Pistol Packin' Presbytera

A Proud Grandma Moment

2008-10-09T12:08:00.002-05:00

Here is my 2 year old Granddaughter Saranita. The voice asking the question is none other than the head of the household, my son Nick as Luther suggests in the Catechism.

Let's hear it for Rose

2008-09-23T11:35:00.002-05:00

I am so weary of politicians taking my money and spending it freely. This latest trillion dollar forced buying of business just burns me up. IF I wanted to own mortgages, I would have become a landlord. I am angry that people
******who shouldn't have applied for a mortgage and
******shouldn't have been given a mortgage
*******by companies that have made money from a mortgage that they *******shouldn't have given to someone are all going to get MY money!

They are all going to be rescued by MY MONEY and they are not going to suffer for their bad decision. I will feel the pain. The person who shouldn't have signed the papers will NOT suffer. The company who shouldn't have made the mortgage will NOT suffer. They will not learn their lesson because they will have no pain.

I agree that SOME taxes are necessary for the running of a government. Roads need to be built and maintained. An army must be paid and equipped. Money must be minted (although it should be backed by gold). I can't find in the constitution where it authorizes the government to take my money to buy businesses, or healthcare, or welfare, or study the life cycle of seals or any of the other wasteful uses of MY money.

And now to Rose. She fought the battle and won. It was hard but one person can make a difference and I will continue to resist and vote against every tax I have the opportunity to oppose.

Similes to Make You Smile

2008-09-23T05:21:00.002-05:00

This past week, the girls at St Barbara's Academy learned about similes and metaphors. Their assignment was to write 10 similes and 5 metaphors. Here is the effort of Marina, my 8 year old granddaughter.

Similes

1. My sister is like the flower in the green grassy meadow.
2. I am as quick as a bunny.
3. Daddy is busy like a bee in his hive.
4. Grandma is as happy as a bird in the sky.
5. Mommy Danylle is as happy as a clown.
6. Grandpa is as busy as a squirrel gathering nuts for the winter.
7. Lily is as sweet as a peach.
8. Theodore is as handsome as a rooster.
9. Dean is as tall as a vanity.
10. I am as pretty as a flower in its pot.

Metaphors

1. Lily's skin was the sunshine shining brightly in the sky.
2. Dean is the first star in the sky.
3. Theodore is a sharp little knife.
4. Daddy was the silver moon in space.
5. I am a beautiful smelling flower petal.

Didn't she do a great job for her first time writing similes and metaphor? The girls had so much fun writing these out and enjoyed reading them to each other.

Lovely Rita, Pita Maid - with apologies to the Beatles

2008-09-22T06:07:00.006-05:00

In August I had the opportunity to visit my sympathera, Sandy. In the Greek culture you are closely related to more than just your blood relatives or in-laws. Sympethera means that she is mother-in-law to my son and I am mother-in-law to her daughter. We are both mothers to the same couple. The Greeks have a word for that. If we were talking about the dads, they would be sympetheros. Welcome to My Big Fat Greek Wedding!

I was bringing the ingredients to make red pepper hummus and I asked Sandy if she would have the opportunity to get some pita bread or pita chips during my 4 hr drive to her house. Imagine my surprise when I got there and she was making pita bread from scratch! She taught me a thing or two about pita making and I decided to try it on my own a couple of weeks ago.
If you want the recipe and an easy tutorial on making pita bread, you can look where I looked. I did decide to use 1 cup whole wheat flour with 2 cups of white flour. Here are my pita balls resting.

I rolled them out into not quite perfect circles. I figured they were not thick enough to actually make a pocket when they baked but I was wrong. Whenever I use a rolling pin, I think of my mother. She died when I was 15 and that was a long time ago. I do have pleasant memories of my mom and the sound of the rolling pin as it worked it's magic on pie crusts or cookies.
The next step was baking them in the oven and I inverted a large jelly roll pan to substitute for a baking stone. Some years ago I gave away my baking stone because I never used it. I do regret that now but it is gone. The upside down pan worked well. You can see that they are puffing up; some more than others.

This was my final haul and my dear husband was so glad to have fresh Syrian bread. His family never called it pita bread; it was always Syrian bread. I have made it several times since my first attempt. It is easy and delicious!

For Unto Us a Granddaughter is Born!

2008-09-20T10:40:00.004-05:00

As you can see, God has given us another gift! This is our beautiful granddaughter, Susan Camille. She was born on September 17th (the same day as her second cousin Zoe was born a year ago). Nick and Naomi now have 2 lovely September born daughters.

Here is Susan with her grandparents. Rob and Sandy made it from Indiana (a 4 hr drive) before I was able to get to the hospital(a 10 min drive)! It was good to see our friends and rejoice together over our 2nd joint granddaughter.

Rob was able to get this picture of Susan's yawning. Imagine that mouth opened with some volume in the coming months. OK, we won't imagine that! You can see in this picture the black head of hair that Susan has. It is not just dark brown hair; it is black!!!

Naomi is well and everyone is at home right now. Daddy Nick has a couple weeks off to help at home. I wonder if he is going to bake a cake for Saranita's birthday, a week from today.

My Grandma's House

2008-09-18T14:23:00.003-05:00

Here is a descriptive paragraph that my granddaughter Lily wrote this past week. I thought you would enjoy reading it. This is her first attempt at a descriptive paragraph and I think she did a great job.

My Grandma's House

I go to my Grandmother's house for school and I learn a lot of things there. When I get inside, I can smell good food*. Grandma's house is pretty and it is really clean**. Outside she has a pond with many fish. I like to play in her toy room. She has numerous cats. She has a piano and I like to play on it. Grandma has a big cabinet with glass doors. Grandma has quite a few beautiful pictures. Grandma's house is my favorite place to go.

So do you feel like you've visited my house????

* Lest you get the impression that I am super grandma, Lily wrote this paragraph while I had swiss steak cooking in the crockpot. I am making a real effort to feed my husband food that I cooked!!
** Since the children are at my house 4 days a week, I have incorporated house cleaning into their school schedule. Each day they have the responsibility for cleaning a different part of the house. Her comment is more about her cleaning ability than about mine.

We Were Impressed With Ourselves!

2008-07-31T09:20:00.003-05:00

My friend Deb and I decided that the altar flowers needed sprucing up for our church. They have been around for many years and as hard as it is to believe, fake flowers can look droopy! Our first step was reconnaissance to the local craft store. Neither Deb nor I have vast experience in arranging flowers so we desperately needed help.

We found an arrangement which we really liked and took a digital photo of it. One thing which Debbie did remember is that odd numbers of things are used in an arrangment. We settled on 3. These roses in full bloom look amazingly real.

After positioning the roses, we added height with another red flower. We chose to replace the red flowers first since the Chaplain will be installed as Pastor at Christ Church on August 24th which happens to be the festival for St Bartholomew.

We added contrast with the white flowers. Notice that they are in 3 locations. We finished it off by filling in the bare spots with greenery and adding Spanish Moss to cover the foam in the vase. Hey, I think we're getting the hang of this!!!

What do you think??? We each made one flower arrangement to go on the side of the altar on pedestals. When we finished, we shook hands like partners in a venture. Then we hugged and congratulated ourselves on our impressive work. Now that we have one down, we may just use the same form with different colors.

Walking in Downtown Milwaukee

2008-07-29T22:11:00.005-05:00

This footware was seen on a walking tour my husband I took of downtown Milwaukee. Can you just imagine the clothing possibilities which would coordinate with these foot-loose-and-fancy-free shoes?

These shoes cry out black and white tux affair...or maybe a Mardi Gras dance....or maybe a chess tournament.

Obviously, these shoes would be worn by the well-shod pastor during the Trinity Season, don't you think? Or maybe they should be saved for once a year on March 17th to wear to the St Patty's Day parade. They might cause a PETA demonstration or by a firm well-placed kick, end a PETA protest

I really had to dissuade my husband from purchasing any of these.....do you believe me?????

Phase III has arrived

2008-07-29T12:53:00.002-05:00

I am finally in phase III of therapy for my shoulder and I am happy progress is continuing to be made. If you are bored and want to see what is involved, you can find the information here.

At long last, my therapist has reduced some of the exercises I have been doing and we are just concentrating on strength building actions. Therabands are my friends!!

She has also given me the OK to do the exercise regime only once a day....except for the therabands which I will continue to work twice a day.

Stepping out in faith (and with a pillow under my arm) this weekend, I will drive to Chicago and WI to visit my friends Susan, Melody and Cheryl. I'm happy to say that I will also get to see Sandy (Saranita's other grandma) on the way there and on the way back.

A Smooth Time of It

2008-07-25T14:55:00.005-05:00

I told you I would report back in on more blueberry recipes. I saw this luscious looking smoothie at The Pioneer Woman Cooks and thought my husband would love it. I offered to make it for him this morning and he quickly agreed. I went to the cupboard and the cupboard was bare. Well, not actually bare, just devoid of a blender. I don't know if a smoothie can be made without a blender but I wasn't going to try! While I was at exercise this morning, he planned on stopping at some garage sales to see if they had any coins for sale. I encouraged him to find a blender if he could. As you can see, he was successful (with coins too)!
The only change I made to her recipe is that I used vanilla yogurt since I wasn't certain that I would like it with plain yogurt. I do know that it was fantastic with the vanilla yogurt.

The blueberries were picked by my own little hand. The little bit of honey I used was extracted by my friend Polly from her own beehive. The yogurt I purchased....I guess if I want a totally homemade smoothie, I should send him out to find a yogurt maker!!! Try this. You'll like it!

Serendipity

2008-07-25T06:07:00.004-05:00

I am cleaning off my desktop -- not the horizontal desktop I have to dust but the vertical one where I store my digital photos until I blog about them -- I came across these pictures from last summer. OK, it's been a reaaallly long time since I cleaned off the desktop!!

My friend and fellow blogger Barb loaned this book to me and my granddaughters were delighted with it. The Boy Who Saved Cleveland, written by James Cross Giblin, is the story of Seth Doan a 10 yr old who rescues the 3 cabin settlement where he lives. This was the girls' first exposure to harsh life on the frontier and it really captured their imagination, especially because it is about our hometown. In the book, Seth saves his family and neighbors by lugging bags of corn to the mill to be ground and then returning 4 miles with the cornmeal. They lived mainly on cornbread at that time so Seth helped keep them alive by having food available.

Ding, ding ,ding! A light goes off in my head because I had just seen a post on The Pioneer Woman Cooks about cornbread in a skillet. Lily and Marina were enthusiastic about cooking cornbread like they did in the book. I downloaded the recipe and voila!

This happens so often in homeschooling that you start on one thing and another dovetails nicely. There is a word for that -- serendipity.

Join Me!

2008-07-24T07:39:00.008-05:00

This past Tuesday was the day we picked to pick! The blueberry patch was open for business last week in the 90 degree heat. Thankfully we couldn't arrange to get there so avoided the extreme heat. There were clouds on the day of picking so we got a little relief from the sun. My sister-in-law Crina joined us as she did last year. My other grandchildren are in Arizona so only Marina and Saranita were there to help. Naomi is a veteran blueberry picker and has been pregnant 2 of the 3 years she's joined us!!

The blueberries were gorgeous this year and we had an easy time of picking. I knew I could pick with my left hand and I was ever hopeful that my right shoulder would cooperate and participate! We lasted about an hour and 1/2 which I was pleased with. I have to say that I was exhausted later in the day. After sitting on my duff for 9 weeks, this was a big outing! We also had my friend Barb and her girls join us. Marina was glad to see friends from church joining us. The idea of blueberry picking originated with my other friend Jean who was there with her daughter Hannah. Jean invited us back to her house for lunch (and air conditioning). What a fun day.

Saranita provided much fun and as she tired -- vocal incentive to leave. Sometimes she used her little bucket to "pick two, eat two." Sometimes she used her bucket as a hat -- whether it had blueberries in it or not. She did NOT like the netting over the bushes so we moved to some rows with no netting. The Japanese beetles were in plentiful supply. We seem to have an abundant crop of the beetles everywhere I go. Saranita was also content to sit on her mom's lap when she tired and pick berries from the bottom of the bush. This is the 4th year that Marina has gone and she is getting really good at actually coming away with blueberries in her bucket. I can only imagine that Saranita is aspiring to follow in her cousins footsteps.

Marina came over yesterday and helped me bake blueberry bran muffins. I will freeze some of the berries for pies later on but I want to try blueberry cornmeal pancakes and also blueberry dumplings (a dessert). I'll let you know how they turn out. In the meantime, want to join me for a muffin and a cuppa?

Banana Toast

2008-07-21T07:18:00.003-05:00

Some would look at this banana and say "Yuck!"; I look at this banana and say "Yum!"

Banana toast was one of my favorite breakfasts growing up and I have to admit, it still is. I rarely eat plastic white bread, the term we use in this house for almost-nutritionless-white bread from the store. For banana toast though, nothing else says childhood memories like toasted plastic white bread. My mom always added salt to the banana once it was sliced lengthwise and lined up on the toast.

When I was watching my calories, I omitted the butter.
When I was watching my carbs, this whole idea was a no-no.
When I was eating in a healthy way, whole wheat was a must.
When I am feeling quirky, I add chunky peanut butter.
But right now, I am not watching anything and only feeling hungry so I think I will just eat my breakfast.

For my husband growing up as one of 7 siblings, fresh fruit was a luxury which did not stay around any length of time. Consequently he likes his bananas green at the top and his pears as hard as rocks. He thinks it's taste preference; I know it's habit from being one of the oldest siblings and grabbing the fruit whenever it appeared!!!

My brother Tom always had banana toast for breakfast on Sunday morning. As a pastor, his Sunday morning time was at a premium. This was a breakfast that was dependable, easy to fix for himself and did not take time away from his last minute sermon study. You may ask how I know this? Once when I was visiting Tom and family, I saw him squirrel away 2 perfectly ripened bananas. Into the cupboards they went on a Saturday afternoon not to see the light of day again until Sunday morning. Hmmmm. I wonder now if he was hiding them from me!!!

9 weeks and counting

2008-07-19T09:49:00.002-05:00

My shoulder surgery was 9 weeks ago! Whew! As most of you know, I had rotator cuff surgery on May 15th and I am still in physical therapy to regain complete use of my shoulder.

The first 6 weeks I was in a sling and not allowed to use my arm at all! I did go to therapy during that time where the therapist moved and stretched my arm and shoulder muscles. I could just lie back and enjoy the movement. This phase of therapy was called Phase I and it involved passive movement. At home, my wonderful husband did the moving of my shoulder following the instructions of the therapist. Twice a day we went through the exercises - he was a relentless taskmaster. After 2 weeks of this, we reached the goal most people take 6 - 8 weeks to achieve. I had full range of motion in my shoulder!!! That meant that I would recover full use of my shoulder once the muscle strength returned. Hooray. But wait, that also meant that we were in a holding pattern for 4 weeks because we could not begin Phase II until the 6 week mark.

I had completely torn 2 of the 4 muscles in my shoulder and one of them was a large tear. Dr. Gittinger was very pleased with the progress but because of the size of the tear, he wanted me to wait the entire 6 weeks before beginning the next stage. The only thing holding the previously-torn muscles to my bone was sutures and we did not want to risk tearing those supporting sutures.

June 27th we began Phase II which is called active-assistance. I could begin to use my shoulder and arm but most of the movement needed assistance. For instance, I could carry something which was not too heavy as long as my left arm was assisting. I could finally eat with my right hand as long as my elbow was resting on the table. That was not an easy thing to do with the words of my mother echoing in my ear "Barbie, get your elbows off the table".

In the past three weeks I have continued to gain strength in the shoulder and arm muscles. Some of them have not been used in over a year which is when the injury originally happened. I can not believe how weak my arm got from the 6 weeks in a sling. As far as the therapy goes, my left arm is helping my right arm. As it continues to strengthen, my right arm is taking over more of the work. I can now brush my teeth, reach for things at chest height and actually tie my shoes. Doesn't sound like much but they really are worked for accomplishments.

Earlier this week I had a different therapist since Karen (the regular) was on vacation. Maria really pushed me and gave me some exercises which were Phase III. My body did not react well; tears were shed in frustration as I tried to make my body do what it was not ready to do. I ended up with much swelling from aggravated muscles which in turn increased the pain I had. Yesterday's therapist suggested I tone down that really-hard-impossible-to-do-now exercise. My wise husband suggested I take 800 mg of ibuprofen for the inflammation and by last night I was a new woman!!

There are still things to accomplish. Soon (I hope) I will be in Phase III, the last phase! That will be adding weights to build up the muscles even more. Here is my personal list of things I look forward to

Driving!!!! Then I will be released from my prison : )
Carrying a purse so I can have all my things with me
Physically picking up my grandchildren. I have not held Thomas with both my arms since May!
Washing my own hair although I really do like my husband doing it for me!
Reaching into the cupboards for things on the second shelf.
Being able to chop, chop, chop so I can increase the things I can cook.
Pulling weeds so the flowers show through!
Being pain free so I can stop taking so many pills.

A Girl and Her Chocolate

2008-04-26T13:41:00.005-05:00

There are many pictures yet to be added to my blog. Since I took a hiatus from my blog, they have really piled up! This one if from last September when we celebrated Saranita's first birthday. We gathered at my sister-in-law's house to celebrate my 3 nieces' birthdays. Saranita was also treated to her very own CHOCOLATE CAKE. Her mother, Naomi, really knows how to train her daughter in the proper enjoyment of chocolate!
As you can see, she caught on quickly and was up to her elbows in chocolate.

This was taken last week as we made our way back from Ft Wayne after attending a bridal shower for Naomi's maid of honor DoRena. This is how Saranita was happily engaged for part of the trip home. I did not take a picture of her when the chocolate ran out -- it was not a pretty sight. That a girl!

Our Grandson is growing

2008-04-25T10:10:00.005-05:00

As you can see, our Grandson, Thomas, has grown in the last 3 months! He is still trying to determine the color of his eyes. It would be very unusual to see other than dark Greeky eyes in this family. Thomas's eyes might be different though because he has a maternal grandfather and a paternal great grandfather who both had blue eyes. He is a cute little fuss budget who likes to be held but LOVES to be walked while being held!!

Here is a picture of Thomas's cousin, Saranita. She is pretending to be the Spring Bunny in this picture from last month. Actually, we had to snap the picture quickly before she snatched the offending ears off her head! As you can tell, she does have those dark Greek eyes.

If Rice is Too Expensive

2008-04-24T07:59:00.002-05:00

If you are finding that your rice paddy (or grocery store) is not producing like it used to, here is a recipe you might enjoy. I know my husband certainly loved it last night!

Mock Risotto
2 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced (although I think more is better)
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
2 (14 oz) cans of chicken broth (or 28oz water + 4 bouillion cubes)
2 cups uncooked orzo pasta

Saute the garlic and onion in hot olive oil until tender. Add the liquid and loosen all the yummy bits on the bottom of the pan. Bring the liquid to a boil and add the orzo. Cover and reduce the heat to low. Simmer until all the liquid is absorbed - around 15 min. Salt and pepper and then DEVOUR it!! I served this with cube steak so I also added the delicious droppings left in the fry pan.

Founding Father Quote

2008-04-23T13:08:00.003-05:00

At St. Barbara's Academy this Spring, we are studying the founding of our country. The giggle girls are thrilled to be learning about the beginning of our nation. It has depressed me to see how far we have come from the original idea of limiting the central government.

Just take a look at this quote from John Adams -- our second President
"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the governemnt of any other."

My, oh my! We have long ago abandoned this sentiment. I wonder if we can ever regain the attitude that WE THE PEOPLE are responsible individuals who live by the morals taught through countless generations. The first step in regaining the high ground would be to once again teach morality to the next generation. The adults in our society have abandoned this all important vocation from God.

I was astounded to hear a young woman on the radio the other day remark that she didn't want to abandon her "morals" and eat meat. Abstaining from eating meat is morality?????? I wanted to reach through the radio, grab her and ask what about abortion? what about loving your neighbor? what about remembering the Sabbath Day? what about loving God with your whole heart? Morality has become a question of what you eat, caring for sea lions, greening the environment (blech - I just verbed a noun), etc.

Without the moral law, in other words, the 10 commandments, what will check course outbursts of sin? Without a Christian upbringing, what will guide us in doing good to all men? I could continue my rant, but my students are calling me to my present vocation as head mistress of St. Barbara's Academy.

God's Green Earth

2008-04-22T07:00:00.006-05:00

The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for He founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. Psalm 24:1 It does NOT belong to Gaia as some would have us believe today. The respect and care that we have for this green globe must always begin and remain in the Creator who set the Earth in it's orbit.

It is a beautiful time of year as evidenced by these flowers that I spied on the way home from exercise this morning. Daffodils are not my favorite flower but they are the most cheerful of the spring flowers! After the long, cold, dark days of winter, the daffodils seem to be singing this hymn of the resurrection written in the 6th century by Venantius Fortunatus'

Loose the souls long prisoned, Bound with Satan's chain; All that now is fallen Raise to life again. Show Thy face in brightness, Bid the nations see; Bring again our daylight; Day returns with Thee. "Welcome happy morning!" Age to age shall say; "Hell today is vanquished, Heav'n is won today!"

Earth Day would guilt us into believing that if we are not careful, we will destroy the earth by our reckless disregard for the environment. We must stop using paper bags because we are cutting down too many trees. We must use plastic biodegradable bags. Wait! We must stop using plastic bags because they are indeed destroying the earth so it is back to paper bags. It reminds me of a contemporary worship service where they can't quite get the liturgy of the Gaia religion straight. God's Word assures us that the earth is being destroyed. In Isaiah we hear "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies." Boy, can I identify with the phrase "wear out like a garment."

Isaiah does continue with the ulimate good news, "But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail." That is wonderful news that you will never hear amid the gloom and doom of Earth Day! That is the kind of news that focuses on the Savior Christ and the salvation He has purchased for us, not with carbon credits, but with His holy precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death.

Dancin' with Dvorak

2008-04-21T08:18:00.005-05:00

We were very excited to be going on a field trip on this lovely spring day! Here we are just before we are ready to leave to go hear the Cleveland Orchestra. My friend and her children accompanied me in my van. My other friend and her children followed in their van. After all, my grandma-mobile is not a 15 passenger van!!

The Cleveland Orchestra holds educational concerts throughout the school year. Our homeschool group has attended many of these concerts. This year we were treated to the orchestra playing several pieces from Dvorak while dancers performed in the front of the stage. What a delightful hour we had watching and listening. I don't have the name of the ethnic dance troupe which twirled and stomped their way through several songs but they were dressed in Czech costumes befitting the birthplace of Antonin Dvorak. The Bohemian folk tunes which influenced Dvorak were in evidence and I certainly wanted to get up and dance too! I did maintain my matronly stature and quitely tapped my feet!! The orchestra also played a "tone" by Dvorak which is a longer work. This was more sedate and was accompanied by the Cuyahoga Valley Youth Ballet. You can see the small stage in the front of the orchestra. It was quite a feat to fit 8 ballerinas leaping across that small stage.

As I said, the day was a lovely spring day -- the temperature reached into the 80's and the sun was brilliant. Gee, you don't think I've been missing the warm weather, do you?? It was very good that the weather cooperated since we had to park quite a distance away so I dropped my passengers off and then picked them up after the concert. I certainly got my workout that morning!

For Unto Us a Grandson is Born!

2008-01-01T20:09:00.000-05:00

The Chaplain and I were blessed today with the birth of our 6th grandchild, Thomas August. He was born on January 1st and is a lovely beginning to the new year. Rejoice with us!!!> Here is a picture of Thomas when he was less than 2 hours old. Mommy Danylle had been in the hospital for 14 hours and was eagerly awaiting his arrival.

Here is his first picture with Daddy Theo our oldest son. The nurses and fathers were all wearing Happy New Year tiaras!

Christmas Cookies 2007

2007-12-29T12:30:00.001-05:00

Here are a few pictures from our Cookie Baking marathon. It took us 2 days and we baked 52 dozen. We split them three ways so that each daughter-in-law had some and so did Grandma and Grandpa. We also made many trays for friends and neighbors and even had enough for the tree trimming at church.

The spritz picture is of all the children decorating the cookies. I think Naomi and Saranita were trying to catch a nap when the picture was taken.

Progress -- The girls actually made a recipe from start to finish on their own -- Grandma was giving instructions from the comfort of her couch : ) It was a big deal this year for Lily to put the cookies in and out of the hot oven. Marina was thrilled that this year, she could remove the cookies from the sheet. The boys are just glad to lick their fingers and put cinnamon red hots on every cookie that they decorated : )

Here the grandchildren are enjoying their reward for 2 days of baking....a trip to Pizza Hut.

What would cookie making be without cookie rules? Keep these handy.

1. If you eat a Christmas Cookie fresh out of the oven it has no calories because everyone knows that the first cookie is the test and thus calorie free.

2. If you drink a diet soda after eating your second cookie it also has no calories because the diet soda cancels out the cookie calories.

3. If a friend comes over while you are making your Christmas Cookies and needs to sample you must sample with your friend. Because your friend's first cookie is calories free rule #1yours is also. It would be rude to let your friend sample alone and being the friend that you are that makes your cookie calorie free.

4. Any cookie calories consumed while walking around will fall to your feet and eventually fall off as you move. This is due to gravity and the density of the
caloric mass.

5. Any calories consumed during the frosting of the Christmas Cookies will be used up because it takes many calories to lick excess frosting from a knife without cutting your tongue.

6. Cookies colored red or green have very few calories. Red ones have 3 and Green ones have 5 – one calorie for each letter. Make more red ones!

7. If you eat cookies while watching " Miracle on 34th Street " these also have no calories because they are part of the entertainment package and not part of one's personal fuel.

8. As always cookie pieces contain no calories because the process of breaking causes calorie leakage.

9. Any cookies consumed from someone else's plate has no calories since the calories rightfully belong to the other person and will cling to their plate. We all know how calories like to CLING!

And finally...

10. Any cookies consumed while feeling stressed has no calories because Cookies used for medicinal purposes NEVER have calories. It's a rule!

Jesse Tree December 24

2007-12-24T15:26:00.000-05:00

CHRIST IS BORN TODAY!

From the 16th century --

What harm can sin and death then do? The true God now abides with you. Let hell and Satan rage and chafe, Christ is your Brother -- ye are safe.

Martin Luther

From the 20th century --

Kneel down in awe before His crib and kiss the feet of God.

Martin Jean

THE JESSE TREE

Jesse Tree December 23

2007-12-23T20:21:00.000-05:00

On the 23rd of December, we add the star to the top of the Jesse Tree. We almost have a complete tree -- it's coming!

The star at the top of the tree causes us to look up, just like the star over Bethlehem caused the wise men to look up and travel towards the star.

Jesus is the bright Morning Star which lightens our dark world. "The people that walked in darkness (that's us folks) have seen a Great Light (that's Christ folks). How blessed we are that the Star has come to lighten our darkness.

Watchman, tell us of the night; Higher yet that star ascends. Trav'ler, blessedness and light, Peace and truth, its course portends.
Watchman, will its beams alone Gild the spot that gave them birth?
Trav'ler ages are its own; See it bursts o'er all the earth.

Jesse Tree December 22

2007-12-22T20:28:00.001-05:00

Another angel is added to the Jesse Tree today. This angel is the one who announced to the shepherds that the Savior had been born in the town of David. The heavenly host appeared with the angel and sang "Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, good will toward men."

We are privileged to sing the angel's song in the liturgy. It is no accident that just as the birth of Christ comes at the beginning of his earthly life, the angels' song comes at the beginning of the liturgy. In the liturgy we travel through the life of Christ from his birth (Gloria in Excelsis), his procession into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday (The Sanctus), His Passion during Holy Week (The Agnus Dei) and finally the song of Simeon (The Nunc Dimittis) which acknowledges that in the Divine Service we have seen the salvation of the Lord and we can depart in peace. What a joy it is to sing the God-inspired words of the angels!

When we sing the Gloria in Excelsis, we are united with the angels who appeared to the shepherds and with the Church as it joins in the Liturgy and with the angels in heaven who sing this at the throne of God.

In yonder home shall never Be silent music's voice;
With hearts and lips forever We shall in God rejoice.
The angels shall adore Him, All saints shall sing His praise
And bring with joy before Him Their sweetest heavenly lays.

Jesse Tree December 21

2007-12-21T03:52:00.000-05:00

The stable is added today to the Jesse Tree. Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem because they had to return for a census. Little did the officials know that the young One they counted as child to Mary and Joseph would be the One who would redeem the whole world.

There is such contrast in the Christmas story
~~the One who was Son of David was also David's Lord
~~the little town of Bethlehem would be the birthplace of the King of the Universe
~~the One who born in a feeding trough for animals would feed the world with His Body and Blood
~~the One who appeared as the son of the lowly carpenter Joseph was truly the Son of God.

At Bethlehem, in David's town, As Micah did of old make known;
'Tis Jesus Christ, your Lord and King, Who doth to all salvation bring.

Jesse Tree December 20

2007-12-20T05:27:00.001-05:00

Mary is added to the Jesse Tree today and we realize that we are getting close to the actual coming of the King! We have all the prophecies in the Old Testament pointing to the Messiah; we have the forerunner in John the Baptist; we have the father-protector in Joseph and now we have the Virgin Mary.

The grace and pow'r of God the Lord Upon the mother was outpoured;
A virgin pure and undefiled In wondrous wise conceived a child.
The noble mother bore a Son - For so did Gabriel's promise run, -
Whom John confessed and leaped with joy Ere yet the mother knew her Boy.

Jesse Tree December 19

2007-12-19T06:01:00.001-05:00

Now Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus, enters the scene. We add him to the Jesse Tree knowing very little about him. Scripture tells us less about Joseph than we know about John the Baptist but we do know that Joseph was the means that God used to protect Mary and the baby Jesus.

Like his namesake years before, Joseph flees to Egypt at God's command for protection. The Old Testament Joseph protected the descendants of Abraham by going to Egypt and feeding them so they could survive the world wide famine. Joseph, the father of Jesus, took Mary and the child Jesus to escape death at the hand of King Herod. Joseph protected the Descendant of Abraham by following the instructions of the Angel.

The closer we get to December 24th, the more the Jesse Tree prepares us for the coming of the Seed of Abraham.

When Jesus comes, - O blessed story!
He works a change in heart and life;
God's kingdom comes with pow'r and glory
To young and old, to man and wife;
Thro Sacrament and living Word,
Faith, love and hope are now conferred.

Jesse Tree December 18

2007-12-19T05:32:00.001-05:00

On December 18th, we added John the Baptist to the Jesse Tree. He is truly a wild and crazy guy as the old Saturday Night Live shtick goes. St. Matthew describes him as wearing camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist. His food consisted of locusts and wild honey. St. Mark begins his gospel with the introduction of John as the voice of one calling in the desert "Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him." In the first chapter of the gospel of Luke, John's father Zechariah prophesied at his son's circumcision "You child, will be called a prophet of the Most High for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him.." Finally, in the gospel of John, the voice in the wilderness declares that "He who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me."

Clearly, this is no ordinary man! His job was to point to the Christ and tell people to repent for the Lord is at hand! John the Baptist recognized that Christ is the One who is coming to crush the head of the enemy, the devil. John says that he is not worthy to even untie the sandals of the Christ. Like Moses before him, John knew that those feet were holy feet. The feet of Christ, on the cross, would crush the head of Satan and so fulfill the prophecy in Genesis "He will crush your head."

John's message then is the same to us today -- Repent for the Lord is at hand.

On Jordan's bank the Baptist's cry Announces that the Lord is nigh;

Come, then, and hearken, for he brings Glad tidings from the King of Kings.

and for my husband I'll include this favorite verse of his

Lay on the sick Thy healing hand And make the fallen strong to stand;

Show us the glory of Thy face Till beauty springs in every place.

Jesse Tree December 17

2007-12-17T15:20:00.001-05:00

Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, is the next player to be represented on the Jesse Tree. Elizabeth was old when she had her first son. So old, that it was obvious that this was a child who was a gift from God....in more than one way.

Elizabeth brings to mind all those in the Old Testament who waited with patience(or NOT) to conceive
~~Sarah who tried to fulfill the promise through her servant Hagar
~~Rachel who offered her slave Bilhah to bear children for Jacob
~~Hannah who gave her much awaited son, Samuel, to serve in the Temple

These woman all waited to become pregnant and when the Lord removed their barren-ness, it was a sign of the mercy of God. In today's world where over a million children are thrown away, many have lost the wonder that each child is a gift from God. We are no longer like the Israelites who wondered if each child was THE ONE who was coming. Even Eve when she conceived, after the promise of the Savior was given in the Garden of Eden, named her son Cain as if he might be the Man, the promised one.

But Elizabeth knew that the Promised One was in the womb of her relative Mary. When Mary came to visit Elizabeth, she greeted her as "the mother of my Lord." The Holy Spirit revealed to Elizabeth that Mary was to be blessed among women because of the Child she would bear. What joy! It is fitting that we hear about Elizabeth during the third week of Advent when the introit is "Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say,, Rejoice."

Hark the glad sound! The Savior comes, The Savior promised long;
Let ev'ry heart prepare a throne And ev'ry voice a song.

Jesse Tree December 16

2007-12-16T20:02:00.001-05:00

Here is the angel Gabriel, from heaven sent to Mary to tell her that she is most highly favored and will give birth to a Son and name Him Jesus. With this symbol, we turn from the Old Testament and the tracing of the ancestry of Jesus to the fulfilment of what was promised of old. Yesterday we heard Isaiah prophecy that a virgin will bear The Seed. Today we fast forward 700 years to the announcement of Gabriel that Mary's Son is the One for whom we have been waiting.

After Gabriel calms the troubled Mary with the words "Do not be afraid" her response is "I am the Lord's servant, May it be to me as you have said." What a faithful answer to a very awe-filled event. When Mary later sings her song magnifying the Lord, she also acknowledges that God is her Savior -- even this faithful woman who accepts this miracle happening within her, realizes that she too needs a Savior. So may it be for us as we contemplate what happens to and for us this Advent! We too recognize that the Savior is OUR Savior. He comes to redeem me, a lost and condemned creature.

Jesus! Name of wondrous love, Name all other names above

Unto which must every knee Bow in deep humility.

Jesus! Name decreed of old, To the maiden mother told--

Kneeling in her lowly cell -- By the angel Gabriel.

Jesse Tree December 15

2007-12-15T08:08:00.001-05:00

On the Jesse Tree today, we place a scroll representing the prophet Isaiah who tells us about the Messiah who will come. Isaiah tells us the Savior will be born of a virgin. What an unlikely event!! Yet that is exactly what happened. It was so unlikely that it took an angel to tell Mary about it and an angel to convince Joseph that it really did happen.

Another prophecy that Isaiah gives us is that the Messiah's name would be Immanuel which means God with us. That name is all revealing of the nature of God. HE comes to us. We don't work and work and finally perfect ourselves so that we can go to Him. HE comes to us. HE is not a remote God, somewhere up there but can be found here and now in the Bread and the Wine. HE comes to us. HE is not a God whose voice can not be heard because HE is the very Word of God. Jesus Christ is Who and How God speaks to us.

Advent means coming and it is God-With-Us who comes at Christmas time. We look forward to the return of the Baby at the end time to take us with Him to heaven.

Isaiah hath foretold It in words of promise sure,

and Mary's arms enfold It, a virgin meek and pure.

Through God's eternal will This Child to her is given

At midnight calm and still.

Jesse Tree December 14

2007-12-14T21:15:00.000-05:00

With Solomon, we end tracing the lineage of Jesus and turn to some prophecies for the inspiration for our symbols. The symbol for the 14th is a large fish -- most think of it as a whale. It is the story of the prophet Jonah and prefigures what will happen years later to the Christ. It is many years after Solomon and the Kingdom of Israel is now just a remnant of what it was in it's glory days. Jonah is sent to preach to the foreign people in the city of Ninevah. Jonah so doesn't want to do this, that he heads the OTHER way. God intervenes and has the great fish swallow Jonah. Jonah remains in the belly of the fish for 3 days and then is given a new life by being spit out of the fish. He preaches to the men of Ninevah and they repent!!

Christ applies this to Himself by saying that this is a miraculous sign that the Son of Man will be in the belly of the earth for three days and will rise again. Jesus, unlike Jonah, willingly went to the cross to die for us. What wondrous love is this? Jesus did not head the OTHER way but came to seek and to save us. We are safe -- His Resurrection becomes our resurrection.

Then stilled are cries and lamentations, Then loosed is Satan's every band;
In death is hope and consolation, The soul is safe in Jesus's hand,
When we shall walk through death's dark vale, His rod and staff shall never fail.

Jesse Tree December 13

2007-12-13T06:54:00.001-05:00

King David, had a son by the name of Solomon. It is King Solomon who is represented by the crown on the Jesse Tree. King Solomon is known for his wisdom. He prayed to God, not for wealth or riches, but for wisdom so that he could rule well. God gave him wisdom and God has sent His Wisdom into the world -- we look for the coming of Wisdom from on High in Jesus Christ. That is our correct response in the liturgy when we hear that the Gospel is being read -- "Wisdom! Let us be attentive".

King Solomon is also famous for building the temple where God would come and meet with man. Christ is recognized by St John as the One who came and pitched His Tent among us -- John 1:14 "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling (literally pitched his tent) among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father full of grace and truth. " In the Old Testament, the people came to the Temple to worship God. In our age, the latter days, we worship God as He comes to us in Word and Sacrament.

A Helper just He comes to thee, His chariot is humility,
His kingly crown is holiness, His scepter, pity in distress,
The end of all our woes He brings; Wherefore the earth is glad and sings:
We praise Thee, Savior, now Mighty in deed are Thou!

Jesse Tree December 12

2007-12-12T07:00:00.001-05:00

Little David play on your harp, Hallelu, Hallelu. That's another spiritual from my youth that I think of whenever I think of King David and his harp. We are now at the symbol for the son of Jesse better known as David.

The harp is the symbol for David because of his writing of so many of the Psalms, the hymnal of the Old Testament. David was a musician and used that music and the words of the Psalms to soothe the troubled soul of King Saul. Today we use the words of David to calm ourselves too when we say "The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not want". Knowing that Jesus, the Shepherd, has come (at Christmas), still comes in the Body and Blood and will come again to judge us at the last day causes us, during Advent, to look with expectant hope for the eternal hymn fest to be held in heaven.

Now let all the heavn's adore Thee, Let men and angels sing before Thee,

With harp and cymbal's clearest tone. Of one pearl each shining portal,

Where, dwelling with the choir immortal, We gather round Thy radiant throne.

No vision every brought, No ear hath ever caught, Such great glory;

Therefore will we Eternally Sings hymns of praise and joy to Thee.

Jesse Tree December 11

2007-12-11T16:11:00.001-05:00

It is hard to see the green on the green but the symbol for the 11th of December is a little Jesse tree for the father of King David, the grandson of Boaz and Ruth. Jesse is pictured as a tree because of this quote from the prophet Isaiah "A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. " Isaiah 11:1 The Branch that will come from Jesse, of course, is the Savior Jesus.

I thought you might like to see how the tree is looking so far -- almost half filled with symbols tracing Christ from the beginning of Genesis.

Behold, a Branch is growing Of loveliest form and grace
As prophets sung foreknowing; it springs from Jesse's race
And bears one little Flow'r In midst of coldest winter,
At deepest midnight hour.

Jesse Tree December 10

2007-12-10T21:00:00.000-05:00

We add the grain of wheat to the Jesse Tree today and remember the story of Ruth and her savior Boaz who are both mentioned in the lineage of Jesus in the Gospel of St. Matthew. They made a very exclusive list! Ruth was not even an Israelite but married into the faith and as a young widow, followed her mother in law back to the Promised Land. They were destitute and Ruth gleaned in the fields of Boaz. According to the law, Ruth was allowed to glean or pick up any grain from the corner of the fields. Boaz, however, was generous and full of mercy and insisted that Ruth gather with the regular pickers. Ruth reaped from the abundance of Boaz. Eventually, Boaz married Ruth and rescued her from a life of need and want. In a similar way, Christ is our Bridegroom and presents us as his Bride, adorned in the white of His righteousness. He feeds us with the abundance of His mercy through the gift of His Church. Come Bridegroom and take us to the heavenly Nuptial Hall.

The Bridegroom soon will call us: Come, all ye wedding guests!
May not His voice appal us While slumber binds our breasts!
May all our lamps be burning And oil be found in store
That we, with Him returning May open find the door.

Jesse Tree December 9

2007-12-09T23:05:00.001-05:00

Today we add the horn to remind us of Joshua. Growing up, I think I would only have been able to tell you that Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho. I could have even sung it to you : ) I now know a little bit more of Joshua, son of Nun. What wonderful Gospel words come to Joshua as he is given the command to take over after Moses dies. God told Joshua, "No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was wih Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you." Joshua 1:5 WOW! Joshua commanded the people to wait 3 days to cross the Jordan River to get to the promised land -- a very forward looking peek into the 3 day wait for the resurrection of our Lord...a resurrection which would bring us into the Eternal Promised Land. Joshua does join the procession and eventually the trumpets sound and the walls come tumblin' down! Joshua was a savior to his people and is another TYPE of the Christ who is our long awaited Savior.

Now our heavenly Aaron enters
With His blood within the veil;
Joshua now is come to Canaan
And the kings before Him quail.
Now He plants the tribes of Israel
In their promised resting-place;
Now our great Elijah offers
Double portion of His grace.

Jesse Tree December 8

2007-12-08T11:01:00.001-05:00

On the Jesse Tree today, we put the tablets of the Law representing Moses. Just like Noah, Moses is saved by the water that floats his little ark, or basket. Like Moses, we too are saved by the water of Baptism. Although the law was given originally in our hearts, it is finally written down on Tablets and given by God to Moses. Moses is so much more than just the LAW. It is he who intervenes to save the life of an Israelite. It is he who leads the children of Israel from death to life (again through the water of the Red Sea) and it is he who pleads for God's mercy for the children of Israel. Sounds an awful lot to me like a TYPE of the coming Savior who leads us from death to life and who sits at the right hand of God! Come Lord Jesus and lead us to the promised land in Heaven.

Jesus comes to hearts rejoicing, Bringing news of sins forgiv'n
Jesus comes in sounds of gladness, Leading souls redeemed to heav'n.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Now the gate of death is riv'n (just like the Red Sea)

Jesse Tree December 7

2007-12-07T17:57:00.001-05:00

This symbol took so much time and it is indicative of the care my sister-in-law took to make this banner for me. The coat, of course, represents Joseph an important type in the Old Testament which points to Christ. After the brothers sold Joseph into slavery, they put blood on his coat. That blood saved them because they did not have to pay for their sin. In the same way, the blood of Jesus shed on the cross covers our sin. My baptism dresses me in the righteousness of Christ -- it is my robe and beautiful dress. Although Joseph is not in the direct line of Christ, it is because of Joseph that the family of Jacob was saved during the famine. Joseph was in a position to dispense food from the storehouses of Egypt to his brothers. In the same way, we are given spiritual food from the storehouse of the Church -- as Christ's ministers give us the Body and Blood of our Lord in the Supper.

Our Father, rich in blessing, Will give us crowns of gold
And, to His bosom pressing, Impart a bliss untold,
Will welcome with embraces Of never ending love,
And deck us with His graces In blissful realms above.

Jesse Tree December 6

2007-12-06T11:17:00.000-05:00

The symbol for today is a ladder which represents the patriarch Jacob. I can not say Jacob's Ladder without hearing the song we sang in Jr. Choir -- many years ago!! "We are climbing Jacob's ladder". I wonder now about that song considering it is the angels which descend FIRST, just as it is God who comes to us in love so that we can believe! The action in salvation is always from God to us. So the ladder is Jesus who comes from heaven to earth to then carry us back to heaven with Him! At Bethel, Jacob is promised again that through him all the nations will be blessed -- it is that Blessing which we celebrate on Christmas Day.

The everlasting Son Incarnate deigns to be;
Himself a servant's form puts on To set His people free.

Jesse Tree December 5

2007-12-05T06:42:00.000-05:00

Today we add this bundle of sticks to the Jesse Tree. The sticks remind us of Isaac, the long awaited SON of his father, Abraham. Abraham is told to sacrifice HIS SON and they journey to offer this sacrifice. Isaac is burdened with carrying the sticks up the mountain just as our coming Savior will be burdened with carrying his cross as he goes to Mt. Calvary. Abraham's faith is such that when they leave the servants behind, he tells them "We will worship and then WE will come back to you." Abraham believed God when He promised that Abraham would have as many descendants as the stars in the sky. Abraham knew that God would provide a Sacrifice and so he assured the servants that BOTH of them would return.

It is during Advent that we concentrate on the Coming Savior who will rescue us, not with a load of sticks, but with His cross.

Once He came in blessing, All our ills redressing;
Came in likeness lowly, Son of God most holy;
Bore the cross to save us, Hope and freedom gave us.

Jesse Tree December 4

2007-12-04T07:10:00.001-05:00

Here we have Abraham -- looking kind of old, looking as if he's traveled a good way. He has! This ancestor of Jesus came a long way to finally settle where the Lord placed him in the land of Canaan. I have always been impressed that Abraham was able to make that move at the advanced age of 80. I'm also impressed by the story of Abraham pleading with God to save the righteous in the town of Sodom. It brings to mind that Jesus is right now at the right hand of God pleading for us. What a comforting thought! Come quickly Lord Jesus and take us with you....

There shall we see delighted Our dear Redeemer's face
Who leads our souls benighted To glory by His grace.
The patriarchs (including the old man Abraham) shall meet us, The prophets' holy band
Apostles. martyrs, greet us In that celestial land.

Jesse Tree December 3

2007-12-03T15:53:00.001-05:00

Our next stop in the lineage of Jesus is Noah and the Ark. On the 3rd of December we add the ark to the Jesse Tree and are reminded that there is punishment for sin. The entire world, except for 8 people, was destroyed because of sin. The water of the flood, supported the ark and so saved Noah and his family. We are reminded that the waters of Baptism save us also. During Advent, we look for the coming of the Savior in whose Name we will be baptized. We all come to the font (8 sided like the 8 who were saved in the flood) and are united with the death and resurrection of He-Who-Is-Coming.

On this day, we sing

Baptized into Thy name most holy, O Father, Son and Holy Ghost,
I claim a place, though weak and lowly, Among Thy seed, Thy chosen host.
Buried with Christ and dead to sin, Thy Spirit now shall live within.

Jesse Tree December 2

2007-12-03T15:43:00.001-05:00

Today we put this symbol of evil on the Jesse Tree to remind us that the coming Savior will crush the head of Satan for us. The snake lied to Eve and twisted the Word of God. Things have not changed much in that respect even though centuries have elapsed. The devil, the world and our sinful flesh still twist the clear word of God and make it something it is not. Thanks be to God that He is faithful and that He keeps his promise. Our gracious heavenly Father promised that a Son would be born, that the Seed would come to rescue us. It is that Blessed Seed born on Christmas Day that we anticipate all through Advent.

Jesse Tree December 1

2007-12-03T15:31:00.000-05:00

On the first day of December, the apple goes on the tree. The apple, of course, represents Adam and Eve, the very oldest of Jesus's ancestors. God commanded that they not eat of the Tree in the center of the garden but we all know what happened. They thought they knew better than God. They were tempted and choose the evil path. The temptation today is to think that if WE had been in the garden, we would have obeyed. HA!

Think on these words penned by Lazarus Spengler in the 16th century

All mankind fell in Adam's fall, One common sin infects us all;
From sire to son the bane descends, And over all the curse impends.

Those are sobering words that condemn us all. Ah, Advent, the season of repentance. In the fall, the image of God was lost and blurred and we don't even seek to be saved. Thanks be to God who sent His Son to seek for us.
We expectantly hope for the coming Savior.

History of our Jesse Tree

2007-12-03T15:16:00.000-05:00

This is our Jesse Tree and we have been using parts of it since 1982! The banner itself had to be replaced since the white background had yellowed through the years. Each individual symbol though, was lovingly made by my dear sister-in-law Marty when my oldest son Theo was just a wee lad.

The Jesse Tree traces the ancestry of Jesus through the Old Testament by emphasizing several ancestors of Jesus. It begins way back in the Garden of Eden on December 1st and culminates with the birth of our Savior on Dec 24th. Each day, we remove a symbol from it's pocket, place it on the tree and read the Biblical story and sing an appropriate hymn verse.

Several years ago, a group of MartinLoopers gathered at a church near here and made Jesse Trees for each family. It was quite a bit of fun -- each person working on a different symbol. It was my job to cut out the red letters for each banner, Jenny sewed the banner itself and I do remember Polly was in charge of John the Baptist who ended up looking very wilderness-dwelling thanks to some wild and crazy hair! I didn't need the symbols since I still had the originals but I took the opportunity to make a Jesse Tree for my 2 sons so they could continue the tradition.

Cleveland Has a First Name

2007-10-22T18:08:00.001-05:00

I never realized it before but Cleveland has a first name. The first name is "Maybe-Next-Year". Presbytera's family from youngest (shown) to the oldest has been cheering the Indians on since they got into the playoffs. The students at St Barbara's Academy would daily ask me, "Did the Indians win last night Grandma?"

My final answer to them is NO!

I would not be surprised if the Cleveland Browns were in the playoffs this year and we could have a trifeca. Cavs in the finals -- lost. Indians in the League Championship Series -- lost. Browns in the playoffs? -- definitely a loss.

The reason Saranita has such a big smile it that she's just too young to realize that the TRIBE didn't get to the World Series (again).

The good news is that I might have more time to blog now that I am not glued to the TV late at night waiting for the miraculous comeback of the Indians. It was an awfully fun season to watch this year even though we didn't make it to the World Series. We actually made it pretty far considering we are 23rd in the amount we pay for our players.

Dental Euphoria

2007-09-17T14:24:00.000-05:00

When I went for my 6 month dental cleaning, the dentist found a filling which had fractured. Today was my scheduled appointment. I went early in the morning so that I would not have to dread it all day.

He removed the fractured filling along with some additional decay. He put in a new filling. From start to finish, it was 30 minutes!!! He used a laser for drilling. No high-pitched whiney sound. No shots. No pain or numbness. I told him, "you can do that to me anytime!"

The Grandma I Always Wanted to Be

2007-08-28T13:05:00.001-05:00

I always imagined myself as the fun mother. I thought I would be the mother in the neighborhood that the other kids would flock to. I would spend my days baking cookies and mixing kool-aid for my sons and their friends. I never turned into that mother although I did have bursts of brilliance : ) When I became a grandmother I thought now is my chance. I turned out to be a law-giver grandma and I am disappointed that once again I don't get to be the fun one.

When you homeschool your grandchildren, you of necessity are the teacher who corrects, points out their errors, grades their tests, makes them study fact cards and puts them to the fire by giving them tests and assigning writing projects. We do have fun but this is still not the ideal of a grandmother I have in my head.

When Theodore was just turning two, his mother Danylle was occupied with baby Dean and his father was playing organ at a different church. I happily sat with them and once again I became the law-giver grandma who taught Theodore (as I had Marina previously) to sit quietly, to not be a distraction to other worshippers and to participate as much as his age allowed. Soon Dean was of the age to be thoroughly instructed in church etiquette and since another child is coming in January, Dean will probably be sitting next to Grandma.

But today was a different day. We went to the park and they played their hearts out. I sat and knitted a top for my soon to be born great niece Zoe while they ran, climbed, slid and played on the swings. When they were worn out from the playground equipment, we walked by the lake and observed the ducks and geese. We finished our morning with baking chocolate chip cookies. Each helped with some of the ingredients and they were thrilled. After we had lunch, I took them home with a supply of cookies and at least one memory of Grandma -- the fun one.

I finally have a day as the Grandma I always wanted to be. I am happy!

A Little Greek, a Little German

2007-08-14T20:47:00.000-05:00

In our house the meals are varied. Some nights we eat at one restaurant and other nights we eat at a different restaurant. And then sometimes, I cook. Tonight we had a little bit of Greek and a little bit of German cooked at home.

This side dish of spinach & feta is very easy and I invite you to try it. I cooked frozen chopped spinach in the microwave and drained it well. I moistened it then with olive oil and lemon juice, seasoned it with salt and topped it off with crumbled feta cheese. This is one delicious healthy green vegetable!

These potatoes are called Grandpa's Potatoes and they are named after my father. He would grill these potatoes in foil pouches when he had his children and grandchildren over for a cookout. You can put them in foil packets and put them on the grill or in the oven. Tonight I fried them on top of the stove. I diced potatoes, chopped onions, added salt, pepper and garlic powder and then added the magic ingredient (pictured below) and cooked it all in olive oil. Oh my was this good!

My husband's father warned him that if he married a German, all he would be eating was meat and potatoes. Well, he did get the meat (we grilled western ribs) and potatoes tonight but that was NOT all. He also got Greek style spinach. Maybe we should open Zorba's Schnitzel House or Hulda's Grecian Delight. Whaddya think?

I Will Lift Up My Eyes

2007-08-07T05:43:00.000-05:00

In my trip this spring to Texas, I had the opportunity to take some pictures of some of the ecclesiastical art which is inside Our Savior Lutheran Church in Houston. I love this Christ the Lord of Life sculpture. Can you imagine being a child and staring up at this life size Jesus and then imagine yourself in His arms? What a picture of the Gospel this is.

This banner is most unusual and yet so full of meaning. We read in the Old Testament about the covering for the Ark of the Covenant. The word for the covering is Atonement and once a year, the High Priest would sprinkle blood on the cover for the forgiveness of sins. The same word is used in Genesis when Adam and Eve were covered -- once again it took the shedding of blood (in this case an animal) to provide the covering. On this banner, it is quite apparent that Jesus is the Atonement -- once and for all for our sins.

The sculpture here is entitled The Risen Christ. I can picture our Risen Lord proclaiming the victory over sin, death and the power of the evil one. Art like this is instructive, didactic and gives us pause to meditate when we view it. Oh, that all our churches were filled with sights, sounds and smells which lift us out of our ordinary dreary daily life and cause us to lift up our eyes to the Eternal God.

Pastors Playing

2007-08-07T05:37:00.001-05:00

What do pastors do when they get together to have fun? Study the Bible? Discuss theological points? Show each other their new vestments? These 2 pastors are practicing their self defense techniques. We all know how handy that is for a pastor!

Here are the same pastors using the good heads that God gave them to figure out how to fit a microwave in this space.

The vented hood is still there instead of the microwave. Eventually they do remove the hood, modify the space and use some of those muscles developed in self defense class to get the microwave up and in. For a pastor, this is called playing or going on vacation.

Another way that pastors relax and play is to strap on a bullet resistant Kevlar vest and go out into the dark jungle of the inner city and ride around looking for trouble. I'm fairly certain that these two did actually find trouble the night they went out. What a way to play!

Lay Down Your Life

2007-08-07T05:21:00.001-05:00

On July 1st I attended a memorial service with my chaplain husband for Patrolman Rob Clark. It was held at a park in the 1st District of the Cleveland Police Department. The memorial was constructed so that the people of the area would remember this officer who gave his life for them.

This is a yearly event and the brief memorial service is followed by a cookout complete with this dessert cake. It seems ironic or better yet, bittersweet that such a sweet concoction would bear the shield of the fallen officer.

My husband always bring the Word of God to these memorial services so that people are fed spiritually. The law is ever before the people at the memorial -- Rob's wife, his mother, his sisters. It is apparent that the law of death has taken Rob away from his loved ones. The Chaplain is the one who uses God's Word to point to Jesus the One who laid down His life willingly so that Rob would have eternal life. The politicians, other officers and Officer Clark's family remind us of the love that Rob had for the people of Cleveland. The Chaplain reminds them of the LOVE that God has for each of us -- enough to send His Son to pay for the sins of the world.

Here is a closeup of the brass marker at the memorial.

No police memorial or funeral is complete without a bagpipe. This bagpiper started in the back of the crowd and slowly walked through the group playing Amazing Grace. He then paused in front facing the memorial for a short while. He continued his mournful playing while marching away so that the sound eventually faded into the distance.

This shows the exact reason the memorial was built. The child is being taught by his mother that there is a cost to living in a civilized society. There are evil people intent on harming us and there is a wall of blue which stands between evil and us. Sometimes, police officers are called upon to enter extremely dangerous situations. Sometimes, they do not return. The police officer is the mask of God for us. God uses the police officer to protect and defend us. I don't know if that is what the mother is telling the child, but that is what I would say.

For a police officer, the shield represents him. When my husband found a shield in the rubble of the twin towers, it was treated as if he had found the officer himself. So I close this post with this rememberance of Detective Robert Clark.

Americana

2007-08-06T21:36:00.000-05:00

Dictionary.com defines Americana as : Materials relating to American history, folklore, or geography or considered to be typical of American culture: These 2 pictures are americana to me. The first looks like it could be anyone's grandma icing a cookie. It was taken at our local Eat 'n Park. You can stand in the lobby and through a glass window watch the smiley cookies being frosted. The woman is intent on her vocation and will bring joy to countless children with her decorated cookies! The American flag adds a certain nostalgia for me.

This second picture is more personal since it has my dear husband and 2 of my grandchildren. Lily and Marina had never been to a neighborhood diner where they could eat at the counter. Needless to say, they were thrilled to eat right at the counter. You can even see the grill and the cook in the background. They spent some time twirling on and enjoying the counter seats. It brought to mind a time when I was younger. Lunch counters were the only places we ever went OUT to eat. We would walk to the corner of the nearest major intersection, Clark and W.25th and then had the choice of Marshall's Drug Store or Honecker's Drug Store. Each had a counter and each provided delicious sodas and ice cream concoctions. This was the neighborhood everything-but-groceries store. We took our vaccum tubes from our TV's to be tested there and to get new vacuum tubes. You could buy smelly perms in a box there and penny candy.

The only time I ate an entire meal at the counter was when my Mom worked parttime at the Woolworth Dime Store. At my lunch hour from elementary school (yes it was an entire hour because kids walked home and they didn't need the extra time for dental hygiene and sex education) , I walked 2 blocks and sat at the counter and had a cheeseburger and a coke. What a treat! I was 15 before I ever ate at a McDonalds.

I also remember eating at a lunch counter in 1965 with my oldest brother Gary. After my mom was in a car accident, I lived with Gary for several months. I'm guessing he was mid 20's at the time. My favorite dessert at the time was a Boston Cream Pie. Gary took me to have dinner at CJ's Sandwich shop and there, displayed in a glass case right before my eyes and salivating mouth, was a piece of Boston Cream Pie. What a kind brother to give me such a treat after our supper.

Our granddaughters enjoyed the lunch counter and my husband and I enjoyed the walk down memory lane that their excitement generated for us.

Reaping What I Have Sewn

2007-08-06T21:31:00.001-05:00

Here is the culprit! Besides loving purple and cats and chocolate (as any reader to this blog can attest), I also love hats. Early this summer, my friend Ruth and I went to the Hattery which has more hats than I do! I fell in love with this lovely blue hat but I had absolutely nothing to wear which would go with it.

I have a dress which I have worn for over 10 years -- if you have ever seen me when I am traveling I was probably wearing this dress. I can throw it in a suitcase and take it out and I am good to go. The size is a free size. The ties in the back make it so that it is one size fits all. Very comfortable. I have worn it so much that the seams were beginning to shred and you can only fix a shred so many times : ) So BTEG helped me make a pattern from the pieces parts of the old dress. See - Evil Geniuses really come in handy!

My other friend and Barb helped me out by accompanying me to the fabric store and helping me decide which material would suit my need. I wanted something which was not polyester -- our church is not airconditioned and when I wear polyester I feel like I am wrapped in Saran Wrap. This material fit the bill perfectly and so began my sewing project.

Cutting out the pattern pieces was no problem. The challenge was in the sewing. The last time I sewed a dress from a pattern was in the mid 70's. My sister-in-law Marty did quite a bit of sewing and she helped me tremendously as I struggled with carbon seam lines and darts. We decided on a Friday to sew new Easter dresses for ourselves and we did by that Sunday! The other challenge is that my very ancient sewing machine has a tension setting that sometimes works and sometimes not. This is my third used-passed-down-machine and I have been thrilled that it actually has a backstitch : ) Since all I basically used the machine for was mending (and fixing my shredding seams), it really never bothered me.

As you can see, I did manage to sew my way clear to a new dress. I really enjoyed making this and was quite impressed with myself : ) BTEG did an excellent job of describing how to follow her handwritten pattern. She also taught me how to make a French seam.

I enjoyed myself so much that I went on to make 2 more dresses! And now....maybe a new machine so that I'll get the tension right????

O Chaplain, My Chaplain

2007-07-26T06:36:00.001-05:00

If you have the opportunity and are interested, For the Life of the World published an article about the work my husband does as a chaplain. It can be found here.

First Fruits

2007-07-24T18:33:00.001-05:00

This post should really be called first veggies! We planted no fruits in our garden but we did plant some vegetables. The spinach and most of the carrots we lost to the animals who come to call in our yard. We then sprayed what was left of the garden to deter the deer and bunnies from eating our bounty. Today I took about 10 steps out my front door and looked carefully. The green beans were definitely ready for the picking!

I picked enough beans for supper and brought them inside to wash and get ready for eating. We had a delicious meal thanks to a manager's special on Delmonico steaks at our neighborhood Giant Eagle. I also had a few award winning turnips left from my visit to Polly. I cooked the turnips with some cloves of garlic and potatoes. Mashed them together and they were yummy.

Carrying the garlic theme through to completion, I cooked the beans and topped them with garlic sauted in olive oil. And yes, the steaks were seasoned with garlic and herb before grilling!

Purple Chocolate

2007-07-21T06:14:00.001-05:00

My favorite color is purple.

My favorite chocolate is dark chocolate.

I was introduced to the following at my friends's home in Indiana.

Coincidence? I think not!

Berry Reprise

2007-07-20T12:10:00.001-05:00

This week the blueberries were in and we were out in the field picking the berries! This is the 3rd year we have gone and Lily was very excited to be with us this year. Last year, Lily was in Arizona having loads of fun with her other grandma and we missed having her helping hands. She has a berry bucket slung over her shoulder but she actually spent most of the time toting her cousin Saranita around. This picture was taken early in our day and her cousin is still content to sit on the blanket and play with toys.

This was the first year for young Dean to be going blueberry picking and he was VERY excited to be going with grandma. Marina and Theodore were with me last year and Marina is the most experienced of the grandchildren. She's been with me all three years. She was a big helper with her younger brothers and also with picking. She carefully explained to Theodore and Dino that they should only pick the dark purple berries. I finally gave up telling them they should ask me BEFORE they pick the berries : )

The real workers were also there!! My dear daughter-in-law Naomi and my sister-in-law Crina both love blueberries and are quick pickers! Naomi was not able to pick as many as last year because last year Saranita was inside her and not prone to wandering off!! We did manage to pick for 2 hours and got about 16 pounds of berries between all of us. We started at 8 a.m. and the sky was very overcast. Another successful weather day for picking. We were also blessed when we picked the strawberries with overcast eyes. The berries were not as plump as I've seen them in the past but I think the last 3 days of significant rain will make our additional picking next week bountiful.

The owner of Boneta Berry Farm always has frozen popsicles available for the young ones when they're done. In addition, I packed juice and crackers which we ate in the shade (the sun did come out)of the back of the van.

Saranita has one question for Marina -- CAN I HAVE SOME????????

We decided to make some blueberry jam much to the delight of my husband. The fruit is supposed to be smashed but we learned that blueberries don't smashed nearly as easily as strawberries! The batch on the right was smashed by hand and looks like blueberries floating in jell. The jar on the left was smashed electrically with my Oscar jr. We haven't done a taste test yet but I'm thinking with the amount of sugar -- both will taste delectable.

Our tower of freezer jam was added to the strawberry jam already in the freezer. We froze enough berries for 3 pies. We also need more berries for blueberry cobbler and blueberry muffins. For lunch the next day, Lily and Marina learned how to make a fruit salad with blueberry, strawberry and banana topped with Cool Whip. They were thrilled to make something from start to finish which included a knife!! We obviously do not have enough berries for all these grand plans so next week we head back out to pick some more. I do not particularly like blueberries but I absolutely love making family memories.

The grand finale -- my kitchen AFTER our blueberry mess. This clean kitchen was brought to me courtesy of Naomi -- what a gem!

Camera Dump

2007-07-20T11:13:00.000-05:00

My camera had some photos which were hanging on waiting for a blog post and this is it! I was struck by how much this reminded me of Europe although it's smack dab in the middle of the city of Parma OH. Most European immigrants who settled in the Cleveland area in the late 40's and early 50's took up residence in the city of Cleveland. Many, after they established themselves, carefully saved to purchase a double (up and down or side by side)house in the suburb directly south of the city. In Parma, you will find beautiful ethnic churches throughout the city. In the background of this picture you see the gold domes of St Jehosaphat. There is a lovely mosaic on the front of the building which I will post sometime. My husband and I were lunching at the tavern next door and were so struck by the contrast of bar/church/clouds.

On my recent trip to Sussex I had the opportunity to snap this delightful picture of 3 generations of Uffelmans although none go by that name now! To the left is Sandy and then her daughter Naomi in the background and to the right is the granddaughter that Sandy and I share, Saranita. This was taken in June and we would not be able to take this picture today because Saranita is now crawling and why sit and pose when there is exploration to be done!!

This picture was also taken on the way home from our trip to Sussex WI. It is at a rest stop on the Ohio Turnpike. I can not even begin to imagine how tired these motorcyclists were that they were able to sleep out in the open, in this position, while people streamed past as they entered the rest stop.

Here is the final picture taken after we got back home. Here the lovely Miss Saranita is surrounded by Mrs. Kavouras on her right and another Mrs. Kavouras on her left : )

National Ice Cream Day

2007-07-15T22:32:00.000-05:00

Passing on Family Traditions

Who knew?

Certainly not I! My daughter-in-law Naomi called me to tell me that today was National Ice Cream Day. I hadn't a clue but it's a day I'll never pass up in ignorance again!

I come from a long line of ice cream lovers. Some of my earliest memories of my dad involve going for a long ride in the country to some custard stand that he discovered. The four of us would troop out of the car and enjoy delicious custard. I also remember ice cream being of medicinal value growing up. Sore throat? A pepsi-float will cure that!

Another memory I have of ice cream and my dad happened when we were living in St Louis and my husband was attending the Seminary. My brother, Tom, was also at the Sem and my dad and step-mom were visiting us. We went to a mall which just happened to have a Baskin-Robbins store. We had different places to visit in the mall so we agreed to meet back at a certain time at BR and have ice cream. My husband and I got back early and lo and behold, we found my father trying to wipe the evidence off of his face -- he tried to sneak in an extra cone before we all got there. We roared over that one.

Nick called later and asked if I had gone for ice cream yet. "No, I answered, because your dad is installing a new bedroom ceiling fan". He informed me that they were on their way over and we could walk to the corner ice cream store which is a little less than a mile away. We just happened to park across the street from my other son so those grandchildren joined us on our ice cream adventure. And my friend just happened to join us then so she and her daughter got on board the ice cream train. Needless to say, a delicious time was had by all.

Efstathia

2007-07-13T18:54:00.001-05:00

This post is about my husband's paternal grandmother, Efstathia. It is written by her grandson John and he explains how this article came to be. I have included my own comments about her after his article along with a picture of her from 1980 with my eldest, Theodore, who was named after her one and only son.
NOTE: John originally wrote this for a group that is working on a book to honor the women who started the Greek Orthodox Church in Cleveland. The original version started John thinking about the many accomplishments of his grandmother, so he added some things to make it more complete.

Efstathia Kavouras was born in Raxes, Gortynias, Greece on 26 October. The year is unclear. It’s been shown as early as 1890, but most likely it was 1895 or 1896. I suppose the official date—the one that counts—is on her passport; but it doesn’t matter. What does a year show now? In her passport picture, she looks young—unbelievably young to one of her later-born grandchildren—she has dark hair and she is wearing a coat with a fur collar. It’s deceiving, because she was not the fur-collar type. She was too practical for that. But the picture shows something more: a young woman with a determined look; a look that said she would face whatever came her way. And she did. It was a look and attitude that anyone who knew her would come to know well.

Efstathia came to the United States in 1930 with her 12-year old son, arriving at the start of the Depression. She joined her husband, Demetrios, who had been working in America for several years, helping build the trans-continental railroad. I can only imagine the awkwardness of becoming reacquainted with her husband after several years’ absence, but she never talked about that. I don’t know how long it took my grandfather to save money, but together they found a way to pay for the passage and have her arrive in a fancy coat.

She was barely able to read in any language—certainly not English—but she didn’t let that stop her. Efstathia quickly became a strong presence in both the Greek community and the church. She lived almost all of her life near the Annunciation church on West 14th St. I didn’t know her when she worked or when she was raising her son. A child has no concept of his parents’ or grandparents’ past. In the world of childhood, I knew she was there, a strong presence in our family. It didn’t matter where she had come from or what she had done. She was my Yaya. But I have many memories of the way she lived her life. She was a philanthropist in every sense of the word. Here are just a few memories her family has of her.

She met a young Greek widow who was struggling financially and who, for several reasons, had been unable to have her five children baptized. Efstathia made arrangements with the Greek priest to get the family to church and have the children baptized; acting as the godmother, she made sure all the children had new clothes for the church service. With assistance from the church, she found financial help for the family, and she was a friend to this woman for many years.

Another time, she found out about an old Greek couple—living on a small income—who needed help. The woman was bedridden and her husband was caring for her alone. Efstathia provided visits and food, but she wanted them to feel connected to the Greek community. She bought them a radio so they could listen to the weekly news and radio programs that were broadcast in Greek.

At Efstathia’s funeral, in 1982, an older woman who I knew vaguely from the Greek Church came to talk to me. “I loved your grandmother,” she said. “When I married my husband many years ago, the women of the church wouldn’t accept me because I wasn’t Greek. Your grandmother was the only one to befriend me and make me feel welcome, and the other women soon followed.” Later, I imagined the scene. The other women would have incurred Efstathia’s considerable wrath if they had continued to snub this woman.

Efstathia’s greatest achievement, however, was raising money for her beloved Annunciation Church. One of her early goals was to buy kitchen equipment so the church could host an annual Greek festival. She did not wait for donations. She called members of the church and asked them for money, often telling them the amount she thought they should give. She was fierce with anyone who tried to put her off. The Greek festival, begun with the money that she raised, continues today.

When the priest visited Efstathia after she had cataract surgery, he questioned her promise that she would be raising more money. “My husband will be my eyes,” she said. “He will make the calls.” And the fund-raising continued—and continued. Through her decades-long efforts, the church thrived, expanded, and built a large church hall.

Efstathia was devoted to her son and his family. She didn’t abandon the family she had left behind in Greece either, constantly sending them clothing and money. I do not think Efstathia ever passed by anyone who was in need. She prepared countless pots and pans of her incomparable food, carefully packing containers and sending her husband to deliver them. When she found out about families in need, she brought them to the attention of the Philoptochos, the women’s organization of the Greek Orthodox Church, and she insisted that the group lend its support.

In 1981, she received the Archdiocese Laity Award from Archbishop Iakavos. It mentions her “untiring record” of more than forty years of service. As I re-read the letter, I thought about the young woman with the dark hair and determined look. The hair had turned gray and wiry, and she probably never owned another fur collar, but the determined look never went away. We who knew her remain inspired.

Presbytera's comments

When Yiayia first met me, she did NOT like me at all. First of all, I was not Greek. She had promised a trip to Greece for any of her grandchildren who married someone of Greek descent. She never did have to cough up the money even though she had 7 grandchildren. Secondly, she didn't like me because I wasn't Greek!!!! Once we were married though, she warmed up to me and taught me how to make some Greek pastries. I sat on a couch in her kitchen (yes, the kitchen was used for everything) and warmed up a pound of butter by mixing with my hands until the heat of my hands brought the butter to the correct temperature. I never told Yiayia but whenever I made kourabiathes at home, I just whipped the heck out of the butter with my KitchenAid : )

She was very supportive of us when my husband was in the Seminary. She was very proud that one of her grandchildren was going to be a Lutheran priest. Whenever we would have the opportunity to visit Cleveland, she always slipped us a twenty dollar bill which in the mid 1970's was a great amount. Her husband Demetrius, who was called Papouli by us, would then be obligated to match her donation to us. It was quite fun to see the two of them in action. She was also very generous to our first born Theo who was named after her son.

Our first year at the seminary, my husband's brother and wife visited us in St Louis. Before they boarded the plane, they needed to make a stop at Yiayia's house. She sent a cooked and hot-from-the-oven leg of lamb along with my brother-in-law. It was dutifully wrapped in layers and layers of newspaper tied with many strings. Imagine the smell going through the airline cabin from his carry-on!

When we later moved to Cleveland, she would call me everyday to ask what I was cooking. Even though she spoke little English, we somehow communicated and I quickly learned to answer that I was cooking casserole (a hot dish). Never, never would I tell her that I was feeding her grandson something like hot dogs!!!

God Gave Us Pastors

2007-07-12T05:30:00.000-05:00

This past Sunday, I attended the ordination and installation of Peeter Pirn at Unity Lutheran Church. It was a hot, sticky afternoon in a church with no air conditioning. In addition to the bulletins, the ushers were handing out bottles of water in the narthex.

The preacher was Rev. Charles Froh from San Mateo California so I knew that I would get fed from the sermon and I did! He minded us that God would use Pastor Pirn to bring us Jesus. He referred to the beautiful stained glass windows in the sanctuary which visually bring us the Christ. The attendance was terrific and we had the opportunity to see many retired area pastors and their wives.

I rarely have the chance (not that I am looking for it) to worship in other Cleveland churches. When I am not traveling, I like to worship at my home congregation Christ Lutheran Church. When I am traveling, I choose confessional churches which rely on the Liturgy to convey the truth of God's love to me.

I was pleasantly surprised that the service utilized the liturgy. I have been to this church in the past and I know that the Deliberate Interim Pastor likes to tweak the litury. He has deliberately instituted changes in several churches where he has been the interim. The one that is the most abhorrent to me is that after the Pastoral Absolution (we receive absolution, that is, forgiveness, from the pastor as from God Himself, not doubting, but firmly believing that by it our sins are forgiven before God in heaven.)this deliberate interim Pastor then confesses his sins to the congregation and then has the congregation absolve him of his sins. This is such a twisted tweaking of the Pastoral Office! When I hear the Absolution, those words come from Christ Himself -- using the lips of the Pastor. Hopefully, the new Pastor will turn this practice back to its Lutheran form.

The title of the post is the title of the ditty that this Deliberate Interim Pastor wrote. I think it arrogant that he would insert his own song into the installation/ordintation service since the hymnal is replete with hymns which have withstood the test of time. I did get there early enough to read the words to this ditty before the service began so I knew I could not put his words on my lips. I used the time to study the architecture and windows. When I read the words, I was reminded of St Paul writing in 1 Corinthians "If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men."

1. "God calls His people, Yes! Our God calls us all; That we fulfill His task, that's all He'll ask Of those who come to Him, With their hopes, gifts and faith; His Mission here to do, For me and you!

2. Here we need God to give Us hope, help and peace, As we, live in a world That's cold and sad, Since Satan's promises Of deception and lies, We need someone to lead beyond the skies.

3. People, like sheep are lost With eyes blinded shut; Waiting for help and hope from Him Whose Name Says all we need to know, For direction through life; Giv'n us from Pastors here, Who're free from strife!

4. That's why God gave to us, His Pastors to lead Those who on Him rely, To pray and plead to Him for guidance here, In a world filled with greed. Bless all Your Pastors Lord, That us they'll feed!

5. In Scripture we are told From whom we must learn All precepts from above, And for them yearn; When urged by Prophets, false, To go on our own way. Listen instead, to You....From Pastors, true.

6. Since life on earth is filled With power, lust and ill; You gave us Pastors, Lord, Who live Your will....To garner guidance still, That Your love we fulfill. Bless all the Pastors....Yes! and shout: Amen! "

It is unbelievable to me that an LCMS Pastor of over 50 years experience could write this song. Although it names Satan, it does not name Christ. Although it is a song about pastors, it nowhere mentions preaching, Baptism, Absolution, or Holy Communion. Although it speaks about God calling us, it makes no distinction between the Call to the Public Ministry and the vocation God gives to all of us. Although the songs purports to bring us Jesus, it is a Jesus who is a lawgiver to help us through this life. Such a pity!

More Sweetness

2007-07-11T14:39:00.000-05:00

We recently went strawberry picking being inspired by Mumme Mom! It has been many, many years since I've gone strawberry picking. So long ago that my oldest son was a toddler. Equipped with the willing hands of 2 granddaughters and my Sister-in-law Crina, I sallied forth. We originally intended going picking with a homeschool friend but that field was no longer available for u-pick. Blessedly, we located a nearby farm and off we went.

The workers........Lily

Marina

Crina

Since my knee surgery, I am not able to kneel so all my picking was done bending over from the waist. This is not the way to pick strawberries! That was the message that my back leg muscles told me for an entire week after picking! The girls enjoyed themselves and it was a perfect day. After several days in the 90's, our day was pleasant and we were so glad that it was overcast! I enjoyed talking and working with my sister-in-law Crina who grew up in Romania during the communist regime. It was interesting hearing the different foods they made and preserved. From her account, I guess Romania is populated by many plum trees : ) After awhile, Crina learned a new English saying "I am all strawberried out."

We rode back to where the car was parked on a flat bed wagon pulled by a tractor. Needless to say, the giggle girls were delighted.

THE PRODUCT

We did make many containers of strawberry freezer jam, some with sugar and some with an artificial sweetner. We froze some strawberries in syrup in small containers to be enjoyed in the winter over ice cream. We also included some strawberries prepared for Mumme Mom's salad. My daughter in law Naomi was not able to pick with us but she did come help us clean, slice and cook the bounty.

THE REWARD!!!!!

Honey and My Sweeties

2007-07-10T08:36:00.000-05:00

Last week, Lily, Marina and I were invited to my friend's home to watch honey being extracted from trays in their hive. Marina is learning to be calm around bees so we thought this would help her to see a bee and think of something other than its stinger!

After the bees fill the cells with honey, they seal the end with wax which must be removed from both sides of the frame before the honey can come out. Here you see Lydia melting the wax with a wonderful implement designed to do just this thing. It looks somewhat like a cake decorating knife crossed with an iron. Both of these pictures show the wax melting away because of the iron.

Once the wax is removed, the frames are inserted 3 at a time into the extractor. Centrifugal force causes the honey to move out and down into the bottom of the extractor.

It takes a lot of muscle power to get the extractor whipping around enough for centrifugal force to take over. Here is Lily trying her hand and muscle at the crank on the extractor. Alas, her city muscles were not developed enough to create the spin needed but she gave it a good try.

Farm women to the rescue!!! Liddy is spinning away and the honey begins to flow.

Even though we were not helpful other than cheering from the sidelines, our honey hosts graciously sent us home with some booty!

In addition, we were given some fresh turnips from their garden. I took them home, cooked them with some carrots and mashed it all together. Yummy!

My Friend Stephen

2007-06-26T17:13:00.000-05:00

My friend Stephen B used to live very near San Antonio. He is very much a Spurs fan. Whenever the Spurs have made it into the finals, I have also faithfully cheered for the Spurs. They are my friend's team so I wanted to support Stephen's team. This year I had a serious dilemma. The Spurs made it into the NBA Finals but SO DID THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS! I have waited and waited for them to make it to the Finals yet I am a faithful friend and did not want to be at odds against Stephen. We had a talk on the phone and decided that if he would cheer for his friend's team, the Cavaliers; I would cheer for the San Antonio Spurs. Stephen faithfully cheered for the Cavs despite his brother Kendall's disbelief that he was cheering for the wrong team. Stephen cheered for the Cavs in the first game. They lost. Stephen was not discouraged and cheered for the Cavs in the second game. They lost. At this point, I am encouraging Stephen to find other people in TX to cheer for the Cleveland Cavaliers because it is not looking so good for them. I really didn't want Stephen to be disappointed in his adopted team. He continued to cheer for them in the 3rd game. The Cavs lost. It was now down to the last game; if the Cavs lose again they are out and the Spurs become champs (again). Stephen cheers for the Cavs throughout the 4th game. The Cavs lose.

In Cleveland OH, I am probably the only person cheering for the San Antonio Spurs but I manage to cheer for them and they win the NBA Finals. Now I ask you, who had the greater influence in the Finals? Stephen? or Me? This is the gift that Stephen sent me to congratulate me and my team the San Antonio Spurs. Thanks Stephen for the gift but just knowing that my friend's team won was really all I needed.

Sometimes it's hard to be a woman...

2007-06-13T12:56:00.000-05:00

and sometimes it's even harder to be a Cleveland Sports fan. To those who live in Cleveland, there is no need for an explanation. For those who don't live here or don't follow Cleveland sports, no explanation is possible to describe the disappointment that fans suffer here regularly.

The last time a Cleveland sports team won a final in a professional sport was 1964....that was a long time ago. No Stanley Cups, no NBA Finals, no Super Bowl rings, no World Series. We keep coming up short although the fans are very faithful -- even to the point of bringing the Browns back to Cleveland after they snuck out in the middle of the night for Baltimore.
This is the first year that our NBA Cavaliers have made it to the Finals.

After the first game, the headline was

Spurs Control LeBron

After the second game, the headline was

Texas Toast

After last night's game, the headline was

The Music Truck

2007-06-12T04:15:00.001-05:00

When my eldest was a toddler, we lived in the city and I was very strict as to his sugar intake. Cookies, candy and ice cream were limited items on the menu. When the summer of 1981 came, the ice cream trucks were out in full force. I did not want Theo to constantly beg me for ice cream every day that he heard the music -- a 2 year old can be pretty sharp that way. So I lied. I told him that the truck was driven by a very nice man who drove around the neighborhood bringing delight to everyone through music. All summer I would say "Oh listen, Theo, isn't that the music truck?" He would run to the front door in delight at the first sound of the music truck. I was relieved that I didn't have a battle but that my son was able to just enjoy the music.

The next summer we were in rural Wisconsin at a dual parish and there was no such thing as an ice cream truck. When Theo was 5, we moved back to Cleveland but ended up on a deadend street -- a street no enterprising ice cream truck driver would bother with! Eventually we ended up in our Parma suburb which outlawed ice cream trucks. You know the scenario, the government knows what's best for us so they legislate protection. Several years ago, the law was changed and ice cream trucks were once again allowed to pander their products to the next generation of children.

Here is a grandfather's delight:

Frenchy Bread

2007-06-09T18:01:00.000-05:00

Most people would call this Amish Friendship Bread but my 2 1/2 yr old grandson calls it Frenchy Bread so now our whole family calls it Frenchy Bread. My friend Scott gave me the starter for the bread which is stirred and feed over a 10 day period. You can see that it bubbles as it ferments. It really likes the milk, sugar and flour that I feed it. After 10 days, you divide it into 3 one cup portions to give away and then bake the rest. I have been keeping one of the portions for myself so I can make it again in 10 days.

The recipe calls for adding instant vanilla pudding which I have done for some of the breads. I have also added pistachio pudding which resulted in the slightly green loaf on the left. In addition, I have added chopped apples to a bread and also raisins to another loaf. This past time I used butterscotch pudding and boy was that yummy. I found the original recipe too sweet and too oily so I have reduced the amount of both of those ingredients. For the next batch, I am using chocolate pudding and adding chocolate chips....just in case I need a chocolate hit!

Anyone want some starter???

Help Needed!

2007-06-08T08:31:00.000-05:00

As part of the Birthday octave, we travelled to the far side of Cleveland. If you are familiar with the geography of my fair city, it is split in two by the Cuyahoga River. Those who live on the West Side, rarely travel East and those who live on the East side of the Cuyahoga River consider the West Side a foreign country. Our church is working hard to bring down that barrier since we have members from all over the Cleveland area.

As a Chaplain to the Cleveland Police Department, my husband does have occasion to spend time on the East Side and found a wonderful breakfast place (Gus's Restaurant) on E. 185th St. The food was delicious, the establishment clean and we got seats right by huge windows which look out onto the street. While we were eating, we watched the world go by!

While we were in this strange land (East side) he took me on a tour of some of the drug houses in the area. You are familiar with this mantra -- my husband sure knows how to show a girl a good time! We happened across this sign and once I controlled my laughing, we got a picture. I think Our Lady could use some help herself -- as could the Cleveland Cavs!

Birthday Octave

2007-06-07T10:16:00.000-05:00

It seems that we can never actually get a birthday celebration in for just one day around here. This past Friday was my lover boy's 57th birthday celebration. On his actual birthday we did not have time for cake etc but he had the best gift. Here he is pictured with 5 of our grandchildren (the 6th is still in utero). Looking at these blessings and knowing that life carries on with the next generation and so on makes for a wonderful birthday.

The next day we had our church garage sale and one of the members was creative with an item which was donated for the sale. She used the letters WWJB on the plaque and we all got a chuckle out of it. Especially the pastor : ) What Would Jesus Buy. We were able to raise a good sum which we will use for missions. Our church supports several missions like the Lutheran Heritage Foundation, this missionary family in Togo and a local congregation who could not pay their pastor's hospitalization.

What's a birthday without a cake? Just another day. After the garage sale, several families from our church gathered for a cookout and we also got a birthday cake. Of course, following the theme of the day, it was decorated with WWJE. What Would Jesus Eat. We still have some days left in the octave and who knows how else we'll celebrate.

Our Youth Choir

2007-06-04T05:22:00.000-05:00

The Youth Choir at our church includes children from the age of 4 through youth in their teen years. If you look at the center of the picture you'll see my 4 yr old grandson, Theodore, in the red shirt. He can not read yet but he's very interested in making certain he is on the correct page in the hymnal : ) He is asking advice from his friend who is a year older, the son of one of our members. Yesterday was the last time they sang until the fall and the choir sounded terrific!

We are blessed at Christ Lutheran Church to have the raw ingredients for a fantastic musical aspect to our worship services. You get a glimpse of the wonderful pipe organ in the background. Because of the grand architecture of our church, the sound bounces from the balcony and fills the sanctuary. The youth who are directly in front of me are using handbells loaned from a neighboring church. This local Lutheran Church has gone the way of more contemporary services and has so few members I don't know if they could even garner enough people to play these bells. The bells were a memorial to their once thriving congregation so they won't give them away. They simply store them in our church balcony for us to use.

You can not see all the members of the choir but we had 17 singing yesterday. They sang Kyrie, God Father in Heaven Above which is based on a Latin sequence hymn from the 12th century. The younger children who can not read yet memorized the Greek phrases used in the hymn, eleison and Kyrie. While learning the melody and words, the children also learned about the Trinitarian aspect of this hymn and the connection it has to the liturgy we sing every week. No one has told these children that this is fuddy-duddy music; they love it and sing the hymns I teach them heartily. Pictured in the forefront is the son of a member and her husband . Also pictured is the daughter of another member. Since the parents attend our church because of the true faith conveyed through the traditional liturgy, I know they are pleased that their children are learning these hymns which will stay with them the rest of their life.

Our youth choir and the adult choir are often heard on our podcast along with our organist Jim Mercer. I'm not certain if this song will make the "cut" when it is available on the podcast but give a listen sometime and hear them! You can click on the CLC RADIO link on the right of this post to listen.

SBA Summer Hiatus

2007-05-31T05:13:00.001-05:00

This is part of the curriculum at St. Barbara's Academy. Is it physical education? Is it dance? Is it recess? Is it drama? Well, in our homeschool, it is a little of all of those things and then it is also history.

For the past 3 years my friend Kim has been kind enough to share her history curriculum with us. This year we were working through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Reformation. First we look at the history cards (very beautiful pictures of classic art) and I explain the basic idea behind the card. Then they listen to the song which is really a timeline of history with 31 key dates, places or people from that time period. They repeat the song 3 times each day. On the second day of the history lesson, we explore the event in a little more detail and of course they listen to the tape again. On the third day of their history, we might read another source or they might color a picture or do a little project centered on this part of history. And once again, they listen to the tape. By the end of the school year, they have listened to this song at least 300 times and they have it easily memorized.

This picture was taken when they were listening and singing along with the history tape. Can you tell history is one of their favorite subjects?

Our school is on hiatus for the summer. We will get together to work on some art projects which I just didn't have time to fit in and finish. We began knitting and cross stitch and I know the girls really want to finish those things. Their Aunt Crina has also offered to work with them in doing some wonderful art. She is very accomplished and is off of school for the summer. It should be a fun summer school : ) Knowing how much they love history, I'm certain they will be listening to this tape again and again and again!!

A birthday, a birthday and a birthday

2007-05-30T08:11:00.000-05:00

Our family recently got together to celebrate two family birthdays and as an added bonus we also celebrated the birthday of Mr. Barb the Evil Genius. Here are Nick and Naomi dishing out the ice cream cake I made for the birthdays. We were celebrating Naomi's 22nd birthday so she was our birthday girl for the day. The Evil Genius Barb is helping dish out the dessert. Melody if you are reading this, we are using the cat plates you gave me : )

Here are the birthday boys anticipating chowing down the cake. We celebrated Theo's 28th birthday and I'm not certain of the number for Mr. Evil Genius but it is the day after Theo's. Our dining room table was not big enough to handle all four families but we did manage to seat the adults there. My grandsons ate at the counter in the kitchen and the young ladies ate at a card table reminding me of family meals growing up. We children were always relegated to card tables in the kitchen.

The day was nice so Grandpa opened up the treehouse for the children to play in. Lily is missing from the picture -- don't know where she was when it was taken. This is the treehouse that Nick and his dad built as a math homeschool project. It won't be long before Nick's daughter will be playing in it!

A Graduation Recital

2007-05-29T06:08:00.001-05:00

My dear husband and I recently had the privilege of attending a graduation recital for Abby. Abby is a member of our homeschool group North Coast Regional Lutheran Homeschoolers. I've seen Abby grow from a young girl into a lovely young women. It was a treat to see her perform and to perform well. I've had the opportunity to attend several concerts Abby has participated in and even received a private recital in her home! She played several memorized pieces which she has worked on through the years. Abby was accompanied on violin by her instructor Marian

Another thrill was when Abby's younger sister Hannah joined her for 2 pieces. Here are the two sisters playing Minuet 2 by J S Bach. I'm certain it was a joy for Hannah to be a guest violinist at the recital of her sister.

This picture shows Abby in her graduation cap -- it was actually the cap & diploma from her cake!! Abby and I have gone cross country together and I enjoy her company. We were able to attend a Higher Things Youth Conference in Seattle and had much time to get to know each other on the plane there and back. Congratulations Abby!

The Cycle Continues

2007-05-28T04:44:00.000-05:00

I began blogging about a year ago -- right during the Memorial Day weekend. Those first posts found me shooting, attending the Greek Festival and visiting my friend Beth in New York. A year later, the cycle is continuing.

After going to the Greek festival this year, we took a little tour of the surrounding neighborhood. This area is peppered with many churches, small homes crowded together (by today's standards) and is currently in a state of flux. The homes here were once occupied by the many immigrants who made their way to the industrialized haven of the big city Cleveland. They lived in this neighborhood and walked down into the valley to work in Cleveland's great steel mills. They worshipped in nearby churches and patronized nearby stores. This picture is a not uncommon site. An abandoned building with interesting architecture waiting for some cycle to continue. Will it be the cycle of revitalizing a community by refurbishing this house or will it remain abandoned until this piece of history is demolished?

This building is right next door to the house with the broken windows. The roof on this building (part of a larger complex of buildings) looks like it will hardly make it one more cycle of the seasons.

One more turn of the corner reveals the newer part of the Tremont area. Clean, revitalized new homes. The cycle continues as the people who move into these homes will once again work in the nearby area although they will not walk into the valley to the steel mills. They will most likely drive their BMW's downtown into the city and work at a law firm. They are the new urban settlers. They shop at nearby art studios and eat at upscale restaurants close by. And so the cycle continues....

A year ago, I was visiting my friend Beth as she battled cancer. This is a picture of Beth in happier days with her not-yet-but-soon-to-be-husband Mark. Of course, now is really a time of rejoicing for Beth as she has completed the cycle of life and death begun at her physical birth, continued with her spiritual life begun in Baptism and finally claimed as she entered eternal life through death a couple of weeks ago.

The cycle continues in church as we celebrated Pentecost yesterday. The Father loved us enough to send His Son into the flesh. The Son loved us and the Father so that He gave His life on the cross in payment for our sins. The Son loved us and sent His Spirit, the Counselor who would lead us into all truth. This Spirit of truth draws us and calls us by pointing to Jesus and what He has done for us. And Jesus completes the cycle by once more pointing us to the Father in glory.

At Christ Lutheran Church we go through the cycle of the church year and rehearse, relive and remember the cycle of life given to us by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We were blessed this weekend to attend the wedding of a member and the baptism of the son of a member. Here I am celebrating with the mom and aunts of the groom. These ladies have been called, gathered and enlightened by the Holy Spirit and brought into fellowship with the Triune God. These sisters have gathered this weekend for the wedding traveling from South Carolina, Iowa and Wyoming.

Yesterday also marked the 28th anniversary of the Baptism of my son Theodore. As my parents brought me to the font and as my husband's parents brought him to the font, so we brought Theodore (which means in Greek - gift of God) to the font and rejoiced as he was given New Life in baptism. His father baptized him and his Uncle Tom, my brother, came from St. Louis with his family to witness the baptism of my first born and preach at the service. My brother Tom has completed the cycle of his earthly ministry and is now singing with the other saints who proceeded him. Theodore is now the father of five and has brought his children to the font. Two were baptized at area Lutheran churches; two were actually baptized at the font below and we await the birth of his fifth child.

This post ends with a picture of the baptism of our newest member of Christ Lutheran Church. He is being baptized by his grandfather, Rev. Roger Vernick, who traveled from West Virginia to participate in the service. Here he is baptizing the 4th son of his daughter. And so the cycle continues.....

My great grandparents

2007-05-25T22:29:00.001-05:00

I have been doing some scanning of pictures for our family at ancestor.com. My husband's brother signed us up and asked us to fill in the information. I took the opportunity to also add info for my family. This is my mother's paternal grandfather. I never met him but I took this picture from his alien registration. His name on his naturalization papers is listed as Wilhelm Johan Niemann. That paper was prepared on Feb 25th 1919 although he had been in this country since Dec of 1882. I'm certain it was done because he came here from Hamburg Germany and it was WW I era. He also has an alien registration card for WW II but by that time his name was listed as William John Niemann. He was born in Bruda Germany in 1856 which means he was 26 when he emigrated to America. In 1919, he listed his occupation as night watchman. The residence he listed in Cleveland is the house that I came home to as an infant, 31 years later. Houses tended to stay in families longer then!

He brought his wife with him. This is the picture from her WW II registration card. She was 78 years old when this picture was taken. Her name is Augusta Frederika Niemann. Wouldn't feminists have a fit over that name!! She was born in 1864 in or near Mecklenburg Strelitz Germany. They traveled here on the ship Victoria.

Carry On

2007-05-25T05:36:00.001-05:00

Favorite Apron asked me about what gun I was shooting when we practiced the other day. I was actually shooting two different guns. This cute little gun looks just the right size for my hand. I really liked the fact that you could easily tuck it into your pocket or purse. However, it packs too powerful a punch for my arthritic fingers. I could shoot with it if I had to but I really want to be proficient with the gun that I carry and I didn't relish practicing with this Kel-Tec. It might be the perfect concealed carry for someone else -- just not for me. It is so cute though, too bad I can't handle it. : )
Here's a picture of my sweetie. It felt so comfortable in my hands -- it was good to hold my sweetie again. If you want to find out more about my Smith and Wesson, you can check it out here. I never would have believed that I would be interested in shooting. I never really gave it much thought.

Five years ago, I would have been terrified to pick up a loaded gun but I began to realize the assault that was going on with our constitutional rights and of course, 9/11 happened. I had always learned that the 2nd amendment spoke about my right to carry a weapon. Ohio at that time was one of the last states to withhold the right to carry a concealed weapon from it's citizens. Because of my husband, several of my friends and the Ohioans for Concealed Carry, I considered it my personal mission to obtain a concealed carry license as soon as they became available in Ohio.

Somewhere along the way to preserving our freedom, I began to really enjoy shooting. I learned how to safely handle a weapon in a class that I took and it is a great opportunity for my husband and me to have fun together. He delights in having a wife who encourages him in his bang-bang-shoot-'em-up hobby. As posted previously, it is a family affair.

Some Creatures Great and Small

2007-05-24T05:40:00.000-05:00

Tuesday was a busy critter day at St. Barbara's Academy which is located in the city -- not countryside. My dear granddaughter looked out at the pond and proclaimed "They're back!" Last year, we were regularly visited by this loving pair of mallards. They visited several times over a 2 week period and then disappeared. Tuesday they were back. My 4 year old grandson was also here and it was hard to contain him.

I carefully crept forward and got this closeup of them in our pond. Shortly after that they got out of the pond and went waddling out into the yard. Needless to say, the children were delighted and practiced their duck calls until they flew away. They were not back yesterday but we are ever hopeful!

On Tuesday my husband and I also had the opportunity to go to the range to practice my Pistol Packin' skills. It's been a long winter and I was glad to be out shooting again. We practiced rapid firing where I grabbed the loaded gun and shot quickly at the target. This was to simulate an actual scenerio where I had no chance to carefully take aim. I am glad to report, my first shot was dead center! After returning from the range, I began preparing dinner and looked out my kitchen window and saw this interesting target!

While I continued with the dinner prep, my hunter husband approached for this closeup of our visiting buck. He was definitely interested in munching on the undergrowth in the wooded area next to our house. The buck paused to cautiously watch my husband and to check out the noise of children passing by on the sidewalk. Too bad my students had already returned home. I'm thinking that my husband was wishing he was pointing something other than a camera at this buck.

I did not get a picture of the last creature that visited on Tuesday. It was 11 p.m. and a HUGE raccoon was checking out our garbage cans. By the time we were ready with camera, the raccoon had wondered off for greener pastures....or at least an open garbage can or wayward plastic bag filled with goodies.

Tag anyone?

2007-05-23T14:25:00.000-05:00

I do not plan on tagging anyone so if you read this and want to answer the questions -- go ahead!

First of all, BTEG tagged me and here are seven random uninteresting things about me.

1. I had my tonsils out around the 5th grade.
2. If there are 2 switches to turn on a light, I want them both to be in the up position when they are on, and the down position when they are off.
3. I earned my varsity letter as the manager of a swim team.
4. I found this exercise very hard because I think I am an interesting person.
5. The first thing I made in home ec in 8th grade (1964) was stewed prunes.
6. I took my first jet ride to Massachusettes and when I got home, I knelt down and kissed the ground.
7. In college I most wanted a VW bug. They were selling for $1777 and I never could afford it.

I also was tagged by Cheryl to find out what I wanted to be at the age of 5, 10, 15, and 20

I don't remember being 5 years old so I can't answer that!

I don't remember what I wanted to be at age 10 -- I probably didn't think about anything other than playing outside : )

At 15 I knew I wanted to be a deaconess missionary to Papua New Guinea. I did go to Valpo to start the deaconess program (that's where it was in 1968) but soon became convinced that my vocation was to be a layman in the church. Ironic that I ended up marrying a pastor.

At 20 I wanted to be a wife. I had already met the love of my life and I was working hard at convincing him that I was the love of his life!

Fancy Schmancy Jello

2007-05-23T05:45:00.001-05:00

I recently had occasion to prepare a jello parfait which took a little time but was fairly easy. Years ago when refrigerators had metal slatted shelves (like ovens) it was a cinch to make this jello. You filled the parfait glass half way and tilted it in the refrigerator by putting the bottom of the parfait glass between one of the wire slats and leaning it against the inside wall of the refrigerator. The jello hardened at a slant. When I began to prepare this jello, I realized that my refrigerator now has glass shelves. OH NO! I pulled out my bread pans and improvised. Here is picture of the glasses leaning in the bread pans. I only spilled a little when I carried them to the refrigerator.

Success!! I have the cherry jello in the glass with a slant. While this was jelling, I began the second layer of peach jello to which I added chopped peaches. The peaches weren't actually chopped -- they were more in the neighborhood of smushed. I bought the very generic brand of peach slices and I think they cook the life out of the peaches before they can them.

Here's step three. I have straightened the glasses and I filled them with the peach jello. Now they can just sit on the glass shelves in the refrigerator....that is after I cleaned up the spilled jello!

THE FINAL PRODUCT -- A scoop of whipped topping and maraschino cherries are added for the final flair. It's been years since I made this jello and I was happy to do it. After these past months, it's been good to be creative and produce something lovely. Oh yes, it tasted good too!!!

Guess Who We Visited With This Week

2007-05-13T03:59:00.000-05:00

This has been a very busy week as I begin to get back into the swing of things and we had lots of visitors! The girls and I are quickly working our way through the last lessons in our Saxon math book. Here they are being introduced to "functions". Don't they look entranced?

This lovely lady visited us on Tuesday at St Barbara's Academy. We enoyed having her babble and listen in on what we were doing. The girls sang their history lesson to her....I'm not certain how much she retained but I hope she comes to SBA again sometime soon.

On Friday, one of my homschooling friends from Iowa was passing through town and we had the opportunity to be their guests as we dined at a nearby restaurant. It has been about a year since I've seen Suzanne and it was a real treat to catch up on our families and friends.

Another friend that visited this week is Rev. Timothy Landskroener. My husband refers to him as the Chaplain to the Chaplain. We had a wonderful time eating with Kathy and Tim at Marta's, a very nice Czechoslovakian restaurant in Cleveland. On Friday, he and my dear husband did a ride along with the Cleveland Police Department -- just to see the seamy side of life.

Another visitor I had this week was by eamil and telephone. I talked with my dear brother Gary from CA/NM/CO. He emailed me this picture taken in Utah and we talked a while on Saturday. We have not physically seen each other in 10 years but I'm hoping my husband and I will be able to visit with Gary and Liz sometime soon. We had a nice chat covering family matters. Since our brother Tom died a month ago, old memories surface and it was wonderful to talk them over with Gary.

This last picture is of my husband hugging our friend, Beth Schlamann when we visited last May. Beth right now is in the arms of Jesus but we will be visiting later this morning when we attend the Divine Service. We will take communion together however we will be on different sides of the Table. She is supping in heaven with our Lord; we will be kneeling here at Christ Church and getting a glimpse of heaven on earth as we eat and drink the Lord's Body and Blood. I will most certainly think of Tom and Beth as the church sings this morning "with angels, and archangels and all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify Thy glorious name, everymore praising Thee and saying: Holy, Holy Holy.

Grieving

2007-05-05T18:18:00.000-05:00

I am still working through the grieving process whatever that means. My dear brother Tom died on April 13th and I haven't felt much like blogging....and I have been busy. I think getting back into the swing of things will help me so I will attempt to resume blogging.

I figure that I have XXX number of tears that will fall and only God knows the answer to the number. At this stage of my grieving, I'm pretty certain that the number is more than the number of hairs on my head!

There are many things which have helped me in the recent weeks and I would like to tell you some of them. Every sympathy card I received was like a friend reaching out to me. I was amazed that so many of my online friends took the time to look up my address and send a card.

One of my friends wrote -- it is never the right time to lose a loved one but God is never surprised by the timing. I found that comforting.

I also found a conversation with Pastor Timothy Landskroener of comfort when he reminded me that the explanation to the first commandment is that we fear, love and trust in God above all things. Trust means that we rely on God doing the right thing even when we can't see the wisdom to it. I obviously can't see the wisdom of my brother being gone from this earth but I trust God that He knows what's best.

That leads me to the hymn which is so comforting to me.
What God ordains is always good. He is my Friend and Father;
He suffers naught to do me harm. Tho' many storms may gather.
Now I may know both joy and woe, some day I shall see clearly
That He hath loved me dearly.

What God ordains is always good, Though I the cup am drinking
Which savors now of bitterness, I take it without shrinking.
For after grief God grants relief, My heart with comfort filling
And all my sorrow stilling.

Pastor Williams Parsons who preached at Tom's funeral assured us all that Tom is more alive now than any of us left on this earth. Of that I am certain and that brings comfort. I am certainly not crying for Tom - he is blessed beyond measure. He is with his Savior in a way we have yet to experience. He is also with my dad and mom and for that I rejoice. Yet I continue to weep for my loss.

Pray for the Masked Man

2007-03-12T11:57:00.000-05:00

The masked man is my brother Tom and he is seriously ill. I ask that you pray for him and his wife Marty. They are pictured here at their most recent Mardi Gras ball. I will be in Alabama with them and will be away from Blogger but I trust that you will pray for them.

Keeping Warm in Church

2007-02-18T16:48:00.000-05:00

This is the scene which greeted us as we prepared for church this morning. Our snow shovel, unfortunately, was loaned out so we plowed through the snow with our car. I was on altar duty this morning and the other woman assigned to serve lives too far out to drive in with the snow. No problem, I told her, as a pastor's wife -- I'll hitch a ride with the pastor....he HAS to be there : ) As I prepared the communion items I realized that with the snowy weather, I probably didn't need to put too many hosts on the paten. It turned out that I was right.

We have 2 Sunday school classes; the one teacher was out of town and the other had to turn back because of the blowing snow. That turned out not to be a problem because there were hardly any children there for Sunday School and most were late.

Here is a picture of some of my grandchildren keeping warm after church. They are sitting on one of the big heating vents on the floor. This one sits right next to the pulpit. While the adults were changing paraments in readiness for the beginning of lent, the children occupied themselves in a warm spot.

The Prince of Tarts

2007-02-16T14:57:00.000-05:00

We recently were invited to a friends' home for dinner. The hostess served delicious corned beef and cabbage with a tangy horseradish sauce on the side. The meal was wonderful. This young man, their youngest did manage to eat some of the meat, potatoes and bread but he was really waiting for dessert. My battery was low in my camera so I can't show you the lovely raspberry tart which was served but I am showing you one happy boy. He really got into eating his tart as evidenced by his whole body approach to eating : )

Valentine's Day plus one

2007-02-15T20:37:00.000-05:00

We did go out on Valentine's Day for lunch at a neighborhood bar called Jimmy J's which features typically food for this area -- stuffed cabbage, kielbasi, pierogis etc. We enjoyed our time out so for dinner, I prepared a romantic dinner for two. We always have napkins and generally have candles but it still seemed special. I think after (almost) 34 years, I'm getting this down pat. Since we have an empty nest, most of our meals are actually romantic dinners for two. We had barbequed pork cutlets, baked sweet potatoes and Greek salad but the best was yet to come.....

The dessert was made by my very own candy man! He took cashews and covered them in dark chocolate and then put them into special heart papers. They taste even better than they look!!! Since my candy man is currently not eating sweets, this entire plate was for me. I am happy to report that it is 24 hours later and I still have some left : )

Our plan for Valentine's Day included getting together with my daughters-in-law and their children and baking Valentine's cookies. The weather changed that and instead we made Valentine's-Day-plus-one cookies. I used the actual recipe from Valentine's Day in the past. Here is my youngest grandson Dean watching the decorating that is going on. He can hardly wait until it is his turn to put the sprinkles on the cookies. That's his mom behind him getting the paper bags ready to absorb the excess butter from the cookies.

As you can see, I had plenty of help this year! The granddaughters are getting very good at helping and also very good at absorbing the tradition and continuum which is happening here. Cookie baking is really memory making.

We also made chocolate dipped pretzel rods. Some were white chocolate with milk chocolate drizzles and some the reverse. I want to assure you that they taste good either way. After we finished the baking and cleaning up, we divided the treats into Valentine's-Day-Plus-One loaded with carbs plates and delivered them to our Pastor, Grandmas, Great Grandmas and of course to YiaYia.

SBA Closed

2007-02-14T16:15:00.000-05:00

Last evening, as the Headmistress of St Barbara's Academy, I made the executive decision to join the other 609 schools in NE Ohio and close for Wednesday. We are a homeschool but a homeschool with a twist; our students are bussed in....well actually, driven in by their parents. Looking at the forecast for the day, I figured the school bus drivers, I mean parents, would find it challenging to get to school. I woke my husband early with the news that the Federal Building was closed, City Hall was closed, 610 schools were closed and I was playing hookey. The governor made a plea for everyone to stay off the roads unless they absolutely needed to get out. The head of ODOT made a plea that people remain off the roadways while his crews cleared the snow. We were not daunted. We were not going to be dictated to by politicians, bureaucrats and weathermen. We were going out for breakfast!

Into the car we went, bundled against the cold and proceeded to back out of the driveway and got stuck at the end of the driveway. The car was not going forward. The car was not going backward. Back and forth, back and forth and we couldn't even get the car to rock. A young neighborhood boy soon heard out plight and came over to help out. They eventually got the car out of the street and I went inside. After a strenous time, the car was in the garage and the driveway was clear. At this point, my husband decided that he would grab his laptop and go to the restaurant alone and work on his sermon. He left; I made coffee and contemplated the leftover Cottage Cheese pancakes in the refrigerator. After approximately 5 minutes, he returned after getting struck in the street just one house away. The back streets of our suburb were not plowed and we were definitely snowed in.

Not wanting to give in and eat at home, my husband asked if I thought I could walk to the nearest restaurant through the snow. I figured with my knee replacements it would be questionable but I was ready to give it a try. We bundled up and covered all parts, stowed our cell phones in our pockets and stored our glasses in their glass cases and started off. The snow was almost to our knees so the going was slow. We stopped several times so that I could catch my breath. It was quite a cardio workout! I will always remember Valentine's Day 2007 when my heart was beating quickly at the thought of having breakfast with my honey....well, OK, it was beating from the exertion but it sounds feasible! About one third of the way there, we were defeated by the extreme effort it took to plow through the snow and headed home.

Shortly after we ate at home, we heard the snowplows going down our street and we rejoiced that we were no longer snowbound. At that point we determined to go out to lunch : ) This is the picture of our back patio with the fire pit. I love the way the snow is piled on top. The next picture is a summertime picture of our patio. Notice the pond on the right side towards the back.

Here is a picture of the pond today. The pond is over 3 feet deep so we know that the koi we have are hibernating on the bottom and will make it through the winter. I know that the pond is there and I can't even see it!! I'm thinking that my husband will have to go out and break a hole in the ice although as far as we know, the pump is continuing to circulate the water. We'll see when it thaws a bit.

Anyone for a picnic?

What color purple are you?

2007-02-11T20:06:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Barb the Evil Genius for this one!

You Are Grape

You are bold and a true individual. You are very different and very okay with that.
People know you as a straight shooter. You're very honest, even when the truth hurts.
You are also very grounded and practical. No one is going to sneak anything by you.
People enjoy your fresh approach to life. And it's this honesty that makes you a very innovative person.

What Color Purple Are You?

Worth My Weight In GOLD

2007-02-10T20:34:00.000-05:00

This morning as my dear husband and I were returning from our standing Saturday morning date, he had a perplexing problem to which I mentioned a simple answer. He turned to me and said "You are worth your weight in gold." He paused and then said "And with the price of gold these days, that's saying a lot." I returned with my own quip of "And with the weight I've gained, that's really saying a lot!"

Gold isn't weighed in pounds and ounces like we think of ounces. Gold is measured in troy ounces so we had to convert my weight into troy ounces. At yesterday's close in NY, gold was $666.70/ounce. This makes me worth: $ 1,944,497.22. Of course, I already knew my price was far above rubies : )

A Soup Kind of Day

2007-02-07T18:38:00.000-05:00

The cold weather seems to be warming slightly here although we started the day in single digits and only made it into the teens. Brilliant blue sky and the winter sun bouncing off the snow cover made for a cheery day for me : ) It was a hot soup kind of day.

I chopped and chopped and chopped....carrots, onion, garlic, celery, stewed tomatoes and a head of cabbage. I added a can of kidney beans and found some leftover cooked brats in the freezer. I spiced it up with red pepper flakes. Lots of red pepper flakes. Maybe too many red pepper flakes!! It was delicious! My dear husband agreed that a crusty loaf of bread was in order with this soup so off I went to Panera's to purchase some. I had no time left in the day to bake.

A nice ride in the warm car, fresh bread sitting beside me and a pot of soup simmering at home....the only thing which made it better was knowing my honey was there to share it with!

Who was Balto?

2007-02-06T17:56:00.000-05:00

Our homeschool group recently went to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History for a fantastic presentation on Balto and the race to Nome Alaska with anti-toxin to fight the outbreak of diptheria 1n 1925. You can read more about it here.

Several months ago, my friend asked if I wanted to go see a presentation on Balto at the Museum. I asked, "Who's Balto?" She gave me a brief explanation and I agreed that would be a good field trip. We got several books from the library and read about the grueling dog sled relay to save the lives of the infected children of Nome.

The children of Cleveland helped to raise money to bring Balto to Cleveland several years after his famous race. He and several of the dogs lived out their natural lives at the Brookside Zoo. Balto was later preserved for future generations -- some of those future generations are pictured with him here!

Personality fun!

2007-02-04T18:42:00.000-05:00

I got this by email from a friend and had fun jotting down the answers. If you'd like, take the test and leave your score. I got a 38 on the test and was amused by the answers. Have fun!

Below is Dr Phil's test. (Dr. Phil scored 55; he did this test on Oprah - she got a 38.) Some folks pay a lot of money to find this stuff out! Read on, this is very interesting! Don't be overly sensitive! The following is pretty accurate and it only takes 2 minutes. [Barb insert - don't know if this is true but enjoy] Don't peek, but begin the test as you scroll down and answer. Answers are for who you are now...... not who you were in the past. Have pen or pencil and paper ready. This is a real test given by the Human Relations Dept. at many of the major corporations today. It helps them get better insight concerning their employees and prospective employees. It's only 10 simple questions, so...grab a pencil and paper, keeping track of your letter answers to each question.
Ready??Begin...

1. When do you feel your best?
a) in the morning
b) during the afternoon and early evening
c) late at night

2. You usually walk...
a) fairly fast, with long steps
b) fairly fast, with little steps
c) less fast head up, looking the world in the face
d) less fast, head down
e) very slowly

3. When talking to people you..
a) stand with your arms folded
b) have your hands clasped
c) have one or both your hands on your hips
d) touch or push the person to whom you are talking
e) play with your ear, touch your chin, or smooth your hair

4. When relaxing, you sit with.. [Barb insert - I answered this pre-surgery]
a) your knees bent with your legs neatly side by side
b) your legs crossed
c) your legs stretched out or straight
d) one leg curled under you

5. When something really amuses you, you react with...
a) big appreciated laugh
b) a laugh, but not a loud one
c) a quiet chuckle
d) a sheepish smile

6. When you go to a party or social gathering you...
a) make a loud entrance so everyone notices you
b) make a quiet entrance, looking around for someone you know
c) make the quietest entrance, trying to stay unnoticed!

7. You're working very hard, concentrating hard, and you're interrupted......
a) welcome the break
b) feel extremely irritated
c) vary between these two extremes

8. Which of the following colors do you like most? [Barb insert - is there any doubt about mine?]
a) Red or orange
b) black
c) yellow or light blue
d) green
e) dark blue or purple
f) white
g) brown or gray

9. When you are in bed at night, in those last few moments before going to sleep you are..
a) stretched out on your back
b) stretched out face down on your stomach
c) on your side, slightly curled
d) with your head on one arm
e) with your head under the covers

10. You often dream that you are...
a) falling
b) fighting or struggling
c) searching for something or somebody
d) flying or floating
e) you usually have dreamless sleep
f) your dreams are always pleasant

POINTS:1. (a) 2 (b) 4 (c) 6
2. (a) 6 (b) 4 (c) 7 (d) 2 (e) 1
3. (a) 4 (b) 2 (c) 5 (d) 7 (e) 6
4. (a) 4 (b) 6 (c) 2 (d) 1
5. (a) 6 (b) 4 (c) 3 (d) 5 (e) 2
6. (a) 6 (b) 4 (c) 2
7. (a) 6 (b) 2 (c) 4
8. (a) 6 (b) 7 (c) 5 (d) 4 (e) 3 (f) 2 (g) 1
9. (a) 7 (b) 6 (c) 4 (d) 2 (e) 1
10. (a) 4 (b) 2 (c) 3 (d) 5 (e) 6 (f) 1

Now add up the total number of points.

OVER 60 POINTS: Others see you as someone they should "handle with care." You're seen as vain, self-centered, and who is extremely dominant. Others may admire you, wishing they could be more like you, but don't always trust you, hesitating to become too deeply involved with you.

51 TO 60 POINTS: Others see you as an exciting, highly volatile, rather impulsive personality; a natural leader, who's quick to make decisions, though not always the right ones. They see you as bold and adventuresome, someone who will try anything once; someone who takes chances and enjoys an adventure. They enjoy being in your company because of the excitement you radiate.

41 TO 50 POINTS: Others see you as fresh, lively, charming, amusing, practical, and always interesting; someone who's constantly in the center of attention, but sufficiently well-balanced not to let it go to their head. They also see you as kind, considerate, and understanding; someone who'll always cheer them up and help them out.

31 TO 40 POINTS: Others see you as sensible, cautious, careful & practical. They see you as clever, gifted, or talented, but modest. Not a person who makes friends too quickly or easily, but someone who's extremely loyal to friends you do make and who expect the same loyalty in return. Those who really get to know you realize it takes a lot to shake your trust in your friends, but equally that it takes you a long time to get over if that trust is ever broken.

21 TO 30 POINTS: Your friends see you as painstaking and fussy.They see you as very cautious, extremely careful, a slow and steady plodder. It would really surprise them if you ever did something impulsively or on the spur of the moment, expecting you to examine everything carefully from every angle and then, usually decide against it. They think this reaction is caused partly by your careful nature.

UNDER 21 POINTS: People think you are shy, nervous, and indecisive, someone who needs looking after, who always wants someone else to make the decisions & who doesn't want to get involved with anyone or anything! They see you as a worrier who always sees problems that don't exist. Some people think you're boring. Only those who know you well know that you aren't.

Catechesis for Septuagesima Sunday February 4 2007

2007-02-03T19:51:00.000-05:00

A note about the Gesima Sundays These Sundays are the 3 Sundays between the Mount of Transfiguration and Lent or the journey to Mount Calvary. They are a chance for the church to catch her breath so to speak from the high holy day of Transfiguration before we enter the figurative valley of Lent. We call these gesima Sundays, pre-lent. In the ancient church you would notice a difference in Matins and Vespers which the church prayed daily. During the pre-lenten Sundays, the choir would not sing the alleluias in the Gradual and there were no alleluias after the Gloria. It was a subtle change so that we could become accustomed to the approach of Lent with it's restrictions and changes during the service. Today when the church no longer corporately prays Matins and Vespers there is not much difference between pre Lent and the services leading up to Transfiguration Sunday. We continue with the tradition though of calling these the Gesima Sundays.

Begin with Luther’s Morning Prayer

Recite the Books of the Bible Ask how many books in the OT (39), NT(27) and entire Bible (66). Ask what language the OT was written in (Hebrew and Aramaic). What language was the NT written in (Greek).

New Lesson Point out that Transfiguration is over and we are now in pre-lent. The color remains green on the altar. This Sunday is called Septuagesima Sunday because it contains the day which is 70 days(Septa) before Easter. Even though a week is 7 days, next Sunday will be Sexagesima because it will contain the day which is 60 days (Sexa) before Easter.

Memory Review:
You shall have no other gods. What does this mean? We should fear, love and trust in God above all things. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it. Honor your father and mother. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not despise or anger our parents and other authorities. But honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them. You shall not murder. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every physical need. You shall not commit adultery. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we lead a sexually pure and decent life in what we say and do, and husband and wife love and honor each other. You shall not steal. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not take our neighbor’s money or possessions, or get them in any dishonest way but help him to improve and protect his possessions and income.

NEW MEMORY WORK
You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation,

Explain/read/enact the Gospel lesson Matt 20: 1-16 (The workers don’t come to him, but the landowner comes to them. Jesus came to seek the lost. We are the lost found by him. The vineyard is the kingdom of God – forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. What He pays has everything to do with HIS generosity and love toward us and has NOTHING to do with whether we earned or deserve it.)

Memorize Lamb of God Pure and Holy TLH 146

Lamb of God, pure and holy, Who on the cross didst suffer,
Ever patient and lowly, Thyself to scorn didst offer.
All sins Thou borest for us, Else had despair reigned o’er us:
Have mercy on us, O Jesus! O Jesus!

Sausage Stromboli

2007-02-02T21:31:00.000-05:00

Ages ago, all right it was actually 20 years ago so I guess I should have begun, decades ago....we had stromboli quite regularly. Our son Theo's Nuno (the Greek term for Godfather) would work a swing shift and often came home at 11:30 p.m. hungry as could be. We and his wife were waiting for him on Friday nights and would share some of the stromboli which was ordered from the corner pizza joint. That pizza place just happened to be named Athens -- not a very Italian name, eh? We enjoyed those strombolis very much. On occasion, since then, I have ordered them at a pizzeria. Now they have gotten all healthy with chicken stromboli or even all vegetable stromboli. Back then, decades ago, it was sausage, ham, salami, banana peppers and double cheese. Yum!! This week I decided to make my own stromboli and pictured is the result of my effort.

The dough was made with half whole wheat flour and half white flour. I cooked the sausage with a chopped onion, green pepper, minced garlic, Italian seasoning and tomato sauce. After the dough raised and was punched down, I spread it on a large baking sheet and put the sausage mixture down the center. That was covered with sour cream which was mixed with a little bit of chive and onion cream cheese, then cheddar cheese and finally mozzarella cheese. The dough was folded up and over the sausage and pinched closed. I topped it with egg white and fennel seeds. WOW! It almost took me back to Athens : )

Boy Was I Behind

2007-02-01T21:43:00.000-05:00

Some of you may remember this picture from the summer. My pristine ironing board with a few nicely ironed napkins. Those were the days. Days when I had lots of time on my hands and not too much to do. BIG SIGH.

Here is a more recent picture of my ironing board. SIGH, BIG SIGH. On this ironing board is the tablecloth from Thanksgiving, napkins from Christmas and various other clothes. I don't have an ironing basket because I usually iron things right away!! The day after Thanksgiving is certainly not a day I would shop so I always wash and iron the Thanksgiving linens. Well, now that I mention it, most days are days I prefer not to shop! So the big sale day after Christmas will find me right on top of the things used on December 25th. Not this year. SIGH. Good thing the Chaplain wears mainly permanent press clericals!

I did persevere and it is now cleared of clothes and the way I cleared it was to actually iron them. I also got my January house decorations down and everything is decorated for the LOVE month -- St. Valentine's Day and our wedding anniversary. I feel like a woman reborn. Happy sigh : )

Behold the Snowman Cometh

2007-01-31T20:21:00.000-05:00

When January 7th rolls around, I put away my Christmas decorations (after all, there is no 13th day of Christmas) and the snowmen come to visit for the rest of January. Today they were packed up and I bid a fond farewell (at least for 11 months) to some of my favorites.

This snowman is my gingerbread snowman given to me by my son Nick. He bought it for me when he worked at Sears and he rests on the floor in the corner of the dining room. This year, he stood guard over the poinsettia plant and did a fine job because the plant is still beautiful

This cute little guy also resides in the dining room when he comes to visit. He hangs from the light over my dining room table along with several other tiny snowmen. This signature snowman (see my name on it?) was given to me by my son Theo as a "just because" gift. Don't you just love gifts like that?

I visit my brother and his family in Alabama often and several of my snowmen hail from that warm state. Whenever I purchase a snowman from the South, I do it as a duty to preserve their life. I don't see how they could last through the summer there and they seem to do just fine up here in the North. The snowman family on the top left was a gift from my nephew Tom and his wife Ashley. Although 4 snowmen, they are one unit -- like our immediate family was when the boys were growing up. The snowman on the right has batteries and when prompted by a loud noise will sing and dance. If you remember Soul Man by Sam & Dave, that is the melody he uses to sing "I'm a Snow Man" . For obvious reasons, this snowman is a BIG hit with my grandchildren : ) The other snowman is a crystal snowman which I purchased from my great-nephew, Dylan, for a school fundraising drive.

The last group I want to show you is the rest of my out-of-town snowmen. The teeny-tiny snowman in the middle front is from the Great State of Texas which goes to prove that not all things in Texas are big! I bought this in San Antonio while visiting my friend Julee. The small snowman on the right was purchased in Branson MO when my friend and I attended a women's chocolate retreat. The slouchy hatted snowman on the left is a former Florida resident rescued when the Chaplain and I visited his brother Jim and wife Linda in 2005. The large snowman in the rear is from our neighboring state of Michigan. Our homeschool group had a field trip to Greenfield Village and we stopped in the gift shop before leaving. This commanding snowman, commanded me (by mind waves) to take him home. I could only obey!

It's As Easy As 1-2-3

2007-01-30T20:00:00.000-05:00

Baby Saranita needed a winter hat that would fit. The one that she has is very big on her and will work wonderfully for next year. Knitting Grandma to the rescue : ) I thought it would be great fun and I had the perfect purple varigated yarn to use. I used this pattern that uses 2 needles and is knit flat.

Knitting it flat was the easy step 1 and the next step was to sew the seam so that you actually have a round cap. The little loop at the top is something new I learned for this hat. It's called an I-cord and is made on double pointed needles. I didn't have double pointed but I discovered that my stitch holders come apart and I used them as double pointed needles. Whew! I was very excited about this hat for Saranita and proudly took it to church the next day so she could have a hat that fit.

Here is number three with Saranita wearing the purple hat I made for her and it is TOO BIG!!! Oh well, I guess it isn't as easy as 1-2-3. Back to the drawing board.

I went back to the pattern and decided that I had to reduce it by 1/3 in order for it to fit. Reducing a pattern was another thing I learned on this project. I also discovered that when I knit the first hat, I grabbed the wrong needles and used a size 6 instead of a size 4. I am a wiser knitter and a more careful knitter now!

Here is the final pink hat which fits exactly and doesn't she look cute as a button with Grandpa? Now she will have two BIG hats for next year : )

Coffee in January

2007-01-29T22:39:00.000-05:00

Coffee in January is a welcome thing, especially in my snowman mug. I bought this several years ago and now I look forward to using this mug in January. After the mild winter we have seen so far, I despaired of ever getting a picture of the snowman in snow! The weather cooperated and I got my picture. Just a couple more days this week to see this happy guy. I have a snowman collection and if I get time, I will post some pictures of snowmen which have traveled very far to come live at my house.