Day Late and a Take Short

I completely missed Seven Quick Takes (hosted here) yesterday, so I'm giving all seven of you readers the "Sloppy Saturday" version....

1. I started cleaning out the basement today. I set a goal for myself of 5 trash bags taken to the curb. I got four bags and an ENORMOUS pile of mildewed cardboard boxes. Our family tends to throw all "might be useful later" boxes onto a big pile in the basement. The ones on top were fine, but the bottom layer was beyond disgusting. And you really don't want to know what happens if one of those boxes went down the stairs filled with eco-foam.

2. On the plus side, the near half of the basement is now organized. There are piles for "take with", "let the kids decide because it's their stuff", useful boxes, packing peanuts -- the styrofoam kind!! -- and "not sure yet". The last one mostly consists of old sheets which we don't really need but which might come in handy for protecting furniture when we move, and a set of rollerblades which we'll probably donate. I'm uncertain which kid was once the owner, or whether they're the ones Roger had for a while. I hope all my keep-or-toss decisions are this trivial!

3. On Monday I intend to start actually packing things. A couple of weeks ago Tommy moved into the downstairs bedroom which has traditionally been allocated to the oldest high-schooler in the house. I was kind of hoping that he wouldn't bother, for simplicity's sake. But it has been a blessing on the getting-ready-to-move spectrum. His old room is empty except for empty furniture and a big pile of books in the corner. Those are going into boxes on Monday.

4. Actually I'm optimistic when I say the room is empty. There are two huge closets in there, which Tommy never used. (In fact, he barely used his dresser, and in the new room he has one laundry basket for "clean" and one [sometimes] for "dirty". He likes clothes, but the ones he actually wears are relatively few in number. When he moved downstairs, we donated four garbage bags full.) I think most of the stuff in those closets -- things like gift wrap and strings of twinkle lights -- is in boxes, but I'm not sure it is. So that comes after the books.

5. When we were in the new house last Wednesday, I discovered that a number of the rooms have vertical blinds. They all work OK, but I'm not sure if I will like them long term. Anybody with experience here? I tend to be a fan of old-fashioned curtains, which I can make myself, and vinyl mini-blinds when rooms need to be darker. (Actually, I also like the old-fashioned roller blinds, but nobody else is a fan.) The main window in the living room is huge, and I'm not sure how much improvement money we're going to have right away, so it may be verticals for a couple of years. On the other hand, the ginormous purple swags which the previous owners left over the windows are OUT.

6. I'm also looking for advice on how to tone down vivid bathroom tile with the paint colors in the rest of the room. The main bath has (fairly bright) pink, and the half bath has dusty green with muddy mustard. I'm (unfortunately) not kidding. I plan to go with white or cream with the pink. Currently it has sunshine yellow. (Huh???) But I don't know what to do with the green/mustard? Maybe hunter green? I foresee dragging 85 paint chips in there in the hope that something makes it look better. All the tile is in great condition, so financially it makes no sense to replace it, but I'd sure like it to retreat into the background!

And that's my six quick takes for a sloppy Saturday. I'm off to help Tommy put the kitchen table back once he finishes mopping.

"New" Neighbor!

Today we were able to get the keys to the new house for a couple of hours. We can't make any changes until we actually close -- and that date is yet to be determined -- but we can go in, make lists (four sets of doorknobs are missing!??!) and measure for carpeting, curtains, and so forth. We spent about an hour and a half there today.

Toward the end of that time, Roger heard somebody mowing the lawn at the house next door and decided to go over and introduce himself. He walked around behind the neighboring house, and thought "Gee, that lady looks familiar." She ought to! She's lived two doors down from us for the last 20 years or so, and was bought out a little ahead of us. We knew that she had bought a house somewhere in the same general area, but we thought it was about a mile away. Nope! Our "new" next door neighbor is Lisa!

Man, You Guys Are Amazing!

So my last post wasn't even up 12 hours before we got a call that HUD finally accepted our (lowball) bid. We have a house! And moving, but that will unfold here as it happens. Gotta run -- grocery shopping. THANK YOU for your prayers!

A House Is Not A Home

Almost a month ago I posted that we had sold our house to the state, and had 90 days to find a new one. I also mentioned that I hoped that a house we had been through once seemed ideal. Well. We have a close friend who is a builder who walked through it with us, and his opinion is that even if we had unlimited money --ha, ha, ha-- that we shouldn't waste it on that house. His exact words were "This thing should be bulldozed."

He also walked us through two additional houses, both of which he deemed acceptable. One of them was a foreclosure, offered at a very low price to sell it quickly. We offered 50% more than the asking, and were beaten out by a bid only slightly higher. It appears that this was our gain, however, because when our agent told us how much the winning bid was, he also mentioned that they had found mold all down the chimney, which runs between the family room and the master bedroom. THAT I would not like to deal with. (I also give myself observation points, because I had spotted a little of the mold in the corner of the secondary master closet. The door for the closet was behind the door of the room, and I expect that most of the bidders never even saw that there was a closet there, let alone the mold.)

The third house is in no way my "dream house", but it certainly could be made to do. A major drawing point is the truly dry basement, a rarity here in Michigan. Plenty of room to put a big family room down there, and there's already a fireplace. The drawback to this house is that it's a HUD home, subject to electronic bids, and it simply went on the market at far too high a price. The asking price has come down nearly 25% already, and it's still 20% above our maximum, since we won't buy anything we'd need a new mortgage on. (Ideally we'd even like to save some of our cash for repairs and updates, but we're becoming resigned to paying cash for the house and taking out a minimal HELOC for fixups.) So every day our realtor submits another bid, and every day HUD ignores it.

Since on Friday we will be down to 60 days, this seems to be a less-than-stellar plan for the long haul. So tomorrow we will be looking at MORE houses -- including another HUD house -- and probably more next week. Ninety days sounds like a long time, but man, it isn't!

I was talking to our three-year-old grandson Daniel on the phone today. We have been trying to prepare the grandchildren for the fact that Grandma and Grandpa's house is not going to be here any more. (In point of fact, 7 of the 18 houses on our block have already been flattened, and three more are empty, but that's another post.) We have been telling them that when it's time to move, they will help us by loading the toy box into the car and taking it to the new house. Daniel was telling me about this today, and then he said "Jesus is going to find a new house for you." Suddenly I have a renewed understanding of the faith of a child!

I've never felt, throughout this whole process of waiting to see if the state would be buying our house, that we'd be losing our home. Our home is where we are, and all we'll be losing is the house we keep it in. But I'm certainly ready to find the next place for home to live! All prayers are appreciated, for "the right house at the right price at the right time". And while you're at it, pray for me to have a faith like Daniel's!

Whatcha Readin' Wednesday -- One Week Update

Well, Cold Comfort Farm totally lived up to its promise. I'm thinking about buying a copy -- for a fan of the movie, the cover of this edition alone is worth the price. On the other hand, the book by Alys Clare is NOT a "worthy successor to Ellis Peters!" The medieval setting is adequate, so is the writing, but Clare's understanding of the period is somewhat less than zero. My suspicion is that she herself has only a hazy concept of God, and so her characters can do no better. It's a pity, because I was hoping for another series to get into. Sigh!

I have not yet started The Reach of a Chef because Arwen was here last weekend and advised me that I should read The Soul of a Chef first. I think she's right, as I am blitzing through that with enjoyment, but also noticing things that I think will be foundational in understanding Reach. And I appear to be falling into a Ruhlman vortex; I have also checked out his book Ratio, about the basic ratios of different types of cooking. For example, cookies are 1(sugar) to 2(fat) to 3(flour). Everything else is just bells and whistles. Now I know how Goldy in the Diane Mott Davidson books invents things so easily!

On another note, today I reread (as I do on this day every year) G.K. Chesterton's poem Lepanto. I have a number of "theme poems" for days of the year, and this is one of them. (Next up is In Flanders Fields.) I'll try to remember to link to each one as I read it. And now I need to stop typing and tidy up a few details before bed. Goodnight!

Whatcha Readin' Wednesday

I am very excited because I just got a new book at the library today -- Cold Comfort Farm, by Stella Gibbons. I have been a great fan of the movie, and spotted the book (a reissue, with a foreword by Lynne Truss) when it appeared at Barnes and Noble, but it took another watching of the movie Saturday night to spur me to check it out. I can't imagine I'll be anything but delighted, but I'll let you know.

I also checked out a non-fiction, The Reach of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman. I enjoyed his The Making of a Chef, about his experiences at the Culinary Institute of America, and am sitting on Arwen's copy of The Soul of a Chef. I'm not sure which order I'll read them in, since library books usually trump things that don't have to be returned on a given date.

Which is why I'm waiting to plunge into Cold Comfort; I have to finish The Tavern in the Morning, by Alys Clare, which I've had out for a couple of weeks. The jacket says "A worthy successor to Ellis Peters", but so far my take would be "Not bad, and writes in Ellis Peters' genre, so I'll take it." I'll let you know if that changes.

Roger is home early from tonight's meeting -- third night in a row for something, and I have choir tomorrow -- so I'm going to post this and hag out with him. See ya around!

Seven Quick Takes Friday -- 9/18

I'm posting twice in one week! Whee! And all the credit goes to Jen at Conversion Diary, who thought up Seven Quick Takes and hosts them weekly. Go see -- but don't forget to come back.

1) For those of you who own pets (of the cat and dog variety) -- no matter HOW tight finances are, do not think you can save money by skipping the monthly flea dosing. This is a bad decision, which will come back and bite you. Literally. I'm just sayin'....

2) We sold our house to the state on Wednesday. (This is for a major public works project, that I talked about here.) We are no longer homeowners, but we have way more money in the bank than we have had in decades, or probably ever will again. We have a 90 day grace period to move out; if we can't manage that, we pay rent to the state.

3) We hope to put a bid on a new house on Monday. We have already had one bid declined, on a different house. I am really hoping/praying that this second house is "the one". Despite needing some cosmetic upgrades, it has all the features I really hoped for in a house AND is in our price range. But we need to have our friend who is a builder give it a once-over for all the details we don't know how to evaluate, and anyway our real estate agent is "upnorth" for the weekend. So we will bid Monday at the earliest.

4) It this is not the right house, we have some serious looking to do. We have already scanned, and sometimes toured, the "possible" houses in our price range. Some of them are impossible. One of them rejected our bid. Of course, God could have a hidden jewel out there which isn't even on the market yet. The house we bought 24 years ago -- the only house we've ever owned -- never technically went on the market at all. The sellers came to our agent -- a friend -- to list it, and Bill realized that it was next door to some good friends of ours; in fact, the builder who will be checking over our possibility! We bought it without it ever showing up on anyone else's possibility list.

5) In an interesting twist, the woman who now lives in the house next door (it's already sold to the state as well) is the woman from whom we bought THIS house. It was a rental property, not her home, but it was distinctly odd when she bought our friends' old house. But she's been a good neighbor and friend. Denise, we'll miss you.

6) If I talk any more about our housing situation I might start to blubber. Four of our kids were born in this house, and it isn't ours anymore. I said once that I expected it to be easier to have it torn down than to see other people living in it, and that's still true, but that doesn't make it easy. Tonight at dinner I looked up and realized that in a relatively short time the view from my table will be different. We aren't losing our HOME -- that will be moving with us -- but this house will soon be gone forever. Sniff.

7) Last night our church choir began rehearsing again after our summer break. I love these people, and it was great to be back together! But -- I didn't sing enough over the summer. I've lost two notes from each end of my range. With regular rehearsals and masses and some hard work on my part they'll probably come back, but I shouldn't have let it happen. I resolve to do better next summer. My voice is, unfortunately, getting old and stiff like the rest of me. Exercise is no longer optional.

And that's it for another week; see you again soon!

Musical Monday -- Triumph of the Cross

Today is the feast of the Triumph of the Cross, so I'm posting a few of my favorites. They're good any time... :-D

First and foremost --

Lift High the Cross

Refrain: Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim,
Till all the world adore His sacred Name.

Come, Christians, follow where the Master trod --
Our King victorious, Christ the Son of God.. Refrain

Led on their way by this triumphant sign,
The hosts of God in conquering ranks combine. Refrain

Each newborn servant of the Crucified
Bears on the brow the seal of Him Who died. Refrain

O Lord, once lifted on the glorious tree,
As Thou hast promised, draw the world to Thee. Refrain

So shall our song of triumph ever be:
Praise to the Crucified for victory. Refrain

The words are by George W. Kitchen, modified by Michael R. Newbolt. The tune is Crucifer, by Sydney H. Nicholson. You can hear it here, although they are missing the first verse.

Next up --

In the Cross of Christ I Glory

1. In the cross of Christ I glory,
 towering o'er the wrecks of time;
 all the light of sacred story
 gathers round its head sublime.

2. When the woes of life o'ertake me,
 hopes deceive, and fears annoy,
 never shall the cross forsake me.
 Lo! it glows with peace and joy.

3. When the sun of bliss is beaming
 light and love upon my way,
 from the cross the radiance streaming
 adds more luster to the day.

4. Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure,
 by the cross are sanctified;
 peace is there that knows no measure,
 joys that through all time abide.

5. In the cross of Christ I glory,
 towering o'er the wrecks of time;
 all the light of sacred story
 gathers round its head sublime.

The lyrics are by John Bowring; the tune, Rathbun, is by Ithamar Conkey and can be found here.

Last but not least -- Isaac Watts' marvelous

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

The tune is Hamburg, by Lowell Martin, and can be heard here.

I hope to weigh in on Friday with a Seven Quick Takes, so I'll see you then!

Tasty Tuesday -- Blueberry Cobbler

Today is the first day of school in Michigan. Tommy starts his senior year (bwaaah, my baybee...), so this is the last "first day of school" I will ever deal with. Sad, but wonderful -- no more paperwork!!

Ever since the first "first day of school" when Arwen started kindergarten in 1987, I have tried to make a special dinner for the kids to celebrate. Many years it was hamburgers on the grill, but since the start of school is now right after Labor Day, that's not as thrilling as it once was. In fact, when I asked Tommy a couple of days ago what he'd like, he said he really didn't care. But yesterday evening he asked me if I knew how to make the blueberry cobbler that Aunt "Tink" made while we were in Pennsylvania. Since I gave her the recipe in the first place, the answer was "yes"! So tonight's dinner is creamed chicken and biscuits with this cobbler for dessert.

Blueberry* Cobbler

Preheat oven to 350°.
Grease a 9 by 9 inch pan or casserole.
In a bowl, combine 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 t. baking powder, 1/4 t. salt and 1/2 cup milk**.
Pour into prepared pan.
Sprinkle on 2 cups blueberries***.
Bake for 40 minutes.
That's it! Much easier than pie!!

* Actually, you can use any kind of fruit.

** I've never tried it, but I bet this would be even better if you used half-and-half or cream.

*** Tink used fresh; I'm using frozen because it's what I have on hand. Canned will also work.

Of Time, and Distance, and Going "Home"

One week ago yesterday I was on my way to my fortieth high school reunion. One week ago today I was at a family get-together with all the relatives from both sides of my family who could make it. One week ago tomorrow I was making the 9 1/2 hour drive back to Michigan.

I was born in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, a town of less than 10,000 sitting nearly on the Mason-Dixon line. Although we only lived "in" the town for less than a year (when I was six), we lived nearby enough to attend the same small country church my mother was raised in, to which my brother and SIL still belong. The exception to this was the year I was five, when my father took a short-term job in southern Maryland. We all felt as though we had moved to the other side of the earth, it was "so far" away. I just checked the distance on Google maps -- it's 117 miles. From 1984 to the early 90's, Roger's daily commute was longer than that. Arwen and Rosie live 90+ miles away, and we think nothing of running down to see them for a day. Expressways make an enormous difference!

When I was growing up, with 1950's ideas of distance, I thought that Detroit was incredibly far away. Now I live an hour north of Detroit, 520 miles from Waynesboro. With six kids in the car it used to take us nearly twelve hours to drive from here to there. These days, with 70 mph limits and drastically reduced pit stops, we regularly do it in 9 or so. On the other hand, when my parents were alive we used to try to visit Waynesboro three times in each two years. When we were planning this trip, I suddenly realized it had been over two years since we'd been there at all. (My brother and SIL did come to see us twice in that time, something they couldn't do when the folks required care.)

So it seems that both years and miles go by more quickly as I age. This is not a new concept, of course, but it's different when you experience it. It seems impossible that I have been out of high school 40 years, but 2009 --1969 = 40, whether I like it or not. And things both here and in Waynesboro change. There were fewer people at the family get-togther than I ever remember at similar gatherings. My parents' generation is all but gone, my children's generation is busy and scattered -- only Maggie and Tommy of our six were there -- and my cousins and my grandchildren's generation will never know each other except perhaps on Facebook.

When we were planning this trip, both Roger and I realized that we were "homesick" for Waynesboro. Since I was a small-town girl -- 60+% of my graduating class still live within 20 miles -- this is not too surprising for me. But Roger grew up outside Grand Rapids, and never went to Waynesboro until the summer before we were married. Furthermore, my brother's current house wasn't bought until after my folks were gone. But the sense of family makes it a part of home.

So "home" is there, and "home" is here, and nothing looks quite the way it did when I was a kid. And we are in the process of finding a new house to "keep" home in, since the state "made us an offer we couldn't refuse" to buy us out for the very long awaited construction project. ( I know I posted about that, but I can't seem to find the post. If I do find it I'll link to it.) And because this world is changeable, I have to live with that. But I am very grateful that (God willing) in the end I will recognize my True Home, and time and distance will be only a memory.

Off to PA!

Tomorrow morning early (around here we call it "zero-dark-thirty", thanks to Roger, my former Coastie) we are leaving for a week in Pennsylvania. We will visit my brother and sister-in-law, climb a bunch of rocks, pick up Maggie from her summer internship, attend my 40th (!!!!) high school reunion, have an extended-family potluck picnic, and drop Tommy off to visit a friend in Pittsburgh. Another eventful week, but this one should be much nicer! I'll see you all on the other side...

Seven Quick Takes -- Eventful Week Edition

This week has been one of the most eventful in the last few years. Starting with:

1. On Sunday morning we dropped Tommy off at the airport to fly to Duluth to visit George. Tommy was gone for two weeks earlier this summer at a "college camp". He took two one-week classes at the school Maggie graduated from in Florida, and really enjoyed himself. Roger and I both enjoyed and disliked our first taste of a totally empty nest. I think enjoyed won, but we still had the cat and the dog to deal with, so spontaneity was not something we got to enjoy. I'm already plotting to hand off the animals to some of the kids as the grandchildren get older....

At any rate, the expectation had been that we'd have another week on our own, and I was looking forward to it. But I was also nervous, because...

2. On Monday morning we got the "offer" from the state Department of Transportation to buy our house. For the last seven years we've anticipated, and then known, that we were in the buyout footprint for a massive road and bridge project. We've spent "the last Christmas in this house" a couple of times, and only didn't feel that way last year because Christmas was at Arwen's house because Blaise was imminent. Of course, in the last seven years housing prices have dropped precipitously. In my opinion, the state was very generous with us. They valued the house at about $30 thousand higher than I would have expected, and in Michigan all homeowners bought out for public projects have to receive 125% of the value. So that's a nice chunk of change, except that we have a substantial HELOC to pay off. The drop in real estate prices means that we will be able to find more house for less money than would have been possible several years ago, but the slowness of Roger's business (hence the HELOC) mean's we're not sure how much of a mortgage we'll qualify for. We'd have been dealing with finding out this week, but....

3. On Monday afternoon Roger flew off to New Mexico because his dad and stepmother were having a health crisis. They had a major one about five years ago, and at that point Roger and his six siblings tried to persuade them to move closer to somebody. (The nearest kids are in California.) But things stabilized, and they decided they'd be OK on their own for a while.

This crisis has persuaded Roger's siblings that something needs to be done now. For the first part of the week they were actively working to make that happen. But through a combination of factors -- which I believe to include personality quirks, old-age-related deterioration, and a complete inability to believe they are loved -- the folks decided that nope, they can still make it on their own. They turned down a very reasonable and loving plan, and have suggested that the kids' self-interest was a factor. My heart bleeds for Roger and my sibs-in-law. However...

4. The working together to set up the plan the folks rejected has brought these three sisters and four brother together in a way they haven't been in years. Between emails and phone calls, everybody has been kept in the loop. And they have realized that even if Dad doesn't believe they love him, they KNOW they love each other. Visits are being planned, and I may even have to dust off the planning stuff for the family reunion that Roger and I were aiming to put together until 9/11 knocked us off track. (And now there are babies, including a great-niece due in about a month!) Roger's family has a track record of only getting together for weddings and funerals, and I think they're planning to change that. This is good!

5. Also good, to my surprise, has been being "home alone" this week. I've been trying to remember the last time I was totally alone for five days and four nights, and I'm sure it was before we were married. Of course I've done the "temporary single parent" thing many times over the years -- the most memorable being about 15 years ago, when Roger was gone 18 days out of 21 -- but this time the only demands on me are being made by JoeDog and LucasKitty, and they're pretty low maintenance, especially when I sit out on the deck in the evening. The deck is what I'm going to miss the most about this house when we move. We put money into it knowing that we'd only be able to use it until we were bought out, and it's been worth every penny.

For the most part I've just been going through my regular routine this week (laundry on Tuesday, grocery shop on Thursday, etc.) The one thing that has NOT been routine is how late I've been staying up. Roger is an early riser, and I'm -- or I was when I was younger -- a regular night owl. Our compromise plan for the summer has consisted of going to bed at 10, with Roger getting up at 6 and me at 7 or 7:30. But the last few nights I've been up past midnight. At least when he comes home tonight he will be somewhat adjusted to a more western time zone.

And I'm REALLY glad he'll be home tonight because.....

6. Tomorrow is our 28th wedding anniversary!

One of the things that's been a little sad about this week (aside from his folks making a poor decision, which is a lot sad) is that Roger and I haven't been able to share one of our silly little traditions. "Twenty-eight years ago today we were taking our families out for Chinese food" (or "setting up the church basement for the reception", or "cutting up broccoli at the C's house" -- we catered our own reception.) But the "being married" is way more important than the wedding was, and even when I'm too old and/or ga-ga to remember any of that any more, I'll still be very happy that we got married!

We do have a celebration planned for tomorrow. We always go out to eat for our anniversary. Some years when there's plenty of money we go to a fancy restaurant on the water. More than once, in leaner years, we've gone to McDonald's, which is more romantic than it sounds. After our reception we went to some friends' house to open presents, and left from there for our honeymoon. Neither of us ate much at the reception, and we were starving, so we went to McDonald's on the way out of town. When our anniversary dinner is there, it's still the same McDonald's!

This year, although things are lean, we have a better plan. For our 25th anniversary we received one of these, and we are going to fill it with wine and cheese and bread and Milano cookies and dress in our laid-back best and have a wonderful dinner somewhere yet to be determined (we're not sure if the park we'd prefer has a "no alcohol" rule.) But we will have fun!

And then Sunday morning...

7. We will drive to Arwen and Rosie's town and pick up Tommy. George made his airline arrangements, and he flies into "Big City Airport" arriving at 12:30 AM!! I may be a night owl, but driving to the airport is not how I plan to spend the evening of my anniversary. So the married kids (who live closer to the airport anyway) are going to retrieve him for the night. We will drive down and join them for mass, and spend some time with the grandkids before coming home to close out our eventful week!

Seven Quick Takes are hosted here.

Fifteen Minute Inane Ramble

So I feel the need to get another post up this week, but I don't have a specific topic. I think maybe this defeats the purpose of the 15 minute thing, where you write for 15 minutes about a topic and see what comes out, but I'm going to fly with it anyway...

Today we went to a 90th birthday party for an old (ok, ok, longtime) friend. Dan was the "corresponding secretary" for our Right to Life chapter for about fifteen years. This meant that he was also the newsletter mailing team. For several of those years, what he actually did was "nag" us (ever so nicely!) to actually publish a regular newsletter. Once he got his way on that, every other month Roger would write and format a four-page newsletter, and Dan would see to the printing, folding, stapling, addressing and mailing. The hilarious part for me was that each of them thought the other one had the hard job! I guess that was a perfect division of labor.

Dan's been "re-retired' for a number of years now. (He was retired from work before he took on the newsletter job.) He's getting slower and well, he's not exactly frail, but closer to that then he used to be. So for this occasion all his children and their spouses, all but one of his grandchildren and their spouses, and all his great-grandchildren (and we're talking a lot of people here) converged on his house for a party. They rented two tents for the back yard, which was good, because it poured rain the entire day. But inside the tents there was lots of food, family, and friends. All in all, I think that amounted to sunshine. Happy 90th Birthday, Dan!

(There I did come up with a topic! See y'all in a few....)

Tasty Tuesday -- Potato Pancakes

My friend Tracy recently posted here about her love affair with potatoes. (Say it -- "Po-tay-toes!") I mentioned in the comments that potato pancakes are high on my list, and after thinking about it, I decided I'd post the recipe here. I actually rarely make this recipe myself, because Roger is our "Sunday breakfast chef" -- I am so blessed that he does this -- but I eat them with gusto whenever he makes them. And, as I mentioned over at Tracy's, they're almost as good frozen and reheated, and believe me, I do that too!

The recipe is from Pan and Griddle Cakes by Samuel R. Ogden. The cookbook is mostly odd, since the author is a big fan of what he calls pulv, finely pulverized bread crumbs, as an ingredient. But these are great!

Luchow's Potato Pancakes

Wash and peel 2 pounds (6) medium-sized potatoes; cover with cold water and drain. Grate* and drain off any accumulated liquid. Place in a bowl and mix in 1/2 medium onion, grated. Add 2 T. flour, 2 beaten eggs, 1 1/2 t. salt, 1/4 t. pepper, 1/4 t. nutmeg, and 2 T minced parsley**, and mix thoroughly. Fry*** on a hot griddle or frying pan until brown and crisp, turning as needed. Serve while hot.

We've regularly tripled this, and had two pans on the stove going, as well as my electric griddle. Our kids like them topped with applesauce, but I usually eat mine plain, or with a little butter and salt. The original recipe suggests stewed apples.

* We actually grind ours in our meat grinder -- grating takes a while. Note that the pancakes call for roughly grated potatoes, not shredded. Use the side of the grater you'd use for hard cheese.

** Fresh parsley would probably be terrific, but we use dried and it's fine.

*** The recipe recommends frying in butter, but we usually fry ours in bacon grease. And bacon on the side would also be great, if you have enough pans. Bacon makes everything better!

Oh, yeah -- when I reheat them, sometimes I try to keep them as cakes, but sometimes I just chop them up with the turner and rebrown them, in more bacon grease, naturally. Tastes just as good, and is much quicker.

Seven Quick Takes -- Facebook Edition

Seven Quick Takes Friday is hosted here.

1. In the fall of 2007 Maggie spent a semester in Austria. She took LOTS of pictures with her new digital camera, and posted them all on Facebook. The problem was, that meant her siblings could see them, but I had to log into one of their accounts to get a look. So she set up a Facebook account for me. This was two years ago, and Facebook was still an occupation of the college-aged set. Maggie joked that she was going to start a group for "Moms on Facebook". Now my mother-in-law is on, to keep track of her kids and grandkids. She'll be 75 on Monday!

2. Because Maggie set up my account (my kids don't trust me to do tech-type stuff myself, because I'm slower at it than they are) she got to choose my password. I have a password mnemonic system that works for me -- it involves characters in a novel Roger wrote that's never been published -- but she choose instead a rather unusual food that no one in the family in the family likes but me. When I forget what that password IS (as opposed to forgetting that Facebook doesn't fit my system) I'll know it's time to head in for a Folstein test.

3. Facebook is wonderful! In the last few months I've reconnected with a friend I worked with at summer camp almost 40 years ago, some people I knew in another state 30 years ago, and some almost-local folks who attended the same church I did 20 years ago.

4. Facebook is terrible! One of my sisters-in-law had to stop using it entirely because she was being stalked by a weirdo from work. And I could very easily spend more time doing silly quizzes and games than leading a productive life could justify.

5. Facebook is here to stay. I know that Tommy is on his plane home from camp because he posted his status as "boarding" using the airport's free WiFi. Short of putting GPS trackers on them and monitoring constantly, I can't think of a more effective way of keeping track of grown and mostly-grown kids.

6. Facebook can be annoying. I'm unable to join the network for the college I graduated from because I don't have a college email address. Hello! When I graduated (with a minor in computers), it was a big deal that two terminals on our campus were linked to a mainframe on a campus 100 miles away. They don't give out email addresses retroactively. But I'm still part of the "SPC*" community!

7. All in all, I love being on Facebook. Just like any other tool, it can be abused or misused, but so far the benefits seem to strongly outweigh the risks. And if you read this blog regularly and are not already Facebook friends with me, drop me a email and we'll discuss it!

*Small Private College

Musical Monday -- Fluting Edition

As I mentioned in this post, more than a month ago I began practicing the flute again -- after a lapse of almost 25 years -- so that I could play part of the accompaniment for a special number our choir at St. Mary was doing. Our choir is an adequate bunch, with flashes of better (and worse), and although we now have eight men compared to the three we started out with 10 years ago, SATB is often beyond our reach. We do a fair number of SAB arrangements, plus our best stab at whatever is in the hymnbook. But this particular piece was simply "men" and "women," with an echo verse and about half a verse of harmony at the end.

If you're wondering why I'm talking so much about the choir in a "fluting" post, it's because the only reason our director let me play the flute was because it was such a simple piece. Usually I need to be with the altos; although there are six of us, only two have enough confidence to sing out and usually know the part, and I'm one of them. But on a "women" part our sopranos could take it away. (I don't mean to slam any of our altos -- they all work hard, and several of their voices are better than mine. I'm just one you can hear...)

Anyway, the piece went well, we said goodbye to Father Simeon -- and I am still practicing the flute. I don't know for sure what I'm going to be doing with it outside my living room. I have been practicing several pieces from a book of "Sacred Solos for Flute" which have piano accompaniment, but whether they will ever be fit for public consumption I can't be sure. But I am enjoying it anyway! Having small children for so many years put a dent in my musical expression, and it feels very good to have that outlet back. I'm just sorry I didn't figure it out a little sooner.

Whatcha Readin' Wednesday -- 7/8/9

It's very tempting to start making apologies, but I said I wouldn't, so I won't. . .

I am in the middle of Conspirator, the Foreigner book I mentioned here*. I am greatly enjoying it, partly because Cherryh does such a great job and partly because I reread the whole previous series -- nine books -- last fall and didn't need to spend any time getting up to speed on who's who and what's what. I fully expect the ending to be slightly unsatisfactory, because the next book in what is becoming a quadralogy of trilogies has already been announced. But then it's no fun stopping LOTR after The Two Towers, either.

I am also in the middle of a non-fiction, Boy Alone, by Karl Taro Greenfeld. This is an adult writer's reaction to being the "other brother" in the family about which his father, Josh Greenfeld wrote A Child Called Noah (and several subsequent books.) Noah is profoundly autistic, born in a time when even getting a diagnosis was difficult, and I am very interested in hearing "the rest of the story." I find it hard to identify with the extremely secular life the Greenfelds lead, but it is clear that Karl loves his wife, his daughters, and also his parents and brother (all of whom I believe are still living.) It's always interesting to hear a story from an alternate point of view.

I also have a couple of other books out of the library which I may or may not read, depending on whether or not they live up to the quick glance I gave them. What I am going to read this summer, though, is all the Harry Potter books in order. I've been wanting to do it for a while, and the upcoming release of movie number six is as good a reason as any. Now if I can just stay away from the library. . . .

*You may have noticed that this is almost two months after I was first in the library waiting list. That's because when I put my name on the list, it was still "on order." It finally came in the end of last week.

Fifteen Minutes and Counting. . . . .

I feel a need to post (um, maybe because it's been over a week??) but I don't have any particular topic in mind. So I'm going to ramble for 15 minutes and see what comes out.

We had a nice Father's Day here today, even if Roger did somehow wind up doing most of the cooking. Of course, Sunday breakfast has been his territory since back when we only had two kids, and even he wanted what we actually had this morning -- strawberry/blueberry shortcakes with real whipped cream. Why save it for dessert when it makes a terrific breakfast? And Roger's the only one who knows which recipe he uses for the shortcake.

Dinner was another one of his specialties -- beer can chicken. There are lots of recipes on the internet, but he has a spice rub that's all his own which is beyond wonderful. We also had rolls, roasted asparagus, and s'mores. I think all of us were disappointed that it really was just a little too cool to eat out on the deck. Global warming ptui! I can't remember a Fathers' Day where we hadn't been able to eat outside YET!

The "we" who were disappointed was only about a third of the family. George is in Duluth, Maggie is at her summer job on the east coast, and Katie is in Italy. Rosie and Anthony and the boys managed to come up for the weekend, but Arwen and Bryan stayed home because Bryan will be traveling for the next few weeks, and they wanted some normal family time. But everybody except Katie did manage to call and/or send gifts and cards. So I think Roger had a good Fathers' Day.

And now that I've added my links above, my 15 minutes is more than up. I'm thinking about what I might like to write about next time. See you then!!

Seven Quick Takes -- Empty House Edition

1. For the first time in a long while I have spent almost all day alone, since Roger normally works from home. He and Katie left this morning to make a business stop and then go to Arwen's house. They will leave there early tomorrow to take Katie to O'Hare for her flight to England, and thence to Italy, where she will be the nanny/English teacher for a couple of very cute kids for the summer. Tommy spent last night at a friend's house, came home long enough to shower and change and then went out to lunch. The "occasion" was the last day of school, but Tommy and his friend were exempt from finals today. (English paper turned in on Tuesday, AP Calculus exam taken last month.) He came home again long enough to change for work; I dropped him off and will pick him up again at eight.

2. To all of you who live where school has been out for weeks -- Michigan law mandates that classes not begin until after Labor Day. So the school-year lasts well into June. This also makes for crazy situations involving sports. There are actually two football games before school begins next fall.

3. I have begun practicing the flute again. (Actually, I don't think I ever practiced much before, but I was better at it when I played regularly.) Our choir at church is doing a special piece with a flute part for our pastor's last mass at the end of the month. (He will be returning home to Nigeria. Our new pastor is Polish.) None of the various young flautists who have played with us in the past are around any more, and none of the band kids I asked were available. It's coming along pretty well,and I am excited to be doing something musical on an almost-daily basis.

4. My friend Tracy mentioned in her Quick Takes that she is a fan of Chain Rxn on Facebook. So am I! She likes the sound, and I am discovering that this is one of the few games where I don't mind the sound effects. I hadn't been playing with the sound on because usually I am playing near where someone is trying to work or sleep. But the house is empty. Bring on the little chime noises!

5. I am going to also take advantage of the nobody-in-the-house phenomenon to cook dinner just for me. I do this periodically when Roger is gone, and let the kids fend for themselves. What's on the menu, you ask? Liver and onions with bacon, grits, and sliced tomato. Except for the bacon and tomato nobody likes any of those things but me. My favorite meal growing up was liver and spinach. Maybe that's why I didn't have a whole lot of friends??

6. I went to the library on Monday and returned ALL my books, and promptly checked out 8 more, including three new books that have a two-week rather than a four-week check-out period. I'm done with one, partway into both of the others. (One is a mystery, one an "Asian family comes to America" story.) Nothing spectacular enough to tell y'all about, unless the Asian one sudenly gets better. I do want to recommend a non-fiction I checked out, though --Your Best Birth by Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein. As a home-birthing mama I'm a bit of a "birth junkie" -- for a couple of years I thought about training as a midwife -- and though I never thought I'd be saying this about anything by Ricki Lake, the book is excellent. It is NOT an "everybody should do home birth" spiel, but a "know all your options and make informed choices" admonition. Read it!

7. It is a beautiful sunny day here, and still cool enough that I wore a sweater when I walked the dog. I've heard reports that this summer is going to be cool-ish, without extreme high temperature or humidity. Since I'm in the "hot flashes" stage of my life, that sounds ideal! I like living where there are four distinct seasons, but if I had to eliminate one, "hot" would be first out!

More Quick Takes can be found here.

15 Minute Follies

It has been suggested by several people that I try the fifteen minute method of blogging -- set a timer for fifteen minutes, start typing, and don't stop until the timer goes off. I have no idea how well this will work for me, since I am a six-fingered (at best) typist, and I rather suspect the rule was invented for the ten-fingered, but I'm going to give it a try......

Today was a typical Monday around here, which is to say busy with many things, few of them routine. All of the other week days have their regularly scheduled chores: Tuesday is laundry, Wednesday is bathroom cleaning, and so on. Theoretically Monday is my "day off" -- which is sort of silly if Sunday has been calm -- but today was filled to the brim.

First up was dinner prep. Sometimes I do something simple on Mondays, but since Katie is leaving for the summer on Friday, I am doing her favorites this week. Today was Pork Fried Rice and egg rolls. The egg rolls I buy from Sam's Club, but the fried rice is from scratch. As I often do -- I think it comes from having worked in a restaurant -- I did all the chopping and pre-cooking first thing this morning. Then I shoved it in the fridge and didn't have to think about it again until 25 minutes before dinner time. I like having a "prep cook", even if she's me.

Next I prepared to lead Noon Prayer on Wednesday. I regularly go to a 12:15 PM Eucharist, but the pastor is going to be out of town this week, so I will be leading Noon Prayer, which consists of a number of Scripture readings plus our regular list of intercessions. I could just wing it and it would probably be OK, but I like to feel like I put some effort into it.

After lunch I finished altering a dress which Katie bought at a bargain price from Target's website. If she'd had to pay a dressmaker it would have at least tripled the cost, but Mom works for free! After that I picked up Tommy from drumline tryouts, dropped him at work, and went to the library. All by myself! I also took a fitness walk by the river, then came home and made dinner. Most recently I wrote a couple of thank you notes, and then I blogged. Time's up!

It took me another five minutes to get this fit to publish, but I think the 15 minute thing may work out if I don't have any better ideas.

Bad Blogger Blues

OK, I admit it. I'm a lousy blogger. I don't really like to write. What I do like is the connectedness of the internet. And I figure if I like reading your blogs, it's only fair for me to give you something in return. But then I get halfway through a long post -- like Maggie's graduation, or Lindsay's interview of me -- and I just don't want to do it anymore. And first I plan to get back to it, and then I feel guilty for not getting back to it, and then I hope it will just go away, and the end result is that I don't post anything.

So this is what I'm going to do; I'm going to stop promising to post anything specific. I'll came here and ramble, probably more often, and none of us will know what it's going to be about until it happens. Deal??

Whatcha Readin' Wednesday -- Conspirator!

The Florida/graduation post will be coming soon, but I just wanted to tell y'all -- there's a new book in the Foreigner* series! I saw it on the shelf as I passed through Barnes and Noble for my regular Wednesday Mocha (iced this week!). I actually considered buying it, since Roger and I have a gift card we got for Easter, but instead I came home and logged in to our local library. I'm first on the waiting list for Conspirator!

*I must have been prescient.

Road Trip!

I am posting this quickly before we hop into our trusty van (well, trusty $2,600 later..) and head for Florida. We are very excited to see Maggie graduate, especially as she informed us yesterday that she is Valedictorian!! Which means that all her friends are kicked back doing nothing today, and she is writing a speech.

I would prefer to be writing a speech rather than sitting in the van for 24 hours over two days, but at least I get to fly home. We will be driving from north of Detroit almost to the southern tip of Florida. And no stays at Disney :-( Even if we were going to pass by there we would have no time to stop -- sorry, Jen -- because we are leaving about 8 hours behind our original schedule so that Tommy can take the AP calculus exam. Cheap college credit trumps not driving late into the night!

I hope to post again Sunday night or Monday, just to let you know how it all went (and maybe put up some pictures, if I can get a resident techie to help). Have a wonderful Mothers' Day!

Seven Quick Takes -- Plan Ahead Edition

1) I am actually typing at least some of this on Monday night. I am determined to post at least twice this week, so I'm taking advantage of the time I have right now.

2) The reason I need to do this is that the end of my week is guaranteed to be crazy. Six weeks or so I cooked lunch for 70-odd state band officials This weekend I need to feed some more officials BOTH Friday dinner and Saturday lunch. Fortunately there are only about 15 of them this time.

3) Even so, the food prep and transportation has just been complicated by our car situation. Three weeks ago we had three working cars. Then Katie's old crate (which was originally my mom's car) developed an oil leak, and we decided we didn't have the funds to fix it right now. Monday day we took my van to the shop for a checkup before driving it to Florida for Maggie's graduation on May 9th. Guess what? All those little things we've been putting off because they weren't urgent now ARE urgent. It's going to cost about half the blue-book value of the van (it's 11 years old), but we have no choice, because it's worth more to us rolling than we could get out of it. But it will be in the shop until Monday, so all transport will be in the one working car, a Saturn sedan. I have no idea how or even if I can do it all in one trip.

4) Speaking of trips,we are incredibly grateful to God that we had the van scheduled for its check when we did. Otherwise it would not be done in time to leave for Florida next Wednesday. We are also grateful for our terrific mechanics, who will have it done on time without saying "We told you so." A good independent repair shop is beyond price, and we have one! Thank you Doug and Glenn and Jeff.

5) One reason the van must be in tip-top shape for this trip is that Roger and I will only be in it for the southbound trip. We-- Roger and me, Katie, Tommy, and George (who got leave for this) -- are leaving Wednesday morning and driving just over 1400 miles in two days, with an overnight stop in Georgia. Arwen, Rosie, and their babies are flying down Friday morning. Baccalaureate is in the afternoon, with graduation itself and I think a dinner on Saturday. (With only forty in the graduating class, the dinner is for everybody.) Sunday morning Roger and I will join the "big girls" and grandbabies in flying back, while Maggie, George, Katie and Tommy go for the all-night straight-through road trip back with all Maggie's stuff. I am intensely glad I do not have to be part of this! And I am also glad that the van will have a better chance of doing it successfully.

6) Sunday morning is First Communion at our parish. This is a big weekend for the choir (Katie and I both sing in it) because for a number of years now both 9:30 AND 11:30 have been First Communion masses. It started accidentally, with a schedule conflict, but it works very well to split the class and all the accompanying family and friends into two groups. Only the Religious Ed staff and the choir have extra to do, and the church is much less overcrowded. And the choir has developed a tradition of having brunch in between, which is fun.

7) It either is or isn't spring here! It totally depends on which day, or sometimes which hour, it is. Last weekend temperatures were in the eighties, and quite a number of leaves and buds began to appear. Tuesday was in the forties. Today -- who knows??

More Quick Takes are here.

Update

I finished everyone is beautiful, and I can give it a thumbs up. It's not great literature, it's not even great chick lit, but it's a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours if you have time to spare.

Whatcha Readin' Any-ol'-day

I finally finished the Lord Peter Wimsey books. And it wasn't just my imagination -- any book with Harriet Vane really is better than the ones without her. All of them are good, but Strong Poison, Have His Carcase, Gaudy Night and Busman's Honeymoon are splendid.

After I was done with Wimsey I went on a short Mary Stewart kick. I loved her books when I was younger, and I still like them, especially The Moonspinners and This Rough Magic. But I was a little startled to discover that they have a higher level of suspense than I'm currently comfortable with. A couple of times I found myself putting one down for a bit because I was uncomfortable -- pretty much every time I had forgotten a plot wrinkle. I had a sensation of "Oh, no, this is going to be bad!" even though I knew that the book would have a happy ending. (Spoiler alert -- Mary Stewart books always have a happy ending! :-D )

Right now I'm reading something completely different; chick lit, I guess you could call it. It's by Katherine Center, and is called everyone is beautiful. The gist of the story is a harried mom reconnecting with who she is when no one is demanding her attention. So far I like it, but as with many books of this genre, it has the potential to take a "modern" (read "immoral") turn. Sometimes I just quit reading, but this one makes me think I might have to finish it anyway because of the chance of repentance. Something in the blurb makes me think that might happen. . .

Next in the pile is different again: Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card. I first read Card when I came across Seventh Son years and years ago. I find that I like the first book or two in each of his series, but then they start to pall. The only one I love is Enchantment, --which I did reread during Easter week -- but it's a stand-alone. I read Ender's Game in airports when I flew to Florida to visit Rosie in 2005, and Ender's Shadow when Tommy insisted. I'm going to give this one a try, but not worry about it if I don't like it. Anyway, Tommy would like to read it before it's due back at the library.

I'm still slogging away at the interview (why do I have to type the answers, why can't I just talk?) but probably won't get anything posted from it until we get back from Maggie's graduation in Florida May 10th. But I will try to put something up a few times in between. . .

Guilt

Some weeks ago I told you that I was working on an interview post or posts. I still am. But I have realized that I think of it as a "big job", and what with all that's been going on in my life, I don't have the excess mental energy for a big job.

I also realized, however, that I don't want to avoid this site until I have more mental energy. So I'm putting the interview on hold (sorry, Lindsay!) and plan to post random whatever here. I'm not even going to stick to the schedule I worked out for NaBloPoMo. I'll just post whatever comes into my head. So I may BE guilty, but I'll feel better!

Here is a recipe my family makes every Easter. It's all gone already -- except what I hid for Maggie -- but just thinking about it makes me smile!

Mom's* Baklava -- yield depends on how big you cut the pieces

*(I'm "Mom"; I adapted this recipe from a couple that I found in an old PTA cookbook)


Grind 1 ½# walnuts.
Stir in 2 T sugarand 1t cinnamon.

Melt 1 ½ - 2# butter. Skim off the “crunchy” top layer, and pour the clear golden part into another container. (This makes clarified butter.)

Cut in half sideways (hamburger ;-)* !) 1 # filo (fillo, phyllo) sheets, thawed overnight in refrigerator, and then two hours on counter (still wrapped). Lay filo sheets on their wrapping or plastic wrap, and cover with plastic wrap and a damp towel. Replace the plastic and the towel each time you remove a sheet.

Brush the bottoms of two 9” by 13” baking pans with melted butter. Place ½ filo sheet in each pan. Brush with butter. Repeat with 4 more sheets. After brushing the fifth sheet with butter, sprinkle on some** of the nut mixture. Repeat layers of filo, butter, and nuts until nuts are gone, reserving 5 half-sheets of filo for top of each pan, each brushed with butter. Dribble any remaining butter evenly over both pans,

With a sharp knife, score through all layers into diamond shapes. (I cut straight lengthwise of the pan into 4 or 6, and then cut diagonals.) Stick whole cloves into the diamonds to help hold them together. Bake at 300° for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until golden brown.

While pans are baking, make syrup. Boil together on stove or in microwave (watching very closely) 1 cup honey, 2 cups sugar, and 3 T lemon juice. Use a large container, as it foams up very high. Let cool slightly.

Remove pans from oven and drizzle syrup evenly over baklava. Let cool. When cool, recut diamonds, making sure to cut all the way through. Store at room temperature for up to a week, or longer refrigerated. Warm to room temperature before serving.

* When I was teaching my kids how to fold laundry, we came up with the designations "hamburger" and "hot dog" for folding things crosswise and lengthwise respectively.

** It is better to put on too many nuts near the bottom and have to stretch them later than to skimp at the bottom and overload the top. The latter makes cutting more difficult.

Let me know if you try this! It's yummy, but definitely a special-occasion treat.

Alleluia! He is risen!!

Passing through between festive events to wish you all a most blessed Easter! I'll be back by the end of Easter week (and trying not to whine too much about what kept me away all this time -- nothing bad, just "life.")

Hi There

I am plodding along at the interview. I have about two pages in Word just for the first question, and I'm only about 1/3 of the way through with that question! My family says I have a tendency to put in all the irrelevant details, and I guess they're right. But when I finally finish this tome, y'all will know a lot about me!

Seven Quick Takes -- Apology Edition

Although I have been working diligently on an extended blog post, I just looked at the date on that last one and went "Oops! I feel like I'm working, but they can't see it." So here you go:

1) The post I am working on is a set of interview questions asked by Lindsay. Let's just say it's turning out to be a whopper, and I've actually already decided to post each of the six questions separately. So something to anticipate.

2) One reason I haven't given the interview more time is that I'm a member of Tommy's HS Band Boosters. His school is hosting a state band event next weekend, and the boosters are responsible for feeding 80 to 100 judges and other officials. And I get to do it :-o!! I have done this for the last few years, but this year we decided not to use the school cafeteria kitchen for financial reasons. Therefore I am cooking at home, and serving up two hot casseroles and a vegetable in borrowed turkey roasters. (Also salad and rolls and butter.) Should be interesting!

3) Speaking of turkey roasters -- when Rosie and Anthony got married in Idaho, I fell in love with the kitchen in the church hall where the reception was held. It had all the usual kitchen amenities, plus three rows of double-sided counters with an electric receptacle every three feet. Bring your crock pot, bring your turkey roaster, everything at the potluck can stay hot. And I'm willing to bet that no breakers will blow.

4) The kitchen at my church, on the other hand, was designed by a man. (I can give you his name....) It works OK for the KofC fish fries that he had in mind, but the school lunch moms and the funeral lunch ladies could say a few things to him wish he had talked to them first. And it only works for the fish fries because the Knights have a storage room elsewhere.

5) I'm sure you all can see the incongruity, but all-you-can-eat fish fries in Lent drive me crazy. Especially when you can smell the oil heating as you come out of the Good Friday liturgy.

6) Spring officially arrives today! But, um, this is Michigan. Monday was spring, all right, but today is not, nor was yesterday. I like all four seasons, but the back-and-forth at the changes sometimes gets to me. Nevertheless, the sky is blue and the maple tree outside my window is budding. I guess I'll take what I can get.

7) I have made it through the Wimsey books to Gaudy Night. That and Busman's Honeymoon are my favorites, so I predict a quick finish. And there's a question about books in the interview, so stay tuned.

More Quick Takes are here.

Small House??

This is another post inspired by Jen at Conversion Diary. I hate typing in comments’ boxes, so I answered her questions here.

Questions for families with small houses

1. How big is your house/apartment? How many square feet, bedrooms and baths?
Our current house has 1600 square feet, currently 4 bedrooms and two full baths. One of the bedrooms was a playroom when the kids were small.

2. How many people are in your family?
We raised six children here (four girls, two boys); right now the youngest are 16 (boy) and 18(girl).

3. What are the rooming arrangements? Who shares bedrooms with whom?
The youngest two now each have their own room. The most packed we’ve ever been was when all four girls were in one room before we refitted the playroom. Bunk beds in all rooms.

4. If you could add just 150 sq. ft. of space to your house, what would you use it for?
Actually, we feel like we have! We added a 12 by 20 deck on the front two years ago, and “live” there in the summer. But since this is Michigan, it averages out to 150 sq. feet year round. :-D

5. To what extent (if any) does the size of your home impact your decision about whether or not to have more children?
Not in any way. We wanted 8 children, had to be satisfied with the 6 (living ones) God sent, and would have welcomed any more that came. This may have been influenced by the fact that I grew up with one brother in about 800 square feet, and my husband is one of seven children raised in about 1700.

6. Tell us your tips! What are some creative things you've done to fit everyone in and make it work?
For starters, buy an old house! The bedrooms are much larger. Current taste calls for big public rooms and small bedrooms (except the “master suite”.) Only now, with sons-in-law and grandchildren, is our living room too small for Christmas and such. “Needing” lots of space and separation is another form of materialism. Another thing that helped is not having a television. Eight people all curled up with books fit in less space than eight who all have to be able to "see". And of course the old "A place for everything and everything in its place." doesn't hurt at all!

Seven Quick Takes Friday

(Seven Quick Takes Friday is hosted by Jen at Conversion Diary.)

I haven't tried this before, but a number of the blogs I read have, so here goes:

1) Spring Forward! PLEASE remember to set your clocks ahead one hour when you go to bed tomorrow night (or at 1 AM if you stay up that long.) -- This message brought to you as a public service announcement from somebody who is always blindsided by Daylight Saving Time shifts, especially if they make me lose an hour's sleep.

2) As I mentioned in this post, I gave up a variety of goodies for Lent. I am astounded at how much I seem to have been depending on some kind of sweets after dinner. I wander around the kitchen seeking something I may licitly devour. Guess I needed that!

3) In companion news, I also added a positive discipline. Our family has said Evening Prayer from The Liturgy of the Hours together for almost two decades now. This year I undertook to add Morning Prayer (which Roger has done since we started.) I do it alone -- we're on very different schedules -- sometime before 9 AM. Quite honestly, I thought this would be the harder discipline, since I've given up various foods before. But I'm finding that I like it; it anchors my day, makes it smoother somehow. This one's a post-Lent keeper!

4) Our neighbor is dying. He's had a brain tumor for years, undergone various treatments that helped for a while, but has been definitely failing recently. For the past few days the neighborhood has been full of lots of cars coming and going -- family and friends making sure they get to say goodbye. Please pray for Mark and his family.

5) Our grandson Blaise will be baptized this Sunday. We will be driving down to where Arwen and Bryan live in time for 11:15 mass, with the baptism to follow. Then Rosie and Anthony are hosting a party at their house. Lots of people coming, including the godparents and Maggie, who is on spring break. But I wish it wasn't on spring-forward Sunday!

6) I need a new desk chair. This one sinks and rises unpredictably, and the arms are rarely the same height, despite adjustments. But a new one is not in the budget. Oh, well.

7) Roger and I get an almost-like-being-newlyweds date night tonight. Tommy is playing at the district Band Festival and will be gone for five or six hours. Katie is babysitting for the band director and will be gone even longer. We will enjoy shrimp and brie with wine at home (all bargain purchases, just like when we were newlyweds!) and then go to Barnes and Noble to spend our Christmas gift cards, and probably take advantage of the discount on cheesecake with an espresso purchase. Ah, those were the good old days!

Be sure to click the link above to see other Quick Takes, and I'll see you next week sometime.

Lord Peter Redux

It is symptomatic of how my life has been recently that I am still only half-way through the Wimsey books. I returned the two Paton-Walsh books to the library unread, and will check them out again when I get to that point. Fortunately, I own (battered decrepit paperback) copies of all the remaining books, so I continue slogging through. I expect to finish Have His Carcase as soon as I finish this post.

It is also symptomatic of the way my life always is that I have managed to read several other books during this period of "only" reading Sayers. The best new-to-me book has been Thirteen Orphans by Jane Lindskold. She has also written a number of books in the "Wolf" series, which don't appeal to me, but this starts a new series and I enjoyed it. I don't want to give away too much, but just let me say that if you enjoy fantasy novels AND mah jongg, then this one is for you. And if you just like fantasy novels, give it a try.

The other fiction I have succumbed to are some very old favorites by Mary Stewart. I don't particularly like her Arthurian cycle, but The Moon-Spinners and This Rough Magic I've read too many times to count. I hadn't thought about them in years, but I got into a conversation with one of the ladies at the Wednesday noon service I attend, and she mentioned that she still loved Mary Stewart. So off to the library I went. . .

And now I'm going to go polish off Have His Carcase and move on to Murder Must Advertise. Caveat emptor, and hope to be back here soon.

Um, What Day Is It Again??!!

Yesterday was my birthday (as those of you who know me on Facebook are aware); I'm now 58. That may be a post of its own, but this isn't it. This is a food post, which I should save for Tuesday, but I have time today, so. . .

One of the downsides of having my birthday at the end of February is that most years my birthday falls in Lent. And although people assure me that it's OK to dispense myself from whatever Lenten discipline involving food I've chosen, that feels like a cop-out. This year, however, I gave up cookies, candy, and any sweet treat I make myself. So I was/am able to enjoy the flourless chocolate cake that Katie whipped up (topped with strawberries and almonds -- yum!!) But yesterday was still a Friday.

My birthday dinner of choice is beef pot-roast with carrots, potatoes and onions. Actually, we're having that tonight. ( ;-D ) But yesterday had to be meatless. And I didn't think it was outside the spirit of abstinence to pick a recipe that I like. So in case you need something for the next few Fridays, here it is:

Monterey Beans and Cheese

Fry, drain, and crumble 2 slices bacon*. Saute in bacon fat until tender one medium onion, chopped**. Add one 15oz can beans***, drained, rinsed, and mashed; 1 cup tomato sauce ****, 1 t. chili powder*****, 1/2 t. salt, and a dash of pepper. Stir until smooth and hot. Add 1/4 to 1/2 pound cheddar cheese******, shredded, and bacon bits. Stir until cheese is melted. Serve over cooked rice. Serves six.

* If you are going totally meatless, start with 2T oil and omit bacon. We eat this dish year-round.
** The original recipe called for half onion, half green pepper. Green pepper doesn't fly in this house.
***I use red beans. The original recipe called for kidney beans. The original recipe also did not mash the beans, but most of my family won't eat beans they can see. Mashed and/or refried are OK. Go figure!
**** An alternate, especially if you are using unmashed beans, is 2 medium tomatoes, diced, plus 1/4 c. (reconstituted) beef bouillon or tomato juice. I sometimes throw in about 1/2 t. powdered bouillon with the tomato sauce.
*****Even with the medium-hot chili powder I use, this is a relatively mild dish. Heat lovers can add more to taste.
****** I use the full 1/2 # of extra-sharp cheddar. Monterey jack or pepper jack would probably work, too. I always shred my own cheese; the pre-shredded tastes "floury" to me.

An additional advantage to this recipe is that it's quick. If all the ingredients are on hand, you can whip up the whole thing in the 20 minutes it takes the rice to cook. If you're serving a big crowd, it doubles nicely, but you need a big pan.

Have a lovely weekend (what's left of it), and I promise another post early next week.

Vale, Alleluia!

Today is the last Sunday before Lent. Depending on your tradition, it may be called "Last Epiphany", "Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time", or probably some things I've never heard. I grew up calling it "Quinquagesima", which roughly means "Sunday within 50 days of Easter." At any rate, in the more-liturgical Christian denominations this is the last Sunday until Easter on which "Alleluia" can be sung or said as part of the mass/service/liturgy. I even have heard of places where all the special music for Easter had to be fully rehearsed by today (well, OK, by Tuesday) because nobody was allowed to even practice songs containing Alleluia between Ash Wednesday and Easter.

I don't know of anybody today who is quite that stringent, but I do like the custom of saying Farewell ("Vale" in Latin) to Alleluias by tossing a good number of them into the music for Quinquagesima. My favorite case of this was a couple of years ago when we happened to hit this Sunday at Arwen's parish. Alleluias were liberally distributed through all the songs, capped by Song of Thanks, in which the chorus consists of "Alleluia" repeated sixteen times. Since it also has six verses (and they sang all of them) and starts with the chorus, that was 112 of them. Almost enough to last me till Easter!

Unfortunately, in my current parish the music director -- although a wonderful and talented person -- is a convert not raised in any church, liturgical or otherwise. The rhythms of the church year are not something that come naturally to her. So the only Alleluias the choir sang this weekend were in the Gospel Acclaimation. (It was a good long one.) So I'll sing some to myself these next two days, and then reluctantly bid farewell to Alleluia. Until Easter!

Musical Monday -- Ambient Music Edition

I have to admit that while I love music, sing in the choir at church, and play both flute and guitar (neither one very well any more,) I tend to not turn on music around the house. I attribute this to the fact that as I get older, I have learned that I can only handle so much going on around me, and when the kids were a bit younger adding music to the mix put me on fairly continuous sensory overload. This lead to grumpiness and other negative stuff. So although Roger and the kids listen to a fair amount of music, with and without headphones, I am almost never the one turning it on.

Several years ago when George was still living at home and bought his first MacBook (out of his retail job earnings,) it came with a "free" iPod nano. I've lost track of how many and which kinds of iPods my kids have bought -- Tommy currently has a "touch" model -- and George decided that the free one should be "Mom's iPod." He loaded it up with the music I requested, acquired a cute pink "skin" for it, and gave it to me. And I listened to it maybe 20 times, and that's a generous estimate. Quite aside from the sensory bit, I am not a headphones person, which I've known since I got my first transistor radio back in the late 50's. (Yes; I'm old.) I eventually passed it on to one of the girls. And that was that.

I mentioned that Roger listens to music; usually he plays it from his laptop while he's working in the home office. If I did want to hear music during the day, the office was somewhere something that suited my taste was likely to be playing. Until about a year ago.

Last summer Roger got a new laptop. Because his laptop is his work machine, he installed a particular Linux distribution which meshed with the system his client at the time was using*. Which was great, except that the Linux release had no sound-card drivers for the particular machine he wanted. No sound card = no sound = no music. Even though there are other computers in the office which did have working sound, they just weren't convenient enough, for things like turing the music off quickly if the phone rang. So the office became mostly silent.

And I missed the music. Apparently, with fewer kids at home, my overload was reduced, and I was starting to enjoy having some music around. But now it was gone again.

Last week while I was away helping Arwen while Blaise was in the hospital, Roger decided to update his laptop. The customer he had last summer is no longer in the picture (job completed), and he and Tommy decided that maybe a different distribution of Linux would solve some ongoing problems with the touchpad. Which it did. And it also had sound drivers! As I sit here typing I am listening to The New World Symphony coming from the desk to my left. I'm delighted!!!

* Tech speak -- don't worry if you don't understand it; I just parrot the explanations they give me.

Whatcha Readin' Wednesday -- Lord Peter Wimsey

I can't remember when I first read a Lord Peter Wimsey mystery. I can't even remember which one it was. My best bet is that it was sometime in the 1970's, as I read my way through the library stacks in my hometown in Pennsylvania, and then in my new town in Ohio. I do know that once I had read one, I kept looking for them until I had read them all (12 novels and a couple of short-story collections.) And I passed this enthusiasm for Dorothy L. Sayers' creation along to my daughters.

Last Christmas, looking for an unexpected-type present for me, Roger discovered a non-fiction book -- The Remarkable Case of DOROTHY L. SAYERS, by Catherine Kenny. (Kent State University Press, Ohio) I have been slowly working through it, and am finding it interesting. But what I have mostly learned so far is that it was time for me to revisit the Peter Wimsey books, in order. I like to reread favorite series straight through (Narnia, Harry Potter, Amelia Peabody and more), but I've never actually done it with the Wimsey stories. This is probably because I only own some of them, based on what was available (usually at the Friends of the Library sale) when I had funds to buy them. But between my tattered paperbacks and the library's storage section, I've managed to collect them all.

I have finished the first three (Whose Body, Clouds of Witness (my least favorite), and Unnatural Death), and expect to polish off The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club before dinner, as soon as I post this. I am intrigued to notice things that Kenny mentions in her book; mostly that the stories, and Lord Peter, mature as the series progresses. Kenny makes the argument that Gaudy Night and Busman's Honeymoon, which have always been my favorites, are actually well-rounded novels which only incidentally have a mystery as their focus, and I'm starting to see what she means.

I also got from the library Thrones, Dominations and A Presumption of Death by Jill Paton Walsh. The first of these is Walsh's attempt to finish an incomplete manuscript by Sayers; the second is her own plot continuing with the same characters. I read these when they first came out, and at that time thought they were acceptably "Sayers-ish", but we will see whether that still holds directly after a read-through of the real thing. I'll keep you posted!

Grandma Update

Well, it turns out that even Grandma was an optimist. Blaise finally got out of the hospital yesterday. He was always "getting better"; it just takes a long time for such tiny ones to get their oxygen levels up. He and Arwen are now trying to get this "normal living" thing down.

I had to come home on Friday, but Katie took my place, and Arwen's good friend Lauren flew in for a couple of days, since Bryan was already into negative vacation days. I am ever-so-slightly jealous, since they are going to get the new-baby-cuddling fun that I missed, but Camilla needed me last week, so I just need to suck it up. But I may need to go and visit again soon.

I will have a regular post up in the next day or so, but I just wanted to reassure and thank those of you who have been wondering and praying.