The Lodger : Beauty Stays

It's been a cold rainy October. Last Sunday, as we were getting our bikes out to go for a ride, we saw this butterfly near the woodpile, struggling along. He was pretty beat up. Since it was chilly, I moved him into the sun thinking he just needed to warm up a bit, then he'd fly off again. When my husband saw it, he ran back into the house to make some sugar water, thinking it needed sustenance to make the trip to Mexico ... He put out a dish of sugar water for it, and we went on our bike ride (with winter hats and mittens).

When we got back 2 hours later, the little butterfly seemed to be doing better. With a cold night ahead, we brought him into the house, expecting to provide palliative care until he died. So we set up a habitat for him, a box with an open top so he could fly if he wanted to do so. He no longer seems able to fly ...

1 week later, he's still with us, sipping sugar water, crawling on the leaves, crawling on our fingers. Content--or wondering why on earth he's still alive, when a bird should have made a meal of him days ago. CL was explaining to Oliver that the butterfly drinks up the sugar water with his proboscus. So I named him Kiss, because it sounds like the end of probo-scus.

I don't think he'll be making the flight to Mexico this late in the season. We'll help him along as long as he wants to stay with us.

Wedded Bliss (or Something ...)

I woke up the other morning thinking about how several of my friends saw themselves (in younger days) as mothers. I can't quite say I had that aspiration, but I did see myself as married ...

Many of the women in my life say they would NOT re-marry if they suddenly found themselves un-attached. They have a variety of reasons --kids, adult children, finances, freedom ... Some people simply had bad first marriages and don't want to be put back into that compromising position again.

Marriage has been pretty good for me and my husband. I would marry him again. And I would probably marry another "right person" again if I were un-attached in future. I like this partnership-thing. I'm a Libra--that's my thang!

So the other morning, I'm lying in bed next to my sweetie thinking these happy marriage thoughts, when he lets out the tail end of yesterday's bacon butter beans ---Rrriiiiippp!

Yes--laughter and bodily functions are indeed part of wedded bliss.

In case you're interested, here are the Lyrics to Greg Brown's Marriage Chant.

Memory Bear for Hospice

This summer, I started volunteering for the local Hospice. Because I work full-time and have a family, I have limited time when I can be available for Hospice patients and their families. Or rather, they tend not to need someone when I'm free to be there (so far). So the Volunteer Coordinator put me to work making a teddy bear out of a lady's clothes. I've been working on it all week so she can see it before she dies. It will be a comfort to her in the time she has left and a comfort to her family after she is gone.

And it makes me feel good to use my time and talents to make such a meaningful difference (however small, however quiet) in their lives. Sigh--I'm getting tears in my eyes just thinking of it now ...

Each stitch is filled with love and prayers for strength and wholeness for this woman and her family. This is a magic memory bear. It is not a toy.



[Sorry--I don't know where the pattern came from. It's hand-drawn ...]

Want to make a difference? Check with your local hospital or cancer center. They often like to give comfort quilts to patients who are under-going cancer treatment. Or soft caps for when someone's hair falls out due to chemotherapy. There are lots of options ...

Nancy Zieman of PBS's Sewing with Nancy and Nancy's Notions has some ideas for Creative Kindness. (She's right here in Wisconsin, so I have to her a nod for this.)

Marriage Equality

Those of you who know me well, know that this is a struggle near and dear to my heart. Yes, I'm enjoying the benefits of a traditional marriage. So why do I care about this? It IS the Civil Rights struggle of our time. It's about people I care about not being recognized by our society at large for the great significant relationships in their lives.

My dear friend Dottie recently spoke most eloquently about this issue.
Listen to "Domestic Partnerships : An Important Step on the Way to Equality" by Rev. Dottie Matthews. More details about her sermon.

She puts it all into perspective. She knows we're making progress, and that it won't happen overnight. She knows there will be setbacks as there are with all social struggles, but it's still a steady push forward. I just wish marriage equality was already here and available for anyone who wanted it. That really will make for a more stable society.

I'm with you Dottie, Rosie, DMJ. I will stand beside you and work until this is a reality in the US.

Milestones : ABCs to Elements

This fall, we replaced the ABCs with the Periodic Table of Elements. Oliver is in 3rd grade now.

He also wanted me to tell everyone that he is currently writing a book about another world, far from here.

How time flies!

Morning Glory Muffins (aka Better than Bran Muffins)

This is another recipe from my old friend, Heidi Huser. These muffins are as delicious today as they were 20 years ago. Lots of fiber from carrots, apples, and whole wheat flour. Enjoy!

Morning Glory Muffins

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour (WW pastry flour works well)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger

2 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup raisins
3/4 raw apple, diced or grated

Combine sugar, oil, egss, and vanilla in a large bowl; set aside. In another bowl, sift together remaining dry ingredients. Add to liquid ingredients and stir. Gently fold in carrots, raisins, and raw apple. Spoon into greased muffin tins about 2/3 full. (Cupcake papers make clean-up a breeze!)

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

These are so good, I've been asked to make another batch today!

Bran Muffin Purgatory

A few weeks ago, I decided I would be good to my gut and make a batch of bran muffins. The plan was to eat bran muffins for breakfast instead of my beloved scones.

So I found a recipe and made enough bran muffins to feed an army. All that roughage takes up space in the mixing bowl as well as your colon. For the recipe I used, my biggest mixing bowl was nearly not big enough.

They tasted just ok. Perfectly nutritious and good for me ... There was just no JOY in eating those things. I missed the blueberry scones--some things are just grandfathered in.

The best way to describe what it felt like eating those bran muffins would be The Loaf.


Illinois Prison Nutraloaf

This American Life did a show on behavior modification (Sorry--I can't find it to link). One of the stories was about The Loaf given to prisoners who exhibit bad behavior. They get nothing but The Loaf to eat until their attitude improves. Slate.com did a story on The Loaf --to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. Perfectly nutritious and good-for-you, just not very appealing. Just the threat of eating The Loaf is enough to bring some prisoners into line.

No more bran muffins for me. I'll get my fiber from carrot cake and pumpkin pie!

Nostalgia for Sesame St.

On a recent work / school holiday, Oliver and I were eating our breakfasts at the dining room table.

I said, "We could watch Sesame St. today."

Oliver said, "Sesame St. makes me feel nostalgic."

I asked him if he knew what "nostalgic" meant. He gave me a good definition. He did know ... It makes me feel nostalgic, too. Sesame St. started when I was a kid in the 1970s.

And then we watched Sesame St. for old time's sake.

Beauty Visits

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This morning, we had a little visitor "working" the morning glories outside the window where I have my morning tea. Lovely!

It was the first time I've seen hummingbirds here. So I put out the glass hummingbird feeder for them. It's getting cooler, so I suspect they are gearing up for their fall migration.

Remembering Grappa Eddie

Grappa Eddie died on Thursday, August 20, 2009. He spent his last week in Hospice with the family gathered around. We were looking at pictures and laughing and remembering his adventurous life--or at least the stories he told about it. I hope to post more of hist stories here in the near future ...

I will remember many afternoons spent sitting around the kitchen table listing to his stories. He had a million of them!

I will remember plum dumplings every fall. This is a traditional Bohemian feast. Gramma Pickles actually made them, but Grappa always won the contest for who could eat the most.

I will remember Grappa taking my brother and me fishing with looonnnggg cane poles at Rabes Lake probably before I was even in school. Fishing was important to him.

Grappa drove a yellow school bus for many years. After long days at school, I can remember speeding down 5th Ave. Road at 80 miles an hour. For years, I actually thought there was a separate speed limit for school buses!

I will remember bailing hay on the hottest days of summer, on ridiculously steep hills. My brother and I were still pretty small then. We could pile the bales 2 or 3 high, but Grappa would have to stop and re-stack the bales to get more on the wagons.

After I learned to quilt, I decided that I would make a quilt for Grappa Eddie. When I shared my intentions, everyone in my family said "Why do you want to make a quilt for Grappa? He's not going to be around much longer." This was in 2004. My mom took care of the quilting and the binding. When we gave it to him, we made sure he understood that this quilt was to be used, and not put away and "saved" to keep it nice.

I found some orange blossom fabric and fell in love with the colors and the textures. It reminded me of Grappa. He had a talent for picking the best boxes of Indian River grapefruit and oranges from the travelling truck drivers who sold them on the road in northern Wisconsin. Grappa knew how to pick the fruit at the peak of ripeness, sweet, and fresh, and juicy. He knew what he was doing!

The pattern is called Northwind, however, I softened it to "Orange Blossom Breeze" because Grappa didn't tolerate the cold as he did in his younger days. This quilt was my way of keeping him warm with memories of his cross-country drives down south and the sweet, fresh fruit of Florida--where everyone has a fruit tree in their yard!

After Grappa moved into the nursing home 2 years ago, Gramma returned the quilt to me. They decided the detergents in the nursing home would be too harsh on the quilt. She gave it back to me--it still smelled like their house. Now I get to keep the quilt and remember Grappa Eddie.