D19’s college classes started today. He came home happy and seemed to think he would like the three classes he had today: Art History, English and Jazz Appreciation. Tomorrow he’s got Algebra and some kind of required “how to study” class that all Freshmen take. He popped by Scott’s office after the first class and then later they went out to lunch.
Scott really enjoyed that having the older boys were in college where he works – he would see them around the campus and get to take them out to lunch pretty often.
When he came home around 2 we went back over to campus to buy some more books he needed for the English class and then he and a group of buddies went over to the campus health and wellness center to work out.
In other news, I was tickled to be informed that one of my website designs was chosen to appear on the Rockettheme showcase page. Rockettheme is a professional grade Joomla template club and that’s what I’ve been using for the core of my clients’ web designs lately, although I tend to do a lot of modifications to “make it our own”. That’s because I started out years ago designing websites from scratch. Templates make tons of sense when you’re building a CMS based website, but I can’t feel good about the work unless/until I’ve modified it!
The roses are having their best August yet, thanks to milder than normal temps, more rainfall, and the fact that I have FINALLY gotten wise to feeding them enough. I thought I was feeding them enough in previous years but this summer I’ve been giving them more. I’ve put alfalfa around the base of each rose and given them a good shot of Miracle Gro through a hose-end feeder every ten to fourteen days. I have another hose-end feeder that I have Bayer Advanced Disease control for roses in. I go around and spray all the roses with that every couple of weeks or more often if I see signs of disease. It does a great job here in our humid climate. See — I’m getting my systems and equipment down.
I had a horrendous case of heartburn this morning coupled with lack of sleep, so we didn’t go to church.
But I stumbled across this beautiful poem/photography series from Ann of A Holy Experience and was nurtured by its beauty.
They hadn’t slept tangled under the same cotton for years —
she’d howled without a sound in the empty queen
in the spare for years, door and soul locked hard—
and when the ache had hollowed her all out,
Mama filled the nights with piecing
shorn threads together, thin, fragile stitches, needle piercing,
and I watched when she laid the last of the color patches
out on black sky….
I figured I’d be slammed with work when I came back from vacation. In fact while I was on vacation, I received a heads up from the management of a certain band that they were ready to use my services to do some updating on their site–a project we’d discussed some time ago. When I thought of adding that to the work I already had lined up, I was a little nervous, but so far scheduling has always worked out fine, so I assumed I’d be very busy but that things would work out as they usually do. However, none of those projects are moving forward at the moment for whatever reason.
So I’m in a lull. I decided to use the time to become more familiar with Photoshop. I normally use Fireworks as my go to tool for graphics and image adjusting. I’m finding it both fun and frustrating. Sometimes I’ll dive into a tutorial to learn a certain process and I’ll be an hour into it and think….gee, I bet I could do this same thing in Fireworks. That happened today.
Here’s some worn edges on a photo border, an effect you frequently see.
The tutorial that explains the basic idea on how to wear out those edges is here: http://www.cameronmoll.com/archives/000025.html
And then based on the next tutorial in that series I made a little retro-inspired logo for my husband’s hobby:
And then I worked on a tutorial for making a crazy over-the-top 80’s style design – I don’t foresee ever using this “look” but I learned a lot of basics in the process!
Next up, I followed a tutorial for making a photo look old:
And one more:
I’ve been adding to this post throughout the week as I have completed more tutorials. The upshot is I am much more familiar with Photoshop now than I was, and the other day when I opened up Fireworks–my old standby that I have used for years–I felt a little bit disoriented!
Just like we try to avoid shopping at Walmart, we also try to avoid chain, fast food and “box” restaurants when travelling. That can be challenging when travelling by car on the interstate, when the only hint that food is nearby is offramp signboards displaying logos of nearby fast food and chain restaurants.
The authors of the “Road Food” column in Gourmet magazine have a website: Roadfood.com which is loaded with tips on great local restaurants.
Roadfood means great regional meals along highways, in small towns and in city neighborhoods.
It is non-franchised, sleeves-up food made by cooks, bakers, pitmasters, and sandwich-makers who are America’s culinary folk artists.
Roadfood is almost always informal and inexpensive; and the best Roadfood restaurants are colorful places enjoyed by locals (and savvy travelers) for their character as well as their menu.
It is our intention that Roadfood.com will lead the way to:
- great local color
- the best regional specialties
- unforgettable diners, celestial barbecue, and four-star pig-outs galore!
Roadfood.com turned us on to a couple of great places near our destination, Moody’s Diner in Waldoboro where we stopped in for pie twice during our stay and once for breakfast, and The Brown Bag in Rockport which had a wonderful healthy breakfast and bakery. If I had a mobile connection to the web, I could have used the site’s search feature to locate local restaurants in just about any town we found ourselves at mealtime along our route.
Tulipgirl held her 6th Annual Ezzo Week(end) and I missed it! I was gone on vacation that weekend – poor planning! ;-)
Here’s the official link:
http://www.tulipgirl.com/index.php/2009/07/our-6th-annual-ezzo-weekend-2009/
It’s important for parents to consider well and to educate themselves on the issues raised around Gary Ezzo’s controversial child care books and classes. Tulipgirl covers the issues delicately and thoughtfully.
Parents are ever more pressured in today’s world, but babies come into the world with the same set of needs as ever. I’m proud to be friends with and related to many younger parents who meet the needs of their young ones creatively, generously, patiently, unselfishly and well. You are all an inspiration.
Happy Birthday, Dan!!!!
We packed a lot into 8 days. The main idea was to drive out to Maine and home again. Google Maps says that’s 22 hours each way. We ended up with three nights at our motel in Maine and lots of great sightseeing on the way out. On the way home we pretty much high-tailed it back here as fast as we could.
Scott and I agree, as a general rule, we’d much rather drive than fly if at all possible. We read most of Fellowship of the Ring and the first third of the Two Towers over the course of our drive out and back from Maine, which added to the shared pleasure of the trip.
We enjoyed seeing Lake Erie, especially enjoying a lakeside walk at Geneva-by-the-Lake at sunset. We enjoyed seeing Niagara Falls the next morning. We really loved taking small roads through New York State and ended up at the Corning Museum of Glass where we were just wowed by the beauty of the glass art and got to see a master glass blower and his assistant create a beautiful vase. We were there for the last demonstration of the day and they explained that because it was the last, it would be a technically more difficult piece. You must go if you ever have the opportunity. I’ve seen glass-blowing demonstrations before but never like this. Corning was a beautiful town and we had dinner afterwards there.
Next day we drove through the beautiful Berkshires and through Massachusetts and out on Cape Cod and then up to Plymouth harbor where we had dinner and saw a replica of the Mayflower. We lucked into a beautiful hotel room that night south of Boston and next day made it up to our motel outside of Rockport ME by mid-day. We had selected it on the internet and were thrilled when we pulled in the drive to discover that the lovely pictures we had seen did not do it justice. The view from our room over the cove was beautiful and we enjoyed it so much over the ensuing days.
Over the next three days we enjoyed the ocean air, the low-key harbors, the beautiful flower gardens and relaxing, beautiful drives up the coast and into the countryside.
Coming home is nice too…gradually catching up on the catching up….
Why do I post on my blog when I’ve cooked something the family likes? Mainly so that I’ll remember to fix it again someday! My poor family jokes that if something is delicious, inexpensive and easy to prepare, chances are they’ll never get to have it again.
This sandwich, another recipe from the Pioneer Woman cooking pages, is a WINNER. Recommended pairing: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/10/pioneer_womans_favorite_sandwich/
I made this delicious cake yesterday. The leftovers are even better today. I need to make it next Christmas-time. It’s from a cooking blog my son told me about: Pioneer Woman Cooks. Here’s the recipe. The blog author calls it Grandma Iny’s Prune Cake.
Molly at Adventures in Mercy has another one of her from-the-gut transparent posts about her experience in separating from her husband. This one is about reactions from the Christian community around her.
Here, Let Me Tell You How to Live Your Life
In the comment thread one woman mentions an upcoming visit with a friend she suspects will announce her intention to get divorced during their visit. As a friend who was in the wedding party of this couple, she’s struggling with the feeling that there might be something she should or could say to talk her friend out of it. But in the meantime she is mulling over just saying:
1. I’m so sorry you are going through this.
2. I’m also sorry I haven’t been there for you (we’ve lost contact over the years)
3. Is there anything I can do for you?
I think those are good things to say, and a good place to stop. And then listen.
I’ve been really busy. I have three active website clients right now where I usually prefer to handle one at a time. The good thing about having three, though, is that it forces me to be methodical and helps me regard my work as a business. It has been a business for awhile now….a fact that was driven home to me when my city called me up and said I have to buy a business license in order to legally do what I do.
Also my next door neighbor did move into a retirement home (assisted living apartment) and has needed a good bit of help in getting settled. It’s going to be a wonderful place for her, and I’m very impressed with it. She has a large apartment — 2 BR/2BA apartment with a large living room and a small kitchen alcove and wonderful windows. It’s a very clean, sunshiny space. I have had to interact with the staff on a daily basis and they have been unfailingly supportive, interested, and helpful. She knows people who live there, and they have already reached out to her.
It’s just that this move came up so suddenly, she had no time to prepare herself, either practically or emotionally, and she’s also dealing with so many physical problems that she can’t do anything on her own to sort her situation out. It’s truly a time for friends, neighbors and church friends to come to her aid (since she has no family anywhere nearby, and no close family at all.) I’ve been running errands for her and visiting her daily, unpacking her things in her new home and also just visiting. Fortunately she has a couple of other faithful ladies from her church who have been extremely dedicated about making sure she’s taken care of.
In Christianity we have a hope – a vision for the future, where God “will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away…”
And another thing, I’ll bet every craziness will be wiped away. And that someone like Michael Jackson’s inner torments will all be untwisted and brought round to all their best, most innocent starting places and fulfillments. Today I spent some time watching Michael Jackson videos, from the child star singing “I Want You Back” to the likes of “Smooth Criminal” and “Dirty Diana” and the Billie Jean performance that introduced the “moonwalk”.
When my oldest was around two years old, our good friends got their daughter (same age as our son) the Thriller album for her second or third birthday. I never heard “Billie Jean” or “Beat It” outside the context of our friends putting it on for the little kids to “dance” to, but of course I couldn’t NOT enjoy those beats.
I did not realize Michael Jackson is (was) my exact age. It is hard for me to process that a person with such a huge personality and presence could die…just like that. May he know and enjoy peace now.
Scott, who is in hospital with a back injury says this bread will be a key to his recovery once he comes home (tomorrow or tonight):
5 minute artisan bread with Zoe and Jeff:
A favorite summertime dinner around here is this dish which was introduced to me by my brother, who got it from the America’s Test Kitchen program aka Cook’s Illustrated. Here is a blogger who reproduced the recipe:
http://redmeatandgin.wordpress.com/2008/02/22/pasta-with-sauteed-mushrooms-and-thyme/
I grow thyme every year in my back porch herb pots, and mainly use it in this dish. The flavors are subtle, and go nicely with Protocolo, an inexpensive (under $10) but nice Spanish red wine.
It’s true that church, in its root meaning, is the assembly of believers, it’s the people. Church didn’t originally connote a building. But get enough people assembling together and you might want a building.
A building, then. In some parts of the world, you build a hut and are grateful for the hospitable shade. In other parts of the world, you have the luxury of choices. Outwardly it could have functionality and beauty. Before any greeting is given, any word spoken, any sacrament shared, the building could convey theology in wood and stone. Its design could serve its churchly purpose – or thwart it.
I remember being in NYC – such a secular place – but a place with hundreds, if not thousands of beautiful, impressive churches. Those buildings lift their soaring steeples and say things about beauty and worship and transcendence – or provoke questions – what purpose inspired such extravagance of carving and arch and window and vaulted heights?
There was a recent trend towards building church buildings that looked more like a mall or other bland public building — so as not to seem outlandish to visitors. Other church buildings have been put up with all possible frugality – to keep the focus on money flowing toward acute needs in the human family around the world. I can think of no argument against that. But apart from that, I’m for architecture that speaks in its own way about the sacred and lifts spirits with its beauty.
Here is an article published in Christianity Today about a growing preference towards church buildings that look like church buildings. “Keeping Holy Ground Holy”
“When we built it, there was a lot of movement towards the warehouse look, with black ceilings,” says Dana Blackwood, Church of the Apostles’ director of facilities. “The church leadership understood that that look was going to fade. People wanted to have a sense of tradition, something that looked like a church.”
Gosh, it was a gorgeous day today. I spent it mostly outdoors, thanks to the companionship of two friends and their children. Young children are great for getting one outside!
In the morning Wild Cow and I went to the park with her two children and in the afternoon I sat out in the backyard of Bluebonnetgirl (who lives around the corner from me) while her little boy napped on her lap and her little girl played.
It was probably one of the prettiest days we’ll see this year, and even though Bluebonnetgirl and I sat out through the late afternoon and into the evening (sorry! I really didn’t realize how late it was getting!) there were no bugs at all.
In between those pleasant outdoor times, I visited my neighbor at the convalescent center which is also a long-term care nursing home. It appears to be well-staffed but it’s kind of grim; I hope she can come home soon.
When I first met her 13 years ago, I asked her if she had children. “No, thank God,” she said. “I left all that sort of thing to my brother.” But now in her early 70’s she’s in poor health and alone: her husband died a few years ago; her brother died last year. She has a sister-in-law in Chicago. That’s it.
I am partly sad and partly relieved to hear that she is planning to move to an assisted living place once she gets out of the convalescent center.
Adventures in Mercy is back! Alaskan Molly is back with her sparkling, transparent and insightful “chronicle of a woman taking her first fumbling steps out of fundamentalism.”
It’s Graduate’s Choice tonight so I’m revisiting this recipe in case I need to make it tonight. It’s one of his favorites.
Green Thai Curry
1 can coconut milk, divided
1 t green Thai curry paste (to taste–a heaping teaspoon in this recipe was plenty for me, I’m wimpy)
1 onion thinly sliced (flexible)
handful sliced green or red peppers if you have them
2 cups veggies, steamed (flexible)
1 minced green onion (flexible)
bamboo shoots if you have them
1 pound-or so-chicken breasts, chopped into 1 inch pieces
oil to saute chicken in
1 or 2 t sugar
1 t fish sauce — slop in according to taste
fresh lime juice–squeeze in a nice juicy half-lime or to taste
handful chopped cilantro
sliced fresh basil leaves–some for sauce, some for garnish
serve over rice with additional lime, cilantro, and basil as desired
Instructions
1. In largish pot, bring 1/4 can of the coconut milk and the curry paste to simmer. Stir in the rest of the can of coconut milk, sugar, and fish sauce. Bring to a simmer; let cook 1 minute.
2. Meanwhile you’ve steamed the veggies.
3. Meanwhile you’ve also sauteed the chicken and onion slices in oil–make sure chicken is cooked through.
4. Add chicken and veggies to coconut milk mixture. Add bamboo shoots if you have them. Add chopped cilantro, lime and basil. Mix well, make sure everything’s nice and hot.
Serve over rice.
This was more than plenty for three.
Senior days continue. Remember how D18 was inducted into the National Honor Society?
Well, nothing says, “hey! We’re really proud of you!” like a little red sports car!
Congratulations, D18! We ARE really proud of you!
