Friday Five: Recommendation Edition

revkjarla at RevGalBlogPals posts:
"So, it's the time of year I get inundated with requests for recommendations for students that are looking to be camp counselors.  So in honor of camp counselors everywhere, today's Friday Five is the Recommendation edition  (which has nothing to do with camp or summer or anything--work with me, it's late....)"

1.   Recommend a favorite worship resource or devotional book. 

I move around a bit and don't normally need worship resources since I'm a layperson. I keep coming back to Phyllis Tickle's three books on praying the hours, though.

2.   Recommend a blog that you like to read that you think others might find enjoyable.
Here's one you probably don't know: Music You (Possibly) Won't Hear Anyplace Else. Old vinyl records, including Sunday Morning Gospel -- the blogger is an Episcopalian with a secret love for old time gospel groups.
3.   Recommend a fiction book that you think people might like.
Plainsong by Deborah Grabien. A different take on the Jesus story that you may love or hate, but which will give you a lot to ponder. She's a good writer, too, who also writes some great music-themed mysteries.
4.   Recommend a favorite recipe website.   O.k., if you aren't into cooking or food, then just recommend a random website that you find useful, hilarious, mind numbing or thought provoking. 
Boringly enough, I generally use Allrecipes.com when I need to remember how to make something or come up with a way to use ingredients on hand -- that feature is quite useful.
5.  And for the last recommendation--it's bloggers' choice!  Make a recommendation for anything!
Sisterfilms and I really enjoyed a made-for-BBCTV movie called Nativity! with Martin Freeman. An English schoolteacher must direct the school Nativity play and tells people his old girlfriend is coming back from LA to film it. Hijinks ensue, and the film is both funny and inspiring. Good one to watch when you're planning next year's Christmas pageant.

Friday Five: The Season You’re In

kathrynzj at RevGalBlogPals writes:

“Headquarters for me is the northeast of the United States. Here school is getting back in session, the tease of autumn is in the air (or the hope for the tease of autumn is in the air) and church life is gearing up to full throttle.

One thing I've learned with blogging and social media is that the where I live is not necessarily where you live. And so I want to know what September means to you, in your place of the world and time in your life.

This week's Friday Five is:

What are 5 things that the beginning of September mean to you?

1. Putting up a new desktop wallpaper! I got this pretty one from www.kate.net. It’s a misty moisty morning today, just as in this photo, although I’d have to go inland a bit to see mountains like this.

2. Back to school: this is the first September in many, many years that none of my kids are in any kind of schooling, but Onkel Hankie Pants and I will be starting weekly tax classes next week so in a way we’re the ones going back to school. No new clothes are required, however. Back to school also means the return of the college students to our town, just about the time most of the summer people leave. We grumble, but we’re grateful to have them.

3. I love the cooler weather – the shortening of the days, not so much. Soon we will be seeing the autumn leaves, and the air is already crisper.

4. September means it’s time for the autumn playlist. One of my favorite fall songs is “Fall Is Here” by Charlie Maguire, the Singing Ranger of Minnesota. You can hear a sample and buy his recordings by going to www.charliemaguire.com. And then there are the classics like this one:

Les Feuilles Mortes by Yves Montand, 1951.

5. Apples! And the return of Maine apple cider – the last few weeks the market seems to have run out and Onkel Hankie Pants has had to buy New York State cider.

Bonus: Something I don’t like so much: the consciousness of time passing and time getting away from me. It seems only yesterday I was enjoying the first forsythias and daffodils, now we are seeing some leaves beginning to change, soon it will be winter. I’m hoping the autumn of my life can last a while longer.

Rainy Day Friday Five

Sally at RevGalBlogPals, who lives in the UK, has a day off, but it’s raining.Instead of an outdoor activity she will be heading to an art gallery. So she asks:

What do you do on a rainy summer’s day?

1. At home?

We had a rainy day yesterday, and are in for some more this weekend as Hurricane Irene is expected to pay us a visit. I think we are all more likely to take naps on rainy days, and to put off outdoor projects and even indoor projects in favor of reading or watching a movie … or napping. But the dog still must be walked, rain or not – and he doesn’t seem to mind it, or any weather, much.

2. In your local area?

Here’s what I wouldn’t do: go shopping, at least not at Outlet Shopping Mecca in the next town. Because that’s what the summer people do when they encounter a rainy day during their Maine vacation. If we needed entertainment, we’d probably go to a community theater production or a public supper.

3. If you are away on holiday?

Mosrt of the things I would enjoy doing on a holiday are not weather-dependent; I’d put off the outdoor sight-seeing and enjoy being with people, reading, cooking if facilities were available, or visiting some kind of museum.

4. Name a rainy day read.

Well, yesterday I finished reading Gardens of Delight by Erica James. It’s a “women’s fiction” novel set partly in Cheshire and partly at Lake Como in Italy, and most of the characters are keen gardeners. So there are descriptions of both rain and sunshine, and lots of flowers, trees, and fruit, as well as the multiple human interactions. I rather like rain so reading about rain when it’s raining doesn’t depress me. Then in the evening Sisterfilms and I watched It Happened One Night, which has some great scenes with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert getting thoroughly rain-drenched.

5. Is there a piece of music/ a poem/ story that cheers you up?

I have a long playlist of Rainy Day Songs. I’m thinking now of all our friends in Texas and other places who would love to see a rainy day, so here’s a song for them,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFNRglWwcKg&feature=related
Bonus: post a rainy day photo!

Had I but known, I could have taken one yesterday! Instead I’ll post one of Onkel Hankie Pants’ photos from a long-ago trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Our friends are looking at a rainbow, so the caption is Genesis

9:13-17.

Friday Five: Road Trip

Jan at RevGalBlogPals writes:

My husband and I just returned (on Wednesday night) from a long road trip up the middle USA to Canada, going through various national parks, and on to the Puget Sound of Washington State. This brought back memories of family road trips with my children and when I was a child, so the idea of today's Friday Five arose.
Tell us about five road trips--in your childhood, in your family, in your recent past, with friends, and/or hoped-for-places-to-drive-to. Don't forget the one that stands out as the BEST or as the worst time.

1. The first road trip I remember was in the spring of 1955 when my parents, four younger siblings, and I drove from El Paso, Texas to Bowdoinham, Maine, with a stop in Norwalk, Ohio “on the way.” My father had orders for Germany, to which we’d follow in about 6 months, so he ws taking some leave time to take us back to our little house in Maine where we’d await our port call. I don’t remember what kind of car we had other than it was a sedan of some kind. My eldest younger brother sat in front because he had a tendency to get car-sick. I was in back with the twins, who were about 2 1/2, and baby brother who was just about to turn one. The space between the front and back seats was filled with footlockers padded with blankets. I’m not sure about the diapers – I think disposables were just becoming available and we may have used those some of the time, but I also seem to recall a diaper pail and occasional stops at laundromats.

We did some sight-seeing along the way – I remember a stop at a scary snake farm – and sampled indigenous cuisine such as catfish-flavored grilled cheese sandwiches in the Ozarks. The visit to Norwalk was to see my aunt’s family, which included my one same-age cousin, and was a welcome respite from the road. When we arrived back in Maine at last, I remember my parents pointing out damage from the previous fall’s hurricane. I think it was a good trip.

2. After our return from Germany, we lived for several years in southern Connecticut, about a six-hour drive from home in Maine, so there were several trips a year. My mother would make sandwiches (to this day I dislike egg salad; I preferred when she would make “Italians” as we call them here); my parents would have a big thermos of coffee, and I suppose we kids had something to drink too. The clearest memory of these trips is the landmarks we looked for – East Rock and West Rock in New Haven, which meant we were really on our way; the various giant billboards and advertising statues just north of Boston; the fourteen (I think( underpasses of New Hampshire, and then the bridge across the Piscataqua from New Hampshire to Maine, which cost a dime. I would begin to feel at home as soon as the first toll-booth attendant said “Thank YOU sah!” but the twins did not ever believe we were in Maine until the smell of woodsmoke wafted through the car windows. When we got to our road, since nearly everyone who lived on it was a relative, my father would honk the horn at every house we passed until we arrived at my grandparents’ house, where Grampie’s dog Dinah would rush out to welcome us.

3. When we went to Germany again in the mid-60s, I hung out at the post library a lot. The librarian and I became friends and the summer before my senior year we took a little road trip in her VW Beetle. Since we were in Stuttgart, we took a wonderful trip around Bavaria to the south, visiting Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Oberammergau, and two of Mad King Ludwig’s castles, Schoss Linderhof and Schloss Neuschwanstein (the latter the model for Sleeping Beauty’s Castle). We also got as far as Lake Constance and looked across to Switzerland. At night we would stop wherever we were and find a Gasthaus mit Zimmer Frei – I just remember one town, Bad Kohlgrub, the name of which my parents found hysterically funny. Riding through the Bavarian Alps was a bit scary for me but we sang folksongs and musical theatre numbers which distracted acrophobic me at least a bit. It was a great trip.

4. Our third Christmas together, Onkel Hankie Pants and I headed for Maine from southern Minnesota, in our little Austin America. Our first child was on the way. I had checked out the Mobil Travel Guide from the library and planned a route through Toledo, Ohio (our first stop) and then a stop in Fairfield, Connecticut to see my friends whose families still lived there. In Toledo we even had a motel reservation – unfortunately in the same motel where some bowling club was having a loud Christmas party. Not much sleep there. Driving through the Poconos in a slushy snowstorm was interesting, to say the least. Also, the muffler gave up the ghost so our stop in Connecticut included a visit to the muffler shop; as I recall, the repair didn’t exactly work and the Wisconsin-Minnesota portion of our return trip was a little noisy. However, we had a fine time in Connecticut even though we all went to see a Bergman film, and a wonderful Christmas in Maine.

This is a picture of the Austin; imagine it bright orange.

5. I’ve enjoyed many road trips since, and hope to have a few more, but the one that stands out is a “shunpike” tour we took when our son was 4 years old. With the help of Jane and Michael Stern’s book Roadfood and a few other guidebooks, we planned a fun and educational trip. (And I know my daughters are jealous now. There are advantages to being the eldest.) Some highlights of the trip included visiting the reproduction of the Ingalls family cabin in Pepin, Wisconsin (we had already read all of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books to SonShineIn), followed by riding the ducks at Wisconsin Dells. We went swimming in Lake Michigan at Indiana Dunes State Park, rode a barge on the Erie Canal (where SonShineIn covered himself with glory by loudly bursting into “I’ve got a mule, her name is Sal, Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal” unprompted); and on the return trip, Niagara Falls. Below, a few photos from that trip.

Indiana Dunes State Park

Onkel Hankie Pants and SonShineIn at the Ingalls cabin reproduction in Pepin, WI.

Looking back, I can’t remember a road trip that I didn’t enjoy most of the time. I’ve been fortunate in my traveling companions!

Friday Five: Books!

Jan at RevGalBlogPals says: "I hope some of you received books for Christmas presents; I did and have been reading ever since. Then I discovered a new author from those recommendations that pop up on Amazon.com. Instead of buying those books, I've been checking them out at the library, which will not help Amazon's future recommendations for me at all.

So tell us what you're reading, what you would and would not recommend--five books or authors! "

I'm currently reading mostly mysteries, and as a relaxation method after a day doing taxes, I recommend the "cozy" kind. I read Roberta Isleib's first in a series, Preaching to the Corpse, as the Connecticut entry in my "A Mystery for Every State" project, and just finished her second in that series, Asking for Murder. The protagonist is a psychologist/advice counselor, Rebecca Butterman, who lives in Guilford, CT and works in New Haven. I thought I'd guessed "whodunnit" and was completely wrong!

I also enjoyed Mary Stanton's Angel's Advocate, which is set in Savannah and has a bit of "woo-woo" (supernatural) about it as well as Southern charm.

A very different type of book was S.J. Bolton's third thriller, Blood Harvest. Like her previous ones, it's set in an isolated rural area of the British isles and there is local folklore and some heavy-duty

dysfunction and just plain scary stuff. I also enjoy police procedurals and in this country Michael Connelly is one of the best writers of those -- I recently read his third Harry Bosch novel, The Concrete Blonde. I do read non-fiction, and am currently making my way through John Keegan's The First World War. As Keegan is a military historian, there's a lot about troop movements which my poor grasp of spatial relations makes problematical for me, but it's still good. I received James McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom, about the Civil War, for Christmas, so that will be my next Big History book.

I did not read every word, but skimmed through Molly O'Neill's One Big Table, a huge American regional cookbook and food history. I was ambivalent. It's got lots of great stuff in it, but it's just too darn big to read comfortably (weighs 5 1/2 lbs!!) and the recipes were a little quirky for my taste -- aebleskiver with blue cheese??? -- and often called for ingredients that are hard to find if one doesn't live in NYC or whatever particular ethnic enclave might have, say, pomegranate molasses on every store shelf. I wouldn't spend the $50 for it but might check it out of the library again -- it's a good book for libraries to have, I'd say.

I do post reviews of my reading on Goodreads.

Friday Five: Here Comes 2011!

Singing Owl at RevGalBlogPals says today: “I'm not a big fan of New Year's resolutions, but it does seem a good time for some reflection and planning. For the last few days I keep thinking of Psalm 90:12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Among other things, that seems to say that reflection is in order if we want to learn and grow.

For some of us, this has been an incredibly difficult year; for others it has been a year of many joys. For all of us, there have been challenges and questions and there have been blessings and--maybe even an answer or two! As we say our goodbyes to 2010 and look towards 2011, share with us five blessings from 2010 along with five hopes or dreams for 2011.”

Hmm, Singing Owl, that sounds like a Friday Ten to me! But I’ll play anyway.

First the blessings:

1. Being part of my daughter’s ordination this past October. I might say with the Grateful Dead, “What a long, strange trip it’s been.” I’ve heard ministers say that they felt their call very early in life; I don’t think this was the case with Cordeliaknits, but I do know that spiritual matters have always been a concern of hers from earliest childhood. I’m grateful that after exploring other ways, she returned to the path we raised her in for her ministry, but I know she would have served God and her fellow humans one way or another.

2. Celebrating the centennial of the church we belonged to for nearly 30 years. This was a wonderful mixture of old and new. It was great to see old friends and past ministers, but it was also heartening to see the changes in the five years since we left for Maine: a beautifully renovated sanctuary, a new young minister settling into his pastorate, and best of all, active new members. Of course, the highlight of the celebration service for me was the premiere of an anthem and hymn composed by a friend with text by Onkel Hankie Pants, and the warm reception it got.

3. Now for something more mundane: seven months of work with the Decennial Census, in the office in Portland. Not only did it help pay for the travel to #s 1, 2, and 4, but we met a lot of interesting people and enjoyed listening to audiobooks during our daily commute. It did cut into the blogging and reading time, though.

4. A yearly blessing that I hope will continue for years to come was my week at the beach with my oldest friends in May. Sun, shrimp, strawberries and good talk; watching the sun rise while listening to birdsong; and a week with a very UN-full agenda – priceless.

5. So many more I can’t count them! My family and friends; the town I live in, with all its troubles, yet filled with hope for the future; my town’s great public library, in walking distance; year-round farmers’ markets, a great local meat market, fresh seafood; the theatre of seasons; the rich cultural life of Midcoast Maine, including the chance to see OHP in a few productions every year; public suppers and good restaurants when we don’t feel like cooking; yes, even the dog.

Hopes and dreams:

1. That our younger daughter Sisterfilms, who’s moving in with us next week, will find both paying work and her creative voice here, and not get too exasperated with her aging parents and their unruly dog. (And that her 16-year-old cat will find some accommodation with said dog.)

2. That I live life more intentionally each day. This doesn’t necessarily mean a daily to-do list, but I would like to end each day feeling I’ve accomplished something. For me this would include some blogging, some reading and reflecting on what I’ve read, some genealogy research and, more important, sharing that research with my family. I’m not planning on checking out any time soon, but I’d like to leave something behind when I do go.

3. Health. This is one of the things I really need to be intentional about: checking blood pressure, remembering to take my medicine, exercising, more careful eating, making doctor, dentist and vision appointments, etc. I’ve got a lot yet to accomplish and need good health to do it.

4. Divesting and simplifying is an ongoing process with which we’ve had some success before, during and after the move from Minnesota to Maine. We’re not completely there yet, though, and I know Sisterfilms is going to help us with this.

5. Rudolph Day! I’d like to spend at least a day each month preparing for Advent and Christmas. Recording stories, picking up or making little presents, organizing, just so I can concentrate more on the spiritual aspects of Advent and still enjoy and share the traditions of Christmas in 2011.

Friday Five: Christmas Past

“Tell us about five Christmas memories you have,” says Jan at RevGalBlogPals, who must be just as frazzled as I am by now. One of the reasons I’m feeling as though it will never all get done in time is just that – since I’ve been trying to blog Christmas memories as well as post readings of Christmas stories, and I’m three and two days behind, respectively. I’ll share some briefly, and you can read my “Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories” posts for more.

.

1. Waking up on Christmas morning 26 years ago. Not just waking up, but realizing that labor was beginning and the doctors had been right – our third child would be a Christmas baby. I woke my husband and the older children (not unusual, I’m always the first one up that day), we had stockings and then brought them, still in their new pajamas, to their grandparents’ house and went to the hospital. At 1:30 pm we got our best Christmas present. Big sister and Bedstemor meet her for the first time in this photo. Note the stocking in which she was presented, which became her birthday stocking.

2. The skating Santa. A week or two before the above events, I was feeling a bit nervous about the upcoming addition to our family and how we would all deal with it – financially and otherwise. I worked downtown then, in a job-sharing situation where I worked all day, every other day. One day I was riding the bus home and as we passed Peavey Plaza, near Orchestra Hall, where there was a skating rink, I saw Santa Claus walk up to the rink, remove his boots and put on ice skates, and begin skating. It was such a lovely sight that it made me feel everything would be all right, and it was.

3. A starring role. Our first child and only son was a June baby, so on his first Christmas he was the perfect age to portray the infant Jesus in our church Christmas pageant. As we then lived in a farming community, the manger was handmade and filled with real hay. SonShineIn did a great job – no crying he made, but waved his hands and feet charmingly. I just hope that hay wasn’t what gave him hay fever!

4. Christmas Eve church. Specifically, the 5:30 pm service during the years when we had many responsibilities both at home and in church – after my in-laws moved to Wisconsin and we began hosting the Christmas Eve dinner, and while spouse and daughters sang in the choirs and I read the children’s story. It was always a rush to get there on time for choir warmups, while making sure the dinner preparations were well underway; snow and cold often complicated things. The beginning of the service would find me still jittery, but once I had read my story I was filled with a sense of peace and contentment. I could enjoy the beautiful music, the candles and poinsettias, the lighted tree and pews crowded with festively-dressed friends and their visiting families, and best of all that moment when our minister read the words: “In the beginning was the Word….”

5. A special gift. In 1964, my father was transferred to Stuttgart, Germany by the Army and we, of course, went with him. We arrived in August and by Christmas, although I was making some new friends, I was missing the friends I’d left behind a lot. My friend The Boss sent me a Christmas present which was probably the start of my large and still-growing collection of Christmas literature. It was the beautiful little paperback edition of Dylan Thomas’s A Child’s Christmas in Wales. I’m not sure I was even aware of that piece before then, although I did know of Dylan Thomas. It seems that each year, there is one gift received or given that stands out in the memory, and for that year, this is the one.

Friday Five: Who or What Lifts You Up?

Mary Beth at RevGalBlogPals tells us: “My colleague, an Italian, just walked by my door singing, "Jingle Bell Rock." At the end of each line, he punctuated it with a clap!

"Jingle bell, Jingle bell, Jingle Bell rock (*clap!*)"

I'm not sure he knows any more of the song than that, but he sure does sound happy. :)

Another colleague and friend, who has been away from our workplace for several months, has returned on a part-time basis. She danced into my room this morning with a big, "HEEEEY!" and hugged me.

I love having people and things in my life that lift me up. This morning started out with icky things running through my head: I've been sick, I feel like a zombie; my husband's been sick; all the world's news seems to be bad, Christmas is coming and my proverbial goose is not nearly fat! and work deadlines are looming. And yet, and yet.

These two friends have brought a smile to my face today. My spirits are lifted.

So, for today's Friday Five: What lifts you up when you are low or troubled? Who helps you remember that you are not alone, it's getting better all the time, etc.?

Your five responses can be people you know, people you DON'T know, music, places, foods, scripture, surprises, something you do for someone else. It could be a pair of slippers. It could be a glass of water.

Bonus: Do you like the song "Jingle Bell Rock?" If you do, who do you prefer to hear sing it? Bobby Helms, Brenda Lee, Mean Girls, Stephanie Smith, Chubby Checker, Billy Gilman, Brian Setzer, Hilary Duff, Thousand Foot Krutch (I am not making this up), oh, there are so many more! I am currently partial to my friend Marco.”

1. My almost-daily phone calls from Sisterfilms. Even on the days she’s ranting about some minor crisis, it makes me happy that I’m the one she chooses to share it with. Of course, it will be even better when she is here in person at Christmas – and after!

2. The goofy faces, constant attempts to communicate, and unconditional love of our dog Rusty. And it doesn’t hurt that he’s so pretty and we get so many compliments on our walks.

3. Christmas cards! I’ve got to get busy and send some out, since we have now received the first four real cards (not ones from people we pay for something like the dentist and the paper carriers). I love the little notes, the printed Christmas letters, the photographs, all of it – not to mention how interesting it is to see what people choose. Today, from our train-buff friends, we got the Sunset Limited, and from a cousin who’s moved to the Southwest, a beautiful card of an adobe church with luminarias.

4. Special for today: looking forward to seeing Onkel Hankie Pants as Clarence the Angel in It’s a Wonderful Life. I will know most of his lines by heart since we’ve been running them over the last few weeks in the brief time he’s at home between work and rehearsal. On these occasions I bask in reflected glory.

5. Getting back to blogging. I’ll be doing three blogposts today – this one, Auntie Knickers’ Advent Storytime, and the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories. It keeps me busy and although the quality varies, the writing practice is good too. The Memories one is especially good for eliciting memories from some of my relatives who read them.

Bonus: Sure do, almost any version, and I have about 80 of them. (The number 87 comes up, but some of those are Jingle Bells where the album title has Rock in it). Although the original version brings back memories, my favorite is Ozzie Kotani’s instrumental version from Hawaiian Slack Key Christmas.

Friday Five: Pie-ola!

Songbird at RevGalBlogPals writes: “We had three pies planned for a six-person Thanksgiving dinner, and there was some anxiety on my part about the need one had for gluten-free crusts. I worried, you see, that we would have pies no one liked, or run out of the one "good" pie (you know, with gluten). There was a last-minute trip to buy more pie crust that failed (sold out!). Then early on Thanksgiving morning, the phone rang. It was my neighbor, saying she wanted to bring something over. It was a beautiful maple pumpkin pie!
Now we were all set.
Later in the day, the doorbell rang unexpectedly. Someone said, "It's a pie delivery!"
And sure enough, it was a relative stopping by, and he had a pecan pie for us. Pie-ola!!!
Please answer these five questions about pie:

1) Are pies an important part of a holiday meal?

Yes, especially at Thanksgiving. In my childhood, pie was also an important part of Christmas and Easter, but lacking my mother’s skill with piecrust and for other reasons, here’s what we have at Christmas: ris à l’amande with raspberry sauce, and later cookies, on Christmas Eve; and bûche de Noël for Sisterfilms’ birthday on Christmas day. And at Easter, if I’m at home, citronfromage (a very fluffy dessert with lemon, egg white and whipped cream.) By the way, it appears that Songbird’s family started out the day somewhat under-pied, as my grandmother’s rule was one pie for each person at the table. Yesterday at my aunt’s house we had: pumpkin, apple, mince, chocolate cream, coconut cream, butterscotch cream, maple walnut, pecan (for the seven diners) and when two more friends arrived they brought a “scrumpkin” pie (I was too full to try it) and a sweet potato/orange pie.

2) Men prefer pie; women prefer cake. Discuss.

My father used to say, “Cookies are for children. Cake is for ladies. Pie is for men.” I certainly like all three far too much, but given my druthers I’d choose pie.

3) Cherries--do they belong in a pie?

Why not? Especially in February. I’ve also had and enjoyed date pie and pineapple pie and just yesterday heard about Jell0 pie. I guess there’s not much that can’t be improved by putting it in a piecrust.
4) Meringue--if you have to choose, is it best on lemon or chocolate?

Lemon. Both because I will choose lemon anything over chocolate anything on any given day, and because to me, whipped cream is what goes on chocolate pie.
5) In a chicken pie, what are the most compatible vegetables? Anything you don't like to find in a chicken pie?

It depends on the season. In fall and winter, I usually go with carrots and potatoes. But in spring I make “chicken pie primavera” with asparagus, new peas, little carrots, new potatoes – whatever looks good. I would not like to find beets in my chicken pie. Or anywhere.

Friday Five: Winter’s on the Way

SingingOwl at RevGalBlog Pals tells us: “The picture is of my back deck after the first heavy snow last winter. I am looking at the weather forecast with a sigh of resignation. You see, our glorious unseasonable stretch of sunny days is ending and rain mixed with snow is in the forecast. The weather guy actually said, "This is probably the last nice day till spring, folks..." So, I am trying to plan ahead. Help me out, please. When it is cold outside:”
1. What is your favorite movie for watching when curled up under a wooly blanket?

I think I’ll have to go with Bell, Book and Candle with Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak.
2. Likewise, what book?
Mostly, I read new books. But I do like to go back to Jane Austen from time to time. And I have a book (actually a series for each season) called Winter: A Spiritual Biography which is nice to dip into – it’s an anthology of writings about the season.

3. What foods do you tend to cook/eat when it gets cold?

Beef stew, bean soup, pie, gingerbread, pot roast…you get the picture.
4. What do you like to do if you get a "snow day" (or if you don't get snow days, what if you did)?

In that case I’d really take the day off – bake or cook only what I wanted to, do some reading, watch a movie. Enjoy the snow with the dog.
5. Do you like winter sports or outdoor activities, or are you more likely to be inside playing a board game? Do you have a favorite (indoors or out)?

Inside, thanks. Board games are fun. We like Trivial Pursuit (I just got the “Lindbergh to Eisenhower” edition at a church sale, so watch out, Sisterfilms!), Scrabble, and Twenty-Five Words or Less. Cribbage can be fun too.

Friday Five: We Who Sing Pray Twice

Mary Beth at RevGalBlogPals writes: "Music is a part of the human experience, and part of religious traditions the world over. It is evocative and stirring, and many forms of worship are incomplete without it.

Our title comes from a quote popularly attributed to St. Augustine: "He who sings prays twice." A little Googling, however, indicates that Augustine didn't say exactly that. In fact, what he said just doesn't fit well onto a t-shirt. So we'll stick with what we have.

"Singing reduces stress and increases healthy breathing and emotional expression. Singing taps into a deep, age-old power available to all of us. When we find our voice, we find ourselves. Today, sing like you mean it." And let's talk about the role music plays in your life and worship. (quote on singing from The Green Children Foundation blog)"

1) Do you like to sing/listen to others sing? In worship, or on your own (or not at all?)
Absolutely. I sing lustily and with good courage, and wish more people would. And believe me, I'm not someone you would pay to hear sing.


2) Did you grow up with music in worship, or come to it later in life? Tell us about it, and how that has changed in your experience.
I think my first worship memory is learning "Jesus Loves Me" at the Bowdoinham Baptist Church's Vacation Bible School. Then singing from the Armed Forces Hymnal at the Hainerberg Protestant Chapel in Wiesbaden; "Blessed Assurance" and "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" are a couple that stay in mind from that time. The little Sunday school in the firehouse in Milford, Connecticut, had a choir for a time and I was in it! I got a ride to rehearsals from the divinity student in his three-wheeled Messerschmitt car, and we learned Fauré's "The Palms", quite ambitious for a bunch of 10-year-olds. When we moved to Fairfield and I started going to First Congregational there, a professional organist and choir director enhanced worship and I learned a lot of new hymns. In college, thinking hard about Judaism, I learned to appreciate Jewish cantorial music. Later, back in the fold at First Church, Waseca, MN, our wonderful choir director Penny Peters gave us a wide variety of music -- Bach to Bernstein to what I can only describe as cowboy music. It was then I became an occasional "choir widow." I've enjoyed hanging around with choir people ever since, aided by Onkel Hankie Pants and our two daughters. Music continues to be an important part of worship for me.

3) Some people find worship incomplete without music; others would just as soon not have it. Where do you fall?
Well, as I said, I can't imagine worship without it. I have met a few of those people and I don't "get" them at all. Even Quaker Cousin goes to a "programmed" meeting where they sing!

4) Do you prefer traditional music in worship, or contemporary? That can mean many different things!
I love traditional music of all kinds -- Bach and the old hymns, but also "roots music" -- black and white gospel and even those sawdust trail hymns my father used to sing bits of. "Contemporary Christian" and praise music -- not so much. But I've heard examples of both that were good. And I like Taizé and some of the newer hymns that have shown up in the hymnals I collect. Also "foreign" hymns add a lot to our worship, such as "You Have Come Down to the Lakeshore" and "Toda la Tierra."


5) What's your go-to music ... when you need solace or want to express joy? A video/recording will garner bonus points!
Trying to come up with one I haven't shared before, I thought of this one. There's little or no information about the singing group and I'm not even sure where they are, though a tag "sda" suggests they may belong to a Seventh-Day Adventist church somewhere. I listened to several others, some with lovely photos of lighthouses, but this is the one that dampened my eyes. After a long absence from Friday Fives, I need all the bonus points I can get!

Friday Five: Hot Fun in the Summertime

I promised a blog post and here it is!

Songbird at RevGalBlogPals has had some summer troubles. She writes:

“It's possible I may have a bad attitude about the arrival of summer. On the eve of the Solstice I left for a mission trip to a town in Maine bordering Quebec. Beset by a swarm of bloodthirsty black flies, and a "classic allergic reaction" according to the PA at the Urgent Care, I had to return the next morning to a week of Benadryl and ice packs. (If only I had known about Bug Band *before*...)
But I don't want that to ruin summer for the rest of you. So I invite you to share five things you love--or don't--about summer. The tone is up to you!”

1. LOVE: West Denmark Family Camp! We’re going there next week! We will have group singing, watch the folk dancing, listen to interesting people speak and discuss, see cousins real and honorary, have wonderful meals cooked by local organic farmers with some of their own produce, and of course be with Sisterfilms and The Traveller. After that we will go to City of Lakes to see SonShineIn and The Collector and a lot of old friends. WDFC has been part of nearly all our summers for 33 years now and we hope it continues for many more.

2. HATE: excessive heat and humidity. The heat is not so bad here as it sometimes was in the Midwest, but we do sometimes get a humidity that makes 65 degrees feel like 95. The doors stick, salt and spices lump up in their containers, and no one feels much like doing anything.

3. LOVE: summer fruits and vegetables. Onkel Hankie Pants, as we speak, is picking strawberries for the church Strawberry Festival. Maybe after he’s picked his quota he will have time to pick a quart for us! Later there will be raspberries and blueberries, eventually tomatoes, summer squashes, and all the other bounty of the farmer’s market.

4, LOVE: flowers. Walking Rusty, I get to enjoy my neighbors’ gardens with daylilies, peonies, old roses, new roses, etc. OHP has planted some new flowers on the sunny north side of the house, and a lupine and irises have already bloomed. We expect gladioli and maybe even dahlias as well as lilies. Hoping for peonies next year, as we bought some at a garage sale along with more hostas for the mostly-shady parts of our yard.

5. LOVE: Rusty’s new summer haircut. I like him as a shaggy dog and with the classic Springer cut, but this cut (built for exploring woods and beaver ponds!) makes his hair so satiny ! It was a bit disconcerting at first though, as he looked like a whole different dog. Here is a picture. I was pleased to not that (although it doesn’t look that way in the photo of him sleeping) he had not really gained weight over the winter.

So, although summer isn’t my favorite season, I’ve found more “loves” than “Hates” for it. Now for your listening pleasure, two renditions of a song my father used to sing to me:

(He may have learned it from someone who heard this recording!)

And from another icon of my childhood days:

Friday Five: Looking Toward Spring

Sally, in England, posts this photo called “Easter Snow” and tells us:

“Candlemass is past, and Christmas is well and truly over; here in the UK February looks set to be its usual grey and cold self. Signs of spring are yet to emerge; if like me you long for them perhaps you need ways to get through these long dark days. So let’s share a few tips for a cold and rainy/ snowy day....

1. Exercise, what do you do if you can't face getting out into the cold and damp?

Fortunately for me, my dog Rusty is oblivious to any kind of bad weather and needs to go out regardless. Rain, snow, wind, cold – we take our walks anyway. Also fortunately, winter on the coast of Maine is quite often sunny. I’ll be starting an all-day job on Monday, though, so it’s time to get intentional about those Vitamin D supplements.

2. Food; time to comfort eat, or time to prepare your body for the coming spring/summer?

Comfort food is the thing for winter, I think. Because of the new work schedules (I’ll be working 6 days a week and Onkel Hankie Pants will be working 6 days plus 4 or 5 evenings – no fear, it’s not permanent!) I’m racking my brain for things that can be made quickly or in the slow cooker, and reheated at need. We may be eating even more homemade soup.

3. Brainpower; do you like me need to stave off depression, if so how do you do it?

During January, which is perhaps worse for me, I cheered myself by reading “not-so-trashy trashy novels” and watching costume dramas ranging from Mad Men to Elizabeth R. I’m fortunate not to have serious problems with depression so little fixes like those usually work for me.

4. How about a story that lifts your spirits, is there a book or film that you return to to stave off the gloom?

Jane Austen is a big help, in either medium – I’m enjoying Emma on Masterpiece Classic each Sunday night right now. The novels of Miss Read are what I resort to if things get really bad. However, they do engender some envy when she starts writing about “winter-blooming jasmine” and other flowers that, in southern England, come out soon after Christmas.

5. Looking forward, do you have a favourite spring flower/ is there something that says spring is here more than anything else?

I do love all the spring bulbs, but perhaps daffodils are my favorite, and yet I have trouble getting them to grow; we have better luck with tulips.

Bonus; post a poem/ piece of music that points to the coming spring......

Here's a song my father used to sing. I love the outfits on these guys!

Friday Five: Social Media

I’ve been taking January off from a lot of my usual pursuits, but even though the month is not over, it’s time to resume them. So here’s this week’s Friday Five from RevGalBlogPals. Kathrynzj says:

“I had the joy of spending time with Songbird last weekend, someone I would have never met had it not been for the blogosphere. Now we keep in touch using a large variety of methods: blog (hers a lot, mine not so much lately), facebook, twitter, text messaging, chat and email. So far there has been no skype.
It got me to thinking of the pros and cons of these relatively new means of communication and interconnecting and so I ask you the following:”

1) What have been the benefits for you of social networking (blog, twitter, facebook, etc...)

I really hate making telephone calls. I don’t mind receiving them, just making them. So blogging, email, and Facebook have all enabled me to reach out to people without having to pick up the dreaded telephone! There are some people who aren’t really reachable by these media and I need to call them, but not many. The fact that my children are in different time zones from me also makes these other methods quite useful since none of us is awakening the other from a sound sleep! I’ve also made a lot of connections to distant cousins, etc. for genealogy purposes, via online forums of various kinds. My membership in DorothyL (an online discussion group for mystery readers, writers, publishers, booksellers, librarians – basically anyone interested in detective stories) has enriched my life and added to my library.

2) Which medium do you use the most? Or if you use them all, for what do you use each of them?

I’ve been using Facebook far too much! I’m going to need to set some limits for myself. I probably check my email a bit too often, but Sisterfilms sometimes emails me with urgent questions about commas and such, so maybe that’s an excuse. I’m not a fan of chatting or instant messaging online (and have no cell phone so no texting here). Chatting seems too disjointed to me. Tried Skype, had some success and then not so much, gave it up. I have a hard time sometimes deciding whether to email someone or send them a message on Facebook – wondering which they will see sooner? I’ve been bad about blogging partly because of perfectionism…Onkel Hankie Pants is similarly afflicted when it comes to email, feeling he needs to compose as carefully as if he were writing a letter to the Times of London.
3) If you could invent a networking site (with no limits on your imagination), what would it provide? What would it not provide?

Well

I can’t immediately think of anything else I’d want. I don’t care for all the applications and games on FB, but have managed to opt out of most so that’s OK. I’m afraid I’ll just wait to see what the 20-year-olds come up with next!
4) Who have you met that you would not have met if it were not for the 'miracle' of social networking?

Three RevGalBlogPals (in person that is—numbers more still in the virtual world, but that could change!) Many people on DorothyL and Goodreads who share my reading tastes and also help broaden them.
5) Who do you secretly pray does not one day try to 'friend/follow' you?

Someone I once knew who had a crush on me and in whom I was completely not interested – not quite a stalker but uncomfortably close. I did put my maiden name on my Facebook profile for ease of contacting people who knew me 40 years ago, so it’s possible. My excuse for not friending people is that I have my screen resolution and font size set so that I don’t usually see the stuff at the right side of the FB screen unless I look for it. (That’s also why I might neglect to wish someone a happy birthday…nothing personal!)
BONUS: What was the most random/weird/unsettling/wonderful connection you made that would not have happened if it were not for the ease of which we can find each other in the computer realm?

I can’t come up with just one. Would it be the descendant of my great-grandfather’s “missing” brother? Scattered friends from my high school in Germany, or the woman who had the same third-grade teacher I did a year earlier (also in Germany)? Or just one of the many people in my online communities who lead very different lives from mine, but with whom I’ve found surprising common ground? Of course, way back when we first got Internet connectivity, I found a distant cousin who told me about our family connection to Malaga Island, a big surprise that will continue to affect our family for some time to come (especially if Sisterfilms makes her documentary about it!) I expect new surprises daily.

Friday Five: IF

It’s been far too long since I’ve updated this blog. Some minor health issues (resolved), Christmas craziness and fun (over now and welcomed guests returned to their own homes) and sheer winter hibernation or, to give it its proper name, laziness, interfered. I’ll have to pick up the songs and stories next December. Meanwhile, here we go again, with this week’s Friday Five coming from RevGalBlogPal Jan, who blogs at Yearning for God.

1. If you were a color, what would you be?

A soft, heathery blue-grey. That’s today. Maybe tomorrow it would be a dusty rose , or a sunny yellow . A chameleon perhaps?

2. If you were a flower (or plant), what would you be?

A pot of rosemary, inside for the winter, outside in summer, adding taste and aroma to everyday life. (Alas…I do not have a green thumb so my pot of rosemary died.)
3. If you were an animal, what kind would you be?

I’m afraid lots of people are going to say this, but…a cat. Home-loving, not usually energetic but capable of furious activity, likes people but also likes solitude. And they are all so pretty!
4. If you were a shoe, what type would you be?

I’m thinking I’d be this one , which I’m wearing right now. It’s an indoor shoe that can go outdoors, comfortable, durable, easy on and off, with a warm lining.
5. If you were a typeface, which font would you be?

Nicolas Jenson Italic. I liked it when I wrote headlines for my college newspaper, and I like it still. It’s both elegant and readable, two qualities to which I aspire.

Bonus: Anything connected with metaphors that you'd like to contribute.

Sorry, my mind is a blank. Sisterfilms’ work Internet was down, and she’s been calling me all day with requests to look things up!

Friday Five: Do Nothing Edition

This photo of a calico cat, in memory of our cat Heidi, is from the photos of ‘Xena*best friend*” on www.flickr.com. Its title is “I’m busy... doing nothing;-).”

Sally in the UK says:

I am reading a wonderful little book for Advent; its title: "Do nothing Christmas is Coming!"
So this week’s Friday Five is simple.
List Five things you won't be doing to prepare for Christmas.
And while you are doing nothing play the bonus, put your feet up and listen to your favourite Advent Carol, and post it or a link to it...

1. Shopping much in malls or big box stores. As much as possible, shopping in local stores or church/craft fairs, or ordering handmade things online.

2. Traveling. I enjoyed our trip to City of Lakes last year, but it’s nice to be at home and expecting visits from our daughters and Onkel Hankie Pants’ sister and a new friend. Also not having to be in an airport….

3. I should be used to this by now, it’s the fifth year … but it still feels rather odd that no one in the family has any responsibilities for the Christmas Eve worship service. For so many years I read the children’s story and one or more other family members sang in the choir; church was at 5:30 and we had to be there around 4:45, with the big Christmas Eve dinner coming after church. It was hectic, but gave us a real feeling of being part of worship. Now our only responsibility is showing up – and church is so crowded that no one would notice if we didn’t. (And in case anyone from Big Taupe Church is reading this – ushering on Christmas Eve is definitely something I will not be doing!)

4. Buying things with a credit card. Not gonna do it.

5. Obsessing about perfection. Whether the food, decorations, presents, or whatever are perfect or not, they will be what they will be. Not that I won’t do my best, but then I will let it go.

Bonus: I didn’t get a chance to read through all the other responses yet, but so far no one has chosen this lovely hymn, Prepare the Way. I think the tune is one of those Swedish folk tunes which make such beautiful hymntunes. I’ve embedded one rendition by a good-sized choir and linked to another by a smaller one – both appear to be the same arrangement and each choir does a great job in its own way.

Friday Five: Thanksgiving

Thanks to Jan at RevGalBlogPals for this Friday Five:

The Cure
Lying around all day
with some strange new deep blue
weekend funk, I'm not really asleep
when my sister calls
to say she's just hung up
from talking with Aunt Bertha
who is 89 and ill but managing
to take care of Uncle Frank
who is completely bed ridden.
Aunt Bert says
it's snowing there in Arkansas,
on Catfish Lane, and she hasn't been
able to walk out to their mailbox.
She's been suffering
from a bad case of the mulleygrubs.
The cure for the mulleygrubs,
she tells my sister,
is to get up and bake a cake.
If that doesn't do it, put on a red dress.
--Ginger Andrews (from Hurricane Sisters)

So this Friday before Thanksgiving, think about Aunt Bert and how she'll celebrate Thanksgiving! And how about YOU?

1. What is your cure for the "mulleygrubs"?

Baking something is a pretty good cure; also cleaning out cupboards, organizing things and general tidying up.

2. Where will you be for Thanksgiving?

We’re going to my aunt and uncle’s house, and their daughter and her two teenage sons will be there too. I expect much hilarity.

3. What foods will be served? Which are traditional for your family?

Turkey from a local farm, mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy; I’ll probably contribute homemade cranberry sauce, and my sweet potatoes with peaches and cashews; probably one or two other vegetables at least; several different pies! My childhood Thanksgivings are memorable for the abundance of two things, vegetables and pies. We also had a turkey probably twice the size of the one we’ll be eating next week. In Minnesota we had that green bean casserole, but that is not traditional here (and I don’t really miss it, but my kids would.)

My grandmother in a photo taken November 1942, very possibly preparing Thanksgiving dinner.

4. How do you feel about Thanksgiving as a holiday?

I think it’s a great holiday, and even people who aren’t especially religious seem to get the spirit of gratitude on this day. I recognize that some American Indians have trouble with the historical part of it, on the other hand they have taught us much about how to be thankful for the bounty of this land and how to use it respectfully.

5. In this season of Thanksgiving, what are you grateful for?

My family, my home, my dog, my friends, the Internet, my local public library, farmers’ markets (and farmers, and fisherfolk), hope for a partial solution to the healthcare mess…that will do for a start.

BONUS: Describe Aunt Bert's Thanksgiving.

After her usual morning chores and making sure Frank was comfortably settled, with the parade on TV, Bert started preparing Thanksgiving dinner. This year they would just have a nice fat chicken roasted; even a small turkey would be too much for the two of them. She remembered the days when Frank would go out to the woods and bring back a wild turkey for Thanksgiving; sometimes he’d have time to go duck hunting and there’d be two or more birds on the table. Taking out the pan of cornbread she had prepared the day before and frying up a bit of Joe Smith’s homemade sausage for flavoring, she began preparing the stuffing, then put it aside when she remembered that she needed to bake a couple of pies first. Luckily, although he couldn’t be up and around any longer, Frank still had all his teeth so he could enjoy his favorite pecan pie with nuts from their own trees. She recalled fondly how her nieces had visited earlier in the fall with their children, and all had helped with the tree-shaking. It’s good for kids to learn that food doesn’t just come from the grocery store. She’s looking forward to their visiting at Christmas time; she told them not to try coming down from Chicago for the short Thanksgiving holiday. Now that the pie was in the oven, she could start peeling potatoes and making the creamed onions. And she mustn’t forget Frank’s favorite, the fried okra. Good thing she had plenty of okra in the freezer.

At last everything was ready, and at just the right time, since it was half-time of the Lions-Packers game Frank was avidly watching. Ever since his brother Earl had moved to Detroit to work on the line at General Motors, Frank had followed the Detroit sports teams along with him. Earl had died a couple of years back, and maybe it was just as well, with all the trouble his old employer was having; but Frank still rooted for the Lions, Tigers and Pistons. But, being a country music fan from childhood, Frank wasn’t too interested in the big Motown salute during half-time, so Bert could get him to turn off the TV and say grace. After the prayer, they had always gone around the table saying what they were thankful for. Frank says he’s thankful for Bert and all her care of him. Bert says she’s thankful for Frank too because he’s still good company after all these years. Then they tuck in to their Thanksgiving dinner.

Friday Five: Friday the Thirteenth!

The very erudite Sophia at RevGalBlogPals (I think she can really read the Greek) tells us: “The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskevidekatriaphobia, a word derived from the concatenation of the Greek words Paraskeví (Παρασκευή) (meaning Friday), and dekatreís (δεκατρείς) (meaning thirteen), attached to phobía (φοβία) (meaning fear). The term triskaidekaphobia derives from the Greek words "tris", meaning 'three', "kai", meaning 'and', and "deka", meaning 'ten'. the whole word means three and ten. The word was derived in 1911 and first appeared in a mainstream source in 1953. (Wikipedia)
With thanks to my dear spouse TechnoGuy for the great suggestion, it's a Friday the 13th Friday Five!”
1. How is this Friday the 13th looking for you?

Pretty peaceful. There’s a possibility Onkel Hankie Pants will be released early from work today, so we might do some errands in the afternoon. No special plans, though.
2. Have you ever had anything unlucky happen on Friday the 13th?

Not that I can recall. But then, I consider myself a very fortunate person.
3. Did your family of origin embrace or scorn superstitions?

Somewhere in the middle, I guess. Although, if we said “I wish it were Christmas, or my birthday, or next week…” my mother always said “Don’t wish your life away.”
4. Are there any unique or amusing ones from your family, region, or ethnic background?

My father had some that had to do with boats, although I’m not sure how seriously he took them. You mustn’t paint a boat blue; you mustn’t say “pig” on a boat; and whistling on board might whistle up a wind that you wouldn’t want.
5. Do you love or hate horror movies like "Friday the 13th"?

I guess I’d have to say hate, as I haven’t seen a horror movie of that type since Monster from the Black Lagoon over 50 years ago. I just find them boring, not scary.

Here’s hoping you all have a lucky Friday the 13th! Thanks to PixelPackingMama on Flickr for the photo! And thanks a lot to Sophia for giving me an easy way to fulfill my NaBloPoMo pledge today!

Friday Five: Something New

Songbird at RevGalBlogPals tells us: “There's a new baby on my street, a double PK whose Mom and Dad are Methodist pastors and church planters. I'm hoping to go over and meet her today. I love new babies, the way they smell and their sweet little fingers and toes. Little K has me thinking about all the new things that please us with their shiny freshness.
Please share with us five things you like *especially* when they are new.”

1. KITTENS! Puppies too, I suppose, but I have more experience with kittens. Since the passing of our cat Heidi last summer, we have been a cat-less household for longer than we’ve ever been during our whole marriage. Heidi and Rusty never got along very well, so this seems like a wise plan, and yet, we occasionally catch ourselves wistfully wondering whether a new kitten (well, 8 weeks old, as our state law requires) could get used to Rusty and he to it and that there could be peaceful coexistence or even friendship.

2. APPLIANCES! Since we moved into this house in 2005, we’ve replaced the washing machine, the clothes dryer, and the refrigerator; most likely the stove will be next, although I both hope and fear that its replacement is a while in the future still. I still appreciate all the newer appliances, but when they were really new and shiny I appreciated them even more, making excuses to wash and dry things, trying out new arrangements for the refrigerator shelves….

3. NEW PENS, NOTEBOOKS, ETC! I like these far, far too much. At this point, I am making myself use up the pages of old notebooks to write my first drafts of blog posts (I generally do FFs off the cuff, but the others I write in longhand first), because I have so many lying around. It’s a little easier to feed my addiction to new pens because they do get used up or lost/misplaced regularly. I like gel pens mostly, with black fine point as the default. But sometimes it’s fun to write with a thicker blue line, or red or green or purple. This picture is from a blog that I’m going to have to start reading because it seems to be all about pens and stationery! A trip to Staples is both a joy and a struggle for me as I try to resist buying things I don’t really need, but really, really want.

4. NEW BOOKS! New to me, at least. But even though I have no problem with used books and library books, there is still something extra special about crisp-paged, brightly-colored, hot-off-the-press new books. The new book shelf at the library is great, too. This photo is from the Legislative Library in New Brunswick, Canada. I'd be interested in that rubber duck book.

5. NEW SLIPPERS! I’d really like some. Pretty soon they’d be old slippers and I’d still like them even then. Wicked Good slippers from Bean’s, size 11, color immaterial. New shoes are nice too, but sometimes problematic because they can need to be broken in. But new slippers are comfy and warm right away.

I have to say, I do like new babies, for all the reasons Songbird mentions; but as I’ve seen with my own children, the wonder of their babyhood just keeps getting better and better as they grow. I might like to visit those baby days for a little while, but not forever.