Now

Albuquerque!

CB and I got to Albuquerque around noon today. It was a sunny day in the high 50s F. We wandered around Old Town and visited the Pueblo Indian Cultural Center. There were and are 19 Pueblo Indian tribes!

Tonight I registered for the "Laughing and Weeping" conference on the enneagram. I am excited by all the options, especially for New Year's Eve, but am worried that husband CB is waiting each day for me to be "done." I think I'll go to half of the New Year's Eve events, so I can spend the end of the evening with my husband.

I always vacillate about which number of the enneagram I am. . . .which is why I signed up for the pre-conference session tomorrow: "Know Your Number" with Suzanne Stabile.

I waver in my belief in the enneagram system, and I have been won over by Richard Rohr's interest, this conference, and reading Understanding the Enneagram by Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson. (Russ Hudson is one of the speakers with Richard Rohr for this week.) We'll see what I think by Saturday afternoon, when we depart.

Here's a quote I really like at the beginning of that book:

"In addition to giving us insight into our day-to-day behaviors, the enneagram offers an answer to our spiritual yearnings because it shows us with great specificity how our personality has limited us, what our path of growth is, and where real fulfillment can be found. It teaches us that the longings and structures of our personality are actually useful guides to the greatest treasures of our soul. By regarding our self-defeating patterns and even our psychological pain and limitations as indicators of our spiritual capacities, we are able to see ourselves in a different light. With this new perspective comes compassion, healing, love, and transformation." (4-5)

Hope it's true.

Interrelationship

You are me, and I am you.
Isn't it obvious that we "inter-are"?
You cultivate the flower in yourself,
so that I will be beautiful.
I transform the garbage in myself,
so that you will not have to suffer.

I support you;
you support me.
I am in this world to offer you peace;
you are in this world to bring me joy.

~~Thich Nhat Hanh (1929-)

We're in Carlsbad, NM

Daughter MJ loaned us her new and quick laptop computer, so here I am in Carlsbad, NM. We left at 8 am and got here at about 5 pm (or 6 pm central time). MJ got to Winter Park, CO at about the same time; she's with her boy friend's family.

Getting ready to go

CB and I are taking down the Christmas decorations, boxing them up, and putting the tree outside. It seems early, but tomorrow we start our drive to Albuquerque, NM. We will not be back until January 4th, and we do not want to return to the dusty Christmas things still scattered around the house.

My break from getting ready for our trip and this cleaning is to come to the computer. My desire is to post some inspirational things for the time I'm gone, but I'm not sure that I'll get around to it! Maybe one or two. . . . .?

A Christmas picture

I only have time to post this one!


MJ, BJ, and DC playing the game "Puerto Rico." AE and KA were also playing, but they didn't want their picture taken.

MJ is 19; BJ is almost 24; DC is 29.

Richard Rohr Conference

By Monday, only our two dogs and one cat will be left at our house, to be taken care of by a long-time friend. MJ goes with her boy friend's family to Colorado to ski tomorrow. Also on Sunday, DC and AA will return to Austin and BJ goes back to Houston. They take their bulldog and Brittany Spaniel with them.

And on Monday morning, CB and I start our drive to Albuquerque, NM for the "Laughing and Weeping" conference. CB is not attending the sessions, but magnanimously agreed to go with me on this trip.

And I am going to meet fellow blogger Ellie at the conference. She's going, too! If you don't know Ellie yet, she has three blogs: Child of Illusion, Does Not Wisdom Call?, and Meditation Matters.

Five Dogs at Christmas

This is sweet Morgan, AE and KA's four month old cocker spaniel. She accompanied them on their travels from Seattle to Austin, TX and on to Cincinnati, Ohio. They'll return to Seattle on January 1st.

Sampson is one year old and weighs 50 pounds! He is DC and AA's dog. He and Morgan loved to wrestle and play. They moved so quickly that I had a hard time getting a picture of them playing together.

Here is Morgan with Cisco, the dog our children gave husband CB last Christmas. Cisco came from the Humane Society. We think he is about four years old.
Morgan is here with Baillie, our 13 year old cocker spaniel. AE gave her to me when she was a little puppy--that was such a big surprise!

Here is 1 1/2 year old Troy, Brittany Spaniel, who is BJ's dog. Troy runs and runs and has a hard time being still. He is outside much of the time.

Boxing Day

Christmas was lovely with our entire family together. Growing up near the Canadian border, I always heard of "Boxing Day" being the day after Christmas. I am thinking of that today, especially because a box arrived from my cousin Margaret from Alberta, Canada today. Sadly, it was a little late for AE and KA who left today. . . . but I am mailing all their books to them anyway media mail, so Margaret's offerings will fit into that box! (I've learned it's also Saint Stephen's Day.)

Early this morning strong and silent CB (I had to put that here, because AE was teasing me about using those adjectives for her dad) and I drove AE, KA and sweet cocker puppy Morgan to the San Antonio Airport. All except CB slept most of the two hour drive there.

CB and I dropped them off at the airport and then went shopping at The Container Store for half-price Christmas wrapping paper. I've always wanted to go there on Dec. 26, but never have driven to San Antonio on this date before. There were very few people there, which was nice for us. At the checkout counter, I got a phone call from AE, telling me that their plane to Chicago was delayed by three hours.

So we went back to the airport and got them. We had coffee at Starbucks, sitting outside so Morgan could wander a little bit while still on the leash. Then we drove to one of our favorite restaurants there, Twin Sisters. We sat outside again, with the pavement on the porch wet from the humidity. That was fun!

After a quick trip to Half-Price Books, we again took the girls and their puppy to the airport and left them there. CB and I drove home and got here in the late afternoon.

All the dogs miss Morgan, especially DC's bull dog Sampson. It was so funny to watch the two puppies play. Morgan was so little that she could even scoot under Sampson's tummy!

Tomorrow I will post pictures. I wanted to get a picture of all FIVE dogs together, but it was impossible to get them still at the same time in close proximity.

AE, KA and Morgan will hopefully get to Cincinnati tonight--they finally got to Chicago a few hours later than planned, only to find the flight to Cincinnati delayed also. Traveling with a puppy is much like going with a toddler, except that the puppy is usually happy.

Everyone else leaves on Sunday.

Love at Christmas

Maria Lactans
Artist: Reni, Guido, A.D. 1575-1642

Love came down at Christmas,
love all lovely, love divine;
love was born at Christmas:
star and angels gave the sign.

Worship we the Godhead,
love incarnate, love divine;
worship we our Jesus,
but wherewith the sacred sign?

Love shall be our token;
love be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and to all men,
love for plea and gift and sign.

---

Words: Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), 1885

Merry Christmas!

by Signe Wilkinson

Gingerbread house

Two days ago MJ baked the pieces for the gingerbread house. Yesterday she and KA put it together and decorated it. The note there tells everyone NOT to eat anything until Christmas Eve so people can admire it first. We have to wait until MJ's two brothers and DC's wife get here (with their two dogs!) tomorrow.

After hearing horror stories of all the snow in Seattle and Bellingham, WA, we are very grateful that AE and KA left Sea-Tac Airport before another foot of snow fell on Saturday. The pictures of all the people stuck for days at that airport make me glad I'm not flying anywhere this holiday season!

37 YEARS!

37 years ago today CB and I were married at Saint Paul's Episcopal Church in Bellingham, WA. It's pretty amazing that we are still married, especially as we were only 21 when we got married. That's why I have always told my children not to get married too young, which may be why my oldest son did not marry until he was 27.



37 years ago neither of us imagined living in Texas or having four children. Here we are.

And we are lucky enough to have all four of them coming home for Christmas. We are blessed.

Cat allergy alert

I don't have a cat allergy, but KA does. She and daughter AE are flying to Austin at this very moment, along with their cute cocker puppy, Morgan. Last Christmas poor KA was miserable and didn't complain at all. So this year we are taking a few actions to help (I hope!) alleviate some of the allergens, though probably not enough.

Husband CB spent the last few days shampooing the rugs. (They needed to be cleaned anyway.) And today I am vacuuming the furniture, hoping that will help.

Daughter MJ and boy friend CS are driving my car to Austin to meet them. They'll get home while we are at a wedding tonight.

Our other children will arrive here on Christmas Eve day.

Nativities

I collect nativity scenes. My family, especially daughter AE, has given me many lovely ethnic creches. Here are some of them:

This is the first nativity scene I ever had. My cousin Margaret, whom I visited this past fall in Calgary, Canada, gave it to me when she had traveled in France as a young woman.
Maybe this was my first introduction to Mary holding baby Jesus, which I love.

Friday Five: Countdown to Christmas

Songbird writes for RevGalPalsBlog: There are only five full days before Christmas Day, and whether you use them for shopping, wrapping, preaching, worshiping, singing or traveling or even wishing the whole darn thing were over last Tuesday, there's a good chance they will be busy ones.

Since I am not a pastor and since I have no paying job, my things "to do" are more mundane than everyone else's. They still hang over me though. Plus, I'm getting ready for our empty nest to swell to eight people with all my children and their partners coming here--and three dogs to add to our two!

1. Find MJ's stocking gift that I put in a "safe" place and cannot find.

2. Clean my office, so the sofa can fold out into its thin sofa-bed mattress.

3. Make all the cookies "ordered" by each member of my family, plus extras to give to some friends.

4. Plan the vegetarian and carnivore meals to be fixed next week and get all the ingredients. Then cook!

5. Clean and wash for the company, while the company is here, and after they leave!

Stir me from placidness

Are you familiar with the hymn, "Spirit of Gentleness"? We sang it yesterday at a communion service, and I was most struck with the phrase "Spirit of restlessness, stir me from placidness." This is a good prayer for me.

Spirit, spirit of gentleness,
blow through the wilderness, calling and free,
Spirit, spirit of restlessness,
stir me from placidness, wind, wind on the sea.

You moved on the waters, you called to the deep,
then you coaxed up the mountains from the valleys of sleep;
and over the eons you called to each thing;
“Awake from your slumbers and rise on your wings.”

You swept through the desert, you stung with the sand
and you goaded your people with a law and a land;
and when they were blinded with idols and lies,
then you spoke through your prophets to open their eyes.

You sang in a stable, you cried from a hill,
then you whispered in silence when the whole world was still;
and down in the city you called once again,
when you blew through your people on the rush of the wind.

You call from tomorrow, you break ancient schemes.
From the bondage of sorrow all the captives dream dreams;
our women see visions, our men clear their eyes.
With bold new decisions your people arise.

(James K. Manley (20th century), hymn-writer. Published in Everflowing Streams (1981). "Spirit," l. 1-4 (1978).)

Christmas Baking

I am not blogging much because daughter MJ is home from college. Daughters AE and KA from Seattle will be here on Saturday!

So I am baking a lot. Last night I made our family favorite "Holiday Sparklers" while MJ and her boy friend CS helped. Somehow I ruined the first two sheets of cookies because I haphazardly set the ovens 100 degrees above the needed temperature--425 instead of 325! That certainly produced crispy brown cookies that ended up in the trash can.

I asked each member of my family to tell me the ONE cookie they liked, so I would bake just the kinds that are favorites. Four out of eight said Holiday Sparklers, but others picked cookies from the best cookie cookbook I have ever found: The Wellesley Cookie Exchange Cookbook, which is out of print. My mother gave me my copy, which is well-worn now, in 1990.


I highly recommend this cookbook, as I have never tried a recipe in it that was not good! If you can find a good used copy, grab it!

Tonight I am baking Double Gingersnaps, a recipe submitted by Jody Saville:

1 1/2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses
4 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. ground cloves
4 tsp. ground ginger
Sugar for rolling

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and molasses and blend well.

Mix dry ingredients together. Add half of dry mixture to creamed mixture and blend well. Add remaining half and blend by hand.

Chill dough for several hours. (Though I rarely do--the dough is sticky but manageable.)

At this point, you may bake whatever portion of the dough you desire, and refrigerate or freeze the remainder. (Dough keeps in the refrigerator, well covered, for at least a week. To freeze, wrap dough well in plastic or foil.)

To bake, pull off pieces of dough to make balls the size of a walnut. Roll the balls in sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 15-18 minutes. Balls will flatten out and tops will be crackled.

(Recipe may be halved or doubled.) Makes 5-6 dozen cookies.

Come, Lord Jesus. Come.

Advent
by Christina Rossetti

"Come," Thou doest say to Angels,
To blessed Spirits, "Come";
"Come," to the Lambs of Thine Own flock,
Thy little Ones, "Come home."

"Come"--from the many-mansioned house
The gracious word is sent,
"Come"--from the ivory palaces
Unto the Penitent.

O Lord, restore us deaf and blind,
Unclose our lips tho' dumb;
Then say to us, "I come with speed,"
And we will answer, "Come."

Fourth Sunday of Advent reading in Run, Shepherds, Run: Poems for Advent and Christmas selected and presented by L. William Countryman, London: Morehouse, 2005. 47.

I think I like this so much, because it reminds of the early morning mass at Lebh Shomea in Sarita where the priest says over the Eucharist, "Come, Lord Jesus." The people respond with, "Come."

I haven't gone there for over a year. I miss the quiet time spent there.

Looking at their website, I am reminded of the beautiful creches they arrange with plants and flowers they have dried in the time before Advent. Here are pictures from their website:

As we prepare for the birth of our Lord Jesus, we invite you
to share some Advent scenes at the House of Prayer.

---

To join in our joyful celebration of the Incarnation, we invite you
to spend time with some Christmas scenes at the House of Prayer.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

For the first time in my life I baked a flourless chocolate cake yesterday. I am wondering if it is like "Chocolate Decadence," which was once a popular dessert in the 1980s. A friend was having a dinner party last night, and when I volunteered to help, she gave me this recipe. It was somewhat complicated, but well worth the trouble.

Creamy Flourless Chocolate Cake
one 9-inch cake

1/2 pound semisweet chocolate
1/4 pound unsweetened chocolate
1 Tbsp. water, coffee, Cognac, OR brandy
1/ cup plus 2 Tbsp. butter
4 eggs, separated
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt

1. 1. Put chocolates and water in top of double boiler. Melt over warm water. Removed from heat. Add butter in 5 pieces, blending each piece into the chocolate before adding the next piece. Stir in 1/4 cup sugar until dissolved.
2. Beat egg yolks until light and thickened. Gradually beat in chocolate mixture so it does not separate. Add vanilla.
3. Beat eggs whites and salt until foamy with electric mixer; gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until stiff. Fold whites into chocolate batter.
4. Pour into buttered and sugared 9-inch spring-form pan. Bake at 425 degrees F. for 15 minutes (no longer; the cake will fall slightly, then it will firm as it cools). Put cake on wire rack to cool; remove from pan.
   
5. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar or serve with whipped cream OR Brush warm cake with seedless raspberry preserves, thinned over heat with a little water.

~~~~~~~~~
I baked it and topped it with raspberry preserves. It looked sophisticated and elegant. With 16 people at the dinner last night, half of it is still left. One cannot eat a large piece, because it is so rich.

My friend gave the half cake back to me, because she said it freezes beautifully. Now I have our Christmas dinner dessert!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Go here for more chocolate dessert recipes.

Christmas MEME

From Welcome to My World--a Christmas me-me-me-me!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Wrapping paper. I am trying to get rid of my collection of gift bags on Freecycle.org.
2. Real tree or Artificial?
Real
3. When do you put up the tree?
Usually by Dec. 15, which is very LATE according to Texas standards.
4. When do you take the tree down?
Usually on New Year's Day, but this year it will be on Dec. 28, because the next day we start our drive to Albuquerque, NM for Richard Rohr's New Year's conference on the enneagram.
5. Do you like eggnog?
Not really. My eldest daughter AE used to love it; I'm not sure if she still does.
6. Favorite gift received as a child?
A bride doll with high heels when I was in second grade.
7. Hardest person to buy for?
My husband.
8. Easiest person to buy for?
My youngest daughter MJ.
9. Do you have a nativity scene?
I have way too many, as I collect them.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
I love to mail Christmas cards. I am very pleased that my children, though three of the four are on their own, continue to contribute to our "Christmas letter," a copied two-page letter I enclose in each Christmas card. Since my mother died in 1992, each person in our family has written his/her own section--a tradition that is continuing (I hope in the future).
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
A book on how-to make potpourri.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
"Its a Wonderful Life."
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Usually around Thanksgiving.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Yes.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
"Holiday Sparklers," a shortbread like cookie with three chocolate chips inside it.
16. Lights on the tree?
Of course.
17. Favorite Christmas song?
"Mary, Did You Know?" by Kathy Matea
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
Stay home. I am so lucky that my children are all coming home this Christmas!
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's?
Almost
20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Yes: a starched, crocheted one
21. Open presents Christmas Eve or morning?
We open one each on Christmas Eve and the rest on Christmas morning.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
All the ads that started before Thanksgiving, just like the Christmas decorations coming out in some stores after Halloween.
23. Favorite ornament theme or color?
I love the ones that my mother and children made.
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?
Same meal as for Thanksgiving--turkey and stuffing.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year?
I want each person in my family to appreciate the time we have together.
26. What do you like most about Christmas?
Everything--joy, tradition, family, love.

If you want to play, leave a comment here. It will be fun to read others' answers.

Advent Longing

In the darkness of the season, in the silence of Mary’s womb,

new life waits and grows.

Hope is shaped in hidden places,

on the edges, in the depths

far from the blinding lights and deafening sounds of consumer frenzy.

In the darkness and silence of my own life,

I wait,

listening for the whisper of angel wings,

longing for a genuine experience of mystery,

hoping for a rekindling of joy and the establishment of peace.

I lean into the darkness

and silence.

Expectant.

~~Larry J. Peacockby Jan van Eyck

1439

Time to get ready

I love poinsettias, always have and always will. The red ones are gorgeous and bring the holiday spirit home to me, especially as I am feeling so much better.

It is funny to say, but last night I suddenly realized, "I feel like myself!" After three days of being sick, I felt better. I was still "myself" when I was ill, though the energy was not there. I'm glad to be "back"!

Now it is time to decorate for Christmas. I collect nativity scenes, especially ones from other countries. Time to move the various knick-knacks to make room for these creches.

That reminds me of last year's post on Nifty Nativities. That's where I revealed my love of images where Mary is holding the baby Jesus, which doesn't happen often enough in my eyes!

Perpetual Advent

"Thomas Merton, Trappist monk and author, remarked that life is a perpetual Advent. He sensed that in that waiting, trust began to grow. Trust in God, trust in the Holy One who is beyond all that is created and is the source of all things, seen and unseen. Trusting and waiting allow the loving-kindness that is the essence of God's own Life to grow in us, and to bear fruit that we never expected."

To read the rest of Mary Earle's short article, go here.

Bug Infested

Sorry I am not visiting or writing much--have caught a bug.

Middle East Map Quiz!

Geography Quiz!

Hope you do better than I did! And I used to be an elementary school teacher. . . .

Ego

Richard Rohr in his little Advent book writes about EGO:

Don't Edge God Out!

Gay Marriage with Jack Black and others

A little late for Prop. 8 in California--but very funny with some truth hidden in!

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Big Wedding Weekend

Husband CB and I are going to San Antonio on Friday and will be there until Sunday for a big wedding celebration for good friends of son DC and wife AA. This is the last of "The Five" guys to get married. These were five boys who remained friends through elementary, middle, and high schools. They shared classes, soccer teams, and church youth group together. Each has been a groomsman in the other's wedding, and this Saturday is the last of "The Five" weddings.

"The Five" at DC and AA's wedding 9-2-06
WW, CD, DC (my son), SW, BT
BT is getting married on Saturday!

It is a very sweet and romantic story about BT marrying HL. They had never met until they walked down the aisle together at DC and AA's wedding! BT had not been able to get to Austin for the rehearsal dinner the night before, and so he only appeared in time for the wedding! After that, they became friends and then engaged.

Due to the history of "The Five," their parents are invited to Friday night's rehearsal dinner. For us, it probably is also because both DC and AA are in the wedding parties. And I have been asked to give the meal blessing there.

The wedding is on Saturday night. Youngest daughter MJ is going to come with us, since she is very fond of "The Five" guys, who were all her big brothers as she grew up. (They are ten years older than she is.)

It will be a happy and enjoyable weekend!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Conveniently, I can also attend the monthly mystics talk in San Antonio, as I will be there on Saturday morning. This is Year 2 of Christian Mysticism: History, Wisdom and Insights. It is sponsored by both Oblate School of Theology (where I may someday earn my master's degree in Theology) and Contemplative Outreach of San Antonio. Saturday's talk will be on "Dominican Spirituality: Dominic and Catherine of Sienna."

Christ's Dependence

"By his own will Christ was dependent on Mary during Advent: he was absolutely helpless; he could go nowhere but where she chose to take him; he could not speak; her breathing was his breath; his heart beat in the beating of her heart.

"Today Christ is dependent upon us. This dependence of Christ lays a great trust upon us. During this tender time of Advent we must carry him in our hearts to wherever he wants to go, and there are many places to which he may never go unless we take him."

Caryll Houselander, The Reed of God, pp. 30-31

Look Out!

John Dear has written an excellent article about Advent, Advent: Time to be on the look out.

He writes:

"The Gospel would shake us from our weariness. 'Don't sleep while Mumbai burns. Don't yield to the culture's allures: shopping, selfishness, indifference, violence and war. Don't act as if there is no God, as if change is impossible, as if there's nothing you can do. Don't sleep as apocalypse encroaches. Don't remain unaware of the world's agony. Wake up! Look around! See what's happening. Get ready for peace!'"

And then goes on with this:

"And so this Advent let's become visionaries. Let's reclaim our imaginations and say "Yes, we can. Yes, a new world is possible; indeed, a new world is coming" --- a new world without war, poverty, nuclear weapons, violence or global warming. Get ready for it. Urge others to prepare. Such preparation is the spiritual task at hand.

"A final blessing. May these holy Advent days renew our lives, lead us to peace, fill us with grace and hope, disarm our hearts, turn us back toward the God of peace, and make us faithful watchers, ready for Jesus and his Christmas gift of peace.

"Together, we sing: 'O come o come, Emanuel! Come, Lord Jesus.'"

Go here to read the entire article

World AIDS Day

Last night I attended the annual AIDS Day memorial service, which was at my church this year. It was a small gathering, as the service had not been well advertised. Still, it was lovely, especially the music.

I went remembering an older couple whose son Keith died of AIDS over ten years ago, as they took me to my first such service. Sadly, the husband died last year, and I haven't seen his wife SB since his funeral.

I found her and sat with her during the service. My memories were strengthened by being with SB and her telling me that one year ago was the funeral service for her husband. We reconnected in loving memory and our present re-connection. SB easily sees things as "God's hand" and we both agreed God brought us together.

Through Keith's illness and death, his family came to embrace LGBT causes and people, as well as HIV/AIDS. I remember taking a friend to their house to see one of the AIDS quilts that was traveling around the U.S. a decade ago. They stood up when many in this conservative community in south Texas ignored and/or rejected gay people. I could see that SB still knows and supports people here, by all the names she mentioned who had died and the various people she introduced me to afterwards.

I'm glad we were brought together again. I needed that reminder of how much I care about her; I too easily get busy and do not see or talk to those I love.

May we open ourselves

Advent Resources

Advent Resources