Autumn Color

I love the colors of autumn.

Driving through the mountains of West
Virginia in October affords a gorgeous view around every bend. We normally drive through that area in September of December, so recently when we made our trip in October, we were taken aback. It was breathtaking, like an expansive plush, textured carpet of reds, oranges, yellows, greens, and browns stretching across each valley. Gorgeous!

There are certain maple trees­—and I’m not sure what kind they are—that, rather than having all their leaves change color at the same time, make their transformation from green to red one section at a time. It’s so interesting to me that each fall, the same area of the tree begins the shift. Fascinating!


 But my very favorite color of the fall is that of the vibrant, red leaves of the euonymus bush, the “fire bush.” Wikipedia describes the euonymus bush as “exhibiting very bright autumnal colors.” But, in my opinion, “red” or “bright” are not enough for this exquisite and very distinctive color. A Sherwin Williams color paint color comes close: “cerise.” To be honest, I’d never heard of cerise before. Have you? “Cerise” is a French word meaning cherry. According to “the 1930 book A Dictionary of Color, it is pointed out that the color cerise has always been depicted as a somewhat bluer color than the actual color of a fresh uncooked cherry, which is denoted by a different redder color called cherry red. Basically, the color cerise is a depiction of the somewhat bluer color of a cooked cherry, such as the cherries in a cherry pie.” Apparently, Crayola has a crayon this color. Even these descriptions don’t do the color justice. Dazzling!

What a wonderful God we have to have designed this passage of the trees from their green vivacity in summer to their quiet dormancy in winter. Could it be that all these colors are merely for our enjoyment? I, for one, believe it to be so.

Ponderings about Trash

Trash!

Today is trash day.

Well, actually, day before yesterday was trash day. But day before yesterday was New Year’s Day, a holiday... no pickup that day. Yesterday, the roads and snow were so bad that the poor garbage man didn’t get to our house. (Maybe it would be more polictically correct to call him a “Solid Waste Removal Service Provider.”) So since he missed yesterday, he came today... early... with another guy to help (two SWRSPs!) ... doing both sides of the street at the same time. So the trash is gone now. It wasn’t a lot, but I’m glad it’s gone.

I usually pride myself on how little trash we put out. Since I (not we) recycle the basics: glass, #1 and #2 plastics, and cardboard and I don’t do a lot of cooking from packages, usually we don’t have much trash. I used to say that I didn’t want Al Gore to drive by my house and say, after looking the amount of trash on the “tree lawn” (Yes, I’m from NE Ohio!), “You should not have been allowed to have six children because you create too much trash! Al Gore never came to our door, by the way!

But sometimes it feels really good to put out a whole lot of trash. In the fall we cleaned out the basement. We had so much trash that we put it out over two weeks for the sake of the SWRSP! I couldn’t help but watch as he picked it all up and threw it in the truck. I felt free and clean, and I’m sure the basement did, too.
I feel that way at the beginning of a new year, too. Last year’s failings, for the most part, remain in last year, and I can start over with new goals. To be honest, I often set mostly the same goals for a new year, but at least I have a new chance to be successful at the old ones!
And, in day-to-day life, I’m so thankful for God’s forgiveness. When I confess my sin, He is faithful to wash it away. It’s already paid for. I can start new and clean any moment of the day... no spots or stains or garbage.
And those are my ponderings about trash today.

Addenda:

The computer did not like the nominalization of "pondering."

According to the quiz that shows in which part of the country people use certain speech patterns, the only place where people call the area between the sidewalk and the street a "tree lawn" is Northeast Ohio.

A Journey I've Always Wanted to Take

There are a lot of things in life that I wish I had done. I wish I had taken a picture of the front door of each place we lived over our 36 1/2 years of marriage. What a great collage that would have made! 

I wish I had made a scrapbook page documenting each of our anniversaries. After all this time, the years have run together, and I can’t remember a lot of them. 

I wish I had been faithful to memorize at least one verse of Scripture each week. A professor at college told us that one verse per week isn’t a lot, but it’s fifty-two in a year. Now, sometimes I’ve really worked at Scripture memory, but more often, I haven’t. So, if I’d followed his admonition, I’d know about 3000 more verses than I know now! Wow! 

Another thing I wish I had done was to journal. A lot of well-known people from the past have journaled. I’ve read a lot of them. Yesterday, I heard Dr. David Jeremiah on the radio talking about journaling. He started back in 1994. That’s almost twenty years ago. He said it’s had a great impact on his life in many ways. I thought, “Maybe it’s not too late for me to start.” I tend to be a perfectionist and have a hard time starting on projects like that. I feel like each entry should be a literary masterpiece. But I’m thinking this would be good for me to record what God does in my life each day or so. It will be interesting to see where God takes me on this Journey of Journaling. I’ll let you know.

Do you journal? Has it changed your life? Are you thinking it's time to start?

Just a Hankerin'

The other day I had a hankerin’ for some Cauliflower Cheese Soup. I had a head of cauliflower in my frig, and what better meal for a cool, crisp fall day? And it’s so nutrituous. Cauliflower, a cuciferous vegetable, contains vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, and fiber, and it may help lower the risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease. And cheddar cheese? Cheese is good on everything! Well, maybe not chocolate!

When the kids were growing up, I would occasionally make Cauliflower Cheese Soup. But if I used a recipe, I’d change it so much that we couldn’t refer back to the original recipe. Sometimes we made up the recipe, and I’d either not write it down, or I’d scribble it on a scrap of paper. And you know what happens to scraps of paper.

The other day when I had that hankerin’, I found a recipe from Taste of Home online. It came out really well. Delicious! I was going to post it for you, but when I looked back, I realized that, once again, I had changed the recipe so much that it was no longer recognizable. So here’s the recipe. One time I topped Cauliflower Cheese Soup with shreds of bacon and green onion. They made a great garnish. I also tried sour cream. That did not. It looked pretty, but it took away from the taste.

Cauliflower Cheese Soup

1 medium head cauliflower, broken into florets
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1 cup fresh spinach leaves (or 1/2 package frozen)
2 very large or 4 medium cloves garlic, pressed
2 cup water
1 tablespoon Better than Boullion chicken base
1/2 - 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (You can use a bit more if you like it spicy. Lonnie would have liked that addition!)
3 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons flour
3 cups milk (I used whole milk because that’s what I had.)
3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated black pepper

In large saucepan (I used my ...), combine the cauliflower, onion, bell peppers, spinach, garlic, water, chicken base, and pepper flakes. Cover and cook over medium heat until the veggies are tender. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, melt butter. Stir in flour until smooth. Gradually add milk. Cook and stir until bubbly. Cook and stir for 2-3 minutes longer until thickened. Reduce heat. Add cheese and seasonings. Pour into cauliflower mixture. Simmer slowly for 30 minutes. DO NOT BOIL. Add more salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste.

 The recipe says it yields 6-8 servings or 2 quarts. With the extra ingredients, it’s a bit more.

If you’re interested in the original recipe, you can find it at tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Cauliflower-Cheddar-Soup. You’ll notice that I used her method.

I Did It!!!

I am not a geek. Computer stuff does not come naturally to me. Lonnie and the kids can whip through buttons and windows on programs they've never seen before and make them do what they're supposed to do. When I push buttons and open windows, the computer locks up or deletes something important! So, here I sit all alone. My last computer helper has gone off to college. But I just did something... all by myself! Well... it wasn't exactly by myself. I followed a very detailed tutorial on somebody's blog. But I did it! I created a header for my blog. So I invite you all to come and share in my success. Look at my cute header and say, "Cool!" or "Well done!" or "Kudos" or "Groovy cool, man, keen sharp tough!" or whatever! And thanks for those words of encouragement!

Things I Learned from My Mom

Here are just a very few of the things I learned from my mom:

To eat my vegetables... except for peas and lima beans... although I eat those now.

To be frugal... reusing plastic bags now may mean a vacation later.

To smile... I’ve often been told that I smile like my mother... I say, “Thank you.”

To be interested in people... at each family gathering, she spends a bit of time with each one to see     how he or she is doing... and she’s really interested.

To eat ice cream on oatmeal... mmm... not different from milk and sugar... don’t knock it until
you’ve tried it!

To pray... she does.

To draw... I ended up being an art major in college.

To love horses... until I got to keep one for a camp over the winter.

To love the Word... I remember her sitting in the red chair when I came home from high school. She was a new believer and had a hunger for the Word of God. She shared what she learned resulting in my accepting Jesus as my personal Savior.

That moms can be your best ally and friend. I love you, Mom.

Why Blog? Why now?

Recently, we were cleaning out our file cabinet, and I came across a newsletter I had created about twenty or so years ago. It wasn't the Christmas kind, but a "keep-in-contact-and-share-what's-on-my heart" kind. It was lovingly called Among Friends. Back then corresponding with friends across the country meant laying out the pages in Quark, finding clip art and scanning photos, printing on nice stock, updating addresses, and mailing out the letters. Time consuming! Expensive! I think over a several year period, I sent out four issues. It was really special to look back at those and read about what was important in our lives at the time. I also found out that my friend Ruth still has the applesauce recipe I printed in one of the newsletters!

Then along came the blog. When a few of my friends started blogging, I thought maybe I could, too. But, then there came the haunting questions, “Who would read it?” “Do I really have anything valuable to contribute among the millions of words that are already floating around the internet?” So, I didn't. Not long ago I read a post written by a young mom. She decided to blog just for herself. Even if no one else read or commented, she would have those thoughts and memories journaled away for herself.

With that attitude, I’m boldly stepping out and entering the blogosphere. It's a bit late, for sure, but I’m jumping in. It remains to be seen whether I sink or swim, but at least I'm Among Friends!