Karey's Overflow

Squash Seeds and Apples

2008-10-11T07:51:00.002-06:00

We're about off for the 2nd son's (Eric) college football game a couple hours away and we leave from there for Monte's parents.

Supper was on time bake while we visited some apple orchard 'stores'. So many apple samples, so many varieties of tastes you'd never imagine existed. Lots of heirloom types too. There's lots of abandoned apple trees on Scott and Chris's land. I was wondering if there's a DNA testing for apples. Some could have even got their start from Johnny Appleseed, who traveled the countryside and people wanted to hear his story-telling.

Supper? Chris cooked up butternut squash she got bulk of at the weekly Amish market. It was so good. But so much seeds! I can't throw them away. I almost always rinse off the seeds, put them in a small amount of water in a saucepan with a bit of salt and pepper, usually garlic and onion powder, but then anything could be added. Boil them almost dry and the seasoning penetrates. Then because the oven's usually been on, I just spread them on a cookie sheet and let them dry in the oven. The finally to our pork chops over potatoes, squash and salad meal was an apple pie. Great Fall meal.

Happenings

2008-10-10T10:20:00.004-06:00

We are now in Fennimore, Wisconsin. Monte's youngest brother lives here in an old farmhouse they've refurbished. If we weren't flying, we'd be making apple cider and bringing a bunch home to freeze. Scott teaches in a tech school and designed and built an apple press.

Monte and Scott are currently muskee fishing but the weather's not cooperating, so they're quitting.

The couple days in New Hampshire (sparse internet connection), while the mad scientists, Norwegians, and an attorney were having meetings, Nill's wife Kathy took me to crafting and art places and we ate in historic buildings and walked around the campus of Dartmouth.

One place she took me was Woodstock. Are you thinking 'thee Woodstock'? Don't. New England has more than one Woodstock, and Concord, and Salem ... confusing!

Watching a potter, he asked me how I'm finding New England. I said, "I'm amazed at how old stuff is here". His response was, "ah, New England is Old, and yet I'm from the true Old England (across the pond)." We watched glass blowers too. I can imagine Dawson wanting to do this as well.

Dawson is home holding down the homestead. He's got a four day weekend ahead and is going to do more of his melting of metal. He wants to finish his metal cello he's doing for an honor's project in his music appreciation class. He finally posted the beginnings of his cello on his photoblog, so I'm posting some here. (I see he posted a bunch of pics from around our house - it shows me how his interests overflow from our lifestyle of 'sculpting' a home. I'm going to post our guest bathroom tub we sculpted years ago.)

I've been posting about the current calendar events with the Jewish calendar's High Holy Days which will culminate in a week with Succoth - the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths (our Thanksgiving came from the Pilgrims wanting to celebrate this Leviticus Festival as the 'New Israel', which they believed themselves to be).

Once we leave here tomorrow we'll be in Ogema for a week at Monte's parents and I don't know if we'll get internet connection, so I don't know when next I'll post.

Tashlich- casting sins upon the water

2008-10-10T09:30:00.004-06:00

I periodically look at childrens books and any related to the calendar days. We can learn so much from these stories (I love pastor Aram's children sermons at our church, for this same learning from 'becoming as a child'!). I've found stories for the Jewish celebrations that are very meaningful (and adding Christianity along with the Jewish festivals adds greater depth).

One story had a pretty cantankerous, nasty man, open a door all the time and sweep his dirt into the basement. And then once a year, he'd go down into the basement and bag up all the dirt, garbage and junk. He's shown carrying these bulky large bags out to the beach where he deposits everything into the sea.

There's a ritual the Jews have added beyond what's in Leviticus 23, doing sometime during the 10 High Holy Days. It's called Tashlich, which means "casting off", and it consists of a symbolic casting of one's sins into a river or body of water. It most likely comes from Micah 7:18-19--"where is the god who can compare with you - wiping the slate clean of guilt ... mercy is what you love most ... you'll cast all our sins into the depths of the sea."

Go for a walk with family and friends. Wear something with pockets and gather stones as you walk. You could even give the stones some specific names of things you'd like cleaned up in your life. Then turn the pockets inside-out, tossing the stones into the water.

I've always noticed rocks and have collected some since I was a kid. I can imagine finding a pretty one and not wanting to throw it away. Isn't that much like things in our life? "I don't want to give this up yet!" Once thrown into the water, we couldn't find that rock again. "As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our sins from us" says Psalms 103:12.

Have fun throwing stones into the water. Skip some stones across the water. Wanting to get rid of sins can be just as enjoyable.

Yom Kippur

2008-10-10T09:01:00.002-06:00

Today all over the world Jews are fasting. Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement--a once a year time for forgiveness of sins.

I don't know what's done today, but in scripture it's the once a year time of the high priest entering the Holy of Holies--like when Zacharias went in in Luke 1:8-23 and was told by an angel him and old barren Elizabeth will have a baby. I think they tie a rope around the priest's ankle so if he doesn't come out, the priest can be pulled out.

I posted earlier about Rosh Hashanah and the 10 High Holy Days leading to Yom Kippur. These days are not so much external 'celebrations' as internal reflection. The yearly awakening of the conscience for putting things in order in homes and relationships.

Atonement means at-one-ment with God. In scripture God told Jeremiah, "I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it...I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." Jesus became our high priest and through him we may walk into the Holy of Holies into the presence of God.

Remember at Jesus' crucifixion, the veil in the temple, the dividing wall into the Holy of Holies, was ripped in two from top to bottom?! We have this at-one-ment- with God, not just once a year, but at any time we desire. It's a great once-a-year time to remind ourselves of God's grace.

Lyme, New Hampshire

2008-10-06T16:23:00.002-06:00

After walking again all over downtown Boston again this morning, we got a vehicle and drove to New Hampshire. I wanted to see the oldest neighborhood which is on Beacon Hill, to see the narrow brick and cobblestone streets and sidewalks. Then we walked through the Boston Common's garden to the cool shopping district, with old architecture - where shops and residences co-mingle closely with beautiful churches! And ate lunch at Legals Seafood restaurant where so many people told us to eat - and it was delic!

Monte took lots of pictures and the Trinity Church was reflected in the tall John Hancock building. He kept taking pictures of serpentenite everywhere. He's in love with the rock and is seeing it everywhere in buildings (it usually is green and looks like marble, but the hotel had an oxidized version that was red). It's the source rock of life and oil.

If we'd had time, we would have taken the subway to MIT and Harvard Square.

Now we're in Lyme and I 'nested' (removing clothes from our bags) and am sitting relaxing before supper - waiting for Monte's geology partner in crime, Stan, some other geologists and Norwegians. They'll be doing business for a couple days while I spend time with Nels's wife Kathy. I took pictures of the view from our bedroom window.

Boston's Freedom Trail

2008-10-05T18:11:00.004-06:00

We are sleeping tonight in a downtown Boston Hotel that's been around since 1855, Parker House - which blows my mind - the oldness! It was suggested we not try and drive in downtown Boston, and after walking all over today, even to the Boston harbor, I can see why.

Streets are not necessarily straight or running NEWS (did you ever realize that's where the word 'news' came from?). And some streets are brick. In fact, in one place we were walking on large brick/stones, and I told Monte it was really hard to walk on without full concentration or you'd turn your ankle - it was where the Boston Massacre took place - right in the heart of Marketplace Center.

Out the hotel's front door we are on the Freedom Trail. It's a red brick trail (sometimes red paint) in the sidewalk and crosswalks. There's 16 historic sites from Boston Common, the 1634 militia training field, and now the oldest American park, to the Bunker Hill Monument. Seeing the old brick buildings and staircases, like the Old State House, imagining John and Samuel Adams and others debating; seeing so many famous, historic people's gravestones; and imagining Paul Revere's ride ... I remember reading about all this!

Tomorrow we'll walk around some more. Monte wants more fresh fish! The swordfish kabobs we had for supper were SO good! Then we get a rental car and drive to friend's home in New Hampshire. The guy next to me on the plane said the Fall colors are at their best!

Happenings

2008-10-04T08:20:00.002-06:00

Monte and me are getting ready to leave town, flying out tomorrow early for Boston. We'll be walking the Freedom Trail. Then we're driving to stay with some new friends building a home in New Hampshire for a few days. I'm hoping the Fall colors will be happening! Then we're off to Wisconsin to visit two of Monte's brothers and his parents in Ogema, Wisconsin (He was born in Tamahawk, WI - lots of Indian names). I'm taking my MacBook, so we'll see where I post from, and post pictures too.

Seasonal changes require me to think of freezing while we're gone - so thinking hoses, what do I want to protect or save. And then the clothes to take, when you could have hot to cold (and the airlines charge for checked baggage, and we've got several airline check-ins). And what to write down for reminder for Dawson to take care of (like the birds, besides our old dog Rocky, and what to water, how to mail my Hearth&Home book if orders come in from Amazon ...).

We have to visit close friends having a party this afternoon, even though we're not liking the driving time amounting to wasting two hours of our day. SO WHY am I wasting my time writing?!! There's something in me that has to write. And I like the daily exercise of it.

Dawson is forging/welding an all metal cello for an Honor's project for his Music Appreciation class. I'll be posting a picture of it. And I want to post his pics (so much better than mine I posted awhile back) of the giraffe he made his girlfriend for her birthday and Splarah holding it.

So be checking in to see where we are!

Francis of Assisi

2008-10-04T06:28:00.004-06:00

Ah, today is the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi - what to post? Everyone's heard of him. There's pages and pages on Google of things named after him, including animal rescue centers. There's always garden statues of Francis with birds. And I am tempted to get one. Most people have seen the art piece of him preaching to the birds. I read a novel on Francis, I think by Richard Rohr, that I liked.

San Francisco is named for Francis of Assisi. And as I think of this, we've had some angel remembrance days lately, and California's Los Angeles means 'the angels'. The Franciscans were very instrumental in the beginnings of the United State's southwest.

Therese of Lisieux ("The Little Flower") Day was October 1, and I read her little book, The Story of a Soul. I don't care for her story, she just seems too silly to me, and nothing there for me to hold onto that would help me live better. Many saint stories bug me in their 'literal living'.

I could say that about Francis too, but he does have more depth, and he is the founder (though he wasn't wanting to found anything) of the Franciscan Order of monks. He lived scripture so literally that I get frustrated with him, yet he lived so closely like Jesus, I can't really say anything against him.

I spent some time skimming web sites for a specific story I had read about him and Claire somewhere long ago, but didn't find it. Claire was of Assisi too and inspired by Francis' change in life to follow Christ, she too followed, and lived out the rest of her life cloistered away. But supposedly the two met for a meal and talked on and on and there was such a glow over the building the townspeople came running, thinking there was a fire. There are books and a movie about them called "Brother Sun, Sister Moon".

If you don't know about Francis of Assisi you should read about him. There's lots of web sites. I found a unique one that the guy wrote in a history class using 200 year old books for reference. It really is a good place to read a 'realistic' view, I really like it.

Then too, there's a good site describing the famous painting of Francis and the birds by Giotto. I have this painting. I have an easel that I change the pictures on regularly. I like to become 'friends' with works of art. This site finally explained why so much spiritual art has people with a hand raised, with the last two fingers curled under.

One piece of his story is his love for all creatures, so he's the patron saint of animals, and ecologists like to claim him. The live nativity is attributed to Francis of Assisi - the involvement of all the senses with live animals, and him using the manger as the altar for mass. He did preach to the birds the Matthew 6 text about God caring for flowers and birds - Do not be anxious, because God will take care of us to!

Most people too know Francis's Prayer/Poem that's even been put to music:
Lord,
Make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
Where there is discord, harmony.
Where there is error, truth.
Where there is wrong, the spirit of forgiveness.
O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console.
To be understood as to understand.
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

As one who loves the Trinitarian God, shouldn't I desire to live closely like Jesus too? What would it look like in our culture?

Guardian Angels

2008-10-02T07:35:00.004-06:00

Do you believe in angels? Do you live as if they exist?

I've seen this quote on wall plaques: "Don't drive faster than your guardian angel can fly!" Some of us by our lifestyle choices might be overworking our guardian angels.

Typical popular art depicts angles as chubby cherubim ... and then there's comments like, "the face of an angel"... and then there's lovable Clarence in the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" ... but what do angels really look like? I'm betting there's something awfully unusual about them since every time they show up in scripture they're saying, "Fear not".

In our cynical, self-sufficiency of adulthood, do we forget about angels? This might be a good time to remember and thank God for his loving protection in having angels guard over us. Pray yourself through Psalm 91.

We're told to be hospitable to strangers as they may be angels!

Anyone have an angel story?

Jerome

2008-09-30T09:52:00.004-06:00

September 30 is the remembrance of Jerome. I choose to remember his story because it's a reminder of the history of the Bible. Sometimes I think we think (actually, without thinking) the Bible has been around forever, and too, in people's hands. Yes, currently it's in about everyone's home and can be found almost anywhere. We take it for granted. In fact many of us probably have many copies and in many translations.

BUT, for thousands of years the Old and then the New Testament were oral tradition in churches and gatherings. The common populace could never own scripture, let alone read it for themselves till still a period of time after the printing press. For those thousands of years it had to be handwritten and not on today's abundant paper.

Grouping of texts were coveted and guarded. Some monasteries built up around one such text. But a whole canon of what we today know as The Bible didn't begin to come together until around AD400. And then not to the common people. The Hebrew canon was finally established about 100AD. The New Testament began first around the texts written or authorized by an apostle of Jesus. Initially what was used in churches was oral readings for edification of the body.

Jerome had devoted the bulk of his life preserving and caring for early church documents. Jerome was a master of Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Chaldaic. In 383 Pope Damascus I commissioned Jerome, his secretary, to make a good, complete Latin translation of the Bible. It is called the Vulgate, meaning "common" or "popular". It took him 21 years to complete.

Jerome wrote many commentaries on books of the Bible and was doing the commentary on Ezekiel when Rome was being ransacked and fell, and likened the book to what was then happening. He lived his last years from 386 to 420 in Bethlehem, living as a monk and finishing the Bible translation.

There's so much history in connection to the Bible and it is fascinating. Throughout church history there are many people, who being able to read scripture, would tell the church leadership a thing or two!... And too, when the Muslim peoples started pushing on all the borders of Europe and Constantinople fell, Europe had not had any original language documents, and with the refugees came a lot of original manuscripts and art and all. Which began both the Renaissance and Reformation (both the arts and spiritual attraction to what had not been seen in Europe since the barbarians' destruction). And that starts a whole new era that we're just now maybe attempting to alter into a new era (like every 500 years a transformation of the church)?!

Jerome was noted as a cantankerous, codgy, feisty character, so I wonder about the spirit of his translation! But it was the only one for a thousand plus years and it did spread the Gospel through the known world.

Rosh Hashanah

2008-09-29T19:18:00.004-06:00

"In the beginning ..." I posted earlier today about when the Christian calendar begins. The Jewish Year begins sometime around September. In Leviticus 23 God says, "These are My appointed feasts which you are to celebrate ... On the first day of the seventh month - mark it with loud blasts on the ram's horn ..." This year, since the Jewish calendar is lunar based and it never falls on the same date every year, Rosh HaShanah begins this evening.

Rosh Hashanah, or Feast of the Trumpets, is the Jewish New Year (year 5769 this year). In the rhythm of my own life I look at this time of year as a new year for me too. School starts, and I get the house cleaned and back together after the busyness of summer. Our January New Year doesn't do anything for me.

Because it's the beginning of the ten High Holy Days, or Days of Awe, leading up to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, it's a time of remembrance, of reflection, and of restoration - especially of relationship with God and others. It's a time of putting our physical and spiritual house in order. The shofar (a ram's horn) is blown as a call to awaken the conscience to a time of introspection, contemplation, and prayer, praise and worship.

Jews remember the story of the binding and release of Isaac every year at this feast. They also celebrate the beginning or the Birthday of the World. This would be a good time to bake a birthday cake and read Genesis 1 for the story of Creation.

God asks us to remember and retell the stories. When I read II Chronicles 34 and Nehemiah 8 I was shocked to find hundreds of years of gaps, where many generations of peoples did not tell the stories, and God was forgotten. And along with that would come a lack of identity of not knowing who they were (same with us).

The Hebrew feasts always have special symbolic foods for meals. I love anything that will give me ideas for supper! Rosh HaShanah is a sweet meal because of the hopes for a sweet new year ahead - like apples dipped in honey. I make a sweet challah bread. And instead of the typical sabbath day braid, it's a round loaf - desiring a full round year.

A typical greeting is, "May you be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life for a good year." I've often thought of sending out the yearly family news letter at this time instead of Christmas, but haven't.

"Keep your soul diligently, never forgetting what you've seen God doing, lest they slip from your heart as long as you live." Deuteronomy 4:9

Christian Calendar

2008-09-29T10:23:00.006-06:00

The Christian Calendar begins with the season of Advent - when God incarnated Himself, entering our human history. God asks us more than 300 times in scripture to "remember", and the calendar is a great tool for remembering. Remembering what? All the God-in-our-midst stories - past, present, future - First and Second Testament, and then Third Testament stories. Rather than linear time, view it cyclically, revisiting the stories.

So, some current calendar things:
CS Lewis became a Christian September 28, 1931, while riding to a zoo in his brother's motorcycle sidecar. "When we set out I did not believe that Jesus is the Son of God and when we reached the zoo I did." Lewis had already become a theist, but his conversion followed a long talk he'd had the week before with two Christian frinds: JRR Tolkien and Hugo Dyson.

Some sad dates:
In 1498 a Tomas de Torquemada, of Jewish blood, died Sept 27. He had been made grand inquisitor in Spain. Thousands of people completely at a loss as to what they were supposed to have done, were tortured to death as 'guilty' victims. By 1492, he had all unconverted Jews expelled from all the Spanish kingdoms. (Makes me remember in sadness Salem Witch Trials and other inquisition stories, as well as the many persecutions and massacres of Jews throughout history.)

In 1565 nearly 500 Huguenot settlers in Florida - having fled persecution in their native France - were slaughtered Sept 29 by Spanish soldiers. (Makes me ask, "why do we not like people who are different from us?" Or remember the the apostle Paul, who as Saul, so thought he was doing what was right, when he was persecuting and killing Christians!)

Michaelmas

2008-09-29T07:55:00.003-06:00

Today is Michaelmas Day. Ever hear of Michaelmas Daisies? They are perennials we can plant that are fall blooming every year. We have wildflower daisies that are purple with yellow centers that bloom in our area all fall - one of the last flowers of the year.

There's a permanent rafia wreath hanging over our kitchen table, and I just removed the summer bees (made of wool with tissue paper wings and yellow embroidery floss stripes) that were hanging from it. I made a felted dragon that I pull out this time of year (and again with my Christmas Nativity). It sits on a rock in the center of the kitchen table. A white sheep wool angel with gold threading and a sword, hangs over the table from the center of this wreath. This visual is for reminding my heart of stories to remember, and help me live my days fuller, because so many ordinary calendar days are full of meaning. Our daily small stories we live, are a part of a larger ongoing story that I want to be aware of!

"A woman, robed with the sun, standing on the moon, and crowned with a garland of twelve stars, was giving birth to a child crying out in pain. There was also a huge dragon ... in front of the woman in childbirth, waiting, ready to eat up the child as soon as it was born ... War broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought the dragon..." What a fantastic story! That reads like Greek mythology ... Read Revelation 12:1-9.

Archangel Michael is mentioned throughout scripture. Like when Daniel was praying for three weeks and on the 24th day he was surprised by "a man dressed in linen with a belt of pure gold. His body glistening and as if sculpted from the precious stone beryl. His face radiated light like lightening, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and feet like polished bronze, and his voice sounded like a huge choir of voices." He had been detained in spiritual warfare which is beyond our vision - that larger story.

If all the mentions of angels in scripture - bringing good news, warning of danger, guarding from evil, guiding and protecting, nourishing, and instructing - functioned as such then, wouldn't angels still be doing this on into today?! Do we live believing this? Each year I give a special focus to this piece of my faith in God, and thank Him for His angels.

Michaelmas is one of the four cardinal points of the year, opposite the Resurrection. In art, Michael is sometimes depicted with balance scales as if he's weighing the souls of men. Do we have our own dragons in our lives? An art piece has Michael gazing at the child lying in an animal feed trough - the child that asks to be born in each human soul. It's a time for contemplation and resurrection refueling of the soul.

"Thank you God for your awesome provision for me.
Help me see the realities of the spiritual realm all around me."

Wenceslaus and Vincent de Paul, and Marty

2008-09-28T07:27:00.004-06:00

I went to a Quilt-a-Fair with my friend Marty yesterday. We had a full-of-fun day. Marty's and my paths crossed often since highschool and we are very good friends and we live an hour apart, so don't see each other as often as we could. In fact, if she weren't currently a Mentor Mom with me in the MOPS group, we'd see each other much less. And Marty's husband Jim had been one of Monte's housemates prior to us getting married. So there's lots of memories, and we carry on creating more memories together.

Our goal was to walk around seeing the many booths and beautiful quilts hanging around the building, but we first walked around a farmer's market in the parking lot. When you 'walk around' with Marty, everything is an adventure! Her enthusiasm for everything is infectious, and besides her striking grey hair and turquoise jewelry (she grew up on Indian reservations with Wycliffe Bible translator parents) people love her smile, her easy laughter, and talking with her. After the quilt thing, hungry, we ended up walking around downtown Boulder, then sharing a Mexican fajita.

Today's Christian calendar remembrance is Wenceslaus, but why I don't know, since he was murdered January 6 (my source says) by his brother around 930. He was king of Bohemia and strove for unity amongst the pagans (who ruled) and Christianity (which was persecuted). I think of him around Christmas with the carol "good king Wenceslaus" who was killed on "the Feast of Stephen".

Yesterday was Vincent de Paul's day, dying in 1660. French, he dedicated his life ministering to the oppressed. Founder of the Vincentians, devoted to serving invalids, orphans, war victims, convicts, and galley slaves. Vincent himself once traded places with a convict in the galleys, having heard the man despair of ever again seeing his wife and children. Vincent slaved for weeks until his followers bought his freedom. His name to me is "St Vinny", since we always go to that second-hand store in Wisconsin (along with the Amish) when we visit Monte's parents.

Cosmas and Damian

2008-09-26T15:07:00.004-06:00

Today is the calendar remembrance day of Cosmas and Damian, twin brothers from Arabia, that nothing is known of, other than that they were martyred during the persecution of Diocletian, around 303. But there are stories (typical hagiography :-) and art work-

Legend says they were skilled doctors, known as "moneyless ones" or "the silverless", because they took no money for their services. My fun saint book mentions a "famous feat of transplanting a healthy white leg onto a plack patient (or vice versa)." Though I didn't read of it elsewhere, there's a picture of it on Wikipedia! I drew a smiley face beside this in my book. Was it a mistake? or probably a shortage of leg possibilities!

The fun stuff of hagiography - like in describing their death. Most serious writings will just tell you they were tortured till beheaded. My book says their bodies caused stones and arrows to boomerang back to the executioners, until giving up, they beheaded them.

So why do I even remember their story? My imagination has fun with what the art piece was wanting us to remember - like living in that man's shoes after the operation! Consider the era - we have surgeons today who do amazing things, but back then? And why martyred? In what way was their life choices a threat?

Classic?

2008-09-24T08:36:00.006-06:00

What makes a book a classic? When was the term first used?

On this day in 1904 a Joseph Malaby Dent began to flesh out an ambitious vision of reprinting classic books in what would be called the Everyman's Library.

Are books of old dry, uninspiring, and hardly suited for the fast-paced world the Industrial Revolution brought to the twentieth century - and what do we call today?

I've read, read aloud to my kids, and listened to audio classics for years. I have to put myself into the shoes of the characters and author, desiring to see from their perspective what was going on in their culture. What of their culture drove the events, the inventions - what were the era's questions?

What if all we read are current era/popular books?

CS Lewis said, "A good rule, after reading a new book, is never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between ... A new book is still on trial and has to be tested against the great body of Christian thought down through the ages."

How many of today's books will transcend beyond our culture?

This is what defines Classics: an ability to adapt themselves to various times and places and thus provide a sense of the shared life of humanity over the course of space and time. They stretch, shape, and confront us - and are ever new.

Could books help us rise to another level? Do we sometimes habituate ourselves to companions of small statures? I like to visualize it as standing on the shoulders of others, a great cloud of witnesses, for a better view. Reading can take us away from ourselves to where we can step back and see the whole, instead of just 'me, myself, and I', and self-success thinking.

Maybe the more books we can live in, we could be more rehearsed in life: knowing the stage, recognizing the plots and props - having tried out many characters and scenarios. With my kids I thought of the unencumbered time they had to invent their own images, explore thier own fantasies, to create their own possibilities - with both books and movies. They seemed able to get on with meaningful living when they left the nest of home.

Someone said, "In a very real sense, people who have read good literature have lived more than people who cannot or will not read ... It is not true that we can have only one life to live; if we can read, we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish."

"A good book is not problem-centered; it is people-centered. It reveals how to be a human being and what the possibilities of life are; it offers hope," wrote Gladys Hunt in her Honey for a Child's Heart, speaking about how many books are agenda driven, with many children's books being moralizing and sermonette style stories. These do not touch the heart.

"The importance of poetry and novels is that the Christian life involves the use of the imagination - after all, we are dealing with the invisible [like God]. And imagination is our training in dealing with the invisible - making connections, looking for plot and character."

- Eugene Peterson

Dawson's Giraffe

2008-09-23T14:30:00.007-06:00

I just have to post pictures of what Dawson made for his special girl, Splarah, for her birthday this week. I just downloaded them from my camera onto my computer, and looking at them ... they're TOO Cute!

I guess Splarah picked out the material and I find it interesting that Dawson cut the spots out of the patterned material with the brown material underneath, instead of just sewing brown spots onto the surface. He didn't have a pattern, so traced a giraffe from a book and figured the rest out.

After trying to figure out my sewing machine as a young boy (who wouldn't wait until I could be home and show him how everything works!)(and he made the cutest patchwork denim stuffed horse for his sister's birthday), he now knows how to sew. (Sometimes I think it's good to put my foot down and say, "No I can't right now!" cuz he's taught himself how to do a lot of things.)

But I do help him when he asks me and I'm able. He did ask me several times for suggestions with the giraffe. So when I woke this morning and the finished product was sitting on the kitchen counter, I could see how he made our dialogues turn into a cute thing. I'm always glad when suggestions work!

He needlefelted wool onto the giraffe for the hoofs and head detail. Too Cute! It's got personality!

The Hobbit

2008-09-23T13:30:00.003-06:00

Two dates this week for JRR Tolkien fans. On September 22, 1921, Tolkien began to recount the stories of Bilbo and Froddo Baggins, hobbits of Middle Earth. And on the 21st, 1937, The Hobbit was published (see the link for the special 70th anniversary edition).

Professor of Anglo-Saxon and medieval literature at Oxford, Tolkien was grading papers, and he turned one of those papers over and wrote, "In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit", not knowing what a hobbit was or what that meant. He started with drawing a map of the sort of world a hobbit might live in.

With 'a little help from his friends' like CS Lewis, Sayers, Williams - the Inklings - Tolkien was encouraged to write and finish the story. Which of course carried on into The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

I'm posting the cover of the 70th anniversary edition because the picture is one Tolkien drew himself. How do I know this? I have his Father Christmas book that is full of all his pictures in letters he wrote to his children over the years, which includes cute postage stamps he drew too.

"Never laugh at live dragons."

JRR Tolkien 1892-1973

Albert Einstein Quote

2008-09-22T15:20:00.002-06:00

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.
It is the source of all true art and science."

Harvest

2008-09-20T20:58:00.004-06:00

I'm relaxing. I got unexpected company. Monte came home from Calgary, Canada, a day early, and brought his partner Stan and a Norwegian, H(o-aw)ken, home with him Wednesday evening. Stan left yesterday and Haken leaves tomorrow.

I harvested the broccoli and cauliflower from our garden today - it's blanched and in the freezer. There was 26 pounds of broccoli! Now we'll be getting side shoots that we can eat as they come.

I could harvest chokecherries, but as their name implies, they do do something weird to my mouth, not exactly choking ... but they take so much sugar to make palatable. Some homesteader, maybe seventy years or so ago, planted them here along with rhubarb (the remains of a home is on our property, with outhouse, and a smoker, and spring water storage).

We've been eating BLT's with heirloom tomatoes (Brandywine). The plastic 'greenhouse' Monte covered them with is working great. I can raise the plastic whenever I want to let them enjoy the beautiful weather and for harvesting. I love eating the 'like-candy' cherry tomatoes.

(As I'm sitting here typing, there are several bull elk bugling non-stop outside!)

Did I say we joined a 'local' organic farm a few weeks ago, this late in the season? I weekly go to a pick-up place for our bin of produce. We figure with what we can't grow, and our season about to freeze and be done, and the farm shares go through mid December, we'll be getting fun stuff. I like the surprise of what's in the bin and making creative use of them through the week - like we've gotten these baby artichokes! ...

And oh, you should see the grapes in our greenhouse! We've been eating them. Our guests love them, not only the taste but just the environment of wicker furniture, grow lights and hanging clusters of grapes all over! If we don't eat them all, we put clusters in zip-lock bags and freeze - tiny popsicles!

Experience?

2008-09-20T20:47:00.003-06:00

On this day in history a Vice President was sworn in as president, succeeding James A Garfield, who had been assassinated. Chester A Arthur loved fine clothes and elegant living and had been involved with the corrupt New York political machine.

In spite of his questionable record, Arthur was nominated VP. When he became president in 1881, there was fear. Somehow the responsibility of that high office seemed to transform him into a man sincerely dedicated to the good of the country. He earned the nation's gratitude ...

Signs of Fall

2008-09-19T08:49:00.003-06:00

Elk are bugling! It's a Fall thing we listen for. It's a 'rut' thing. Out of curiosity I looked up rut in my desktop dictionary: "an annual period of sexual activity in deer and some other animals, during which the males fight each other for access to the females" - that's it! That's what happens, sex education, from our windows' views. (Our houseguest was awakened last night by one bugling "by my window"!)

The bulls bugle, beginning in late August, the females having hormone surges throughout Fall. They're trying to sound bigger than the other and see who can gather the largest harem. Sometimes we hear (and watch) the clashing of antlers, as they fight for supremacy. Then the rest of the year the big bulls are off in their all male fraternity clubs. (I might pull a picture from the internet Brian :-) (I don't have any pics in my computer photos, but I do think we have more pictures of elk than we have of our kids! I tease Monte.)

Like I posted last Spring, I used to make a Fall chart too, for the kids. Now it's just ingrained that we're aware of the Fall changes. Like the hummingbirds leave after Labor Day, and we look for the flocking of bluebirds or robins, as they're readying to leave for the winter. I always write the first frost on the calendar (last year's was Sept 3) - which we've not had yet this year, which is late (and very nice!). I love looking for the color changes. (We may see Wisconsin's and New England's colors this year!) I've got bear postings on my calendar too, like the time a bear had a well-rounded meal from our freezer!

Aha! I got the elk picture from Dawson's photoblog from last October that he titled "The Sacred Cows of Evergreen". I wish we could have captured pics of all the things we've seen in elk antlers: Christmas lights, hoses, clotheslines with dragging poles (that woke us one night!), our kid's big-wheel, and almost our dogs! We were awakened one night by the house shaking: the bull saw his reflection in our window and thought he'd 'fight' with it! It didn't break our "Hurd" window!!

Galileo Galilei Quote

2008-09-18T13:37:00.000-06:00

"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use."

Hildegard of Bingen

2008-09-17T07:18:00.003-06:00

Today is the Feast day of St Hildegard of Bingen. I know her story. And like other stories I share, like in August of St Lawrence, from the church calendar, they are stories to remember/retell each year. The protestant movement threw the church calendar out with the bath water, yet it's all a part of church history. People used to wake up and say, "Oh this is so-and-so's day" and remember their story--a God-consciousness. I consider it all a part of the Third Testament, of God-in-our-midst stories. A good reminder that if God was there for them, He'll be here for me.

I googled Hildegard, and knew what I'd find. I wanted to hear a representation of the music she wrote and found some (similar to Gregorian Chant). Most sites tell her story. She's a person of the 1100's, who died September 17 (thus her birthdate into heaven, which is the way the calendar is set up) at the age of about 83. At the age of 8 she began living in a convent. Her education was for what she needed for her daily rounds of prayer, so she did learn to read and write. She had migraines and she had visions. And in her middle age she started writing to kings and popes, and traveled preaching, and people visited her.

Some have passed off her visions to a neurophysiological basis. But not every migraine sufferer can claim Hildegard's achievements. She wrote many hymns, many letters, and many books--some of which are on natural history and science. Once she told about her visions, people, including church leaders, thought they could be from God and encouraged them to be written down.

There's a few sites I knew I would find that are feministic in nature. If I could read German ... I don't know her actual usage of pronouns, but some have translated her writings referring to God as 'she'. The book I have, translates God as 'he'. But, we are all created in the image of God, both male and female, which means 'whatever' God is, we all are representations of that image. So differing pronoun usage doesn't bother me.

BUT...her story, along with some other female saints', remind me of a small book by Virginia Woolf called A Room of One's Own. She was asked to come speak at a male college (male and female were divided in her day). She would be reprimanded throughout the day about things she couldn't do--no sitting on the grass, no leaving the sidewalk, no entrance into the library or classrooms. She had to be met at the door by a man who had invited her. But the message of her book was the fact that women didn't write books. She talked of Jane Austin hiding her writing under papers when servants or guests entered the family room. Women were only to write letters. So if women could have had five pounds of money a year and a room of their own, there might have been more women writings.

So when you start learning the stories of many of the women in the church calendar, you see that the church gave more women a voice than was normal.

A 15th century painting. Hildegard is the young kneeling child.
______________________

For most of history, Anonymous was a woman.
-Virginia Woolf

Male and female represent the two sides of the great radical dualism. But in fact they are perpetually passing into one another. Fluid hardens to solid, solid rushes to fluid. There is no wholly masculine man, no purely feminine woman.
-Margaret Fuller (1810-1850) Woman in the Nineteenth Century, 1845

I meant to write about death, only life came breaking in as usual.
-Virginia Woolf, Diary, 17 February 1922

Scarecrows

2008-09-16T14:46:00.005-06:00

This morning I was thinking "I want to make a scarecrow", so I ordered a couple books from the library for ideas (and some folklore). We used to have a scarecrow on our front porch sitting in an old rocking chair, and I miss it.

I remember one year when driving through Wisconsin the end of September, a town that went all out with scarecrows - like every home and building were responsible for 'decorating' in front of their place or lamp-post. It really was fun to see.

We do have a scarecrow in our vegetable garden, but we call it our "scare-elk". Someone left this metal knight in our driveway and it's been in our garden since. So I walked down to the garden and took a picture of it, as well as some other scenes from the garden.

I have tons of broccoli ready to freeze! And forget the giant zucchini - they'll go in the compost bin.

I love the old sink in the garden to wash the dirt off right there, so I can eat stuff while I'm watering or weeding. Right now the carrots are great! I ate some snow peas while there today. We still have spinach, lettuce, and beets. Don't know if our winter squash will mature this year - it started off too cool.