MY DEAR FRIEND...

 For my dear friend, Judy J. 

Col 3:12-14 "Holy, and dearly loved, with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience."

GITANJALI 1916 (an offering of songs) #67 by Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) 

You are the sky and you are the nest as well.

O you beautiful, there in the nest is your love that encloses the soul with colours, and sounds and colours.

There comes the morning with the golden basket....

...in her right hand, bearing the wreath of beauty,

silently to crown the earth.

And there comes the evening over the lonely meadows deserted by herds,

through trackless paths,

carrying cool draughts of peace in her golden pitcher, from the western ocean of rest.

But there, where spreads the infinite sky 

for the soul to take her flight in,

reigns the stainless white radiance.

There is no day nor night, nor form nor colour and never , never a word.

This offering song by Tagore meaning:  God is infinite. The nest is where the soul develops. The soul can take unrestrained flight. Pure. Markless.

"The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, not the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one, when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship..." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

 Photographs 2026 from Campbell River, B.C. Canada. 

Gitanjali by R. Tagore is in the public domain.

LUCI'S 10,385 KMS BUTTER COOKIES...

          "Our roots will always be tangled..." -Ally Condie

Melt in your mouth butter cookies. Reminds me of whipped shortbread, only different. Can make the dough ahead and freeze in rolls till ready to use.

Recipe from my friend, Luci, 10, 3185 kms in the Phillipines. Her dad’s favourite treat.  Thanks, Luci, for sharing it with me. My NEW favourite Christmas cookie.  When I make them, it seems like she’s right here beside me, both of us munching away…

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cookie sheets with Silpat liners or parchment paper

2 cups flour, 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened, ½ cup sugar

2 egg yolks at room temperature, 2 tsp good vanilla extract

1/3 cup sugar for rolling dough

     "There is magic in long distance friendships..." -Diana Cortes

Lay out all of your ingredients ready to use. Soften butter by leaving out till pliable, or nuke in microwave 10 seconds here and there a little bit.

"Friendship is not something you seek, but something that finds you..."-M.  Mokhonoana

(Room temperature ingredients will blend better together, and be more stable. The baked cookies will have a lovely texture, because trapped air expands during baking, making them more tender with good flavour.)

      "No friendship is an accident..." -O. Henry ( Heart of the West)

Cream butter and sugar till fluffy and light.

Add egg yolks and extract and mix till combined.

Add flour till just mixed, then combine easily into a roll. This is beautiful dough.

Roll in plastic wrap and chill. Can also freeze for a later time.

I left the chilled roll of dough out for about half hour till I could easily scoop the dough. You don't have to roll in sugar, but when baked it gives them this  wonderful , crystallized crunch.

Next time I would do larger scoops, because the dough behaves so well when baking and doesn’t bleed all over.

I baked them about 10 minutes and had to add a couple more minutes till light golden. 

One batch makes  just two cookie sheets of butter cookies. Turn off oven at end and leave the door open a tad and let them dry out about 10 minutes. It makes them crisper.

Then pile onto a plate and gobble them up with a friend. Or just gobble them up on your own! These would be nice with additions like peel, or candied cherries, ginger, dried apricots, etc. 

"True friends are never apart. Maybe in distance, but never in heart..." -Helen Keller

Photographs 2025

The LANGUAGE of FRIENDSHIP

"Some people arrive and make such a beautiful impact on your life, you can barely remember what life was like without them..." -Anna Taylor

"True friendship coms when the silence between two people is comfortable..." -David Tyson

"A true friend reaches for your hand and touches your heart...." 

                                                                                                - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

"Good friends are like stars. You don't always see them, but you know they're always there..." -Unkown

"The language of friendship is not words but meanings...." -Henry David Thoreau

"The greatest gift of life is friendship, and I have received it...." 

                       -Hubert H. Humphrey

"True friendship is when two friends can walk in opposite directions, yet remain side by side..."-Josh Grayson

                                   "A friend loves at all times..." Proverbs 17:17

"It is not what we have in life, but who we have in our life that matters..." -Unknown

"A friend is what the heart needs all the time..." - Henry Van Dyke

"Our roots will always be tangled. I'm glad for that..." -Ally Condie

"Friends share laughs, memories, and inside jokes. They will always be honest and stand by your side no matter what....pick you up when you fall, and are forever a piece of your heart..." -Unknown

"To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world..." -Dr. Seuss

"A part of you has grown in me, together forever we shall be, never apart, maybe in distance, but not in heart..." -Unknown

"True friends are never apart, maybe in distance but never in heart..." 

                                                                                                                 -Helen Keller

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal..." -2 Corinthians 4:18

               "Do everything in love..." -1 Corinthians 16:14

Photographs 2025