Posts from Portland (Archives: June 2005 through May 2007)

New Blog, same content

2007-05-30T15:38:00.000-07:00

I've thought since moving to Portland that duh, I need to change the URL of my blog, since we are no longer a "San Fran Family." So, here it is, finally. Posts from Portland. Just a continuation of this blog. I won't be posting here anymore, but I'll keep this blog up for posterity.

See ya there!

Cindy can't do it alone

2007-05-30T13:11:00.000-07:00

I read in this morning's newspaper that Cindy Sheehan is calling it quits. She's not going to protest the war anymore or try to get an audience with President Bush. She's just going to go home and try to live a normal life. She feels betrayed by Congress, who after an amazing show of bravery on the Iraq front, decided to go ahead and give in to what Bush wanted as far as this "surge" goes. Why? I can't figure it out. Can someone explain to me why we elected a Democratic Congress? To act like this? What good did it do?

I really feel for Cindy. Here she's put it all on the line, giving up years of her life to try to get this war turned around, stop the killing of innocents in Iraq and stop the meaningless slaughter of our own soldiers. According to www.iraqbodycount.org, at least 64,632 Iraqi civilians have been killed by combat since we started this pre-emptive war. 3,465 US soldiers have been killed in that time. Just this month, so far, 113 have been killed.

When will be stop this bloodshed? How will more killing end the killing? Cindy, I'm with you--in feeling that this country is way out of wack with real life. I don't blame you for throwing in the towel. I just hope at some point you'll be swept in another wave of patriotism that proclaims that we will do no more killing in the name of peace, and that you won't be the only voice crying in the wilderness.

Entertaining Angels--the movie

2007-05-29T12:24:00.001-07:00

We watched this movie last night, about the life of Dorothy Day, who started up the Catholic Worker movement. We were shown a clip of the movie at the Clergy Couples Retreat at the beginning of May. Oh yeah, I promised to tell you about that and haven't yet....it was basically perfect in every way, and I don't know what to really report about it, other than the location was wonderful--Asilomar was the perfect place for such a retreat--and the speaker was great--Dr. Stephen Muse, a psychologist, started with places I knew and was familiar with but then launched into something totally new and wonderful. He's written books--I haven't read any of them yet, but I'd recommend them if they're anything like his presentations. And the rapport between the attendees was wonderful. There have been some shake-ups in this diocese in the last couple of years, and also there is great mistrust of psychology and touchy-feely things from some quarters of our clergy community, but I think just the right mix of people were there to make bonding as couples really a good thing. We've never before had any get-together of clergy *couples*--we usually meet as wives or as priests, but never together. It's been suggested for years but this was the first time we actually did it. And I can guarantee you that all the people present will make sure it isn't the last!

Anyway, back to the movie--it was an interesting glimpse of the life of Dorothy Day and how she got started doing what she did. It made me interested enough to want to pick up a book about Dorothy Day and find out more about her. Paul's been interested in her for years, and our friend Jim Forest wrote a book about her that I know has to be in the house somewhere....unless Paul took it to the church with him. I'll find out...

And Jim Forest is the founder of Orthodox Peace Fellowship, and we had a great conference over the weekend, albeit without Jim. He is in poor health and couldn't make the trip. He lives in Holland, though we found out he was in the states, but visiting family, not coming out here. He worked as the editor for The Catholic Worker newspaper for a time, and knew Dorothy Day personally.

We've been involved with the Catholic Worker house here in Portland for the last 9 months or so, and have immensely enjoyed getting to know the people and the work of this ministry. They have their potlucks on the first Monday of each month, and then discuss what everyone is doing, the work in the house (they provide a place to live for women transitioning from prison or homelessness) and needs of the community. It's about the closest to sharing everything in common that I've personally been involved with.

OPF Conference

2007-05-24T08:30:00.000-07:00

I'm suddenly thinking, of course I should post about the upcoming Orthodox Peace Fellowship conference on my blog, as there are local people (Susan?) who may be interested in coming, and perhaps people from further away (Mimi? Dawn?) who'd like to come. "Upcoming" is an overstatement--it starts tomorrow! Sorry for the late notice.

The Orthodox Peace Fellowship is an organization of Orthodox Christians who are interested in discussing ways of waging peace in our parishes, communities, nations, and the world. This year's conference is themed "Living Peacefully, Locally." Speakers will include: David Holden, psychotherapist, who will speak on Living Simply, Locally, and our Global Impact and Renee Zitzloff, who is the coordinator of the Minnesota OPF chapter, who will speak on Local Chapters and Community Development. And my own dear husband, Fr. Paul Schroeder, will speak on Friday evening on Holy Simplicity: St. Basil the Great and the Ethic of Sustainability.

You can see more info about it on the OPF website: www.incommunion.org
The conference will be held in Eagle Creek at this retreat center: http://www.collinsretreatcenter.org/

And I am the newly appointed regional coorditor for the conference! So you can email me at mamaelizabeth@earthlink.net if you'd like to come and I'll sign you up. :-) The day rate is $50 which includes the Friday evening Vespers and talk, and the Saturday talks and workshops plus lunch. You can also purchase dinner separately on Friday and/or Saturday nights if you wish. The full conference rate, to stay at the retreat center for the weekend including meals, is $250.

I hope to see some of you there!

Kitchen Work

2007-05-19T22:35:00.000-07:00

We've gotten lots of outside projects done at our house in these six months we've lived here (yeah, it's been that long!) but not much inside besides just plain old organizing. Today we decided that there were things that *had* to be addressed in the kitchen. We started noticing quite soon after we moved in that there was something not quite right about the cabinets....they are beautiful, but the hinges were coming loose. We've thought that the wrong hinges were used, but it wasn't quite that bad. It's that they used 1/2 inch screws. What were they thinking? That isn't going to hold anything! So, the first project of the day is that Paul replaced every cabinet hinge screw with much longer ones.

This cabinet, I've thought ever since we moved in, need more shelves. It had wood in the back but no tracks to put them up. Paul got them installed today. Now I have much more useable space in there and I don't have stuff all piled up on each other.

And I'd thought as soon as I saw this cabinet that it would be the perfect place to store flat pans upright. Until I opened it and found a shelf in there! So Paul took it out today and now I can line up my cookie sheets and pizza pan and muffin tins and cooling racks.And here there was a disaster! Just too disorganized. There was no shelf in this cabinet either, and all my appliances were in great disarray. Paul installed a half-shelf and now everything just fits in there perfectly!

And, after all that hard work, I decided to make my first ice cream of the season in my Donvier. Easiest ice cream maker ever. Cookies and Cream!

Garden, May 2007

2007-05-16T16:32:00.000-07:00

Update of my garden! Actually, this first radish picture is from...maybe three weeks ago? I've been getting radishes for quite some time already. They are very rewarding! Easy to grow and quick, and what beautiful jewel colors!

Here's some of the tomato plants. I had originally thought, "I want 10 tomato plants this year!" (I had three last year.) And I went crazy buying them from the farmer's market, and then I had six. I thought, oh, that's enough. But then a. my neighbor brought me a cherry tomato plant when she went looking for a specific kind she likes--one for her and one for me! Isn't that nice of her? and b. I realized that I didn't have any of the same varieties that I grew last year, and I was so pleased with how they turned out. So, I bought those varieties today and planted them. It was after I planted those that I thought, gee, our garden is looking swell! I should take some pictures. And here they are. CarrotsPeas (the tall ones) and beans (still pretty short); radishes in the fore and tomatoes in the back

The beautiful radishes I picked today. Did you know that in addition to being a tasty snack out of hand, you can cook radishes? I like them in stews and stir-fries. You can also add the greens.
Kale! It's big enough to think about what I'd like to first make with it. Caldo Verde, or something different? I think I might just serve it tomorrow night when we go for house duty at the Dorothy Day house, all by itself, sauteed with garlic, alongside some pita veggie "patty melt" sandwiches that I found the recipe for in the Oregonian yesterday. We bought five blueberry bushes when we first made the garden, and they are doing so well! I think we're going to have a lot of berries, for a first year. There were lots of blossoms.Basil! My very favorite garden plant! It's coming up all over here, but it's been growing so slowly that I got impatient and bought a plant today and plunked it in the middle. We've already been enjoying basil from the farmer's market--we just ate pasta with pesto for dinner tonight.And the whole garden. We've been enjoying it immensely.

Hibee's Blog

2007-05-16T16:27:00.000-07:00

Hibi again has a blog! Isn't this, what, your third blog, Hibi? I hope you don't delete this one! Keep on bloggin'.

www.hibeesblog.blogspot.com

2007-05-14T17:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we stopped at New Seasons after our dinner out, to get ice cream to make ice cream sandwiches with the peanut butter cookies I had made (yum) and lo and behold, what did catch my eye in the dairy case but THIS! I first discovered Straus milk when we were living in central California, out in the middle of nowhere. Straus milk, it is not an exaggeration, is one of those little things that made living such an isolated life bearable. It is pasteurized but not homogenized, which means it's not raw milk but the milk and cream have not been bound, and usually when you open a bottle (which is glass and re-usable--take it back to the store to get your deposit back), especially of the whole milk, there is a clot of cream at the top that must be stirred in. (Or skimmed off to be used separately!) This milk has such a wonderful flavor--I thought immediately after the first sip I took of it that *this* is what milk is supposed to taste like.

When we moved to Portland I kind of figured that Straus milk was one of those things we were giving up by moving here, because they're in Marin county (just north of San Francisco) and I'd seen their ice cream here in Portland but not their milk. My "local and sustainable" side is kind of twisting on itself right now, trying to justify drinking this milk.....but it's only from *California*, not Mexico, or Peru...

Okay, so it'll probably only be a once-in-awhile luxury. One I'll look forward to.

"Grab the nearest book" meme

2007-05-14T14:20:00.000-07:00

I just saw this on Nissa's blog, and thought I'd just look to see what the nearest book was...

Grab the nearest book.
1. Open it to page 161.
2. Find the fifth full sentence.
3. Post the text of the sentence along with these instructions.
4. Don’t search around looking for the coolest book you can find. Do what’s actually next to you

So, when I looked to see what the nearest book is, I found....my Bible. Really. I don't even see any other books in the room. Doesn't that make me sound so spiritual! Godly, even. Okay, so let's see what's the fifth sentence on page 161. Uh, so page 161 is still in the Biblical Cyclopedic Index, and there *are no* complete sentences. Thus fails this meme. But the fifth term there is:

Hophni--fighter

Who, as it turns out, was the son of Eli, called "reprobates", guilty of unlawful practices, immoral, Eli's warnings rejected by, cursed by a man of God, warned by Samuel, ark takent to battle by, slain in battle, and news of, causes Eli's death. At least according to my Biblical Cyclopedic Index.

I wonder if this is an omen of some type?

If you'd like to do this meme, let me know in the comments and I'll come check it out!

Happy Mother's Day!

2007-05-13T14:53:00.000-07:00

I signed up for a daily email from a speaker at the unschooling conference we attended in April, and I really liked his posting for Mother's Day. He says to share what he writes freely, so I will, with attributions.

THE DAILY GROOVE ~ by Scott Noelle www.enjoyparenting.com/dailygroove::
A Radical "Mother's Day" Message :: Today is Mother's Day in many countries, and
mothers everywhere are being honored and appreciated for the invaluable
contribution of mothering.That's the bright side...For many families there's
also a subtle dark side of Mother's Day: focusing on the *sacrifices* mothers make
for their families. Mothers' self-sacrifice is typically celebrated by reversing
the sacrificial current. For one day, the other family members take over the
mother's "duties"so she can be free (theoretically) to focus entirely on her own
pleasure. Don't get me wrong: I think one of life's simple pleasures is
contributing to the pleasure of others,and that includes the good feeling of
pampering mothers. It's the undercurrent of *guilt* that so often taints the
fun. When the subtext is, "We're doing this stuff for you today because you
*can't* have what you want the other 364 days of the year," it actually
*perpetuates* the cycle of self-sacrifice, resentment, and guilt. So here's a
radical proposition for every mother who has ever bought into the idea of
self-sacrifice as avirtue: Decide that EVERY day is Mother's Day! Don't settle for
anything less than a predominantly pleasureful path of mothering, and remember
that the best way to raise kids who enjoy life is to let them see your commitment
to enjoying life yourself. :-)**(Note to self-sacrifice addicts: If you think
I'm saying you should force yourself to be happy...think again!)**http://dailygroove.net/radical-mothers-day Feel
free to forward this message to your friends! Copyright (c) 2007 by Scott Noelle

I like this because I'm often chagrined to hear that what some moms want most on Mother's Day is to get away from their little brats. I think that's sad. My children are what made me a mother and I celebrate motherhood! When we decided to stop at two children because of realizing that overpopulation was really doing a number on our planet, I thought it was a good and responsible decision. And I applaud people who have taken that principle even further and don't have any children. Yet, when I think about whether I could have done that if I'd had the consciousness before I had kids, I just don't think I could have. Childbirth was such an amazingly empowering moment in my life (times 2), and having the experience of bringing a child out of my body, feeding that child from my body, and nurturing that child (both of them) to maturity (ongoing) is just an incredible experience. I know I wouldn't be the same person without being a mother.

Last night I received an email from a friend who had emailed some mom friends, thanking us for helping her along with her mothering. And I think it's true: we do help each other in parenting, because none of us exist in a vacuum. To all the moms out there, thank you for being good moms and for all the influence you've been in my life and my kids' lives. It's a chain reaction--even if I've never met you, I've surely "met" something that you've influenced.

And finally, on this Mother's Day, let's not forget the original intent of Mother's Day. It was founded as an activist holiday. It was a mothers movement to stop all war. It was a call to teach our sons (and daughters, these days) to be peaceful and to resist the call of the forces that be to go out and kill other mothers' children. Julia Ward Howe is the originator of this movement, and I give honor to that mother today. And I'll end by posting her Mother's Day Proclamation here.

Arise, then, women of this day!
Arise all women who have hearts,
whether your baptism be that of water or of fears!
Say firmly: "We will not
have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands shall not
come to us reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.
Our sons shall
not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of
charity, mercy, and patience.
We women of one country will be too tender of
those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."
From the bosom of the devasted earth a voice goes up with our own. It says,
Disarm, Disarm!"
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice! Blood
does not wipe out dishonor nor violence indicate possession.
As men have
often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave
all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let
them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them then
solemnly take counsel with each other as the means whereby the great human
family can live in peace,
And each bearing after her own time the sacred
impress, not of Caesar, but of God.

Need a Last Minute Mother's Day Gift?

2007-05-12T17:47:00.000-07:00

Here's one that's a little more thoughtful than some hastily bought flowers or chocolates from the corner store. In fact, it could turn a life around.

We first heard of this organization on NPR and we thought it was such a cool idea, and then filed it away in our brains. Then, somehow, Paul thought of it for a Mother's Day gift this year. We both are giving to Kiva in our moms' names.

Here's the concept: there are many people in third world countries who could make a living for themselves, if they only had a way of starting up a business. They just need a little push, a little help. Kiva is a micro-lender, loaning out small amounts of money to people who have a specific idea of how to utilize it to start their businesses. You choose the person you want to loan to, and then give money to Kiva. They loan it to the person of your choice, and then the small-business owner starts a business. As it grows, they pay back the loan on a monthly basis. Then you have that money in your Kiva account to lend out again and you can choose someone else to loan to.

Here's the woman Paul chose for his mom:

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=10154

And here's the woman that I donated in my mom's name:

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=10214

A Big Weekend!

2007-05-12T11:05:00.000-07:00

Wow! Both of our "big events" went really well! I'll stick with the first for this post, then post again about our Clergy Couples Retreat.

Last weekend was our Centennial Weekend at our church. It was incredibly busy, incredibly fun, and it all went so incredibly smoothly. Thanks to the hard work of many, many people!

We started off the weekend with a Glendi on Friday night, and the halls at church were dressed up like a cafenia (little coffee place/restaurant in Greece). It was a lot of fun, and the food was so good! Archbishop Demetrios did a door-opening for our new Hellenic Cultural Center, which was amazing in itself. If you're in the area and are at all interested in the history of Greeks in Portland, stop by and see it sometime! It's pretty cool. And along those lines, they also put out a beautiful book illustrating the history of our parish and the people who started it way back when, the present and the future.

Next day was an Ecumenical Doxology. The choir sang for this, and we got so many compliments on the doxology we sang, which was a Russian-style arrangement. We all really enjoyed singing it! All kinds of leaders from lots of different churches were there. I wondered if this was the first time that a female priest was within the walls of our church? And was hoping that it won't be the last.

After that was a delicious breakfast for the leaders (which I was priveleged to be invited to) and many of them spoke, including our own Metropolitan Gerasimos and Archbishop Demetrios. I was disappointed, though, that the speeches went on for so long and didn't give time for much dialogue, which had been scheduled. What little there was I had to miss, because I had to get on to the next event!

Which was a youth ralley out at Camp Angelos. It was a nice day, not really sunny, which would have been ideal, but warm and not raining. Both of the bishops came out and answered questions from the kids. One story that the Archbishop told later on was one little boy, about three years old, giving him the card he'd been provided with to write a question on, that simply said "Will." Oh, you want to ask a question about will? Free will? What do you want to know about will? the Archbishop asked. "I am Will!" said the little boy. :-) Both bishops fielded questions ranging from topics like DaVinci Code to what will happen to us when we die. My own little feminist asked about altar girls. The Archbishop told her that perhaps she would be a deacon someday.

That night was the big banquet at the Hilton. It was fun and long. I don't have a lot to report about it, except these: I got to meet Earl Blumenhaur, my hero and US Representative. And the mens' choir from our church that performed that night *rocked!* They were really good. It was about 30 men, and as I was watching them I was counting how many are in our regular choir. Two. Including the director. Hey, guys, we need you on a Sunday-to-Sunday basis!

Then came the big event: Sunday morning. Fantastic! I am a little biased, I know. I am in the adult choir, and I lead the youth choir. And that's about all I could focus on, the singing! But we all did a fantastic job with the service, I thought! Everyone commented on the youth choir--our Metropolitan was beside himself with joy from hearing the angelic voices. He told me that they had better Greek pronunciation than the adult choir! I informed him that I am also in the adult choir, and he said "sorry!" without really being sorry. ;-)

Ah, but we weren't finished yet. The afternoon and evening were packed with: a house blessing for the Huzagh household (Elenie Huzagh is a former president of the National Counsel of Churches) and a farewell dinner for the organizers and the Archbishop. I won't go into all those details. However, the Huzagh home is across the street from Powells. Paul got the bright idea: he asked Archbishop Demetrios if he'd like to go inside. So, Paul, the Archbishop, me, and Archdeacon Nathaniel went into Powells. Now, those of you who have been to Powells, City of Books (one whole city block of bookstore) stop and imagine for a moment Archbishop Demetrios in that context. For those who don't know what he looks like, imagine him in his full regalia like this:

And yes, I enjoyed watching people's reactions! One man just stopped and stared for about three minutes. He then came up to me and said, "Greek Orthodox?" Hey, he's pretty good! The guy was Episcopalian himself. The Archbishop wanted to first look at the religion section, Christianity specifically (surprise) and then he wanted to look at the Atheism section. He stood there and talked with us about people writing all these books dissing the idea of God. I have to say I agree with him--we all have pet peeves, but why does religion get whole books dissing them? If someone doesn't like, say, boy scouts or whatever, they don't write a whole book about it.

Anyway. He bought a book from the atheist section, which I was going to remember the title of just so I could share it with all of you, but I was so tired by that point that my mind did not retain it.

He also bought us the two books I'd picked up to buy myself--a DK Alaska travel book and the new Barbara Kingsolver book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I am highly enjoying both.

Housecleaning and getting ready for a Big Weekend!

2007-05-03T19:45:00.000-07:00

This morning at breakfast, I told my kids that I know of a woman who has a big event coming up this weekend, AND she is leaving on a trip on Monday, AND her parents are coming into town on Sunday to watch the kids. She really could use some help getting her house ready for the weekend, and I'd said we'd come over and help out. They would each be paid $10 per hour *if* they did the work without complaining, dawdling, or needing to be nagged.

They, of course were onto me right away--"why don't you just SAY you need help if you need it?" and "gee, that woman sounds a lot like you, Mom." To which Paul said, "that's probably why Mom has such sympathy for her!"

But I'd decided that perhaps for myself it'd help me get over the housecleaning slump if I pretended it was someone else's house, and I'd been asked to help, or hired, or something other than just cleaning up my own mess. I told the kids we'd do this: work from 11 to 12 straight, then stop for lunch, and get back at it from 1 to 2. And you know what? We have a pretty clean house now! It did take some nagging at the beginning as the kids just take a while to get into cleaning. But once we got our groove we all just kept at it until it was pretty clean.

Each kid gets $20 now for helping me out. Thanks, kids!
******************************************************
I am having awful trouble with my computer. I don't know if it's Earthlink's fault....but starting at about 10:30 am yesterday I wasn't able to get my email, and I couldn't access webmail, either. The 'net worked fine.....until I called Earthlink, thinking surely it was going to be a known issue and they were going to tell me it would be back soon. But, they didn't. Rather, a tech guy actually got on my computer remotely, using a network with my computer (not so sure I like the idea of that still) and fiddled a bunch with it. He couldn't figure out what the problem was and handed me on to another tech. This new guy said it was the modem. I don't see how it could be the modem, as the internet was working. This morning it was the same. But, while the first guy was fiddling, the internet stopped working and only started again when Paul did some fiddling.

Right now I'm having trouble accessing some websites, and still can't get my email except through dial-up. And I still can't get on Earthlink's webpage, either.

Anyone know what's going on? Is this a problem specifically with my computer, or with Earthlink, or what? Help?!?

2007-04-30T22:18:00.000-07:00

Remember when, if you made an airline reservation and then couldn't make it for the trip, you could sell your plane tickets to someone else? And they could use them, without bringing out the whole swat team? It was no big deal. I miss those days.

Today I realized that the tickets I bought for a trip we're making a week from today were for 8:50 pm, rather than 8:50 am, as I'd intended to buy them for. I felt like an idiot! It doesn't work for us to travel later, as we already have to be late.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, this weekend is the biggest weekend for our church in, well, a hundred years! Really! We're celebrating our centennial at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Portland, Oregon. That's a lot of years, and it's a big deal! We have a full weekend ahead of us. The choir has been practicing extra hard since January. My dear husband has been going, going, going. And you know, when he's busy, I'm busy. It all starts on Friday evening, when both the Archbishop and the Metropolitan (two types of bishops) arrive, and we'll kick off the weekend with a Glendi (big Greek dance party) and the opening of the new cultural center. Saturday we have an ecumenical doxology service, then a youth ralley where both bishops will be with the kids at Camp Angelos, and then the big banquet, celebrating these 100 years and toasting to the next 100. On Sunday we'll have the big church service, with the two bishops and 9 other clergy members. The choir has been working on music for that Sunday--some that's old (as in the old Desby music that used to be used in all the churches) and some that's new (some pieces were commissioned just for our choir!). It's all very exciting! In the afternoon and evening there will be a couple of events that are not open the public but Paul and I will be attending.

And after this is all over, there is a clergy couples retreat in Monterey. I can't think of a time when we'll need it more, but I wish we didn't have to miss the beginning of it, as it starts on Sunday, and there's no way we could have made it then!

So, that's where the plane tickets came in. I wanted to leave as early as possible on Monday morning, but not so early that poor Paul would have to miss his beauty sleep after this big weekend. So I scheduled our flight for 8:50. I thought it was am, but it was pm. And it cost more to change it than it did to just buy one-way tickets on another carrier. So, I am $220 poorer and reminding myself to *look at the details, dummy!*

But next week at this time, we'll have celebrated our brains out and we'll be relaxing on the beach in California. Ah, life is good.

Weird Happenings

2007-04-28T18:57:00.000-07:00

We've had several weird things happen in the last couple of days, yesterday being the weirdest day.

First, Hibi took a long walk. When she called me (yes, I've just bought her a cell phone--and though I never thought I would do that, I'm glad I did!) she was almost two miles from home. She told me that she was just walking, and a man came up to her and asked, "where are you going?" And she said "I'm just walking." He then handed her a twenty dollar bill and walked off! Bizarre. Of course, all my mama bells were going off when I heard this, and when we tried to call her a few minutes later and she didn't answer, Paul rushed over to pick her up. Of course she was fine (and $20 richer)--she just hadn't heard the cell phone ring because she was walking on a busy street. I have no idea what to make of what happened. I guess just someone being nice? Random acts of kindness? Seems to Paul and me that we'd rather someone had practiced acts of kindness in a slightly different way.

She'd been home for not very long, and I was in the basement, when Paul called down that he had heard gunshots. 7 or 8 of them, he said. He walked in the direction he'd heard them from, and some people on the corner had looked up when they heard the shots and two teenagers were running away. It took the police quite a while to get to the right place--even though Paul had called 911 and told them where it had happened, they still were all over the place. Finally they found the right place and they taped off the area. I haven't heard anything more about it...nothing in today's paper or online. This happened one block from our house.

The next weird happening is just ironic, since we recently watched Little Miss Sunshine. Paul and I watched it without kids first, because we'd heard from some sources that it's "definitely not for kids!" But it was definitely the kind of humor that we enjoy and I vote the ending scene as one of the best scenes in moviemaking history. It was painful and hilarious, totally inappropriate and totally apropos at the same time. So, I thought carefully about whether my kids would be comfortable watching it. It is littered with the f word, so if you're uncomfortable with that, don't watch! And the grandfather is your classic dirty old porn-ogling man, but loveable in his own way. And I thought, no violence, and no actual sex scenes (though you do see some of the porn the grandfather enjoys, it is quite mild). If you can handle all these caveats I highly recommend it!

Anyway, the movie's main character is a little girl who is competing in a little girls' beauty pageant. And what's ironic is that Hibi received an invitation in the mail today to compete in a "young miss" beauty pageant! When I showed it to her, she was dumbfounded for a few seconds. And then she became a paper shredder who wants to shred the paper into as many pieces as she possibly can.

I sure have a good 13 year old.

what the chickens are up to now

2007-04-19T11:08:00.000-07:00

Close up of Thelma, Louise, and Fallujah's tail.

This is Nigella, nesting. The end product of nesting chickens is....

This! Beautiful, huh? They taste wonderful, too.
From left to right: Mama Bear, Punky, Thelma, Louise, and Fallujah. (I've nicknamed Fallujah LuLu. :-) They're feasting on leftover pizza and salad. (Sorry, no beer with that, ladies!)

I thought it was about time I got out and took a bunch of pictures of my chickens and inflicted--I mean shared them with you. So here you go! Next up (as far as pictures go): I've finally got my Project Mexico pictures on the computer, so hopefully in the next week or so I'll get a post on that up.

102!

2007-04-12T19:49:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention here (gee, I must be recovering from two very busy weeks!) that my grandmother turned 102 yesterday! I can hardly believe her longevity. A commenter on ArielleJuliana's blog said that she thinks we're more like our grandmothers than our mothers. I hope I have the aging old and graceful gene that my grandmother has!

John McCutcheon

2007-04-12T19:22:00.000-07:00

Now that I have my tickets, I can tell you to go get yours. ;-) John McCutcheon is coming to town again! He's good for a wonderful, warm evening of great music and political humor. JM is a very down-to-earth guy and comes up with wonderfully creative lyrics, some that will leave you rolling in the aisle laughing and some that will bring tears to your eyes.

He'll be performing on April 22 at 7 pm.

He's at the Aladdin Theater this year. Last year he performed at the Hollywood Theatre, which I love....but they've got to do something about their sound system. I've noted before that it needs help. But during the second half of John's concert, suddenly there was a high-pitched loud squeal that left me wondering if there was something weird going on. Thank goodness it was *just* the sound system, but it did freak me...and him...out.

Anyway, go to the Aladdin Theater's website and buy tickets. Better yet, to avoid Ticketmaster's price-gouging, go to the theater in person and buy them. Ticketmaster's handling fee is $5, where if you pay by cash or check at the theater they only charge $1 each ticket. I never understood handling fees at the box office though....why wouldn't that be included? It's not something you can avoid.

Oh, yeah, and if you don't live in Portland, check his website for when he'll be in your area.

That weekend promises to be an interesting one, as we're also attending the first annual Life is Good unschooling conference. Looking forward to the whole thing!

Christ is Risen!

2007-04-10T00:41:00.000-07:00

This is the greeting that we Orthodox Christians say over and over, sing a multitude of times, and celebrate, starting on Pascha (Easter) which was yesterday, the same day as the Western Easter this year, until we celebrate the Ascension of Christ in 40 days from Pascha.

I just read an amazingly accurate description of Holy Week and Pascha online, and then realized at the end of it that it was written by the wife of Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson. He married a Greek woman and became Orthodox himself and we even hear from the priest at his church that they do attend with some regularity.

We had a beautiful celebration yesterday and will continue to celebrate throughout the season. And today I had a nice lie-in....I'm exhausted! Mexico and then Holy Week really took it out of me.

Egg Sting!

2007-04-05T16:22:00.000-07:00

Ha! I caught her red-winged! ;-)

I'd been kind of wondering about Punky the Golden Laced Polish Crested hen. It seemed that all the other hens (except for Fallujah...hmm...) have been laying eggs. But I hadn't seen any of Punky's. And she's just skittish enough that I thought she'd be a prime candidate for hiding her eggs. I've had experience with this....(I almost wrote "eggsperience" but thought that'd be too tacky)...my chickens when we lived in rural California had the run of the place and could roam as far as they wanted. I'd find eggs in pretty far-flung places, and I'm pretty sure there are some we never found. But here, we're in a residential area. They mostly stay in the backyard. I'd looked all over the back, and didn't ever find anything. There's not a whole lot of places she could hide them.

But I did notice that sometimes she'd disappear and then come back.

When we got home from Mexico, our very observant neighbor who watched them for us said, "She's a fence-hopper! She likes to go over your back fence and hang out in the blackberry bushes!" Hmm...a clue. So, I started watching. I sure didn't want to hop the fence myself and wade through the prickly blackberries. That would hurt! But I just watched. Today when Punky went missing, I had the time and the inclination, so I just staked out the back fence. Just sat there, waiting. Waiting. Waiting. I heard birds singing and felt the nice warm sun. I saw a neighbor cat literally climb the chain-link fence and climb down again. Wow! And at just that moment, Punky hopped right through the little gap between the fence and our neighbor's garage.

So, I went and looked in that area, over the fence....and I'm not sure how I missed them before, because it was pretty close. I just had to stick my head over the fence and look to my right. And right there, by the wall, was a nest of white eggs.

I called for Zac and put my tall rubber boots on him. I put him over the fence and he gathered the eggs carefully. I put the eggs--18 of them!--into the nesting box. Then Zac caught Punky and we put her in there to show her that, hey Punky, *here* is where we lay eggs around here! I put a black X with a pen on each so I know which are the old eggs that have been out for who knows how long. I'll leave them there a couple of days and then compost them. Hopefully Punky'll get the idea!

Thank you for your help, Zachary! You're a good kid.

I'm glad we figured it out now, because hens will sometimes go broody when they get a big enough clutch of eggs. Then they want to sit on them. And I'm not sure I would have found her if she'd done that and I hadn't noticed until it was dark. And she could sit and sit and never hatch any of those infertile eggs.

Pascha Bread and Pascha Cheese

2007-04-05T14:14:00.000-07:00

I've had lots of google hits from people looking for recipes for Pascha Bread and Pascha cheese, so I thought I'd repost them on my food blog. Just in case you're interested.

And here's a picture of last year's half-eaten loaf, along with one slice with cheese spread. Yum!

The Power of Music

2007-04-05T13:09:00.000-07:00

During Holy Week, Paul pretty much just does services and visitations. He visits shut-ins and people in the hospital. Yesterday he went to visit a woman who is about our age, he said, but who is mentally disabled. She has the mind of about a one year old. The first time he visited her she just sat on the floor and didn't engage with him at all. He's not discouraged by this behaviour, and would have visited her again regardless, but he did have the great idea of bringing his guitar along this time. He said she was the same, not engaging at all, until he brought the guitar out. Then her eyes lit up and she came alive! She came over and participated in the music. She thumped on the top of the guitar, which sounds like a drum, so Paul thought next time he'd like to bring a drum (or several, because the nurses brought 3 other people over when he started playing!) so she could play with him.

I don't know what it is about music, but there is something magical about it. I think even people who are not musically talented feel the power of it. When something moves me deeply, very often it has been accompanied by music. It has a way of transmitting the message you want to convey in a deeply emotional way. I can't think of many religions that don't use music in their worship. It has the power to take us to a different place than our ordinary, daily lives.

It's just too bad we don't often share music in our everyday lives. Paul has never seemed to feel embarrassed to sing in public, just walking down the street, but I think he's an exception. Wouldn't it be great if we all felt comfortable singing to each other, just as we feel comfortable in talking to each other? Tears are another thing that's not very acceptable in public. I wonder if those two go together.

I decided to rest my own singing voice this morning in church, so I can hopefully have some left for the rest of the week. But it just about killed me not to even sing the "kyrie eleisons". Instead, I tried to focus on the beautiful music that was being made by the other chanters.

Holy Wednesday, Chickens, and Garden

2007-04-04T17:51:00.000-07:00

As we're in the middle of Holy Week, we are very busy doing nothing but going to church. Church in the morning, church in the evening--each at least 1 1/2 hours, and tomorrow's service is between 3 and 3 1/2 hours long. But we're loving every moment--except for that moment when Zac wakes up and says "I don't want to go to church!" and then he gets over it. :-)

I've been doing my share of chanting for the services--the morning Presanctified services I've been in charge of, with a great group of women helping me. The evening services are bigger, of course, and I've been helping also with the chanting there. The women from the choir came last night and sang the Hymn of Kassiane. But you know what? All that chanting leaves my voice very tired. And again like last year, when I was singing the hymn of Kassiane this morning (we do it for the evening service and the morning service) I couldn't do it without my voice giving out. I was glad for Paul helping me out this year. I'm not sure I'd have gotten through it. It's a long hymn.

Tonight is the Holy Unction service, or the annointing with Holy Oil, or healing service. All the hymns focus on the healing ministry of Christ and the church. At the end we are each annointed with Holy Oil. We pray for the healing of soul and body. Now, we don't try to define how that healing comes, or what specifically it will look like. We come, with the understanding that each of us are wounded people and we need the healing of the church and the community. We need more opportunities to come together for healing, like the Forgiveness Vespers I wrote about at the beginning of Lent.

When we were first thinking about becoming Orthodox, only a few weeks after our first service in the Orthodox church, we came to the Holy Wednesday healing service. I was personally looking very much forward to it for a specific reason: I was in a deep depression that I was in counseling for. I really felt the need for the healing powers of the church, for those prayers, for the people around me to buoy me up and bring me closer to God. When we got to the church, we found that Holy Unction is a sacrament and as such, it is reserved for Orthodox Christians. Since we had not converted yet, we were not allowed to be annointed. We left early because I was so upset about this. There was a power there, something to that oil, that touch, that community. I can understand why it is only for Orthodox Christians, but it was something that I desired at that moment. When we became Orthodox, our priest performed an annointing just for me. And I think of that every Holy Wednesday.
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On to a report on our chickens! While we were in Mexico, we asked a neighbor to take care of the chickens. When we returned, she told us that they laid about 20 eggs while we were gone! That was more eggs than we'd gotten from them the whole time we've had them. And we've been getting two or three a day after that! We are finding out why eggs are such an integral part of Easter (and I believe they are also, maybe not as much, part of the Passover meal). Chickens, as I did not know before I had hens of my own, lay eggs seasonally. In the winter months when there's not much light they slow or stop laying altogether. At this time of year, they begin to pick up with the laying. Thus, if you have eggs this time of year, you add them to your celebration!
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One good Holy Week thing to do, I think, is to weed. Thank goodness for that, we've got lots of....well, not exactly weeds, and we actually inadvertently planted them. Remember when we converted our lawn to garden bed? One of the layers was straw. Or hay. I'm not sure which. But it was the one that has seeds in it. So, we now have zillions of oat plants coming up. Since we don't really care to have a bumper crop of oats (a small amount would be fine, but I really wanted other things too...) we are finding ourselves pulling up little oat grasses. Talk about reaping what you sow. I did some of that today, and also noticed all the plants that are coming up! I need to get out the chart I did for what's planted where, so I can identify all of them, but I think I've got chard and beets, radishes for sure, and basil. Also artichokes and mint and a bit of lettuce. Someone, I can't remember who or even if it was someone who would know, told me that artichokes grow here, but they produce woody flowers that aren't edible. So, they're beautiful but you can't eat them. Which explained why there was an artichoke plant that we'd pass all the time that grew beautiful artichokes, but the owner of them never harvested them, and they went to seed. But I'm not inclined to believe that I can't grow edible artichokes without a try, so I did plant them. Anyone have any more info on that?

Mexico and Holy Week

2007-04-01T17:44:00.000-07:00

Hi, everyone....no, I have not dropped off the edge of the world, thank goodness! I just wanted to check in and let you all know that we are *back* from Project Mexico! I meant to post that we were going, but just as I was about to, *someone* said that he needed to use the computer for his book. More on that later!

Project Mexico is an organization that's been building houses for poor families in the Tijuana area since 1988. We got to know Greg and Margaret Yova, the founders, when we were first becoming Orthodox. When they'd been doing the house building for awhile, they realized another need was urgent--housing for orphaned boys in particular, because girls often had other avenues, but the boys often got put out on the streets when they entered their teen years. They now have some 23 or so boys who live there at the orphanage full-time and have become a family.

The orphanage is where we stayed last week, in group housing that is just like the houses that are built for poor families. We had no electricity and though we did have flush toilets, we couldn't flush toilet paper down. One day we had 40 mile per hour winds, which made our work quite difficult. "We" is a group of high schoolers and chaperones from our church who went specifically to do building projects during Spring Break in Mexico.

The work we did: most of the days we stayed on the orphanage and did two projects there. One was building a staircase on a hill that's between the buildings and their recreation area. We were lucky to have someone on our team who does construction and he masterminded the whole thing. I hear it came out beautiful (the kids and I had to leave early because we were driving and wanted to get home for Palm Sunday). The other project was to weed out and plant a hillside that keeps up their soccer field. They are fighting erosion and want iceplant to cover the hillsides. Some had been planted, and some of that had died, and needed a general weeding and second round of planting, which I enjoyed doing.

On Thursday we went out into a colonia, a small town which had lots of varying degrees of poverty evident. Last summer a house had been built by Project Mexico for Javier, Thelma, Monica and Vanessa, and they've moved in, but the house needed stucco outside to weatherproof it. So, that's what we spent the day doing. I don't think I'd ever done stuccoing and I enjoyed it. Also, Hibi and I had found some bilingual storybooks before we left and brought them along. She and I went in and read one of them to the children, and left the books with them as a gift. Late in the day, when only a few workers were needed (including the most skilled among us) I noticed that below us on the hillside there were children who'd evidently just gotten home from school and were coming outside, looking at us, and giggling. I called "Hola!" to them and they replied. We started calling to each other, and eventually they worked up the courage to come up the hill and meet us all. We got out the crafts that the Project Mexico people bring along for just this opportunity and colored with them and played with frisbees and bubbles. I've taken three terms of Spanish classes since last summer, in addition to my two years in high school, and I felt great to be able to converse with the children at least a little.

Thursday was a beautiful warm day, the first one that week, and it was such a perfect day! I felt good that it had turned out so perfect and sad that Hibi and Zac and I were leaving that evening. We wanted to get across the border, since we didn't know how long it might take, so we could keep on schedule for our driving back to Portland. But we left on a good note and are so grateful for the week.

We did a lot of thinking about the subject of "how much does one person need?" I discovered in this week that I really don't need a whole lot. If I have enough to eat, enough sleep, and am warm enough, it is enough. Even the one day when they ran out of coffee we were all fine with the strong tea they offered instead. Hey, a consistently hot shower would have also been welcome, but I did live without it. I hope I can remember the fact that I don't need all this stuff I have around me.

We got back last night, even in spite of having *two* flat tires yesterday, just in time for Holy Week. If you are not Orthodox, and have never been to Holy Week services, I'd encourage you to try it out this week. Holy Week services are way over-the-top in the Orthodox church, but are so beautiful and meaningful. I'd especially recommend the Thursday evening service, but beware that it lasts 3 to 3 1/2 hours. The Friday night service is also sadly sweet, as we sing the lamentations for our saviour who has died, but we know he will rise from the dead even as we sing the mournful hymns. Saturday morning is joyful, as it is actually an Easter service--it used to be the first of the Pascha services (Pascha is the word we use instead of Easter in the Orthodox church) and bay leaves are thrown all over the church! Of course, the crowning moment of the whole church year is Pascha itself, celebrated at a midnight service that usually runs from about 11 pm to anywhere between 1:30 and 4 am, depending on how much of the service your church does. :-) Possibly a more accessible service for those not accustomed to staying up all night is the Agape Vespers on Sunday, in which the gospel is read in as many different languages as we can find people to read it in. All of these are very special services which hold much meaning to me and my family.

A blessed Holy Week to all Christians! Also, a good Passover to my Jewish friends. :-)

Oh, yes, I almost forgot! Paul and his book. Paul has been doing translation work for some three years now. He's translating four of St. Basil's homilies, and has a publisher for the work (St. Vladimir's Press). His deadline was October of 2005.....and obviously he missed it, but now, he is finally done! The homilies focus on poverty and wealth and social justice. He's finished his part and is waiting now for a preface and then he'll send it to the publishers. Woohoo!

And I leave you, at the end of this already long post, with a story. This morning as I watched Zac serve as an altar boy, holding a palm, I was reminded of when he was four years old and we went to church on Palm Sunday. I always brought things to occupy him when he was that age. I usually brought crayons, and usually shied away from markers, because of the quick damage they can cause. But Paul had packed the bag that morning, and he'd put in markers. As I was standing in church, Zac was behind me on the pew. Suddenly I heard a gasp from the people behind me. I looked around at Zac, and he was covering every inch of his hand and continuing up his arm with green marker! "Zachary, what are you doing?" I asked him. He replied in the most joyful voice, "I'm a palm!"

Gender in the Church

2007-03-13T22:18:00.000-07:00

Paul and I heard about this book on NPR one night, and Paul knew he had to read it. It's called Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith, written by Barbara Brown Taylor. The author is a former Episcopal priest and wrote of her decision to become a priest and of her decision to leave the priesthood. Paul read it and now I am more than half way through it, thanks to a homeschool Amtrak trip to Seattle. While Hibi and Zac played games with other kids on the train, I had the chance to read, without interruption (or sleepiness, which happens when I read after they go to bed) for maybe 1 1/2 hours. I am enjoying it immensely and I recommend it to anyone who would like to understand some of the issues of ministering to a flock. One thing that really struck me was that the reason she decided to leave the priesthood was not that things were going badly, but just the opposite. Things were going so well, in fact, that she went from having one service on Sunday morning to having four in a pretty short amount of time. There was real ministry going on. And because of that, she was sucked into the life of the church in a way that didn't leave much room for her own self. She talked about having to remind herself of what month it was, what *season* it was, because she'd go so long without being aware of her surroundings, being so caught up in the work of really being *with* other people.

This book reminds me of the reasons why the very best of the ministers in our churches (I'd imagine in other religions as well) are the ones who leave, for one reason or another. Because they are genuine people, the very thing that makes them such good ministers is the very thing that drains them so of being their own person.

One line in this book actually brought tears to my eyes, and it was because of something mentioned in passing. "The Holy Spirit had spread her wings, and all the babies had settled down underneath them." The author was describing a day when she had decided to baptize a whole bunch of babies all together, and it started out chaotic, with all the babies crying, and ended up with mystical silence. Barbara Brown Taylor did not address inclusive language at all in this book, but when she referenced the Holy Spirit as "she" something broke in my spirit.

A few years ago when we lived at St. Nicholas Ranch, I attended a women's group that met once a month, on a Saturday morning at the Newman Center in Fresno. (Though Fresno is certainly not known for it's progressive thought, it did have some pockets--this was one.) It was an Ecumenical progressive group, and we discussed faith in a way that I never heard in Sunday school or sitting in the pew listening to a sermon. The female essence of God was discussed here, and I began to realize that I already had identified with the belief that God is not male or female, but rather created both, but I had not internalized this belief. Had not made it my own. Had not let God out of God's male box.

One of the presentations I heard there was on gender-inclusive language in church. We heard from one woman who had been deeply hurt by the male-based language of the church, and had been told outright that males were the highest priority on God's list, with females being a distant second. The other woman who spoke said she always knew that she was included in the male-based language but wanted it to change so that all women knew this.

I thought it was an interesting presentation, but after all, I figured I'd always known that it all applied to the women and girls as well as the men and boys. But I could see that using this kind of language has obviously given some people some ammunition for shooting women down.

So I decided to do something radical. Since we were at St. Nicholas Ranch, and our church services were quite small unless there was a retreat, I often got the chance to read the Epistle. In fact, I was the default Epistle reader, along with Hibi and The Other Elizabeth (our neighbor). When I got up to read that Sunday, I just changed the male-based language to gender neutral language. And something quite remarkable happened.

Brothers and Sisters, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of a human.

The last word, "human", I changed from the word "man" (as well as Brethren to Brothers and Sisters.) Suddenly I was struck with the fact that God had become *human*, not just a man. God had decided to be like me, not only like men. Perhaps it was the contrast between what the text said and what I changed it to, but it felt....different. I almost teared up right there while reading to the people there to worship. It felt so....personal. Like, as a woman, I was worth Jesus becoming one of us, including me as "one of us."

Skip now to the present. This past Sunday our church adopted the Official Greek Orthodox Archdiocese translation of the Nicene Creed. (For those unfamiliar with the Creed, it is the statement we recite in church every liturgy, that explains our beliefs in a nutshell.) At first I thought, oh, it's about time we had a standardized version! The Episcopal church has it standardized, the Antiochian Orthodox church does, the Metropolis of Boston has since before we lived there. But when I read it for the first time, my heart sank. It states:

And in one Lord Jesus Christ....
Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became man.
(For the full text click here.)

We had been using a version that said "Who for us and for our salvation..." and I can't see what's wrong with that. I have scribbled out the word "men" in my choir book and will continue to say it the other way. Hello! We're not all men!

Some might protest and say that of course, by "men" we mean "men and women." Aside from the fact that if that's what we mean, why don't we just say that? I have some problems with this. First, Paul says that in Greek, you really can say anthropos and mean men and women. But, as he says, do you call your wife, your daughter, your mother, "man"? Madaleine L'Engle says that "mankind" may have originally meant the same as "humankind" but that it is probably irreparable as a good word for all of us, since it has *not* been used to mean that for centuries.

Back to the ecumenical women's group I attended: one thing that was stated there is that there is already enough misogyny inherant in the scriptures because of the times in which it was written. We don't need to borrow from the English language's misogyny to make even more.

I am considering writing to the Archdiocese to request that they take a look at this issue. Perhaps the all-male hierarchy has blinded them to this issue, but I believe it to be one that needs attention. We don't really believe that women are second-class citizens. Do we?

The Power of Chickens

2007-03-10T16:35:00.000-08:00

Today I volunteered for Girl Scouts Beyond Bars as I do about once a month (if you're new to my blog and want to read my initial post about this, click here). After I picked up the first two girls (they're the two sisters I drove the very first time I volunteered) and was driving to pick up the third, I was thinking about how different my life is from theirs, and wondering if we can relate at all. Is it just a waste of time? I mean, here they are, being beaten down by the mainstream that they're still trying to live up to. And I have rejected the mainstream and am on my own path. Last time I drove we had a discussion of what kinds of snacks we could have on hand--for these girls who didn't eat any breakfast. Fruit? Huh-uh! No way! They want junk from McDonalds.

Anyway, I was thinking perhaps it was time to throw in the towel. They can't relate to my life, and I can't relate to theirs. And then, for some reason, I mentioned my chickens. I started telling about the funny things they do, like the two who have decided that they don't care to sleep in the coop, but wish to spend their nights on a beam high up by the garage roof. Every night for more than a week I've had to stand on a chair and get them down and put them in the coop. The youngest Girl Scout in my car, who is turning 10 this month, thought this was hysterical! When the third girl got in the car, she told her about it, and then asked for more chicken stories. I told them all about the chickens I had out in the country, and how we had one who came into the house to lay her eggs, and about the duck eggs that one hen hatched and then was the perfect mama hen to those "chicklings", and worried herself about to death when they hopped into a puddle and swam around!

After our visit at the prison, when we were all in the car again, they begged, "Tell us some more stories about your chickens!" And so I did.

Paul says they'll remember me as the "chicken lady." And I suppose we found something they can relate to in my life.

I think I'll continue, keeping on keeping on.

The Garden Labyrinth is Finished!

2007-03-06T22:48:00.000-08:00

Today I had an unexpected afternoon free, and the weather was absolutely gorgeous, so I stayed outside and worked on the garden path. Here's the result! I can't believe how evenly the stone worked out--that's it for the stone, it's gone, except for little bitty pieces.

Now we're all ready to get planting! We'll probably do some on Friday. Stay tuned!

The Teen in the House

2007-03-05T15:16:00.000-08:00

13 years ago yesterday I was walking with Paul into the hospital at 3 am. I'd been woken at 2 am with my water breaking and contractions too close together to even stop and time, and we hurriedly gathered up everything we'd need and headed out. As we walked the path to the emergency room entrance, I was in thought--the first time I'd had time to think since labor started. Then I said, "March 4th." Paul looked thoughtful, then said, "Yes, we are." "No," I said, "The baby's birthday! This baby will be born on March 4th!" (If you don't get it, read it out loud.)

And she was, just three hours later. It was Carissa (as she was known then) who made me a mom, and who really, in large part, made me who I am today. She has always questioned everything, forcing me to, as well. I sometimes get complimented on how I've raised a feminist daughter, but I always deny that I've done that. She turned me into a feminist, not the other way around. When she was only 1 year old, I'd observe a squirrel or other little animal and say, "look, there's a squirrel! He's carrying a nut." And she'd always say, without exception, "No, SHE is carrying a nut!" And that's only the beginning of her feminism. :-)

Hibi is a woman of convictions. She changed her own name at age 8, and insisted that we call her by her new name, Hibiscus or Hibi for short. When Paul and I became vegetarians when she was 6, she was so mad at me for not cooking meat anymore that she wouldn't eat anything I cooked. She'd get her own dinner, even if it was just yogurt (no meat, because I didn't keep it in the house) because she wanted to make her own decisions. But at age 10, she decided on her own to go even further than we had and become a vegan. Even when being a vegan is very difficult, and it would be easy to make exceptions now and then, she has stuck with her principles. If you ever have a spare hour and would like to here about the treatment of animals to produce our food, just ask her why she doesn't eat milk/eggs/honey/meat. She'll be happy to give you all kinds of research.

Hibi has turned out to be a fantastic artist. She really turns out some good work and I'm excited to see what she makes of her talent as she grows.

Happy Birthday, sweet Hibiscus! I'm so glad you're my daughter.

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Here are both Hibi and Zac with their birthday presents! Zac got roller blades, and Hibi got a skateboard. Yes, they both have helmets, and yes, they will be wearing them regularly. (Right, kids?)

We had a great time bowling with a few of Hibi's friends last night, followed by some wonderful pizza at Mississippi Pizza. Cheeseless for Hibi and one other vegan friend.

Foodie Meme

2007-03-02T11:25:00.000-08:00

I was tagged by Karrie to do a foodie meme. I was also tagged by Monica to do a post on the influential women in my life, but I'm still putting some thought into that one and I'll post it when I'm ready. This one can be put out there quickly!

1. What’s your #1 comfort food? Hmm....just one....I guess I'd have to say pasta, with butter and parmesan cheese, or with pesto. (That counts as just one, right?)

2. If you were on a deserted island, what one food would you want to have with you? Umm...again, just one? I suppose I'd want something that'd keep well, and I guess we're talking about warm weather? Those don't go together very well. Oh, I'll say soup with lots of greens. And ice cream.

3. What is/are your signature dishes? (What dishes are you ‘known’ for?) Pastitsio would definitely be one--you can find the recipe on my food blog. My homemade pizza is awfully good. Tomato soup! My favorite "signature" dishes are all summer-time dishes.

4. It’s Friday night, you don’t know what to cook. You opt for…Maybe a quick stir-fry with whatever veggies I have in the fridge, that left-over tofu and rice. Or use the same stuff and toss it with the Chinese noodles I keep in the freezer. Or, go get some good French or Italian bread and have bruschetta with seasonal vegetables. Or, take the same veggies in the fridge and make a stew.

5. What’s your biggest weakness when it comes to food? Cheese. It goes with everything.

6. What food can you absolutely not eat? Fast food. Meat of any kind. Mass-produced glop.

7. You need a drink. You grab a….glass of red wine, if it's in the evening. Or a cup of chai or English Breakfast tea with honey and milk.

8. What’s the most decadent dish you’ve had? I suppose it'd be a tie between creme brulee, in Paris (or at home) and the chocolate souffles I make from the Joy of Cooking.

9. What’s your favorite type of food? Indian.

10. Favorite dish? Saag Paneer (since I'm thinking Indian now)

11. If your partner could take you to any restaurant you wanted, which one would it be? Chez Panisse in Berkeley. We went there for my birthday once, and it was divine! Or Greens in San Francisco. Oh, or Chow in San Francisco. Yum.

12. Are you a soup or salad person? I hardly ever make salad at home. I make lots of soups. In restaurants I often opt for the salad, if I'm not sure if the ingredients in a soup are vegetarian, or if I won't be getting many veggies otherwise.

13. Buffet, take-out or sit-down restaurant? Sit-down. If I'm going out, I like to be served and not have to do a lot of running all over the place. My family really likes getting take-out and eating in front of a good movie, but I'd much prefer to sit down in a nice restaurant.

14. What’s the most impressive dinner you’ve ever made? I think it'd have to be the meal I blogged about on my cooking blog, when I had my extended family over for dinner and I made, like, 5 dinners all at once.

15. Do you consider yourself a good cook? Yes. My family thinks so too!

16. Do you know what vichyssoise is? Yup.

17. Who’s your favorite TV cook? I never watch TV cooks.

18. Can you name at least three TV cooking personalities? Um...LeighAnn from church. She works for Fred Meyer and I know she's on TV. (I don't know how she is on TV, but I do know she's a fantastic cook!) Nigella Lawson? Isn't she on TV? Emil, the BAM! guy--I've heard about him from my mother-in-law.

19. Homemade or homemade from a box? Homemade, all the way.

20. Name 3 or more other foodies you are going to tag:
Melisa, Lisa and Vicki.

Garden Progress

2007-03-01T22:06:00.000-08:00

Here's the work we did with the garden today. I think it's going to be so beautiful when it's done! The path is made from slabs of granite and marble that we got at the ReBuilding Center today--a whole cartload for 50 bucks. Broken pieces and scraps, but it was perfect for our useage! We plan to make a labyrinth of sorts.

We planted rosemary, lavender, and blueberries. More to come!

Peanut Butter Cookbook?

2007-02-28T16:42:00.000-08:00

Often, when I'm looking at statcounter to see what info I can glean about who's been visiting my blog, the google searches are quite amusing. Today's was a good one: benny and joon cookbook. Of course, this person found my blog because I've mentioned Benny and Joon as my very favorite all-time movie, and I talk about cookbooks. I had to click on the search and find out if there was such a thing! Then I began wondering what foods would be in a cookbook like this. Peanut butter cereal smoothies? Tapioca without raisins? Spaghetti and salad...In that order? Maybe it could give housekeeping hints as well, compliments of Sam. Oh, and we can't forget Sam's clothes-iron grilled cheese sandwiches, or his tennis racket-mashed potatoes. :-)

Okay, thanks for my two minutes of amusement!

10 years ago

2007-02-26T14:09:00.000-08:00

10 years ago today I was in labor from the time I woke early in the morning until 3:30 in the afternoon. And then, out slithered a beautiful newborn! We named him Zachary Peter that day. The Peter was for his godfather, who is a Ukrainian Orthodox priest and was named the Ukrainian version of Peter. However, he's always gone by the English name of Patrick, so when Zac was a few days old we decided to change his middle name to Patrick as well.

Zachary was born at home on the seminary campus in Brookline, MA. We said for years that he was, as far as we knew, the only baby born on the campus of Holy Cross seminary. But recently we were told there was an emergency birth in the campus cafeteria, when a laboring mother couldn't get to the hospital through the snow! So, Zachary is the only one intentionally born on the campus of Holy Cross.

Zac received new rollerblades for his birthday, and this morning we went to the homeschool skate where he loved showing off his new skates! We're having a little party with a few of his friends later this afternoon. I'll post pictures later.

Happy Birthday, Zachary! I love you.

Boy, am I going to ache!

2007-02-23T18:10:00.000-08:00

This is what we did today: we converted one side of our front yard into garden bed.

And these are two of our three "new girls"--Punky and Mama Bear. We now have six hens: the original two, Thelma and Louise, and we just voted on the name for the Barred Rock. We decided to go with Monica's suggestion: Fallujah, because she was attacked by a hawk. ;-) Paul wanted to name her Barack....for three reasons, one being that it's only two years until the election ;-), and then barred rock, Barack....and barack just sounds like what a chicken says.

The other new girl is black with red on her throat. Her name was Little Black when we got her, but I think we're going to vote to change it to Nigella, which Hibi says means "black."

Paris in the Cinepoem

2007-02-21T22:15:00.000-08:00

LaDonna's done it again--made another beautiful cinepoem. If you've ever loved Paris, you'll love reminiscing as you watch Elasticine.

Ah, how I love Paris. We are all ready to go back--just give me two seconds to pack.

Birthday Art! and Christmas Art!

2007-02-19T22:22:00.000-08:00

My commissioned artwork for my birthday is here! And it's beautiful! It's from Jennifer Kapnek, who just lives half a block from us.

And I thought I'd finally put up a picture of the photo I received for Christmas. The photo itself was taken at a march, just before the Iraq war started, in Portland. Police in riot gear, contrasted with a young girl with a Hello Kitty bag. Pretty interesting stuff. Paul and the kids put it in a frame that I've had for years, a gift from Paul's mom several years ago

that I never knew what to put in it. Now it's got something! Sorry for the glare--I'll have to try taking a better picture in daylight. When I didn't use the flash it was just dark.

The Beginning of Lent

2007-02-18T23:06:00.000-08:00

Tonight I asked the forgiveness of about 30 people. They also asked me for forgiveness, and each other. It was at one of my very favorite church services of the year: Forgiveness Vespers. The Catholic church has Ash Wednesday, where they remember Christ's death and their own. We have the call to become community. To "give up" selfishness and pride, and to sacrifice them for the call of being one in Christ. Living as one with the world. To overlook petty differences and act on the love that Jesus calls us to.

The service starts out in non-Lent. Everything is as normal times. Then the moment of Lent arrives. The chanters (and I was blessed to be among them tonight) sing "Do not turn your face away from your servant, for I am in trouble. Hear me speedily, hearken to my prayer, and deliver me." The altar cloths are changed to the purple of Lent, as are the priests' and deacons' vestments. The lights even darken somewhat. But Lent is not a somber time--not a time to mourn what we must "give up" but a time to bask in the simplicity of what is truly needed, what is truly good. Yes, we give up meat and cheese. But we enjoy that much more the simple foods of Lent. Dried fruit and nuts are staples in my family's diet during Lent. When you take the time to really enjoy these foods, really enjoy their chewy texture and their flavor, it is a form of meditation. We have many more church services during Lent than in any other time of the year. They are very beautiful and different from the regular services. They hold different meaning, a different "flavor" as well. We are encouraged to simplify our lives and to look inward to our hearts and outward to the community.

At the conclusion of the service of Vespers of Forgiveness, the priest first asks each person's forgiveness, and offers his own, and then we go on down the line--everyone forgives everyone. It's a practice that I wish we could do with the whole congregation, but forgiveness is not something you can force on people. Perhaps that's why we do not have this service on Sunday morning. You have the option of not attending if your heart is not ready to forgive or to seek forgiveness.

What are we forgiving? What have we done that is so awful? We've become a broken people. We do not commune fully. We have allowed small differences to make the difference in our relationships. Such is the human experience. But tonight we made a small step toward wholeness.

Tomorrow, rather than the Retreat of Silence that we had last year on the first day of Lent, we will have the service of Holy Unction, the annointing of oil for the healing of our souls and bodies. Another fitting start to Lent. (But I will miss the retreat! I hope for it's return next year.)

I ask you, my readers, for forgiveness. May we move ever toward community.

Pre-Lenten Getaway, 2007

2007-02-17T09:48:00.000-08:00

Phew! I wasn't sure we were going to be able to get one in this year, since Lent is coming so early. But we did it! We had to change our two days out of town to this week, because of a couple of deaths in the parish last week. And the other priest at our church is out of town for the Folk Dance Festival down in southern California. So Paul knew he would have to be "on call"--if there were any emergencies, he'd have to skedaddle back to Portland, on the double. Thank goodness, there were no emergencies!

We went to Eugene. We liked going to Ashland last year, and wanted to go again, but two strikes against that were the fact that we only had one night (two days) not two, like last year, and the Shakespeare Festival season hadn't quite started yet either. So we finally decided on Eugene and had one bad day and one good. Well, the first day wasn't entirely bad, but there were elements of it that were not ideal.

First, the kids were bickering from the get-go. We stopped at the end of our block to discuss how we wanted to actually *enjoy* this trip, and that was impossible if they continued this bickering! It slowed, but didn't stop for the rest of the day. But that was nothing compared to how bad it would be before the days' end. Now, none of us ended up in the hospital, and we didn't have a car crash or anything awful like that, so I suppose some might think I'm over-reacting. But our pre-Lenten getaway-- so necessary I believe it to be, because a priest's schedule is so demanding in the Orthodox church during Lent--needs to be fun and relaxing.

Anyway, I'll list some things that were good about the day first. One, we had a delicious breakfast at Pearl Bakery on our way out. And we had a terrific lunch in Eugene, at the World Cafe. I had the tempeh fajitas--now, the flavor wasn't exactly authentic, but it was so delicious! We found a great used bookstore, Smith Family Bookstore and spent more than an hour perusing it. And we had a great nap at the hostel we were planning on staying at that night. (Forshadowing of impending doom here...)

The night before we left, I had been looking through an online calendar of happenings in Eugene. And I found a concert of an artist that I discovered way back in September on Dawn's blog--Neko Case. I loved the video that Dawn posted--such a powerful and haunting voice! I found clips of her music online and had the rest of my family listen. Beautiful! We all were convinced to go to the concert. But alas....the opening act was awful--he could play decent guitar but his voice was frankly annoying in parts, singing about "luv" and with a put-on twang. More than that, he had nothing to *say*. We were so glad he only inflicted his "art" on us for about 45 minutes.

But Neko didn't come on right away. They were setting up and stuff after the other guy was done, and they even put the lights back on. We saw Neko come on stage and try out the guitar, all without spotlight. Then she left and it was a *long time* before she came back. When she did, I felt she was not truly with us--whatever problems there had been was where she still was. And she really lacked stage presence. Whenever she was not singing, she was looking at her musicians. But the worst was probably the mixing, which may have been the reason for the delay in the first place. We just couldn't understand the words. And that powerful voice that I'd admired online--it just wasn't there. Sometimes she seemed to cut out altogether. So, it wasn't an *awful* concert (though the opening act was--we dubbed him "subway man" because you can find just as good of performers in subways) but it was quite thoroughly mediocre.

Then came the real downer of the day. So, it was 10:30. We were all tired, especially Zac because he usually goes to bed between 9 and 9:30. We headed back to the hostel. Now, we all enjoyed greatly staying at the Hawthorne Hostel in Portland when we were visiting and planning to move to Portland. I like the idea of hostels--the loosely-formed community of travelers all sharing a real house, not a sterile motel. Having a real kitchen to use and share. Sitting in the common room reading while interesting people mill about, come and go. So, we liked the hostel in Eugene. But the guy who was working there was a little too good-intentioned. We had reserved the private room. But the private room only has one double bed. They could put a fold-up single bed in there for one of the kids, but then one would have to sleep on the floor. But we were cool with that. When we got to the hostel, however, it was quite empty. So the guy in charge showed us to the women's dorm, which was empty. It had four bunks. Great! We each get a bed. No problem. He told us it could be our private room.

Just inside the door to our room, though, was another door. We were to find out that it is a private women's room. After we ate lunch, the guy told us that there had been someone staying in there, and she'd called down after we'd left saying "did I just hear you showing the room to a *man*?" He'd "fixed" it by putting her in the private room we were going to have. Um, okay. Good. That works out just fine, I guess. I was wondering at that point how he'd missed the fact that she was there, but oh well.

So, we have a good afternoon, then the concert, then at 10:30 we headed back to the hostel. Oh, by the way! the guy says. We're all filled up now! And I put two women in the room off your room. They needed a place to stay and they were cool with the situation. At first I thought they would just be going through the little space by the door, just to get out. And then Paul asked, "will they be using our bathroom?" Yeah, the guy answered. But it's totally cool with them and I think it's going to work out just fine, he assured us.

I thought about it and the idea that the women were already asleep, and that probably meant that they'd be waking up earlier than us and traipsing through our room and using the bathroom, taking showers, etc. This was just not what I bargained for in my getaway! So, we left. We looked for a few minutes for a better-than-mediocre hotel that wasn't the Hilton, but didn't find one, so we settled for mediocre. Zac found the advantage: a TV in our room. :-)

*****SIDENOTE: There are two hostels in Eugene. I don't want to overly malign the one we stayed in...the guy really was well-meaning and he wanted to please everyone. So, I won't mention which hostel it was here. If you want to stay at a hostel in Eugene, and you want to make sure this doesn't happen to you, email me and I'll tell you the name of it.*****

So, we woke the next morning ready for a *good* day. And we had it! We went to breakfast at Morning Glory Cafe (I'm not finding a website for them but if you google it you can find lots of great reviews). Yum--vegan biscuits and gravy with tempeh! I'm not supposed to be eating vegan food this week but I couldn't help it--it was so good! And then off to another great bookstore, and the Footwise Birkenstock store across the street. Then Buffalo Exchange to look for shoes for Zac who has unusually narrow feet, and then when we didn't find them there, to St. Vincent de Paul where we found shoes for Zac and more! Most notably, bookshelves made in their workshop using recycled wood. Great! Just what I've been looking for. This house didn't come with very much shelving, and we had books still sitting in boxes. I can get them put away now!

Lunch was ho-hum....we had it in a promising-looking gourmet food court, but the only really good thing was the french fries. They were....dare I say it....like McDonald's french fries, which is one thing McDonalds does well--though probably all that good flavor comes from chemicals.

We looked in a shop that has lots of fairly traded goods, kind of like a Ten Thousand Villages shop. Paul bought six more fluorescent bulbs, which have really worked out well....though we heard a report on NPR about how the mercury needs special recycling....sigh. Anyway, we got a henna tattoo kit as well, because Hibi asked for it and Paul was in an uncharacteristically spendy mood. So, we all took advantage of it. ;-) A visit to a nursery, because I'm reading the book Food Not Lawns, which has a boatload of great ideas in it. And I got the crazy idea while there in Eugene, which is where the author lives, that perhaps she or someone in her organization has a sample garden that could be walked through, to see how these things can be implemented. So we asked around, including a the nursery, but alas, found nothing.

The last thing we did in Eugene, which left us definitely sated, was Sweet Life Bakery. Paul and I both had chocolate cream pie, and so did Hibi. Yep, there was a vegan version as well! She was quite overwhelmed, in fact, with choices. She's used to not having very many, or none at all, that the sheer number of delicious-looking sweets gave her pause. She took quite awhile in deciding. Zac had a cream puff that was also delicious. Paul finished what he was going to finish and put the rest in a box, then said, "I'm ready for Lent." I looked down at my pie and said, "not yet!" But I finished mine off last night late. And now I am, after we have our Cheesefare classic, Cheese Soup in Breadbowls, tomorrow.

When we got home we watched the movie Gattaca. Wow, what a creepily interesting movie. We saw clips of this movie at a "Faith Forum"--an ecumenical gathering to discuss the ethics of genetics science. But I won't go into that now, as Zac is breathing down my neck, waiting to use the computer.

First Egg! and Pajama Pants

2007-02-06T13:20:00.000-08:00

Last night I just had a feeling that today was going to be the day we got our first egg.....I just thought it would be the Barred Rock, since she's supposed to be less of a seasonal layer. But today Thelma was nesting all morning, and just now I went out and found this smallish blue egg! It's cracked, though. She pushed aside the wood shavings and laid it on the wood. Maybe I need to get some straw--perhaps that'd be better.

Before we bought our house, I got fabric to make myself some pajama pants. Then all the madness of buying a house and moving and settling got hold of me and the fabric for pajama pants got packed up, along with the sewing machine. Last night I pulled it all out and cut out the pattern on this great pink flannel. My anti-pink daughter cringes at the pink, but I happen to LIKE pink, thank you very much! Besides, I'll just be wearing them to bed. Maybe.

This morning I sewed them up, quick as a wink (almost). They were very easy to make. Cutting out the pattern was the hardest part. And this cloth is *so* comfy! Soft, warm, and (as I mentioned earlier) *pink*. Here it is, 1:30 in the afternoon, and I am wearing them. I'm about to head to the library and so I'll change. Maybe. :-)

Early Detection Warning System

2007-02-03T09:33:00.000-08:00

Gosh, that didn't take long. This morning I was brushing my teeth--in the basement bathroom, no less--and I heard a cacophony of crows. I rushed outside, where I saw the barred rock lying on her back and a ton of her feathers around on the ground. I also saw a bird that I thought was Thelma in the yard. This bird flew on top the neighbor's garage, and then into a tall tree. Here I was thinking, number one, that it was the crows that were causing my chickens distress, and number two, wow, Thelma sure can fly! But of course, it wasn't Thelma--I realized that Thelma was behind the garbage bin. It was a hawk. Trying to catch itself a tasty meal of one of my chickens.

I called for the kids to come out and help me--they were both still in their pajamas!--and we got all the chickens back inside their cozy home. We put a partition between the barred rock and the others, since she's hurt, and the Auracanas already are fighting with her--they'd certainly peck at her wounds.

Now I'm wondering what in the world to do to keep my hens safe from hawks. I suppose we could build an outside run for them....I've always liked the idea of free-range, though. Sigh.

A large percentage of the barred rock's tail feathers are here.

Our "Girls"!

2007-02-02T13:00:00.000-08:00

Here are our newest additions! The two on the left are Auracanas, that we received from Raevyn (thanks, Raevyn!) from the PDX chicken list. They are really beautiful! And the third one was a spur-of-the-moment buy, when I walked into Foster Feed to buy a waterer for the other chickens and saw that they have hens as well! She's a Barred Rock. The three aren't mixing too well yet...hopefully soon they'll learn to get along. When I got the Auracanas, it was evening and they were sleepy. I just put them into the coop when we got home, and then I didn't have any worries about them getting confused about where home was at night. But I brought the Barred Rock home yesterday afternoon. I thought it a good idea to keep her in the coop until today. So I just set her in the nesting boxes in the coop, and the first time she met the Auracanas (whose names are Thelma and Louise) was when they came in for the night. The Barred Rock thought she was queen of the roost and wouldn't let the others come up in the nesting boxes or even onto the roosting perches. They slept on the floor. Today when I let them out, Thelma and Louise were pecking and chasing the Barred Rock. But I did have several chances to take pictures with all three of them in it, after they'd been out for a bit, without fighting. So hopefully they'll figure out the pecking order soon and there'll be peace!

Any suggestions for a name for the Barred Rock? Thelma and Louise came with suitable names already, as they'd already belonged to a Real Live Person. But we need a name for our Barred Rock.

Local Terminology

2007-01-30T10:44:00.000-08:00

I suppose it's natural for each region to have it's own dialect, and I've been collecting terms--just a couple so far--from the Northwest. The first one I noticed was using the term "going nonny" for going to bed. I'd heard it before, but I've heard it more in the last year than I'd heard it the rest of my life up until last year. It's cute and endearing.

The other one I've noticed just recently as we've been preparing to get chickens is the use of the term "the girls" for laying hens. I'd never heard this before! I've had to realize that people aren't talking about their daughters.....or female anatomy, as I'd heard it used before now. :-) They're talking about their female chickens. Seems everyone uses this term--at first I'd thought perhaps it was a PDX chicken list thing--yes, there is a Portland chicken email list. I might as well give it some publicitity here! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PDXBackyardChix/
Anyway, they were constantly talking about "the girls" there, and I thought maybe it was a list thing. But I called a feed store to see if they sell mature hens, and the woman I talked to said I'd have to wait until her husband came back and he would round up "the girls" for me.

Not that I don't have any language quirks myself. Just yesterday I found myself, when startled by a bus that decided suddenly, while I was driving around it, that it was going to get back into traffic, muttering "Dude!" Yep, born in Oregon, currently an Oregonian, but no one will ever be able to take away my Californian upbringing.

On the chicken front, a woman from the chicken list posted that she was "re-homing" her "girls" and was there anyone there who wanted them? Yes! So, tomorrow I think, I'll be picking up two Auracanas. Not laying currently, she said, but should start again in the spring. I'll be anxiously awaiting the first blue/green egg!

The chickens are coming!

2007-01-28T23:33:00.000-08:00

Yep, it's time for another project here at our house! I've been saying for more than a year that as soon as we own our own home, I want chickens again! Here we are building a home for them. It's in a corner of the garage, where there was already a little cat door--that'll be our chicken door. The garage will provide extra warmth and protection from predators for our hens.

All of the lumber you see here is re-used. We bought it all from the ReBuilding Center for $22. Add about $30 worth of hardware and a couple of easy days of work together, and you've got one great chicken house! Now, we just need chickens....I'll keep you posted!

Soapmaking

2007-01-22T20:30:00.000-08:00

I don't think I've ever posted about soapmaking, though it's in my profile. I began making soap in the summer of 2001, and have enjoyed making all of our own soap and some for gifts ever since. It's a neat creative outlet, as you can play around with the scents and additions. I haven't ever done anything specifically with color, except for using baking cocoa in my chocolate soap (as seen above), but I've had lots of fun nevertheless.

My very favorite soap is my chocolate soap. It's made with a significant amount of cocoa butter, which makes a very hard bar and lathers very nicely.

Last Tuesday I'd already planned on making soap as I hadn't made any for about a year, and we were about to run out. And then it snowed, making it the perfect day to stay in and make soap (and other things, like things to eat). I decided to try making two different kinds of soap, both using the same base of the cocoa butter soap. To one half I added chocolate essential oil, and took out a bit and added cocoa, then swirled this into the white soap base to make chocolate marble soap. I made this part just as I have for several years, except that for molds, I used cupcake papers in a muffin tin, and one round cake pan, instead of the rectangle I usually make (then I cut it into bars). Chocolate soap looks and smells good enough to eat!

The other half I made into lavender soap, with lavender essential oil and blended lavender buds. Even though it came from the same base, it was looking and feeling a bit soft. The soap sits in the molds for 24 hours or so, then it is cut and put on a wire rack to cure. It has to cure for 3 weeks, and I turn it once during that time for even exposure. I just checked on the soap, and now, after having several days to sit, it's looking much firmer and can be picked up without leaving wet residue on my hands. I'd never had this happen before, so I'm not sure what happened.

Beginning to make soap requires lye safety, which can cause fear of something awful happening. A soapmaker must never forget that lye is a poison and can burn very badly, and can even cause death in the wrong circumstances. One must *always* take care when handling lye, and let everyone in the house know that the lye is there and to take precautions. That said, other than the lye handling, soap is very easy to make and is very rewarding. I've never had a batch fail, which is more than I can say for breadmaking.

The book I have used exclusively for making soap is The Soapmakers Companion. I chose it because of it's emphasis on natural ingredients and for it's complete lack of animal tallow and the like. It does have recipes that contain milk, egg, and/or honey, so it's not completely vegan, but there's plenty here for the vegan to enjoy making as well. The book lays out, step by step, the procedure for making soap and lets you know of the precautions that must be taken when one uses lye. It also goes into the chemistry of soapmaking, so you can make your own formulations, but I have stuck with the recipes in it and have not been interested to learn the numbers and elements. (I never took chemistry in high school or college--maybe that's why.)

Any other soapmakers out there? What kinds do you like to make?

A Lovely Snow Day

2007-01-16T21:02:00.000-08:00

Here's Hibi throwing a snowball at you! :-) Click to enlarge the picture.

We woke this morning a bit after 7 to snow that had just started, but already had accumulated quite a bit. It's been cold in Portland, rising not too far over freezing each day before it goes back under. So when the snow started falling it stuck like crazy because the ground was frozen. Which meant we got quite a bit of accumulation today!

The kids, of course, really enjoyed playing in it. And I suppose it could be blamed on the fact that I did most of my growing up in central California where we got no snow, but I truly enjoyed it, too. I like the small amount of snow we get in Portland. It happens just infrequently enough that you really can relax and enjoy a day at home without feeling like you're slacking. Which is sure a good thing, because even the busy road our back yard faces didn't get a whole lot of plowing.

One thing that was really nice about the day is that so many people were out and about in our neighborhood, on foot. So we met two neighbors we hadn't met before (they both have a child each! I didn't know so many children lived in our neighborhood, and these are both close in age to our kids) and called hello to more just passing by on the street. What a great community event snow is! It's happening to everyone around us the same as it's happening to us.

How will you be spending MLK day?

2007-01-15T08:31:00.000-08:00

We've had an awfully busy weekend, but I'll be celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.'s life here. I was kind of bummed that they've changed the location--last year we went, and it was at Jefferson High School, which we could walk to. Today I have to take my car to the shop, so we'll be getting to the celebration in Rosa Park's style. :-)

I'll tell you one highlight from my weekend. On Saturday I drove for Girl Scouts Beyond Bars. It was my first time going into the medium security side of the prison. Write Around Portland was finishing up their series of workshops with the girls and moms and this was the day that they'd all read to the group what they'd written. But we first started with a talk from Rene Mitchell, who is a columnist with the Oregonian. What a powerful voice! One quote she started with (I think she was quoting someone else, but I'm not sure who): "There is no one you couldn't love, after you hear their stories." She spoke of victims of abuse, as she is a survivor of domestic abuse herself, and trying to understand each other, why we do the things we do. I think hers is a story we all need to hear: rich, poor, white, black, young, old. It's part of Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream.

Listening to the stories of the incarcerated moms and their daughters was very moving and inspiring, as well. Write Around Portland publishes anthologies of these stories, and the newest one is called Echoes. You can find it at many bookstores in Portland. For a list of bookstores that sell it, look here.

Oh, okay, I'll tell about one more thing we did this weekend. Our high school group at church is planning a trip to Project Mexico this March, during Spring break. Last night they got together for a preparation meeting, to start understanding what kinds of situations they'll be walking into. Margaret Yova from Project Mexico sent some activities we could do with the kids, and here's one of her ideas we did. When the kids came in, they were presented with a spinner which was divided into colors, like this: one half was yellow, a little more than one quarter was red, and a little less than one quarter was blue. Each of them put on a name tag that was the color they'd spun. Then when it came time for snacks, they could eat from the table that was specifically for their color. The yellow table had just a few little snacks, not nearly enough for the eight kids who had yellow tags. The red table had about enough without it being too much for the number of kids who were there. But the blue table was sumptuously laden with almost all the snacks, and the four kids (plus me!) couldn't even dream of finishing everything. This, of course, was a picture, a very vivid picture, of how the distribution of food and wealth is laid out in this world.

We also had my very wonderful Spanish teacher from Portland Community College come and teach a bit of Spanish to the kids, and talk about the culture a bit. She's from Colombia, but she just got back from a tour of Mexico. It was perfect!

But my, oh my, we were beat after a long day, and afterward went home and almost immediately to bed. Paul said there were enough events just this weekend to fill the whole week. He slept in this morning. :-)

My Cool Birthday Present

2007-01-12T16:09:00.000-08:00

Before Christmas, we walked into a funky little art shop that's near our house to look around, see what they were selling, and meet some new neighbors. One artist's work really was striking to me, and the proprietor said, oh, that's Jennifer's work--she lives right down there in that funky storefront. Oh! She's our neighbor too! So, for my birthday, my family went down there to meet Jennifer and their intent was to buy something from her for my present. But Jennifer said, why not wait, and let her choose what she wants herself, and I'll paint it for her?

So today I went down and met Jennifer, who is a great person and has a cool little studio there. She talked me through, asking questions about what I like. She said that even though I didn't quite know what I wanted, her questions really would help her to narrow it down and she'd be able to figure out what would be right. And, if I don't like it, she said, she'd just sell it and paint me another!

So I chose a tree with a full moon and a mountain, painted in red as a primary color with orange and yellow. She uses recycled wood and she'll layer pieces together for a cool effect. I think it's going to be pretty neat! All I need to do now is clear a space for it to go on the wall.

If you want to see her work, it's here:
Jennifer Kapnek

Art Studio

2007-01-05T19:22:00.000-08:00

We've been doing lots of projects on Paul's days off, which usually occur on Friday. Today was no different. We have been planning to make part of the garage into an art studio (mostly for the kids). But first it had to be cleaned out. The previous owner left a bunch of junk in the garage, and it all had to be gone through. A lot of it was paint, which he could justify leaving because we'd "need" 16 zillion cans of paint for the house. One big find that left us all a little more wary and rose thorn gloves on my hands while cleaning the box out was hypodermic needles. Hmm. Three guesses as to what they were used for, and why they were hidden in the garage? Anyway, now we need to know what to do with them. They've been used and they're sharp, and I certainly wouldn't want a garbage pick-up person to accidentally get jabbed, or even a passing child or someone else to be looking through the garbage left out. Susan? Anyone? What do we do with these? Can we take them to a doctor's office and put them in their hazardous waste?

Anyway, we also found a big old slab of wood, that looks to have been used at one time for a table (brackets for legs are in place) and another time for a door (hinge marks in the end). I looked at it and said, here's our art table! Paul latched onto that idea and went back to the ReBuilding Center (we'd already been once to get recycled wood for art) and bought enough lumber and nails to build this beauty for $20. The piece of wood leaning on the table will be a lip that will hold pencils and brushes on the table. Paul said a plus to the tilted design is that you can't store stuff on it! Oh, there are going to be shelves underneath, too.

Now we just have to solve the heating problem. I bought a space heater, a Vornado, from Craigslist yesterday, but it just didn't put out enough heat. Paul found a very powerful heater on Craigslist today, a kerosene one that you can use in your house if the power goes out, which would be a definite plus. The guy said it heats his whole house!

One more random find: a funny little cannister with 70s style mushroom decorations. Perhaps it would even be worth something. I thought at first of taking it to Rerun and sell it, but I probably won't bother and will keep it out there to keep art stuff in.

We're having fun setting up our new house.

Two new knitting blogs

2007-01-02T13:17:00.000-08:00

Two new blogs to report! I don't knit, but I know lots of you do.

Lisa, my friend from San Francisco (whose son is Zac's best friend in the whole wide world) has a knitting blog. You can find it here: Farm Girl Creates.

And Stefani, another homeschool mom who I met through the home-ed list, who also in in the bay area, has Reading While Knitting.

Enjoy!

New Year's Cookies

2007-01-01T22:58:00.000-08:00

New Year's Cookies, or Portzelkje, are a New Year's tradition in the Mennonite church. So yummy! One batch makes a whole bunch of fritters (they're really fritters, not cookies) so it helps to have lots of people on hand to help eat them. Melisa, Will, Simon, Jonah and Tovah were willing to take on this task.

Yes, Melisa takes on her duty of sugaring the fritters quite seriously. It involves a complex sugaring dance. Though I don't think that was the Mennonite's original intent. (I'm cracking myself up here. Must have had too much sugar.)

All the photo credits go to Hibi--I have been wanting to get more pictures onto my blog so I told her to please find the camera and take pictures. She did a good job.

Happy New Year!

2007-01-01T11:47:00.000-08:00

Well, it's 2007! Amazing. Another year gone by. We were thinking of all that happened this year--the good, the bad. All in all, it was a good but very, very busy year.

We had some plans for last night, but none of them panned out. But we had a good New Year's Eve all the same. We'd planned to go to Mississippi Pizza and hear a concert. But when Paul called half an hour before it was to start, he was told there were no tables available in the music room. And then the kids started saying they didn't feel like going out, anyway. Zac had been saying he was feeling sick ever since he woke up in the morning, but pushed himself through church and didn't feel like doing anymore pushing. (Thank goodness they both seem fine this morning! Alive and bickering, as usual. Ah, parenthood.)

And then, we'd heard that Pix Patisserie was having a *free* chocolate buffet from 12am to 2am. Seemed decadent, and a little late for us. But we thought we'd try....but by midnight we were all just waiting for that magical 2007 moment to arrive so we could go to bed.

What we did end up doing: getting pizza from Hot Lips Pizza and watching the movie Millions. (We watched Millions in the theater when it came out two years ago, and really enjoyed it then. We enjoyed it once more last night. One of my favorite things about the movie is the bobbling halos on the saints--and the depictions of the saints in general.) Then we cut our Vasilopita, and drank Martinelli's and a fizzy muscat wine at midnight. We talked about the old year, and what we want to do in the new year. We had a good evening, even though it's not exactly what I'd envisioned.

Today I am making Portzelke! We are having some friends over to help eat them, which is highly needed because of the sheer volume in which these fried delicacies come out. Plus, you don't feel as guilty eating them if other people are eating them with you.

2006-12-29T17:12:00.000-08:00

We finally have DSL, after a hiatus of three weeks! So I was able to upload some pictures. I took these right after Paul did a marvelous job getting up all of our family pictures, plus he framed some of the kids' artwork and put it up. The room just lit up.

58

2006-12-29T13:27:00.000-08:00

Paul and Hibi did a count of how many recessed bucket lights there are in our house. That's how many: 58. We will never want for lighting around here, as the electrician who lived here before went a little crazy! However, we may want for cash to pay the electric bill....

So begins the greening of our house. We're headed out to buy compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).

We just got back from the Rebuilding Center (cool place!) and looked at doors for a project we want to do (eventually). We want to build a fence in our back yard. There's only a chain link fence there now, and over one street is a very busy street. Between our back yard and the busy street is only a parking lot. So we'd like to have something to block the sight and sounds of the busy street. Anyway, I was balking at just a conventional fence. Then I thought of the Rebuilding Center, and making it out of old doors! Yes, that's the perfect solution, we all said! We'll be doing that sometime in the new year.

A new blog is born

2006-12-28T20:54:00.000-08:00

A new friend I've met here in Portland has a new blog. I've really enjoyed getting to know her and also reading her blog. Here it is!

Magpie Ima

Enjoy!

Christmas busyness melting into post-holiday calm

2006-12-27T13:08:00.000-08:00

What a great Christmas we've had!

On Christmas Eve, we had vespers service at church, and the choir performed some neat arrangements of traditional carols (most of which only had the same words, not melody). I truly enjoyed singing them and loved the beautiful songs. I have to interject here: I had been having lots of trouble with my voice, which I talked with some of you about before. I have always enjoyed singing, and usually think of myself as talented in that area. But for the last three years or so, I've had trouble with going hoarse very soon after I begin to sing. I lived with it for awhile, thinking it'd go away. But it didn't. So I went to a specialist and discovered it was my acid reflux that was damaging my voice. Now I sure wish I hadn't waited so long, because perhaps it wouldn't have done so much damage and wouldn't be as difficult to heal.

He prescribed me medication, but I just couldn't see taking pills every day for the rest of my life, much less think of all the side effects of those meds. So I began looking for an alternative. Could it possibly be as simple as another doctor told me about? She said apple cider vinegar. Every day take a tablespoon. Yeah, it's an acid, seems counter-intuitive. But it's been proven to prevent all kinds of ailments of the throat/esophagus, like esophageal cancer. So I tried it. I've gone through more than one 16 ounce bottle of the stuff! I recommend Braggs--I had tried what I had on hand (never tried it in such a raw form before, so I didn't know what it *really* tasted like) but when I ran out I got Braggs, which was less expensive than what I'd been using, and tastes....almost good, quite zippy. I mix one tablespoon with a tablespoon of honey, then add about 1/2 cup warm water. Drink it down--yeah, I still have to choke it down. But it seems to be working. My voice still isn't full-throttle, but on Christmas Eve I was able to sing for the whole service plus the carols without going hoarse, in better voice than I've been in a very long time.

Anyway, after church on Christmas Eve, Paul was going to stop for stocking stuffers and other stuff we needed desperately (how did we get down the dregs of shampoo? Fortunately, we seemed to have Judah Maccabee's shampoo bottle, which continued to give even when we thought for sure it was done). But, as we were to find out, all the stores had closed at 6! Even Fred Meyers, which was the sign of sure impending doom. If Freddies was closed, surely we would find no place open. What were we to do for stocking stuffers? We had some mandarin oranges. But that seemed quite bleak. Paul said, weren't you thinking of making divinity? I said, yeah, but there's NO way of making divinity vegan for Hibi. BUT! I remembered seeing on Vegan Lunch Box a recipe for fudge. I went looking for it, and found I had all the necessary ingredients on hand! Yes! The stockings were saved. ;-) The kids *loved* the fudge.

Christmas morning! I don't know how, but I managed to not get any pictures of Christmas or the day after. :-( Zac got a didgeridoo, and Hibi a wooden flute (both made by the same Ukrainian Catholic man we met at the Portland Saturday Market). Hibi also got a pair of pirate earrings (silver hoops) which violated our one-present-each rule, but everyone thought it was a good idea. :-) Paul got a piece of Asian art. And I got the interesting gift. As we were walking through the Saturday market, we were telling each other what we'd like to receive from there. I said I'd like artwork, either a painting or a photo. I was thinking of one of those beautiful photos of Mt. Hood, all bedecked with snow or wildflowers (or both). They did get me a photo, but not of Mt. Hood.

I had told Paul that I had a pretty frame that his mom had given me years ago for Christmas, but I never had anything to put in it. It's decorated with dried flowers. I told him he could use it if he wanted to. He liked the idea.

So, when I opened my gift, it was in the dried flower frame. But it was a black and white photo. It was taken at a war protest in 2002, in Portland. It shows a police line, policemen all decked out in riot gear, armed to the teeth. Standing at the police line is a young woman, dressed like she's ready for a night on the town. But with a pink Hello Kitty bag. She is just standing at the line, staring contemplatively across the police line toward the officers.

On the back of the photo the photographer has written that it was at the protest in 2006, where there was a peaceful protest of the war, in which there was no violence on the part of the protesters, but the police used force all the same. Shame. My children wrote on the back as well: "where have all the flowers gone?"

After gifts it was time for church. We had liturgy and then home for a quick breakfast and time to get the house ready for guests! We invited two sets of people over for dinner: one was a family that the church has been helping to get on their feet. They moved here recently from Denver and had no place to live and nothing to put in a place to live, such as furniture. They have a 13 year old son and an almost-two year old daughter. Unfortunately, the mother wasn't feeling well and she wasn't able to come. The other set of people who came were some folks from the Catholic Worker house whom we've connected with recently. Two staff members and two residents came for dinner. They take in women who are transitioning from prison or homelessness. It was kind of quiet, sometimes awkward, for these people are in difficult situations and cannot just snap out of it in order to have a good Christmas. But it was good in it's own way and we're glad we had them over. My kids had fun with the two other children--they played chess with the 13 year old, and enjoyed playing with the 2 year old with toys they hadn't gotten out in years, like the Curious George that ended up going home with the little girl because she loved him so much and my kids were ready to let him go.

Then the day after Christmas: our good friends, Mark and Lisa, along with their children Hailey, Noah, and Isaiah, stopped by to see us! They spent Christmas with relatives in Seattle and were on their way home to San Francisco. They spent the night with us and left this morning. All the kids are friends (as well as all the adults!) but Zac and Isaiah are extra special best friends, the kind you only find maybe once or twice in a lifetime. Zac was sad the visit couldn't be longer. We'll have to look for more opportunities to get together, but that's hard when you live a 10 hour drive apart. Hmm. I just had an idea about that. Lisa, if you're reading this, drop me an email.

And the last item in today's very lengthy, chatty post: I just finished a beautiful book. I've been working on it ever since I checked it out, but it's been so busy and hectic around here that I'm only able to read a few pages each night before my eyes cannot stay open any longer. It's called Waking, by Matthew Sanford. I first heard about Matthew Sanford on a program on OPB (Portland's NPR station) called Speaking of Faith. I don't know if this is a program that's syndicated, or if it's just in Portland, but I know from just listening to it that once that I can recommend it. (Do any of you have trouble remembering to listen to your favorite programs?) In this book, Matthew tells his story, of how his family was traveling back home from Thanksgiving when he was 13 and the car slipped on the ice on a bridge, tumbled down the embankment, killed his father and sister, and paralyzed him from the chest down. How he was told that he wouldn't ever walk again, he wouldn't ever feel anything below his armpits again, and the feelings he was having and the ability to move his foot a bit was just phantom feelings, and not real movement. He tells of his journey from that time when he was told to ignore his body, to focus on "what he had left" as if he was only upper torso now and not a whole body. How he hurt himself by that belief for a while, and then began the journey to wholeness, to connecting with the whole of his body. He doesn't hold out hope for ever walking again, or even feeling again the way he felt before, but he does feel with his whole body in a certain way. He ends the book with the bittersweet birth of his twin sons. One of whom died in utero and one who lived. Matthew seems to me to be an incredibly beautiful person, one who can see the beauty in everything and everyone and who has a great gift to share with the world. I feel like I became acquainted with a new friend by reading this book.

Posts from Portland

2006-12-21T18:55:00.000-08:00

Xmas Stocking

leave a gift for Elizabeth

get your stocking

Here's my Christmas stocking! What will you leave in it? I hope not lumps of coal!

Update on us

2006-12-20T14:31:00.000-08:00

There is life after moving! We have had a difficult week and a half getting settled over in our new home. We're realizing that yes, while we did just do this last year and we got through it fine, for one thing it was earlier in December that we moved in, and number two, we got all cleaned out of our old apartment in San Francisco before Thanksgiving. Plus, now we're connected and living active lives of Portland residents, instead of having nothing to do. Which is a great thing, but still makes moving difficult. But it's done now and boxes are being unpacked slowly. We have out what is really necessary (begging the question: why not just dump the rest?) and we can take our time doing the rest. Except that Christmas is coming fast! We are again doing our Christmas shopping at the Portland Saturday Market, which is very cool. We rode the MAX over there today, which has a stop only two blocks from our house, and pulls up right in front of the market. Very neat! Although that didn't keep us from getting chilled to the bone, which necessitated some curly fries. We thought it necessitated some elephant ears, but the guy we always buy them from wasn't there today. Very sad.

Yesterday we had an outing with our homeschool co-op, to the Mt. Scott Rec Center's pool. I had heard they had a "nice pool" but I'd always thought, a nice pool is one that's clean and well-maintained....so I filed it in my brain. I'm sure glad to know about it now, though! This was no ordinary pool. Check it out on the website if you're local. It's well worth a trip. The kids and I spent a lot of time in the current channel. It was so much fun! Then they opened up the waterslide. It's really tall and I just zoomed down it--it was almost too fast for me. Zac tried and tried to work up his courage to go on it, but was scared. After much agonizing, he finally went....and proved me right, that once he went down it, he'd go again and again, and wonder why in the world he'd waited so long! And the third thing I enjoyed there but the kids weren't allowed to was the hot tub. Mmmmmm did that feel good when it's so cold outside. I wish I was there now!

Sunday we had our Nativity Pageant at church. I think the director has had a stroke of genius. You know how Christmas pageants have a tendency to drag on and on and be too long and tedius? Well, this one is short and sweet. Actually, it's in two parts: first is the part in the church, right after liturgy. They have the 6th grade class take turns reading out the nativity story and other kids acting it out as they go. Then the younger grades come into the church in turn, singing a Christmas carol as they come in that has to do with what's happening in the story. Like Away in a Manger during the birth, We Three Kings while the kings are coming in (actually all of the 4th grade were kings, and singing, and Zac made a great king!). Hibi was chosen to be Mary this year! She did a great job, though it wasn't actually a very big part--just carry in the "baby" and sit down for the whole thing.

The second part is the Christmas concert in the church hall. After everyone gets their coffee and sweets, they go into the hall. (This also allows for those who aren't interested to make their escape.) Individual children can perform Christmas carols, singing or playing an instrument. It was very nice! Hibi sang and played guitar for What Child is This. She was a hit!

Alas, in our fashion, we didn't bring the camera. Sigh. Besides, I think it's still packed away somewhere. Hopefully someone else will give me a picture or two.

And now you are up-to-date on the happenings of this family! Hope you all have a great week, and a very merry Christmas! (Or whatever holiday you are celebrating!)

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

2006-12-20T14:25:00.000-08:00

This cool article appeared yesterday in the Oregonian, about some folks in San Francisco who made a vow to not buy anything new for a whole year:

WP: 10 friends live secondhand for a year
Voluntary simplicity also sparks a backlash
By William Booth
The Washington Post
Updated: 8:29 a.m. PT Dec 18, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO - In the living room, the group gathers to share inspirational stories about the joy of finding just the right previously owned shower curtain. To the uninitiated, these people appear almost normal, at least in a San Francisco kind of way. But upon closer inspection, you see it: Nothing in this house, nothing on their bodies, none of their products -- nothing is new. Everything is used.

For these people, recycling wasn't enough. Composting wasn't a challenge anymore. No, they wanted much more of much less.

Attention holiday shoppers! These people haven't bought anything new in 352 days -- and counting. These 10 friends vowed last year not to purchase a single new thing in 2006 -- except food, the bare necessities for health and safety (toilet paper, brake fluid) and, thankfully, underwear, and maybe socks (they're still debating whether new socks are okay).

Everything else they bought secondhand. They bartered or borrowed. Recycled. Re-gifted. Reused. Where? Thrift stores and swap meets, friends and Dumpsters, and the Internet, from Craigslist to the Freecycle Network, which includes 3,843 communities and 2.8 million members giving away stuff to one another.

These people purchased old sheets this year. Tonight's vegetarian feast was cooked in a hand-me-down Crock-Pot. Christmas presents? They're making them, or -- shudders -- they don't give them.

They call their little initiative "the Compact," which they say has something to do with the Mayflower and the Pilgrim pledge to live for the greater good, save the planet, renew their souls, etc. And although these modern "Compactors" say they never intended to spark a mini-movement or appear on the "Today" show, that is exactly what has happened.

Since the San Francisco Chronicle ran an article about them in February, their story of not buying has appeared on media outlets around the world -- everything from Yoga Journal to Martha Stewart's Body + Soul to the London Times. Even Oprah's producers called.

Pinched a nerve
It appears they've pinched a nerve. Perhaps, the Compactors suggest, many people have the same feeling that the mall just isn't working for them anymore.

"We're just rarefied middle-class San Francisco greenies having a conversation about consumption and sustainability," says John Perry, a marketing executive with a high-tech firm, and one of the founding Compactors. "But suddenly, we decide we're not going to buy a bunch of new stuff for a year? And that's international news? Doesn't that say something?"

Their user group on Yahoo has grown to 1,800 registered members, representing SubCompact cells operating across the country (including Washington), and around the planet. So they apparently live among us, biding their time, quietly not buying, like some kind of Fifth Column of . . . Shakers.

The online Compact community ( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thecompact) spends enormous amounts of typing-time discussing things most Americans probably do not. Such as how to make soap. Or whether a mousetrap counts as a safety necessity. Or how to explain to your children that Santa Claus traffics in used toys.

"And people hate us for it? Like it drives them nuts?" This is Shawn Rosenmoss, an environmental engineer in the original San Francisco group. Some have called the Compactors un-American, anti-capitalist, eco-freak poseurs whose defiant act of not-consuming, if it caught on, would destroy the economy and our way of life.

Kalle Lasn, editor of Adbusters magazine, who advocates taking a 24-hour timeout of the consumer merry-go-round, has promoted Buy Nothing Day since 1992, urging citizens to resist the urge to splurge on the day after Thanksgiving, the kickoff to the holiday shopping spree.

Lasn claims that millions of people have stopped shopping on Buy Nothing Day, although he admits there is no way to know for sure. But Lasn does know that Internet discussion about the movement has grown, and so, too, the backlash -- against the backlash.

"I go on talk radio shows, and I'm amazed by the anger of some people, the Chamber of Commerce president who calls up and says, 'You're trying to ruin the economy,' " Lasn says. "I sympathize. I know you have to pay your rent, but try to take the larger view. We consume three times more than we did right after World War II. These things are connected."

"I think it upsets people because it seems like we're making a value judgment about them," says Rosenmoss, who has two children. "When we're simply trying to bring less . . . into our house."

What are the rules to this particular game? "People are really into the rules," Perry says, "as if it were a game, which it kind of is. I like that part of it. Figuring out how to do what I need to do without running out and buying something."

Is a toilet brush a necessity?
The rules are simple -- and flexible. The original Compactors decided they would get to vote on anything in the gray areas.

One member recalls asking permission to purchase a new toilet brush, contending that it was a health issue. Overruled. How about a new house key? Allowed. New tubes of shampoo, toothpaste, sunscreen are okay, but skin bronzer would be frowned upon.

At the potluck supper, the family dog is playing with a toy, which looks like a ball of yarn. Technically, it is new, and thus a Compact breaker. "But if she eats it," points out Rachel Kesel, a professional dog walker, "then it's food."

"We all have our little weaknesses," says Kate Boyd, a schoolteacher and set designer. Her challenge was getting used bicycle shoes, plus a used helmet and pump. Three buys through Craigslist through three sellers. "It was more of a hassle than going to the bike store," she says, but more interesting, too. "You get to meet new people."

The greatest challenge of the Compact? "The strangest things," Perry explains. For example, he cannot find used shoe polish.

Then there are modern dilemmas. Is it better to buy a battery (allowed, if recycled and rechargeable) for a cellular phone for $70 or just have the company give you a new free phone if you switch providers?

Clothes? Easy, they say. Vintage stores. Consignment shops. Or more down-market, your Goodwill, your Salvation Army. Or your own closet, likely filled with outfits.

Toys? The easiest. Perry and his partner, Rob Picciotto, a high school language teacher, have two adopted children. "I take Ben to Target sometimes and we'll play with the toys and then leave," Picciotto says. The kid seems happy.

"I broke down and bought a drill bit," Rosenmoss says. The Compactors nod their heads. "I just wanted it and I needed and I did it." The group members understand. They've had their drill-bit moments.

‘The craving will pass’
But not a lot of them. Asked what they bought that broke the Compact, the list was not long: some sneakers, the drill bit, a map, and for Sarah Pelmas and her newlywed husband, Matt Eddy (fellow Compactors), some energy-efficient windows for the house renovation. The 1920s house, they remind us, was purchased used. Indeed, they painted it with recycled paint.

"By being so strict with yourself, you learn to take a deep breath," Kesel says.

"You learn to do away with the impatience." Boyd says, "You see that the craving will pass."

One Compactor points out that the group's members are not really denying themselves much. Boyd says that, for example, by buying less new, "I drink way better wine now." Also allowed: services. So they could buy a massage if they wanted to. They can go to movies, theater, concerts, museums, bars, music clubs and restaurants. They can fly, drive (and buy gas), stay in hotels.

Judith Levine, author of "Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping," went really cold turkey in 2004 with her husband. The couple split their time between Brooklyn and Vermont. She applauds the Compactors, but says that not buying stuff for a year is only taking it halfway. Not going to the movies and restaurants for a year -- now that's cutting back.

Amazingly, the Compactors have all decided to renew their pledge for another year. There are, naturally, things they miss, and so they've decided to give themselves one day next month when they can buy a few things they really need new.

Like? "I need a drain snake," Perry says. Is that not pitiful?

Used pillowcases? Disgusting
Pelmas is dying for new pillowcases. Used pillowcases, even this group agrees, are rather disgusting.

Lessons learned?

"We didn't do this to save the world. We did this to improve the quality of our own lives," Perry says. "And what we learned is that we all have a lot of more stuff than you think, and that you can get along on a lot less stuff than you can imagine."

Staff writer Sonya Geis in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16259064/from/RS.4/

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© 2006 MSNBC.com

Link to their blog:
http://sfcompact.blogspot.com/

Not everything can be exciting...

2006-12-10T22:45:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I have to say that one *major* disadvantage to buying a house as opposed to renting: people who have sold their house and gotten your money have no reason whatsoever to leave their house clean for you. :-P

We just spent three hours plus cleaning our new home. I'm sure glad I had the foresight to think of this, because I don't know what we'd have done if we'd shown up tomorrow, moving truck full of things to unpack, and the house was in the condition it was. It was just a lot of little things....and it's still not done, but at least the bathrooms and kitchen are (mostly) clean. I have been concerned that this would happen ever since the second time we saw it and it just wasn't as clean as the first time. But hey, it's been three guys living there together, what did we expect?

As it is, it doesn't feel quite like our home yet. But with a bit of cleaning it's feeling more so than before. It just squicks me out so to clean a toilet that someone else has let go way too long.

Almost there!

2006-12-10T16:00:00.000-08:00

Oops, I accidentally posted this to my cooking blog instead of my regular blog. I had thought it disappeared, though I was sure I'd seen it post! Thanks to Mimi for commenting there so I could figure out what happened! Originally posted last night (Saturday) so the "tomorrow" is only in an hour from now. :-)
*******************************************************************
Man, I am exhausted. I'm getting too old for this! But it's a good exhausted. We closed escrow on our house on Thursday (yay!) and the seller is now in the process of moving out. He's supposed to be out by 5 pm tomorrow and we move in on Monday! We went over this afternoon and he showed us all the ins and outs of how the house works. We are all so happy to finally be HOMEOWNERS!

On Thursday evening, we were invited by a family from the church to come to dinner, then go to The Grotto to hear one of the daughter's high school Christmas concert. The Grotto has a big Festival of Lights every year and I'd wanted to get over there to see it this Christmas season, but I probably would have let busyness keep me away. I'm so glad this family invited us to come with them because the place was beautiful and the concert was wonderful. It was nice to get away from packing for an evening, too.

Enjoying while packing

2006-12-04T10:43:00.000-08:00

Paul recently decided to give a listen for the first time to the Dixie Chicks, when they came out with Taking the Long Way Around We're both really enjoying the CD we got from the library, and might just have to buy a copy.

Random thing that came out of my mouth regarding Dixie Chicks, that made Paul laugh:
"When I first heard Dixie Chicks I thought their singing style sounded really slutty. But now I like it." Of course I didn't mean that now I like slutty music, but that's what made Paul laugh.

Home!

2006-11-29T13:46:00.000-08:00

We're home. We had a great trip! I wanted to avoid the same old, same old I-5 corridor, so we chose to drive through Idaho and Utah. It was gorgeous! I would definitely do it again. However, I didn't do it again when coming home. I looked at the weather forecast for Salt Lake City and saw that on Tuesday, when I would have been there, it was supposed to have snowed the day before and still be snowing a bit, and it wasn't supposed to get above 30 degrees. Snowy and icey are not my favorite ways to drive long trips. I didn't even know about any of the passes on that route, I just made the decision to go through California. It was actually nice! While here in Oregon, fall is about done, in California there were still beautiful trees with colorful leaves. And in Southern California, where I usually wince from seeing the air, it must have rained good and hard because it was actually beautiful there too. The only glitch in the trip (and going home I was the only driver--Paul flew home on Saturday night) was that 250 miles from home I pulled into a rest stop and saw that there was smoke coming out from my hood. Turns out (with the help of a trucker who came to diagnose) that there was a crack in the seal of my oil cap. It was allowing oil to get spewed out on the engine, thus the smoke. I drove to the nearest town and spent some time at the auto parts store. They didn't have the cap I needed, but they spent time looking for a seal for it that could be jimmied into place. I got home just fine on the slightly too small seal in my oil cap.

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. We got to tell everyone about our new house, and we got to meet our new niece. She is adorable, of course! It was fun watching her little personality open up as she got to know us a bit. She's three months old now.

We made nut roast from the PETA website for the third Thanksgiving, and it was delicious! It's great to have a family that's so accomodating to our quirky food habits. ;-)

Spent some time in Tucson's old town, on 4th Ave. That's where all the funky people hang out. :-) Had some great pizza at Magpies, and browsed through the co-op. We laughed at the claims in the windows of a (closed) salt crystal shop--seems that salt crystals can cure just about any problem known to humankind. And we went into our favorite bookstore in Tucson, that we discovered last trip--Antigone Books. No, we didn't buy anything, but Paul and I both have new titles on our hold list at the library. We really enjoy looking through bookstores that are small and selectly chosen--if a bookstore has some of the same tastes as us, it's really easy to find something we really want to find.

If I were to choose the top reason why we make the effort to go back to Tucson every year for Thanksgiving, it's Paul's grandparents. They are in their 80s and can't travel anymore, though every time we see them they promise they'll make the trip out to see us where we live now. They haven't visited us since we lived in the San Diego area--it's just not all that feasible for them to do so. I know they want to, they want to see how and where we live. So I feel obligated to go to them. They were a huge influence in Paul's life as he was growing up. They've given so much to him, and in turn to me, and the kids, and I feel it my duty to give back to them.

While I was driving back, Paul called me one evening to tell me our realtor had called. Our new house had been appraised at 59k *over* what we are buying it for! Wow, what good news is that? We are getting a good deal--we knew that before, but we know it much more now.

So, now we're back and I have a jillion things I need to do: laundry and unpacking, of course, but also packing for moving, calling services to change the address, cleaning the house, etc. So I probably won't be checking in here too much in the next couple of weeks, as move-in day is one and a half weeks away! Eek!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2006-11-19T08:25:00.000-08:00

Hey, everyone, I haven't written here in a while, and I'm not really writing here now, just giving a quick update. We're headed out today, after church and after our general assembly after church, to start driving to Tucson for Thanksgiving. We'll be with Paul's parents and grandparents and uncle and aunt, and his brother and sister-in-law, along with their new baby whom we haven't met yet, will be there! Exciting!

While the *long* trip to Tucson is a bit daunting, I'm looking forward to the new route--instead of going that dreadfully boring I-5 corrider through California, we're going on the other side of the mountain range. We'll be driving through Idaho and Utah. I'm looking forward to seeing some new scenery. I haven't been to the Salt Lake since I was 10 or so. It's too bad it's too cold to swim in it.

Everything is going very well with our new house. It passed home inspection really well this past week. We're still on track!

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving! See you back here soon!

Zac's blog

2006-11-10T21:12:00.000-08:00

My Zacky would like you all to know that he's updated his blog. So go look at it now.

zac's silly blog

Bats!

2006-11-09T15:13:00.000-08:00

Ooh, I wish I'd had this video for Halloween! It would have been perfect. Paul went to St. Nicholas Ranch this week for a clergy retreat (we lived there for three years) and someone told him about this youtube video. It is a sad fact that the gorgeous little rustic chapel is no longer in use. When Archbishop Anastasios visited the ranch, he spent much longer in the barn chapel than he did in the big, beautiful new monastery church. But many people are uncomfortable with the wildlife that live in the barn chapel and some refused to go in there. There is a group of bats that have their nursing colony in the barn, and many of them live behind the icons, above the altar, etc. even though we tried lots of things to discourage them from living there, even trying to seal off the chapel part itself so they could live in other areas of the barn. But every spring they come back, and every fall they leave. The barn is over 100 years old, some say closer to 150 years old, so the collective memory of going there to have their babies is probably quite strong in the bats.

Anyway, here is the video! It was made by some absolutely crazy camp counselors. This is my first attempt at embedding anything in my blog...we'll see how it goes!

Correction

2006-11-07T17:34:00.000-08:00

For those interested in helping us move....the seller has possession through the 10th, so we'll be moving in on Dec. 11. That's a Monday, which I know isn't good for some of you....but the weekend isn't good for us, and that's just what the seller asked for, to have the weekend to move out.

Election Day Song

2006-11-07T15:36:00.000-08:00

And now, for your election day...uh...pleasure--and just to remind everyone what a debacle this administration is--here is John McCutcheon's great song set to a video of real footage clips of what's been happening.

Let's Pretend

Okay, so the song was written and recorded before Saddam Hussein was arrested, so that part isn't pretend anymore....but that doesn't detract from the rest of it.

Kitchen

2006-11-07T15:33:00.000-08:00

I'll post one more photo because you just have to check out this kitchen! Nissa, can you imagine that bread and apple pie being baked here? All that and lots more! It's just a beautiful kitchen. That was one real requirement for me, that it have a nice kitchen. It didn't have to be *this nice* but I'll take it!

Our House!

2006-11-07T12:45:00.000-08:00

They accepted our offer! It's officially going to be ours! Yippee!

Anyone want to help us move on December 10?

update

2006-11-04T22:23:00.000-08:00

They didn't accept our offer, but counteroffered a higher price, plus asked us to pay more in out-of-pocket closing costs. We'll go and meet with April on Monday and try to hammer out less in closing costs and send another counter-offer, trying to meet them halfway. Paul says he thinks the house is ours, it just depends on how much dibbling we need to do for the "when" part. Sigh....this is emotionally tiring!

Our House?

2006-11-02T22:43:00.000-08:00

We made an offer on the house today. We are all excited, but nervous! I woke up at 3:30 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep, just thinking about it and worrying.

We'll know by 7 pm on Saturday evening whether they accept our offer.

house

2006-11-01T12:40:00.000-08:00

Okay, Mimi, I think you were right! Just when I was getting the most discouraged about house hunting was right before we were to find what's probably the most perfect house we could find. It's actually a LOT nicer than I thought we'd ever have! The inside has been thoroughly remodeled and looks like a new house, even though the house was built in 1922. It's in a pretty good location, though still further from the church than we wanted. But still, it's in an area with lots of resources--a big park and community center with a swimming pool within walking and biking distance, library a mile away, New Seasons (nice locally owned grocery store) a mile away. A MAX station is just a couple of blocks away, which will take us directly into downtown or to the airport or to the Hollywood district or whatever. Can you tell we're excited? The compromises seem like the right set of compromises to make. I looked at the demographics for the neighborhood last night, and it's 45% non-Caucasion. One thing I've really missed about San Francisco is the diversity. Well, there's diversity!

I have to add that April is the one who found this house. She came through for us this time!

We'll probably make a decision within the next day or two, as to whether to make an offer.

Three Books

2006-10-31T10:38:00.000-08:00

I thought I was going to be very busy today, as it's Halloween and I didn't think my kids had their costumes together. But I sewed Hibi a cape last night, and Zac informed me this morning that he's set with his costume. I thought I'd post about those books finally! And maybe make myself a cape later on. And we're looking at a house this afternoon...one that the realtor called us up about. When she does that we sit up and take notice....(she's never done that before.) I'll keep you posted!

Here are three books that I've read that are related to positive body image.

Adios, Barbie by Ophira Edut. This is the book that really set me off on my own personal revolution against the fat police (among other police...). I so highly recommend it. It's not just about fat acceptance. It is a compilation of stories from many female authors who overcame their own difficulties in their perspectives of their bodies. In addition to fat women, there were women who are disabled and getting over the fact that society views someone in a wheelchair differently than a more able-bodied one, lesbians, women who decided to go unshaven, women from ethnicities that were considered different or "exotic", small women, and even one person who has male chromosomes but considers him/herself to be a woman and has undergone some therapy to have a woman's body.

This book isn't for those who want the world to be one easy way of being, those who are happy to accept the status quo. When I first read it, even though it had such a huge impact on me, I didn't recommend it to anyone. It's stories of lesbianism and transexualism were a shock to my (conservative Republican) system. Yes, I used to be conservative. I read it in a time when those values were just beginning to be jolted, and other values were beginning to present themselves. I didn't recommend it to others because at the time I didn't want to be aligned with what was in that book. I thought others might be offended. I thought my "good Christian" facade might get tarnished. But I now stand here and proclaim on this blog that I think reading about and getting to know people who are different from you is a good thing. It won't taint you. It'll make you more well-rounded. And more understanding, hopefully. For an interesting read on homosexuality and Christianity, read this post on Andy's blog, which I read on a regular basis. For more on my own evolution on this subject, read part three of my conversion story, found here.

I not only started viewing my fat as just fine as a result of this book, but also stopped shaving. :-) Anyone who has seen my legs knows that. The argument given in the book is that shaving legs and pits juvenilizes women. They started shaving women who appeared in movies because they looked too womanly if they showed any hair other than on their heads. Of course, in Europe most women don't shave. I remember in Norway, when I was on Teen Missions (gee, that's coming up a lot lately) a couple of the Norwegian girls we got to know would spend the night with us sometimes. Once some girls were teasing them that they were going to shave them while they were sleeping. The girls were stricken--no! you can't do that! they yelled, and it seemed to me that it was not just mock horror. That kind of surprised me and stayed with me all these years.

Okay, on to the second book. Camryn Manheim, the hollywood actor, wrote a fun memoir called Wake Up, I'm Fat! She talks about her life as a fat person, overcoming her own hang-ups about being fat. The title comes from a story about her shopping with her mother. She's in a dressing room and her mother brings her more clothes to try on. She tries to put them on but they're all way too small. She then looks at the tag. They're sizes 10 and 12. That's when she yells, "Mom! Wake up, I'm FAT!" Which illustrates the point that even when you've gotten over the things that hold you back in life, other people are still hanging onto those things. I enjoyed reading this book, after enjoying Camryn Manheim on The Practice.

The latest fat acceptance book I've read (even though it was still some time ago) was a book called Fat!So?. This great book is more like a manual on practical matters. Like how to deal with a doctor that won't stop pestering you to lose weight, or even how to nip it in the bud before it starts. How it's your right not to be weighed every single time you step into a doctors office. How to deal with fat discrimination. How to deal with small airline seats. And most importantly, now to stop apologizing for your size.

So, there you have it. A good start for anyone interested in pursuing this issue. If anyone has any other resources I'd be happy to hear about them.

Follow up on Fat

2006-10-28T13:38:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much for all your kind words--everyone, you make me teary eyed! I am indeed blessed with many good friends.

My purpose in posting what I did yesterday was threefold, though there was one main point. First, to answer Anonymous. Second, to expose what I think is the folly of allowing anonymous commenters, because I think, as a couple of you have said, we say all kinds of things anonymously that we wouldn't otherwise. But my third and most importand reason was the one that's been simmering in my mind probably ever since I got a blog--that I have wanted to, at some point, use it to discuss body image, and I think I got my point across. So, while I'm not happy with what Anonymous originally said, I am happy that it spurred me on to write what I've been meaning to write about for a long time.

That said. Anonymous read my post and left another comment on Katie's blog. Here it is:

look maybe I shouldnt have said what I did about your kid. I was disturbed however by a lot of your viewpoints displayed on your blog. maybe I went too far. I am sorry.as far as the overweight thing it was more about the fact that I was sitting there thinking that someone who is so concerned about health and stuff is missing the obvious. it is not like I hate fat people or something. I know someone currently who I care very much about who is very very obese. she admits she has a problem. she didnt admit it before because she too was healthy as the proverbial horse until recently. she has now been told to take it off or prepare to die young. I have dealt with this myself, I was not obese but I was overweight enough it began to affect my health. I too refused to lose weight because "I wanted to be accepted for me". well now its about health so its amazing how easy it is. I want to be alive for my kids and grandkids. my whole family is fat, in fact it killed my dad. some of them have lost it, so it IS possible

So, I stand amazed. I'm tempted to say something corny like look what can happen with a little compassion. I saw Anonymous get into name-calling fight with others on Katie's blog, and I knew I didn't want to do that. I think it takes some understanding and de-polarizing of the situation to really try to figure out what is *really* being said.

Anonymous, I said it on Katie's blog, and I'll say it here: you are welcome to register with blogger and comment on whatever you'd like to on my blog. Just in a non-attacking, respectful way.

I hope to see you again soon.

I'll get that book review to you soon but not today--I'm crazy busy. (I'm eating lunch at the computer as I type.) I did girl scouts this morning--drove a great bunch of teenaged girls to the prison, and after this I need to pick up my kids from their Saturday Academy classes at PSU, and shop at the Saturday farmer's market that's at PSU (the Wednesday one closed for the season so I've got this one 'til the end of December...) and THEN tonight we are honoring the memory of Fr. Elias, who was the priest at our church for 19 years and died young from cancer, and also honoring his wife who has gone on to do great work for the church, visiting shut-ins, and currently working for a young man who is in prison--looks like he has an unjustly long sentence, and she's working to get him out earlier. So, like I said, my day is crazy busy! I'll get to it when I can.

Fat

2006-10-27T14:19:00.000-07:00

This post is a long time in coming. It's long overdue, and probably the reason for it's delay is the same old societal voices and familial expecations that have dogged me since I was a very little girl. But I am writing it now. It was spurred on by an anonymous commenter on someone else's blog. I have disabled anomymous comments, so this person couldn't comment directly here without losing anonymity. I was surprised by the level of venom and hatred there. This person found something to criticize about every member of my family, just by looking through my blog. It covers the gamit, from long hair on boys to enviromentalism/liberalism right down to the fact that I am fat.

Yes, I am fat. I am fat. I am fat. I am not "overweight", I am not "chubby", I am not "pleasingly plump" (well, maybe that last one...). I am fat. Obese, even.

I have been or felt fat for most of my life. The earliest I remember going on a diet to lose weight was at age 11. I look at pictures of me at that age, and I wonder, what was I thinking? I wasn't fat. I was...kind of awkward looking. I was going through that adolescent thing where parts grow at different rates from each other. But I wasn't fat. I felt fat, though.

Society expects certain things of us. Some are reasonable. Some are not. This anonymous commenter wrote about lots of these societal expectations, implying that my kids are freaky because they still like to dress up as people other than themselves, at age 9 and 12, especially at times other than Halloween. That is one societal expectation that I definitely would like to challenge. Why is it bad to explore lots of different ways of being after small childhood? I cannot for the life of me understand that. But this post is about body image, not about dressing up.

I want to make it clear that I am not criticizing those who have made it their goal to lose weight in a healthy way. I applaud those of you who have done this while not tying your self-confidence to weight loss. For me, self-confidence was always some pounds away. If I could just lose that weight, and be able to fit into a size X, I would feel better about myself and then I could accomplish things and be a more confident person. Then people wouldn't think I'm a slob.

I can remember, on the day that Zachary was baptized, talking with a friend about how discouraged I was that I'd gained so much weight and looked so frumpy and awful. It didn't help me all that much at the time (I still felt frumpy and awful) but what she said to me worked it's way into my psyche and perhaps started my little revolution. She said that she thinks society is awfully hard on moms. People expect them to be "back in shape" by three months after birth, when the reality is that pregnancy, childbirth, and nursing take a big toll on a mother's body. And she said I was beautiful.

I've for years pinned my change of mind on reading a book that I'll highlight in a minute. But right now I want to go to the day that Hibi was born. Carissa, she was then. (Yes, Anonymous, I even let my kids change their names if they want to.) On the day she was born, I felt so powerful. I'd been wakened at 2 am by the waters breaking, and labored hard for four hours, when at 6 in the morning Carissa was born. I did it without drugs of any kind. I did it with minimal other interventions from the doctor and nurse (though they imposed some extremely unhelpful ones...). My body had done this amazing thing! I was beyond ecstatic. I could hardly believe that this body that I'd always thought of as a burden could possibly do something this wonderful. I think this was the true beginning of my own little revolution in the body image area.

In 1999, in the spring just before we were to move away from Boston where Paul went to seminary, and Zachary was two years old (and I still hadn't lost that baby weight, and in fact had added more), I read an amazing book. It was called (at that time) Adios, Barbie. It has since changed it's name, because of a certain huge corporation being a bit upset about that title. It's now called Body Outlaws.

This book was an amazing thing for me. It made me look at my own body in such a different light. I saw that yeah, I'm fat. Fat is another body type--there are slim, short, tall, stocky, willowy, many types of bodies. My body is healthy. I have always been a very healthy person. I have not been sick very much in my life. I do not have any major health conditions, and never have. (I actually just returned from the doctor and she said that she doesn't usually see people with such negative health history--meaning nothing to report!) This book told me that I have the option to not only accept my fat--be resolved to it is what we hear from some quarters--but to love my body as it is. To love how it looks, how it feels. To see myself as a person of substance. I remembered when I was thinking about that a conversation I had with a teacher in high school. As I've recently posted, I went on Teen Missions when I was 14 and 15, and one of my teachers was asking me about the experience. He asked me about the physical part of it--the first year I went it was a physical labor team, and we worked *hard* in the hot Egypt sun. Then he asked me a strange question. Did I think that someone more frail like, for instance, Stephanie, would be able to handle the labor? I was truly taken aback. Stephanie was one of the popular girls. She was one of the girls whose body was perfect and sexy. I couldn't imagine that anyone would think that someone with a body like that couldn't handle physical labor. But it hit me while reading this book--my body is capable. My body can work hard. I found that confidence later when I was building a straw bale chicken house and I was moving around those big straw bales by myself, mostly. (Paul did help me some, especially when we got to the third layer of bales.) I routinely carried 25 pound sacks, sometimes two at a time, when I had chickens. I could do things with my body, and being fat didn't diminish that at all.

I do not gorge. Especially after I read that book and began to stop trying to lose weight. Anonymous said that if I ate some meat I wouldn't feel the need to gorge. Number one, I don't gorge. I eat very well, good healthy foods, and I don't eat huge amounts of them. And number two, I gained all this weight while I was still eating meat. I have gained, at most, 10 pounds in the time since I read that book, 8 years ago.

Am I a liability to the environment, as Anonymous asserted? Anonymous was quoting an article that was just out the day that the comment was posted, that said that fat people use up more fossil fuels. I am sure this is true. Yes, I'm sure I use up a couple more gallons of gas each year because I weigh 80 pounds more than the "average" woman. (I don't know what the average weight of women is, I'm just pulling that number out of the air.) I'm sure that tall men, you know, those that are over 6 feet tall, also use up more fossil fuels, but I don't see anyone asking them to shed some height for the environment.

Why is my body this way? I had to ask that question, once I gave myself permission to realize it's not how I eat that makes my body this way. It's genetics, first off. My mother was overweight all the time I lived with her. She's not now, and I don't know how she's managed to keep the weight off, but I don't know that she's being all that healthy about it. Some months ago there was an item in the newspaper about a suspected virus that caused obesity. That was intriguing, but I haven't seen anything else about it since.

Ultimately I don't know why my body is like this. I don't know why there is a rise of obesity in this country. But I do know that we've put an unhealthy focus on skinny bodies, a goal that is impossible to attain. Will my obese body cause me health problems in the future? Maybe. I don't know. If it does, I can try to deal with it then. Do tall bodies cause health problems? Do short bodies cause health problems? Do skinny bodies cause health problems?

I guess I'm saying that this is who I am. Society wants you to think that since I am fat, I am a slob. I am undisciplined. I should change. Well, I am not going to change just because society wants you to think that. So, the ball is in your court now. You are free to think those things, or you are free to come to your own conclusion. You know, challenge assumptions. Think.

I'll tell you some very positive things that have happened since I accepted and began to love my body. First off, I began eating in a much more healthy manner. I did used to binge, while hiding the fact that I was eating. I'd wait until no one else was around and eat then. I didn't want people to see me eating. Now, I don't worry about that, and I eat when I want, which frees me to only eat when I want, not take opportunities of solitude to eat. My focus has changed to eating very good food. My philosophy is that life is too short for bad food! I eat whole foods, I eat healthy foods. I don't skimp on stuff like fat, so I don't have the deprivation issues that would lead to my bingeing.

Confidence. Confidence is what I'm doing *now*, at this moment, not at that magical time that all the excess pounds should be off, whenever that will be. I found that I was living my life in a holding pattern, waiting to do and be all that I could until that magical time. I am now free to focus on other things besides my weight, and I'm getting a lot more done.

A moving away from self-centeredness. Keeping so much focus on losing weight is inherantly self-centered, as one is continually looking in the mirror, looking at the scale, looking at self and trying to improve self, and not focusing on all the wonderful things one could be doing outside of self. Self-improvement is good, I'm not trying to say don't try to improve yourself. But it becomes obsessive when one is constantly trying to obtain the unobtainable, or at least the fleetingly obtainable. Yes, I did twice have major weight loss in my life. The first was when I did all that physical labor in the hot Egypt sun. I lost a lot of weight and got down to a size I'd never been before. But it all came back. The second time was just before I got pregnant with Hibi. Needless to say, I also gained that weight back.

Some will argue that if it's okay to be fat, we'll all soon be 600 pound balloons. This is the same kind of thinking that causes people to say that if you aren't hard on your kids they'll be totally spoiled. That if you give an inch they'll take a mile. My body has self-regulated. I can't say how large my body would be if I had never had the kind of oppression on me that I did, but after I stopped trying to lose weight I stopped gaining it. My body has found some equilibrium. It's found a weight that it likes.

And God created this body. Who am I to try to change it?

**********

If you're curious to read Anonymous' comment, you can find it on Katie Allison Granju's blog.

I plan to follow this post up with discussing the book, Adios, Barbie, and other books about fat acceptance. Watch for it. But not right now--that's been enough typing for now!

House Hunting

2006-10-26T20:36:00.000-07:00

I really thought we'd found it this morning.

We've been looking for about a month, off and on, at houses, hopefully in preparation to buy a house. Our plan has been to rent in Portland for a year and then buy, having had a chance to figure out where we'd like to live for the next umpteen years. Yes, we are hoping to finally put down some roots and stay awhile.

When we moved here almost a year ago we were so hopeful that we'd have no trouble finding a house to buy. Housing prices were *so* much lower than San Francisco's. We were used to high prices, so we should be able to find something, even though everyone was saying that housing prices were so high here. Not compared to San Francisco! we'd smugly reply.

The first house we looked at was truly cute. I could really have lived with the house itself. Just the right size, if you include the basement (which we could have fixed up cute). I loved the location. But the yard was non-existent. One of my big goals is to have enough space for a big garden. I'd like to grow most of my vegetables eventually. So, even though the house was so cute (the kitchen was really nice) we passed that one by. (Though it's still for sale, so we could change our minds.)

We've looked on our own since then, and when we want to see the inside we call April to let us in. (I always thought realtors were supposed to do the footwork for you, but it's been me finding most of the interesting houses.) We went in a huge old farmhouse with tons of character. I really loved it. Except that when we were all in the upstairs bedroom, and April jumped up and down, we all said, "don't do that!" It just didn't feel stable. And when we went into the dirt basement we could see why.

Last night I found, online (of course), a house *right off Alberta!* NE Alberta is a very hip and happening street, between 15th and 33rd. It was on 22nd. I went and looked at the outside last night. Red flags went off when I saw that the seller was one of those companies that advertises "We Buy Houses!" I should have had second thoughts, but I was willing to continue the illusion. I could also see that all of the improvements made to this house were outside, not inside, from looking in the windows. But we called April today and went and saw it. When we got there, April said that if she'd gotten there early she would have called us and told us to forget it. It was in such bad shape. It was built in 1906, and the only thing inside that had been improved were to put in new kitchen cabinets. ??? What's that about? The foundation was crumbling. I was *so* disappointed. It would have been a perfect location.

After that, we went and saw a house that some fellow homeschoolers are selling. The house is perfect. Absolutely perfect. Nice yard. Nice to not have to use realtors and have them take a chunk of the profits. But it's way in North Portland, far from the church. Not so far that if it had other things going for it we wouldn't consider it. And we are, because we like the house so much. But it's not in an urban area, which is what we wanted. It's kind of close to Lombard, which is a busy thoroughfair with big businesses on each side. Not exactly what we were looking for.

I'm discouraged. I'm not sure we're going to find a house we can afford, in an area we want to be in.

Burn, Baby, Burn

2006-10-23T18:32:00.000-07:00

Oh, man.

Many years ago, the first time I used hot chiles in my cooking, I learned the hard way that they can burn your skin. My hands burned like I'd poured boiling water on them late into the evening the night that I handled them. Even when I went to bed, I brought a ziploc bag full of ice water, and woke whenever my hand slid off of it. I learned not to handle hot peppers without protecting my hands. This occurred while Paul was in seminary, and he went over to the dorms to ask his buddy, who'd been a pharmacist, about what we could do. He said the oil from the peppers gets in your skin and the only way to get it out would be to wash with boiling water. It irritates the nerve endings, giving a sensation of burning, but doesn't cause any actual damage.

Tonight I made chile relleno, which is one of our favorites, and I only make it at this time of year. The chiles aren't ready for harvest until late August, and maybe goes through the end of October. It requires fresh tomatoes for the ranchero sauce, and we're coming to the end of the season for those. So, I picked up poblanos and one jalepeno at the farmer's market, along with the tomatoes I'd need. I protected my hands while dicing the jalepeno for the sauce, but poblanos are mild and I never worry about them.

As soon as we started eating we felt the heat. I thought the jalepeno was hotter than usual, but it became apparent that the poblanos were also very hot. Both from eating some poblano without much sauce, and because my fingers began to tingle. And by now, they are burning so that I will probably have to get ice on them soon after I finish typing this. I'm stopping every few seconds to wave them around to cool them.

I don't know if these poblanos were just exceptionally hot, or if I accidentally pulled peppers from the wrong bin. They look like poblanos.

It sure tasted good though! But I'm in for a long night. I'm going to go try some more remedies, like lavender essential oil.

Life Soundtrack

2006-10-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK TO YOUR LIFE BE?
Christina posted this....then Dawn did.....it seems corny but some of the responses are pretty uncanny so I thought I'd try it.

So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't LieThis is Christina's suggestion, unless you really really hate the song (in which case why is it in your library eh), listen to each one all the way thru as it plays. You might just hear something interesting about yourself you weren't expecting.

Opening Credits: Clampdown--Indigo Girls

Waking Up: I Don't Wanna Talk About It--Indigo Girls (oops, it wasn't on shuffle)

First Day At School: War (Love Will Prevail)--Three5Human

Falling In Love: Trouble--Indigo Girls

Fight Song: Gloria--Michael W. Smith (Christmas album)

Breaking Up: Caught in the Crossfire--John McCutcheon

Prom: Walk to the Water--U2

Life: Blender--Amy Ray

Career: Feast of Fools--Bruce Cockburn

Mental Breakdown: Closer to Fine--Indigo Girls (Paul and I performed this one at the Patrick's Point talent show)

Driving: Memoirs: A Trilogy--Michael W. Smith (really, the only time we listen to this album is at Christmas! It's our favorite Christmas album)

Flashback: Sweetest Thing--U2

Getting back together: Endless Deep--U2

Wedding: Oh My Soul Arise--I think this was from Frederica Matthews Green, from her church during Holy Week, put on my computer years ago

Birth of Child: All the Diamonds--Bruce Cockburn

Midlife Crisis: Cold as Ice--Indigo Girls

Final Battle: Wild Rose of the Mountain--John McCutcheon

Death Scene: Dirt and Dead Ends--Indigo Girls

Funeral Song: Vertigo--U2

End Credits: Green Green Grass of Home--Johnny Cash

I'm going to add to this: which songs did you sing along to while the playlist was going? For me it was: I don't wanna talk about it, Sweetest Thing, All the Diamonds, Wild Rose of the Mountain.

Song I wouldn't have recognized as being on my playlist (remember, I share this music library with three other people!)--Endless Deep, even though I love U2.

And I have to admit to not listening all the way through each song. I didn't have time--heh. We all slept in this morning, and here I sit, in my pajamas. I might make it to noon at this rate...I go to get dressed now. :-P

Local on a budget

2006-10-19T10:04:00.000-07:00

I've been simmering with Laurie's comment on my "What we can do" post, below, ever since she posted it. She asked if I had any suggestions for buying local food on a budget. I suppose I didn't answer it right away because I really don't have a good answer for her. But I've been there, done that. We lived in Boston and Paul was in seminary and taking in a part-time salary to cover all our expenses. Zachary was born in Boston and it was difficult to cover everything financially. But I didn't have the awareness yet of all the big corporations taking over that I do now. I was only just starting to think about organics, and like Laurie, I'd look at the organic section in the supermarket and then I'd look at the price tag and I say, not this time. We barely had enough money to cover the basics, not extravagances like organic groceries.

I suppose my not-very-helpful suggestions to someone in a position like that is that I think food is something that I now am willing to pay a higher price for than just about anything else. It's what goes into our bodies every day. Everything else I am willing to go second-hand on--clothes, cars, furniture, and on many of these things you can get better quality second-hand things for less than buying new. But cheap food, which you can't buy second-hand (or at least, you don't want to!) does nothing to help our ailing system. It continues the cycle of poverty. The average farm worker dies at age 49. We want to pay very little for food, which is passed on to the people who grow and harvest it.

We have been in a binge of watching The West Wing on DVD lately (though we just finished the second season and I'm ready for a break!). One one episode, President Bartlett is confronted by dairy farmers, who are upset because he signed a bill that kept milk prices low. He told them that he stood behind his choice, not because he thought they should be poorly paid, but because he felt that all kids should be drinking milk. While I am behind his desire, to feed all the children of the US, I don't believe this is the way to go about it. It again continues the cycle of poverty. The better way to do this would be to level the playing field, at least somewhat. People shouldn't have to choose between buying milk and not having enough money to pay the rent, or buying fruit-flavored sugary drink and having enough.

Paul and I were talking about Walmart this morning. I was telling him about an article in the Utne reader I started to read in a doctor's office, about yeah, you hate Walmart, as any good liberal does, but what if you found out that they're the best big business in environmental issues, in organics, etc.? Paul said he heard about Walmart going into the organics business. Their slogan was something like that everyone should be able to choose organics. How enticing! I have to admit, there is something to that. And yet, it's just business as usual. What can get people in their doors? Promising stuff that we want.

Paul said that the word "organic" has come to mean something to him--not just organically grown, but locally produced by small family farmers. Yet there is a huge industry built around big farm industry going organic. This has an appeal, in that the food is lower cost. But it is at a greater cost to all of us--less diversity, less local business, money being poured into the coffers of big business yet again. Not to speak of the impact of food being grown far away and being trucked to you, hundreds of miles of gas being used up, the pollution from all that going right into our air and drinking water.

So, I suppose the only advice I have for you, Laurie, is to buy locally produced, organic, small family farmed food whenever you can, and in whatever increasing amount you can over the years. Perhaps you could forge relationships with a family farm and barter for food, or work for food. Growing it yourself is another option.

We were talking with one of the women at the Dorothy Day House that I wrote about last month. She is a single woman who lives at the Dorothy Day House, and works as a nurse, but not all year long. She purposely earns only enough so that she can live on her income without paying any taxes. She wants to live in simplicity and also doesn't want to be funding war and other things that aren't in line with her values. We came across this concept in the book Radical Simplicity but I think she was the first person we ever met who is doing this. It's an amazing concept. I think, first of all, it's much easier to do this if you don't have kids. But also it would encourage relationships, and in fact it would be necessary to have relationships, with people who you can trade with. Now, this is actually illegal in the US but I think it's an idea that we've gotten way too far from; the idea of bartering goods and services. I think it would be less work and less money exchanged to operate in this way. Thing is, we're not set up for that anymore. We're set up to go to the major department store and buy cheap stuff rather than to the local craftsperson and trade with them for things we need. But I truly think that's the only way out of this big corporation mess we've gotten ourselves into.

So, here's my less-than-helpful wishful-thinking answer to you, Laurie. Anyone else have any ideas?

Busy Busy...

2006-10-18T18:01:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile! I thought I'd quickly post to let you all know I'm still here, even though I have to leave for Spanish class in a bit (and still need to finish a bit of homework, as well).

First, the Greek Festival was amazing! There were SO many people. We broke all records for attendance! All the food was exceptionally yummy. Zac practically lived on loukoumades, which is kind of like little Greek donut balls, dipped in honey. Okay, so I helped him out with them a fair bit. They're delicious! :-) We also had our share of spankopita and bougatsa. We were first introduced to bougatsa in Crete, where they say the ts sound like tch instead, so it was called bougatcha. They are one of our fondest memories of Crete, and they were so good here too! I don't think I've had them anywhere besides those two places.

After the festival we were doing a Google search to look for what people were saying about the festival. Our favorite was a post on a blog of the sign on the premises, saying "No alcohol may be taken off the church grounds" and the commentary: "We should all become Greek Orthodox!" :-)

Last week on Tuesday my mother-in-law came for a visit. She was helping a friend of hers move to Salem from Prescott, Arizona, and figured she was that close, she may as well come have a visit with us. She surprised us, though, by showing up on Tuesday instead of calling me and having me pick her up on Wednesday. First we heard from her was "hi, they're dropping me off, and we're 20 minutes from Portland!" Early, too--the phone call woke me up. Of course, we didn't mind, I just had no time to clean the house before she came. (Goody! said my kids. They didn't get off that easy, though...)

She just went home today, and we had a nice visit. She got kind of a "week in the life" of our family, as she came along, or stayed home with the kids, while we did our regular things. Ah, as I post this, she should be touching down in Tucson. Hope your flight was good, Mom!

We went apple picking on Sauvie Island on Monday, and then on Tuesday we were invited to join a homeschool co-op. Their next activity was that afternoon, and it was going to the corn maze on Sauvie Island! So, we headed back again. Gladly, as it's beautiful out there, and the weather was perfect for fall--warm enough, blue skies, perfect for looking at the autumn leaves. The corn maze (maize) was great--not too easy, as I'd feared it might be, but not too difficult either. But it was *so* muddy. We all got dirty and I was afraid of slipping and falling. I did the former but not the latter, thank goodness!

It's funny how we've gone from nice warm weather, last week when Clare got here, to cooler fall weather, all in a week. It was sunny and warm then, and now it's rainy, cool, and overcast, with rain now and then. We've been enjoying all the fall treats, like apples and cider and winter squash. I enjoyed spaghetti squash all by myself, as no one else wanted it. It's so fun to eat! You just cook it whole and then scoop out the flesh (after removing the seeds) and mush it into strands. It's delicious with butter and salt and pepper and parmesan cheese.

Well, there's probably more I could say, but I don't really have Something to say, and I need to get ready for Spanish. Oh, that's something to say: I started a new Spanish class from the summer course I was taking, and I really like my new teacher. She's very feisty and knows how to teach the language.

And here's something else! I've been waiting for my camera (which hopefully should be here this week, finally!) to take a pic of Hibi. Within a month, she pierced her ears, cut her hair short, and got glasses. Picture to come, but for now you'll have to take my word for it: she looks really cute!

What we can do

2006-10-06T09:22:00.000-07:00

On my way home from yesterday's march, I was thinking about Hibi saying that we aren't *doing* anything. I was thinking about the small, local things we can do to change the world.

Re the war-mongering corporations that benefit from war, we can:
1. Stop buying from large corporations as much as possible. Paul recently broke this down into priorities when challenged on it ("the chairs we're sitting on are from China!"): first priority to buy local is food. The number one consumable item that we spend money on is food. Where does your food come from? Are you buying from the huge conglommerates, or from local sources? Mom and Pop or huge factory farms? Farmer's markets are great sources of local, family-farm produced food.

If we stop pouring our money into the deep pockets of the big corporations, then we can start to have an impact on world politics.

Is GAP still the biggest human-rights violators in our country? I don't know if it's true now, but it was several years ago. They'd use factory workers in the Marianna Islands and pay them next to nothing, and because it's a US territory, they could say "Made in USA" on their labels. Anyway, all the clothing empire can be avoided by buying at thrift stores and consignment shops. True, you are depending on other people buying from the empire, but if there's ever a lack of used clothing from those sources, it'll be a good thing.

There are many outlets where you can get good, quality clothing that do not outsource and pay a living wage to their workers. I buy my underwear from Decent Exposures and besides the fact that they are good quality and made by women in Washington state, they are the most comfortable bras I have ever worn.

A few months ago I found Deva Lifewear which has a commitment to fairly-traded, quality natural-fiber clothing. I like their stuff, too!

I haven't got a source for new, large sized jeans yet. If anyone knows of any non-large corporation, fair-trade places to get some, please let me know. I can't find those in thrift stores, for some reason. I may have to stop wearing jeans!

For more info, go to Coop America.

2. Community ties. Do you know your neighbors? Do you get out of your economic class and get to know people? When we lived in San Francisco we made friends with our local homeless people. You know, I was realizing recently that the homeless are our modern-day lepers. You know, how in Biblical times lepers were Untouchables, no one wanted to be near them, and they were shuffled off into their own colonies? Homeless are like that. No one wants to touch a homeless person. No one wants to sit down and talk with a homeless person. It's like they aren't even people in our eyes anymore. Poor people are at least people in our perception, just down on their luck or lazy slobs (depending on our perspective) but they're still people. But we don't consider homeless folks to be people, but something to avoid at all costs. Put a quarter in their cups if it assuages our guilt, but don't make any real contact with them.

I think we need to know our community! Each part of it. When we strengthen our community ties, we strengthen ourselves. We exist in relation to other people, says Orthodox theologian Met. John Zizioulas.

3. Drive less and walk, bike, and use public transportation more. Even if it's driving a little bit less, that's better than nothing. And it's good for you, too!

Yesterday's Protest

2006-10-06T08:51:00.000-07:00

Hibi and I were two of the 700-800 people in downtown Portland yesterday at the World Can't Wait protest. We are both somewhat discouraged. Okay, a lot discouraged.

There was a lack of excitement for this one, and a lack of focus. I read Karrie's take on the protest before I went, and I thought "Oh, I don't think so" but it was true. At the peace rallies we've been to there has been the focus of looking for non-violent ways of solving problems, and encouraging our country and our politicians to look for those ways. But what exactly was this one about? Seems it was too much about the person of George Bush. Now, I understand all too well the frustration of folks regarding our president. He's done a lot of things that are counter to what we'd like to see happen in this country. But I think we have to remember that he is not the real enemy. He is just the front guy. There is far too much greed in this country for one man to take all the blame. Yeah, he gets his, but there are plenty of others who benefit from war-mongering. And as I said yesterday, I think far too many people in this country are eager for the policies that Bush is implementing to blame it all on him.

And, because of the lack of focus, this one seemed to be a rally about whatever the individual speaker's pet project was. A little of this, a little of that.

Hibi got really down yesterday and was ready to leave when we'd been walking for a short time (which we needed to anyway, because Zac and I had eye doctor appointments). She said that she didn't see any reason for us to go out and listen to people shout slogans, and not *do* anything. What should we do? She didn't know, but feels frustrated with this as it doesn't seem to accomplish anything.

I think I agree with her on this particular march. But I will still march in peace marches because of the reasons I stated yesterday. I feel a deep pessimism that our country is beginning to slide into fascism. If it does go the way of Nazi Germany, I don't want to be one of the many to say "oh, I could see what was going on but I couldn't do anything about it." Or worse, "I had no idea! It was going on all around me but I didn't know." I won't go down without a fight. A passive resistance fight, that is.

The World Can't Wait

2006-10-05T09:11:00.000-07:00

And in other injustices being done to this world.....

Tomorrow the Big Greek Festival in Portland begins! This'll be our very first one here. I'm told it's a Big Thing! I'm looking forward to it.

Paul was to go on a radio morning show this morning to promote the Greek Festival, but there was a mix-up and he was not able to be interviewed today. But while I was listening, waiting to hear his spot, I heard about a rally and march today, under the name of The World Can't Wait. The idea being that we can't wait for this regime to be over in the US--the world is suffering now as a result of our policies. It seems to me that this is overtly an "Impeach Bush" rally, which I really don't believe in, as we've voted him in fair and square (this time, at least). But I believe that my voice must be heard, because to quote the website, "Silence at a time of torture is complicity." I suppose the real reason I don't believe in impeachment is that I don't think it will work. I think too many US citizens believe in the tactics of George W. Bush to make impeachment work. I hope to go out there to march today in order to say that I don't believe in what is being done in my name. I will be one to stand up and say that this is injustice. We've heard much about people in Nazi Germany just sitting by and letting things happen because it wasn't affecting them. I believe it was subtle and that many didn't really realize the injustice because they were not able to question status quo. Well, here's to questioning.

The World Can't Wait. Click the red banner to find locations near you.

Water

2006-10-05T08:36:00.000-07:00

We watched this movie last night. I had heard that it was good, but didn't know anything about it except that it was set in India.

India, in the time that the teachings of Ghandi were becoming popular, and his following increased; as he traveled from city to city, many would come to hear him say a few words.

The movie starts out with Chuyia, who is around 7 years old. It shows Chuyia and her parents transporting a very sick man. Then the father waking Chuyia to ask her if she remembers getting married, her saying no, and the father telling her that her husband has died. Chuyia's beautiful curls are cut off, her head shaved, her garments stripped off her and the white rags put on her as a symbol of her widowhood. She is taken to a home for widows, to live among the other girls and women who were married off at very young ages and may not, under Hindu law, be married again.

That's just the beginning of the movie. The story chronicles injustice after injustice, sadness after sadness. This movie is not one to watch to escape the troubles of life, but one to know the troubles of other parts of the world.

I wish we'd seen this movie in the movie theater, because on our little 13 inch screen the beautiful vistas were not nearly as beautiful as I'm sure they were there. It was a visually appealing movie.

But I was left with a feeling of deep sadness, and later anger. Anger that for every religion, vast injustices can be committed and justified by religious law. This has happened in ancient times, and it happens now. Ghandi began the revolution that did much for freeing India from colonialism and it's own demons. But he couldn't do everything for India. The people of India have to be convinced that they do not face damnation for turning around injustice.

One of the widows in the movie asks another main character, why is this happening in India? He answers, "One less mouth to feed, four less saris, and a free corner in the house. Disguised as religion, it's just about money."

"The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." --Jesus (Mark 2:27). If religious laws are being made that encourage injustice, it is time to take a hard look at those religious laws and right them. Jesus' teachings expect us not to use Biblical law in order to commit injustice, but to proclaim justice.

What injustices are being committed in the name of your religion?

Teen Missions

2006-09-27T10:44:00.000-07:00

A blogger that I read regularly recently used it to try to find people from his past. I don't know if it worked (did it, Welblog?) but I thought I'd do the same. I've been thinking about my Teen Missions experience lately. At the ages of 14 and 15 I participated in Teen Missions International teams, first to Egypt, then to Norway. Teen Missions is an organization that sends out teams to foreign countries to do mission work, either purely evangelistic or alongside work projects. I did one of each: in Egypt, we helped with some projects at the Lillian Thrasher Orphanage (or is it Lillian Trasher Orphanage? I thought it was the former and I'm finding both ways on Google) in Assiut (multiple spellings of that one; for the keyword search: Asyut, Assyut). The next year I went to Norway with a bike team, where we got to ride all over the gorgeous Norwegian countryside and do coffeehouses and door-to-door evangelism. I remember one woman who invited the girl I was door-to-dooring with into her home. She was not in the least interested in being nagged back to Christianity. After we got that out of the way we had a very enjoyable conversation.

I no longer agree with the methods used by TMI, but I am highly curious as to where my teammates ended up. I can't remember the full names of anyone on either team, though, and even if I could, probably most of the girls would have taken husband's names, making googling difficult. (A downside to women taking husband's names, in my book!) So, if any of the members of the Egypt Orphanage team from 1983, or the Norway Bike team from 1984 find this, please drop me a line either in the comments or from my email, which can be found in my profile. Any other TMIers are also welcome to comment!

Teen Missions

2006-09-26T17:01:00.000-07:00

A blog I read regularly recently used it to try to find people from their past, and I thought I'd do the same. Not sure if it worked--did it, Welblog? Anyway, I've been curious to find people from the two Teen Missions International teams I worked with when I was 14 and 15 years old. This is an organization that sends teams of teens to foreign countries to do mission work, either solely evangelical or working with construction, too. I did one of each--the first year I went to Egypt and we helped with a few building projects at the Lillian Thrasher Orphanage in Assiut (many different spellings on that--for keyword searches, it's also Asyut, Assyut, etc.). The second year I went to Norway on a bike team. We rode all over the beautiful countryside in Norway and did coffeehouses, where we'd sing and someone would preach. I can remember one woman who invited us into her home, one other girl and I. She established very early on that she is not interested in Christianity--she was an agnotic, I think, and not interested in organized religion. But after we got that out of the way we had a wonderful conversation. I think that any foreign travel is so educational and I have taken every opportunity that I've had to take my kids to different places. If you have to choose paying for private school or traveling, I say travel.

I no longer subscribe to the methods used by TMI, but I am interested to find out what happened to those folks. It was certainly a memorable time in my life and I was forever changed by it. I cannot remember the full names of anyone on my teams, and even if I did, the girls have likely taken their husband's names--the big problem with googling people you knew way back when. If any of you from Egypt Orphanage, 1983, or Norway Bike, 1984 find this blog, please drop me a line in the comments box, or go to my email address in my profile. I'd like to know what you're up to!

Trip Home

2006-09-25T12:24:00.000-07:00

I forgot to add some finds we found on our trip home. First off, the only decent place to eat in Crescent City, it seems, is The Good Harvest, and it's not all that. 'Nuf said.

That was lunch, and dinner was much better, thank goodness! We had decided to stop for pizza in Eugene, but didn't know where. We were listening to the local NPR station just before we got there, and they happened to list a sponsor, which was CD World. Well, we'd been trying to find a place to buy the new Indigo Girls CD (turn up your volume and click) and this was it! We went there first and asked for a pizza recommendation. They recommended Cozmic Pizza. Mmmm, yum. Some of the best pizza I've ever had! And they have a bookstore right in the restaurant, and a coffee shop with an internet cafe, and a band was getting ready to play. (Though the band was pretty noisy setting up--loud sudden noises kept making me jump.)

I could have spent a nice evening in Eugene but certain others in my family were definitely ready to be home. So, we left, but we'll be back, Eugene.

Patrick's Point

2006-09-25T10:26:00.000-07:00

Part two of our vacation.

Here's where the relaxation really started! This was our fourth Patrick's Point campout with the fun folks from HomeSchoolers of California. It's a community we've lived with, a week at a time, and it's been interesting to see the kids grow up, and the adults evolve and change. We went to our first Patrick's Point campout in 2000, a year of foment for us--we were just on the brink of change ourselves, and I think HSC has been a part of that change.

So, days at Patrick's Point go something like this: wake up (at a later hour as the week progresses...) and fix coffee on the campstove. Sit by the fire with others and drink. Then make breakfast (I was sick of cold cereal by the time we got there, as we'd eaten it every morning during the first week, so I made oatmeal, french toast, bread pudding, etc.) Clean up, and the day's activities begin. The kids go to games in the meadow: british bulldog, capture the flag, foam swordplay, and the adults read, knit, cook, hike. I never made it to the beach or even to an ocean view while we were camping....I was more in a mood for relaxing and camp cooking.

My one big accomplishment this year was learning how to use the dutch oven by the campfire to make yeasted bread! I did this early in the week, and it came out so good that I tried it again later in the week. It burned the second time. Oh, well! I still have some of the burned stuff--even though I cut off the burned part, the burned flavor went all the way through it. It was fun to experiment, though.

I expanded on my tradition of making a dutch oven apple pie. You can find a recipe here for the Campfire "Spicy" Apple Huckleberry Pie I made this year. I'll be posting some of my other dutch oven recipes on Elizabeth's Vegetarian Kitchen, as well, hopefully soon.

On with a typical day at Patrick's Point: everyone comes and goes and gets lunch whenever they're ready for it. More reading, discussions by the fire (one really nice thing about Patrick's Point is that it's always a bit cool to downright cold--which may not seem like a good thing, but it keeps lots of people sitting by the fire, so there's always someone to chat with or just read companionably with) and then around 3 or 4 the dinner cookers start getting busy. On any given night there might be up to 6 dutch ovens in the campfire at the same time! I first got inspired to cook this way at Patrick's Point and I saw a few weeks ago that there was a dutch oven event in the Portland area. Maybe next year I'll make it to that. I think I used my dutch oven every single day at Patrick's Point, except the day we got there and the day we left.

Dinner at the campout is an optional potluck, and most people do potluck it. There's an amazing variety of tasty dishes, and enough people are vegetarian that there's plenty for us to eat. This year we instituted a "vegetarian side" of the food table, and there were just as many veg dishes as non-veg, maybe even more. Dinner is really an event at Patrick's Point!

When dinner is over it's time for the dish washers to spar for room at the sink. Oh, there's a nice kitchen at the group campsite, though they took out our stove. There used to be a big, four burner stove and they said it was too much maintenance and too costly for the propane. But at least there's hot water!

After that everyone gathers at the campfire for making s'mores, singing, chatting, and staying up way too late. Thus ends a perfect day at Patrick's Point!

Park Day in San Francisco

2006-09-23T16:06:00.000-07:00

Oh, good, now it's working! The top pictures are of Zac (long hair) and his buddies, Isaiah (with hat) and Atticus (dark blue shirt).

Hibi, with tongue sticking out, with her friend Jenna.

Highlights of our Vacation

2006-09-23T12:19:00.000-07:00

We're back! A great vacation. Really got away, not just physically, but mentally, from the daily stuff and had lots of relaxation.

The first week wasn't all that relaxing, as we had lots of driving and lots to do, but it was fun. We started off with driving to Sacramento and spent the night with our dear friends there, Bob and Kathy, and their six children. We left the next morning, early enough, we thought, to drive to San Francisco, check into our motel, rest a bit, eat lunch, take a shower, and get to the wedding we were there to attend in plenty of time. Instead, directly after leaving Bob and Kathy's house we got a flat tire! And the lug nuts were on way too tight--we couldn't get them off. Fortunately, this occured right in front of Johnny's Lube and Smog (I think that's the name of it) where the owner, Johnny, was kind enough to help us out without us even asking. He used his air gun to remove the tight lug nuts and did just about everything himself, and then almost refused the money we offered him. :-) I just wanted to give him some good press, because it's hard to find good guys in this business, and we found this one by accident.

So, we got to San Francisco in time to change our clothes in the Walgreens bathroom next door to the church, and rush in at the exact moment the wedding was to start. Thank goodness Orthodox weddings never start on time! It was a beautiful wedding. The bride and groom met at St. Nicholas Ranch, our first year there, during camp. They were both camp counselors. He's Greek and she's Lebanese. I'd never been to a Lebanese wedding, and the reception was so full of joy. Usually the dancing doesn't start until after the dinner is over, but at this reception they introduced the wedding party during the salad, and then it all converged into a big dance to an Arabic song that went on for much longer than American popular songs go. It was so celebretory and fun. Ah, and we saw lots of the counselors from camp, as well as two of the adults who were integral in camp life. We sat with the latter, as well as a guy who'd been Zac's counselor along with the delighful woman he married earlier in the summer. It was great to see everyone.

On Sunday we went to Annunciation church and enjoyed catching up with lots of people there. Then we went to Chow for lunch with my brother and sister-in-law and a friend from church. Yum, Garden Noodles with Ginger cake for dessert! After that we went to the Wave Organ, which I'd never known about while living there, and probably would never have known about if it hadn't been for LaDonna's latest cinepoem. Bruce and LaDonna came with us and showed us where it was. It was pretty neat!

On Monday we went to park day with our old homeschool buddies in San Francisco. I still don't have my camera back but I have some pictures Dan sent. However, it seems that the picture loading malfunction of blogger that I've been reading about lo these many weeks since I had my camera working is still going on, and I can't seem to upload them. Maybe later.

After park day we had dinner at the home of our friends, Lisa and Mark. Their son Isaiah is Zac's best friend in the world, and I think it's reciprocal. They had an intern staying with them, and he came up for dinner. He had lived in Waco, and when we said we're Greek Orthodox, he said, hey, I know a Greek Orthodox clergyman who works in the Barnes and Noble I always went into in Waco. It took me about two seconds to say, are you talking about Daniel Payne? We met him and his wife in seminary! Small world. Anyway, Lisa made the most delicious vegetarian posole, with assorted toppings like cheese and avocado and sour cream. It really hit the spot--nice and homey. I really need to learn how to make posole. Mark and Lisa live in the mission district of San Francisco, so they have lots of inspiration for Mexican cooking.

Tuesday we hit the road and went to central California to visit my parents and 101 year old grandmother. We met her "friend"--the one she was all set to marry several months ago. They are still companions and I think the friendship is really good for her. She seemed very unstable on her feet, though, and kept trying to fall backwards. I'm really glad we got to see her--as she pointed out it may be the last time. But then we never know when will be the last time, do we?

We stayed at St. Nicholas Ranch that night, and planned to leave in the morning. But on Monday evening I'd gotten the start of a very sore throat, which morphed into a full-fledged head cold. Wednesday I was miserable and just wanted to stay in bed. So we stayed at the ranch that day and didn't leave until about 6 pm. We'd planned to stay with Bob and Kathy again that night, but we would have gotten there so late and I didn't want to spread my cold, either. So we stayed in a motel and got on the road for Ashland on Thursday.

In Ashland, we camped and saw the play Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It was excellent, but I was wishing we'd seen a more upbeat one. It was really quite dark, and I was especially worried about Zac seeing it, but he liked it fine. I still wish we'd seen The Importance of Being Earnest, but I don't regret seeing the one we did. I just wish we could have seen them both! We ate dinner at Pilaf, which was so good. It used to be completely vegetarian, but has some meat on the menu now. It's all different ethnic kinds of food, but mixed so it's kind of fusion cooking. We had grilled halloumi, french fries with both sweet and regular potatoes, falafel, and harissa. I'd definitely go back.

From Ashland we headed to Patrick's Point, where we had a great campout. I'm going to break this off and make this a two-parter, as I've really got a lot of unpacking and cleaning up to do from vacation. Plus Zac wants to get on the computer. :-)

Peace, gardening, community

2006-09-06T22:40:00.000-07:00

On Labor Day, we went to the Dorothy Day house in Portland. It was a breath of fresh air and I want to share a bit of our experience.

Dorothy Day was someone who was much like Mother Maria, whom I have written a bit about before. Dorothy Day was someone who stood for the poor and those who are swept aside in our society. The Dorothy Day house is a place where women are welcomed to a house of hospitality, women who are in transition from being homeless or in prison have a place to stay for a while. It's also a center for community, for people who feel strongly about peace and justice and good food and gardening and wholeness.

The house is run by a Catholic priest and a woman who is formerly Catholic, but now attends the Portland Mennonite Church. She started working with the Mennonite Central Committee doing peace work in El Salvador, and then began worshipping with them as well. We shared a delicious potluck dinner with them (vegetarian, even!) and enjoyed getting to know them a bit. Then they had their meeting, which we stayed for. They spoke of the work with the women they help care for, as well as the peace work they do, trying to help legislators understand the need to stop the killing in Iraq. They spoke of doing civil disobedience for their cause, because they feel strongly enough about it to risk being arrested. Hospitality and resistance, is what they are about. I felt I found the community we've been looking for. People who feel strongly about the things we feel strongly about.

A small thing to start with: they need people occasionally to stay at the house with the women who stay there, just to have a presence at the home. There are three people who live there full time but they sometimes have other needs and obligations to tend to. So, we are thinking about taking an evening now and then, when they need it, to go over and cook dinner and be there at the house. To chat when someone needs to chat, or just to be there. It sounds so homey, so comfortable, and like the community we've been seeking.

That's all until after (during?) our vacation. We're taking off bright and early on Friday morning! Have a great September, everyone.

Garden and Child Report

2006-09-03T13:59:00.000-07:00

Ah, I wish I had my camera! These two items could best be told with pictures. One can be posted later, but the other cannot.

I just brought in five big tomatoes from my garden! One brandywine and four purple cherokees. Yum! I was going to use them in pastitsio, but I don't know that it's the best use for them. Maybe I'll use canned for that and find some wonderful use for these, like tomato soup or tomato tart.

And the big news around here is that Hibi got her ears pierced! We went to a place called Black Hole Body Piercing and a guy with hugely stretched ears and big old plugs in them pierced Hibi's ears. Now, Hibi used to have an extremely low pain tolerance. At age 7, after the dentist pulled a tooth, he came out and told us he'd had a little conversation with Hibi. He told her that when she has a baby, the word to remember is "epidural." ;-) But she chose to have her ears pierced, even though she knew it would hurt. I told her that she really cannot flinch, as it would mess up the hole. And she didn't. She just shuddered after each pierce. I thought at first that perhaps she'd faint, but she didn't. She said it didn't hurt any more than she thought it would. And her ears look so pretty!

Hopefully I'll have my camera back before Friday, when we leave on vacation. We're going back to San Francisco, our former favorite city ;-) for a wedding next week, and to see old friends. We'll visit with family--my brother and sister-in-law in San Francisco, my parents and 101 year old grandmother in central California. We'll see friends in Sacramento and then again while we're camping at a homeschool campout at Patrick's Point (see pictures and blog posts from last year's Patrick's Point campout: here and here and here and here and here).

Then it'll be home, just in time for the first jr. goya (middle school youth group) meeting of the year--rock climbing!

Heather's Blog

2006-09-01T10:19:00.000-07:00

Heather, a friend I've mostly known from the Home-Ed list as moderator-extraordinaire (though I have met her in person several times), has created a blog. It's about her Quaker faith, which I find to be quite contemplative, matching Heather's introspective sort of writing. I've enjoyed reading her posts on the Home-Ed list for years, and am looking forward to reading more from her specifically about her faith. Go read and be nourished. It's called A Friend in Need.

Memory Eternal

2006-08-27T17:14:00.000-07:00

Lynette Hoppe has left our world. I thank God that her passing was quick and without a lot of prolonged pain and suffering. By all accounts she was cheerful up until the end.

It was a shock for me to see the pictures they put up of Lynette, on the website Pray for Lynette because she looked like she was aging decades each day. Looking at the pictures you could tell that her liver was failing, as her skin was very yellow. But I am so glad to have seen Lynette's life and death, the part of it that I was able to see, because usually death is kept away from us. We don't see death; we only hear creepy stories about it and if we see a body it's all nice and made up by the mortician. The way Paul put it was that in our society, death is seen as shameful. It's the "other" from the youth that our society has as it's ideal.

So I was glad to see Lynette, emaciated and yellow, looking to be about 80 years old (she was in her early 40s, I think) but with that wonderful smile on her face. The people who were with her when she died said that 20 or 30 minutes *after* she died a big smile came onto her face. How extraordinary! But Lynette is just an extraordinary person.

Lynette, your memory will be eternal in the hearts of everyone who knew you. Your life was an inspiration!

Global Rich List

2006-08-26T09:45:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure I wanted to know how globally rich we are. But it sure is an eye-opener!
http://www.globalrichlist.com/

New Computer

2006-08-21T13:21:00.000-07:00

Cool. Just look what you can get on Craigslist! Hibi has been wanting to do a lot more on the computer with movie-making and music. But our poor computer is all filled up and can't take any more; in fact, we really need to take a bunch of stuff off of it. Paul had the idea that we should really get her a laptop--then she doesn't have to fight with the rest of us for computer time and she can set it up how she wants. (She's so computer savvy, too!) He looked on Craigslist and found one last night for $350. A pretty good one, too! He came home with it, saying that it was a very good deal, and they took it to the Apple store today to update software and they also said it's a very good computer. Now we can also have it for trips and stuff, and it plays DVDs. Cool. Now we can be one of those families whizzing down the road watching a movie. At least it won't be in an SUV! :-)

And it's a Mac, which of course is supposed to be really good for graphics. I consider this a homeschool purchase, don't you? ;-)

Website for Lynette

2006-08-19T09:11:00.000-07:00

I meant to post this with the last post, but I was running late for my Spanish class. If you are interested in reading more about Lynette and her time in Albania and journals about her struggle with cancer, go to the Pray for Lynette website created to keep everyone notified of how she is doing.

Please pray

2006-08-17T19:14:00.000-07:00

While at seminary, we met some extraordinary people, among them Nathan and Lynette Hoppe. Nathan did not plan to be a priest, as most of the students there did, but to go out as a missionary. They knew where, too: Albania. We all just knew that Nathan and Lynette would be wonderful missionaries; they were kind and vibrant people.

About a year and a half ago Lynette was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of breast cancer. The doctors tried to treat it, she tried alternative treatements and changing her diet. Nothing has worked to slow the cancer.

They returned to Albania this summer and have had a productive time there. But on Monday I was distressed to learn that what had been just a tiny bit of cancer in her liver has turned into full-blown cancer. The doctors at that time told her she only had a few weeks left to live.

Today I received an email that said that Lynette, who has had pretty good energy and has seemed quite healthy up until now, has begun to have episodes of incoherency and to lose motor skills. She dropped her water glass several times today, Nathan said. The doctors say she will probably be like this for about a week, then drop into unconsciousness for another week and then pass on.

I grieve for her, but more for the loss to this world, and for Nathan and their two children. Please pray for a swift painless death for Lynette.

Summer Camp

2006-08-17T12:37:00.000-07:00

We've all been at summer church camp this week--Hibi and Zac as campers, and Fr. Paul and I have both helped out. It's been so fun! Reminds us so much of being at St. Nicholas Ranch--summer camp was our favorite time of year there, even though it was SO hot there (not so hot here, though everyone else was complaining on Sunday and Monday when it was 90 degrees....at least it wasn't 105, *and* it cooled down after that!) and also even though it meant that Paul worked 15 hour days. The last year we were there we had three sessions of camp, meaning that he worked like that for three solid weeks, with just Saturday afternoon and evening off. But the connections that are made at summer camp just can't be beat.

I had some great camp experiences when I was a kid. I started attending summer camp when I was about Zac's age, and I can remember the wonderful connection with my counselors. It's just nice at that age to have someone who isn't your parents' age, but is a "grown-up", to be special friends with. To begin getting good, positive influence from sources outside your family at that age is a good thing.

Yesterday I helped out with the prosphoro-making (communion bread). The women in charge of prosphoro at camp have been doing this for a jillion years, so it was interesting to watch their process. I've lead groups in doing it before, but no one taught me how to make it. One big difference was that they had the kids knead the dough in the mixing bowl. I've always kneaded bread on a countertop or a board. One of the women told me that in her village in Greece, every family had a big wooden bowl for just this purpose--mixing and kneading the dough. I asked the (younger) female director about this tradition, and she said "oh! I have my family's bowl at home!" So I suppose this is a cultural difference. I'm wondering how it came about, because to me, kneading on a flat surface is a whole lot easier.

But those women are getting older, and are getting ready to retire from this job, so I'd imagine it might just pass on to me. I enjoy doing this with the kids, even though it's a lot of work and even more mess. It's worth doing, worth helping them to understand their faith, it's traditions, and a very basic understanding of where their food comes from.

You can see some pictures of summer camp here, and when I say "some" I mean a whole ton of pictures. To do some pre-sifting for you: here's a cute one of Hibi, all ready for the square dance, and here's one of Zac with his picture frame he made. (Everyone said, it matches your shirt!) If you look through the pics, you'll even see some of me doing square dancing, in my tie-dyed shirt. I haven't looked through them all, but I haven't seen one of the prosphoro making. Ah, here's a good one of Paul, in his denim clergy shirt!

I'm not seeing any pictures of church out in the outdoor chapel, which is really pretty and simple and woodsy. And my camera is at the shop. So, unless Jacob uploads some today, I doubt you'll see any!

Heading back tonight, after my Spanish class, to see camp wrap up and bring my futon mattress home. (Best idea I've had in years, to bring a futon! The beds there leave much to be desired!) See ya after camp!

Funny Vegetarian Anecdote

2006-08-11T12:51:00.000-07:00

So, we were all chuckling over the Bizarro from a few days ago, where the guy at a buffet was asking the gal who worked there, "How's the chicken?" and she says "happy and healthy! This is seitan."

We started talking about seitan (which, I try to say with a long a at the second syllable, but the real pronunciation is just like satan, you know, that old enemy of God's). Zac didn't know what it was, so I told him it's wheat protein. How is it made? By developing the gluten from wheat flour and then washing away thee other stuff besides the gluten. Hibi said that she had a cookbook that told how to make it. Then, inspired, she said in a little kid voice, "I'm going to make seitan!" (She was referring to the story in my previous post, Making Jesus, so this won't make any sense if you didn't read it!)

We've been enjoying this evolving radical side of Bizarro--he's come out as an obvious vegetarian in the last year or so.

The Horse Project

2006-08-09T15:57:00.000-07:00

Here's some pure fun! My kids and I have been having fun trying to spot the horses in downtown Portland. But I see that they are tethered in different places too. And as I was looking through the pictures, there was one with a suspiciously familiar looking building in the background....could that possibly be our church? Hmm...guess I'll have to go look.

The Horse Project