Me and Technology

Okay, rather, me and power/transfer/charger cords.
What is it about them that causes them to slip into a black hole the second I take my eyes off them?
I have some lovely pictures to share of our time spent in the Holy Land this week.
Well, on the miniature Holy Land Relief Map at the Chautauqua Institution :-). The pictures were supposed to be the punch line, but
Sigh.
You know me and technology.

This Little Light of Mine

I'm gonna let it shine...

Here are some more Martinmas Moments to enjoy!

The campfire "down below" was so much fun. I love the way a campfire smells, looks and sounds. I am quite grateful that Ian is growing up in an environment where being around such fires is commonplace. (Unlike this former city mouse!)




And speaking of letting your light shine...These are just about the Most Shiny Happy People I know.

Our First Annual Martinmas Lantern Walk

We were so blessed to have family and friends together to celebrate the Feast of St. Martin of Torres. Because of scheduling, we got together the Tuesday after the holiday...and because we were a few days late, we were able to not only enjoy some seasonable but mild weather, but a gorgeous star-filled sky and our very own Northern Lights Show as well.

Everyone gathered at our house at dinner time. We enjoyed some homemade soup and listened to a reading about St. Martin, the beggar to whom he reached out, his subsequent vision of our Lord wearing the very cloak he gave the beggar, and the meaning of the gospel truth "When you did it to the least of my brothers, you did it to me."

After everyone's hunger was satisfied, we made our way outside for the Lighting of our Lanterns and a lovely walk through the fields above our home. We climbed higher than I had expected, but the view of the sky and the lights from there was just magical and so worth the extra steps. Even Canucu came along and kept up with the two-legged friends.

Once we had made our way back down and around, we headed "down below" to our picnic pavilion for a campfire and s'mores.

The Happy Couple got to share the Good News once again...

Pete and Sarom Lighting some of the lanterns...

Northern Lights!

"Down Below" for the campfire and treats...

Ya know, I wish that I had Jesse's Tree...

I wish that I had Jesse's tree... Why can't I find a tree like that?

Well, this year, Im making our own Jesse Tree. I havent participated in the making of one of these since I was in grade school at St. Matthew's School in Baltimore, Maryland.
This is my first at-home Jesse Tree and Im not going it alone. Thanks the the amazing women at 4 real learning forums
(http://4real.thenetsmith.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=16130&PN=1) I was able to take part in a Jesse Tree swap. Each of us is creating 28 of the same ornament and one very generous lady in DC will be putting them all together into kits for us to use at home, each kit having twenty-eight unique ornaments. The ornaments featured on the Jesse Tree are:

Earth
Apple & Snake
Mary
Ark & Rainbow
Camel & Tent
Lamb
Colorful Coat
Doorway With blood
Tablet With 10 Numbers
Cluster of Grapes
Stick With bronze serpent
Whale
Sheaf of Wheat
Slingshot
Scroll
Stump With Leaf
Lion & Lamb together
Dove & Crown
Shepherd’s Staff
Cross
Heart With Writing
Bethlehem
Fiery Furnace
Brick Wall
Star
Candle or Light
Angel
Baby in Manger

Each represents a passage in the Bible where Jesus was either referred to in prophecy or a part of His life. Here's what I gathered together to make my contribution:


And here's what I made:


I admit it, I chose the simplest one I possibly could. (Even though the Coat of Many Colors was calling out my name.) What with the wedding coming up on Friday and oh let's see...a chuppah yet to be completed, food for forty odd people to make and several dozen origami cranes still existing in only two dimensions as I type this, I felt that participating alone was going to be a stretch, so I better keep it simple.
Im very proud to say my ornaments have already reached DC and are awaiting processing this very moment. I will be certain to include some pictures of all the ornaments when they arrive. We are working on a gorgeous Advent Wreath in New York and I hope to have pictures posted of that and our Martinmas Lantern Walk (which featured Surprise Guest Appearance by none other than the fabulous Northern Lights!) soon.

Look for them soon. Peace. And hey, thanks for checking in.
Heather

Why is this woman smiling?

Here's the scenario:
It's Sunday afternoon. She has to be at work (where she will stay for thirteen hours) in a matter of hours and has not rested today. After driving to two different locations so that her darling little one could get his creative anachronism on (so to speak), she found that both meetings of the SCA had been aborted due to "the cold" (where did these people grow up, anyway?) and while she did get to see some interesting sites like this:


And some downright adorable ones like this:

I really think her being so happy has something to do with this:


Yes! (Yay!) We are having a baby! (And Ive got the twenty seven pregnancy tests to prove it.)

We are just so ecstatic and blown away that we have been given the opportunity to be caretakers for another wondrous miracle.

Throwing up pictures...so to speak

Happy All Souls! We are caught up in a whirlwind here but there's some serious baking going down. Will write more over the weekend, but please enjoy the images of us making soul cakes and day of the dead cookies.
-H

This little guy in the apron is Ian. I found a soul cake recipe online and we followed it...except I changed the white flour to whole wheat pastry flour and added some chopped black walnuts to some of the cakes. When they were finished cooking, I was disappointed to find they had not risen so much as a centimeter. We powder-sugared them anyway and ate them after returning from mass on Thursday night...and lo and behold it turns out they were DELICIOUS and perfect for dunking in milk or coffee. They had the grainy consistency of a shortbread cookie but were just sweet enough to be fantastic with a little bit of jam or nutella spread on them. So, even though the recipe didn't turn out anywhere near the way it was supposed to, it's still a keeper.

These are some of the Mexican Sugar Skull Cookies we made. I used my mom's tried-and-true sugar cookie recipe, cutting the sugar by half and subsituting almond extract for the vanilla she uses. I figured it was fitting, given marzipan's presence in the traditional celebration. We did two trays with lots of decoration and one tray with just the names of our friends and loved ones who have gone on before us written on them. I think my mom got a little choked up. I have to admit, this was more meaningful to me than I had initially anticipated. I definitely plan to do this every year.

Loved-ones remembered.


Ian fashions his cake to look like a donut...

Oh How I Want to Be in That Number...

When the SPOON SAINTS go marching in!
What a great All Saints Day craft! It requires some basic craft spoons or tongue depressors, construction paper or cardstock, magic markers and glue... and your imagination. Here's who we made today: St. Therese de Lisieux, Mary, Saint Michael the Archangel and Saint Francis.






And here we have Mother Theresa and her namesake. Don't they look happy together!



This was such a fun craft, and really simple. Thanks to the ladies at 4real learning forums for the how-to.
Stay tuned for soul cakes and Day of the Dead Sugar Cookies.
Peace,
Heather

Click Here for something completely different.

Physics is so not my forte.
So, this little toy is demonstrating to my son the laws of physics. Yes, our planet does that quite nicely as well, but this little gem makes you laugh out loud at the same time.
Try it! It is not as simple as you might imagine.

Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's

But render the Junior Mints and Reese's Cups unto MAMA!

We have another really lovely time trick-or-treating and celebrating at Tina's house this year. I snuck off to the Princess and the Pea bed to grab a short rest before going in to work at eleven o'clock, but not before enjoying going door-to-door with Ian and eating some of the wonderful food she had prepared for us. (And my mother's Amazing Maryland Crab Dip...and that doesnt mean "Maryland Style"...she's from Maryland, the crabs were from Maryland and the dip is out-o-this-world!)

So, another day of fun and spooky treats has come and gone. I wish I had a picture of the "ghost" I fashioned out of a pack of snackwell cookies, a piece of kleenex and some scotch tape for Erin, who relieved me at work at four am so I could get home and snooze a bit before Ian woke up. It was quite a masterpiece.

This year, the fun doesnt end on Halloween. Quite the contrary. We are going to be making some terrific All Saints and All Souls goodies today: Soul Cakes for dessert tonite and Mexican Day of the Dead Sugar Skull Cookies for tomorrow. (You can pretty much rest assured that I am cutting the sugar in the sugar cookie recipe by HALF. Enough is enough, after all.)

Have a wonderful All Saints. Light a candle for me,

H