and this book..........

to get ahead on my next
book club book:

Beach Books

Beth asked "What books I am taking"
and I have to finish a few I'm halfway
through:

Excellent on worldview and
the changes in art into modernity.

Wise Blood

Reading up on O'Connor for
next year's literature. This one
is quite racy but I know she will
bring a point of redemption at the
end.



In "Education is a Life" at
the Childlight Conf. , this was
recommended. Also In Praise
of Slowness by Carl Honare. I
read that years ago and may do
a reread of that. I kept thinking
about this title so I'm sure the Lord
has a treasure in it for me.




Will start this to be ahead
of my students in the fall.

I'm also doing a reread to join
the book discussion at The Bower:






And my Bible , journal,
and hopefully something
light to read for beach time!
Plus I picked up some knitting
books at the library today.
My friend Amber was making
the most gorgeous log cabin
spread. It is so beautiful in the
yarn she's doing and she got
the pattern in this book. I'm
taking yarn and just finished
a washable linen washcloth from
Melanie Falick's Knitter's Stash.

A lovely lunch

A wonderful salad , cheese and crackers
and Fruit Pizza for dessert. My friend
brought it for our girls to make it with
blueberries, peaches and cherries.
Thank you Tina! Here's her homemade
dough , put cream cheese for cheesecake
on top and pile it with fresh fruit.
It all got eaten!

Shortcake Short Dough

1 stick butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg plus 1 egg white (I don’t include
the egg white)
1/2 cup skim milk
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

1. In food processor bowl, combine flour, sugar,
baking powder and salt. Drop in butter and
pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal.
Pour into a bowl and set aside.

2. In a small bowl blend milk, lemon peel
and one whole egg.

3. Pour egg mixture into flour mixture, gently
mix to form a soft ball of dough. On a floured
surface, divide dough in half. Roll into 9 inch circles.

4. Prick each circle with a fork. Brush generously
with the remaining egg white, beaten.
Sprinkle tops with additional sugar.

5. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or
until golden brown.
Assemble shortcake using hot or cold shortbread.

Getting ready for the beach

Gathering all the sheets , towels,
and all that food for a half family
reunion down at the coast this next
week. Half meaning only 4 families
out of 8 ( yes, I'm one of 8) will be
there. I have the biggest family and
one girlfriend is coming. My youngest
brother has the next biggest with
4 ~~ he brings his boat and makes
the week fun for everyone on the
Intracoastal Waterway. Tradition
started when my 4th oldest brother
came down from Conn. in the heat
of the summer and gathered us all
to the beach! This year there are NO
canopies on the beach. Much
chagrin in my family about that.
How will we gather under
umbrellas now?

Soup on a HOT day

It hit 100 degrees today.
We waited to be seated at
Sweet Basil in Southern
Pines today and it was
worth it. We had
the best cups of soup :
Sweet Bell Pepper Soup.
Yellow and creamed.
They drizzle olive oil
on top that has some
pesto in it.
Delicious! The rest of
lunch was fabulous too.
All that after picking
blueberries! 16 pints.

Photo by my sister.

The Front Porch Package

This arrived the afternoon before Emma's birthday:




Different setting on the camera as you
can see from the above. My daughter
learning more than I do with the
digital camera! White instead of brown
and the delicious shade of red in the
ribbon!






Opening the sweet tiny card:



Click here to see what she got! It was in a frame!

Double Ones

Makes 11 for my youngest. You can
see her and the present
left on the porch yesterday. I think
I heard her car leave but not arrive
nor her footsteps!
She framed that and gave her another
one about having 4 older brothers!
Something happens deep in the soul
with such love!

Posting tomorrow the package!

Cooking at Home

This is Susan Loomis' cookbook
along with Farmhouse Cookbook.
The latter was her trips to farms
in the US. Good , good recipes. I
made something out of both when
I got them from the library. She's fun
to read and inspiring in the kitchen.

"A good meal must be as harmonious
as a symphony,
and as well constructed as a Norman
cathedral."

Shades of Capon here in her writing:

(The Supper of the Lamb)

"If an hour can be spent on one onion,
think how much regarding it took
that old Russian who looked at onions
and church spires long enough to come
up with St. Basil's Cathedral."

Spurgeon on the Holy Spirit

from Lectures to My Students:

"He can break in pieces the gates of brass,
and cut in sunder the bars of iron,
and give to us the treasures of darkness,

and hidden riches of secret places."

Thinking about Food

Great food last night at the
Cheesecake Factory. In fact,
we ate leftovers today at lunch.
Still some Godiva Choc. Cheese-
cake left. Their avocado eggrolls
are out of this world!

Planning food for a birthday
celebration this weekend for
Ken's mother ...and those in the
family who have July birthdays.
That includes my daughter who
will be 11 next week.

Have you ever had one of these?
My sister gave us a taste . Full
of antioxidants:

.

30 years ago

We said " I do!"



e

On Rue Tatin

I've been transported to Normandy,
France since Tuesday in Susan
Loomis' book! What an enjoyable read
about their buying a 300 year old convent
in Louviers. Susan went to write
a cookbook and they stay. Still there today
as you see in my last sentence.

"I looked out the window and caught my
breath-- the church was near enough
to touch."

The majestic gothic church of Louviers
forms a stunning backdrop to the house and garden at On Rue Tatin

"I am always amazed at what I don't notice.
Living on rue Tatin with the cathedral floating
gracefully in front of us all day long as though
it had wings, I have become, perhaps, inured
to architectural details , since I have a surfeit
in front of my eyes at all times.

BUT there are other things I do notice.
A day never goes by that I don't stroke the
rosemary hedge that shields us from traffic
on rue Tatin. I try to run my hands through
the scrubby thyme plants that grow in our
front courtyard dail. too, for thyme loves
company. My hope is that daily contact will
make them as lush as I think they should
be. I want them to know how much I love
their presence-- to look at, to smell, and
to add to soups, salads, and even apple
tarts."

AND you can go there to learn to cook.
An excellent writer and certainly
an excellent cook!

Happy 4th

Fourth of July, 1916 by Childe Hassam, Private Collection.





Wonderful recreation of the american flag in this painting cleverly titled " Flower Bag"
Painting by Nina Barasso.

From that Small Book

A lovely blog by my friend
who hosted the book discussion.
Lovely cool evening the Lord
gave us. Rich food and richness
in thoughts and relationships!


I don't think of worship as
repetitive but it is. This quote
made me think that it should
have results as I draw close
to the Lord. Yes, laundry has
results but it's always there.
Organic. You know like compost!
Always growing.
My time with the
Lord has changed a bit since Tuesday.
Today,
I looked up into the blue morning sky
from my deck and said
to the Lord : I will drink deeply
from Your Spirit. ( Eph. 5:18)
I had some new insight into prayer.
Prayer for my children.


"Both laundry and worship are repetitive
activities with a potential for tedium,
and I hate to admit it, but laundry often
seems like the more useful of the tasks.
But both are the work that God has
given us to do."

Peach Cobbler, Fruit Pizza and Spritzers

Lovely cool evening on my friend's
porch , we ate and talked all about
Quotidian Mysteries by Kathleen
Norris. I came home last night blessed
and pondering the rich fellowship of the
saints! Good food, a good book, and
good friends.

We discussed the repetition of
responsibilities in the home to
marriage to the church. I felt
like another reread would be in
order. We all had so many of the
same passages underlined to share.
In the busyness of the urgent , so
many of the daily routines of "laundry"
and even in the Word can be pressed
out when they are what is the scaffolding
of our days.

"I have come to believe that the true
mystics of the quotidian are not those who
contemplate holiness in isolation, reaching
godlike illumination in serene silence, but
those who manage to find God in a life
filled with noise, the demands of other people,
and relentless daily duties that can consume
the self."

Thank you Lord for grace and the noise,
demands and duties of my life.




"