which came first?

Psalm 42

We sang this today at Mass:

As the deer longs for flowing streams,

so longs my soul for You, O God.

My soul does thirst for the living God;

when shall I come to see Your face?

My tears have fed me day and night

while some have said, "Where is your God?"

But I recall, as my soul pours dry,

the days of praise within Your house.

Why do I mourn and toil within

when it is mine to hope in God?

I shall again sing praise to Him;

He is my help - He is my God.

and this is the best version I found, if you want to hear the melody.

winter field, caught while whizzing by

our tenant

I think I've mentioned before that we have a cat shelter on the side of the house. My brother built it years ago for stray cats. There is dry cat food, a heated bed and heated water dish.

A couple of months ago he noticed a tortoiseshell cat using the place. It seemed to move a little slowly and chew slowly. He wondered about it, if it was ailing. So I called Diane, who will feed any cat and names the regulars.

on our front step the other day

It turns our her name is Sweetie, and she's one of Diane's older cats. But Sweetie values peace and quiet, and doesn't get too much of that at Diane's. (Twelve years ago when we took Dolly in, there were fifteen cats at her place, coming and going.)

So, it's not a stray cat motel anymore, but Sweetie's vacation place.

fermenting green beans

The bag of beans was so big, I just stuffed a few into a jar with some salted water.

the Lord is my light, the Lord is my help, the Lord is my salvation

We sang this today at Mass -

The Lord is my light, my help, my salvation.

Why should I fear?

With God, I fear no one.

God protects me all my life.

With the Lord what should I dread?

The Lord is my light

the Lord is my help

the Lord is my salvation.

There is one thing I ask of the Lord that I long for

all of my days with God to be dwelling,

gazing with awe at the beauty of God,

and in wonder look on God's house.

The Lord is my light

the Lord is my help

the Lord is my salvation.

I know I will live to see the Lord's goodness,

now, in this life I'm sure I will see it.

Trust in the Lord, be strong and be brave;

wait in hope for God, our salvation.

The Lord is my light

the Lord is my help

the Lord is my salvation.

cats listening to Beethoven

 on the same chair!

Symphony No. 3 (the Eroica).

The Staatskapelle Berlin,

Daniel Barenboim conducting.

spring around the corner

Even though it's only mid February and temperatures have only been in the thirties

it suddenly seems like spring is around the corner.

the desert

"The desert is the place where we feel our smallness; where, stripped of all that normally buoys us up, we feel how lonely, helpless, fragile, and mortal we really are.

The desert, letting emptiness work in us, is what re-gestates the soul. Emptiness is a womb. It re-molds the soul and lets us be born again, adults still, but now aware. Aware as we once were as small children, that there can be no life and meaning outside of acknowledging our littleness and reaching out, as do infants, to a great providence and a great love outside of us."

                                                          -  Fr. Ron Rolheiser

quiet days

In summer I put kitchen scraps in the composter, but in winter I was lamenting that they are wasted, until I realized I could make vegetable stock with them, and I believe I got that idea on Leila's blog.

The ziploc bag gets filled up quickly; today it came out of the freezer and I made stock. 

To say it smells good is only part of the truth - it's real aromatherapy, I believe. 

I've been working on turning a small but well made (Talbot's! from ebay!) overall-style jumper into an apron.

I'll be glad to have one that's a solid color, as some of my clothing is print.

Henry patiently waited for me in one of the bedrooms while I vacuumed in the hallway.

He's smarter than we give him credit for.

I think I've mentioned before that sometimes, on a picturesque route, I'll just snap photos in the passenger side in the car and see what I get. Here's a small, cute house in the center of town.

Joining Suki and Leila today.

little burrito

being emptied

"'Every tear brings the messiah closer!' This was a refrain in Jewish apocalyptic literature and expressed the belief that a certain quota of tears had first to be shed before any true joy could inhabit us. They understood this mystically, not literally. In order to be filled by God one must first be emptied."

                                                           -  Fr. Ron Rolheiser


"If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it."

                                                            -   Luke: 9:23b

"In the story of Cinderella, there is a theology of Lent."

"The name, Cinderella, itself already says most of it. Literally it means 'the young girl who sits in the cinders'. Moreover, as the tale makes plain, before the glass slipper is placed on her foot, before the beautiful gown, ball, dance, and marriage, there must first be a period of being humbled.

The Church taps into this deep well of wisdom when it puts ashes on our foreheads at the beginning of Lent. Lent is a season for each of us to sit in the ashes, waiting while some silent growth takes place within us, and simply being still so that the ashes can do their work in us."

                                                    -  Fr. Ron Rolheiser

"music and cats"

"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats."

                                                           -   Albert Schweitzer

I could think of a few more, but he was on the right track.

"not knowing"

"Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how..."

                                                             -  Agnes de Mille,  from Simple Abundance

"marriage is not a penance"

Today during Mass, all the married couples were invited to go into the center aisle and renew their vows of commitment to each other. It was brief but very nice.

Some children carried heart-shaped signs with words and phrases important to remember in maintaining good relationships.  Nancy, who's very artistic, was in charge of this part of it.

a wedding "cake"

There was a "bride", dressed in a real, miniature wedding gown, complete with veil. And she had a  "groom", of course.

You may wonder why this wasn't celebrated next Sunday,  St. Valentine's Day.  Well, Father said that we needed to do it before Lent begins (this Wednesday), because, he said, "marriage is not a penance".  That drew a laugh.

the past few days

I'm joining Rosie and Leila today -

The snowstorm passed through yesterday and when the sun emerged -

beautiful. For a while, the sun shone but the sky was darkish blue - so pretty.

So, I ended up having the whole day off - it wasn't worth opening the library at two when we close early on Fridays anyway. But before I knew that, and when we were just planning to open late, that cozy feeling which snowfalls always bring came over me and I heated up enough almond milk for all my co-workers, added cocoa, brown sugar and some spices.  Put it in two canning jars and wrapped them up so they wouldn't knock against each other.

And then I got the call we were closing.  I'll have to drink it all - my brother can't eat almond. It was a good thought, anyway.

After telling someone yesterday that I don't bother with plants because the cats love sitting on our only sunny windowsill, I came home from the supermarket today with a basil plant.  I just was unable to resist it - organic, and on sale!

I hope I can keep it going till April when I set up the greenhouse.

I just finished the new Jane Austen mystery by Stephanie Barron; I love this series - they're very cleverly done. And that's what I've been up to these last few days.

suddenly white

Yesterday morning the weather man said the storm which was going to miss us, all of a sudden wasn't going to; it was wanting to swerve back our way.  And every ten minutes when he did the next forecast, he marveled at how the computer models were changing. By the minute.

Meanwhile, the library is going to open later, and here I am with beauty out the window and a little extra time at home.

the weather we're having

This was yesterday - I got so warm in the kitchen I had to dig out my sandals. I had windows open!

today was warmer!

dusting

Years ago, I scorned the feather duster as laziness, not to mention that you're just knocking down the dust, to have it mess up the floor. But now I see things differently. 

A real duster made of feather isn't as good as this thing made of - filaments, you could call them - and when I don't have much time I can, yes, knock the dust on the floor. And then, mop it up.  It's way better than nothing. 

prayer from a children's book

fixing a jumper

I bought this denim jumper on ebay very cheaply. But it was way too long. With so much embroidery, I found a space where I could cut across and not cut through any of the design. But when I put it on, it was shorter than I liked.

The dress has side slits, so I had a front piece which had embroidery all over it, and a back piece which was plain. I decided to use the plain back piece and I cut across it horizontally; then I had to do some figuring. If I did the expected thing and made a seam across that edge to attach it, some of the embroidered design would be taken into that seam and spoil the look. I placed the piece underneath the bottom edge instead and pinned it. I don't have anything against frayed edges in some situations and I decided this was preferable. So, I just zigzagged it securely and also the hem edge.

The back was a little different, because I used the lower part of that same piece - but it was wider because of the a-line shape. So I cut it up the middle and made a center seam for that piece (sorry, I didn't think to take a photo and I have it on now!) and then did some colorful top stitching on either side for decoration. You see, I wanted to make the piece shorter in width by taking it up in the middle because of the side slits - I didn't have to finish either edge - the sides just matched up with the slits. I don't know how clear I'm being.

Anyway, it's the perfect length and I think this fraying suits the whole jumper. It definitely suits me!

cake success on National Chocolate Cake Day

Well, I cannot begin to tell you how well received this cake was today. Debi wanted the recipe. She also had the great idea that we should not only have a piece when it was cold (the layers were frozen when I put the frosting in between, the way I always prefer to frost a cake; and then I thawed it for an hour before we cut into it), but we should also try it at room temperature - to compare. Yeah, Deb! Katie, who's a vanilla girl, loved it. Laurie must have thanked me at least six times for bringing it in.

It was definitely less sweet than your average, and the wine flavor was very interesting. Trisha apparently didn't know about it, but guessed something fruity - raisins?, she said. Pretty good guess, I thought.  The filling I made - frosting to which I'd added some Greek plain whole milk yogurt - was wonderful with it. The whole thing was kind of fudgy. It was a very adult dessert.

I have moved it in Pinterest from my "Recipes to Try" board, to my "Favorite Recipes" board.


*and in case anyone is wondering, the wine was Bearboat pinot noir 2008.

red wine chocolate cake

In addition to multitudinous amounts of baked goods my brother receives for Christmas from his clients, is the occasional bottle of wine. I don't like to drink alcohol, and he is trying to stay from sugars, carbs, etc.

Just when I realized we had seven bottles of the stuff taking up too much space in the kitchen, I saw a recipe for chocolate cake made with some red wine, on the Smitten Kitchen blog.  Perfect!

Then, just the other day, I found out that this Wednesday, the 27th, is National Chocolate Cake Day. Well. Can you guess what I did today?

This is a recipe for a nine inch, one layer cake, which is thinner than your average layer. Because of the wine flavor in it, Deb suggests either a topping made with mascarpone, or just a powdered sugar dusting. But my intention was to bring it to work, and there are nine of us on Wednesdays. I had to make two layers, didn't I? So what was I to put between the layers?

I didn't have mascarpone, and anyway, I didn't want something which would be fussy and require refrigeration. That expensive fig and chocolate spread I've seen in the store would be ideal, but - I didn't have that, either. I began to imagine a chocolate buttercream, but a soft one, with a bit of spice.

My Betty Crocker recipe for cocoa buttercream looked right: 1/3 cup of butter, 2 c. of xxx sugar, one tsp. vanilla, 1/3 cup of cocoa, and some milk. I suddenly got an idea to use a bit of plain greek yogurt for the milk - that was it!  It's soft, and has a tang. Just right for between those layers, with some "snow" on top. Plain is best with this, I think.

Wednesday's the day!

beauty without the blizzard

We were fortunate - we got the pretty snowfall, but with just three or maybe four inches.

It was very gusty at times; the mail carrier (or, mail female, as my brother likes to say), barely gave me a wave when I greeted her, intent on struggling along and getting it done.

I took these on the way home from church. I point the camera to the window and snap, one after the other, and see what I get.

Everything is transformed.

Dolly takes a rest

Dolly has a great many balls to play with, and her current favorite is a bright green one like a tennis ball but with something inside that rattles. The other day we found her resting on it.

Leaning on it!  So funny we started snapping pictures like two silly paparazzi.

I think I'm even more amazed that she "posed" so long; her expression seemed to be one of annoyed tolerance.

finding Dante at the library

In the middle of the journey of How Dante Can Save Your Life, I came to myself in a back hallway at the library where The Divine Comedy had been left.*

So, I guess I'm going to read it.


*"In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself in a dark wood where the straight way was lost."  -  the beginning of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy.

Pinterest recipes: Creamy Cheesy Corn Casserole

I made this after work today, and then I pinned it into my "favorite recipes" board. Not so much because I love it - it was definitely good - but because I want to remember that you can make a recipe quickly and easily with ingredients that are always on hand. (I used a cup and a half of frozen corn, thawed under running water. Next time I would use two or even more.)

It's gone.

chickadee resting

not sticking

We keep having little snowfalls which melt quickly. Saturday I was all excited at the snow in the morning.

Very promising,

but gone by mid-afternoon.

I did hear a rumor, though, that next weekend might be a different story.

a fabulous something

For the past three years I think, there's been an ornate display near the altar at church, so I took some photos. I'm not sure where it's from, if it was a donation, or that it's just on display there. Eileen thought she heard it was some sort of reliquary.

It seems to be made of paper.

Quite fancy.

Russian, I suppose?

I like the clock.

All sorts of detail.

And a carved wood nativity in the center.

But today they were putting it all away until next Christmas.