On A Brighter Note….

Posted on March 2, 2009 by Debora

“Catholics confess their sins every week,” the pastor of our church commented yesterday. “Protestants confess EVERYONE ELSE’S sins.”

I laughed along with the rest of the congregation, but it got me thinking that I’ve devoted a fair chunk of space on this blog to bewailing the imperfections of the human race. And while the role of Embittered Wretch does hold a certain undeniable appeal at times, day-to-day life keeps tugging me back whenever I start drifting too far down that route.

So today I’ll tell a happier story about something that’s been brightening my path of late.

The church I attend is relatively young as churches go (but growing fast), and one thing that’s still being sorted out is the music program. The first several months I was there, the congregation simply sang along with prerecorded music on discs or an MP3 player. Which is fine, I’m not picky about where my music comes from as long as I get to sing nice and loud. Then a small worship group formed and began playing once a month in place of the recorded music, and that’s nice too. And then a few weeks ago a second worship group formed, and someone told me I should join it, and I’m in a place right now where I Listen To The Voices, so I joined it, and that has turned out to be surprisingly fun. We get together twice a week to practice, and perform at the church on the first Sunday of each month. The first performance I was part of was nothing to write home (or blog) about, because there were still a few bugs in the live-music amp setups and also our group was still very small. But right after that we gained three or four new members, each of whom totally rock their instrument of choice, and the sound system got upgraded, and yesterday? We sounded mighty fine, if I do say so myself. I’m really glad I decided to give that a shot.

On a similar note, the youth population at the church has EXPLODED in the past year, so now they have a shortage of Sunday School teachers. I dodged that bullet for as long as I could, but last week someone came up and asked me directly if I would teach one class per month. And it’s not like I HATE the idea of doing that, it’s just that I really really enjoy the services and hate the idea of missing any of them. But considering the pathetically small amount of money that I can afford to tithe (I think it just about covers the donuts my kids wolf down every Sunday), it seems like I should be giving SOMEthing of value back to the church. Also the pastor’s sermons are available on a free podcast at the church’s website the next day, so I’m not REALLY missing anything. So it looks like I’ll be wearing my Schoolmarm hat on the last Sunday of each month, and I hope that turns out as well as the worship group thing has.

Last but by no means least, the weather here has been intoxicatingly springlike this past week. I’ve begun turning over the garden beds, and over the next few days I’ll start planting cool-weather crops like garlic and lettuce and swiss chard, stuff that won’t be bothered too much by the occasional late frost. It’s still a bit early by Anza standards, but my gut tells me that the worst weather is behind us. I mean, it’s not like we haven’t gotten our money’s worth of winter this year, right?

There’s just something about springtime that makes everything feel fresh and new and possible.

And I’m off to the garden…

Categories: Christianity, Friends, Humor, Life, Love, Music | Leave a comment

Self-Sufficiency: Successive Harvests Are Key

Posted on February 25, 2009 by Debora

One of the most important things to remember if you’re planning to grow your own food is that most perennial crops have a relatively short harvest period. Once asparagus season is over it’s over, and the same goes for apricots and blueberries and almost everything else. (The exception would be plants with edible foliage, such as Malabar Spinach, dandelions and most herbs, which can be harvested as needed throughout the spring, summer and fall.) For the most part, if you want to have fresh food available throughout the growing season you’ll want to plant as many different kinds of crops as possible.

Picture this: you begin enjoying fresh-picked asparagus in March and continue through May and June. By the time that supply peters out the strawberry patch is in full swing. After that come raspberries, then blueberries, then blackberries and grapes. Meanwhile the trees are producing a steady succession of apricots, plums, peaches, pears, apples, walnuts, pecans, pomegranates and persimmons, beginning in June or July and ending with the frosts of November or even December. And if there’s a fruit you particularly love, you can even plant different varieties of it to ripen at different times, and extend your harvest by several months that way. We get grapes and apples from late August through October that way, by having several different varieties of each that ripen one after the other.

Don’t underestimate the value a steady supply of fresh homegrown organic produce can have on your health and grocery budget. Most of the fruits listed above are powerful “superfoods” that will help you look and feel great. Pomegranates are especially magical: every fall I notice that after I’ve been eating a pomegranate a day for a week or so my skin takes on a radiantly healthy glow and I feel incredibly energetic and strong. Last fall I tried freezing the surplus seeds so I can have that boost in the dead of winter, and this is the first year in a very long time that I didn’t succumb to the apathetic depression of “Februaryitis.”

And once you get in the habit of snacking on apricots and plums instead of chips and candy bars, your budget and your body will both show the benefits. The key is to have the next crop ripening as the current one is beginning to fade, and to keep them coming throughout the spring, summer and fall.

Not everything I’ve listed can be grown in every climate, but unless you live in Antarctica there are varieties of most of them that will thrive in yours. For just a small amount of time, sweat and money invested now, you can be enjoying the fruits of your labors for years or even decades to come!

Categories: food, frugality, Gardening, Life, Self-Sufficiency | 10 Comments

Wordless Wednesday: Who Is This Very Tall Person With Huge Feet Living In My House??

Posted on February 25, 2009 by Debora

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Categories: Family, Humor, kids, Life, Love, Wordless Wednesday | 4 Comments

Wordless Wednesday: Sunrise

Posted on February 25, 2009 by Debora

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Categories: Winter, Wordless Wednesday | Leave a comment

The Winding Road

Posted on February 22, 2009 by Debora

We haven’t done the karaoke thing in a while; it’s been a few weeks now, I think. Part of the reason is because the place up in Idyllwild has started making the kids leave at 10pm, and the karaoke doesn’t even start there until 8:30, so it’s not really worth the drive for such a short stay. The local place, Casa Gamino, is the other option, but that’s a little awkward for me since Steve practically lives there. Also he has apparently worked his way through most of their waitresses and at least one of them seems to resent my existence, because she glares balefully at me the whole time I’m there and won’t wait on me. And when you’ve got one waitress and EVERYONE ELSE AT YOUR TABLE has the other waitress? Yeah, that’s a little awkward.

Anyway.

Today at church, instead of the usual congregational singing, all the children came in from the Sunday School area and lined up to perform. I was surprised, since my kids hadn’t mentioned anything about that, and I was wishing I’d brought my camera.

And then the Children’s Music Director set up a mic out in front of the group, and gestured to Elizabeth, and my girl came up front and belted out the lead vocals with karaoke-polished expertise.

Later I commented to the Director that Elizabeth hadn’t told me she was going to be singing today, and she replied, “That’s because I didn’t tell her. She seems to do better that way.”

After the service people came up to compliment Elizabeth on her singing, and she responded with a fetching combination of charm and airiness, “Thanks; I do karaoke too, you know.”

I was struck by how much she had grown and changed since we started coming to this church back in September. And struck more by the further evidence that every single step along the way — even the apparently frivolous detours, like the karaoke thing — has served a tangible purpose in our lives.

Last Friday I had lunch with our Pastor (he was the only local person I could think of who could talk me down from the splendid rage I had worked myself into over, you know, stuff) and he said basically the same thing about me. That I’m almost a different person from the one who had first come into his church six months ago. I FEEL like a different person. Like something completely new beginning to emerge from an old cocoon. (Or as the pastor put it, “Right now all I can see is your beak.” Same concept, different metaphor.)

And I don’t need any special events to help me see that Luke is a healthier, happier, more confident boy than he was six months ago.

And the really cool part? I’ll probably be saying the same things about all of us in another six months, and six months after that. The road’s too winding for me to see very far ahead, and some days’ journeys are rougher than others, but I’m walking along it in (mostly) joyful gratitude and an absolute faith that it’s leading us to a much better place than where we’ve been.

And my lilacs are showing unmistakable signs that spring is near. It’s really hard to feel grumpy in the presence of swelling lilac buds.

Just keep walking, that’s the key.

Categories: Family, kids, Life | 5 Comments

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