Grandma's Kitchen Table

Friday's Favorites Fare

 

READING

:  Have still been reading about various artists that I have seen recently at the museums...some new ones, some favorite ones.  

 

LISTENING TO:   Brahms Requiem

COOKING THROUGH:  Le Cordon Bleu at Home (Le Cordon Bleu School of Cooking); Baking:  From My Home to Yours (Dorie Greenspan)

FAV NEW FIND:  New stoplight at State Road 32 and Gray Road...my life just got so much easier! 

FAV THING TODAY:   Seeing all the little trick-or-treaters.  We carved pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns last evening, but we dearly missed Alex carving with us...just two of my guys in this year's photo.  It was such a busy day yesterday, that we just did the bare minimum...except for me as mine looks exactly the same each year:  a nice happy little cheerful jack-o-lantern face designed to encourage all the little ones to come to the door for treats.  It's important to have something you like and stick with each year!

GOING TO:   Well, let's see...I believe the agenda for all the various occupants of the house will go something like this:  fall cleaning (that would be me), yard work (that would be Mark at some point), camping, choir, swimming, Life Teen, IMA, Eiteljorg, reading, etc.   

PRAYING FOR:   Various friends and relatives who are experiencing various health-related issues...please join me by praying for those near and dear to you experiencing such themselves. 

 

Re-search Re-ading

      Sometimes it is good just to spread a little knowledge about. 

      I have lived in Indiana for 33 years and have seen these green globes each and every autumn hanging on trees, scattered about the base of the tree trunks, and smashed on the roads.  They are large, about the size of softballs.  I always ask around, but no one ever seems to know what they are, only sharing that you aren't supposed to actually eat them. 

      You would think once in all those years, and you would especially think this if you know me and knew how I enjoy learning about new things, that I would have spent a moment or two researching just what the heck these things might be.  I grew up in Northeast Iowa and we did not have these there, at least not any that I ever saw or remember in those 20 years. 

      Sunday Mark and I went for a nice little drive together just to soak up some of the fall beauty with the changing leaves, wandering thither and yon wherever the spirit took us, and came upon several of these trees lining a lovely curving country lane.  We took the opportunity to stop a minute and gather three of them with the thought that we would come home and finally figure out what they were. 

      Osage Oranges.  They are called Osage Oranges.  Sometimes they are called Horse Apples because that is about all they are good for, horses able to indulge without harm, humans not as they are poisonous.  If you have ever read about "hedge row apples," these would be the same item.  The trees were apparently planted as windbreaks, etc. and grow primarily in the southern part of the U.S.   

      After running my fingers all over the bumpy outside, which is a lot of fun because it is just so pebbly and nice, we cut one open to see what was inside (after all, it is a little difficult to discern what is actually inside when they are splat all over the road by automobile tires and resemble nothing more than a big sloppy mess of goo).  The insides are white and sticky and have lots and lots of seeds, like a pomegranate.  They smell like oranges (both inside and outside)...not as strong, but definitely have the orange smell, which is just lovely. 

      So now you know.  And, if you want to know more, click here.  You can say you read about it at GKT because we are all about doing a little research reading around here and all.  Osage Oranges, who knew?

 

 

 

 

Whisk Wednesdays: Sole Belle Meunière (Pan-fried Sole with Nut-brown Butter and Mushrooms)

       I'm a week behind here at Whisk Wednesdays, but at least I am posting something, ANYTHING, on a Wednesday, so I am counting this as progress.  My Wednesdays have become a tad occupied with other things...I am struggling to get this all in hand, and I am determined to do so, so thanks for the patience. 

      I have my ingredients to make this week's recipe, so I will make it tomorrow and either post it at the end of this one, as a double post, or hold it for next week and hopefully double post it at that time.  That's the current plan. (Note: my current plans tend to change hourly.)  

      The recipe prepared for this week is from Class 17 (last week), Part 2 and is Sole Belle Meunière (Pan-fried Sole with Nut-brown Butter and Mushrooms), can found on pages 65-66 of the book Le Cordon Bleu at Home, and was absolutely delicious.  This recipe works with many other types of fish as well...I know because I tried it with talapia, cod, and haddock, due to the lack of fresh sole around here. 

      The recipe could not be easier, quicker, or more tasty.  (I do suggest a certain judicious attitude toward the butter sauce because butter coupled with lemon...well, it's a crime, an absolute crime in consumption.)  I know the mushrooms look burned in the photo, but trust me, camera and lighting only, as they were not, just very nicely browned and absolutely delicious with the fish.  I confess, I dredged them a tiny bit in the nut-brown butter sauce, okay, more than a tiny bit, a soft gentle drizzle of the most light-handed variety.  Was that ever good!  I figured the rest of the meal was nicely nutritious and calorie-friendly, right, so a little butter sauce applied with abandon....well, okay...massive justification of the crime committed.   If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click  

here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdaysconnect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Upcoming schedule:

• Class 17, Part 3 (Post on Wednesday, October 29, 2008):
Beignets de Langoustines, Sauce Tartare (Langoustine Fritters with Tartar Sauce) pages 162-163 {You can substitute shrimp, if you like.}

• Class 17, Part 4 (Post on Wednesday, November 5, 2008):
Pavés de Rumsteak au Poivre Vert (Sirloin Steaks with Green Peppercorns) pages 127-128

Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate-Chocolate Cupcakes

         This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, from the cookbook Baking:  From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, is Chocolate-Chocolate Cupcakes, can be found on pages 215-217, and was chosen by Clara of I Heart Food 4 Thought.  If you would like to try the recipe before buying the book, click on Clara's site above and she will have it posted today. 

      Yep, more chocolate this week.  Lots more chocolate.  Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing, and we even had the option of piping more chocolate into the centers of the cupcakes.  I kid you not. 

     I can just see Caitlin over there on her blog jumping and down with joy this week, clapping those outstretched hands with glee at the thought of having a chocolate recipe...yep, I can so see her over there doing that, can't you all?  Caitlin LOVES chocolate weeks at TWD. 

      I don't know what it is about chocolate, but whenever I bake with it, it gets absolutely everywhere.  I am very tidy in the kitchen when I bake and cook, lining everything up nicely, putting everything away as I use it, cleaning as I go...but for some reason, whenever chocolate is involved, it gets just everywhere...it's on the mixer, the cabinet, the counter, the floor, the sink, the stovetop, the oven...you name it, chocolate is there.  Abby says it is because I never lick up any of the wayward drops of chocolate like everyone else.  Is that it?  Are you all over there in your kitchens licking up the wayward drops of chocolate as you bake?????   

      The recipe went together nicely, the frosting was very easy, everything looked like it was supposed to, smelled like chocolate usually smells, etc., and the taste testers this week declared the cupcakes "Fantastic" (Matthew) and "Really Very Good" (Mark).  

      Not being a chocolate lover, I am not sampling to weigh in on this and you might want to check out the other blogs to see how they all faired as I am not sure I would trust two guys who love chocolate and know that if there is any criticism along these lines with my efforts in effecting such for them that there is the likelihood that I will give it up altogether, so they will pretty much eat anything made with chocolate around here.  There were helpings of seconds immediately, so that, coupled with Dorie's track record, might be good indicators. 

      And, just for Shari and Erin, because their photos each week and their creative efforts are really awe inspiring, I added Halloween sprinkles...yep, the no-fuss baker here managed to buy sprinkles and remember to shake them on the tops of the cupcakes just for the both of you.  I knew it would bring you to your knees in amazement and all.   

       Next week's recipe was chosen by Piggy of Piggy's Cooking Journal, is Rugelach, and can be found on pages 150-151.  

     Click here and then click on individual bakers' blogs at the site if you would like to see more of this week's recipe and the various ways people interpreted their quest.  Or, better yet, you can click and join us, but only until October 31st as after that date the membership is closed due its size.  If you would like to join, do so NOW!  See you there.

 

Re-hearsals

        The gaathering of the guys as Mr. D gives them a pep talk about tackling the difficult choir piece last evening.  The Boy is easy to spot as he is still the tallest one around.

      When Matt returned from the retreat on Sunday, I picked him up as we didn't want to leave his car unattended up at OLMC for the weekend.  After he hopped in the car, his first words were, "Mom, can you drive me down to Butler as I can make the last hour of IYC rehearsal if we leave right now?"  I have grown very accustomed to Matt driving himself everywhere...he tends to go from one activity to the next with not much time between...I am getting way too old for that sort of schedule on a regular full-time basis, but this was an exception, so off we went for rehearsal.   

      Yesterday he went from school, to swim practice, to another rehearsal for his school choir, and since it was located down in Indy after dark, I figured I would drive him there as he was getting out of swimming too late to make the bus and then he could just ride the bus back with his friends if he wanted, I would pick him up at school, drive him over to CHS to get his car, and head home at that point.  Am I ever happy that The Boy has his driver's license...it was close to ten before the dust settled! 

      While I was down at the rehearsal location, I decided to just sit in on the rehearsal as it was Brahms' Requiem and I knew I would enjoy listening to it...now I am beginning to think I might be missing out on too much with him driving everywhere himself.  Always a tug this way or that on the issue of independence.  I always think I am ready for it, but then I think maybe I miss all that carting about to and fro much more than I realize.

      And, I also miss getting to see all the other kids, like these two in the photo above...two of my favorite pinks...Kristin and Samantha...I had better enjoy times with them now as they are both seniors this year.  Even if their parents don't cry at their graduation, I know I will!

Re-turning from Re-treat

       Matt, Jack, and Stephen at OLMC after the Knights retreat weekend.  Looking tired, but happy.  (Jack swims with Matt at CSC and Stephen goes to Guerin.)

      The young Knights group, about 70 boys from various parishes, had a retreat in southern Indiana (gorgeous this time of year with all those lovely leaves turning all those lovely colors) this past weekend.   

      They had a great time and here are a couple of photos from when they returned...I had intended to get all five of Matt's group of friends in one shot, but Colin headed out before I could round them all up, and I couldn't corner Marshall until the very end (pictured in photo to the right).  Teenage boys are like that...you really need lassos to keep them in one spot. 

      They attended Mass three times over the weekend, and each of the leaders for their parishes got to serve in some capacity, so Matt got to do that as he is the leader at SEAS. 

      He enjoyed meeting Knights from the other parishes and came home with a list of new friends which is always nice.  A lot of them were from a neighboring parish in Zionsville, just miles down the road, so that seems close enough that they will see each other from time to time.  Marshall is a member of that group actually.  He is a friend Matt has known for many years. 

      All in all, Matt was extremely delighted with the entire weekend and said the paintballing was absolute chaos with that many guys!  This, I take it, was a good thing.

Re-viewing the Status of the Guerin High School Swimming Season

      Definitely time to get the corn in...  It's been a lovely autumn here in Indiana.  The leaves have stayed nice for quite awhile, the days have been warm, the evenings have just a little crispness to them...a perfect fall. 

      We've been able to get out and enjoy all the usual fall activities of football games, hayrides, pumpkin patch outings, farm stands, cider drinking, taffy apple eating, squash and Brussels sprouts as fresh as you can get, and of course, my annual autumnal occupation:  Searching for a High School Swimming Coach for Guerin. 

      We are about a week away from the boys high school swimming season, and are still in need of a coach (which is slightly ahead of last year when we were six weeks into the season before we had the coach to-end-all-coaches just land in our laps and facilitate one very fine swimming season for Matt).  Although we have high hopes and our fingers crossed that the current plan of action will be signed, sealed, and delivered, by opening day, if anyone is interested in praying to St. Roch (both the one in heaven and the one on earth now located in Alabama), maybe that would help a little.  :-)  

      We are, once again, a one-man swim team for high school.  The cost of swimming can run quite high with need of pool times, coaches, entry fees, etc., and with Matt's high school not having a pool, it is rather prohibitive to a student who would want to "just swim for the high school season" because basically the swimmer would need to pay for pool and coach out of his/her own pockets which would run over a thousand dollars.  Not many students and parents are willing to do that for just a high school season when there are other less expensive options in sports available and already in place.  Matt swims year around, so he has a swim club that we pay fees for and our expense for high school swimming is just coach and entry fees.  However, since we don't share the cost of the coach, it still runs us about the same, but we are highly motivated as hopefully Matt will have the opportunity to swim in college as well. 

      Maybe someday Guerin will have enough students/parents willing to fund a team, but right now with the size of the school...we are just a one man show again this year.   Providing I can score a coach, that is.  

      How the summer passed so quickly is beyond me.  Seriously, here we are almost in November already.  I am not a lover of winter.  I like the changing of the seasons...I just wish the winter one would change over much quicker than the five-month stint here in the Midwest.  Way too much winter.   If I could dictate such, I would keep November around Thanksgiving time up until New Year's as winter and then segue right into spring for a few weeks, and be basking in the summer sun shortly thereafter.   When I find a place like that, I am moving there.  Anyone want to join me?

     Those of you who are keeping track of my recent negligent ways in the matter of blogging will please note that I have posted four, count them, FOUR entries today.  What is that they say..."Be careful what you wish or you will surely get it...."  Enjoy.

 

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  Have decided to read up on various artists that I have seen recently at the museums...some new ones, some favorite ones.   Floating between various reference works and books.

LISTENING TO:   The Who

COOKING THROUGH:  Le Cordon Bleu at Home (Le Cordon Bleu School of Cooking); Baking:  From My Home to Yours (Dorie Greenspan)

FAV NEW FIND:  Half-Price Book Store...okay, I know you all already know about this, but I have never been there before because I almost always get my books from the library (the best deal going in my mind).  I spent a whole 15 minutes shopping in there without whining, so this is progress in both the savings departments and the shopping departments...who knew?  I know, I know, you all knew.

FAV THING TODAY:   Time roaming about with Matt...I really miss the kid being in school and all.  Going to Margaret's surprise birthday party.

GOING TO:   Bits and pieces all weekend.  Alex is spending the weekend reading again.  Matt is going on a retreat with guys from church from the young Knights group Saturday and Sunday.   

PRAYING FOR:   Project Gabriel angels, clients, and benefactors, please join me.

Re-signing Myself

       I think I have resigned myself to a certain amount of leniency about this blog.  Hmmm...hasn't been updated with quite the frequency one would hope lately.  So here's a bit of catching-up news. 

      Matt was on fall break Thursday and Friday, so we had a very nice time just ambling about in our old ways together when we were homeschooling, but with a lot less school work.  There is nothing like a fall day to just amble about going hither and yon where the spirit moves you with just the thought of enjoying the day thusly.  I highly recommend it.

      I was afraid the annual "seek and score" at the pumpkin patch would have lost its appeal now that he is 16, but he was in fact very keen on going out to find just the right pumpkin for carving, which is very nice as I am not anywhere near ready to give that up yet.  He did select an "already picked from the field" option rather than hiking out to the actual patch, but I am taking what I can get at this point and being happily satisfied with that.   

      We had a beautiful day for lunching and visiting country farm stands, Matt picking out garden tomatoes for slicing and a whole bag of apples which he is hoping will find their way into a nice apple pie. 

      The boy is growing up and I am resigning myself to a little give on the ways of old, but happy to report that we aren't quite all the way there yet.  He still enjoys traipsing about a bit with Mom.  I am hoping to prolong it for the next two years at least before I make that phone call to college saying, "I think I will come down this weekend and we can go out to the pumpkin patch to seek and score a few for carving if that works for you..."  I am hoping he will humor me even then because, like I said, I am nowhere near ready to give all that up. 

 

Whisk Wednesdays

      Okay, please be patient and I promise to post right here tomorrow.  Really.  I promise.  Today just had way too much going on with me cooking for others in need this week and I did not get to the Whisk assignment.  Tomorrow, though, I am setting aside time for just such.  See you then.  Oh, and thanks for your patience.  You are being patient, right?

     Update on Sunday:  Okay, I lied, unintentionally...it is still not up...I went out and enjoyed a couple of days with my teenage son home on fall break...really, who will remember that I didn't post this in a timely manner as opposed to my son who will remember that we went out and had a lot of fun together over his fall break?  Be patient...maybe I will get it posted here yet.  Maybe.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Pumpkin Muffins

 

      This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, from the cookbook Baking:  From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, is Pumpkin Muffins can be found on page 13, and was chosen by Kelly of Sounding My Barbaric Gulp. 

      If you would like to try the recipe before buying the book, click on Kelly's site above and she will have it posted today. 

      My taste tester this week, Matthew, declared them "Really EXCELLENT, Mom, really good!"  We have Dorie to thank for that as the recipe was perfect as written, baking time was perfect for my oven, and the recipe went together perfectly and very quickly.   

      Delicious...I had a bite, actually two, and this recipe is a keeper.  Mark even declared he would opt for two of these muffins for breakfast instead of his usual handful of cookies...high praise indeed.   

      The pumpkin in the recipe is not at all overpowering (I am not a big pumpkin fan, so I was a little wary), and the sunflower seeds, walnuts, golden raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, and vanilla, all contributed nicely to the flavor so nothing was overpowering on its own and everything combined to compliment one with the other nicely. 

      I will definitely make these again...I can so see Dorie's Pumpkin Muffins on the breakfast table for Thanksgiving morning.

       Next week's recipe was chosen by Clara of I Heart Food4Thought, is Chocolate-Chocolate Cupcakes, and can be found on pages 215-217.  Oh, boy...more chocolate!     

       Click here and then click on individual bakers' blogs at the site if you would like to see more of this week's recipe and the various ways people interpreted their quest.  Or, better yet, you can click and join us!  See you there.

       

Re-Entry

       Being away for a bit is always fun...you get to do things like spending hours and hours and hours in the museums without thinking you really should be home doing something really productive. 

      You can also sometimes justify visiting shops like the one pictured...yep, a whole shop devoted to the cupcake!  I was hoping they would have those little mini-ones like you see in all the shops in NYC, but no, apparently this is Ohio, and those are "sissy cupcakes" which have no place or fond following in the Midwest.  That said, you need to be prepared to eat the whole gooey thing, be willing to take a bite or two and toss the rest, or happen upon some greedy geese flying south for the winter that would be delighted to stumble upon part of a nice cupcake up for grabs. 

      Re-Entry today was a bit of a shock after having four days of frivolity, let me tell you.  There was laundry to be done, meal prep to be factored in (okay, I admit, I would rather prepare my own food usually...the thought of someone else's hands all over my food at the restaurants makes me a little nervous...I mean I don't personally know them, I am not sure that they have the same standards of cleanliness that I do when it comes to food preparation, etc., etc. -- you've all heard my compulsiveness on this before), volunteer work to field, and just the idea that I could not roam at will, be unaccountable at best, and get lost in another world was a tad harsh. 

      If I work this right, I might get another go at it this weekend in Iowa...there is no end to the decadence and frivolity going on around here.  What's up over there?

 

Rejuvenating

        How's your weekend going?  Mine's going great...am out of town, out of state actually (clue:  a four letter state with three of the letters being vowels...nope, not IOWA like you are all thinking, but instead the other four letter state with three vowels, OHIO, as the IOWA version will be next weekend when I am headed out there to see my sister and her new post-flood house).  This weekend is a chicks weekend in Cincinnati, just rejuvenating a bit and having a great time doing chick things and visiting the museums. 

      Photo is from the top of the hill at the Cincinnati Art Museum, where we were today enjoying the gorgeous weather, the lovely sight of changing leaves, views of the city, and where I also fell in love.  Yep, you heard me:  Fell in love.  I am having an affair with Edward Henry Potthast (don't gasp, he's long gone and the love affair is merely with the art he left behind). 

      I traipsed through the museum seeing all the usuals found in nicely appointed museums...Renoir, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Manet, Monet, Courbet, Pissaro, Sisley, Hogarth, Reynolds, Cassatt, Wood, Wyeth, Hopper, Remington, Russell, Sargent, Rosseau, Bierstadt, etc. and the urge came upon me to spend a fair amount of time in the Cincinnati rooms, i.e. those rooms designated for representing local artists, art, etc. 

      When I was studying US Far West history in college, I spent a fair amount of time learning about Thomas Moran, so when I stumbled upon Potthast here today in the Cincinnati rooms, I remembered that he had gone with Moran, at the bequest of the Santa Fe Railway who commissioned five artists to head out west, specifically to the Grand Canyon, to paint in the very early years of the 1900's.  The railroad would then use these paintings as travel enticers, encouraging people to travel west and see these wonderful visages for themselves, hopefully traveling by railroad and enriching the pockets of the men who voted to commission the artists to create such paintings. 

      Well, and indeed, Potthast did a nice stint with Moran, et al., but he also had some very fine Impressionist work, which followed his Far West gig, that caught my eye today.  I tend to like the Impressionists' art very much, and while Potthast is sometimes called an Impressionist and sometimes called a Realist, whatever they want to call him, he has some very nice contributions as an American Impressionist in that era. 

      The French Impressionists all have these elegant tiny little whisps and dabs of brushstrokes in their paintings, which are easy to get lost in when you are viewing up close, stepping back, yet further back, etc., and while EHP's pieces have that near/far bit going on, his brushstrokes are broader and deeper, brighter, more intense in coloring, and I really like the idea of that coupled with the thoughts of America at the time being this broad, deep, huge country with wide open spaces, big skies, and vast plains, full of light and space, etc. full of exploration, industrialization, a sense of movement, etc.  It's a wonderful marriage. 

      The museum has more than several really nice Potthast paintings, so be sure to check them out when you go next...or look for some EHP where you are as he was very prolific!  And then just try to tell me that you did not absolutely fall in love with his seashore beach scenes, and that you were not absolutely enchanted with each and every painting in his collection...you can try, but I'll bet you won't succeed, that you, too, will fall in love with Potthast's collection.  While Jan van Os, discovered at the Speed in Louisville, was this summer's affair...Edward Henry Potthast, discovered at the Cincinnati Art Museum, is this autumn's affair...be still my heart! 

      Oh, yeah, I'm having a great time seeing art in Cincinnati this weekend...but then you knew I would, right? 

 

Tuesdays with Dorie: Lenox Almond Biscotti

        This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, from the cookbook Baking:  From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, is Lenox Almond Biscotti, can be found on page 141-143, and was chosen by Gretchen of Canela & Comino.

   If you would like to try the recipe before buying the book, click on Gretchen's site above and she will have it posted today. 

 

      I haven't ever made biscotti before, and I think I need a couple more rounds of it before I feel very confident.  I guess they are supposed to look rustic, but I am thinking surely they aren't supposed to look this rustic!  It was an easy recipe, so I will try it again. 

      I added lemon zest to the basic recipe as Dorie said that was an option and everyone here loves lemon in anything.  The flavor is outstanding, really good. 

      We snacked on them straight out of the oven, what can I say...I know, it said to cool them, but come on...warm lemon almond cookies fresh out of the oven?  I am betting that more than one TWD baker this week sampled straight off the cookie sheet before they ever hit the cooling racks.  They were that good. 

      I will be making these again as Mark pronounced them EXCELLENT and made plans to grab a handful to have with his coffee at work in the morning.  I would say that spells success. 

      Next week's recipe was chosen by Kelly of Sounding My Barbaric Gulp, is Pumpkin Muffins, and can be found on page 13.   

      Click here and then click on individual bakers' blogs at the site if you would like to see more of this week's recipe and the various ways people interpreted their quest.  Or, better yet, you can click and join us!  See you there.

Friday's Favorites Fare

 

READING:  Bits and pieces of various things as it is my "get caught up with bits and pieces" week.  Also reading historical fare delving into new interests.

LISTENING TO:  John Mellencamp...it's a Bloomington kind of day and all.

COOKING THROUGH:  Le Cordon Bleu at Home (Le Cordon Bleu School of Cooking); Baking:  From My Home to Yours (Dorie Greenspan)

FAV NEW FIND:   Kitchen torch...yes, you heard me...I am going to be setting things on fire with style now!  The guys are a little worried about this new side of me liking to flambe things. 

FAV THING TODAY;  Seeing what Matt's new swim times will be at the beginning of short course season so when it finishes in March, I can look back and see from where he came and how far he went.  It's a swimming thing...it's what we do, what can I say?  And, although I try always to focus on the positive here, my NOT SO FAVORITE THING this week is what you see in the photo:  Bill has come and gone and closed my pool for the season...and for once he did not have to pull me out kicking and screaming because it was raining that day, for which I believe he was probably truly grateful.  (Just kidding around...I have never once kicked or screamed:  whined, yes, but no actual tantrum throwing that I can recall...you may need to check with Bill on this, however, just to be 100% certain.)

GOING TO:  Way too many things for one three day weekend, I can tell you that!  Guerin's Homecoming was Friday...this year it was after the game and the kids just wore jeans and such and danced.  Matt did not ask a girl as he is also in a three day swim meet this weekend and didn't know if it would be fair to ask a girl and then not be able to show up until very late into it all after he swam on Friday night.  Matt also has a young Knights meeting out of town on Saturday afternoon, choir on Sunday, and the call out for the Winter Sports at Guerin on Sunday night...no grass growing under his feet.  Alex, I believe, indicated that he would be spending the weekend reading.   Mark and I have various bits all weekend, Hoo/Hawk game in Bloomington at noon...see you there! 

PRAYING FOR:  All teens trying to find their way into adulthood, that they will embrace peace and acceptance on their journeys, please join me.

Re-Booting Clarice

         Photo is Matthew today excitedly showing off New Clarice in her lovely Midnight Blue attire.  Thank goodness for teenage boys who love computers...he figured it all out, ordered it, and is having the best time setting it all up for me.  Which is good because I would not have a clue.

      Yes, it has been awhile, hasn't it?  Things have been a bit at sixes and sevens here with this, that, and the other, and to top it all off, Old Clarice has given up the ghost (a little Halloween reference being the month of October and all), so as of this evening, I am now operating with New Clarice.  New Clarice comes complete with a whole new wardrobe and updated occupational skills.  Yep, she does some pretty fancy things, she does. 

      Matthew has uploaded and downloaded and probably overloaded New Clarice with all sorts of new bits and pieces and I will no doubt be unable to operate most of them from this day forward.  

      That said, New Clarice is totally yare.