Baby Emery

I just posted about Monte's dad, Emery, having died. Now I'm posting about our second grandchild, Emery Revere Swan, having been born: January 9. He was 9 pounds 11 ounces - a big healthy baby and his pictures look more like a three month old! aren't these adorable?! Speaking of pictures, I'm going to post a bunch on my photoblog (click to see).



I've not posted this year! As to posting on my blog ... I don't know what this year will look like. I've mentioned future blog ideas, but for the immediate right now, I'm not going to be blogging much. First off, I just don't feel like writing. I've done two years of writing on our calendar days having meaningful stories (which is supposed to be my next book ... whenever ...). How to cook, and how-to's in general, I could post about. I've had people asking me "how to cook" questions.

This next year? I'm in an interesting season ... A year ago I was in Texas with Heather. Bill had been deployed to Iraq and we were awaiting the birth of her baby, my first grandchild. I was there more than a month since Will came late and I couldn't leave Heather alone until I knew she could handle life with a new baby and being basically alone.

Then it takes awhile to get back into the groove when gone from home a long time ... getting re-familiar with everything ... home organization, cleaning, and basic living ... garden planning and readying ... my art and Easter season ... Heather and Will living with us for months at a time ... Monte's dad ailing ... Holidays ... Then several Wisconsin trips, living out of suitcases (and one not making it to Wisconsin until last minute for having funeral clothes, etc).

There was a period of time this past month of emotional swings ... a trading of sitting and standing in hospital settings around a bed ... from a dying Emery to a newborn Emery ... As I wrote on Facebook: I'm "in the space between two Emerys!"

What's up now? Monte and me are making shelves for two walls - a room that used to be our "Parlor" (living room) but is now turning into my "Studio". The piano is in there and other musical instruments, but it also holds my several weaving looms and lots of yarn, etc. My drafting table, mat cutter, paper/photo craft, and sewing paraphernalia, have taken over Heather's old room. Dye paraphernalia is stored in the laundry room, now named "sitting room" - tho most dying takes place in the kitchen and greenhouse. All the rest of the textile paraphernalia is going to get organized in my new studio so I can get to work on my tapestry weaving and furthering forward my felting art.

I've planned this year's gardens and ordered seeds and will be starting them in the greenhouse soon. I'll be growing starts for Travis and Sarah's garden too. So I'm also cleaning the greenhouse - like shop-vacuuming the old grapevine leaves before new buds begin.

Heather's Bill came home from Iraq mid January too. I'm so glad he's home now and will have so much fun with Will who's at such a fun stage. Will turned 1 year old February 1. They celebrated it with Bill's dad in California and will soon be here, before returning to Texas, and on with life. (Lots of 'wills' in that paragraph.)

Sarah's family have been with her and Travis, enjoying their first grandchild/ nephew. They soon leave and Travis and Sarah will be on their own in this new parenting season of life. All I'll tell you two is that it does go fast! So enjoy all the moments and know that you're not going to be living from feeding, to diapering, and naps, and then eating cold food, for the rest of your life!

Since I've been sorting pictures and posting so many memories - I've sure been living thru many seasons all at one time it seems. Now to move forward ...
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Remembering:
The past is history; the future's a mystery; and the present is a gift.

The present moment is the place we touch eternity.
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Did the groundhog see his shadow? I've not heard the news.
It's Candlemas Day - a thin place ...

Emery A Swan - Monte's Dad Died

This is the obituary for Monte's dad. Monte's Mom started telling the mortuary man a list of a lot of these things until we said we'd write it. So Monte did the initial writing with many of us editing, including some grandkids and his mom. A wonderful man: son, brother, uncle, friend, husband, dad, grandpa, and great-grandpa! A rich heritage is carrying on ...

Emery Swan

Emery A. Swan, 89, of Ogema, went to be with his Lord on January 15, 2010 at his home in Town of Hill. He was born Easter Sunday, April 4, 1920, on the family farm, to Oscar and Selma Swan, the sixth of 12 children. He attended Ring School in Town of Hill, and later, night school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Em loved hunting, fishing, and playing baseball with his brothers. Eventually he played as a semi-professional for the Wisconsin Valley League. In the late 1930’s, he worked in Chicago for a commercial construction company that sent him to Utah and New York on various assignments.

In March 1947, Em eloped with the love of his life, Betty Hallstrand. They bought a home on Pearson Lake where they lived for two years while Em logged with his brother. Em and Betty then moved to Shawano where they owned and operated a deli. After selling it, they relocated to Franklin, Wisconsin where Em worked as a carpenter. Eventually he became foreman and layout man for Kilps & Sons and in the 1960’s he was instrumental in helping them become Wisconsin’s largest conventional builder. Em and Betty were members of Beloit Road Baptist Church where Em was a trustee, helped with the Boy’s Brigade Club, built a kitchen, and crafted a special cedar ceiling for the new church.

Most of Em’s spare time was spent with his boys: teaching and mentoring them in the fine points of hunting and fishing, and supporting and coaching them as they pursued baseball, golf, track, cross country and basketball (attending over 500 of his sons’ basketball games). As a Little League coach he made sure all team members played and they went undefeated in a league of 14 teams.

In 1985, Em retired and he and Betty moved home to Town of Hill. They built a home on Highway C where he raised ginseng and balsam Christmas trees—winning 1^st place at the Ogema Christmas Tree Festival. This tender, kind-hearted, good-natured man had a great sense of humor. He endeared all with the expressions “ding-dong-it”, “blame-it-anyway,” and “Oh, fright”. Em was a wonderful grandfather, playing, listening, and laughing with his grandchildren. He supplied his sons with maple syrup he made the old fashioned open-air way. With his close friend Dennis Vesely, he logged and worked in the woods until September 2009.

Em and Betty loved to travel, visiting Canada, Mexico, and all lower 48 states. In the early days they traveled with their sons, and during their retirement with Em’s older brother Clifford Swan and wife Melba. On a later trip to Wyoming with Ray and Julie Ploof, Em enjoyed the surprise of Betty’s birthday party.

Em’s philosophy on life was, “I’m in God’s hands so why worry.” This wonderful outlook persisted as he coped with cancer. Never complaining, he was blessed by having no pain, which mystified his doctors.

The name Emery means “family strength… industrious, hard worker”, and this certainly described Em. He had a gift for inspiring men to create with pride, looking beyond the labor, anticipating the completed product. But Em excelled at family strength and his greatest joy was spending time with his family. They now total 50, including 20 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren (all boys), the youngest born to Travis and Sarah Swan on January 9^th named Emery Revere Swan.

For many years Em’s boys watched their father sit at the dining room table a few minutes before they left for church, and write the family’s weekly check for the Lord’s work. This action showed them in no uncertain terms where his treasures were. Em’s tangible love for Betty and the irresistible force of his sacrificial love for and belief in the boys and in God, won the sons’ hearts. Through their lives they’ve sought to honor this amazing man.

Em is survived by Betty, his wife of 62 years, his sons and daughters-in-law: Monte (Karey) Swan, Evergreen Colorado; Mike (Linda) Swan, Green Bay Wisconsin; Mark (Cindy) Swan, Gillette Wyoming; and Scott (Chris) Swan, Fennimore Wisconsin. He was preceded in death by four brothers and three sisters.

A memorial service was held January 18 at Ogema Baptist Church. Pallbears were: Danny Swan, Dennis Vesely, Gary Swan, Jim Swan, Scott Wildberg, and Steve Swan. The funeral was conducted by Pastor Rodney Price of the Ogema Baptist church. The Heindl Funeral Home assisted the Family with arrangements.

Typical Grandpa

Pictures, etc

I took the day, first getting Dawson's pics from Christmas, getting pictures organized and posted in various places. Monte left this morning with Heather and Will - to drive them home to Texas since Bill is soon to come home from Iraq. I needed to get all the pictures we've taken of them since their return in early November onto Heather's computer, which I finally did early this morning. I took more movie clips with my little camera of Will's doings this time. These little milestones need capturing: like first foods, first sounds and babbling, first spinning and rolling on the floor and sitting and bouncing wildly in bouncy seat ... and then, the night before Christmas eve, before going to bed, I took a picture of the floor in front of the Christmas tree - lots of bits of ripped paper.

We copied some pictures of Bill and Bill and Heather together for Will to look at, us pointing and saying, "Mamma ... Dadda". We'd occasionally let him hold them. He's unusual in not putting everything in his mouth - more wanting to look at and analyze. So the pictures lasted a long time. We'd occasionally hear him saying, "Dadda, dadda ..." Don't know if he really gets the connection, but still ... Will did start ripping things. I let him recently have some catalogs, you know, those thousands that come in the mail, and let him look at and eventually rip. I thought it might get him ready for his first Christmas.

We did get Will a couple presents to easily rip open. Travis tried to initially show him how. We went to Travis and Sarah's Christmas Eve after singing carols before two services at our church, and spent the night. After opening presents we had our traditional brunch of Aebleskivers (see last December for pictures and recipe).

After all the cooking and tie-dying and knitting and company and getting Heather ready to go back home, I'm vegging out for awhile and NOT cooking. I'm not quite home alone though. I've not titled this post yet. I could title it "Velveteen House" again as Dawson and friends are currently watching a movie in our renovated laundry room (instead of his bedroom like they've done in the past). A friend of his made enchiladas and brought them for their supper (I've also sworn off of eating for awhile too!). They've been here for two days+. Playing games, welding/forging, cooking and eating and cleaning up the kitchen ... and Dawson had Aaron and Phil cut and chop and stack firewood today to pay for New Years "Skate the Lake" tickets he bought them. Which means a bunch of them are going to Evergreen Lake tomorrow evening till after midnight to ice skate and watch fireworks and returning here to sleep in.

This post really is to tell you I posted a bunch of pictures over the past several months on my photoblog.

Picture test

This post is kinda a test. I wanted to post more pictures with the last post of Sarah's Shower, but my pictures wouldn't post. And I still have another post as a draft of knitting projects I've finished and working on, but the pictures won't post. So I'm going to see if doing another post from scratch with adding pics will work. Let's see ...

It worked! This is a photo Dawson took, trying out his new camera in below freezing weather. It was one of his last days of school last week, having really hard finals.

Monte and me were in Tucson AZ during those bitter cold days. Monte doing work at Stan's with visiting geologists from Canada and Norway. I stayed there some (and cooked some) as well as visiting my sister, and got to see one of my brothers.

I'll try another photo Dawson took of me and then copy and paste my knitting project draft into a new post and post the pictures.

Family & Thanksgiving Day

As I said before, we went to Travis and Sarah's place for Thanksgiving. Ft Collins, Colorado is 1 1/2 hour drive from us. Sarah's parents, John and Kerry, drove up from Texas. Her sister Annie and husband Aaron flew in from Oregon. Heather, Will, Monte and me drove up mid-day. Dawson drove up later with Splarah and her brother Phil, having had an earlier Thanksgiving meal with Splarah's family at her Grandmother's.


I've not seen Dawson's pictures yet except our family picture he posted on Facebook, so I grabbed the picture from there to post here. All the other pictures I took.


Travis first grilled/smoked the turkey and then finished baking it in the oven. Sarah's feeling quite pregnant, due in a little over a month - she's hugging the cook. Her mom and sister did most of the cooking. Because her family was here, they had a baby shower for her last weekend too, so we drove up again.


I'm posting a picture of some of us playing "Bananagrams" because of wanting to tell of the table we're on. Kerry brought the game and it was so fun that Dawson bought it and we played it here with company Saturday. It's a kind of Scrabble/Boggle game and few to lots of people can play. Aaron made Travis and Sarah their main table. We gave them this cabinet we'd gotten from my grandmother, thinking they'd really use it more than us. The front of the cabinet pulls out and leaves stored inside unfold to lay out on top creating a table as long as maybe 15 feet if needed. And the wonder of it all is it's the same width and height as the table Aaron built for them. So when there's lots of us, the couches are slid over to the dining area and the tables butted together.

Tie-Dye & Will

I finally took pictures and downloaded them ... I said in an earlier post that I'd post pictures of recent tie-dye projects. Since I've not tie-dyed since my teen years (that wonderful hippie era!) I read the new info for review and see what's new. Then I practiced. The goal was curtains Sarah bought for their open stairwell tall window, and I didn't want to practice on them!

I bought a soft 100% cotton queen-sized sheet set - a great thing to practice on. Some parts I swirled and rubber-banded. Some parts I pleated and rubber-banded or wrapped with a waxed string. Some parts I just banded in a circle for the typical tie-dye bulls-eyes. What did I learn? You think you've soaked the material (it was already wetted in a soda ash solution) and no white is visible, and you worry that it's all just soaking together and going to be a solid dark mess.

I left the sheets: top, fitted, and pillow cases in separate plastic bags (and did a pair of socks too - ordered these really soft bamboo socks that I think I'm going to get more of) to sit in a warm spot while Monte and me flew down to drive Heather and Will here to Colorado, stopping and visiting some old friends along the way. Once home I rinsed them, unbanding them ... and oh ... so much white! So I retied them and squirted more colors on and let sit 24 hours, then rinsed and washed them. My original trials got covered so I couldn't really see my patterning, but that's okay. They are just sheets and going to be slept on. The picture is them on the guest bed at Travis and Sarah's (her family came to stay over the Thanksgiving holiday).

At Travis and Sarah's we squirted a lot of colors on paper towels and let dry. Travis narrowed the choice down to four colors. We folded the long curtains in thirds and pleated them and tied and rubber-banded them. It's easier to tie up the centers of long things with the waxed string than try and rubber band them. We're working on a large metal sheet I got years ago at an auto supply store - it's what people put in garages under leaky cars. I use it all the time on the kitchen table with my wet felting and anything else messy. Sarah worked on one curtain and me on the other and we had them laying side-by-side and doing the same color squirted between the bindings so the hanging curtains would have the same striping. Sarah left them in their plastic bags in a bucket for a couple days before rinsing and washing. So we all waited anxious - they just looked dark with no color variation when all wet, and no white showing - we really soaked them! Sarah emailed me so excited about how they'd turned out. I didn't see them till Thanksgiving day.

While I'm at it, I'll post a recent picture of Will. Will usually eats his supper just before us in his little green Bumbo chair (it's from South Africa and Dawson wishes he had one!). We leave him up on the table while we eat and have a gay ole time with him! He's our "center piece"!

Pumpkin Stuff

Tomorrow we head through the woods, on freeways and byways, over rivers and train-tracks and more roadways to Travis and Sarah's home for Thanksgiving. It's been a long time since I've not hostessed Thanksgiving, cooking the turkey stuffed with my grandma's and mom's sage dressing. I'm making the pies and rolls and a fresh cranberry side dish to bring.

I've got pie pumpkins in the oven roasting for pumpkin pies. I simmered dry the pumpkin seeds and they're spread on a cookie sheet drying in the oven now too. I posted last year about cooking up squash seeds - I do it for most winter squash, not just pumpkin seeds. I know too I must have gotten my idea from somewhere, so I just looked at books I knew I had when we were early married that might have it in, and found it. I looked mainly to find proportions to share with you since I wing it each time and sometimes they're too salty.

The Salted Roasted Pumpkin or Squash Seed recipe wasn't in one of my grandma's cookbooks but Carla Emery's Old Fashioned Recipe Book - The Encyclopedia of Country Living, and I see it's still in print. I've got her original book she wrote decades ago, printing sections from a mimeograph machine on varying colored pages and bound in a 3-ring binder, having heard her on TV. I've not read her newer version word-for-word as I did the first edition, but I do know things are missing ... like her Christian testimony and married to a Mormon man, were in the Chicken chapter.

After washing the squash seeds she boils them 15 minutes: 2-3 TB salt per quart of water, drains, and spreads to dry on a cookie sheet in a moderate oven till brown and crisp. I think that's too much salt and I add other stuff. I like to barely cover the seeds in a saucepan with water and put in a TB of butter or olive oil. For one pumpkin's seeds today I put in 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp garlic powder and 1/2 tsp onion powder. I like to simmer till the liquid evaporates cuz then the flavorings penetrate the seeds. Most recipes have you adding butter or oil to the cookie sheet and salting and stirring - how would the salt really stick? and 'twould be messy. Usually I just put them in an oven that had been on, but now turned off and leave them to dry - sometimes leaving them in till the next day (just don't turn the oven on for something else, forgetting the seeds are in there! And you should peek in the oven when you're turning it on anyway - I've left cast iron pans in to dry. Monte's cousin's kid likes to hide stuffed animals in the oven!)

My sister sent the pumpkin picture last week and I deliberated posting it. I told her it was SO funny yet gross too. She had several comments to her post and the one I thought funniest was "I think I'll reach for the apple pie this Thanksgiving ..."

Well, off to make the pie crusts and refrigerate - chilled dough makes flakier crusts, as well as not manhandling it too much. I'm making two pumpkin and two mystery pecan pies.

Happenings

Oh I know ... I've not been posting regular. I'll just do a quick overview to catch you up to date. I was just downloading some more photos and looking thru the near-recents have helped me remember things happening lately ... lots.

The most recent pictures are of Will, but most are movie clips that I can't post yet. Monte and me just returned from Texas, flying into Killeen the day President Obama was at Ft Hood. Luckily we flew in toward evening and traffic, still heavy leaving the base, wasn't bad getting to Heather's home. We packed up Heather's car (packed meaning "packed!!!!") and drove home to Evergreen. So Will and Heather are here for the Holidays. Got home just before another snow storm. I'll be taking pictures.

I had posted a bit back about another snow storm keeping us from flying home to Colorado. We'd been visiting Monte's parents in Wisconsin. I'm posting a picture of Monte's Mom and sister-in-law Linda in the kitchen. Monte, Mike and Scott (Swan brothers) had gone fishing. If you look close, Scott is sticking his head in behind Mike and Monte. Monte caught a couple good sized pike we ate the next day - yummm! Then a couple days later Monte and me went fishing. I rowed the boat as Monte cast. He caught several northern pike, throwing the smaller ones back. I like the picture above I took of him (and then my camera fell out of my pocket into the boat bottom and got wet and I had to text Dawson as to how to fix it - took out the battery and kept it at the back of Monte's mom's stove while supper was heating and the camera dried out and then worked!)

Some of us gals had a Homemade for the Holidays tea and craft day at church a week ago. The center of the room was decorated with four tea tables - pretty with real china. Around the perimeter of the room were a variety of craft stations. I did a needlefelting station. There was mug decorating, jewelry making, scrapbooking, card making, Eukranian egg making, beaded angel ornaments, and quilting stations too. A full day with three tea times and mainly females coming and going (I'd say ladies, but some were young girls, and occasional boys and men). It was a great day that we're going to do again!

I've been practicing tie-dying. We're soon going to Travis and Sarah's and I don't want to practice on Sarah's curtains. She got some really long white curtains at a yard-sale that'll fit nice over their stairwell window. We're going to stripy dye them (as opposed to typical circle tie-dye). I got some queen-sized sheets for their guest bed and been practicing on them. I did initial dying Monday before Monte and me left for Texas. But when I undid the rubber bands when we'd gotten home, there was still too much white sheet showing, so I re-rubber-banded (tied) them and over-dyed them. I'll open them in a bit and see ... and take a picture. Today I decided to bind up a long strip and do all the dye colors I had made up thinking of their home colors (and my laundry room colors, which I'm going to dye curtains for too, later). That way, rather than little catalog color swatches, we can see what they REALLY look like. (I ran errands yesterday and one checkout gal remarked about my hands looking like I've been having fun - I didn't wear gloves yesterday, so my hands were stained a variety of colors!)

I'm posting a picture off of Facebook of Travis and Sarah I like. And Dawson's holding a baby blanket Sarah crocheted, and then there's a picture of pregnant Sarah. Sarah's about to have a baby shower cuz her family is going to be here for Thanksgiving.


Then there's a picture of Dawson and Splarah dressed for a Halloween party. Splarah is Little Red Riding Hood. Dawson forged/welded his head-piece and is wearing the chain-mail he made several years ago.


I noticed a picture Dawson took of our mailboxes at the base of our road (a mile away) from that last snow storm we missed and Dawson said was up to his waist. Most of it melted, except the north slopes will be snow-covered from here on.

Today is Monte's and my anniversary.

What's cooking? Butternut squash and turkey meatballs are in the oven. I roasted garlic in olive oil and drained it into a cast-iron skillet and just made croutons for the garlic egg-drop soup we're having too. Then a salad will round off the meal. The cookstove is hot, the great room is cozy, and it's snowing outside. Time to eat.

Circular Calendar Monologue

Calendar Girl me is getting ready to speak at MOPS tomorrow. 'Tis a rich season we're approaching. But then I love the richness each season has to offer as we recycle rhythmically around the calendar.

"Around" the calendar wouldn't be a term you'd use, when our calendars are linear and we tend to live linearly as well. God established festivals to recycle each year for establishing traditions, retelling of stories, and re-remembering.

"Live linearly"? Hmmmm .... that's what I love about sitting down to write - to journal. When waking and desiring to post something, living linearly was not in my thoughts. As I write, it's like my fingers are their own being and take off with stuff on their own. And then the rest of me has to pause and reflect ... and I'm thinking, "How cool!" What am I thinking in connection to seeing live linearly on the page?

I'm actually visualizing a line of time. Like I have to speak tomorrow, and then there's a very busy art and tea day at church next weekend I'm involved in. So often when there's things demanding more of me, my default mode thinks "I can't wait for tomorrow to be done with" or "next saturday to be over". Like when Monte had us speaking all over the country, I always had those thoughts. Like I want to jump ahead on my calendar timeline. Hmmmm ... isn't there a movie like that, fast forwarding thru things of life?

When I saw that the main point of Jesus' time with Mary and Martha in the recorded scripture story was that they be present to him in the moment - whether able to sit at his feet, or working in the kitchen, I related that message to my times I'd like to fast-forward thru. No! Not if I'm living beyond just linear time ... Like I'm supposed to be living rhythmically ever present to Loving God and Loving My Neighbor in every moment, aware of his Larger Story he asks me to be a part of.

Sure I can live in my own small story and focused on the past or the future and not really present to the here and now of this moment ... missing God winks!

So what was I going to post today? ;^)
Oh yes, I'm readying to speak on the calendar season tomorrow. I reread my postings a year ago - by clicking on the sidebar months of November thru January, you'd see the calendar season posts I'm not wanting to take the time to link you to. We just passed Halloween, which the stories I connect to that time is Reformation and the following day of All Saints Day, which was a huge turning point in our Christian history. Before that in September thru October are the Jewish Fall Festivals. That's where the calendar book I'm writing begins: The Jewish New Year and God creating our world. The Jewish festival of Sukkot that God instituted to be celebrated every year became our Pilgrim's first Thanksgiving.

I'm taking tomorrow, a picture I drew of my circular calendar (which is posted in June of this year under John the Baptist Day, where I also talk about my living rhythmically). I'm also taking an old Thanksgiving Tree I kept one year. Because I reread last years post, I'm remembering a turning point in this established tradition, and I'm going to share that tomorrow.


Because each year, for years, I've drawn a bare tree on a large piece of paper and put it up before Thanksgiving, and cut out leaves from colored paper for people to write things they're thankful for, Thanksgiving day is rich with thoughts already in a full-of-thanks mode or posture. Last year the wall space was not there for the tree, since I'd put up more photos, so I didn't do the tree. I waited to see if it was missed. One guest did make a comment I loved! "Where's the tree? I've been thinking of things all week to write on leaves to glue on the tree!!" So I quickly drew a tree and the refrigerator was the decided place to put it and I brought down my can full of colored markers - a way more colorful creative tree of gratitude, from the tangible to intangible, took shape throughout the day!

I'm also taking a Christmas stocking full of things. I keep this stocking in the ready for times when I speak. It's filled with things related to the Saint Nicholas story. When protestantism threw out the church calendar, they threw out so much Christian history rich with Third Testament stories. People used to wake up remembering these stories - which help me remember that if God was there for them, he'll be here for me. People used to wake with lives aware and looking for miracles in their everyday living. Do we, in our linear days? Because we no longer remember St Nicholas and his story on December 6, he's gotten mixed up with Jesus and celebrated on Christmas! I now put up stockings on December 6 and we can tell people as we live the days of December that Santa Claus already came to our house - and then share the real story!

I'm bringing JRR Tolkiens Father Christmas book, as well as The Best Christmas Pageant Ever book (my favorite read-aloud every year! - such a healing story for me at one point of my life), and Madeline L'Engle's Dance in the Desert book. Dawson and friends dramatized that book one year using things from the "Dress Up Box" (Halloween is such a good time to find great things for a dress up box: wigs, funny glasses, long gloves, costumes of animals ... I've still got the stuff in a barrel, awaiting Grandkids!). In the days following Christmas (the 12 Days of Christmas) there's a day remembering all the children ordered murdered by Harod in Jesus' story, which too remembers an OT scripture mentioning the wailing Hebrew mothers for their slaughtered children. The Dance in the Desert book imagines the fleeing "Holy Family" (as depicted in so much art) crossing the desert to Egypt in a caravan, and one night all of creation comes to pay homage to the Christ child.

Since I'm posting on this season, I'll post a picture of the pumpkin Dawson carved this year. His friend Aaron helped him draw it out first. In case you can't tell, it's a Jesus face pumpkin. Since we were out of town last week, he did it at a friend's house and I've not seen the real thing. I wish I could see it, cuz it's unreal looking!

Where am I ending my seasonal talk tomorrow? My handout takes everyone thru the Advent season. The Christian Calendar begins with Advent, awaiting God Incarnate, enfleshed in the birth of a baby. Last year's December link defines this season for you with daily scripture readings, if you'd like. The 12 Days of Christmas culminate January 6 with Epiphany, remembering the adoration of the Magi. Then my handout has some Third Testament story days with St Nicholas and St Lucia, on the 13th (our Swedish roots, yet she's not Swedish!), and Hanukkah. Then there's Boxing Day, St Stephen's day, Peter Pan day (you've got to read my post on this!), Childermas, Circumsicion Day (yes, it's a part of the Jesus story and art depicts it!), ending with Ground Hog Day.

Why Ground Hog Day, and how does that connect with the Incarnation of God story? Originally, February 2 was, and is, Candlemas Day: the day Jesus, "a light to lighten the gentiles", was presented at the temple, and old Anna and Simeon were patiently awaiting him.
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"One generation makes known your faithfulness to the next."
- Isaiah 38:19

"...for they shall hear from us about the wonders of the Lord, generations yet unknown will hear of the miracles he did for us."
- Psalms 22:30-31

"Enter God's gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation."
- Psalm 100

Travis's CD!

Our son Travis with friend Katrina are coming out with a CD. Here's a link to one of the songs. It's due out November 13 - great timing for Christmas gifts! As I've sat listening to the mixes I keep thinking of more and more people I want to give it to!

Dawson went up to stay with Travis and Sarah a couple days (where were Monte and me? were we getting ready to leave town? I'm a bit befuddled having been in Wisconsin visiting Monte's aging parents-his dad having fallen-and planes have been canceled and delayed into Denver because of snow. How much snow is at home Dawson? 3 feet?). Dawson took lots of photos for the CD and here's one of the photos.

A link to the CD's fan club.

Beauty in death

I took a bunch of pictures outside this morning in the warm sun before the next storm front moved in today, bringing more snow ... supposedly ... we'll see. I needed to capture for my photo library what some of the 'dead' plants look like, but started taking close-ups of the seed heads. I found some things still flowering. In this death cycle there is still beauty.







But in the picture process I decided to take pictures of all Monte's rock specimens he scattered around my garden walls this summer. I'm getting my pictures organized, getting more from Dawson's computer too, for Monte's parents to see, since we're visiting them and they so like pictures. I thought they'd get a kick out of seeing their son's playfulness. If I were to count all his rocks, there'd be a lot. I'm going to post some of the most pretty or unique. A green and black one is serpentinite, which he's mainly working with right now in his geologic endeavors.

Wonder Time

Woke early this morning thinking of the film clip I posted yesterday. Thinking of things it reminded me of ...

We've had guests for a couple days - an investor friend of Monte's and his son. As Don and Monte are talking, Micah's been wandering around wondering what to do. We've talked, but I don't entertain kids. I didn't entertain my kids. Sure we read together, made things together, and played games together, but I also often left them on their own to think up their own things to do, and TV and video games was never an option since we didn't have those. We didn't even have neighbor kids as an option to go play with. Micah's been having some fun, but I think it's been very different for him.

Dawson came home, first meeting us at a Thai restaurant for a supper together and then was here yesterday. Some of his friends came yesterday late afternoon to help him go get composted horse manure and shovel it into our back area for me to scatter over all my garden areas putting them to bed for winter (and I've got some bulbs to plant in my new areas for early Spring flowers). As everyone awaited the great supper I was making, Dawson and friends started playing with all the music instruments we've gathered over the years. Phil was trying to play the mandolin - very creatively successful. Dawson pulled out a flute we were given, for Splarah to try. Aaron started providing rhythm by overturning a trash bin. Monte even was trying to play the saw. I hated to tell them supper was ready! Micah saw cool guys totally uninhibited enjoying making music and hanging around the dining table with gay conversation.

The film clip reminds me of the movie "August Rush". I love that movie. An orphan boy with an austere childhood lives with hope that his parents didn't abandon him and will find him. When he escapes the orphanage I sat with pins-and-needles awaiting evil. Only Robin Williams is the character who abuses this boy's innocence and giftedness. I love his first experience of the hustling, bustling big city. He hears and feels rhythmic music in the traffic and horn honking and all. When exposed to a guitar and left alone with it, he explores it in ways no one usually does. I don't want to tell you anything more about the movie.

I don't know if my youngest brother Robby remembers - he's about ten years younger than me - we used to sit out in our front yard together. We'd sit looking at the gravel in our drive and I'd see pretty ones and I actually collected them, putting them in my jewelry box. I'd tell Robby to listen. "Tell me what you hear ...?" We'd sit that way for a long time.

Have you ever taken the time to sit and watch ants? They'll string out in a long line, some of them carrying stuff. Stuff often larger and probably heavier than themselves. How do they do that? On a crowded street there's such variety of people to watch, but do you notice plants growing in cement, rock, and asphalt cracks and stop to wonder? do you notice the variety of birds 'voices'? I've stopped to observe pigeons, wanting to know what their mannerisms and voices are like, since I'm unfamiliar with them.

The key here is taking time to notice. Maybe it would mean closing our eyes to shut out the normal and listen for the new, feel and sense stuff more, like in the film clip. Like 'be still and know that I am God' kind of time. When the disciples wanted to shove off the insignificant children, Jesus took them on his lap and told us to come to him as a child.

There's such an innocent trust in children, an abandonment in their work and play, so there in the moment, and such a sense of wonder - all pieces of worship.

Chili Con Carne

What did I cook on the cookstove Saturday when it slightly snowed but moreso heavily froze and frosted everything in a very picturesque way? Chili. I've got my 3x5 card sitting here with me. It has a paperclip on it, meaning I've accumulated several chili recipes. Paperclips in my recipe box are on Lasanga, and Tiramisu (not remembering what else). But Monte says this is the BEST Chili, so I need to make that note on the card (maybe throw away or put away the other cards).

As I've said before, I packed away most all my cookbooks (tho, as I posted a picture on my photoblog, Monte just made a shelf in the garage over the freezers that my books are now on and I'm utilizing them, having missed them!). A cookbook set I did leave out is all the Cooks Illustrated bound magazines. I never buy the magazines, waiting till the end of the year's bound edition, and have them all from their beginning. I consult them all the time. So this chili recipe is the best because of consulting them, yet not following their exact recipe. That's what I like about them - so much exploration and process of elimination with the whys, that I can choose my own way -

Chili con Carne
about 4# beef chuck roast, cut into 1" cubes (the last couple times I've used pork shoulder since it's what I had in the freezer. And the cubed meat is what's a key to the goodness of this recipe.)
7-8 slices bacon, cut into 1/4-1/2" pieces
Fry bacon and brown meat in batches (I used some wine after batches to remove browned bits stuck on pan's bottom - Monte thinks that's another key to the goodness - my addition to the recipe, having read many recipes that do that.)
Saute -
1 onion, chopped, 5-6 minutes, and add -
5 garlic cloves, minced &
3 anahiem chilies or 1 jalepeno, chopped
(I grilled these anahiems earlier, as we got them in our farm share. And they're a bit spicy hot. Once grilled, let cool- and then I plop them in the freezer in a ziplock bag with other chilies I've grilled. This would be another of my additions to the original recipe.)
2 tsp salt
3 Tb chili powder
(The recipe original messes with a variety of chilies, grinding and making a paste ... I skipped. I let the juices dry out, maybe not adding all the tomato in at once, so that the spices saute, toasting a bit too.)
2 TB cumin (whole, I didn't grind this time)
2 tsp oregano
1 cup (or small can stewed) tomatoes, chopped
2 TB lime juice
Add back in the meat and bacon and 7 cups of water and let this simmer at least 2 hours.
At the end, Add -
5 TB Masa Harina, mixed with
2/3 cups water
and occasionally stir letting it heat and thicken some.
(The original recipe doesn't add beans, but I always add a can of either black beans or black soy beans.)

We love to eat this with added grated cheese and avacado chunks. I'll eat with tortilla chips, while my boys will crush the chips into the chili. Add a side salad and you've got a great meal. (I froze what was left of it last night for one more meal.)

Dawson and Splarah went skiing today for this year's first time. Wow, early October. There was a year that Travis made the goal of skiing every month of the year - not sure where he'd have done that in August. But one of our ski hills is open the earliest and latest of all others - it's A-Basin, most of it above timberline. We have the typical evergreen pines, conifers, spruce, and then above them there's the Bristle Cone Pines that are as old as Jesus! A-Basin's summit is above 13,000ft.

That's chili!!!!!!!

New look ... New season

Just a reminder to go check out new postings to my photoblog.

I posted a series of the old vs new Dawson and a comparison with Travis, who people are now saying, with Dawson's new hair style - "they finally look like brothers!". I'm still not used to the new look!

When taking pictures of things in my greenhouse I found a surprise in the greenhouse sink! Cleaning up the yard for winter, Monte must have unearthed this old toy! I need to ask him where he found it. His putting it in the sink is probably telling me to clean it up for the new season of our life - grandkids!

Is this Fall or Winter? It is snowing again, Monte got the stove going, I'm still in my bathrobe, and watching a bluejay and magpie scarfing up the birdseed from the birdfeeder meant for little finches, chickadees and nuthatches. Time to get dressed and get something out of the freezer cooking on the stove, and finish my felted picture (I posted it's beginning on my photoblog).

Taos Wool Festival, etc

It's early morning. The sun might not make an appearance today. I'm currently looking out on thickly frosted plants and ground - wilted leaves and flowers. I love how only one side of the evergreen trees has the thicker white coating, leaving all the north sides of the trees their dark green. It would make a nice picture to capture and keep.

I'm not seeing bunny tracks - maybe it's still sleeping. The birds are awakening and looking for seeds. Are bugs out for the bug eating birds? Are the bears hibernating yet? I hope so. Do raccoons hibernate? Monte saw two in the trash trailer (probably after some fish wrappings) and we've decided they did the latest bird feeder destruction. Elk are still in their rut and bugling.

It's getting lighter outside and I think it's trying to snow. Now it's pretty seeing an occasional golden aspen in the midst of the dark evergreens with their white one-sided dusting. I should be starting the wood stove. Made my tea though, and curled up in wool socks and thick bathrobe. And I don't want to take too much time posting cuz I'm working on a felted piece. Colorful wool in baskets and curly colored locks too, and a shiny skein of wool, are covering the kitchen table and benches awaiting me to create.

Which reminds me ... my last post was just before Monte and me were leaving for the Taos Wool Festival. It was a great vacation - a true vacation, not related to Monte's work travel or us speaking.

Our close friends, Jim and Marty, had time share places lined up for us to stay in - the first night in Red River, New Mexico. Monte worked there just before we married, coming home for us to elope. Lots of memories, including his favorite restaurant, Texas Reds, where he ate a lot. Tho the original had burned down, it's a part of the Red River Lodge now and the owner remembered Monte! We all had a salad with their famous salad dressing that Monte's raved about for 34 years - and yes, it was very good! The waitress had fun with us and Monte's memories (like hiking the hills with backpack full of rocks), tho she'd not been born yet then. With the great music in the bar (Monte and Jim bought the guy's CD) it was a great atmosphere and wonderful meal.

The nice thing about this trip was that we weren't driving long distances, so could stop and enjoy the local scenery - which included galleries and the local's food hangouts. La Veda, Colorado was one stop, for lunch. A very old hippie (yes, old hippies, including us), artsy fartsy town. We could tell lots of music happens around there. Some famous people (famous to us textile people - like Marty is a quilter) live around there, and then Monte fell in love with one style of oil painting and we ended up talking with the painter himself - and Monte's got to go back next year (his first openings) for a week long class.

Scenery? It was perfect timing for colorful Colorado's fall colors! Since we don't have maple trees, our rusts and reds come from scrub oak and other bushes and vines. The golds of aspen are our main color. But too, there's the grasses (I used to have my kids notice all the varieties of grass when we'd walk - did you ever notice how many variances there are? - could fill a large book, just on grass - interested?)- lots of fall color changes with them too.

After Monte's 34 year old memory lane fix (It was Frontier Days in Red River and we walked around the next day - finding out many of the locals work several jobs in that small community. We figured they'd all be sitting around the bar the next night talking about these strange visitors that befriended them for a day.) we drove winding back roads to Taos. Monte and me were last there 33 years ago. So the joke of that time was asking around if "Joe's Place" was still there? Joke? Because with Monte's knack for stretching the truth in his story-telling, you wonder what's really real - so this was a weekend of dispelling myths or finding them true. A local at Michael's, where we had a fabulous breakfast, really had fun with Monte.

It was beautiful weather and we enjoyed walking everywhere. The beautiful place we stayed in Taos had fruit trees about the property, so as we walked anywhere we were eating apples (looking for worms) and great plums. The Wool Festival was in Kit Carson Park (Taos is his home place - his home a museum) close to our place and we walked around amongst the many colorful booths both Saturday and Sunday (as well as all the many artsy shops and galleries that make up Taos). I found a site that posted pictures from this year's festival in a slide show. By Sunday most of the beautiful felted hats, and woven pieces made into fabulous clothing were sold out (and expensive they were too!!!)

I googled the festival and can't believe there's not great pictures posted. Looking tho reminded me that the same weekend was the balloon festival in Alburquerque and little over an hour south. I've seen pictures of it and Marty and Jim went years ago. Hundreds of colorful balloons fill the sky! I did see from my own photo library that Monte took quite a few pictures from his iPhone (Dawson put them on my computer and I hadn't even looked at them yet). So I'm going to post some of them on my photoblog.

Monte and me went from this trip to Travis and Sarah's and spent the night and Monday with them. Travis has been working on a CD of original songs and creative arrangements him and friend Katrina have done. Monte was excited to hear it and help with any tweaking his producing ears heard, before it's done being mixed. We had a very relaxing day, ending it with purchased vanity and sinks for their main bathroom, and a good bar-b-q sandwich supper.

It's snowing now. I'm resigned to the fact that summer is over. Time to start the woodstove and cook a stew on it or soup.