Twenty-five years of Love



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Happy 25th Anniversary






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Christmas Quartet



Hearing them sing together is the best Christmas present ever!

Brown Thrasher



Unusual for this bird to be at the feeder, as they are *ground feeders,* usually *thrashing* about the leaves underneath bushes. Hence, the name. At any rate, I captured just this frontal view which doesnt really do justice to the actual size of this bird. Ignore the splashes on the window panes as they are above my kitchen sink and impossible to keep pristine.

I hope to capture the Carolina wren one day. He sits on the deck railing and sings his heart out: his entire body warbling with his song.

Finally remembered to post the picture of the split pea soup over on my xanga site.

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Jehoida

I commend to your attention this article at Breakpoint.

Powerful!

Click on the time and let me know if you have ever read anything by Moore.

Work and Joy

Each day I live I thank the Lord
I do the work I love;
And in it find a rich reward,
All price and praise above.
For few may do the work they love,
The fond unique employ,
That fits them as a hand a glove,
And gives them joy.

Oh gentlefolk, do you and you
Who toil for daily hire,
Consider that the job you do
Is to your heart's desire?
Aye, though you are to it resigned,
And will no duty shirk,
Oh do you in your private mind
Adore your work?

Twice happy man whose job is joy,
Whose hand and heart combine,
In brave and excellent employ
As radiantly as mine!
But oh the weary, dreary day,
The wear and tear and irk
Of countless souls who cannot say:
'I love my work.'

Robert W. Service

Boredom



There is no reason why you should be bored when you can be otherwise. But if you find yourself sitting in the hedgerow with nothing but weeds, there is no reason for shutting your eyes and seeing nothing, instead of finding what beauty you may in the weeds.
Emily Post


I have always thought that the statement *I'm bored* reveals more about the speaker than the situation at hand. But today I have found a tool to share (probably only with my own children) which explains precisely what to do when that phrase does run across your mind.

A Very Special Artist



Check out her work.

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Pumpkin Soup

Here's yet another picture of a soup I've made this month.

I had some for lunch with brown bread.

That *wedge* in the picture was my dessert:

Brie stuffed with fig preserves and roasted, salted pecans and baked in puff pastry.


Yum!



Here's the link for the recipe.

Stay tuned for more photos because the split pea will be served next week as well as turkey noodle.

We Gather Together



Eight adults were in the dining room. The kitchen table was set for five first cousins.

Italian White Bean and Sausage Soup




Yummy and different! Check out this recipe from Janet who is the sister of Donna. I shared this with my office friends, who gave it rave reviews.

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Family Poetry

Absence

With leaden foot Time creeps along
While Delia is away:
With her, not plaintive was the song,
Nor tedious was the day.

Ah, envious Pow'r! reverse my doom;
Now double thy career,
Strain ev'ry nerve, stretch ev'ry plume,
And rest them when she's here!

Richard Jago
English Cleric
1715 - 1781

Wonder if we're related?

Magnolia


I would like to plant a magnolia in my back yard. Click on the time to tell me about a favorite tree in your yard.

Turkey Stock

Today I am slow-roasting a turkey. I know it's a little early. Thanksgiving is still five days hence. But I will need the stock. So, after pulling all the meat off the bones this evening, I will freeze the meat for later use. I will put all the bones and skin in a large (8qt) stock pot and add two carrots, one very large white onion, two stalks celery, a clove of garlic, a few peppercorns, and enough water to cover all that. After bringing it to a boil, I will reduce the heat and let in simmer four hours with the lid cocked. After it cools downs a bit, I will drain the stock, toss out the bones/skins etc, and place the remaining liquid in the refrigerator to chill. The next day, I will skim the hardened fat off the top of the stock and relish in the taste of homemade turkey stock.

Now you are wondering what I will do with that stock. I need at least six cups for the cornbread dressing and four cups for the pearl onion gravy. Oh, and six cups for the pumpkin soup. That only leaves a bit for turkey noodle soup or turkey tetrazzini, two of my favorite Thanksgiving leftovers.

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Thanksgiving Blessings

Today I made two dozen of these treats. Plus I roasted some Georgia pecans for the upcoming holidays.

Fun website for stirring up creative and organizational juices.

How ready are you for next Thursday?

Onlookers by Lucy Shaw

Behind our shield of health, each
of us must sense another's anguish
second-hand; we are agnostic
in the face of dying. So Joseph
felt, observer of the push
and splash of birth, and even Mary,
mourner, under the cross's arm.

Only their son, and God's,
in bearing all our griefs
felt them first-hand, climbing
himself our rugged hill of pain.
His nerves, enfleshed, carried
the messages of nails, the tomb's
chill. His ever-open wounds
still blazon back to us the penalty
we never bore, and heaven
gleams for us more real,
crossed with that human blood.

Wow! Have you ever had a poem grab the the first time you read it? To me it usually takes reading over and over to comprehend most poems. Furthermore, there is a Flannery O'Connor quote after the title in the book Sacrifice of Praise where I found Onlookers.

Sickness is a place...where there's no company, where nobody can follow.

Suffice it to say that I am praying for those who are ill and infirm today.

Click on the time to comment and leave the name of a sick friend who needs prayer.

Hillsdale in the News

Wish I could have been at this dinner party.

Kudos to Michael Sessions

Isaiah's Job

Albert Jay Nock is the author of a very insightful article written in 1936. Carmon mentions it. And to you, I commend it as well.

Be encouraged :)

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Integration

In the second to the last paragraph of Mrs. Schaeffer's chapter entitled *Integration,* she states: 'This true integration comes only when man is integrated with the Trinity.'

I am mildly intrigued by Rosa Parks

O Lord, help me to see people the way You do.

Quick Tortellini and Spinach Soup


2 Tbs olive oil
4 cloves garlic, pressed
1 large onion, minced
2 tsp dried Italian herbs
13 Cups chicken broth
13 oz spinach/cheese tortellini
30 oz crush tomatoes, packed in puree
10 oz fresh spinach, coarsely chopped



Heat olive oil in large stop pot over medium high heat. Sautee onion and garlic, until translucent. Add herbs. Stir well. Add broth and bring to a boil. Stir in tortellini. Simmer 10-12 mins until tortellini is cooked. Stir in tomatoes and simmer another 5 mins. Add spinach. Cover and turn off heat.

Ladle soup into warm bowls and top liberally with grated parmesan cheese.


This was sooooo easy and sooooo yummy on our first very cool night of Fall. Click time to comment :)

Mrs. Schaeffer's quote for the day:
*Food and meal-times shared have always been thought of as a closer kind of communication than simply talking to people, without eating together.*