last day of March

Everyone left this morning. The teacher left to teach. The students left to be taught.
It is quiet. The sun is shining. It is still uncharacteristically cold. I had to scrape the windshield yet again. I have a kazillion things to do. But, I am also enjoying the fact that I am on my own, and the day stretches before me.

I shall work on my writing assignment. I have a dentist appointment. I need juice boxes for lunches.

I will spend some time in the sunshine. Maybe prep the raised bed.

the bells at st. hermans

photo by my beloved TJW

Our bells are ready to be blessed next Sunday. They are amazing. We will ring them every Sunday and we will ring them to announce the Resurrection.

We had a brief meeting to discuss Holy Week and what needs to be done when. We are mid Lent - and I can feel it.

soup and bread

H and L have gone to visit a monastery with the youth group. We will pick them up after Vespers. We are having soup and bread tonight. I am making greek fassolada and 7 grain bread. This is my second attempt at the bread - the first time I used molasses and I didn't like it one bit. I am using brown sugar today. We shall see.

I am also perusing my herb garden books. I want to plant more herbs this year. It is still way too cold to plant anything outside. I am thinking about setting up some seeds indoors...

I am doing laundry.

1995

In the year of 1995

- Forrest Gump won the Academy Award best picture
- Steve Fosset becomes the first person to complete a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon
-Yahoo is founded in California
-Jerry Garcia of the Grateful dead passes away
-French-woman Jeanne Calment reaches the confirmed age of 120 years and 238 days making her the oldest person ever recorded.
-H and L were born on March 29th.

things that I have done

tripping through the blogsphere ... I found a great topic posted here

1. travelled to Europe solo
2. lived several monastic communities
3. survived 3 back surgeries
4. seen the Mountain Goats live
5. given birth to twins
6. worked in flower shop; bakery; DQ; Starbucks; the Georgia Straight
7. met Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers;
8. been married almost 15 years
9. learned to play bass clarinet; guitar

first day

It is my very dear friend Victoria's first day in the classroom for her 3 month long practicum.

She will be an awesome teacher.

Her family has been through much this year. They are nearing the finish line.

Have a great first day Vic!

a break

I am home. I am now off work until next Tuesday. I am so very happy for the break. We will watch movies, go to Liturgy, sleep in a bit - just a bit though- as I don't want to waste away my free time.

I hope it warms up. I am glad I did not plant my lettuce just yet. We have yard work; we have errands to run - the ones you need two people to do efficiently. The subaru needs a check up. I have an appointment with a lawyer to review a document - the passports need to be applied for; the taxes done. The birthday dinner to plan; a cake to bake. We are having sourcream poppyseed cake with cream cheese icing. And strawberries.

what happened?

Yesterday, the sun shone and we cleaned up the back yard. The sun was warm on the shoulders and quite lovely.

But, today I woke to frost on my car. I have to scrape my windshields - I am not impressed. I really need a holiday. Luckily after today, I will have a few days off.

I really need it to warm up.

Make it so, God.

book meme

tagged by Biss

The rules:
find the nearest book that has more than 123 pages
go to page 123
find the first 5 sentences - type the next three sentences
tag 5 people - how about it Mimi?

The book is "Get out of My Life, but first could you drive me and Cheryl to the mall?" by Anthony E. Wolf



And to say that the problem is that kids today are just too lazy is missing the point. Most teenagers, as their confused parents well know, can be incomprehensibly lazy at home but also be hard-workers at after-school jobs. The reason, of course, is that the issue of the "home" and the "away from home" selves in operation. Knowing this still does not help much when the simplest jobs go begging.

my thoughts - there are some good thoughts in this book - I don't agree with everything but it has proved helpful on a number of occasions

weekend roundup

Today is still part of my "weekend" as I worked Saturday.

So, I worked Saturday.
We watched Elizabeth -the Golden Age. Cate B was quite lovely in all her dresses and wigs.
We switched up the flowers at church - from daffodils to tulips.
Mr. W found an old closed up white washed gas station so we stopped there and took some photos.
We went to liturgy.
We shopped for food for supper - we ate Indian food and it was darn good. I was sweating whilst eating.
We picked up more movies. We watched American Gangster.

Today - laundry soap and other household items.
We are hoping to do some garden work; basic clean up and then we are moving a plant here; a plant there.
I am going to the fabric store.
I have to finish the accounting for parish council meeting.

I need to work on the list of things to do on my days off ....

passports
taxes

oh. the excitement.

all hail - west coast

We woke to sunshine. By the time I drifted downstairs to make my americano the sun was gone.

It had drifted behind the clouds and the hail started pounding. The skies turned dark and the hail still pounded. The temperature changed and sunroom became colder. I turned on the fireplace and scrambled for my camera. It is difficult to photograph hail.

It is Good Friday for the Western church. A dark day in preparation for the light. We are so far behind the Western church calendar this year. Pascha is not until the end of April. It seems so distant and yet there is much to plan. Because, it is so late we will have to rethink our flower situation. There will be no tulips available. Maybe we will find some lillies. Hmm. Lots to do; lots to plan but it is my favourite time of the year.

There are lots of discussions of light - how to create the contrast from dark to light without harsh artificial luminosity...?

the staple

photo credit- jeff werner

This is the best peanut butter on the planet. I have tried other "natural" peanut butter but non compares to Adams. You do have to commit to some time to stir the separated peanut oil back in before using but it is worth it. The trick it to tip the jar upside down overnight first and then quickly flip it over and stir.

so funny

shopping

H and I went shopping today. She needed some basics - you know - undergarments - and we picked up a few things for her birthday. We bought a bathing suit - a top and some board shorts. That was our compromise last year and it was successful so we opted for '08 version. Navy shorts with red accents and a navy, red and white polka dot top.

We popped into OLD NAVY and picked up some T-shirts and tank tops and noted some good shorts for the brother.

We picked more chicken noodle soup for the papa who, has been struck down by the evil virus. A quick phone call imploring the pharmacist to refill his asthma meds until he can visit the doctor.

Tofu, peanut broccoli stir fry with brown rice. I am not a big fan of the TOFU. I am not a big fan of SOY in general. But, I like the taste of it in this recipe. Normally we make it with chicken but we are not eating the chickens just now so we used tofu.

The boys are going snowboarding tomorrow. Hopefully the sun will shine.

in search of bergamot

Bergamot

I am in love with Bergamot.
Body Shop makes a good version for the bath. But, I am looking for alternatives.

Any recommendations?

the List

I visited the library yesterday.
Everytime I stepped out to plant my lettuce it started to rain. Then, I would get involved in another project and forget about the the lettuce. Then, I would head back out and it was raining again. So, I went to the library and took books about kitchen gardens. I think I am going to plan my plot a little differently this year. A more artisitic approach to the the garden. More flowers too. Anyways... while at the library I also picked up some magazines. One was the January copy of REALSIMPLE. The editorial featured something called the LIST. It is your go-to list of products/friends/actions that you can depend on. They don't ever disappoint. They bring comfort and order to our universe. I started to think my LIST.

1. Coffee - preferrably Starbucks French Roast with creme

2. Bath before bed. Even if I have showered. In fact, I mostly bathe to relax.

3. Going to the Libary - I love the library. I love going to pick up books I have ordered. I love the idea that I might stumble on something new. I love reading magazines and this is way less expensive if I read the issues from a couple of months ago.

4. Post it Notes - a small bundle of post it notes in crazy bright colours makes me very happy about going to work. Pens too!

5. The Mountain Goats. Friends introduced me to this band last year. They are the best! We had the fortune to go to a concert and I was right at the front and they were even more awesome than I could possibly imagine. So, listening to the Goats makes life better.

6. Orthodox Liturgy - yep. going to church. the irony of the situation is that there are just some days when you think it would just be better to not go; you need the extra 5 hours on Sunday to do laundry or rest or buy food for the family.... and you don't go and you are miserable and the week stretches on and you can hardly believe you made such a stupid decision because your life begins and ends with God.

7. Campbells Cream of Mushroom Soup


So, I don't really have alot of products yet....

love them!

It is a Mountain Goats kinda day!

This photo was taken by my husband. It was a fantastic concert!

phones, computers and darkness

We have switched to Daylight Savings Time. It is now light out when I leave work. Even when I leave work at 7pm! Which is quite fantastic. I have much more energy to do some required household tasks upon my return. And it didn't bother me too terribly much that both of my children had TWO writing assignments due tomorrow and then all had to be proofread and edited before bed.

We used to have 2 laptops. Now we have one; which is Mr.W's work computer and goes to school every day. We were fortunate to be able to pick up this eMac from a coworker who was moving up in the apple world. But, there is a line up to get on the thing. We are going to have to come up with some sort of schedule.

We are hoping to purchase new Mac for the desktop with a really big monitor this fall. The son is quite keen to make movies and we can then use the monitor as an alternative for watching DVD's as well. But, where will this one go? We are having some space challenges as well.

Our phones are on their last legs. The contract expires in July. We need to shop for those as well. We also discussed the merits of putting our kids on the network.... still undecided. I want a basic phone. I don't need a camera. I don't need to download music. I do need voicemail.

We have lost the light in the morning and I am finding it very difficult to get out of bed in the mornings. As I write this it is still very dark outside. A trade off, I suppose.

We have liturgy tonight. California rolls apres liturgy. And then 3 days off for me. A good break for the remainder of the family.
It shall be a good day!

spring break is close

I live with 3 others who are filled with great anticipation of the Spring Break. All 3 have 2 weeks off starting Friday. Western Easter is celebrated within the 2 week period so I have Friday off and then the following week I have taken several days. I too, am looking forward to the break.

I am going to work in my garden. I will seed my lettuce. I am going to attempt Romaine this year. We eat alot of Caesar Salad in the summer. We are hiring someone to help with the front garden which has become too crowded and I need an expert eye to restructure the design.

We will also celebrate the 13th birthday of my children. How to mark the day? I want to acknowlege the day in some unique way. We usually have a big celebratory meal - they choose the menu and I strive to surprise them in some little way. Neither seems really interested in having a "party" with friends.

Last night we attended our first Pre-Sanctified liturgy. It was good to be there. Too much luminosity though. I told the deacon. The service is best served in the darkness with candle light.

the BIG list

Lots planned for today:

---finish first writing assignment

-groceries - need to stock up on beans, fruits, veggies, more peanut butter, big jar of tahini - none of this 200 mL of goodness..

-trip to the credit union to pay some church bills

-need new kitchen garbage can - we had a teeny one that filled way too often so we bought larger one but it is UGLY and it just doesn't fit with the design of our kitchen so today is the day I find an alternative

-laundry

-clean the bathrooms

-need to find a bath product with bergamot

-book appointment for mammogram - this has been on the list for ages... but I seem to be bombarded with advertisements that women over 40 need to have them every year... I fit the age criteria.. have for a couple of years... when did that happen... I distinctly remember thinking "oh, that is not me, I am not even close to 40!"

-call my sister

-visit the fabric store - I want to sew a dress for pascha that has the look of a Jane Austin era dress...

The funny thing about these plans is that my alarm did not go off this morning. I was supposed to start writing at 8am. But, we didn't get up until 7.43 am - all of us. Normally Mr. W is at school by 7.45 - he was LATE. H and L did not leave until 8.15 - they probably got to school right as the bell rang. I had to finish all my morning kitchen duties... then I have to check my email.

forgiveness sunday

Prayer of Saint Ephraim

O Lord and Master of my life,
Grant not unto me a spirit of idleness,
of discouragement,
of lust for power,
and of vain speaking.

But bestow upon me, Thy servant,
the spirit of chastity,
of meekness,
of patience,
and of love.

Yea, O Lord and King,
grant that I may perceive
my own transgressions,
and judge not my brother,
for blessed art Thou
unto ages of ages.
Amen.

the image is of a painting done by a good friend Seraphim.

food lament

The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.

--G.K. Chesterson

It seems completely ridiculous to be in such a state about food. We are about to embark on the journey of Lent. I quite enjoy and look forward to the journey but I absolutely hate the tension with regards to food. If it were up to me I would eat peanut butter sandwiches on frozen bread along with a steaming mug of coffee. I love peanut butter on cold bread that is slightly thawing and then I dunk it in my coffee. But, apparently I am unique in that aspect. First of all, my children are too young to drink coffee. And my husband just walks away from me when I suggest a peanut butter sandwich for dinner.

Sure we eat salad and lentil soup but is always with a grumpy attitude. Did they not read the part about put on a happy face when you fast.

So many people in our world are starving - or barely get enough and in our land of plenty we are complaining about the choices.

Lent is a time to reflect and focus... maybe this is part of it - truly see how pathetic we are and realize we can move beyond our little selves and strive to do better.

a grey wednesday

Again with the grey.

They say that we will hit 14 degrees today. And the sun will shine.

My daughter will stay home again. I don't see any sense in rushing her back. It is the end of term. On the other hand it is the end of term and she is missing the more relaxed days at school.

My son came home delighted he received an a in French. He doesn't particularly like French so he is quite pleased with his mark.

He also received 85% in Science and Math - but to receive an "A" he needs 85.5%. I am not a big fan of grade equivalency. Just use percentages. So, he in essence gets the same grade as someone who achieves 72%. Rather disheartening.

We are approaching Lent quickly. Always the same stupid food struggles. I try new vegetarian recipes and Mr. W doesn't like them. I really would prefer just to eat peanut butter sandwiches and be done with it...

not your average tuesday

It is still very bleak looking outside. Yesterday, it rained and rained and it was miserably cold. As I drove along in my old Honda - the heat blasting - trying not to fog up inside I remembered it is still officially WINTER.

They say the next few days will be more spring like... we shall see. We shall see.

My daughter is home AGAIN with a fever. I am home with her; she is coughing and sputtering. We have dispatched the Homework assignments with her brother along with a note to the teachers. I have also emailed both teachers so they will send work home with her brother and if he forgets he can go back and pick it up at the office.

It is my late day so that once Mr. W arrives home I will head to work so that I am not using all m PL time.

We watched Gone Baby Gone on the weekend. I had read the Dennis Lehane book and knew the ending but I had forgotten some of the little twists. Did the protagonist have a dilemma? I think Casey Affleck's portrayal of Patrick was weak.

I highly recommend reading the novel.