Wild and Beautiful Things

Live your life.  Live your life.  Live your life.   - Maurice Sendak

I know I haven't blogged forever.  Someday I'll explain myself.  Maybe.  But today, I thought I should blog.

Because on Friday, I'm playing two services.  In the morning, the funeral of my pal, Arno -- proud World War II veteran, musician and ladies' man -- who passed away at the age of 89.  I played in his band for over 10 years.  We were never very good, but we had a good time playing together at parties, festivals, the fair and of course, our standing gig every Wednesday at lunchtime at the Lutheran Home.  We played the same songs every week -- Girl of My Dreams, Beer Barrel Polka, When Your Old Wedding Ring Was New, Tennessee Waltz, All of Me.  And we always ended with Amazing Grace -- Arno would sing the first verse with Kenny (who died this past February at 91) and then Kenny would pick up his fiddle and Arno would sing the second verse.  Incorrectly.  But he was consistent -- he sang the wrong words the same way every single time, even after I made him a song book with the correct words in LARGE PRINT, all caps.

I joked with Clay this week that Arno was one of two men who ever touched my butt on purpose.  Arno was always game for a little side boob action, too.  (Which led to a discussion of side boob action -- I thought this was just something men did by nature, as it's a pretty common occurrence, at least at the nursing home.  Clay says not, but he thinks he might give it a try more often, if it's indeed a function of his gender.)

For the past couple of years, Arno has been asking me to find a song called Symphony.  I searched online, but the music I found was not the right song.  Then, a few weeks ago I found a box of sheet music at the flea market, and there is was.  That piece of music brought tears to his eyes, and we sang the song for two weeks before he was too weak to sing any longer.  I have to tell you, that was the best $1.00 I have ever spent.

Arno's funeral will be a standard Lutheran service (although I'm going to sneak Symphony in there somewhere), but the second service on Friday is going to be quite different.

My sweet friend, Sylvia, has 6 beautiful and accomplished children, who I am happy to call my friends, too.  One of her sons, Alex, died of complications from typhoid three weeks ago in India, where he had gone to work in an orphanage.

He was a crazy wild thing, beloved by everyone he met.  He was a Purdue grad, a contestant on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?  and captain of a sailboat -- "Bubbles" -- on which he circumnavigated the globe, even though he didn't know much about sailing when he bought the boat. His mom worried about him, prayed for him, and joined him on a leg or two of his journey.

Alex had said, "This trip was about simple discovery, venturing out to see the world and the people in it. Along the way we faced obstacles and challenges that only a trip like this could produce, and with no alternative but success we overcame. What we found was that the world is indeed a beautiful place filled with beautiful people."

Friday evening, on what would have been his 29th birthday -- Flag Day -- there is a celebration of Alex's life on the grounds of his childhood home, under the big flag his dad was so proud of.  His family has no idea of how many will attend, but know that friends are coming from all over the world -- that's the kind of person Alex was -- the kind of person that people would travel across the country/across the world to celebrate.

And his friends here in his little town are celebrating, too.  They're re-telling their favorite Alex stories (and there's a lot of those!), they've re-painted the railroad bridge, they've designed t-shirts and they're planning one big ass bonfire for Saturday night.

I last saw Alex this past Easter Sunday, when he came to Our Lady of Providence with his mom and brothers.  The memory of his great, impish smile and "Howya doin', Mrs. Coons?" is one I'll hold close in my heart for a long time.

David, Alex, Sylvia and Joe

I followed Alex's blog posts as he sailed the world, but I had never seen this amazing video by his friend, Reed Whitting (who I hope is cool with me posting it here) until it was posted to facebook last week.  I've watched it many times since, and thought I'd share it here.




Here's what Alex's life says to me:  Don't be afraid.  Life is beautiful.  See things.  Do things.  Touch a couple of butts if that's what makes you feel alive.

Live your life.  Live your life.  Live your life.

Peace.  To Arno, to Alex, to us all.

Favorite Things Friday - Making Stuff Again

So, that's not the most creative title, but you know I do love making stuff.  Making new stuff, making old stuff new, making new stuff look old.

Stuff.  (And yes, I know this is contrary to my on-going campaign to get rid of stuff around here.  But in my defense, most of the stuff I make, I give away.  So stop judging me, OK?)

Last week, on my way home from our work retreat, I stopped in at my favorite fabric store, Crimson Tate on Mass. Ave. in Indianapolis.

Did I really need fabric?
No, I have plenty.
No, I have 3 quilts in the works.
No, but Heather keeps posting new fabrics on her facebook page, and it makes me crazy!  (Good crazy, of course.)

And guess what they had?  The world's cutest laminated fabric by Enchino.  Mustard yellow, polka dots, deer wearing glasses -- in fact, it's called Hipster Deer.

I couldn't resist.

So, I had these folding chairs we bought at the school auction many, many years ago.

Thanks to pinterest, I've been itching to do something with them.  And thanks to Crimson Tate, I was ready!

The seats and backs came off quite easily (they're not the best-made folding chairs in the world) but the fabric was held on with a gajillion staples.  I just measured for the seats and backs from the old fabric, and had enough in the one yard I purchased to do all three chairs (although one of the backs is sideways.  Let's say that adds character, shall we?)

The seats were easy -- just a little stretching and staples -- the backs not so much, which is why there is no picture of the backs of the chairs.  Although the manufacturer used staples to secure the fabric to the plastic backs, my staple gun wouldn't even pierce the plastic.  So, spray glue and duct tape to the rescue, but they need a little tweaking yet.

 I wasn't sure what color to paint the chairs to go with this mustard color, but David at CT suggested a metallic finish, so I used a RustOleum  spray paint, which was perfect.  Backs and seats screwed back on, and viola!  Funky new chairs for our reading porch.

Speaking of making yellow stuff, here are the 200 or so cupcakes I made for my pal, Malia, who gave them out to kids at her school who completed a reading program this year:

I tried to get a little artsy with the camera, another one of my favorite things:

 Now quit reading and go make some stuff.  That's what I plan to do today!

Peace.

A Girl of the Limberlost

Hurt finger aside, the real reason I haven't been blogging is because I have been swamped.

Swamped, I tell you.

You would be completely bored if I started to list all the swampy things that are bogging me down (!), so let me tell you a swampy story, instead.

For my work, I attended a retreat in Shipshewana last week.  (For those of you unfamiliar with Hoosier geography, that's about as far away from home as I can get and still be in the state.)  The retreat was very nice, I learned a lot and enjoyed the town.

Until I started considering the ethics of touristy gawking at the Amish.  Then I felt uncomfortable, (but that's another blog post all together) and decided to head for home.  

Since I cut my planned shopping day short (and since I'm really not much of a shopper, anyway), I went looking for someplace interesting to stop on my way home.  Luckily, in the pamphlet rack at the hotel I found a flyer for the Gene Stratton-Porter State Historical Site, which was about 1/2 hour south in Rome City.

I knew a little about GSP, and remember reading A Girl of the Limberlost for the summer reading program when I was little (but don't remember too much about the story), so I thought this would be a great little excursion.

It was easy to find, thanks to Google Maps and the iPhone, and the drive there was through beautiful farm country -- I stopped to take pictures of farm houses and barns on the way, as I am working on a story about a farm house, and need a little inspiration.

Gene Stratton-Porter just might be my new obsession.  A writer, nature lover, photographer, "always look on the bright side" sort of person, she is considered one of the first great female conservationists.  She was an expert on Indiana birds and wildflowers, transplanting  over 1700 wildflower species onto this property on the shores of Sylvan Lake when the state decided to drain the swampy, marshy areas near her childhood homes -- the Limberlost.  Several of her novels were made into movies, but when GSP didn't care for the way they were portrayed, she moved to California and started her own film company so she could do it right.  Don't you just love that?

Besides two interpreters, the gardener and a volunteer, I was the only person at the GSP State Historical Site this morning.  So, as you can imagine, my tour was very personal.  Carol, the interpreter who took me through the house, was so knowledgeable about GSP, the home and the area, and the tour became more like a friendly conversation -- we shared favorite books and authors, and you know how I love that!

I forgot to take any pictures until right before I left -- here is the back of the "cabin", which is a fantastic home with cherry paneling, pocket doors, a writing room with lots of sunshine, a breakfast room with extra wide window ledges for feeding the birds, a dark room, 7 small bedrooms and sleeping porches.

The gardens are beautiful, and I would like to make another trip up just to see them in full bloom this summer.  (There was a wedding scheduled for this afternoon -- what a beautiful place to be married!)

Here is GSP's grave.  Her daughter, Jeanette, is buried here, as well.

These signs at the entrance of the site list all her published works:

And I made a few purchases at the Gift Shop:

Clay and I have been having an ongoing discussion lately about books that don't seem to have any uplifting elements.  (A Light Between Oceans and Little Bee, to be exact.)  I think reading books with difficult themes -- books that leave you emotionally tossed -- is important in terms of historical significance, cultural awareness and personal growth.  They make you deal with hot-button issues.  They drive you to research.  They make you consider your own moral compass and answer the "what would I do in that situation" questions.  (So says the former English teacher!)

But sometimes the world is just too much.  Sometimes our own burdens become heavy, and it's good to turn to something uplifting -- no matter how sentimental or didactic (as Gene Stratton-Porter's novels are frequently criticized).  As a fan of both Jan Karon and Philip Gulley, though, I think I'm going to enjoy these two novels, which have gone to the top of my reading pile.

Peace.

ouch

This is the reason I haven't been blogging:

I severely injured myself with a large cupcake decorating tip/finger torture device.

OK, not severely  but it really hurt.

I had a Lucy Ricardo moment, and impaled my finger in the tip while trying to push it to the bottom of the decorating bag.  My darling Will tried to keep a straight face as he not-so-gently removed it by bending the pointy bits back with needle-nosed pliers, but I did a lot of screeching in the process   Once it was off, we both stood in the kitchen and cracked up.

This is why I am a mother -- to give my kids something to laugh about.
Peace.

Favorite Things Friday - Photogenic Spring Flowers

Meatless Monday - Asparagus Fritatta

Who doesn't love to cook in cast iron?  Lots of people.

They tell me:

"It's too heavy."
"The food sticks."
"It gets really hot."

Well, yes, yes and yes.

The heft of the skillet is one of the things I like best --  it's never going to warp and if you drop it, it won't dent.  Your floor, maybe.  Or your toes.  Just use two hands when you haul it around.

Your food could indeed stick if your skillet isn't seasoned properly.  But that's an easy fix -- coat the inside with cooking oil and put the empty pan in a 350 degree oven for an hour.  Over time, if you are good to your cast iron, it will become slick and non-stick (and so much safer than Teflon).

And getting really hot is what makes it so fabulous -- there is a perfect distribution of heat, so your food will cook evenly, even on a flat top stove like ours.  It can go from the stovetop to the oven (as in this recipe) and a good pot holder solves the too hot problem.

You can cook anything in a cast iron skillet -- my mom and dad did, my grandmas did and I'm proud to say I finally got over my snootyness about cast iron skillets (I thought they were too "country."  They are, but then, so am I.  I thought I needed fancy pans.  I didn't.)  I was going to list the things we cook in our skillets (yes, we have them in several sizes) but it's easier to list the things I wouldn't cook in the skillet:

   

Did you hear the crickets?

Plus, when you cook in cast iron (especially foods which stay in the pan for a while), you get some added iron in your diet.   How cool is that?

Here's what we had for supper this past Monday.  I love to make a fritatta -- which is basically a scrambled egg pie -- because you can throw in whatever is in your fridge.  So even though this one is asparagus and mushrooms, you can use any vegetable, meat, cheese combination you would want.  (We really like kale and feta -- so surpisingly delicious!)

Asparagus Fritatta

2 T. butter
1/2 a small onion, chopped fine (or shallots, leeks -- whatever you have)
1 clove garlic, chopped fine
1 pound asparagus, washed, trimmed and cut into 1" pieces (on the diagonal is pretty)
1 cup of sliced mushrooms
6 eggs (EggBeaters work just fine, too), beaten lightly
1 cup of shredded cheese (with asparagus, I like Swiss, Gruyere or Fontina)
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan

Over medium high heat, melt butter and saute onion and garlic for a few minutes.  Toss in asparagus and cook for 3-4 minutes (tender crisp).  Toss in mushrooms and cook another minute or so.  Stir Swiss cheese into the eggs, and some salt and pepper to taste, then pour that over the vegetables.

Turn on the broiler.  Let the eggs cook, without stirring, until they are set up nicely and the middle isn't runny.  Then, sprinkle the Parmesan over the eggs and (using two hands and a pot holder!) put the skillet under the broiler for the cheese to brown up -- watch it pretty closely here so the cheese doesn't burn.  Remove from the broiler, cut into wedges and serve.

I chopped up some tomatoes into bite-sized pieces and tossed them with a tiny bit of olive oil, some balsamic vinegar and just a sprinkle of sea salt.  Let that marinate for a bit -- this can make those grocery store tomatoes taste close to delicious!

Peace.

Asian Lettuce Wraps

I am posting this because:

1) these were extra delicious;
2) I'll be able to find the recipe easily next time I go looking for it; and
3) this picture came out very nicely on the first try!

The recipe is here at allrecipes.com, one of my favorite cooky places.  Sarah and I made these the evening she came over to sew Tommy's 1st Communion tie (a post on that soon).  We substituted ground turkey for the ground beef, and used 2 cans of water chestnuts, just because we both love them.  And for the Asian chile pepper sauce, we used Siracha -- I think that's what the recipe author intended, and it worked well -- not too hot, but just a little snap.  This made enough for 4 of us.

Peace.