Thursday, October 24, 2013

The Thistles Are Thin

I'm shivering a little as I begin typing this.  The sun is setting behind the mountains, and with it, the temperature is dropping.  Oh! but what a lovely evening it is outside!  I'd rather not leave my perch on the deck, even though the warmth of the house calls me.  I was just finishing a bit of reading, and I couldn't help but continue to sit, enjoy the view of the backyard, and think of a walk I took out back just the other day.

I read a lot of interesting articles online, many of them shared by friends on Facebook.  Earlier this week, I read this article on walking.  It inspired me to don a jacket and walk around in my backyard.  In a way, it was a bittersweet experience, reminiscent of a childhood spent racing along the tops of dirt mounds and packing a hard trail among the rock piles below. Those same trails are now over-grown and the hills that once seemed tall are dwarfed by my adult self.

I noticed other things, too, as I walked.  Everything is green.  As a result of the heavy rains we got in August and the light snows we've gotten this month, the vegetation is flourishing, despite the fact that winter is lurking right around the corner.  There is one lone rhubarb plant left, long suffering from neglect, where there once was many.  The raised flower beds have curled boards that are in want of replacing.  Then there's that tree, behind the shed, a tree that isn't suppose to be there, but is standing there tall nonetheless.  I think I counted about a dozen shrubs that have died, hiding behind the living ones.  Across the way, on the hill we used to try to sled down, another tree plays at being a bush.  Whether it lost its top or grew up misshapen where another had died, I don't know.  And the thistles!  Wait, where are the thistles?  Usually they grow  thick, and one has to be careful to avoid stepping on them.  Stickers we used to call them.

Our lives are so busy in this modern age.  TV or the internet or our cellphones are always vying for our attention.  How much we miss when we don't stop to enjoy all the little details around us!  Spending some time outside this week as been refreshing.  Putting aside all the distractions that lie inside and getting outside for a bit is a wonderful thing.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Challah!

Even though I have managed to pick up a few "fancy" cooking techniques over the last couple of years, I do not consider myself much of a cook.  I do, however, consider myself a very amateur baker.  Not necessarily the cookies and cakes sort of baker, although I certainly have done some of that too.  No, I love baking bread. There's just something about being able to feel the dough beneath you as you work it with your hands and the all time and effort it takes to craft a tasty, wonderful-smelling loaf of bread. Today, I tried my hand at making challah, a Jewish bread that is known for being rich and sweet.

Besides just wanting to bake bread, I had an ulterior motive:  I'm going to make french toast later this week. Now this won't be just any french toast: I've got my eye on a recipe from Alton Brown.  I'm a huge fan and I greatly enjoy watching reruns of his show Good Eats, an entertaining exploration of food and science.  On one of the episodes, he set out to make the perfect french toast using, you guessed it, challah. After doing a little bit of research, I decided that I would use a modified version of this recipe.

I was a little worried because my dough was a bit dry.  I haven't quite figured out how much more liquid I need to add to recipes when I use half AP (all purpose) flour and half whole white wheat flour.  Even though I added extra water, it wasn't enough.  I'm also wondering if part of the problem was that the whole white wheat flour I used wasn't as finely ground as the stuff I've used in the past.  It felt a bit grainy today as I was trying to knead it.

Also, challah is typically braided, and I couldn't quite figure out the directions I was trying to follow for a six-stranded braid.  My attempt is on the right; the other loaf is braided with four strands.  Don't they look delicious?


Sunday, October 13, 2013

The Gleaners: A Revisit

Double post Sunday!  Or, I-never-got-around-to-editing-the-post-for-Thursday-so-I'll-give-you-two-today day!

Today's lectionary included a reading from the book a Ruth, a short Old Testament book that I think tends to get overlooked.  It's a great little book, telling the story of a widow from the land of Moab who, instead of remaining there, chooses to go with her mother-in-law to Bethlehem and trust in the God of Israel.  I find the story of Ruth fascinating.  I know that I do not always trust in God, as Ruth did, but thanks be to God that He remains faithful when I am not and has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, through Christ!

Speaking of Ruth, I am reminded of a poem I wrote several years ago, which you can read here.  If you'd like to read more of Ruth's story, you can read it here.

Phone Books! Get Your Phone Books Here!

OK, so delivering phone books is not like selling newspapers.  It's more of the UPS meets everybody's favorite solicitor, if there's such a thing as a favorite door-to-door purveyor of things you don't want.  A phone book deliverer is certainly not the latter, but it seems to be how many people view such a person.  How do I know?  Because it's what I did for a couple of weeks earlier this summer, delivering phone books, that is, not watching people deliver them.

This was not my favorite job and it's certainly not something I will be doing again anytime soon.  It's a job that falls in the same category as fast food employee, another job I've done and don't have any inclination to do again. Despite the fact that July is a terrible month to walk around neighborhoods carrying a stack of books neatly wrapped in plastic bags, there are things to be gained from this experience besides a humble paycheck.  While there are many more, here's just two reasons delivering phone books is a job every college graduate should try:

1. It'll make for a great story one day.  When I first walked in for orientation, I got the impression the guy leading it didn't think I would actually be able to do it, and to be honest, I think I, myself, am surprised I managed to follow through with it.  Note, this job is not as easy as it sounds.  But you know what, it'll be fun to tell the kids and grandkids that I did something few people do.

   2. You learn the streets.  Spending so much time with a Google map trying to make sure you know This Street from This Place and This Circle and also that That Avenue starts here and breaks for a couple of blocks before resuming, means you become very familiar with the neighborhood you're delivering in.  I had the privilege of delivering some of the routes out where I live, so last week when I had to go pick something up across the way, I was able to jump in the car and drive over without looking at a map.  While I may never  again be in some of the areas I delivered to, I gained some valuable insight into how to navigate unfamiliar neighborhoods, some useful knowledge indeed when eventually moving to an unfamiliar city.

Sunday, October 6, 2013

A Book Brief: Gulp

I'm a terrible person:  I start reading a book, and then I never finish it.  I check it out from the library, only to return it once I've reached the renewal limit.  So it's a pretty significant feat that I've finished TWO books in the last month or so.

I first learned about this book while listening to an interview with the author on NPR.  Long drives back and forth from school are made so much more enjoyable by talk radio.  At any rate, I learned some interesting things from listening and it sounded like an interesting book.  Then, I was in the library one day and I happened upon a copy of this book.  Why not? The interview was engaging, maybe the book will be too.  And so it came to pass that I checked out Gulp by Mary Roach.

In a nutshell, its about all the things you ever wanted (or didn't want) to know about human digestion, from the smell of food all the way down to how it's expelled.  It would be easy to make such a topic rather dry and textbook-like, but Roach's style is quite the opposite:  I thoroughly enjoyed her stories of people she met and experiences she had on the way to writing this book.  From the dog food industry to what may have killed Elvis, Gulp is an adventure in topics not normally discussed in polite circles.  And it made me chuckle on more than one occasion.

So if you're up for an in-depth exploration of your innards, I highly recommend Mary Roach's Gulp.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Desert

I am lost,
in a blizzard of answers,
seeking quiescence,
in the sunrise of knowledge.

And I will raise my voice,
calling for change of day,
calling for no!, somehow,
crying for change. . .

Will I ever find my way,
from beneath the shadow of silence,
through the cave of lonesome,
into the moonrise of autumn?