Any Way You Slice It, Pie is Good!

From The Nursery Rhymes of England collected by James Orchard Halliwell, 5th Edition (1886), Halliwell wrote, "The following is used by schoolboys, when two are starting to run a race:

‘One to make ready
And two to prepare;
Good luck to the rider,
And away goes the mare!'“

Please and thank~you ahead for allowing me to retell the above enthusiastic, little witty~ditty, employing Cellar Door-speak:

Ready,

steady,

GO!

Merry are the bells and merry do they ring,
as we join their tintinnabulation in celebration of

National Pie Day!
(Sunday, January 23, 2011)

HUZZAH and sweet hallelujah! The National Pie Council's calendar-wish is, today, finally realized! Replacing a typical Sunday with one dedicated to the forward bringing of words promoting the body and soul goodness of pie, in return, the Calendar Fairy asks only that the cold snaps of January be warmed by a coming together that urges "random acts of pieness" in celebration: Eat Pie! Share pie! Tell tales of pie memories! Eat more pie (In kind, a making of more pie memories yet)! Do raise a fork of plumps-for, rejoicing this glorious dessert staple!

Heartened by my “friends” at

(In particular, Olive Snook in

“Pigeon,” Episode 4, Season 1,

who, unbeknownst to The Pie Maker, understands the deliciousness of pear and gruyère, brightly suggests to Chuck, busy experimenting with a receipt concocted expressly for the lifting up of spirits : “You know what’d be delicious? Pear with gruyère crust! Bet that’d be real good!”),

Cheese-lace the integument of my

When I was wee, my father’s brother, Putnam, would come to call on some Sunday mornings with his Granpawpo’s best-loved “novel,” Aesop’s Fables, in one hand and, of his own making in the other, a fresh pear pie in the other. After he read aloud a tale or two, or three or six, he and I would, on the floor’s round rug, crayon drawings to match chosen favorites from the book, taking BIG bites of our pear pie pieces between each of our colorful sketches!

Uncle Putty’s "Pearable" Pie,
I then did,
and that of which I have baked
for this most auspicious “feast” day!

Just say the secret words

“Found my mittens!”,

and you shall have some pie!

Now was that so very hard?

I think not!
Enjoy!

Image sources: “The Rocking-Horse-Fly” ~ This wood-engraving by William Dalziel is an
illustration to the third chapter of Through the Looking Glass by John Tenniel, who wrote of this creature: “It's made entirely of wood, and gets about by swinging itself from branch to branch. . . [it lives on] sap and sawdust.”; steady and ready fork; original vintage magazine print ad for Crisco featuring recipes for Chocolate Sundae Pie, Coronation Butterscotch Pie, Harvest Home Grape Pie, and Garden of Eden Pie along with the master recipe for Crisco Pastry was first featured at AtticPaper.com: and Aesop book page.

In the Offing: A Pearfectly Delicious Celebration!

My Sweet Inspiration: Pushing Daisies!

Yes, and yes, again, I do! ~~> Many a plenty merry make~readies, presently baking in the noggin~oven that I shoulder, is what I have! And yourself? What say you? Or have you forgotten the preparedness that should be in the fire, if you are as committed as I in keeping the auspicious holiday that a red circle has found its way to (via catty~cornering left and down from the smack~dab middle of the first page of the New Year’s calendar), rounding the day numbered 23? Ahhh! I am simply vigorred with the thought of its "nearly~here": National Pie Day!

“Prunus, Bartlett Pear,” a watercolor by Linda Kneeland

Even though not quite yet am I ready to un~secret all of my love~affair~with~pies promotional excogitions, this much I am able and happy~willing to spill: it is a crusted bake of a Bartlett and Gruyère that I have bigly thoughts of!

Then you'll accept my invitation to return on the twenty-third of January? Please say yes? I look forward to seeing you, is why! Uptop a dainty dessert plate with a fancy fork at its side, the promise of a warm slice waiting for you will become true, this I whole~heartedly pledge! (Unless bravery finds me, for then it will be Pie Pops instead!)

The Day of the Apple Fruit - Come, Let Us Make Merry!

(Giving attention to this picture: I could not resist!)
Merry Little Christmas!
Women’s Christmas - 6 January

Garnished up are you with garlands and ribbons?
Have you drained your wassail bowl of Lamb's~Wool yet, singing:

Wassail, wassail all over the town,
Our toast is white, our ale is brown,
Our bowl it is made
of a Maplin tree,
We be good damsels all,
I drink to thee!
?

Lest yours has been mislaid, here affixed is a

Receipt for Lamb’s~Wool
(The Drink of Good Wishes)
A "Door" Translation of the Authentic Lambswool Recipe, 1863,
snuck away from Gemmama's library’s top-shelf, taken from her cherished copy of Cups And Their Customs by H. Porter & G. Roberts, Published 1863

To one generous quart of strong, hot ale (or cider: sweet, or cider and ale commingled), from six cored-to-get-rid-of-the-pip, roasted apples contribute the fluffy pulp, together with a small measure of winter-spices (grated nutmeg and ginger) and sugar, brown, to sufficiently sweeten it (2 tablespoons to one half-cup). Fuss in circles the mixture assiduously with a wooden spoon, then let it be served hot in a bowl with sweet cakes floating in it, and to which an adding of ground almonds sprinklings makes it even that much better!

”Sing We Now A’Wassailing” by Ellsworthcreations

Awakened be your Tree Spirit,
Healthy and be whole be you!
Vesheill,
Cellar Door

Just Wait Until You Get a Lode(stone) of This!

(Please do brightly sing the following to the same holiday tune, pictured above. A most perfect musical accompaniment can be found at the top of my sidebar. Thank you!)

“The 'Holly and the Ivy'”:
Most Definitely Non~Traditional

The Bat Wing and the Climber,
When together they’re sown
Into a sack drawn by a string,
Then true romance will be honed!

O Christmas “petals” and green leaves
Mingled to make “one,"
Pledging luck in love: your heart’s desire!
Now real magic has begun!

Bat Wing is the sobriquet for holly leaves, the perfect pet tag for this plant of good fortune, doubly enhanced by it mirror-alikeness to the flying mammal’s wings, mustn’t you agreed?!

On a day taken from a big batch of them
in right front of Christmas, when

all halls had just been bedecked,
with Gemmama’s

(It being a scissor similar to this,
as a child, I would feed it nutty sesame seeds!)

tiny stork shearers in hand, I returned to the mantel’s holly bough to make snippets that would earn me two of its leaves. Spit~spot, I then made gentle sparges of a pair of winter “Bat Wings” and several pluckings taken and saved back from a summer’s ivy, into a heart-red and small dilly bag, sprinkling them like seeds being planted in a garden of new hope! Back-to-back, then, High John the Conquer root* togethered with a matched set of lodestones**, were plussed into the satin sack, after which I blew thoughtful kisses into it, before drawing its ribbon~string to tightness.

*High John the Conquer root is a completely benevolent botanical. Born of Morning Glory’s “feet,” it brings luck and good fortune to faithful believers~in.
** The lodestone is a naturally magnetic piece of the Earth's crust. Famous for drawing love to the wearer, it helps to remove any obstacles that would sidestep new romance.

Ever so quietly, huzzahs I soon merrily mouthed as, after only a two-day’s worth of wearing the lovely Bat Wing conjurer, Thomas (my grandmother’s mail carrier and the man I hush~hush and perpetually adore!) made gentle knocks upon the front door (to the beat of “Jingle Bells,” no less!) to politely be so bold as to ask if I might be able to assist him in purchasing a most special Christmas gift for his little niece.

Safe~keeping my grip, yet without hesitancy, my answer was “Yes!” (Very in point of fact and quite actually, I geysered a resounding “Yes! Yes! A thousand times YES!” ~~inside my happiest head, that is!) The next day’s afternoon, together Thomas and I (<~~How beautiful that “music” is to my ears!) located a delightfully fluffy, black kitten --who would later be dubbed Pollywog, only to be called Hollywog, because “It’s Christmas, Uncle Thomas, and so is she!”–- for him to present to an eight and a half-year old, soon-to-be-spounting-“You’re the best uncle ever!” Natalie. The "To Boot": Coming after his daily rounds next Tuesday evening, Thomas and I will have our very first official date together! Again, I say, Happy New Year!

Postscript:
I thought so certain I would not be posting until after the bells rang in 2011,
but with the possibility of me bursting, well, I had little, if any, choice! lol

Stork Scissors: Trocedero Antiques

Fondly Farewelling Old Long Since

Merely days away from today, calendars will be singing us a shiny new year! And... *gazing into hand~held but unseen crystal ball, bigly smiles a smile edged with promises* ...The future looks bright! As it goes, I continue myself in the happy jumble I call Post~Christmas Tangle, where precious time slips by so easily, so I wish you, now instead of later, a

Happy New Year!

POSTSCRIPT OF THE UTMOST: If you’re making ready spend holly boughs for the tossing~out, please be sure to snip a few leaves as save~backs. I have a

lovely bat wings

tale to tell, which includes these green Christmas “petals” in its mix. I am excited to share it with you, when the holiday’s measure becomes that of dull roar, that is! (My meaning: shortly after the New Year rings in, I will make it my first blog issue of 2011. As they say on TedeedleVeedley, “Please, stay tuned”!)

Nothing but joyful days ahead for you and yours!
Cellar Door

To All, A Merry Season’s Greetings!

(Come closer...closer. Closer still... YES! Yes, that's me! I am La Befana, flying with the twinkling snowflakes in the upper right hand corner!)
Defying frosty winds that blow,
I shout to you across the snow ~~
Merry Christmas!

Happy “All is calm, all is bright”!
Ever so fondly,
Cellar Door (and Puddle!)

Credit for visual: http://www.vectis.co.uk/

Christmas Shoes!

A print from the book Yule-Tide in Many Lands, 1916

I trust you remembered to put your shoes at the door last night? (December fifth marks the get-go of the celebration of St. Nicholas Day! His legendary tale has it that if slippers are left outside bedroom doors on the eve of 6 December, the Wonderworker will visit sleepyheads while they are being just that, filling their shoes with goodies!) Happy chocolate golden coins, pomegranates, ornaments and wrapped chocolate orange peels to all!