Fat

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Monica's Blog!

Hey, everyone, my friend Monica got herself a blog! I don't know if I was the only one to tell her, but I did encourage her to start a blog after she sufficiently recovered from the birth of her second child. I thought it would be awhile, remembering back to the birth of my second child....of course, we only just got email three months after Zac was born, but no internet. (Can you imagine living without internet?)

We met Monica and her husband Joel, along with their adorable son Simeon, through email on the Orthodox Peace Fellowship email list, and then in person once, when they came to visit us at St. Nicholas Ranch. I felt we were kindred spirits as soon as we met. I hope to see them in person again. They are missionaries in Romania, so they're way to far away to just take off and see! It'll be great to keep up with what the Klepacs are doing by blog.

Anyway, here's Monica's blog, small things.

Medically Necessary Cesarean Section

Okay, I take back what I said about Sandra's C-Section being just another medicalized birth, and the nasty thoughts I was having about the medical establishment. I just got more details that convinced me it was medically necessary.

What I knew yesterday: her water broke, she went to the hospital, she wasn't having contractions (or at least not consistent ones) and they put her on pitocin, then found out the baby was breech and took her surgically. What I found out today: when Sandra arrived at the hospital she had a temp of 108 and very high blood pressure. Her fever came down but her blood pressure remained very high, and after they found out the baby was breech, they knew they couldn't mess around anymore.

I'm convinced that she is one of the VERY FEW women for whom a C-Section was medically necessary, and why I'm glad the technology exists. I'm glad Sarah and Sandra are doing fine. :-)

New Baby in the Family

I have a new niece! Her name is Sarah Catherine, and she was born to Paul's brother and sister-in-law, Steve and Sandra. It's Sandra's first baby (Steve has two children from his first marriage), and it's really a wonderful thing because she has endometriosis and wasn't expected to be able to carry a baby.

The baby was born today by c-section. They went in because her water broke and the hospital kept her and put her on pitocin, because she wasn't having any contractions yet. Then they found out that the baby was breech and took her in for a C-section. I could comment here about the over-medicalization of births, but....it's my new baby niece, and I think I shall refrain for the moment.

No, really. I went on to write more but just deleted it. I'll save it for another day. For today: welcome to the world, baby Sarah Catherine!

new blog!

As you can see in my links section, and also as a hot link to the garden stew I made yesterday, I've added a new blog! I decided to take on a new one just for my recipes, plus maybe cookbook reviews and probably food politics, as well. I think I might put up the recipes I've shared in the past in this blog there, too. It's only got one post so far, but it's sure to have many more. I can already think of another post I want to put there.....

So go check it out! It's at www.elizabethsvegetariankitchen.blogspot.com.

Garden Report

My garden is doing so well! I wish I could post pictures but my camera still isn't acting like it's connected when I plug it into the computer. I'm going to try to get it into the shop tomorrow.

I'm so thrilled that every day, almost, we've got yummy homegrown tomatoes! Tonight I used some in a garden stew with polenta, with my garden peas, basil, squash, rosemary, and some broccoli that came from...well, I don't know where it came from. It appeared in my fridge. Maybe from my mother-in-law. :-) It was yummy! Last night I had a couple tomatoes sliced to go with our cheesy walnut burgers, and the night before there were enough to make the ranchero sauce for our chiles rellenos.

My three tomato plants: the one I'm getting all the tomatoes off now is the little, but hard-working, stupice heirloom plant. I also have a cherokee purple plant that I've gotten two or three off of. My brandywine tomato plant took a long time to set fruit, but it finally has lots of nice green fruit that's all going to be HUGE.

3 of my 6 squash plants are bearing really well, too. I've been using the little tiny ones, and a few days ago I made Squash Blossom Soup with all the blossoms I could find and some big squash I came home to. I love that soup!

I have three green basil plants, and one opal basil plant. I'm able to harvest enough basil each week for pasta with pesto, which is as often as I like to eat pasta with pesto in the summer time, along with good cherry tomatoes. (I buy the cherries from the farmer's market, since I don't have a plant.)

The mint is doing really well, of course, and I don't have enough uses for it. I can only drink so many mojitos. :-) I need to find more uses for fresh mint.

The cucumber plant isn't doing as well....but we did have a couple of cucumbers off it to eat last week, and one more is growing right now. I'll take what I can get.

*************************************************************************

In other news, and in other reasons why I'm bummed that I can't post pictures: my children got the brilliant idea, in their little pirate minds, to build a sailboat. They came up with this while we were at Clergy Laity, and told me over the phone. I was thinking of the huge ones that fit a whole crew and tons of cargo. But no, they sent me a picture of it and it's a cute little thing. Paul bought into the idea (um, I mean that literally...) and they are out there right now working on it. I have no idea where they're going to sail this thing when they're done, but I'm sure they'll figure something out. It's something nice that dad and kids can work on together. They are making a PDRacer.

Nuns in Nightgowns

So, I saw Susan today at the Limnes picnic, and realized that I've been putting off for much too long the story I teased about with Christina that I was going to tell her sometime. I said then that I'd tell her in person, because I didn't want to put it in a blog, but I think I can make it so that no one's privacy is violated too much, and besides, it's a good story!

This is a story about when we lived at St. Nicholas Ranch and Retreat Center in central California. It was a retreat center/camp, and next to it was the Monastery of the Life-Giving Springs. We had a very small little community there. At the end of our road was the retreat center and across from it, the (then) future site of the monastery. Before you got to that, there were two houses, ours and the house where Mike and Elizabeth Tervo (now Fr. Mike who serves as second priest in Oakland) lived. Before that, the house that was the old convent for the nuns, where they were living at the time. Across from them, there was a non-Orthodox family, and right beside them lived the H family, J and C with a lot of small children. Now, the H family had moved there kind of recently, and J still held a job about a 3 1/2 hour drive away, so he stayed down there half the week and worked from home the rest of the week. So he was gone a lot and C played single mother during those times.

Because it was such a small community, Paul was able to play things kind of spontaneously; he didn't have to set a schedule for weeks in advance for the liturgical cycle, he could pretty much just let everyone know the night before when services would be. But one night he remembered that Gerontissa (the abbess) had asked him to hold liturgy the next morning and he'd told her "maybe" but now he knew he just couldn't because he was too busy that day. We looked at the clock; it was around 9:30. We knew it was too late to call the nuns, because they went to bed early and rose at around 2 am. (No, it's not a typo...) But Paul was concerned for the H family, because they would usually come for the very early services (6 am I think) and bring all their children. He didn't want them to drag the kids out of bed and there not be services. So I suggested that he just go to their house and see if there were lights on. If there were, he could tap lightly so as not to wake the children. Then he could let them know that there would be no service the next day.

So, he went down there and came home saying that there were indeed lights on, and he'd tapped, but no one answered. Oh, well, I guess I can't warn them tonight. We thought that wast he end of it.

A short while later the telephone rang. It was Gerontissa. "Please come quickly, Fr. Paul! There is a man outside of C's house, and he is going to violate her!"

It took a half a moment for the whole scenario to register to Paul....he was that man!

He went down there and all the nuns were outside, most of them wearing their nightgowns! He very delicately explained what had happened, and of course, everyone was relieved. I think it did help J and C to realize that they really needed to figure out a different arrangement for the job situation, because poor C was scared out of her mind being all alone way out in the middle of nowhere with all those small children.

I've got other stories about living there....lots, in fact. One funny was right after we'd seen a calendar called Nuns Having Fun, showing nuns roller skating and such. We were heading down to the ranch, and we saw the nuns in the field where they'd recently planted some orange trees. The trees weren't doing very well. So, over each orange tree, the nuns were putting up umbrellas. :-) We just stopped and enjoyed the sight for a minute, then headed on down the road.

Winding down this leg of vacation

Pheeeeewwww.

We're home from Nashville, home from the coast, and beginning to say goodbye to the last bit of Paul's vacation in July. (We get two more weeks in September.) It's been nice, but kind of frenetic!

First I'll report on Nashville, what I didn't tell you already. We never ordered room service ice cream sundaes--sorry, Theophilus. We just never had opportunity. Lots of evenings were taken by big dinners, that had dessert with them already, and the other evenings we were out on the town getting back late. I suppose I'll have to say "next time" on that....but when would that be? Heavens, I don't expect to stay in such a hotel again in my life.

I'd left a comment in the last post about Paul asking the archbishop about altar girls....he just brought up female deacons, didn't ask about them, because female deacons in this country is further off, and he wanted to focus on what's closer. Plus they already have female deacons in Greece, in an exceedingly limited fashion. The archbishop said four words that Paul said he'd hold onto: "It might be feasible." Well, it's something. Really it's the same kind of answer that's been given for a long time--maybe, wait, not yet.

On Thursday was the Grand Banquet, which I said I might just cut and run from. As it turned out, they held us captive in two ways: first, they had the program between the salad and the entree, so we couldn't leave unless we didn't want to eat. But second, it was an amazing program! It didn't drag on and on like usual. They had the Victory Choir, which is an African American choir singing traditional black gospel music. Wow, were they great! And even more interesting than the actual choir was the Greek response. I wouldn't have expected it....some were just sitting not reacting, but a lot were up on their feet, clapping, moving to the music.

Then there was the keynote speaker. He was from the First Amendment Center and he was amazing. Paul's and my reaction to his speech, without coordinating it, was to immediately jump up to give him our highest applause in a standing ovation. He brought up so many issues of social justice, racism, and poverty that we as a church need so badly to focus on, and have been remiss in not doing for far too long. Of course, he had the beloved Archbishop Iakavos to give as a shining example of someone who marched with Martin Luther King.

On Friday we had some time to do shopping at the hotel and then it was off to the airport. Paul had said hang it all, he was wearing his tie-dyes, not clerical wear. But at the airport, we ran into none other than the archbishop, Met. Nicholas, and the whole retinue. Oops! Paul spent the first bit of time trying to have them not notice him, and ended up just walking up and greeting the archbishop as is. :-) Oh, we also saw, at the airport, an old friend from seminary. We'd actually seen him in the altar on Sunday, but only recognized his beautiful chanting--he's grown a full beard since then and we didn't think it looked like him. It was nice to see him. He's in Greece now but is returning to the states soon.

Oh, Mimi--I tried to have some sweet tea at the airport while Paul got his last thing that he wanted from Nashville: a shot of Jack Daniels. :-) But all they had there was Snapple. Not what I was looking for. I did have some sweet tea with some fast-food Chinese just before the NashTrash tour. And the fruit tea was sweet, but not exactly what I was thinking of.

We returned to blistering weather (it had been blistering in Nashville, too, but we lived in the unreality zone of the air-conditioned outdoors at the Opryland Hotel--or as Theo Nikolakis called it, the Biosphere) in Portland. We got out as soon as possible on Saturday, with kids and Paul's parents, to the coast. We didn't really do anything there but relax on the beach. On the way back we stopped at the Evergreen Aviation Museum, which houses the Spruce Goose. Paul's dad worked on planes in the military, and some of the models there were models he worked on. So, even though the hangar was not air-conditioned, we enjoyed some time there before we escaped back to our air-conditioned cars. :-P

Paul's parents went back to Tucson on Tuesday, and we've spent the week being tourists in our own city: we went to the falls on Wednesday, and walked around downtown yesterday. Had dinner at Bombay Cricket Club, an Indian restaurant. We've been trying to get over there for awhile....I'd read the service left something to be desired, but I found the service to be almost over-attentive. But some of the food wasn't as good as I've had: my favorite, saag paneer, wasn't very good. But the naan was delicious, and so were the pakoras and samosas.

Alas, today we have an unpleasant task ahead of us. We returned from the coast to find that a couple from the parish lost her son to suicide. His funeral is today. This will be difficult. Please pray for Toby, the son, and Dennis and Cherie. I know Dennis from choir.

Paul is out with the kids working on their newfound passion: building a sailboat. It's a small job, just big enough for the two kids probably. So they're looking for materials at the Rebuilding Center and the Restore Center, both places for recycled materials that benefit Habitat for Humanity.

Sunday we'll be back at church, and Paul's vacation will be over! But I think we're ready. Hibi's going to the Rock and Roll Camp for Girls in a week and a half, and then the kids with both go to church camp. I think we've got a good August coming up.

Reporting from Nashville!

Hey everyone! I just wanted to let you know that we are in Nashville and enjoying! Wow, what a place!

First off, the hotel. Oh, my. What a place! You just have to see it to believe it. Theophilus, I haven't yet ordered an ice cream sundae from room service, but I hope to before we leave. Um, that leaves either tonight or tomorrow night. It'd probably have to be tonight because tomorrow is the Grand Banquet, and we'll already be overfed, and have a long program, as always. (Unless I cut and run, which I just might.)

I have to tell you about some of the things we've done off-site. Of course, I've been enjoying seeing everyone here at the conference, but I sure am glad we took the time to do some fun things in Nashville!

On Saturday we took the city bus (yes, Bruce, the city bus has a stop right at the hotel and takes us to downtown!) and saw the Tennessee State Museum. It's a free museum, and when we first walked in we thought it was going to be well worth the admission price. ;-) But as we went through it, we saw that there is a ton of information there, and really found it to be a great untapped resource. There's a lot of info about the civil war and presidents from the South and the whole slave issue. It was very informative.

After that we went chasing a vegetarian restaurant that I'd found online, that's on the campus of Vanderbilt University. But it was closed for the summer. However, we found, by asking about that veg. restaurant, another place that served a lot of vegetarian food, and even had some specifically vegan meals on the menu, called Calypso Cafe. Yum, the food was good! We ordered the "beans and three" which I think was a take-off on the "meat and three" that you can find around here. (Not sure if that's a more general Southern thing or specific to Nashville.) A meat and three is meat plus three side dishes. Well, we had Cuban Black beans along with: cole slaw, corn muffins, mashed sweet potatoes, calalloo (mustard green dish)....um, two other things that I can't remember. It was all delicious. Oh, and we ordered iced tea and they asked if we wanted unsweetened or "fruit tea." It's got pineapple juice and another kind of juice in it. We had that and it was very interesting! I'd never heard of that. And when the bill came my jaw dropped. All that for $14 and change.

After that we went back into downtown and bummed around the touristy section of Broadway. We walked along the river, and then saw the back of B.B. Kings Blues Club. We went around front, and found that there was a concert going on--almost over. A band was playing the blues, and the singer was taking the microphone around and just handing it to people in the audience and saying, "sing the blues." And the amazing thing: it was great! Amazing! I guess everyone in Nashville is just oozing with talent.

We went back last night to B.B. Kings and took two parishioners with us. They were playing motown music, and one of the parishioners grew up in that era. He visibly just had a great time listening, and was singing along with every song. He got me and the other parishioner to come and dance with him, and I suspect it was all in order to be closer to the band. :-) It was really great.

On Sunday night we went to the Bluebird Cafe. I highly recommend that place! It was songwriters' night, and there was a lot of raw talent there, plus a guy who has written songs sung by Garth Brooks, Emmylou Harris, Patty Loveless, and many others. Oh, good food at the Bluebird, too! The eggplant parmesan was delicious.

But the big hit of the week so far was yesterday's NashTrash tour. Oh, my, what a couple of comedians! You can click on the link in my previous post to see the video of their show, which is what it is, a show. They supposedly were showing us the sites, but I didn't want to look out the window for fear of missing their hilarious antics. They were finding something to mock about everyone's names (which is, I think, how they learned all of them) and I wondered what they were going to say about us. Well, we were wearing our tie-dyed shirts, and so we were the hippies! Okay, hippie couple, where are you from? Oh, Portland, OR! that's where all the hippies are. During the break, they came over and asked what we did in Portland OR. Paul had already said, I don't want to tell them I'm a priest, or I'll never hear the end of it! But he told them. Then he became the hippie priest from Oregon! And we're not going to clean it up just because a priest is on board! Heehee. It was very risque, wicked humor. And we loved every minute of it.

Anyway, that's it for now!

Making Jesus

I have been so crazy busy I've hardly had time to do my normal, everyday things, much less blog. I thought I'd tell you all that I'm not going to be able to blog a whole lot here, because I'm headed for Nashville on Friday, helping out with Vacation Church School this week, and Paul's parents will be here tomorrow to stay with the kids while we're in Nashville. I wrote something yesterday, and blogger said it posted but it didn't. :-(

But I have to tell you all a funny story about what happened today. As I said, I've been helping out with VCS. On Monday and Tuesday I helped with the preschool class (which meant I got some quality time with Christina's Pavlos). It's been a lot of fun, but my original commitment to VCS was helping the kids make prosphora, communion bread. We started that today, with the preschool kids, and tomorrow the older kids will make prosphora. So, I was there early this morning getting everything ready for the kids to make prosphora. Everything was set out: bowls, spoons, yeast, salt, flour. One of the moms came over and said that her son was so excited that he was going to be able to make the bread that, in our church, would become the body of Christ. I went back in the kitchen to get something else, and when I came back out, her son was poking his finger in the yeast. I went over and told him that it was for later, when we made prosphora. He said to me, excitedly, "I'm going to make Jesus!" I couldn't help but laugh, and I told him that he sure was.

When Paul came home tonight, I told him the story, but he'd already heard it. ;-)

My kids have been having a lot of fun with VCS, too. Zac is a participant, and Hibi is too old to participate in the receiving end, but she is a group leader. From everything I'm hearing, she's doing a great job with it, and really enjoying it! Zac has been staying late every day, to play with the kids whose moms stay late and the neighbor parishioner kids. Both Zac and Hibi have been involved in the skits, which are really impressive! I've been amazed at what they can put together in just an hour or so.

I won't post again until after we return from Nashville....and after Nashville we're heading to the coast with Paul's parents for a couple of days. I'll see you when I see you!

Fourth of July happenings

Wow, what a fourth! We decided to sit around and relax in the morning, and I got some planning done for going to Nashville. I came across this funky little tour of Nashville--looks like a hoot! My dear husband isn't so sure about it, so I may just reserve two spots and see who wants to go with me. :-)

In the afternoon we went hiking in Forest Park--a humongous park that's right in Portland city limits, but looks like it's way out in the woods. It was beautiful yesterday. We saw lots of interesting plants, with flowers and berries, and wildlife--well, big old slugs and millipedes. But somehow we got messed up on the trail. The book we have had the map drawn in a confusing way--at first I thought it must have been mirror-image--and we should have started out by going left instead of right on the trail. So, we ended up back at the main road, thankfully, but way off from where we'd thought we were. So it was decided that we'd just walk on the road back to where our car was. Two problems with that: the road has no sidewalk and not much shoulder, so street-phobic Zachary was freaking out from the time we started, even though not many cars drive that road and most that do drive slowly. Second, I suppose that they don't expect people to be walking on the road....and they don't clear the stinging nettle from the roadside. We found that out the hard way when Zac brushed his hand on some. Then we had a boy freaking out because of walking on the road, plus his hand was hurting like crazy. Finally Paul had to tell him in no uncertain terms that he HAD to stop screaming, that he was being more of a danger to himself in that condition, that if it hurt he could say OW but not scream or yell. That seemed to do the trick, and we got back to the car safely where we had some medicinal cupcakes, cookies, and vegan pie for Hibi waiting for us. :-) Zac said he had fun in spite of the stinging nettle.

We'd talked about where to see fireworks. I suggested that we go to the blues festival, where they were shooting fireworks from, but Paul didn't seem too keen on that. So I suggested that we just go to the river anywhere to watch. Paul was remembering time after time of being in the midst of so many people, and having to sit in traffic getting back. Last year we went to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco to see the fireworks, which was great up until it was over. Then there was a mad dash of hundreds, thousands of people trying to get on the buses to get away from Fisherman's Wharf. It got a little out of hand with people pushing and yelling and getting angry. I certainly didn't ever want to do that again either. So it was decided that we'd just walk down to Grant Park and sit on the lawn. Paul was sure that we'd have a good view. I was unsure of that, and it turned out that we were both partially right. The waterfront park fireworks were mostly behind the trees for us. But there were so many other fireworks going off, we had a panoramic view of lots of fireworks.

None of us could believe the number of private fireworks going off. Back in San Francisco, where it's illegal to sell any fireworks, you'd maybe hear one go off every 5 or 10 minutes. Here, as soon as the sun started setting, it was constant. Never did a second go by that I did not hear a firework. Most of it isn't legal to sell in Oregon, either, but Vancouver Washington is just a 10 minute drive across the border. Even in Fresno county, in California where I grew up and fireworks are legal, it was nothing like this.

So, we had a good fourth, despite lots of things! How was yours?

Baked Goat Cheese and Sliced Tomato Salad with Pesto

Mmm, now I have something real to post about--our dinner tonight. I tried a new recipe from my Jack Bishop cookbook, A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen. How I first came to find Jack Bishop's excellent vegetarian cookbooks is like this.

A little over 4 years ago, my step-grandfather died--the third husband of my grandmother, the one who is 101 years old now. On the day of the funeral I invited all of our family who would still be around for another day to come for dinner the next day. This included my biological maternal family members, plus my grandmother's second husband's family, who technically are not related to us, but we keep them close as real family. Unfortunately, though we all regarded my grandmother's third husband as father and grandfather and loved him as such, and he loved us as such, his original family never seemed to see it quite like that. But we still have good memories of Barney, and he was my grandpa since I was 17 years old.

So, a large number of people were coming over for dinner. I had never cooked for such a crowd, and still haven't since. This was when we lived at St. Nicholas Ranch, an hour from Fresno where we did all our grocery shopping. I looked at what I had on hand, and decided the week had already been stressful enough without an added trip into town, plus it would take too long--two hours just for driving. I had several days of dinners planned and ingredients for them, so I decided to just cook everything I had planned for several days, all in one day. I started cooking first thing in the morning, and cooked all day long. It was cheese-fare week--in the Orthodox church, cheese fare week is the week we "say goodbye" to cheese and eggs just before Lent; we've already said goodbye to meat the week before--as vegetarians, it seems a little extraneous, but we do have special cheese-fare meals anyway, that we only eat during cheese fare. I remember one of the dishes was blini, which is a traditional Russian Orthodox cheese fare meal. Another that I made, just to round out the meal, was spoon bread--a cream-topped creamy corn bread.

I was terrified I wouldn't have enough food, so I just kept cooking! And of course we had plenty, with lots of leftovers. I think that everyone enjoyed it, and I know that my aunt and uncle from Minnesota did. When they got home, they sent me a thank-you card with a gift card for a bookstore, telling me that they so enjoyed my vegetarian cooking and they wanted to encourage me to continue expanding my cooking repertoire, and that I should use the gift card to buy myself a cookbook that looked good to me. So, I chose Jack Bishop's The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook. I so enjoyed it that I bought another of his when it was published: A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen. And so I bring you this recipe that we enjoyed tonight.

First, don't attempt this recipe if you don't have access to wonderful, summer-sun ripened tomatoes. It just won't be the same with supermarket tomatoes.

I looked for the type of goat cheese suggested by the recipe, but didn't find it. I did find a wonderful wine-rinded aged goat cheese. The secret here is that you want aged, not fresh, goat cheese.

Finally, the only cooking this recipe requires is to bake the cheese, and it requires such a small baking dish I used my toaster oven. Perfect for a hot summer evening. Very simple and quick.

Baked Goat Cheese and Sliced Tomato Salad with Pesto

Pesto:
Put 2 cups fresh basil, 1 tablespoon pine nuts, and 1 small garlic clove into a food processor. Process until finely chopped. Add olive oil, up to 6 tablespoons, as the motor is running, scraping the sides as needed. (I didn't process until quite smooth, as I used part opal basil, and I wanted pretty flecks instead of muddy paste. :-) Add salt to taste.

Goat Cheese:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Cut 12 ounces of aged goat cheese (preferably Bucheron) cheese into four rounds (or if wedges, like mine, just slice the wedges into smaller wedges). Pour 3 tablespoons of olive oil into a small baking dish, just large enough to fit the cheese in a single layer. (The recipe says put 2 tablespoons of the oil in a separate dish for breading the cheese with, but I found this to be a dish-saving measure that was very easy.) Coat the dish with the oil. Place 1 cup of bread crumbs on a dish. Dip each piece of cheese into the oil and then into the breadcrumbs. Press bread crumbs onto the cheese. Put the cheese into the oiled dish and sprinkle any remaining bread crumbs over the cheese. Bake until the cheese is light golden brown (mine melted gloriously), about 10 minutes.

Tomato Salad:
Meanwhile, slice four good-sized tomatoes. Smear a scant teaspoon of pesto on each slice.

To serve, place 2-4 slices of tomato on each plate, and set a piece of goat cheese in the middle of the tomatoes.

I served this with bread, and Hibi had nuts instead of cheese. I think next time I might bake her some oiled breadcrumbs to have with it, because those really added to the dish.

This and That; a post on nothing much

Wow...haven't posted in a while. I was going to post about going berry picking on Thursday, but I wanted to post pictures, and when I went to upload them my camera wouldn't do it. Doesn't seem the USB cord is working right, or maybe it's the connection on the camera that isn't working right. So, anyway, we went to a u-pick farm in Hillsboro and picked boysenberries, raspberries, and a small amount of tayberries, which are a cross between blackberries and raspberries. They taste unnaturally sweet to Paul and me, and we'd not have taken any at all but the kids didn't think they tasted weird. We got a whole bucketful of boysenberries, because I could make my very favorite kind of pie with them. And indeed, I have used them all up, even though I'd frozen some--but I needn't have bothered. We went over to some friends' house last night and I brough two pies there, where they were oohed and ahhed at. :-) They were fairly swooning! I *love* boysenberry pie. And we had such a wonderful time with our friends--we knew the husband from seminary, and we've only just started to get to know the wife, and am happy to know her.

So, anyway....sorry, there's no real point of this post, which I don't usually like to do, but I thought I'd let you all know we're here and well and enjoying the wonderful weather.

Paul and I are preparing to head to Nashville for the GOA's Clergy Laity Congress. (If you're not Greek Orthodox, read that as "humongous church conference.") Neither of us have ever been to Nashville, and we're getting excited about it! I know it'll be hot and humid, but I suppose we'll just have to deal with that. If anyone has any suggestions for must-sees, I'd appreciate it! We've bought tickets to the Grand Ol' Opry, even though it seems like it might be just a tad cheesy....(Gaither Trio is playing the night we go....one of my parents' favorites....I never had any aspirations to see them in concert. ;-) and we are planning to go to the Bluebird Cafe, where they have live music every night and a lot of big name musicians had their start. We hope to go on a Sunday night, which should be a little tamer than Friday or Saturday, and they showcase up-and-coming musicians. They do take reservations, but only up to a week in advance, so I'll have to call next Monday.

It'll just be Paul and me going (and several hundred other Greek Orthodox clergy, clergy families, and lay people...) and Paul's parents are coming from Tucson to stay with the kids. Everyone will have a great time, I'm sure!

Oh, I forgot to say that Paul is presenting his translation work at Clergy Laity! He has been translating four homilies of St. Basil that haven't ever been translated into English before, on the topics of poverty and social justice. He's close to being done...he just needs time to finish it up. But he'll be giving a 20 minute talk with a 10 minute question and answer session, about St. Basil's work and how it relates to ministry to the poor. Very cool!

Have a happy Fourth of July, everyone! We haven't decided what we're doing yet, but hopefully it'll culminate with some fireworks. :-)