morning, I brought it into the house and dried it by the woodstove. Could you buy a more beautiful sculpture? (Well, okay, perhaps, but this is astonishing, nonetheless for its geometric art, no?)

Here’s a close-up. Mesmerizing, isn’t it?

3. Despite Nature delivering sculpture almost to my doorstep, I could critique what she does with November. It can be, um, just a bit gloomy. That gloom sent me to my Memory File of photographs. Somehow, wandering through that file, these ardoises made me smile, remembering a rather idiosyncratic restaurant we like to have lunch at when we’re in Paris. We discovered it serendipitously 6 or 7 years ago and try to get there each visit. The worker’s lunch draws lawyers, bureaucrats, plaster-dust-covered tradesmen, and shopping girlfriends in equal hungry measure, and the owner, whom you can almost see in the photographs above the menu boards, serves everyone with a genial speed well worth watching.  I’m smiling again, transported to Rue de Grenelle. . . .

4. Homeland. If you’ve watched, or are watching this, I need say no more. You know what I mean. If you’re not, you want to, really. I’m already anticipating the letdown, I must admit, of getting to the end of this

gripping story. Characters I cared about by the end of the first episode. Plot twists that make it hard to stop at one episode per evening. You’ll see. . .

5. I finally implemented an inspiring idea I saw several weeks ago on Cup of Jo’s blog. She’s posted gorgeous photos of some wonderful combinations for stove-top simmering.  Only do this, though, if you don’t mind your house smelling absolutely fabulous!!

I adapted her idea and made up this combination of natural scents: lime, cinnamon stick, and a scattering of cloves. . . .

Cover with enough water to simmer. And set it on a stove burner on Low. Or, if you’ve got a wood stove burning, you can do what I’ve just done and pop your Scent-in-a-Saucepot right on top of your fire. . . .

 How comforting is this scene when skies are glowering at us? Pretty darn comforting, I have to tell you. . . .

Why not put together your own little pot of scent-therapy? And let me know what fabulous combination you came up with.

And while you’re at it, you could tell me what you’re up to this weekend. ’cause it’s started now, you know. . .