Returning to Friday (Five) the 13th in MARCH!!

Almost three months since I last blogged, I am going to participate in today's RevGalBlogPals' Friday Five before going on a short (6 days) trip to Washington State. So here it is:

Woo hoo!  It’s not only Random Friday Five time, but it is also Friday the 13th.  And also Lent.  And, in my neighborhood, the snow is starting to melt and I can see a patch of grass in my front yard.  Oh my,  what could be more wonderful?  (Okay, a lot of things, I know.  At least little things make me happy.)
So, without further ado, I present you F13RFF!

1.  What have you got going on today?
In two hours, Chuck and I are driving to San Antonio to go on a direct flight on Alaska Airlines to Seattle. We'll get there tonight, thankfully met by our daughter AE. We planned this quick trip during Chuck's spring break from teaching chemistry at the local community college, so we could visit his younger brother Tom and wife Chris, who is under hospice care for rampant breast cancer.

2.  What about a prayer request, how can we pray for you today?
Please prayer for Chris and Tom, but now I also add Dennis and Terry. Terry texted me yesterday about her husband Dennis going back into the hospital with a severe infection, probably due to sores on his feet which brought sepsis to his artificial knee. This is what he went through last year, too. Today he will have surgery where they might even replace his knee replacement. I am glad we'll arrive tonight.
 
3.  What makes you curious?
Right now I am very curious about the changes in U.S. culture in all aspects as related by Robert D. Putnam, author of Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, which is a book I continue to cite in classes and to friends. His latest book was just published and addresses what is affecting our children in Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis and I am reading it now. It connects in places with the new book for the Wisdom Class: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, even though the authors are focusing on different viewpoints
of U.S. society.

4.  If you got stuck in an elevator for three hours, (if that is too scary, locked in a room or stuck in a traffic jam), and could magically have any book or activity appear in a pouf to you to while away the time, what would it be?
 I guess I would like my smart phone or Ipad to magically appear, because I could contact people, see the news, and access a book! Otherwise, I would probably pray--a "good" chance to do contemplative prayer.

5.  Use these words in a sentence.   Thirteen, lampshade, [a historical person, like Cotton Mather or Judy Garland} basket, hedgehog, and daffodils.
Saint Francis watched a hedgehog sniff the basket of thirteen daffodils, while the lampshade was non-existent.

 As always, have fun, be fabulous, and let us know you played in the comments, and take care!

Visitors!

Daughters AE and KA came to see us on a brief trip from Seattle to Texas. They spent Friday night with us and Saturday night in Austin with their nieces Avery and Emma (and their parents).

Daughter-in-law KA and Emma in Austin

For Emma's first birthday, her parents gave her a matching chair (purple) to her older sister's Avery's pink chair. Even at 1 year old, Emma already prefers her older sister's chair--sibling rivalry!

Remembering

Flowers from daughters AE and KA!

We Remember
from the Gates of Prayer
Reform Judaism Prayerbook

In the rising of the sun
and in its going down,
We remember them;

In the blowing of the wind
and in the chill of the winter,
We remember them;

In the opening of the buds
and in the warmth of the summer,
We remember them;

In the rustling of the leaves
and the beauty of the autumn,
We remember them;

And in the beginning of the year
and when it ends,
We remember them;

When we are weary
and in need of strength,
We remember them;

When we are lost
and sick at heart,
We remember them;

When we have joys
we long to share,
We remember them;

So long as we shall live
they too shall live,
For they are now a part of us as
We remember them.

 I am remembering my mother who died 22 years ago today.  I am appreciating friends who have birthdays today, as well as my family still with me.

Happy Birthday!

35 years ago, Chuck and I were overjoyed to have our first baby, DC and on a big learning curve to learn how to be the loving parents we wanted to be. Happy Birthday!

August 1981, DC in Bellingham, WA on Grandma and Grandpa's lounge chair.

We would go to Bellingham, WA every summer to visit our parents and experience the cool temperatures and beauty of the Pacific Northwest. It was also an opportunity for the children to play and explore in large parks with creeks and trees. Wonderful memories.

And how he looks today with Avery and Emma!

July 6, 2014: Avery, DC, and Emma

Books and Trips

Since the Summer Conference at Oblate with Robert L. Moore as the main speaker, I have been reading books related to Jung. My interest was ignited by the various speakers, and I see that the spiritual journey coincides with the psychological journey to wholeness.

Briefly, I will tell you what I am reading and have read:

The book that surprised me by its synchronicity with the talks I heard at Oblate was a book I brought with me with the strange title of The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling by Stephen Cope. I had bought it long ago because a friend had recommended it to me, but the title turned me off. Still to counteract that, I loved the story of how her daughter-in-law was at a yoga retreat in the NE and asked at their bookstore for a recommendation for her mother-in-law that she described as a "Christian Mystic." This is that book! It is based on the Bhagavad Gita, with descriptions of famous people living out the true life of following dharma--Jane Goodall, Susan B. Anthony, John Keats, and Harriet Tubman.

Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life: How to Finally, Really Grow Up by James Hollis

What Matters Most: Living a More Considered Life by James Hollis

Those were easily downloaded on my Kindle and so I started reading the first one while I was still in San Antonio. (This was after a Jungian analyst I met from Houston recommended James Hollis' books).

And I got the cd set for "Through the Dark Wood: Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life" by James Hollis, which I will listen to as I drive to Austin tomorrow.

Chuck and I are driving separate cars to drive there to help our son and his wife and two little girls get ready to move into their new house. Chuck will probably stay longer than I will, because he'll be painting walls. It will be fun to see Avery and Emma (and their mommy and daddy)! And we are so lucky that we have dependable people to take care of our dogs, cat, and house.

When I get back, I will try to write about what I've been reading and also finish telling you about our vacation!

Mother's Day

By Gertrud Mueller Nelson

I feel like my mother was a remarkable woman; she was talented in many ways and very loving, especially to me, her only child. We were good friends all my life, which is why I still miss her today on this American holiday of Mother's Day, even though she died 22 years ago.

As I ponder this, I realize that I never wondered that she might have missed her mother, too. Until I had children of my own, I never thought too much of my mother having emotions other than the irritation she sometimes exhibited towards my father and/or me, otherwise she was pleasant.

I suppose it is difficult to empathize with someone else's feelings unless one has experienced it in a similar capacity. She must have missed her family during all the years we moved around with my dad in the Marine Corps, but never shared anything with me. (I was self-centered and only thought of how moves were difficult for me!) When her parents died, she did not express her loneliness or regret at all. I was an adolescent at those time and would have been old enough to understand some of that--or so I think now.

I wish she had shared some of those feelings with me, but she was of the generation that did not complain. In fact, that is how she brought me up: "Don't bother people with your problems." It has taken me years to realize that expressing sad memories and/or emotions is not "complaining," which I am still learning how to do.

As people are expressing on FB and elsewhere, each female is the result of her mother and her children (if she has any). I am fortunate to have my four children, two with loving spouses, who are continuing to grow me into the person I am, as are my two granddaughters. I will always be thankful for the mother I had.

Happy Mother's Day to all: I hope you are able to treasure memories of your mother today.

My Mother's Birthday

I always think of my mother on her birthday, April 24. She would have been 95 today if she had lived. It is funny to think that her birth certificate showed that she was born on April 23, 1919, but her birthday was always celebrated on April 24. My guess is that she was born around midnight, but at home, so there was no "official" time recorded.

She met my father while they were both stationed in Hawaii during WWII. They both served in the Marine Corps. Here is a picture of her taken in her uniform in December 1943. She was about the age of my youngest daughter (now), who is named after her.

Friday Five: Trips

Last week and this week, I am driving long distances in Texas, first to Houston and today to Austin from Corpus Christi: both times to meet relatives from Canada flying here. This makes me think of trips taken in my life: vacation, moving, visiting relatives, visiting friends, seeking a new home, going away to school, and probably many more.

For today’s Friday Five, tell about five different trips you have made in your life due to different reasons, modes of travel, or whatever category you choose! 

1. The most recent trip was getting my cousin Margaret at the airport in Houston. There were also multiple trips in our two days in Houston--to various restaurants, to the museums, and our return to Corpus Christi, where the GPS saved me. I got lost a few times, but the GPS "recalculated" and eventually got me to the desired location.

2. In 1964, my parents and I returned to the USA after living on a Navy base in Japan for the previous three years on a ship. It was a Navy ship that seemed nice to me; it had a theater. As I recall, I slept on the top bunk while my mother slept on the bottom, and I cannot remember if my father was in the same cabin or a different one! I remember the booming of the ship as it slapped down into the water during a storm, which was scary. Every day for the eleven days on board, I wrote a long letter to my best friend Nancy. When we reached San Francisco, I mailed all those letters as soon as I arrived. She told me that her father called her to tell her that he'd gotten the mail at his office, and she biked there to retrieve them all.

3.  In 1974 (only ten years later!), Chuck and I drove from Virginia to Oregon, where he was going to start graduate school at Oregon State University in Corvallis. He drove a U-Haul truck while I drove our blue Datsun 510. At some point, we got separated, and I grew fearful that we had lost each other so I speeded up. I arrived at a pre-determined motel, called my parents, the police, etc. on a pay-phone. (No cell phones!) One operator told me that their had been an accident with a U-Haul truck, so I was very frightened. But Chuck showed up, asking me how I ever could have thought that the U-Haul truck could be faster than our car!

4. When I was growing up, we only visited relatives when my father was transferred to a new military base and we were moving. I remember moving from Quantico, VA to Camp Pendleton, CA in the summer of 1958. I had heart-shaped ash-trays made out of Play-Dough to give to my grandparents we visited in Arkansas on the way. They were safely sitting in the sunlight of the rear window sill of the car.

5. My mother told me how she and I flew on a propeller plane to Seattle when I was a small girl. She said it was very turbulent weather, and the plane was deathly quiet. The only voice heard was hers as she continued to read me stories.

Change in Perspective

This past Monday was my father-in-law's 88th birthday, which is truly amazing in my perspective because neither of my parents lived to be 80. The very next day was our youngest daughter MJ's 24th birthday.

Maybe because I spent all week last week in Austin helping and holding sweet little Emma and maybe because Emma looks a lot like MJ looked as a newborn and maybe because I always remember my baby's births on their birthdays. . . . BUT I realized that when my MJ was born 24 years ago, Chuck's dad was only 64. . . . THAT is my age (almost) now!

As a new parent, I did not think of our parents as being anything more than "parents" and "older" and now I am in that position. It is so weird for me to realize that I am the same age as Chuck's dad when MJ was born.

I am appreciating both sets of our parents much more now. It is interesting to see another perspective.

Friday Five: Let's Eat!

3dogmom brings today's Friday Five to RevGalBlogPals, which is now at a new site! What is somewhat interesting about being at Wordpress, some of us have different "names"--I am now "janintx."

My first ever Friday Five is dedicated to Nikki MacDonald, sister RevGal, who was hungering for an opportunity to write about Haggis. With that introduction, today’s FF is all about food!


1) Is there a food from a foreign land whose reputation led to trepidation when you had a chance to give it a try? Did you find the courage to sample it anyway? If so, were you pleasantly surprised or did you endorse the less than favorable reputation that preceded it?

 My eldest daughter AE spent three years in South Korea with the Fulbright Program after college told us about Kim Chee. Her original host family followed the tradition of cooking and fermenting Kim Chee and storing it in jars. Youngest daughter MJ and I went to visit AE and were introduced to different versions of Kim Chee at various restaurants. I tried small tastes and did not like it.
 
2) What food from your own country/culture gets a bad rap?

 From this area of the USA (Texas), there is a popular dish called "chicken fried steak." It is covered with gelatinous gray gravy and looks disgusting to me, who grew up in the north and also did not grow up eating gravy!

I was really shocked when my oldest son first ordered it at a restaurant in college. It must have been eaten frequently at A&M University in College Station. It was served at some Corps of Cadets dinner we attended with him and his Corps friends.

I think it should get a bad rap with the fried fat and other types of fat it contains.

3) Of what food are you fond that others find distasteful?

A silly sandwich that I have liked since childhood is a peanut butter, jelly, and (sharp cheese) sandwich! I still like it. Everyone in my family thinks it is weird.

4) Is there a country’s food, not native to you, that you go out of your way to eat?

This is probably a "Tex-Mex" food, not necessarily from Mexico in its form now--breakfast taquitos. We'd never heard of these until we moved to Corpus Christi, TX. In the 1980's, we couldn't find them to buy north of Corpus Christi, but larger restaurant chains such as What-a-Burger have served breakfast taquitos since the 1990's. 

Take a tortilla and fill it with eggs and anything else to go with them! Our favorite for years was from Elva's Restaurant and was called a "Destroyer"--potato and eggs, with refried beans, cheese, tomatoes, and bacon in a homemade tortilla. Here is a recipe for one that sounds good.

5) What is your guilty pleasure food?

Desserts with butter! I made three different buttery items this past week for a gathering of my book club at my house--blueberry pound cake, my mother's butter almond cake, and bran muffins. The old recipe for my mother's almond cake was the hit, and it has 3/4 lb. butter!

Friday Five: Keep Calm and. . . . .

Revkjarla brings yesterday's Friday Five to RevGalBlogPals:

1.  First, how are you doing? What's going on with you?

This is the fourth day on our vacation. We are in Salt Lake City visiting our youngest daughter MJ and are staying at the wonderful University Guest House, which has easy and speedy internet connections, plus a MAC to write on in the lobby. That is such a nice contrast to the hotel we stayed at in Las Vegas for two days, which said they had wifi, but it never worked for us anywhere in the hotel.

2.  Is there anything you need to Keep Calm and Cowgirl Up for?

I want to keep calm about some recent family disruptions, but can easily get riled up again.

3.  If you were going to make a "Keep Calm and __________" logo for a t-shirt, what would it be?

"Keep Calm and Pray" or "Keep Calm and Breathe"

4.  What are you looking forward to in the next week or so?

Chuck and I will be in Salt Lake City until Monday morning. This is such a clean city that it is a joy to be here after all the smoking, drinking and gambling we saw in most places in Las Vegas. Plus, it's nice to be with MJ and eat out at the great restaurants she is taking us to.

Next week we are spending four days in Oregon with dear friends Terry and Dennis. They are God parents to daughter AE and have been friends for decades. It will be fun to travel with them and see parts of Oregon we once frequented when Chuck went to grad school at Oregon State University way back in the 1970's.

5.  Use the following words in a sentence:     cape, river, dancing, paws, glory

As their capes flapped in the breeze, the dogs waved their paws while dancing in the glory of the sun rising over the river.

Friday Five: Random Is Back!

Revkjarka brings today's Friday Five to RevGalBlogPals:

Can you believe it is April 12????  Have you finished your taxes?  Here in Boston, the city is abuzz with Boston Marathon anticipation.  We are finally hearing birds chirp in the morning, and even though it was in the low thirties last night, many of us are bravely sporting open-toed sandals.   None of this has anything to do Friday Five, except randomness.   So, in that spirit.......

1.  How are you doing?  What's going on in your life?
I am rushing because as soon as I finish this Friday Five, we are leaving for Houston, which is a four-hour drive from Corpus Christi. Today we are visiting our son BJ, who will be 28 next week. Then tomorrow we'll go to Austin to visit oldest son DC and his family.

2.  Have you ever resigned from a position?  What was the good-bye like?
When I was pregnant with DC way back in 1979, I resigned from my position of teaching third grade at Coles Elementary School here in Corpus Christi. I was having too many difficulties sleeping and with my pregnancy, so after we bought our first house, I quit (in the spring). I had only been there for one year and was in the difficult situation of having all the "resource" (special ed) kids in third grade put in my classroom--me being the new teacher. I was in culture shock moving from Oregon where I had taught 2-3 grade combinations and was thrust into the heat and humidity of a strange culture.


It was hard to leave the class of third graders in many ways, but I had not formed any attachment with other teachers and so found it easy to go home and be with our new cocker spaniel puppy Bagel--and prepare for DcCs arrival soon.

3. So, we are still resurrecting...still getting used to New Life!!  What is a source of new life for you?
Playing the piano with my first ever piano recital on May 19!


Also, I'd like to live like Thich Nhat Hanh suggests:

When we walk like rushing, we print anxiety and sorrow on the earth. We have to walk in a way that we only print Peace and Serenity on the earth... Be aware of the contact between your feet and the Earth.
Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh

4.  My friend is running the marathon on Friday, because it is on her bucket list.  What is something on your bucket list?
Piano!!

5.  Tell us about one precious thing (tangible) you keep around your house, your altar, your pocket, and what is its story? 

The picture I took of youngest son BJ with my mother soon before she died of pancreatic cancer in 1992. They are both are smiling broadly. My mother is yellow with jaundice and BJ is grinning with a big cowlick sticking up on top of his head. I love it.

Friday Five: Take a Breath!

Deb brings today's Friday Five to RevGalBlogPals:

It's the week before Holy Week. Even if you are the non-preaching type, there's plenty going on in most of our homes religious. I think we all need a collective deep breath. :)

This week's Friday Five is simply a moment to BREATHE. Stop and tell us five ways that you "catch your breath" and then move on in the work God calls you to do.

Are these five things people? places? music? hobbies? chocolate? Or perhaps a memory?

 1. Look at my blooming daffodils, which are a rare sight in Corpus Christi, TX.

When I see them, I feel like the "stones shouting out" (Luke 19: 40); LIFE bursting out! I also feel my daughters love as they sent this little note with the daffodils:

"Thinking of you from rainy Seattle (with love)"

Love bursting out if I only look!

2. As the whale spouts up above: Take a deep breath!

Long ago, I was taught that panic attacks would be avoided or diminished through deep breathing. Taking some deep breaths, which must be done slowly, brings a sense of peace.

I am glad I no longer have panic attacks. However, deep breathing is helpful in everyday life.

3. Practice the piano--or play the little I have learned since September. I am surprised at how I forget everything else when I start "playing." This would especially apply to better musicians than I!


4.  Pet our dogs and sometimes our cat.

The three dogs are always willing, but the cat only likes her head scratched at her discretion.

5. Laughing with friends in person or via social media like Facebook. Also, looking at my label of CARTOONS that I have collected on this blog since it was started in 2006.

Daffodils!

I love daffodils and took pictures of them during our recent trip to Washington State. And then tonight, I was totally surprised by my daughters from Seattle--they sent me a box of daffodils! Daffodils in Texas seem odd, but I am happy that they are here for a few days.

Here is a picture I took of my friend Terry by some daffodils in Seattle. I never thought to ask her to take a picture of me with them; now I wish I had.

Thursday in Seattle

I am writing this with my Kindle using one finger to type, so this will probably be short.

• One week in Washington State today.
•  First four days in Seattle: with daughters AE and KA and with  friends Terry and Dennis. Good company and yummy food!

• In Bellingham, Chuck and I stayed at his parents' house, which they left for a retirement community days before. We cleaned some, hopefully helping a little bit, as Chuck's sisters and brother must prepare the house to be sold. 

• We were there for 3 1/2 days and came back to Seattle this afternoon (in the rain).
• One more day here before we fly away on Saturday morning. Chuck goes back to Corpus Christi, and I go to Salt Lake City to visit MJ for two days. 

•  If all goes well, I will return on Monday night and be ready to start the newest Richard Rohr book "THE IMMORTAL DIAMOND" at the Wisdom Class on Tuesday morning. It is such a good book!

Friday Five: Lent

1. Oddly this year, the second day of Lent was Valentine's Day. How was this for you? Was Valentine's Day any different being in Lent?

Valentine's Day is always a holiday I love, probably because I once was an elementary school teacher. I like sending and receiving Valentine cards, though I rarely get any in my own mailbox. However, this year I got four, including one "from" my 2 year old granddaughter Avery (thank you to her mom!).


It was cute that the Valentine I sent daughter MJ in Utah was the same one her boy friend sent her!

2. Did you celebrate Mardi Gras/Shrove Tuesday this year? Any memories of memorable celebrations past?
Although I love pancakes, I don't really like the ones made at churches. It isn't a "Fat Tuesday" celebration for me there. Usually, we attend to support the church youth groups who do this meal as a fund raiser. This year, I went out to dinner for Mexican food with my first friend in Corpus Christi in 1979, Lisa.

3. How about Ash Wednesday, past and/or present? 
On Wednesdays I lead a Lectio Divina group at First United Methodist Church and have done so for the past 15 years. So on Ash Wednesday, I always spend an hour in Lectio Divina and then go to the noon service to be reminded of my mortality. I also went to a much longer and melodic service at my church that evening.

4. Do you have a personal plan of give-ups, take-ons, special ministries, and/or a special focus for your own spiritual growth between now and Easter?
I am newly aware that springtime has a rhythm of renewal and growth and so this is a time of earth's resurgence. The old saying that an action takes 21 days of repetition to become a habit is a reminder that the 40 days of Lent can be the means for new habits to be established.


With the verses Matthew 6:19-21 for our Lectio meditation on Ash Wednesday, I am committing to ask myself at various time during each day, "What is my treasure right now?" or how am I living which indicates what I value?

5. Do you have a book or a website you are reading often during Lent?
I am taking Jane Redmont's online Lent retreat entitled "Thomas Merton, Companion on the Way."

Bonus:  Song, prayer, picture, etc. that sums up your feelings about this liturgical springtime.
I am borrowing Purple's poem here:


Easter
Sturdy, deep green tulip shoots.
How did they know
it was time to push up through the long-wintered soil?
How did they know
it was the moment to resurrect,
while thick layers of stubborn ice
still pressed the bleak ground flat?
But the tulips knew.
They came, rising strongly,
a day after the ice died.
There's a hope-filled place in me
that also knows when to rise,
that waits for the last layer of ice
to melt into obscurity.
It is urged by the strong sun
warming my wintered heart.
It is nudged by the Secret One,
calling, calling, calling:
"Arise, my love, and come."
My heart stirs like dormant tulips
and hope comes dancing forth.
Not unlike the Holy One
kissing the morning sun,
waving a final farewell
to a tomb emptied of its treasure.

© Joyce Rupp
Easter 2001

Prayers Needed

Please pray for my husband's father, who is in extreme pain with various broken vertebrae in his back. His mobility, comfort and quality of life are greatly diminished.

When both my parents were ill and then died (in 1992 and 2002), I regretted not taking more pictures of them in their last years, while they were still healthy. Now I am wishing I had taken more pictures of Chuck's parents this past summer, when we saw them in Washington State.

Here is one of the few pictures I took in August 2012 in Bellingham. Although Avery is unhappy, her dad, grandpa and great-grandpa are in the picture. I like seeing the three generations of males together.

Chuck, Avery, oldest son DC, and Chuck's dad

Friday Five: Grateful Smiles!

For this Friday Five with RevGalBlogPals, we are going to tell of five things that make us smile.

1. I am smiling because my oldest daughter AE has written me two emails today! I also got an e-letter from a friend. It is so nice to get communication from dear people rather than just the email subscriptions and advertisements that are always popping up in my email account. Another sweet thing was a "thank you" on Facebook from Fran.

Margaret Faith White

2. I've been thinking of my mother a lot lately. She died 20 years ago and stories 
bring her to mind, just like her words about smiling.

Here is an early picture of my mother even before I ever knew her.

Grief is a long journey. I used to cry when I thought of her, missing her very much. Now I remember my mother with love and gratitude and smile. I also smile when I think of how much she would enjoy seeing and hearing about her grandchildren and great-grandchild Avery.

3. Stew is cooking in the crockpot. But what I am smiling about is that my husband Chuck browned the stew meat. I dislike doing that and wasn't going to do it all. Instead, he offered to and finished the job much more quickly than I ever do.

4. I smile when I hear the dinging sound on my Kindle Fire that someone has played Words with Friends with me! I don't often win, but I enjoy playing this scrabble type game with friends and sometimes my children. Only oldest son DC still plays with me, and he usually wins by 200+ points.

5. I am much happier when the sun is shining outside. Much of the year in south TX this makes it too hot as we have a 9-month "summer." But the gray drizzley days that are more common for the Pacific Northwest where I grew up are not much to my liking anymore. This morning it was chilly in the low 50s, but the sunshine made it cheery! (So it is also possible to hang clothes out on the clothesline.)

Smile!

The older I get the more I realize the truth in my mother's saying about faces:

Until you are in your 40's, you have the face you inherited but after that you have the face you made.
Look at older people and you'll see the truth in this statement.


She was always telling me to SMILE!

Russian Cabbage Borscht

Two years ago daughters AE and KA gave me the soup cookbook Mollie Katzen' s Recipes: Soups. Tonight I made a good winter soup from that cookbook, which I will copy below.

Russian Cabbage Borscht

1 1/2 cups thinly sliced potato
1 cup thinly sliced beets
4 cups water
1-2 Tbsp.butter
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
(1 scant tsp. caraway seeds)
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 1/2 tsp salt (or more, to taste)
1 medium-sized carrot, sliced
3-4 cups shredded cabbage
 freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp.dill
1-2 Tbsp. cider vinegar
1-2 Tbsp.Brown sugar or honey
1 cup tomato puree

 Toppings:
sour cream or yogurt
 extra dill

1. Place potatoes, beets, and water in a medium- sized saucepan. Cover, and cook over medium heat until tender (20-30 minutes).

2. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a pot. Add onion, caraway seeds (I didn' t like), and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent (8-10 minutes).

3. Add celery, carrots, and cabbage, plus 2 cups of the cooking water from the potatoes and beets. Cover and cook over medium heat until the vegetables are tender (another 8-10 minutes).

4. Add the remaining ingredients (including all the potato and beet water), cover, and simmer for at least 15 more minutes. Taste to correct seasonings, and serve hot, topped with sour cream or yogurt and a light dusting of dill. (We did not use any toppings.)

Also, those same two daughters have a vegan recipe blog and recently posted another beet soup recipe: Orange Beet Soup. I may try that one soon, as we're getting another cold front in south TX tonight.