And in Texas. . . .

I am sad at all the weather problems in the north, but here in TX about the only snowmen we ever get are these:

from Facebook

Ha-Ha to the Dogs!

Window open

Window closed

Our cat likes to taunt our dogs from the safety of the kitchen. She was officially named "Gracie" by youngest daughter MJ, but she's known as "Kitty" these days.

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!

Congenial idol?

We are your people and mostly we don’t mind,

          except that you do not fit any of our categories.

We keep pushing

                    and pulling

                    and twisting

                    and turning,

          trying to make you fit the God we would rather have,

                    and every time we distort you that way

                              we end up with an idol more congenial to us.

In our more honest moments of grief and pain

          we are very glad that you are who you are,

          and that you are toward us in all your freedom

          what you have been toward us.

So be your faithful self

          and by your very engagement in the suffering of the world,

          transform the world even as you are being changed.

We pray in the name of Jesus,

          who is the sign of your suffering love. Amen.

(In anticipation of reading Jeremiah 4-6/2000)

Brueggemann, Walter. Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: Prayers of Walter Brueggemann. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003. 147.

Carrot and Ginger Soup Recipe

Now that it is fall, I feel like I can make soups again. I love to make soups!

This is Jan’s adaptation to the original recipe of Carrot and Ginger Soup in The New England Soup Factory Cookbook (171). The ingredients in parenthesis are the original components, which I did not use.

3 Tbsp. butter

2 whole cloves garlic, peeled

1 onion, peeled and diced

3 ribs celery sliced (2 ribs)

3 pounds carrots, peeled and sliced

3 Tbsp. peeled and chopped fresh ginger

4 cups vegetable stock (or chicken)

1 tsp. coriander

1 tsp. cumin  (1 tsp. ginger)

½ cup honey

2 cans coconut milk (1 ½ cups heavy cream)

Salt and pepper to taste

In a large, heavy-bottomed stockpot over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add the garlic, onion, celery, carrots, and gingerroot. Saute for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Pour the stock over the vegetables and bring to a boil. Lower the heat slightly and simmer until the carrots are soft and tender, about 30-35 minutes.

Remove from the heat. Add the spices and honey. Puree the soup in the pot using a hand blender or working in batches with a regular blender until smooth.

Add the coconut milk and season with salt and pepper. Stir (and maybe warm) until the ingredients are well combined.

Makes 8-10 servings.

From this highly recommended cookbook:

Druker, Marjorie and Silverstein, Clara. New England Soup Factory Cookbook. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2007. 171.

Monday

I am on a jury panel, so I will be going back to the courthouse for questioning and jury selection after lunch. So I will post this nice picture Chuck took of Emma and me this past weekend:




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Friday Five: Random!

1. How do you sign off in your emails, professional and personally?

Automatically, my emails end with "The highest form of wisdom is kindness,"
-The Talmud

2. If you were an animal TODAY, what is it and why?

Dog, because I would be very loving, which is how I want to be visiting my granddaughters this weekend in Austin.

3. If you get snarky, what triggers it? If you don’t get snarky, please, what is the secret?

Not too often, because I am too passive-aggressive, though trying to grow into honesty.

4. Look up from your computer/tablet/phone screen. What is the first
favorite thing your eyes land on. Describe it. (For example, I just
did this, and my eyes landed on a little angel made out of multicolored
wires whose head and wings are quite askew because of being chewed upon
by my puppy. That aside, I love it because it was a gift from two
little girls who came often to my office in my last call to play with
all the tshotke on my table. They wanted to add to it.)

I am rushing before leaving to see those granddaughters, so I see our kitty sitting about three feet away while looking at me suspiciously, probably suspecting that we are leaving soon. (When I returned from my weekend with Nancy in San Antonio on Monday this kitty BIT me on my leg!)

5. Do you have a favorite pair of socks? Tell us about them!

I like colorful socks, but don't get to wear them often here in south TX. I like some green and blue striped ones a lot.

San Fernando Cathedral Light Show in San Antonio

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My Friend Nancy

Nancy and I met each other at Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan in 1962(3?) so we have been friends for over 50 years. Since I grew up in a military family and moved every few years, I don't have any other "childhood" friends that I am still in touch with.

Every five years or so, we go on a trip together. This year Nancy is flying to San Antonio, where we will attend an ART workshop on Saturday and Sunday. She flies in Thursday night, and I will drive there tomorrow. She will stay until Monday when she must return to CA to her family and her teaching job.

Here is a picture of Nancy from our last trip together--New Mexico in 2010.

Nancy at Chaco Canyon 2010

 I am excited about seeing Nancy and exploring San Antonio together on Friday. Nancy is much more artistic than I am (not), so this will be a growth experience at the workshop this weekend for me!

Saint Francis

My friend Louise has this Saint Francis statue at her house from her mother.

Quiet Day at Home

Detachment?

This is a profound thought I saw on Facebook:

Jan and Emma

This must have been taken the weekend of Emma's baptism in May. She was 7 months old then and will be 1 year old in three weeks. Her dad just sent me the pic from his phone, which makes me very happy.

Friday Five: Surprising Finds

Only afterwards, do we realize that we have “found” something that we like–like a new way to look at something; a new (to me) author; a new song or hymn; a new food. Today share with us something that you like that seemed surprisingly “new” to you sometime in the near past. It could even be a RE-discovery.

Here is a list, but you can choose your own five items you would like to share! Please join us today in playing FF.

1. author: A new author for me is Nina Schuyler who wrote The Translator. I found this at The King's English book store in Salt Lake City on my last visit with daughter MJ. I find the best books at independent book stores! This is beautifully written, though a little slow to begin with. It wrestles with the translator being the "author" or "interpreter" of a work being translated. A friend is reading The Painting by the same author, which is available on Kindle but out of print. Like The Translator, this book takes place in Japan.

2. shampoo:  Oribe Shampoo for Magnificent Volume: When I had thinning hair due to the medications I was taking for RA three years ago, I found a thickening shampoo that I continue to use. It is expensive (approximately $30 on Amazon) but lasts almost a year. (My hair doesn't have "magnificent volume," but it is usually fluffier.)

3.TV: Husband Chuck and I are enjoying streaming British television shows at night to watch together. The latest one we like is MI-5 (or Spooks), which has 86 episodes! This one will last a long time. Others we have liked are Doc Martin and Foyles War.

4.book re-discovery: Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin has been sitting in a pile of books to read for several years. I finally started it, which seemed intimidating with the weight and thickness of the book--900 pages. There are 26 chapters and I am committed to reading one chapter a day. Abraham Lincoln has been a hero of mine since second grade when I read a biography of him. I am enjoying the reading and learning about him and his four political rivals as they grew into manhood (only as far as I've gotten in three chapters) and beyond as opponents and eventually allies. The movie "Lincoln" was based upon this book. It is worth reading if you haven't already read it.

5. food: Silly, though it is, we've rediscovered Lance crackers Whole Grain cracker sandwiches with real Sharp Cheddar Cheese. It's a quickie "meal" or snack of 200 calories, even though it is a little salty. Both Chuck and I will share a package of six--having just three each for 100 calories.

Dark then Bright

Assuming this is the last day of my life

(which might mean it is almost the first),

I’m struck blind but my blindness is bright.

Prepare for what’s known here as death;

have no fear of that strange word forever.

Even I can see there’s nothing there

to be afraid of: having already been

to forever I’m unable to recall

anything that scared me, there, or hurt.

What frightened me, apparently, and hurt

was being born. But I got over that

with no hard feelings. Dying, I imagine,

it will be the same deal, lonesomer maybe,

but surely no more shocking or prolonged—

It’s dark as I recall, then bright, so bright.

                    ~Franz Wright

Beloved Father Kelly

Father Kelly Nemeck 1936-2014

I have known Father Kelly for twenty years, through some of his time of being the director of Lebh Shomea "House of Prayer" retreat center in Sarita, TX. He was a priest in the order of Oblates of Mary Immaculate; he is the one who guided me to go to school at the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio. He died last Thursday.

Father Kelly was a spiritual icon/mentor to me. Through his contemplative masses, I came to love the Eucharist and experience the presence of God. He taught me so many things that I cannot enumerate them, just as he touched many, many others' lives. One thing that stands out is him telling a class at OST that he believed at the moment of death, each of us comes face to face with the Divine One and who could refuse Him then??

I am copying his obituary below, mostly because I want a copy saved.

1936 - 2014
Father Francis Kelly Nemeck, O.M.I., known as Father Kelly, was a great influence in the spiritual lives of countless men and women - married, single, vowed religious, priests, and bishops. From his young adulthood onward, he responded to a special calling to fostering attentive listening to God and others - a life of prayerful contemplation. Born in 1936 in Prescott, Arizona, he came to San Antonio as a child with his parents, May Yeary (of Kingsville, Texas) and Lt. Col. Francis Leonard "Kelly" Nemeck (of Douglas, Arizona) and his sister, Ann. After attending St. Anthony High School Seminary, he made his novitiate year in Mission, Texas, in preparation for joining the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and professed his first vows as an Oblate in 1955. In preparation for the priesthood, he studied philosophy at DeMazenod Scholasticate (today's Oblate School of Theology) in San Antonio and theology at St. Joseph Scholasticate in Ottawa, Canada. During the course of these studies he was drawn by the thought of the Jesuit cosmologist and theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who envisioned all of creation evolving to ultimate reunion with Jesus Christ. Teilhard's thought was a lifelong influence in Fr. Nemeck's spirituality. His other model was St. John of the Cross, whom he studied very deeply and followed in his spirituality very closely. Ordained a priest at St. Mary's Church in downtown San Antonio in 1961, his first assignment was to DeMazenod Scholasticate as a professor for five years. Then, after briefly serving among the Chontals in Tehuantepec, Mexico, and at parishes in Midland and Houston, he began studies for a doctorate in spiritual theology at the Catholic Institute in Lyons, France, during which time he also taught and directed retreats in Ontario, Canada. His dissertation in 1973, under the direction of Henri de Lubac, S.J., developed the thought of Teilhard de Chardin and St. John of the Cross on the constructive value of human suffering. In late 1973, Fr. Nemeck joined the house of prayer founded earlier that year by Fr. Tom Marcoux, O.M.I., in the former main house of the vast La Parra Ranch surrounding Sarita, Texas, on the parcel of the ranch bequeathed to the Oblates by Sarita Kenedy East in gratitude for the long ministry of Oblate missionaries in South Texas. The fact that Fr. Marcoux had named the house of prayer Lebh Shomea, Hebrew for "listening heart," after King Solomon's request for a listening heart when God offered to grant the king anything that he wanted, certainly corresponded with Fr. Nemeck's own contemplative spirit. Together with Sisters Marie Theresa Coombs and Maria Meister, Father Nemeck developed Lebh Shomea during the next forty years into a nationally recognized place of silent contemplation and discernment for thousands of people from all walks of life. Fr. Nemeck and Marie Theresa Coombs coauthored several books on spiritual discernment, which have also been translated into Spanish. He also traveled to San Antonio to teach courses in spirituality and discernment at Oblate School of Theology for several years. In 1988-1991 and 1994-1999 he served on the Provincial Council (leadership group) of the Southern Province of the Missionary Oblates. When his health began to significantly deteriorate in late 2013, Fr. Nemeck moved to the Oblate Madonna Residence in San Antonio. Supporting increasing suffering with spiritual fortitude, he died there on September 11, 2014. He is survived by his sister, Ann Nemeck Henry, his nieces Elizabeth and Kathryn, and his Missionary Oblate brothers. May Father Kelly rejoice in God's abiding love.

Emma and Avery

Emma and Avery

"The Wave" by David Whyte

You arrived as a ripple of change emanating
from an original, unstoppable,
memory, a then made now,
entirely yourself, found now in the world,
now as creator of that world.
You were a signature written in sand
taken by the ocean and scattered
to another wave form, your disappearance
only made more beautiful
by the everyday arrival of a tide
where my voice can still join yours,
hungering for the fall of water,
so that walking the reflected sand,
I set myself to learn by your going,
knowing across death’s wide ocean,
the ultimate parallel to friendship.

(In Memoriam: John O’Donohue)
From Pilgrim: Poems by David Whyte
©2012 David Whyte

My Sweet Granddaughters

Today AA, mother of my granddaughters, posted this cute picture of them on Facebook, so I am sharing it here.

Avery and Emma

Blogging again!

Almost two months later, here I am again. Blogging since 2006 recently seemed like too long a time. Having a vacation, various trips, and enduring the hot summer of south TX (which continues), I will attempt to get back to writing. 

So here is a random sampling of my retired life:

• I have gotten two postcards from Dee, who commented on my last post in July that she would like to exchange postcards! I have enjoyed her cards so much that I feel like I have found a new friend! It is really easy to write a few lines on a postcard and count it as "mail." 

• The Wisdom Class started again this past Tuesday with a new book that is sparking interesting conversations: The December Project: An Extraordinary Rabbi and a Skeptical Seeker Confront Life's Greatest Mystery by Sara Davidson.

 Although Reb Zalman died this past July, he spent the previous two years talking to Sara Davidson, a seeking and spiritually cynical writer, about dying and death, with stories about his life thrown in. It is very interesting how he met theologian Howard Thurman when he was a young man and thought he was the janitor!

Later, he came to admire him as his professor.

I liked how Reb Zalman described dying (or the "dark end"):

"I don't think it's all dark. Something continues. It's as if the body and soul are tied together with little strings. The closer you get to leaving, the more the strings loosen and the more you connect with greater awareness, the expanded mind." (6)

So often Americans look to Eastern religions for further answers, but it seemed time for us to look at Judaism, the foundation of Christianity in the Wisdom Class.

Reb Zalman and Sara Davidson

•  On the various trips we've taken, I have read a lot of books. I finished the witches trilogy by Diana Harkness with The Book of Life. It's been fun to read all three books; I even re-read the first two before reading the third when it was published this summer. Just days ago, I finished the latest Louise Penny mystery that features Inspector Gamache: The Long Way Home. Louise Penny writes better with each mystery; this one was excellent. 

• I found other books on my travels in independent book stores, so those will be on my list to write about in the near future. 

• And here is a wonderful quote about listening, which was our opening meditation in the Wisdom Class this past Tuesday:

• “Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. When we really listen to people there is an alternating current, and this recharges us so that we never get tired of each other. We are constantly being re-created.”
  
  
  
                      ~~Brenda Ueland (1891-1985) writer, editor, teacher of writing