Thrid Street Paper Co. Giveaway!!

Miss Katie and Miss Kelly from Third Street Paper Co.are giving a $15 gift certificate over at The Searched and Found.

Seen this stuff in person at the Fall Jolly in September. Excellent work!

The African Queen

I have just finished reading The African Queen by C. S. Forester, author of the famous Horatio Hornblower stories. The African Queen is the name of a steam launch owned by a mechanic in Central Africa. The story takes place during the open stages of World War II and revolves around the mechanic and a missionary woman and their journey on the launch.

Rose Sayer grew up in a rigidly religious home and when her brother, Samuel, was called to the mission field in Africa she went along with him. They serve together for 10 years before the story begins. At it's opening Samuel dies and Rose is left with Germans closing in on her. Mr. Allnutt arrives on the river to help her bury her brother and offer her a means of departure. Throughout the next few chapters we find Rose a liberated woman after her brother's death. Though a faithful Christian, he was a puritan in the worst sense of the word and held the two of them to such rigid standards that it's a relief to be away from the mission. She discovers a strong sense to aid their country, England, in "her most desperate hour of need" and convices Allnutt to journey with her to destroy a German patrol boat.

Unfortunately Allnutt is not a man to whom one needs to work very hard to convince. He is a weak man and to avoid an argument he conceeds to Rose's plan saying that perhaps the launch engine should suffer in the heat, or perhaps she should run aground and then there would be no question of going on. Rose proposes of traveling down an almost uncharted river, through rapids only a canoe could safely shoot, past a German outpost, into an unknown delta and finishing at the entrance to the lake guarded by the German patrol. On the other side of the lake are the British and safety. But entering the lake from the river would have the elimant of surprise; who would dare to travel down the Bora and her rapids?

The African Queen covers about 4 weeks of adventures, but to both the characters and the reader it seems ever so much longer. Rose and Allnutt descover friendship in each other; Rose's strength of purpose and diligence aids Allnutt's lazy streak and he's carefree manner frees Rose and puts her at ease with life. They are well written characters and very interesting characters.

Half way through the story Rose and Allnutt develop a romance. After an exhilerating day of triumphanting through the rapids and being unable to contain their joy, they share the night together. C. S. Forester is modest in his description of their love making, but nevertheless I was rather shocked. It was hardly believable that a missionary woman, a virgin, of 33 years would so quickly forget the Lord's commandments. Did she never really believe? Why wouldn't a day of excitement and night of passion produce remorse and regret? But there was none. I was very dissapointed in Rose's character and Forester's depicted of Christianity. Allnutt's character was rather debase to begin with; been married before, but never divorced and prostitutes and a mistress were his companions in Africa. Forester writes joy and love into their new relationship. They become as husband and wife in each other's eyes as they truly develope a tender respect for one another. This is his excuse for their behavior, but I don't buy it. I complained to my husband about this relationship in the book, and he said how does it end?

Well, near the end of the story Allnutt and Rose are faced with death as they approach the goal of their journey. Their scheme involves ramming the launch with denators and explosives in the bows into the German patrol, which can only be done by hand. They tell each other they'll jump off at the last minute, but they know this might not work. Rose's mind turns to God at the thought of meeting Him face to face within a few days. She first recalls how she has not even prayed since leaving hte mission. No thoughts were directed toward her Maker, no prayers and for this she is over come with grief. After a life devoted, she forgets. In the midst of her penitance she blushes with the thought of lying with Allnutt in a manner forbidden by God. And "she enjoyed it as no woman should". She cries out for forgiveness and thanks God for such a man as Allnutt who did not abuse her, but truely loved her. The end of the story is not what I expected, but quite satisfying. Rose and Allnutt decide it would be best to be married before joining the world of civilization.

While I heartily enjoyed the adventures of the story and Forester's writing style, I would only be able to recommend this book with a few qualifications. It is well worth the read as far as adventure and the wonderful descriptions of Africa go. The characters are extremely well written, very true to life. Forester writes as one who is practised in the art of story telling.

Equipping My Home

Our lovely new apartment has so much stuff in it. I feel like it's a totaly mess most of the time and I'm constantly complaining to my Grandma that I have no storage. Must stop that.

However, our living room was deprived of a couch when we moved 2 months back. It was too big and should have never been bought in the first place, but we did and crammed it into a basement apartment. We decided not to try to remove it. So we are couchless.

We thought a loveseat might fit perfectly in our home. It would be so snug and cozy. Hopefully, we've chased down the right one and we'll be posting pictures soon!

Quote of the Day

.
me: "I have sadness in my heart."
husband: "Well, get it out!"
.

Happy Summer!

It's the firs official week of summer and our palouse weather has decided to cooperate with everyone's wishes.

It's HOT!

And, of course, Jesse and I picked this time to have our own "staycation" so to speak. We're inside watching movies and more movies.

I showed Jesse this old classic and favorite from my childhood:



Then you have the seafaring Acting Leftenaint Hornblower, sir.



Star Wars... an inter-generational movie. We watched episodes 2, 3, and 4.





And lastly, this new one (for us, at least). Titled "Wit" and based on a play. It concerns a woman who is diagnosed with an agressive form of ovarian cancer with no known cure. She accepts a position as a research patient and this story deals with those struggles as well as the dwelling she does on her life as it comes to a close. An interesting story with a resurrection ending.

Easter Haiku

For Jesse. Happy Easter!


Twitch goes the tail as her eyes
follow the flights above.
Feathers on the ground.


Curled on top cement step by
the door, her insides rumble.
Ants crawl across her nose.

Chesterton

If nothing else, I'll post here a favortie quote from G.K. Chesterton. This comes from a letter he wrote to his new fiancee telling her of all the things they shall do together as a married couple.

"We shall have bad things in the house and make them good things."

I LOVE this and I use it all the time. When I'm cooking food I look at the raw meat and say "You are bad, but I will make you good." Sometimes I have dust in my living room and dirt and grime in the kitchen, but those are bad things too and I make them good things.

Have a wonderful Sabbath!

Encephalitis

--- is an inflammation of the brain caused by a primary viral infection to the brain or spinal cord, or a by a secondary viral infection which first infects a part of the body and then infects the brain.

Symptoms:
*Headache
*Irritability
*Lethargy
*Fever
*Joint pain

More serious infections can cause:
*Confusion and hallucinations
*Personality changes
*Double vision
*Seizures
*Muscle weakness
*Loss of sensation or paralysis in certain areas
*Tremors
*Rash
*Loss of consciousness
*Bulging in the soft spots (fontanels) of the skull in infants

Info taken from the May Clinic website.

Julia Child

Been reading My Life In France by Julia Child! So good. What an encouragment. This woman taveled the world following her husband and his government relations job and learned to be content with it all. She was willing to try new things and discovered a love of something very much *not* native; French Food! She flung herself into learning the language in order to go to cooking school.

This book is an excellent read. I recommend it heartily (even though I haven't finished it yet) and hope to update with a full review when it's completed.

P.s. I just needed to post something QUICK!

Guiness Meat Pie

As taken from the cookbook Hot Providence and credits go to Nola Swanson

"This dish is a real magnet for gourmets! Since it is sort of an English dish, it might be fun to serve with popovers. It would go great with steamed asparagus, or some kind of root vegetable (beets!). I served a chocolate dessert which followed the red meat and wine very nicely.

Filling:
1/4 C oil, preferably olive
1 1/2 lbs beef top round, or stew meat
4 slices of bacon, chopped
1 large onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 carrots, sliced
1 stalk celery, sliced
8 oz mushrooms, stemmed and quartered
2 Tbsp. flour
1 C beef stock
1 C Guiness beer
1 C chestnuts, peeled and roasted
salt
peper

Crust:
2 C flour
1/4 C fresh white bread crumbs
1/4 tsp. salt
2/3 C chilled butter
1/2 C cold water

Topping:
1 egg, beaten

For filling: Heat oil in a medium pot. Add beef and bacon; sear over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until beef is browned on all sides. Add onion, garlic clove, carrots, celery, and mushrooms, and cook 8 minutes or until soft, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle in flour and cook 1 minute before adding the beef stock, Guiness and chestnuts. Season with salt and pepper turn down heat and simmer at least 2 hours, stirring occassionally.

For crust: Mix flour, bread crumbs, and salt in a medium bowl. Cut in butter until crumbly. Add cold water and stir just until sticking together. Make balls out of 1/3 and 2/3 of the dough (one twice as large as the other) and chill for 30 minutes. Roll out large piece of dough, and place in a greased 9x9 pie pan. Add flling. Roll out small dough; cover pie and crimp edges. Brush top of crust with beaten egg and cut vents in the top crust.

Bake at 375 degrees Farenheit and 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve with Guiness or Cabernet Sauvignon or a French Bourdeaux."

Pumpkin Cranberry bread

Pumpkin Cranberry Bread
Prep time: 15 mins
Bake time: 1 hour

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
5 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 cups granulated sugar
1 (15 ounce) can LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup orange juice
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans.
Combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, vegetable oil and orange juice in large mixer bowl; beat until just blended. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moistened. Fold in cranberries. Spoon batter into prepared loaf pans.
Bake for 60 to 65 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

The Blind Side

Reviewed by Kate Sumpter

The Blind Side, which is based on a true story, was written and directed by John Lee Hancock. Hancock also wrote and directed The Alamo and directed The Rookie. Quinton Aaron plays Michael Oher, a ward of the state, and Sandra Bullock plays Leigh Anne Tuohy, the mother in the family that eventually adopts Oher.

The Blide Side depicts a post-millenial view of the world. It also depicts a world that God controls.

From the opening sequence of 4 seconds in football history to the closing sequence of the newpaper article about the boy dying in a shoot out, the director and script writer describe actions that have consequenses. The 4 seconds (counted as "1 mississippi, 2 mississippi, etc.) mark the time it takes for man to make change in his life. The Tuohys change their lives and consequently Michal's by being a family that loves God and honors His commandment to love their neighbor. This ultimately comes in the form of Michael, ward of the state, with no warm bed to go to at night. The Tuohys adoption of Michael into their family against what is understood as "cool" (which is protrayed by Leigh Anne's friends who meet for lunch) proclaims God's love toward the unlovely. While we are commanded to dwell on "whatever is true, whatever is good, whatever is beautiful", we are also commanded to redeem what is lies, right what is wrong, and love what is unloveable.

Written above the entrance to the k-12 Christian school are the words "With Man this is possible. With God all things are possible", indicate that God is control of all things, yet man has been given dominion over this world under the lordship of King Jesus.

The closing sequence ends with Leigh Anne reading an article in the newspaper about a boy of Michael's age who dies in a shoot out on the wrong side of town. Her comment is "that could have been anyone. It could have been her son."

The movie aptly describes man's fallen nature and sin when the NCAA sends an investigator to question Michael about his family and his college choice. Michael is poisoned by the investigator's lies and believes that maybe his family doesn't truly love him and didn't adopt him because they cared for him, but because they wanted to put on more player on their alma mater's football team. I appreciated this part in the story as it truly shows man's sin and jealousy. Man cannot understand love, only God can for He is Love.

Happy *Early* Thanksgiving!!

In 1 and a half short little hours, Jesse and I will be driving the long haul to visit dear family for Thanksgiving! Things are packed, plants have been watered, garbaged taken out and I commanded to rest.

Things I am thankful for:
1. My husband, Jesse, who works hard for and with me
2. Trips in which I get to see my sister, Liz!
3. Have rest time in my day
4. Reading and praying
5. Thinking. I love thinking about ... things. And stuff.
6. God and His word. Our Savior's saving grace.
7. Mercies when I'm tired
8. Flowers and sunshine
9. Dad and Mom who take me out to lunch! Woot!
10. Getting to hang out with my hubster for 10 hours in a car. This means that we can talk and talk and talk. :-)

Read By My Hubster At My Birthday Party

My Wife, My Home
To Kate on her 24th Birthday, 2009.

My wife is my home,
Wherever we go, wherever we roam.
In our living room while she sits and she reads
I sit in my blue chair and consider her deeds.

Sometimes we are in the jungle, and she uses a machete
Cleaning out our bedroom, always on the ready.
She swings it high and she swings it low
She cuts up spiders in a single blow.
Then she picks up my clothes and swings out on a vine
Leaving our bed made and the room clean by nine.

Sometimes we are in a fairy tale, and she uses her magic skills
She plants every bean she finds, from here to the hills.
Then she waves her hands and she waters it all
And then she dances around, until the corn is nice and tall.
Then she whistles a tune and all the rabbits come out to see
As the amaryllis grows big and blooms prettily.

Sometimes we are at a construction site, and she uses big machines
They rumble and they growl and they blend food to smithereens.
Sometimes in the kitchen, food will fly as she cooks
So, she wears a pretty apron, just like all the books.
This makes her the boss and she tells me what to do:
Dice that onion and whip the moisture out of that potatoo.

Sometimes we are in a garden, and she weeds our house
She plucks up the chairs and vacuums and cleans like a mouse.
Then she rakes in my study and moves piles from here to there
So that when she is done, everything is in its place, even my hair.
Last she puts on a breathing mask and sprays down the shower
Calm and collected she blasts it clean in less than one hour.

This is my wife, this is my home.
Wherever we go, wherever we roam.

from C.S. Lewis' Weight of Glory

“It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbour. The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbour’s glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously—no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner—no mere tolerance or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbour he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat—the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden.”

Manga Salsa

• 1 mango - peeled, seeded and diced
• 1 avocado - peeled, pitted, and diced
• 4 medium tomatoes, diced
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 3 tablespoons olive
DIRECTIONS
1. In a medium bowl, combine the mango, avocado, tomatoes, jalapeno, cilantro, and garlic. Stir in the salt, lime juice, red onion, and olive oil. To blend the flavors, refrigerate for about 30 minutes before serving.

Ooo la la! So sweet and tasty with the zing of hot pepper and cilantro! So wonderful for a hot Summer day. It went well with our Sloppy Joes and potato salad tonight.

Sabbath ... 1 week later.

Today was my turn to be sick and miss choir. Morning on the couch watching "Mighty Mouse", all the old Silly Symphony Disney cartoons (includding "Music Land", which is one from my childhood) and some of "The Office".

Jesse came home from church delivering jello, yogurt, mini doughnuts and children's liquid Tylenol. I seemed to have an adverse reaction to yesterdays Tylenol Cold meds and had a rough night. So the soft foods and child's tylenol was for a tender tummy. The doughnuts were to entice me to eat. My husband knows me well; I ate 3.

Tried to nap while Jesse did my dishes. I couldn't so I praised him for his faithful servanthood to me. We've been reading and blogging this afternoon. I found Grace Penney's blog. Great stuff!

I made some huckleberry muffins. Mostly because our house was getting cold and Jesse turned our oven on to heat up the place. I really shouldn't let him do that; so I put something into the oven to justify it. 20 minute muffins will do the trick.

I can eat huckleberry muffin when I'm sick, can't I?

Happy Sabbath

Sabbath means singing psalms with kids on laps. Kids that you poke and tickle and they laugh.

Sabbath is choir and kneeling and folded hands. It's congregational and bodily.

Sabbath is lovely our neighbors, starting in and working outward. Latimer is set aside and husbands are cared for.

Sabbath is a day of rest. It's watching the premeir of Stargate Universe while eating ham-cheese-squash-cilantro-corn-carrot quiche and sourdough bread. It's 2 hour naps, speed Scrabble, blogs, facebook and books.

Sabbath is making brownies to the glory of God. And eating them to His glory too. Amen!!

Happy Sabbath!

Fall!

It's officially cold and rainy today! *woot*

I am baking bread in my bread machine for the second time ever. If it works I'll certainly be doing it more. I don't like store bread and neither does my husband (that makes one of us!) so I bake my own. Trouble is when I work a long day at work I don't want to. The bread machine will save me from my lame excuse.

Oh, and does anyone remember this guy?

Recipes

What is agar?