New Robes

It's an unwritten rule that every mother who sews and has a passel of children MUST make the children coordinate for at least one holiday in their young lives.

Right?

I obeyed the unwritten rule before my oldest child was old enough to begin protesting too loudly about matching his brothers and sister.

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Isaiah 61:10

Post #2000

“Love begets a likeness between the mind loving and the object beloved. . . . A mind filled with the love of Christ as crucified . . . will be changed into his image and likeness.”
John Owen

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, 

but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 

For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age?

Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, 

it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 

but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 

but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, 

Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 

For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

I Corinthians 1: 18-25

No Proof of Life Today

Sorry everyone, no photo today.  I should probably entitle this post "too much proof of  life today."  I need to spend some time elsewhere.

Save your pictures for next week!

Heirloom Seeds

This year I am venturing further into my gardening adventure, starting our crops from heirloom seeds.  I bought our seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, which has a huge variety of non-GMO seeds. They also have one of the most attractive catalogs I've ever seen, and their delivery was very quick.

"The federal government has sponsored research that has produced a tomato that is perfect in every respect, except that you can't eat it.  We should make every effort to make sure this disease, often referred to as 'progress,' doesn't spread." 

Andy Rooney

***I should add for those of you in the SF Bay Area, you can visit their new store in Petaluma, CA.

"Just Some Hand Sewing"

Around this time every year the sewing machine gets cranked up into high gear, the ironing board takes up residence in the den, and the laundry inevitably piles up as my "spare" time is devoted to sewing new Easter clothes.

My sister, Tracy, who has three girls, also makes them new dresses every year, and is currently up to her ears in fabric.  My mom's habits as a seamstress rubbed off on us, and we both enjoy the work.

However, at this time of year we also laugh together about Mom's favorite sewing catchphrase, "just some hand sewing."

Every time she was asked eagerly if a project was almost done, she'd reply with, "Well, I just need to put in the zipper and then it's just some hand sewing."


"After I set in the sleeves, it's just some hand sewing."  She still says it!


Those of you who are seamstresses understand why we laugh.  Hand sewing -- that sewing done away from the machine, with needle and thread -- can be quite time consuming!  It encompasses buttons, tacking, other notions, and hems -- on sleeves, pants, and skirts.  Mom always hemmed everything by hand -- including the epic skirts on prom dresses and wedding gowns -- and this year I have mended my ways and followed her good example. 

Not only is it time consuming, hand sewing requires a lot of attention to detail.  You must make certain that the buttons line up perfectly with their holes and aren't sewn on too tightly.  The wearer needs freedom to be able to button the garment easily, but the button also needs to be strongly affixed to withstand the repeated motion.  The hem needs to be straight and made secure, but not too tightly or it puckers.  The quality of the hand sewing can make or break the appearance of the finished product.

Anyway, back to work.  I have much more than "just some hand sewing" to do.

Abortion and Health Care Reform

Hat tip to JT for this helpful Q&A.

Basically what it says is that the executive order is similar to Michael Scott declaring bankruptcy:

Proof of Life

Menagerie

For an explanation of this series, go here. 

Feel free to add your entry below by entering a link to your post!  Last week we had FIVE participants...a new record.  Thanks everybody!  This is fun.

...aaaaannnnnd That's Why They Call It Madness

My bracket is a mess but who cares when stuff like this happens?!

St. Patrick's Day for Kids

This morning we enjoyed these two short films, and I thought I'd pass them along.

The first is my favorite, because it includes a retelling of Patrick's story by a little Irish girl (a wee lass).  The second is proof positive that the VeggieTales guys are indeed fans of Monty Python.

Slainte

(Slainte means "to your health")
This post was originally published on March 17, 2008

Some Irish toasts and wishes for your day:

May you live to be a hundred years, with one extra year to repent.

May you be in heaven one half hour before the devil knows you're dead.

Here's to your coffin...
May it be built of 100 year old oaks which I will plant tomorrow.

Here's to you as good as you are,

Here's to me as bad as I am,
As good as you are,
And as bad as I am,
I'm as good as you are,
As bad as I am.

An old Irish recipe for longevity:
Leave the table hungry.
Leave the bed sleepy.
Leave the bar thirsty.

May you have warm words on a cold evening,
A full moon on a dark night,
And the road downhill all the way to your door.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The Great Bridge

Over the last two years, David went on a tear and read all of David McCullough's books.  One of his favorites was The Great Bridge, which recounts the building of the Brooklyn Bridge.  Naturally as an engineer he was fascinated to read about the project from beginning to end.

One of the things on our NYC to-do list, then, was to walk over the bridge to Brooklyn and back.

And yes, we brought David McCullough with us.  I was reading 1776 at the time, so we just happened to have a picture with us. 
We are fully aware of our nerdiness.

The views from the bridge are spectacular.

In the center of the bridge, there are plaques recounting the process required to build it.

Here is one commemorating the joining of Brooklyn with Manhattan.

The bridge is dedicated to Emily Roebling, who played a huge role in seeing the project completed.  Her husband and father-in-law were chief engineers; the elder, John, died of tetanus due to an accident at the bridge site, and the younger, Washington, was incapacitated by decompression sickness ("the bends") and was unable to visit the site.  Emily oversaw the building process each day until it was finished.

"Back of Every Great Work We Can Find the Self-Sacrificing Devotion of a Woman"

This is worth clicking on to enlarge.  These statues of the Roeblings are at the base of the bridge on the Brooklyn side.  My husband is attempting to be a part of their little party.

Proof of Life

End of the day

For an explanation of this series, go here.  Feel free to add your entry below by entering a link to your post.  Please remember to enter the url of your post, not your general blog url.

On Tuesday

It snowed.

So we headed here.

The New York Public Library.

This is the entrance to the Rose Reading Room.

Here we sat for an hour or more, reading our books and watching the snow fall all around us.

We also saw the original Winnie-the-Pooh toys, formerly owned by Christopher Robin Milne.  They live in the children's room at the NYPL.

It is a gorgeous building.

Behind the library is Bryant Park, where fashion week was happening.

Despite all my good intentions, I was not able to meet Tim Gunn or feed Rachel Zoe a ding-dong.

I did not eat this but I thought the name was adorable.

We warmed up with some coffee, and headed to the original Macy's.

STORY TIME!

We mailed some postcards from the post office on the top floor of the store.  While we were standing in line, David noticed a sign for a celebration Macy's was hosting in honor of Black History Month.  Al Sharpton was scheduled to appear in about an hour!  So we walked around for an hour while David said, "Let's stay!  Let's stay!  Let's stay!"  and I said, "Areyoukiddingmethatmanmakesmecrazyweneedtogetoutofhere."

We compromised by sitting a little ways away from the proposed site of said celebration on lawn furniture and tried to look inconspicuous.

David watched for the Reverend Al while I watched a movie about making oriental rugs (over his shoulder).

I called my friend Sharon, who told me all the questions she'd ask Reverend Al if she got the chance to speak to him.  Those of you who know Sharon know that I giggled my way through that conversation.

AND...

He never showed.

So we left.

The End.

"Mercy Is the Fragrance of the Broken"

For those of you who might have missed Sandra at the Evening Muse a few weeks back, here's a treat from her new album:

Sandra's new hymns album In Feast or Fallow releases on April 27th.

Meanwhile, you can get a free sampler here.

Famous Movie Quotes Interpreted

My sister gets a hat tip for this one.

The Great Divorce

"Son,'he said,' ye cannot in your present state understand eternity...That is what mortals misunderstand.
They say of some temporal suffering, "No future bliss can make up for it," not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory.
And of some sinful pleasure they say "Let me have but this and I'll take the consequences": little dreaming how damnation will spread back and back into their past and contaminate the pleasure of the sin.
Both processes begin even before death.
The good man's past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of Heaven:
the bad man's past already conforms to his badness and is filled only with dreariness.
And that is why...the Blessed will say "We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven, :
and the Lost, "We were always in Hell."
And both will speak truly."

— CS Lewis, The Great Divorce

Proof of Life

Bad Week for Willow Trees

For an explanation of this series, go here.  Feel free to add your entry below by entering a link to your post.  Please remember to enter the url of your post, not your general blog url.

THANK YOU for all those of you who have participated or wished to participate!  I'm opening the linky for two days now, so hopefully more of you can link up before it closes late Tuesday night.

The Definition of Kitsch

kitsch  (kch)

n.

1. Sentimentality or vulgar, often pretentious bad taste, especially in the arts: "When money tries to buy beauty it tends to purchase a kind of courteous kitsch" (William H. Gass).

2. An example or examples of kitsch.

adj.

Of, being, or characterized by kitsch: "The kitsch kitchen ... has aqua-and-white gingham curtains and rubber duck-yellow walls painted in a fried-egg motif" (Suzanne Cassidy).

Dear Charlotte,

We've lived together now for over five years, and I think we've become quite familiar.  I am starting to understand your major roads and highways.  I even know how to get to that corner of the city where the highways don't go.  I find NoDa quite charming and can honestly say it's a regular visit for me.  I know why downtown is called Uptown.  I have visited the Levine Museum of the New South and have taken in your history from textiles to banking.

I understand that a big piece of your history and commerce comes from NASCAR.  I drive by the speedway on a regular basis -- so much so that its size and scope don't amaze me anymore.  I've even been to pole night once, and I have enjoyed Speed Street on a few occasions.

And yes, NASCAR is the only major sport that has completely sold itself out to sponsors.  Every inch of every uniform is covered in ads.  The cars are plastered with logos.  Even Pole Night was sponsored by someone, though it slips my mind which business it was.  It's really part of the culture to reference your chosen sponsors and drink their beverage in front of the cameras.

HOWEVER.

Is it really necessary to have a sponsor's name on the baggage claim conveyors at the airport?  REALLY?!

And then, as if that weren't enough, to put ACTUAL BOJANGLES BISCUITS ON THE CONVEYOR?

You think it's clever and kitschy, don't you?  You had visions of white pasty Northern tourists coming south for a week in the sun and saying, "Oh look, the biscuits are coming out the oven/baggage area!  Isn't that CHARMING, dear?!"

Can you listen to a little friendly advice?  REMOVE THEM.

Charlotte, you will never truly become a world-class city if this continues.  I was horrified to see this display as I returned home from a weeklong stay in one of the world's greatest cities, New York.  They do not have biscuits on their luggage conveyors at LaGuardia.  They do not even have cheesecakes on them.  San Francisco International Airport does not have sourdough bread on their conveyors, either.

There are two things you need, in my opinion, to better yourself as a city.  One is some sort of large manmade body of water in center city.  Every great city has some water somewhere.  Just move Panthers' stadium or something.

The other thing you need is TO GET RID OF THOSE BISCUITS.

Sincerely,
Kelly

New York in Food

WARNING: big giant food closeups ahead. If you are feeling hungry, good luck with that. If you are feeling nauseous, you might want to come back tomorrow.

David's dessert at Perilla -- cheesecake in the background, strawberry with meringue in the foreground

Pastrami on rye from the Carnegie Deli

Best pizza of my whole entire life from Grimaldi's in Brooklyn.  I watched them make it and took notes.

Gray's Papaya -- the orange drink was good but I didn't get the big fuss over their hot dogs.  Mediocre.

My breakfast at Cafe Lalo:  steamed eggs with mushrooms and fresh herbs.

David's breakfast from Cafe Lalo:  I think there were about eight eggs in there.  We counted.

I thought this was a nice touch:  Cafe Lalo gives you a Toblerone with your GIANT coffee.

 

Sorry about the glare here.  The classic Black and White cookie.

 

Reuben from Katz's Deli.

Who is that angry-looking woman standing by the Seinfeld restaurant?  Oh, it's me.  We did eat here...and I learned that not only do they have the Seinfeld claim to fame, they also are the restaurant that inspired the song "Tom's Diner."  Remember the one where Suzanne Vega says "doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo..." about a million times?

(by the way, you are SO WELCOME for putting that song in your head for the rest of the day)

This is down the block from Tom's Restaurant.  We did not eat here but naturally I had to take a picture of the pub owned by my people.

(sidenote:  LOOK AT THOSE POOR WOMEN!  Women of New York, I have to hand it to you.  You manage to look cute and trendy in the harshest of conditions.)

Then It Was Monday

Monday was our last day with Ed and Katie, so we got busy having fun!

Proof of Life

Beads.

For an explanation of this series, go here.  Please feel free to add your entry below by entering a link to your post!