The End of Roses

My mother volunteered to arrange flowers for church on Sunday. She has the flower arranging gift. She also has an eye to spot flowers around town going begging, so we stopped at a local retirement home (where she'd already asked permission), and she snipped a bunch of late red roses. It's a massive bush of "Knock-out" roses.

It was windy, so please excuse her wild hair. She's grinning at an elderly lady, sitting in the walkway. Mother is very friendly, particularly with old ladies. For some reason, she's not one yet. I'm not exactly sure why. Well, she is occasionally an Old Lady when she's at the grocery store, and she needs someone to get something for her that's way over by the milk aisle. But that's deliberate.

One of the blossoms:

I still have the orange rose that Peter gave me at the football game over a week ago. I took its picture, after one week, and see how well it lasted!

Today it was finally flagging and drooping, so I removed it from the water and hung it upside down to dry.

I love shadows made by late autumn light.

Mother brought her flowers home from church. We're having the ladies' circle meeting here at the house tomorrow, so she's "fluffed" them up, and there they are, pretty as ever, on her dining table. We're at the end of the roses for this year, but we're making the most of it!

And if any of you church ladies are reading this, please come to circle tomorrow! Adam is making his blueberry scones, and they'll be fresh and warm from the oven -- yummy!

Blogasbord

Some interesting reads here. I hope you enjoy:

Most of the Unemployed No Longer Receive Benefits -- A discouraging article from Fox about how many Americans are still unemployed, and that their unemployment benefits have run out. It's important to remember that so many of the unemployed are not even counted in the statistics, ever -- anyone who didn't lose a job (college grads) or anyone whose employer did not pay into the unemployment benefit fund. Many people fall into this category. Thus, the true unemployment number is much higher than 9% -- probably closer to 13 or 14 %. All these unemployed people who aren't receiving benefits anymore?  They're no longer counted in the unemployment number either.

Herman Cain & Newt Gingrich video -- If you don't do anything else, please go to this site and watch the video. I like it particularly b/c they are allowed time to really talk and explain their ideas and passions, their plans and policies. They are polite and gentlemanly to each other; I'm so sick of the wrangling and meanness in these debates! It's not really a debate, just a leisurely discussion. We need more of this, and less of the finger-pointing. The men felt free to say when they fully agreed with each other. Newt is smart and articulate, but his personal life is a bit scary to me.

G20 Summit Fails -- If the whole debacle of Europe's economic plight is confusing to you, this article might help. I'm glad Congress clamped down on Obama and told him, "We can't help right now!" They need to clean up their own messes.


Poverty Analysis is Wrong -- I found this article interesting and illuminating. US Gov't evaluations of poverty statistics has been erroneous. In examining poor people, they don't take into account the entitlement benefits they're receiving. So, some of our "poor" are actually doing rather well, and some people who don't get entitlements at all, are probably doing worse. Worth reading.


Economic Inequality Is the Wrong Issue -- A friend recommended this one. Basically the writer says that our problem in the US isn't that some people have less stuff, it's that some people are more stuck in their economic pig sty. They can't move. He says "economic mobility" is the real issue, that people won't be dissatisfied with poverty if they know they can move out of it. If they feel stuck (and stuck by someone else's doing), then they get really mad. He makes one fascinating point about the increase of "poor households" in the US -- when couples divorce and have to make their income cover two houses instead of one, both houses automatically become poorer. Divorce makes the nation poorer.

Where are the Men? -- For all the lonely Christian women out there, this is a good read. For all the hiding Christian men, this is useful too. Where are the godly men? Why are our churches not producing them? Why aren't they marrying? He addresses some of these questions.

Chai

When did I first drink chai? I think it was January, 2005. I was staying for a few days with a family from Somalia, and the wife of the family made a delicious breakfast beverage. To put it in crass but accurate terms, I was an instant addict. "What is this?" I asked her. "Chai," she said.

Chai. I thought it was some exotic African drink. Later I found that the word means simply "tea." In other parts of the world, whole nations drink this creamy, sweet, spiced black tea, all the time.

But outside a Somali household, I had no idea where to find this liquor of the gods in 2005, so I forgot about it until I moved to Massachusetts, and my dear friend Annie re-introduced me to chai. It was the salvation of my sanity on many an early, icy morning before a classroom of students. A huge mug of Tazo chai with raw sugar and half-and-half. I must have drunk barrels of the stuff that winter.

Yes, I started with Tazo chai, and it's still my favorite:

But Tazo is expensive, and when we're short on funds, or when friends give me tea (as they sometimes do), I end up drinking other chai brands. At Ingles yesterday, a box of 20 Tazo tea bags cost $3.98 on sale. Usual price was somewhere under $4.50 a box.

I've also tried Stash chai:

 And Good Earth chai:

I found both of these to be too strong, too "hot" in the spicy way. They didn't give me the smooth, delicious taste of Tazo. Perhaps they put too much pepper in their recipe; I don't know.

Yesterday, I noticed that Celestial Seasonings is now also offering chai:

A box of 20 bags cost $3.48. Some savings over the Tazo. I came close to buying it, but (I have to admit) I've never been really wild about Celestial Seasonings teas. They do the back-to-nature thing. If you like a zippy Red Zinger or an herbal tea, this brand's for you. I wondered if their chai would be too strong, or otherwise off-putting to my palate.

I've always been more of a Twinings girl, myself. I like a tea company that still sells metal tins of loose tea; they seem serious about their beverages. So I drifted down to the Twinings offerings, and low-and-behold, they now have chai also. Everybody is making chai!

And it was on sale for $3.00! So I bought a box. Hooray for Twinings!

I made a nice warm pot of chai last night, complete with raw sugar and cream. It was lovely.  But ... it wasn't quite as good as Tazo, in my opinion. Perhaps it's just that Tazo was the the chai I "cut my teeth" on back in Massachusetts. I don't know, but nothing else tastes quite the same. This indicates that the making of chai is a tricky, complex process.  I looked up chai recipes online, and found this website. Very nice website. And for goodness sake, look at this chai recipe:
Boil 5 minutes, then steep 10 minutes:

1 Tbsp fennel or anise seed
6 green cardamom pods
12 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1/4" ginger root, sliced thin
1/4 tsp black pepper corns
2 bay leaves
7 Cups water

Add, bring to a boil, and simmer 5 minutes:
2 Tbsp Darjeeling tea

Add:
6 Tbsp honey or brown sugar
1 Cup milk

Yum! 

I would never make that recipe because I loathe the flavor of anise and fennel. But that's quite a "witch's brew," as they say. The front of the Twinings box says that they use cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and ginger as their spices. Personally, I'd stick to those four.

And, of course, when I mentioned all this to Adam, his first comment was a confident, "Well, we can make that at home!"  He would think that.

Julia's Art

Like I said, today Julia did some art, so I thought I'd share it with you. This is a crayon drawing she did a few days ago. I thought it was especially good. I like her shading.

This is just a little picture she did in one part of a page. It's my parents' bird feeder, with a competition between a squirrel and a bird. It hangs outside the dining room window. I like the sense of motion she achieves, especially in the bird.

Today, she decided to paint a fall tree. At first, she just had the tree and background, in a long oval in the middle of the paper. I like the way she did the base of the tree and the little leaves, although the color is fun too.

But then she decided to fill in around the edges. She wanted an angel, holding up the initial tree section. See the angel on the bottom left. She included various religious scenes on the left. On the right, she included scary scenes -- kind of a Medieval contrast of heaven and hell, if you know that kind of thing. I think that's a demon in brown down there. The two boxes represent the two worst moments of her life (she said), which (unfortunately) have both occurred within the last year. Sigh. When adults behave badly, it leaves a big impact on a child. (And no, those are not her parents in those boxes!)

I don't have the foggiest notion what the child will do with her art, but she sure does enjoy doing it!

On Keeping Up with Old People

Phew! Today I took the day off! It's hard to keep up with these retirees, y'know?

They are so busy all the time, because they don't go to work anymore. It's enough to wear out a middle-aged person! Each day there is some little, relaxing, friendly meeting or event to go to. They're all lovely. You don't want to miss a one. But, bundled all together, they will wear you to a frazzle, as my dead grandmother used to say.

So yesterday evening, on the way home from church (which nearly spent me entirely), I told Julia that today, I was taking the day off. (She said "hooray!!!")

So I did. I spent most of the day with my feet generally in this position:

I slept in late, read some Angela Thirkell and giggled lightly, ate breakfast late, edited one small chapter of my children's novel (which remains in progress; don't get your hopes up), watched the Ciaran Hinds version of Jane Eyre that had arrived in the mail from Netflix, and am now enjoying the aromas of supper wafting up the stairs. I informed Adam last night that he was in charge of supper today. Sweet guy :)

There's just too much fun going on, but I don't have the emotional energy for it, all the time. Besides, I need to save up for the whole holiday season, because I don't want to miss one tiny bit of that fun!!

Julia had an "art day." I haven't been as diligent as I intended about giving her time to paint and draw, so today we made up for it. Besides, she's reading Robinson Crusoe, read "Rip Van Winkle," earlier this week, and is memorizing Milton's "When I Consider." When it's time to worry about her falling behind, I'll let you know -- heehee! She found Jane Eyre "creepy," so her Gothic-meter is in good repair.

Tomorrow I must go to town with my mother for the day to shop. I need a good night's sleep; she's tough to keep up with!

"Tubal-Cain," Chapter 4

Here's the link to Chapter 4 of Adam's book, Tubal-Cain. Meet Methusaleh as a young man, "sent out to war."

Paths

I walked a bit this afternoon. Along the way, I picked up maple leaves. We're having a ladies dinner tonight, so they're gracing the table:

Paths wander around this neighborhood. The path to a dear friend's home is always happy and familiar.

Some paths are so beautiful, they invite you in.

This broad path goes past the home of friends who've moved away. I miss them.

I walked to a neighbor's home for prayer time today with the ladies. My mother's urn is empty now, but still elegant in its ivy robes.

Our neighbor has a Christmas cactus in glorious display! What an impressive color!

She has a great collection of (of all things) pencil sharpeners. They are adorable. This is only a part of the collection.

November 1st. The autumn sky is still vibrant blue, and many leaves still clutch stubbornly to their branches. They're holding out for more wind, I suppose.

The table for tonight:  My mother is a great cook, and our ladies dinners (the men all meet together at a local restaurant) is such fun! Sometimes it's just one friend, sometimes three or more.

And if you're wondering about the black gum tree, here's the latest.