I'd say spring was coming, but it's almost March

Saturday I emailed the fellow who portrayed George Washington and asked him to convey our birthday wishes to the General; he said he would, gladly. Amazing.

I definitely have spring fever right now. It's sixty degrees outside and sunny - I think the cats also have it. Everyone wants to be near an open window.

Where I live, February is generally the coldest month. Not this year. It's been mostly in the forties, and we've had no appreciable snow since December. So, on a day like this I can really feel that I'm ready for spring to begin.

Except that I don't trust March. And wouldn't you know, I came across a poem in my Phyllis McGinley book on that very subject.

Song for a Personal Prejudice

January's bearable

In spite of bad report.

Though February's terrible,

It's short.

With snows in proper season,

Each burdens down the larch.

But March is full of treason,

And I hate March.

Hold your hats and duck, boys, March is nearly due,

The sleet is on the windowpane, the slush is on the shoe.

The pneumococcus carols a loud, triumphant song,

And not a holiday's in sight the whole month long.

On many a wedding present

In June my ducats fly.

The temperature's unpleasant 

In July.

As August airs grow olden,

Hay fever's what I've got.

But any time seems golden

Compared to you-know-what.

Pick your shovels up, lads, you'll never know reprieve,

For March is on the threshold with a blizzard up its sleeve,

With a pussy-willow fable that is feeble in its facts,

And a brand-new estimation of your extra income tax.

October leaves I rake with

An ardor far from faint,

And April wetting take with-

Out complaint.

Serene, in weather lawful,

I shiver or I parch.

But March is merely awful.

I can't stand March.

Away, that month despicable, those days of dread and doubt,

When the gale blows down the chimney and the oil is running out.

(Besides, I own a private cause to call the time accurst -

I'll have another birthday when its March the twenty-first).

another Presidents' Day

Well, it's another Presidents' Day.  The fellow who came to the library as George Washington wrote a book, and I've got it - it is a fictional account of the battles of Dorchester Heights and Harlem Heights, both little enough known that he felt he should tell the story. And he used the actual words of the well-known figures in the story whenever possible.

"Thursday the 7th, being set apart by the honorable the[sic] legislature of this province, as a day of fasting and prayer, 'to implore the Lord, and giver of all victory, to pardon our manifold sins and wickedness, and that it would please him to bless the Continental Arms, with his divine favor and protection. All officers, and soldiers, are strictly enjoined to pay all due reverence, and attention on that day, to the sacred duties due to the Lord of hosts, for his mercies already received, and for those blessings, which our holiness and uprightness of life can alone encourage us to hope through his mercy to obtain."

                                                      -  George Washington,  March 1775

clever minds

I am still reading through my book of poems by Phyllis McGinley. And I'm still amazed at her seemingly limitless ability to make rhymes on every subject - not just rhymes, of course, but intelligent, clever, witty and other things.

Incident in the Afternoon

I heard two ladies at a play - 

A comedy considered witty -

It was a Wednesday matinee

And they had come from Garden City.

Their frocks were rather arts-and-crafts,

And they had lunched, I learned, at Schrafft's.

Although we did not speak or bow

Or comment even on the weather,

More intimate I know them now

Than if we'd gone to school together.

(As you must presently divine,

their seats were rather near to mine.)

Before the curtain rose I heard

What each had told her spouse that morning.

I learned the history, word for word,

Of why three cooks had given warning.

Also that neither cared a straw

For domineering sons-in-law.

I heard a bridge hand, play by play.

I heard how all's not gold that glitters.

I heard a moral resume

Of half a dozen baby-sitters.

I learned beyond the slightest question

Shrimps are a trial to digestion.

The lights went down. The stage was set.

Still, in the dusk that fans the senses,

Those ladies I had never met

Poured out their swollen confidences.

The dialogue was smart. It stirred them

To conversation. And I heard them.

Above each stylish epigram

Wherewith the hero mocked his rival,

They proved how nicely curried lamb

Might justify a roast's revival,

That some best-selling author's recent

Book was lively. But indecent.

I heard a list of maladies

Their all too solid flesh was heir to.

I heard that one, in her deep freeze,

Could store a steer, but did not care to.

A neighbor's delicate condition

I heard of, all through intermission.

They laid their lives, like open tomes,

Upon my lap and turned the pages.

I heard their taste in hats and homes,

their politics, but not their ages.

So much I heard of strange and true

Almost it reconciled me to

One fact, unseemly to recall:

I did not hear the play at all.

I swear this woman was every bit as brilliantly clever as Jane Austen, in her way. And that's saying something (although just my opinion).

And speaking of Jane, the ladies' group at church gave a Jane Austen tea and luncheon today, with a speaker. And it was very enjoyable. The attention to detail was surprising; over eighty attended, and it must have been a lot of work.

First of all, we were given pre-printed name tags - not to wear, but to put in for a raffle if we wanted. There were four or five choices. There were tea party-ish hats there and a mirror, if you wanted to be hatted during the program. Each table was set for eight and everyone had a favor at their seat. Inside was a teabag and a Ghirardelli square of chocolate; the little gold box was closed with a little cameo pin!

Not fine jewelry, but still -
Each table had two or three little papers elegantly printed with quotations from famous people - quotes about love:

I took these photos at home. I can't believe I forgot my camera! The decorations were so pretty.

Each table was labeled with the names of couples from Jane Austen novels: ours were John and Isabella Knightley. They called us up to get our food by table. There was cream of mushroom soup or one with beans and kale - that was good. And if you asked, a gluten-free one with carrots and ginger. Three croissant sandwiches: tuna, chicken or tomato and mozzarella.  Salad greens with several toppings and ranch or Italian dressing. And the desserts - I wondered if they'd come from a bakery, they looked so perfect. But everything was homemade.

In between the meal and dessert a young woman gave a talk about Jane Austen's vision of what real romance in a novel should look like  in comparison with overly emotional, melodramatic depictions which were popular in her day. Lastly, they had the raffle. Everyone was delighted with the whole affair.

about waiting

"Waiting is not a punishment; waiting is part of the magic of becoming who we are."

                                               -  Joy Clarkson

a good neighbor

Don't know how I stumbled on this, but it's the cutest durn thing imaginable.

This English fellow has made a little set-up around his yard for the mice which live there, like a real live Brambly Hedge, and he photographs them!

"a thing which takes place now"

"All through our life Christ is calling us. He called us first in baptism, but afterwards also; whether we obey his voice or not, he graciously calls us still. If we fall from our baptism, he calls us to repent; if we are striving to fulfill our calling, he calls us on from grace to grace, and from holiness to holiness, while life is given us. Abraham was called from his home, Peter from his nets, Matthew from his office, Elisha from his farm, Nathanael from his retreat; we are all in course of calling, on and on, from one thing to another, having no resting place, but mounting towards our eternal rest, and obeying one command only to have another put upon us. He calls us again and again - and again and again, and more and more, to sanctify and glorify us.

It were well if we understood this; but we are slow to master the great truth, that Christ is, as it were, walking among us, and by his hand, or eye, or voice, bidding us follow him. We do not understand that his call is a thing which takes place now."

                                                     -   St. John Henry Newman,   from Magnificat. February 2020

he came, we saw, he conquered

Well. George Washington was here.

This fellow was Really good. He had an authentic uniform, portraying Washington as a general. He spoke exclusively about the Revolutionary War, the battles, dropping names we learned in our history classes. He was not a spellbinding speaker, but as he told us later when we helped him pack up, neither was his subject, so he figures he's a good fit for playing George Washington.

The prepared portrayal was about an hour with a Q & A for another half hour. And that's when you find out if they know their stuff. He knew. And he stayed in character. One lady just didn't get that and asked him about the Civil War. He looked puzzled, and then thought she must be meaning the English Civil War - he even mentioned something about Roundheads. She didn't get it.

After the Q&A he took questions as himself.

He wanted a photo with the original three of us who couldn't get in to see him last October.

Everyone was very impressed.

this photo by my brother

a monk's life

I found this fascinating. That's all.

a little change in the plan

Well, I haven't been here in a week! I sometimes get involved in things and don't think of this space.

You're wondering how the baking is coming along. Well, I was thinking about how to set things up and we had to conclude that since eighty people have signed up - wow! -  and they'll be sitting in chairs, in rows, this is not conducive to eating anything. There will be crumbs left on the floor. And there's no place for so many to mill around comfortably afterward and have a snack. We decided that we won't serve any refreshments.

I don't mind, honestly, or feel that I've wasted my time; I'm sure there will be a bake sale of some sort at church before the beginning of Lent, and I can also bring some to work next week. And since we've been eating sweets every day since mid-December, what's a few more? 

Well, I think I'm kidding about that.

starting to panic

George Washington will be coming to the library soon. I was determined to have refreshments worthy of the honor of this visit, by which I mean: homemade stuff. A month before, I made a list of goodies  I've baked over the years and which I know are good (at least, to my mind). I thought if I baked one thing on every day off, I'd be in a good place. Well.

these were Christmas cookies

It often happens, doesn't it, that something gets in the way of plans. What I'm saying is that I have made only four things. He's coming in a week and a half. I've gotta get hopping. 

such good advice

From Brother Cadfael, as I love re-reading those medieval mysteries:

"Never go looking for disaster. Expect the best, and walk so discreetly as to invite it, and then leave all to God."*

                                                        -  Ellis Peters, The Virgin in the Ice

*emphasis mine

never a dull moment

I removed a painting of a Christmas tree from it's spot in the hallway and got distracted from replacing it. Later, while trying to have a quiet dinner there was a strange noise to be heard - the orphan had her eye on the small picture hook in the wall; she was jumping up and trying to get it. I saw her jump halfway up the wall! But that wasn't high enough and so she gave up.

Needless to say, I hung up another picture. It's never dull around here.

some pretty pink before sunset 

a little remembrance

Cyndi came by and we exchanged birthday and Christmas presents, because we just haven't been able to until now. And one thing she gave me was a little outdoor statue of a tuxedo kitty.

Reminds me of someone. We'll either put it on the back step, or near the kitchen garden, where he used to hang out.

choosing the better part

I spent an hour and a half this morning listening to the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from the BBC's website; it was the last day to do so, in fact I had until 11:30 and while I was tempted to just forget about it this year - since I had worked on Christmas Eve and then kept putting it off until time ran out - but no, I do not regret spending that amount of time just being quiet and listening to the service. It means I had less time to do other things, but - Jesus said Mary chose the better part and I think I did this morning, too.

a little extra work at dinner

I came home to leftovers of not-a-lot-of chicken, some veg and mashed potatoes. Naturally, I thought of shepherd's pie, so I heated up a roux with three tablespoons of oil and a quarter cup of flour, added two cups of chicken stock, marjoram and salt. I then had to mash the cold potatoes with some cream and egg. Some parmesan sprinkled on top and a bit of leftover cheddar and I was very pleased with myself as I put it in the oven at six thirty.

When I realized I wouldn't be eating it till at least ten after seven, I had to content myself with a bowl of broccoli soup and a few cookies. (yes, we are still eating those!) And when I did have supper, it was very nice to have a hot and thoughtful meal. It hadn't seemed like enough until I put it all together - way more than the sum of its parts.

January talk

When I was a child the weatherman would speak of a January thaw, which meant, of course, temperatures above freezing, in the forties and maybe fifties. You rarely hear them use the word anymore; we have had some very cold days this winter, but then it goes back up to the forties.

We had some lovely snow Saturday night. And that's how it's supposed to be in January where I live: snow often, and temps in the thirties, or colder. I prefer it to be the way it should be, but I have to say that last Sunday, the 12th, was well into the sixties, and absolutely dreamy. If only Easter could be so nice!

mending a favorite scarf

My beloved multi-colored Garnet Hill wool scarf has a hole. It's crocheted with fine yarn and for a month I've been putting off trying to repair it.

What was holding me back was the thought of trying to crochet it back together with a very small metal hook - I'm not a great crocheter. But after looking at it, an embroidery needle will do the trick and that doesn't scare me at all. And it just so happens that I've got yarn in a very close color!

weather

Today was dark and cloudy one minute, sun shining the next, and very windy. Just now I noticed it's snowing - I didn't think it was supposed to.

The sky is low, the clouds are mean,

A travelling flake of snow 

Across a barn or through a rut

Debates if it will go.

A narrow wind complains all day

How some one treated him;

Nature, like us, is sometimes caught

Without her diadem.

- Emily Dickinson

Roger Scruton, RIP

"The future of mankind, for the socialist, is simple: pull down the existing order, and allow the future to emerge. But it will not emerge, as we know. These philosophies of the 'new world' are lies and delusions, products of a sentimentality which has veiled the facts of human nature.

We can do nothing unless we first amend ourselves." (emphasis mine)

                                              -  Roger Scruton   May he rest in peace.

some extra vitamin C

The rosehips I picked in the fall - I finally used them: I made a decoction and used it instead of hot water with my Constant Comment tea.

running with cats

Orphan Annie was spayed on Monday, and now we are supposed to try and keep her from overdoing it. No stairs. Okay, we've got the basement door closed for the next ten days. But she's jumping on tables and chairs before we even know she's going to. My brother put up plywood "ramps" near two living room chairs. Does she use them? Well, she did the first day. And she walks *down* them. She jumps up on the chairs, though.  At least she sleeps a lot.

You see that thing in front of the chair is a ramp, with a throw rug over it. To make it more appealing, presumably.

The cats are being limited to the kitchen and living room mostly, and I've been sleeping on the couch to keep an eye on them. I keep the little Christmas tree in the kitchen plugged in for some light, and I've got the nativity for company with a fake pillar candle near it. It's enough to see them by, and makes for a very pleasant atmosphere. I also took yesterday off from work, but any ideas I had of hovering in order to prevent undue activity on her part were just foolish dreams. She is going to do what she wants, and be on to the next thing before I know what she's up to.

richness

"A rich man is not one who has much,

but one who gives much.

For what he gives away remains his forever."

- St. John Chrysostom

from "Theology of Home: Finding the Eternal in the Everyday" by Carrie Gress, Noelle Mering and Megan Schreiber

to us

To us a Child of Hope is born,

To us a Son is given,

Him shall the tribes of earth obey,

Him all the hosts of heaven.

His power increasing still shall spread,

His reign no end shall know:

Justice shall guard his throne above,

And peace abound below.

- John Morison, from Magnificat, January 2020

King forever

It's Epiphany; I got out the Three Kings. It was simple enough to swap them out for the shepherds in the living room, but the kings with the little nativity won't fit on that small shelf in the kitchen. I decided to arrange them right in the window.

The Holy Family and one of the kings:

with the other two on a shelf to the left:

I think it's a good arrangement.

"Born a babe on Bethlehem's plain

Gold we bring to crown him again

King forever, ceasing never

Over us all to reign."

persistence

I brought home a Christmas-themed cookbook from the library - several of the recipes were appealing. I started out with some cinnamon cookies which contained chocolate pieces, dried cranberries and roasted hazelnuts. I had all the ingredients in the house!

They are quite simple: You melt the butter and stir in everything else. Except that they're chock full of these bits, and the dough didn't seem enough to hold it all together. So, as I was trying to push the fruit, nuts and chocolate into the dough, it kept falling out and I ended up just snacking on it all, sort of an impromptu trail mix. But I liked them well enough to try and figure out another plan.

I thought if I doubled the dough part of the recipe, then added the pieces till they were fully mixed in, I could maybe add more and figure out the right balance.

Well. After they baked, they didn't seem as nice as before; they had less stuff in them and the cookie part wasn't anything fabulous on its own. What to do? I wasn't able to fit anymore pieces in!  I ended up molding them and then sticking more chocolate and fruit wherever I could squeeze it in. That was the last batch, what you see above. So, I guess I did figure out a way to do it.

nice and quiet

Striving for a little post-holiday relaxation time.

jars of cookies, fancy that

We are getting near the end of the home-baked cookies from my brother's clients. There were a few in this container, a few in that one. 

I saw this idea in a magazine. Assorted cookies, in a jar. Jars of cookies. Cookie Jars.* I have plenty of those!



*How many cookie jars have I seen, none of them actual jars, and I never thought about it? This seems hilarious to me.

wisdom from Dickens

"A nation without fancy, without some romance, never did, never can, never will hold a great place under the sun."

                                                            -   Charles Dickens,
                                                         from a webinar on A Christmas Carol,
                                                              with Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks

festive look for the front door

I find that I'm often drawn to American folk art type things. I bought this felt house ornament at a friend's annual craft event. It's a good size, larger than the usual thing you hang on the tree. I've been looking at it, wondering where it might belong.

I had thought about making a wreath again this year, after last year's success, but I don't know. I'd have to put Annie in another room, shut up, while I worked on it; I'm not sure I want to do that. Meanwhile, I bought this little fall-type wreath at the thrift store earlier in the month, so I hung it up. But it's small. I suddenly thought to hang the felt house with it.

the door knocker is visible underneath - it's a musical note

I like it!

decoration alteration

My brother's little rustic tree which I always put in the kitchen is really a tangle of raffia or long straw. I decided to trim it while still keeping its character.

It's hard to tell, but believe me - it looks much better. And I saved the excess for the Baby.

I had to put this nativity out of the reach of certain furry persons who shan't be named, but I like the new set-up. I also moved the woodland Madonna painting to the kitchen corner cabinet.

It looks very pretty there, but I've twice found the above right-hand tree on the floor.

the responsible party, caught red-handed but too fast to be photographed

As for the tree, I found more paper and cloth ornaments that I expected to, and it didn't look bad until the orphan started taking things down. When I hang them up again they seem to end up higher than before and today I noticed that it's all bare on the lower third, which makes it look very odd. 

a dry Christmas

A Merry Christmas, everyone! Now is the time to enjoy Christmas, and that's what I'm hoping to do.

Yesterday, after getting home from Mass, I had my hot cereal as usual. I thought it wasn't my imagination that the water pressure was not one hundred per cent, but my brother had gone out to find a newspaper, so I just kept on. Then I saw a white truck drive by with flashing lights - from the water company. Well, after a bit our water petered out - it was Christmas Day, and by noontime we had no water.

A water main on the corner gave out and it wasn't for at least an hour afterward that I got the official email saying they hoped water would return by later in the afternoon. We were going to Joanne's; I looked up and down the street, wondering how my neighbors were going to cope. By 2:15 we were very glad to leave and go to a place with two toilets where we could wash our hands as often as we wanted.

It was a good visit, a nice dinner and all was well here when we got home. What do you do if your water stops and company is coming? Wait, I suppose, until everyone shows up and then all just go out to a restaurant somewhere. But on the way to Joanne's it looked like a lot of places were closed.

There are many areas in the world which still do not have running water and I thought of them, too. But they have a familiar routine for dealing with it. The mind thinks of all manner of things at such times. I also thought about composting toilets. But it was a good day, and today was a quiet day at home.

My aim was to make a nice dinner, and when we were done I said we'd better see what the Polish lady had given us - she had told my brother to wait until Christmas! Well, it was kind of heavy and it might have been a fruitcake, but it wasn't.

It was the gingerbread! The gingerbread that I've never forgotten, the gingerbread I've wanted to try and copy, the first thing she ever made for us (my brother really - she doesn't know me from Adam). The gingerbread! Would you think a person could get so excited about a dessert? And why have I never tried to copy it?

Well, the only gingerbread recipe I'm familiar with is Anna's and it's dark and soft, not suitable for this. You can see this is lighter, and it's a regular cake consistency. It's a quickbread and she cuts it in half. The last time there was apricot preserve in between, but this time it's a dark fruit spread. She's apparently flexible. It has a chocolate coating, not ganache - that stays soft, doesn't it? This doesn't come off on the paper wrapping. The gingerbread is a nice, spicy flavor. To my way of thinking, it's a delightful dessert! Dziekuje bardzo, dear lady! I need to just find a gingerbread *cake* recipe, and just try to copy it! After we've eaten this, of course.