Gospel of John
Brad Sherrill is the actor in the photo. He has committed the entire book of John to memory and recites/dramatizes it in a one-man show I finally was able to see this past Sunday.

Here's a link to his website. This production is worth going out of your way to see.

Five stars!

Five Random Questions/Answers

If you could take lessons to learn any musical instrument, which would you want to learn?

I would like to be able to play the piano well. I took lessons as a youngster, but didnt practice enough. Melissa over at Mentalmultivitamin is learning as an adult. I even own two teaching books, aimed at the adult beginner. In short, there's no reason I cant start learning.

Have you ever mistaken a person for someone else?

Of course! and gone up to him/her and spoken.

The funniest one occurred in a bank where I worked. I approached a regular customer as he was completing his transaction with the teller, and told him he looked a LOT like a model in the Lands End catalog. Lo, and behold, IT WAS HE!

On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how well do you keep secrets?

If properly informed that the information is a SECRET, I am a *10*

What's the closest you've ever been to a dangerous animal?

In elementary school, we were placing a *hide-and-seek* type game, and I was sitting in some bushes only to jump up shouting, revealing my location, because a very large, black snack had just slithered across my lap.

When was the last time you lost your patience?

It's a daily occurrence. Thank goodness people are patient with me!

Borrowed from Donna at Quiet Life.

Card Catalog

This is where you'd find me in the library.

Where would I find you?

PS Now that I see the layout, I would like to change the word *artistic* to *discerning*

Winter Luncheon


Loaded Potato Soup
(condiments: shredded white cheddar, bacon bits, spring onions)

Ham Salad w/Alfalfa Sprouts on Pumpernickel



Brother and his wife stopped by for lunch on their way from Alabama to North Carolina. We had a delightful visit. Although I see him and his family often, it is usually at my parent's home. We figured it had been fifteen years since he'd actually been to our house!

Guess I should have been taking pictures of the people instead of the food.

Silly me!

Situational Ethics

When DH was in medical school, there was a class discussion about abortion. The professor proposed a series of questions centered about the question *In this situation, would you perform an abortion?* If a student's answer was yes, he was instructed to take a seat on the opposite side of the classroom.

My DH ended up being the lone student on one side of the classroom, upholding the sanctity of life under all circumstances.

On this day in many states, there are memorial services/marches/events related to the anniversary of the Roe v Wade decision. While I am unable to attend any this year, I will be wearing a lapel pin attesting to human life beginning at conception.












Who's defending life in your state?

Friday Five

Donna's Friday Feast questions always get me thinking and reminiscing. Sometimes it's easy to express myself and remember and other times it is not. I probably make way too much of the motley group of questions, thinking too deeply about their meanings. This year I think I will start posting my answers on my blog, so that I can keep a record.

Appetizer
What type of music do you use for walking?

Walking has been a good source of regular exercise for me and over the years I have used a variety of motivational music with a beat. I have a plastic tub full of cassette tapes. I do not yet own an Mp3 player (all my children do) and dont know how to *download*, but I am considering the possibility of learning.

Jenny Craig Walking tapes
Praise Walk tapes (Integrity Music)
Broadway Showtunes or Big Band Songs (Sports Music Inc)
Hooked on Classics
Audiobooks

Postscript: Once or twice, I have been quite startled on a walk because I have become engrossed in the music and unaware of my surroundings. For this reason, I have cut back on using headphones.

Soup
Do you read the comics? If so, which is your favorite?

I read the comics as a youngster. I guess I stopped reading regularly when I left home and I no longer had regular access to a newspaper. Nowadays I read newspapers online, like the AJC and I head to the obituaries first, rarely stopping by the comics.

With that windy explanation, I can say that BC is one of my favorites. I am pleased to discover that the creator, Johnny Hart, is a Christian, and member of a Presbyterian church in NY. I think I will read him more often…online.

Salad
What online company do you use to print your digital pictures?

Of late, I have been using a local drug store, Walgreens, for digital picture printing. It is strickly for convenience… right hand turn in and out of the parking lot on one of my well-traveled paths.

Main Course
I feel like window shopping. Where on the internet, would you send me?

Another question which stumped me…..as I don’t usually window shop (per se) on the internet or at the local mall. However, I do order items from the websites of familiar stores, like Coldwater Creek or Talbots, but I think the quick answer to the question is *Amazon* because that's where I go when I am researching for an item.

Dessert
What is your favorite foreign food?

Haute cuisine, as defined by Wikipedia

Haute cuisine (literally "high cooking" in French) or grande cuisine refers to the cooking of the grand restaurants and hotels of the western world. It is characterized by elaborate preparations and presentations; large meals of small, often quite rich courses; extensive wine cellars; and large, hierarchical and efficiently run service staffs. The cuisine was defined by the French cuisine classique until the 1970s, when cuisine classique was supplanted by nouvelle cuisine. Nowadays, haute cuisine is not defined by any particular style – there are haute cuisine restaurants serving fusion cuisine, regional cuisine and postmodern cuisine – but rather by careful preparations, elaborate service, obsessive attention to detail, and, most importantly, critical acclaim. Culinary guides such as the Michelin Guide and Gault Millau have helped to define modern haute cuisine, although some have suggested that their influence is on the wane.

Project Feederwatch

Update....I received my packet and will be scheduling my *watches*



I need to figure out how to distinguish between pine siskins and house finches.






A public thanks to Melissa at Mentalmultivitamin, because her family's enthusiasm is infectious.

Integration

This is a *post-in-progress* which probably should have been saved in the draft mode. I recognize that this type of thinking aloud could get me into trouble, but perhaps since there are no pictures, few will read through to the end. My thought process started with the federal holiday and how it related to my blog title.

Here are a few quotes from Edith Schaeffer's book, The Hidden Art of Homemaking. Chapter 13 entitled *Integration* Notice the positive nature of the title.

What has all this talk of integration to do with creative living, as a Christian?

True integration ...is a matter of people having spiritual communication and fellowship together, ...by choice, not law.

The most real something you can do is within the family unit, as you open it up to others, to a cross-section of ages and peoples, or the gathering together of community life on a small scale.

There is no real possibility of an integration that is true and meaningful in the total sense unless it is based on the inner integration which God has made possible through the Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ.

At an MLK Day celebration over the weekend, Maya Angelou read her poem *A Pledge to Rescue our Youth* which is an indication of how *the dream* has been modified over the years.

It seems like everyone is looking for a handout. Star Parker understands this and explains the mentality in her book, Uncle Sam's Plantation.

Mr. Alan Keyes in his book, Masters of the Dream, also brings the situation up-to-date when he says:

Yet since the era of the Civil Rights movement's great triumphs over legalized discrimination, though individual blacks have progressed and prospered in significant numbers, the community as a whole has deteriorated. One great pillar of our identity, the family, is crumbling. A growing number of blacks in the so-called *underclass* have, for all practical purposes, abandoned the ethic of self-advancement. Black churches grow in membership even as they decline in moral influence and effect. The violence blacks once suffered at the hands of others many now inflict upon each other, in the schools, in in the streets, in the womb, on such a scale that it amounts to self-administered genocide.

I think that leaves us....without a family unit in which to implement Mrs. Schaeffer's suggestions. This is the way God deals with us...in family units, not as wards of some state.

That should remind us homemakers that we have an enormous amount of responsibility.

Calendars














I have finally pulled out my 2007 At-a-Glance Weekly appointment book. (I bought it in October!) It's about time since we're almost two weeks into the new year. As Donna suggested, I may be suffering from PTWS (Post Traumatic Wedding Syndrome), but nevertheless, life is coming together and I am slowly pulling out of 2006.

One good sign was that yesterday, I was able to close out October and November. That just leaves December. And then year-end statements. In case your wondering what that means....I manage my husband's private practice and keep all his accounting clean and up to date. Edit: DH just informed me that our accountant called yesterday, already looking for 2006 data! Yikes!

But the real essence of this post is about *Calendars* I have at least four:

1) Family Wall calendar located on the side of the refrigerator - it better be on it!
2) Photo Calendar at my desk in the basement - family bdays & anniv
3) Slim mini calendar in my purse - long term appts, conventions, mtgs
4) Main Weekly Calendar, which I call *my head* - nitty gritty details - Important

I've tried electronic versions, but cant stick with them. I detest losing data! Plus I save all my calendars. I have over 25 years worth. Can you say *packrat*?

What type of calendar keeps you organized?

Project Feederwatch
Even though the season has begun, I signed up to participate in this project. Seemed like a natural thing to do, since I already watch from my kitchen window.



Can you make out the bird in this picture? It's a Brown Thrasher, Georgia's state bird. He's a little out of place because Brown Thrashers are ground feeders and he is obviously too large for this tube feeder platform. Usually they *thrash* about in the leaves and underbrush, looking for bugs, food, etc. Not too far from my window grows a very large Cherokee Rose bush, our State flower, where I suspect is a nest.

I'll let you know when I get my kit!

Update: My score on this test was 50%. Guess I better make some time for studying.

Addt'l Update: Washed out two feeders and filled them with fresh seeds: one thistle (niger) and one safflower.

I'm already seeing two types of woodpeckers, yellow and red finches, titmice, chickadees, cardinals, white-breasted nuthatches, rufous-sided toehees, brown thrashers, Carolina wrens, juncoes, and perhaps a pine siskin.

Oath-taking

Research project of the day......in light of the first congressman to use the Koran.

No wonder we're in the mess we are.

What do you think?

Bridal Preview


















Sweet picture taken by my cousin in the bride's dressing room. If any of my readers have Facebook accounts, you might be able to view some wedding candids by searching *Giles Jago Simmer*

It will be over a week before the professional photos are available for online viewing. You will need to leave me a comment or contact me via e-mail, so that I can tell you the password.

Wedding Ditty

Something old = Belle of the Ball Hoop

Something new = ivory satin shoes

Something borrowed = heirloom gown and veil

Something blue = Garter with 4 inches of lace

Sixpence in her shoe = Yup!


Read about these wedding customs here and tell me if you were able to incorporate them on your big day.

Christmas Eve

This year the 24th falls on Sunday, so we will be at church that morning. Our girls will the singing the anthem, a soprano/alto mix of Mary's Magnificat. I anticipate a sermon from Luke 24. For years our pastor has been teaching verse by verse through this synoptic gospel. JCM is masterful at expository preaching. Search for him at Sermonaudio.com

Afterwards we will have a fine feast at my parent's home. Traditionally we have beef tenderloin, asparagus, red peppers. This year Asiago potatoes will be on the plate instead of wild rice. For dessert....chocolate mousse cake. Yum.

We will exchange presents and then the girls head out to sing for two Christmas Eve services. DH and I will attend the 11 o'clock service and accompany the girls home.

Blessings on your celebration!

Christmas Tour Cont'd













At the risk of being trite, this manger scene is the *reason for the season* Around here, we believe in celebrating the birthday of our King and try to downplay the commercialism inherent in the American way. Santa does visit our home, in case you were wondering, but there has never been confusion in our minds about who he is versus who Jesus Christ is.

Best Ornament 2006



















And the award goes to this charming lady who announces

*She is too fond of books and it has addled her brain*
Louisa May Alcott

For this year, which is your favorite ornament?

Christmas Tour of Homes




Our nine foot, live tree graces the foyer and it is the first thing you would see after walking in the front door. We used to put it in the living room which has a bay window, but now with 7-8 adults opening presents on Christmas morning, there was not enough room both.




Turn around and you will see our stockings. During this past year's home remodeling, we had the chimney torn down :( We intend the replace it in Phase II of the remodeling.








Next I would invite you into the living room and offer you a seat beside this large poinsettia. Would you like a cup of tea or coffee?
















In which case, I would invite you into the kitchen and we'd visit around this centerpiece.















May your Christmas be merry and your New Year be bright.


Edit: Lest you think, my decorating is so perfect, consider checking out the picture of my front door/yard posted on my xanga site.

Happy Thanksgiving

Turkey Noodle Soup














Excuse the dark photo. The shadow is me hovering over my bowl. We enjoyed this comforting food last night, after picking up DD#2 from the airport. She's home after being away for thirteen weeks in Italy where she studied art, painting, drawing, and photography.

Recipe to follow. Yes, those are whole wheat spiral noodles :)

Collards


2 lbs, washed and cut

Place greens in large (8qt) stock pot with 1/2 Cup water. Drizzle with 2 tsp safflower oil, salt, and pepper. Cook on high heat, stirring often and adding water as needed, for about one hour.




Seasoning greens is highly controversial in the South....some cooks add sugar, some bacon grease, and some like 'em plain. Suffice it to say, I like mine with some seasoning....I'm still experimenting with which ones, so you'll have to email me privately, if you need further instructions :)


In the case of greens, I like mine well done, which means they pass their bright green stage and get darker and softer. There should not be a lot of water in the end, less than the 1/2 cup started out with. It should be full of nutrients and is often drunk by true Southerners. It's name it *pot liquer* Oh, and don't forget the pepper sauce!