The air grows blue-dusky and the wind puffs and blows between the houses in their muddled array inside the gates of the stone walls surrounding the little neighbourhood. Being summer, and out of school, children spend long hours outdoors into the night. Herbie doesn't like the noise of children, big or small. The small ones squeak in high pitched voices and the big ones bellow at one another. Then there's the basketball pounding. Afternoon games are like sitting in the pit of a pistol range shooting match, as rated on the Herbometer.
We'll go for a walk anyway, around the block, with him pulling himself horse and me watching the sky over the base airfield a few miles away. There the other he who is steward of this house, is flying tonight.
Wednesday, June 14
Tuesday, June 13
No Place Like A Familiar Book...
I picked up Buchan's Greenmantle again today for the first time since High School...Long time ago... I have rambled through a number of Buchan's works over the years but in the back of my mind always longed for the adventure of Greenmantle again. So, I did what any book junky would do when longing for a good book. I stole it from my sister.
Greenmantle interests me on a number of different levels. I am a big fan of Buchan's writing style and his dry, English humor. It is the kind of humor that I fancy I have; and if I do not have it yet, I hope to by the time I am a middle aged, pipe smoking chap. I enjoy the main characters: I have empathy for their plot, and have found that Buchan nails the emotions and tremblings on the button.
However, what has struck me on this time around is the relevance to current events. The book is set during the first world war with the plot being developed around the "matchbox" of the Middle East and the ensuing possibility of "Jehad", as Mr. Blenkiron would say. Mr. Buchan sets the tense tone of the book with the following: "Isam is a fighting creed, and the mullah still stands in the pulpit with the Koran in one hand and a drawn sword in another. Supposing there is some Ark of the Covenant which will madden even the remotest Moslem peasant with dreams of paradise? What then my friend? Then there will be hell let loose in those parts pretty soon...Hell, which may spread..." My, how History repeats itself and how correct Mr. Buchan was.
Greenmantle interests me on a number of different levels. I am a big fan of Buchan's writing style and his dry, English humor. It is the kind of humor that I fancy I have; and if I do not have it yet, I hope to by the time I am a middle aged, pipe smoking chap. I enjoy the main characters: I have empathy for their plot, and have found that Buchan nails the emotions and tremblings on the button.
However, what has struck me on this time around is the relevance to current events. The book is set during the first world war with the plot being developed around the "matchbox" of the Middle East and the ensuing possibility of "Jehad", as Mr. Blenkiron would say. Mr. Buchan sets the tense tone of the book with the following: "Isam is a fighting creed, and the mullah still stands in the pulpit with the Koran in one hand and a drawn sword in another. Supposing there is some Ark of the Covenant which will madden even the remotest Moslem peasant with dreams of paradise? What then my friend? Then there will be hell let loose in those parts pretty soon...Hell, which may spread..." My, how History repeats itself and how correct Mr. Buchan was.
Monday, June 12
Curried Pumpkin Soup
The Orginal Gourmet Version:
2 med. onions, finely chopped
2 T. butter
2 lg. garlic cloves, minced
1-1/2 T. ginger, peeled and minced
2 t. gound cumin
1 t. ground coriander
1/8 t. ground cardamon
1-1/2 t. salt
3/4 t. dried hot pepper flakes
2-15 oz. ( 3-1/2 c.)cans pumpkin (not pie filling)
7 c. water
1-1/2 c. chicken broth (12 fl. oz.)
1-14oz. can unsweetened coconut milk
1/4 c. olive oil
2 t. brown mustard seeds
8 fresh curry leaves
~Need 6-qt. heavy pot & a smaller, heavy pot.
~Cook onions in large pot over med. heat until soft, 3-5 min. Add garlic and ginger, cook 1 min. Add cumin, coriander, cardamon, cook 1 min. Stir in salt, red pepper, pumpkin, water, broth, coconut milk, simmer 30 min. uncovered.
~Puree soup in batches until smooth, return to pot. Keep warm over low heat.
~Heat oil in small, heavy skillet, mod-high heat, heat but not to smoking, and cook mustard seeds until they pop, 15 seconds! Add curry leaves, 5 seconds, and pour all into pumpkin soup.
~Stir; season with salt. May be thinned with water. May be made a day ahead and chilled.
The Today's Pantry Version:
1 large onion, diced
1 T. butter
5 med. garlic cloves, diced
3/4 t. gound ginger
3/4 t. ground cumin
1/2 t. coriander seeds
1/2 t. cardamon
1-1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
1/4 t. ground nutmeg
1 t. ground red curry
2-15 oz. cans pumpkin
3 c. water
1-14 oz. can condensed milk
3 T. olive oil
1 t. brown mustard (prepared squeezable)
2 T. honey
~Large pot.
Saute onions and garlic in large pot with butter, 3 minutes. Pour all the liquid ingredients into pot. Add spices. Stir vigourously and with caution. Simmer covered over very low heat 0.75-1 hour. Let sit until husband arrives home. Serve warmed with spiced cornbread muffins or soft sourdough bread and white wine or green tea.
2 med. onions, finely chopped
2 T. butter
2 lg. garlic cloves, minced
1-1/2 T. ginger, peeled and minced
2 t. gound cumin
1 t. ground coriander
1/8 t. ground cardamon
1-1/2 t. salt
3/4 t. dried hot pepper flakes
2-15 oz. ( 3-1/2 c.)cans pumpkin (not pie filling)
7 c. water
1-1/2 c. chicken broth (12 fl. oz.)
1-14oz. can unsweetened coconut milk
1/4 c. olive oil
2 t. brown mustard seeds
8 fresh curry leaves
~Need 6-qt. heavy pot & a smaller, heavy pot.
~Cook onions in large pot over med. heat until soft, 3-5 min. Add garlic and ginger, cook 1 min. Add cumin, coriander, cardamon, cook 1 min. Stir in salt, red pepper, pumpkin, water, broth, coconut milk, simmer 30 min. uncovered.
~Puree soup in batches until smooth, return to pot. Keep warm over low heat.
~Heat oil in small, heavy skillet, mod-high heat, heat but not to smoking, and cook mustard seeds until they pop, 15 seconds! Add curry leaves, 5 seconds, and pour all into pumpkin soup.
~Stir; season with salt. May be thinned with water. May be made a day ahead and chilled.
The Today's Pantry Version:
1 large onion, diced
1 T. butter
5 med. garlic cloves, diced
3/4 t. gound ginger
3/4 t. ground cumin
1/2 t. coriander seeds
1/2 t. cardamon
1-1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
1/4 t. ground nutmeg
1 t. ground red curry
2-15 oz. cans pumpkin
3 c. water
1-14 oz. can condensed milk
3 T. olive oil
1 t. brown mustard (prepared squeezable)
2 T. honey
~Large pot.
Saute onions and garlic in large pot with butter, 3 minutes. Pour all the liquid ingredients into pot. Add spices. Stir vigourously and with caution. Simmer covered over very low heat 0.75-1 hour. Let sit until husband arrives home. Serve warmed with spiced cornbread muffins or soft sourdough bread and white wine or green tea.
"What's for dinner?"
"Look on the ceiling--and taste a sample from the counter backsplash," I might as well add. The blender and I did not get on well this evening. I desired smoothly pureed pumpkin curry soup. Nice blender wanted to heave and regurgitate hot soup back out it's lid. So maybe it was too hot. Blenders are supposed to devour and reduce to fine pulp any object one aims to glide smoothly over the palate with titilating silkiness.
Once again, my newly mopped kitchen floor received its fair share of dinner's delightful ingredients tonight.
Once again, my newly mopped kitchen floor received its fair share of dinner's delightful ingredients tonight.
Home again, yes, once more
I enjoy frequent homecomings. It means you've been away, uprooted from your safe and sound routine and into someone else's environment, where ideas other than your own rule the roost and those others' opinions direct events. It's good to have a place to come back to, where you're known and loved by people whom you never knew before you moved away from your first homeland.
Wednesday, June 7
Top Ten Reasons You Know You Are Running In South Texas
10. The mosquitoes fly as fast as you run.
9. The official rules for a local 5k state that "mosquitoes picking you up, sucking you dry, and then depositing you beyond the finishing line will not result in an official time."
8. You have to wear an oxygen mask- even though you are not under water the relative humidity levels would lead you to believe you were.
7. Illegal immigrants think that you are chasing them.
6. You send your most recent 10k times to a race in a more hospitable climate and they place you in the geriatric division.
5. The wind constantly blows 40 mph-either in your face or at your back-one way you have to lean forward to move, the other way you suffocate.
4. County police stop to check on you.
3. The local division of Border Patrol agents ask you to keep an eye on sector 7 and give you a radio. (see reason #7)
2. The locals look at you like you are on idiot.
1. You just finished your last run in record time...because you were being chased by a Havelina.
9. The official rules for a local 5k state that "mosquitoes picking you up, sucking you dry, and then depositing you beyond the finishing line will not result in an official time."
8. You have to wear an oxygen mask- even though you are not under water the relative humidity levels would lead you to believe you were.
7. Illegal immigrants think that you are chasing them.
6. You send your most recent 10k times to a race in a more hospitable climate and they place you in the geriatric division.
5. The wind constantly blows 40 mph-either in your face or at your back-one way you have to lean forward to move, the other way you suffocate.
4. County police stop to check on you.
3. The local division of Border Patrol agents ask you to keep an eye on sector 7 and give you a radio. (see reason #7)
2. The locals look at you like you are on idiot.
1. You just finished your last run in record time...because you were being chased by a Havelina.
Tuesday, June 6
A Breath of Fresh Air
I have finally reconciled my tendency toward nostalgia. I had mistaken it for misplaced feelings or at least thoughts that were not worth the time thinking. C. S. Lewis writes in Mere Christianity, "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most propable explanation is that I was made for another world." How true. And how settling.
I also firmly would argue that the same sentiment can be expressed when it comes to home. Home is where we are created to be; it is where we grow, learn, love, and live. It is where we find rest and restoration, and it where the courage is mustered to venture out into worlds unknown.
Having had the opportunity to venture home again for the first time in a very long time it is no small comfort to know that I can indeed long for home. It is not only ok, but what we are created to do.
I also firmly would argue that the same sentiment can be expressed when it comes to home. Home is where we are created to be; it is where we grow, learn, love, and live. It is where we find rest and restoration, and it where the courage is mustered to venture out into worlds unknown.
Having had the opportunity to venture home again for the first time in a very long time it is no small comfort to know that I can indeed long for home. It is not only ok, but what we are created to do.
Friday, May 26
Hail came to So. Texas
The sky is falling, in small white chunks. We stood on the porch and watched the whole storm. Herbie sustained many imaginary concussions when he wandered out in the yard alone.
Thursday, May 25
to quote a master mind
I've just begun a walk with Paul Johnson through his book Modern Times, which conversative stroll should take us quite until Christmas. My ears are perpetually flabby yet thin, like an elephant's; I can listen to Mr Johnson for nine paragraphs at a stretch, then we find the shade to sit and rest the inner drums.
At the poolside today, I heard him say something brilliant (as a tiny diamond of sun-sparkle that dropt in my hand from an overhanging palm leaf): "It is a commonplace that men are excessively ruthless and cruel not as a rule out of avowed malice but from outraged righteousness" (14). He is speaking of European nations going to war in WWI, but it applies equally to all men of any time; Tim Keller says all religion leads to war, we seek to force our righteous agenda on another person, and we war with God ultimately, to show him what a good thing we are for him; our Sunday School teacher says that we must repent not only of sin but of our good deeds.
At the poolside today, I heard him say something brilliant (as a tiny diamond of sun-sparkle that dropt in my hand from an overhanging palm leaf): "It is a commonplace that men are excessively ruthless and cruel not as a rule out of avowed malice but from outraged righteousness" (14). He is speaking of European nations going to war in WWI, but it applies equally to all men of any time; Tim Keller says all religion leads to war, we seek to force our righteous agenda on another person, and we war with God ultimately, to show him what a good thing we are for him; our Sunday School teacher says that we must repent not only of sin but of our good deeds.
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