To boldly go...

Where no man has gone before!

I hate how they split the infinitive- but it's a good theme song.

Thats right Picard. Earl grey, hot.

Homemade

I've had a couple of good baking/ cooking days and feel quite satisfied with myself (so does my tongue).  Oh how I love home!  So much time to do anything you want and endless baking supplies.  Who wouldn't want to chat over cranberry-almond-citrus scones?  

Or sit in your cozy room sipping  warm homemade turkey broth with a little wild rice and leftover turkey tossed in?
Then finish it all off with a hunk of fresh wheat bread...
This bread's name is Sean- my mom said I had to name it because it turned out so huge.  I'm actually most proud of the turkey stock- though I don't know why- it's just boiling a turkey carcass with some vegetables.  I guess I just feel like a real woman when I can make soup without opening any kind of can or carton.  Of course the scones were made with oil instead of butter- and I actually did put milk in them, though I could have used soy-milk.  Perhaps I will write out the recipe later.  I'm not sorry for the milk because they tasted creamy and delicious (and the company that came with them was equally satisfying).  I can't resist cranberries or conversation.  

My last night at home!  Only two more weeks until finals then I'll be home until February.  The Lord has blessed me abundantly- Praise him!!

Morning

I love mornings at home.  Somehow I always manage to spend an hour or more eating breakfast.  Yesterday morning Joseph and I watched the sun come up before mass.  I ate biscuits with peanut butter and bananas while he drew a picture of the sight.  

This morning Benjamin finished his bunny blanket and taught Joseph how to finger-knit.  He's a good teacher- Joseph even says so.  Don't you miss being a kid and doing activities for hours while not noticing that all you're wearing is spiderman underwear?

Somehow they ended up knitting from the two ends of the same piece of yarn.  They seemed to be pretty jolly about it though, even though the yarn itself was a big tangled mess in the middle.

  After breakfast Joseph played with a toy car in the living room while repeating the phrase "feliz cumpleanos" to himself.  Tell me again why I'm in college and not here...?

New things to be thankful for

I taught Benjamin how to finger-knit today.  He spent many hours making pieces that would be sewn together to make a blanket for his bunny.  He's finally doing something worthwhile with the rainbow yarn he bought at the thrift store this summer (money very well spent).  Oh children are full of endless delights!  Praise Jesus!

I most definitely had

PECAN PIE at lunch in the caf today. I feel quite satisfied with my lunch. St. Olaf students are so spoiled.

Apple season is over...

Remember how delicious it was!

The Law

I read the readings for daily mass every morning and they've always got psalms about loving "the law of the Lord"- I've been thinking more and more about it lately though

"The law of your mouth is to me more precious than thousands of gold and silver pieces" Ps 119:72

"I gasp with open mouth in my yearning for your commands" Ps 119:131

This was one of those things that I always read but never got- not that I didn't understand that the law of the Lord was right, but that's all it was to me the "right thing". The law of the Lord is such a wonderful freeing thing though- I never realized how much you can actually love the law. If you think about it though, it's part of you- it's part of loving yourself, loving the way you were made. The law of the Lord is written on your heart, it's unhealthy to reject it. Everyone who strays from the law gets hurt. You need to take care of yourself physically, spiritually and emotionally and loving the law is part of that. It's not just loving the law because it's right- it's loving the law because it's part of you- it's just like self discovery, obeying the law lets you be yourself completely without inhibitions. Oh how I weep for those who see the law as a restraint- if I thought like that it would suck my soul.

Isn't funny then that we still sin? Stupid. It's just like when people don't exercise, they know it's right and good but they don't love taking care of their bodies so they don't exercise. There is something so holy about exercise. It makes us closer to what we will be like in heaven. If your body is in order, it will obey your soul better. You will be better able to carry out the good you want to do and pay little attention to the evil you do not want to do.

"Yours, O Lord, are grandeur and power,

majesty, splendor, and glory.

For all in heaven and on earth is yours" 1Chr 29:11

This Week at St. Olaf

There's some good music at St. Olaf this week- I would recommend making the drive.

Tuesday 7:00 PM: Brass Night

Thursday 8:15 PM: **PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE CONCERT**
also: Taiko Concert 9:00PM

Friday 8:15 PM: Jazz I Concert

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

When one finds a worthy wife,
her value is far beyond pearls.
Her husband, entrusting his heart to her,
has an unfailing prize.
She brings him good, and not evil,
all the days of her life.
She obtains wool and flax
and works with loving hands.
She puts her hands to the distaff,
and her fingers ply the spindle.
She reaches out her hands to the poor,
and extends her arms to the needy.
Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting;
the woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Give her a reward for her labors,
and let her works praise her at the city gates.

Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31


Praise the Lord in your daily work- be a dutiful and worthy wife to him!

Unleash Your Doggy Diva!

This is what else they're playing on Saturday morning cartoons... it's like bratz- but for dogs. Prepare to barf.



I most definitely prefer watching Brahms bust through the kitchen wall.

Bread Baking

In my little house here at St. Olaf we only eat homemade bread- I don't know if it's cheaper than your run of the mill nasty no fiber white bread- but I'm positive it's less expensive than a good loaf of whole wheat bread. Last year one of my house mates made the bread- now that shes off student teaching- I make it. Over the summer at home we had a store bought bread crisis so I worked out a recipe that I really liked (non-dairy) and made it a whole bunch of times. It's never turned out quite as well at school as it has at home- maybe it's just because we eat it so fast at home when it's still warm and squishy.

1/2 cup warm water
1 TBSP active dry yeast
2 cups not cold water- but not super warm (potato water is good here too)
1/4 oil
1/4-1/3 cup honey
scant TBSP salt
1 cup wheat germ
2 cups wheat flour
3-5 cups white flour (until the dough isn't sticky)

Proof the yeast with a little sugar in the 1/2 cup of water- then in a bowl, add the 2 cups of water, honey, oil and salt. Then add the wheat flour and the wheat germ- if you don't have/want wheat germ just substitute another cup of wheat flour (wheat germ tastes good though- and it. Then add white flour until it's kneadable. Then knead (and add flour if it's sticky) for 8-10 minutes or until you can poke it and it'll poke back. Set to rise in an oiled bowl (with a pretty kitchen towel over it) for an hour- then punch it down, kinda pat it back into a ball and set it to rise for another hour. Punch it down AGAIN, shape it into 2 loaves, place them in oiled pans and set to rise AGAIN- but only for about 40 minutes this time. Bake it at 350 for 30-35 minutes. Now you have bread!

I also love to make buns out of this dough. Bread baking is trickier than making muffins or grilled cheese- it's one of those things you kinda have to feel out. But I've ruined many loaves and wasted many packets of yeast- so don't feel bad if it doesn't work the first time- or the second or third- ok yeah- feel bad for awhile- but don't give up!

Movement III

This is a good example of one of the polyrhythmic sections of Blind Leaving the Blind. I would love to hear this as a mallet instrument ensemble...




This is also the only time I've ever heard him have a tuning issue while singing- even though it's only one note- I think it's kindof a cool recording then- being caught out of tune and all- the rest is pretty much ridiculously incredible though.

Blind Leaving the Blind

This summer I rediscovered Chris Thile's latest album Punch. I tried listening to it when it first came out earlier this year but the opening track "Punch Bowl" was a little to raw musically for me to listen to at the time so I ignored it for awhile. Though the "Punch Bowl" can still kinda rub me the wrong way, I've been endlessly fascinated by the longer work on the album "Blind Leaving the Blind". It's somewhat of a symphony for bluegrass instruments (it's in four movements)- though I think I've heard it been called a suite, I don't feel comfortable calling it such because I thought a suite was a collection of dances- maybe I'm not up on the modern music lingo of what a suite is these days. Anyway, theres so many juicy features in it- it's really not bluegrass unless you peg it as "progressive bluegrass" which is kind of a broad term- it's for bluegrass instruments but it's really art music with folk and pop influences- along with a lot of other influences. There is thick counter point (he loves Bach), polyrhythms (Stravinsky...?), extreme chromaticism- you name it. I did a presentation on John Coltrane's A Love Supreme this week and I'm finding lots of parallels. Though Love Supreme is more spiritual, both are shameless expressions of the author's thoughts and feelings- and both works are more than just pop music. Blind Leaving the Blind even seems to have jazz influences. There is much improvisation- it's organized around themes, lots of call and response- theres even licks that remind me of Philip Glass- anyway to understand it one has to listen- heres a clip of the second movement. Note the chromaticism and the layering (neoclassical...?) I have a hard time identifying atonality because I don't have a very good ear- as my dictation quizzes will prove- but it's hard for me to believe that this is tonal...



Oh to be able to talk to the composer and write a REAL paper on this...!

The Power of the ARTS!

This is what they're showing during Saturday morning cartoons these days. I think it's genius.

Election Day

Remember O most gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known,
that anyone who fled to thy protection,
implored thy help,
or sought thine intercession,
was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence I fly unto thee,
O Virgin of virgins- my mother,
to thee I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful,
O Mother of the word incarnate,
despise not my petitions,
but in thy mercy hear and answer me. AMEN.

Lord save us! All our trust is in you!

Patience Patience...

The other day I was reading the Bible- like normal people do- and I came across this passage in Sirach (1:22-23):

Unrighteous anger cannot be justified,

for a man's anger tips the scale to his ruin.

A patient man will endure until the right moment,

and then joy will burst fourth for him.

I have always thought of patience as a real sit down and shut up kind of deal. Though one may always be relieved that he was patient, it was more of a calm and quiet thing. I never really thought of joy bursting fourth in the midst of patience. Though that's not really what the verse said, that's what it made me think of. I've always wanted to be that mild and sweet mother character that says things like "Oh dear child, the Blessed Mother smiles upon you" and then light surrounds my head and peace oozes from everywhere.

But I always ended up getting really excited about things and making people shout and dance and do crazy things while we wait. I always saw that as kind of an impulsive fault of mine- but I really think patience can be that way. It can burst fourth with joy. Which is something that I should really keep in mind as I am waiting for many things at the moment and I feel like I should sit down and shut up, but maybe I can have fun while I'm waiting instead and use my time- then I can burst fourth with even more joy when the moment I've been waiting for comes. Oh Mother, help us to LIVE and be patient!

Manly Boy Choir

Thursday night I had to attend the American Boy Choir/ St. Olaf Choir concert for my child and adolescent voice class. I know everyone in the world besides me adores boy choirs but I happen to hate them. I couldn't really but my finger on why before but now I think I know. I always said somehting like "the sound is creepy" "it reminds me of some really sappy but horrible movie". I associated boy choirs with very young boys (under 12) representing "little angels" wearing robes, scooping all of their notes and singing "Christmas Time is Here" from Charlie Brown. Barf. Seriously. But this concert was so drasticly different from anything I could have expected.
While the chapel was still full of that preconcert chatter, one 8th grade boy entered from the back of the chapel and started singing. EVERYONE shut up within a matter of seconds. He didn't think twice that no one was listening- he just expected that everyone would shut up- and everyone did. The rest of the choir filed in on both sides- they were all wearing tuxes- not robes- tuxes. Their voices filled the chapel though there were less then 30 of them and they were little. The sopranos had the most sublime, clean and pure sound- but it was so MANLY. These were human boys- not unisex "little angels" that sing happy songs about flying through the air on silver ponies- they sang chant and songs about rejoicing about God hard core.
The St. Olaf Choir can only beat them in size and volume. They seriously sounded dirty compared to these boys.
At the end of the boy choir portion of the concert, they sang a set of African songs that had more energy and class than I've ever seen in in a choir. This wasn't some "multicultural" experience- this was boys having a blast singing African songs. A few of them played instruments and boy, do I have to hand it to the drummer, he was awesome. They did these crazy actions of digging and chopping while they were singing and not one of them resisted- they were all in it. At one point the conductor left them and stood off to the side, then he threw a 12 ft. stuffed snake in the middle of the choir and they all waved their hands and screamed. Then they ran up and down the chapel aisles- ran. Like boys. Everytime they bowed I wanted to cry- they were all so honorable. They were boys growing into men throgh channeling their energy into creating beauty. This was a school by the way. I mean the Am. Boy Choir is a boarding school in NJ and they all live together, eat together, wake up at 6:45 and go to sleep by 9:30. Yea, order. Oh yes- manly boy choir.