Monthly ArchiveDecember 2005
Life before 2008 29 Dec 2005 05:23 am
“But the Dreamers of the Day are dangerous people because they act thier dreams into reality with open eyes.”
~ T.E Lawrence
Life before 2008 27 Dec 2005 02:03 pm
Happy Birthday to our new baby!
Haa haaaa…no, we aren’t pregnant!
But a birth has occured…Elicoricity has had it’s beginning today. The website will soon be up and David will be open for the business of selling licorice, one of his favorite things! Much fun will be had and maybe a little money too!
It’s been a good day. The chickens made pinecone bird feeders for our feathered friends, and we had two new ones today! A purple finch and a Tufted Titmouse! It’s sooo much fun discovering all these little chatterers and to be rewarded for our feeding efforts by the crowd that visits daily.
We got leaves raked and some work done preparing the ground in the garden. Got very happy news in the mail that our friends, the Boyds, are execting young’un number two after much waiting! Congratulations!!!!!! We are so very happy for them! The Stevenson children are getting so BIG, the Van Dyk kiddos quite kissable and delicous looking, the Smith crew grows smaller as they out they go….I love all my christmas cards and thier photos and the annual updates they bring. Truly, one of my very favorite things of the year.
Speaking of years…I’ve got a calendar for 2006 to select, some introspection to do about this crazy year we just had, and some big dreaming and planning to do with the one before us! My friend Sarah has reminded me it’s time to be thinking about new things to read and I was inspired by Jeanette’s blog to add new titles to my netflix queue. There’s a garden to plan and a year’s worth of pictures to scrapbook. May the pond that is my life never grow stagnant.
Life before 2008 26 Dec 2005 06:05 am
and christmas continues….
Maybe we’ll have snow soon…..probably not in the next week. We are getting a little anxious for the white stuff to appear though.
In the past few days I’ve blogged alot, talked alot. I’ve got some school stuff to accomplish this week and a house full of guests coming; I’ll most likely take it easier on the old blogspot this week! That’s good for any ears that are reading with interest but think, “Man…she sure does TALK alot!”
Snow…calm…peace…repose. Winter. Christmas. The fufillment of Advent.
Life before 2008 25 Dec 2005 12:48 pm
Ahhhh……..
Christmas Day 2005. All is calm and peaceful. What a blessing!
- yesterday I spent most of the day in the kitchen. Baking the weekend’s bread and rolls, putting together the corn casserole for today’s dinner, making the gumbo from scratch for christmas eve dinner. The boys built a fire in the backyard, had an adventure walk through the woods with daddy, cleaned out the van. Celia played with her doll, helped me a bit, and played with the boys. It was, as David requested, a day “to take it easy” and purposely not do a whole lot. Mission accomplished!
- I had a most interesting flare up of something yet to be specifically defined. Rhumatoid artheritis? Maybe, as it was in the 3rd and 4th toes of both feet. Weird and I’ve never had anything like it. Sore to the touch, swollen, and warm on the last joints of my toes. I spent more than a little time of those kitchen hours contemplating what it would be like to have such limited use of my feet….it kept us home from christmas eve service as well. By the evening I just wanted OFF my feet and to snuggle in my new slippers!!!! I’m so glad they came!!!
- After the dinner of gumbo and rolls and a dessert of christmas cookies, the kids opened thier ‘Eve Gifts’: a box of jammie “hugs” from Grandma and the books “The Giving Tree” and “Pat The Bunny” (for the baby). Andrew read the passage from Luke for our family worship time and then later read The Giving Tree. I always cry in that story! They scattered off to bed early to listen to thier story CD’s in thier new jammies. David drifted off reading a new book of Bonehoffer sermons and I had tea while watching British comedies. All was quiet, the garland lights glistened, and it was enormously restful and uncluttered.
- the baby was subsequently up most of the night; we are unsure of what his problem was. Between his crying and my feet, sleep didn’t come easy, nor was it plentiful. The chickens were in our bed at 6 with thier stockings….Christmas Day was here!!!
- watches, wallets, candy, SOCKS, spatulas, my first U2 CD, licorice, hair bows…the baby got a play phone that records our voice…it was all a happy pile of babies and love, easily cleaned up and hung back up under the warning, “no chocolate before church!”
- showers, Eggs Benedict and hot chocolate, sweaters, dish washing, The Messiah….we were actually out the door ON TIME today!
- Church was wonderful. It’s impossible to relay how much I love having Communion every sunday. And probably just as impossible to put into words how the lack of sensationalism and people pleasing leads to a consistant and focused worship service.
- In the car, I noticed how a day like today brings forth every earth tone, every shade to vibrant life. It was chilly and rainy and foggy…the kind of weather that lays on you and wraps around you. And outside were a million shades of grey, both warm and cool. Olive greens, christmas greens, evergreens. Reds and rusts and purples and golds. Fires and browns. Mist and water and life. We came home and donned flannel and fleece and got cozy for what is surely, a most relaxing christmas.
- Dinner was ham, green beans with almonds, “Hot Corn”, cranapple relish, and chocolate pecan pie for dessert. Clean up was a group effort and we played “Clue” when we were done. Phone calls from family, an afternoon movie, books to snuggle up with.
It may have taken courage to sacrifice a tree, a long gift list requiring debt to obtain, and an “eyes ahead” focus when we were out in stores being tempted. It’s taken that same focus to deal with perceptions that we were scroogy, misguided, or pitiful to not have a classic American christmas. It’s sometimes been hard to say no to little voices wanting what it seems every other child can have. But what is absolutley worth it is the peace and calm conscious that:
- we lived within our means
- we worshiped and kept our gaze on Christ and what He means to us ALL year
- we were not hypocritical before our children, nor did we manipulate situations to mean things they don’t so that we can hold onto trappings we’ve become sentimentally attatched to
- our baby got to play with what he loves most…wrapping paper!
- our kids REALLY savored the simple pleasure of new socks, getting to eat ALL thier candy (because they weren’t given it excessively), and time playing games with mom and dad
- I learned that “family holiday traditional dinners” is an area that I could improve in…I’m not very practiced!
- we are for the first time, okay keeping things up and are not sick and overwhelmed with the idea of “christmas” ending in January, at epiphany. We aren’t rundown. Amazing!
- every single aspect of the holidays that we observed was manageable and a true, valued favorite, from the cards to the cookie baking to the simple decorations to the in-perspective gift giving.
What a journey it’s been since David first suggested we move in this direction! He was right! And it is a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
Life before 2008 22 Dec 2005 04:05 pm
miscellany: the plural of miscellaneous
Er..I’m a “miscellanist”, meaning, I am a writer of miscellanies.
Been havin’ fun with my dictionary this week.
okay so….today:
- David had to unload TWO ice-laden planes before dawn. Think about the magnitude of expense that is…all of them are “next day” deliveries of christmas presents and that’s just for this one, small area. Last week a box broke open and silver bars fell out. Ooops……
- great news!!! He’s getting kept after the first of the year. Seniority or not, they like his work ethic and have the space to keep him. Happy, happy, happy!
- we started a new book, “48 Days to Work You Love” by Dan Miller, forward by Dave Ramsey. Neat stuff. I’m sure I’ll ramble on more about it in the days to come.
- the Turner work party was today; a family lunch. I finally met everyone. It was nice to put names with faces and they had a fantastic chocolate cake with little shavings of white all over. High point: spying extra pallets lying out back for my compost pile construction this weekend. ‘Nuff said.
- David also found a source for two salvaged sash windows for our cold frame! We know what we’ll be doing this weekend!!
- a BIG THANKS to everyone who has sent the chickens money recently. They’ve been saving up thier dollars and today each of them bought a pair of ice skates. As soon as they get here we’ll hit the rink…the kids are super-pumped up!
- We had curried lentils for dinner. Cool that I found way number 106 to make dried beans MORE than palatable! Add a little chutney and raisins and nuts and it was down right fantastic. The kids even had clean plates and no one complained. How often does that happen?
- I’m wishin’ my slippers would get here. Maybe tomorrow. Tonight we’ll snuggle on the couch and listen to another CD from the series we’re in right now, maybe make some popcorn, and watch a crime drama. We are certainly ready for this long weekend.
recipes 22 Dec 2005 03:57 pm
For Gina: My waffle recipe
These are what get me up some mornings…the perfect blend of tang and sweet and soft and crisp. They are what most waffles dream of being when they grow up! They are the epitome of waffledom. Just to cover my britches, I think that great-grandma’s waffle iron has something to do with my turnout…they are consistantly SUBLIME. But I know the recipe has a good deal to do as well. If you have good ingredients, it’s nearly impossible to make bad food!
I don’t measure, so these are approximate:
2 c. flour
1 t. each: baking soda, baking powder, and salt
1 T. sugar
mix that well and add:
2 eggs
1t. vanilla
as much buttermilk as you need to make a good, liquidy-but-not-runny batter. Don’t make buttermilk with milk and lemon…get the real stuff. We go through a half gallon a week between waffles, pancakes, biscuits, and the occassional batch of cookies! Buttermilk makes it ALL better!
In my not so humble opinion, salted, real cream butter and pure maple syrup are the only way to eat these. My kids like them with everything from fried chicken and gravy to berries and cream. But most often, they are puddled with little drops of heavenly gold butter and maple syrup.
I’ve been contemplating what rum would be like in a syrup on waffles. Might try it this week!
Life before 2008 21 Dec 2005 08:57 am
spent some time with my thesaurus and…
in reference to the morning’s syrup, I’ve chosen the word “genial” as my synonym for “warm”.
genial: favorable to growth or comfort; being cheerful and cheering.
Typically chosen to describe a living being, such as a person or a labador retreiver LOL….but had you been at our breakfast table this morning, savoring hot waffles with little puddles of butter and pure maple syrup that had been first warmed…I think you’d agree that it was quite genial indeed!
Food 21 Dec 2005 06:52 am
Frosty mornings….
- tramping outside in my flannel pj’s, coat, boots to get that unsightly heap of broken shelving to the street today must have been a sight. The ground is crunchy and hard and I’d forgotten to put gloves on. But our can’s label says today is our ONE day of the month to get rid of anything that doesn’t fit into our green cart for weekly collection and that stupid shelf unit was GOING. I admit I did do a certain amount of grumbling under my breath, the very breath that was making clouds on the air around me….just because someone says it’s “free…take it” doesn’t mean we SHOULD.
- NPR said a stomach virus with violent symptoms is making it’s way across East TN, via the public school system. About that time, one child came to me complaining he felt dizzy, my own tummy turned, and the baby had a blowout diaper. Since my access to a doctor is similar to that of a pioneer woman on the prairie, I pray this beast keeps it’s distance, or at the least, comes in diluted form. Fear is a powerful monster.
- I noticed this morning over my pillowy, warm waffles bathed in melted butter and (I need a synonym for “warm”) syrup that the One I Love’s arms are getting terrifically buff from this UPS job. The plane was late and packed besides, so he got a couple of extra hours in today. He was not looking forward to selling today at all; frustration abounds with the infrastructure of this company. I guess it must be particularly annoying for him, as he just spent several years working the “other” side of sales…inside support,and doing a reportedly stellar job of it at that. I’m just the wife, the observer, but I know at Healthlink christmas parties, it was a regular occurance to hear the sales guys toast the inside support crew for thier excellent jobs and how helpful it was. David could not say that about the support he gets now…in fact, it seems to be the exact opposite. “No, we can’t do that” or “I haven’t done that yet”, or worse…half-jobs appear to be the rule rather than the exception. His standards are just much higher than that.
- I read yesterday that in order to grow garlic this year, my absolute last day to get the bulbs in the ground needs to be New Year’s. They should have gone in near the Oct/Nov mark but can go in as late as January 1 if the spring ends up being extended. I’m going to work hard to at least get enough done for a small bed; garlic has been a goal to grow for a few years now and I’m too close to reaching it to give up. Onions will go in next and then asparagus. The ground has to be practically chopped right now to get into it; the work will be hard and physical…I can hardly wait! I LOVE hard garden work. It’s immensley satisfying.
- or maybe I won’t. After all, all the “must do’s” of the season are done. In addition to a turned tummy, I’m now getting lightheaded. Perhaps it would be better in the long run to rest and take it easy today…..
Food 20 Dec 2005 10:36 am
I’m having tea and cookies….
at 1:30 in the afternoon. Specifically, a cup of Good Earth, a favorite since my introduction to it by my sister in law Stacy, a few summers ago. And cookies, just recieved via postal girl from my sister in Alabama. My favorite was the chocolate peppermint pinwheels. These peanut buttery cresents are pretty darn good too. There’s also a cream cheese pastry with apricot filling, an old christmas standby in our family, and a spritz. All are perfect with a nice cup of tea.
One of my chickens is playing at a friends’ house….probably hours with a game system and hours more in the woods shooting things. Another chicken, who fell into a clean toilet this morning head first, is bathed and has been nursed and cozied up, and now is napping. The other two are nibbling cookies and watching “George Shrinks”, a fun cartoon about a kid who shrinks to a miniture stature, has many adventures doing regular things as a result, and has great jazz in the background. George is, after all, the child of an artist and a jazz musician. Wins over Pokemon anyday.
And so my tea is warm and I can feel it go all the way down. Maybe it will reach my toes and relieve the tingling numbness. We just got back from the post office so that I could send out my own cookie parcels. May a spare angel or two accompany them else I fear they will be but crumbs upon thier arrival. The dingbat at the PO, albeit friendly, looked as if she’d not seen cookie packages needing boxes before. She actually suggested I mail them in an envelope!!! Alas, they made it into recycled boxes that I still had to pay for, with crumpled priority mail envelopes stuffed in to keep the shifting to a minimum. Family: should they reach you a pulvarized mess, please use them to top a yellow cake and call it “crumb cake”.
…hmmm….The tang in that bite of apricot pastry was perfection, melting in my mouth with a swish of tea. Time for the spritz. It’s green. Erin used to make pink and green spritz cookies; ones I used to shun until she’d discovered Martha and began using real butter. A spritz with crisco just ain’t the same. This one today is green. It’s light and thin. I could see one consuming several under the guise that they haven’t had much as “they are so small”. ‘rin probably rolled all these out and cut them with cutters without a mess on her countertop. She’s always been better at that than I, which why my selections are all drop cookies and hers are all rolled! Well, all but the buttermilk sugars, which are David’s favorites far and away, and what I’d endure making almost no matter what to see the look of happy delight on his face when we walks in and sees a plate full.
It’s cold here today. The birds, the chickadees, the wrens, the robins, and the woodpeckers were all here promptly at noon. They made short work of the popcorn and cranberries we’d strung out for them. The feeder gets refilled every other day….little pigs that they are! We are probably on some kind of “run” they make on area spots; I can just about set my clock by thier arrival.
Dinner is a potfull of Bolognese sauce and pasta. Too bad there’s no wine. When we get through this financial hump, wine will return and we’ll take a BIG break from anything calling for dried beans. I got the bread and rolls done this morning; my best batch yet, thanks to the addition of some honey. What happy seredipity that I can now bake bread! Coming in from our errands to a house full of bread-scent was priceless.
Lookie there…. No tree, no long gift list, no last minute harried shopping trips, and we’re having a very merry christmas, resplendent with coziness, comfort, joy, and hope for the future. I’ve been blessed to recieve cards, parcels from family we love and miss, and see my pretty and lit garlands. Saturday brings a warm pot of seafood gumbo and a service at church; sunday will be Eggs Benedict with hot chocolate, church and worship, and a dinner doing something with ham. Then we get to prepare for our very much anticipated visit with family for New Year’s.
“We interupt this picturesque and verbose blog to announce that two young small fry are in the kitchen arguing over who gets which cookie and who breathed on what. Intervention is advised and should be immediate”
Life goes on.
Food 19 Dec 2005 07:08 am
Gotta share this….
this quote, on my friend Jeanette’s blog, that is is appropriate in my food journeys…..
www.musingsofamiddle-agedwoman.blogspot.com
M.F.K Fischer’s Serve It Forth
Food 19 Dec 2005 06:40 am
Put it under: “She Can Make Her Own…..”
Yesterday’s tally was 3 qts. of applesauce and 2.5 qts. of HOMEMADE CranApple Juice. It’s the most gorgeous red! And, if I’d had the tiny jars, I could have used the puree further to make babyfood. As it was, I could have used my freezer system but with christmas cookies dominating the space, there was no room. So onto the compost pile went the scraps. This morning, over thier buttermilk biskits and sausage gravy, the kids had some of that juice. I was warm and smiley all over. Empowerment Baby! The fruit of my womb enjoying the fruit of my hands. Does it get better than that?
Yesterday David mapped out the garden. It will be 25 x 16 feet of slightly sloping land, richly composted with leaf matter, ash, and coming soon: manure. I haven’t yet delved into what I’ll plant, other than the onions first because they are cold hardy. We put together the plans for the cold frame for starting lettuce and seedlings. Needed: two salvaged window sashes, 2 x 2.
It felt so good to be outside; I hadn’t been for most of last week. I had on my knee boots, stood in deep leaves and dirt, hung bird feeders, and took photos of all that caught my eye. Running up hill to check on my processing jars in the kitchen made my lungs full and open and alive. The tree outside my window is my newest friend, home to birds and soon a baby swing. I can’t wait to see what it looks like in spring, in summer, in fall. Bare in winter, she’s beautiful, every branch reaching up towards the light, hands open. Ever notice how a tree like that is a perfect picture of the worshiper with thier hands lifted to God? Open, vulnerable, grounded yet raised. Yes, I talk to trees…like snowflakes, like grains of sand, like fingerprints, they are all unique. This one knows things. There are signs on the bark of fire, like the inside of the shed. There are pruning scars and knots of mystery. There are low notches for child-sized feet to step into. Like the house itself, it has history, and is rough around the edges. Imperfect and crooked, just like us. I love it.
music 17 Dec 2005 06:49 am
Don’t skip this post just because it’s “wierd Tia” looking stuff…
Sorry if the image is blurred. Do you know who this is? What do you think when you see this picture? Do you, for instance, know the band’s name is ColdPlay, and the front man is Chris Martin? If you veg on celebrity gossip at all, you might know that Chris is married to Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow and they have a daughter named Apple. Do you know why he has and equal sign on the back of his hand? Or when you see a bunch of men in black, looking a little rough around the edges, do you dismiss it? If you saw one of these guys on the street, would you look away and mentally divide yourself?
One day in Atlanta I was sitting in the playroom at Ronald McDonald House. Actually, it was about 2 am and I’d finally left Clara’s bedside long enough for the nurses to beleive I was going home to get some sleep. Ricky Martin (no relation to Chris LOL) had just released Livin’ La Vida Loca and was dominating the video stations. A song came on…a man on a beach just before sunrise. The entire video is of him walking along the shore as the sun gradually comes up. The song is “Yellow”. The lyrics are simple. The way he moved his mouth was mezmerizing to watch. It was just so simple….”I wrote a song for you, it was called Yellow….your skin, oh yeah your skin and bones, turn into something beautiful, you know, you know I love you so….you know I love so…”. Something about taking the complexity of life and love and simplifying it down to something so basic as a word, as a color…it was profound.
And so an adoration for a group was formed. The album was Parachutes but I didn’t get it until after I owned thier second…A Rush of Blood To the Head. By now, Coldplay was getting big press. Lots of comparisons to U2. Chris Martin and boys were emerging with other press too….free and fair trade, African causes, organics, and oh yeah…the famous girlfriend, then wife. By the time thier latest came out, X & Y, this year, they’d become mega-stars. They will be a legendary band. For that reason, even those who don’t know or like thier music should know who they are. They are relevant and if we are to be, we should know who else is and why.
Why are they relevant to me though? This morning I woke up with a clear desire to find my CD and play it loud enough to sing with while I made pancakes. It had to first be confiscated from The One I Love’s car, because it constantly travels back and forth, along with our Nina Simone collection. This album is all about loyalty, safety in relationships, finding comfort in human touch and contact, home lights, committment, dedication, retreat for soul repair. It’s simple lyrics again with rythms that are appropriate and complimentary. It’s not candy-pop. They are poets for our time expressing timeless sentiments and longings.
Fix You:
When you try your best but you don’t suceed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired buy you can’t sleep
Stuck in reverse
And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can’t replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
can it be worse?
Lights will guide you home
and ignite your bones
and I will try to fix you.
And high up above or down below
when you’re too in love to let it go
But if you never try then you’ll never know
Just what you’re worth
Tears stream down your face
when you lose something you can’t replace
I promise I will learn from my mistakes
Lights will guide you home
and ignite your bones
and I will try
to fix you.
We are fighting for what we beleive in here. We are struggling. Numbers are hard and it’s cold and everything takes constant discipline and control. It’s a good fight and we trust it will be won. We are far from giving up or even close to feeling defeated. But we do find ourselves needing to recharge. I know we both needed encouragement this week, a safe retreat and a place to know we could rest. Where God can fix us, even if it’s jut a patch for a little while to get us out there the next day, to keep putting one foot in front of the other, so we can fight the good fight. Run the race, ever closer to the mark. When we tired, and working when the sun is either no longer or not yet up, lights guide us home. Home lights; indications that there is a cozy sanctuary inside where the world can’t get us. Where we can hold one another in comfort, ignite our bones with strength for another day, and keep purpose before our eyes.
Life before 2008 16 Dec 2005 06:53 am
Still, Still, Still…..
“you can hear the falling snow…..”
- from my favorite christmas song. We don’t have snow and moonlight yet, but I’m sure it will come soon. This christmas will be quiet and cozy. I’ve done all the best: baked cookies with my kids, written and sent out the cards (well, half of them anyway), listened to my entire collection, did all the shopping and wrapping in the span of two hours, decorated cookies with friends, made crafts with the kids…still left is a long walk in the cold, decide what our family meals will be, finish the cards, mail out the cookies, and meditate in silence the Miracle of the Light.
- two friends blogged about a death they’d experienced. Not the encompassing kind that devastates and debilitates…but the kind that lingers in the mind, the kind that causes the living to hug each other a bit tighter, to wonder what our own legacies will be. The kind that makes us mourn the unknown and the familiar. It’s a strange kind of death…at the end of a year, in a season where there is so much distraction to get lost in. In thier saddness, there is a wierd closure. The kind of death that will still cross the mind while quietly looking out a window and maybe sigh and cry in spring.
- In the cold night I hugged a trembling little boy, come to us not awake but profoundly afraid. Who knows what caused it…but it’s rare to see a child that shaken. Another was happy to play most of the night through. Another sawed his logs under seven layers. A girl here listed all the things in her dreamhouse, with 14 employees, four stories, a jacuzzi, and 10 locks on each door and then dreamt of it all night…or so she reported over her sausage, eggs, and toast this morning.
- today we deliver a cookie plate, pick up the last of the cubscout popcorn and drop off the check, clean and bake and shop for groceries. It’s bright and beautiful; the bare trees providing a clear view of the teeming bird and squirrel life. The frost has made the yard white and my toes and fingers tingle.
music 14 Dec 2005 05:56 am
Tunes
Image from Amaon, hence the 10% off sticker in the corner.
This has been our latest addition to the holiday music pile. Fun, fun, fun! And kind of soothing and comforting too, since it seems to be a sort of soundtrack from childhood christmases past.
Today we roll and cut the sugar cookies, and make the doughs for a few other kinds. This is always messy, usually a little stressful, but much loved. Tomorrow is the decorating party.
My cold is wrapping up and no one else seem much affected. There’s a snow/rain mix in the forecast for tomorrow…sounds “ick” rather than “oooo”. Yesterday I caught a view of the far-off view of the mountains…bare and snow covered and BEAUTIFUL. It’s not safe to drive around looking at that. Maybe the typical haze that blocks the view is a blessing in disguise….there’d probably be alot more accidents without it!
Life before 2008 11 Dec 2005 03:39 pm
In a house full of redheads…..
- today after I made applesauce, I boiled the peels and cores like the wife of our landlord instructed me to do. I canned the juice and after a sort of panicked call to my Canning-guru friend Anna, water bath sealed them. Now it’s all ready to use for jelly making later in the year. Learning to can is a major BHAG (big hairy audacious goal)!!!!
- I worked on inventing a new cookie today, inspired after one of my favorite flavors of ice cream. I got the dough done well but the mix-ins, temperature, and nutty flavor need some work. And, I now know the smoke detector works just fine….let’s just say, of two baking methods, stoneware or baking sheet with parchment paper, stoneware wins with this recipe.
- Daddy changed Fat Baby into his sleep stuff and just for laughs and giggles asked him the question we ask the most, “Wanna nurse?” Rowan looked at him kind of confused-like, lifted Dad’s shirt, took one look at that hairy chest and pulled the shirt right back down with a whine. Laughs and giggles alright!
- Andrew and Celia had an opera for us today. It went like this (all lines are sung and A was in a suit, C in a long dress)
A: Do you love meeeeee?
C: What kind of question is that?
A: But do you love meeeeee?
(he was on one knee)
C: That’s no excuse!
A: (standing up and pulling her close) Don’t give me any sass! Do you love me?
C: I do!
Sung in falsetto, it was very hilarious….they tried to use Rowan as a prop but he didn’t make it past rehearsal. Wheaton was in charge of lights.
We had fried egg sandwiches for dinner, harking to that favorite afternoon snack my dad used to make. All sloppy gloppy with cheese and mustard….they were fantastic. Of particular note was that they were on MY homemade bread. That I made bread that is edible, let alone a loaf that garnered the compliment from Celia that,
“this bread is better than anything in the store!” Bread and me…well, they go together like iced tea and me. Both fairly simple items have been my nemisis for years. My tea tastes like dishwater and my bread is typically a brick. Along with a strong craving for country music, something changed while I was pregnant with Rowan….and I made a sucessfull bread! Stunning! It was irish soda bread; a fantastic loaf that requires no kneading. But this bread we had this weekend was the real deal. Half whole wheat, half white, yeasted and kneaded and risen and baked. Made by hand, not a machine. And it’s soft and tasty and not destined to only be toast. You know, those recipes that say, “makes excellent toast”? Well, most of my bread is ONLY good for toast…..or shredded bread crumbs. Maybe the curse has been broken. I hope so, because spending 15 bucks a week on our sandwich bread has to be a thing of the past. It’s time to meditate on the virtues of making our daily bread, of integrating it’s cyclic needs into our routine.
The opera continues. They’ve written out thier lines. I’ve stolen thier scripts. It’s entitled, “I Must Have Love, Wonderful Love”.
A: Oh don’t you look beautiful….
C: Thank you so much. You look very handsome.
A: You look like a rose tonight.
C: Yes, I do (my note: modest little thing ‘eh?)
A: What do you want to drink? What is your name?
C: I am not thirsty.
A: Do you love me?
C: I will
Andrew just came in and caught me entering this. He wants to make it clear that he’s only doing this because Celia is paying him dollar for a year of shows…..