Delciousness

Yesterday was (shamefully) my first trip to the Regional Market this summer. I've been so busy every other weekend, especially when we were apartment hunting, that I didn't have time to make it. But, let's not dwell on the past because yesterday I came away with the most delicious ingredients that became a tasty dinner. And it all started with a bunch of basil, near some nice red tomatoes, across from some zucchini, close to some garlic scapes, down the stall from amazing lemon-garlic fettuccine. A red pepper, some amazing fresh asiago cheese bread, mozzarella pearls and parmesan were added to these initial finds and a giant heirloom tomato that was calling my name elbowed out the initial tomatoes.

The result was some delicious, fresh pasta dressed with a smidgen of balsamic vinegar and accompanied by a CNY white wine, Arctic Fox.

The ingredients were so beautiful, I had to take pictures :)

My battered soul... or ego... or elbow.

Dear Lady Who Showed Us a  Townhouse Today,

I have a few tips for your next showing:

1. Know which townhomes are for rent and when and what they have in them. Walking into a place and having you say, that the one we rent "might" look like the one we're in or it "might not" and repeating that phrase about carpets, dishwashers, washer/dryers, rent prices... etc. is not really helpful to us. 
2. Maybe meet us on time? 
3. Check and make sure the maintenance guys haven't just painted the stairs to the basement so that the person (me) you're showing the townhouse to proceeds to slip on the stairs and fall down several of them (I was holding the railing and stopped myself) and end up covered in gray paint

*If the aforementioned accident does occur, do not get snippy when the victim (me) calls you to say that her shirt also has paint on it (I couldn't see the back until I went home to change to go back to work) and will also need to be replaced as well as her shoes and pants.

Sigh. Farewell my faithful black pants. Farewell black shoes. Farewell awesome magenta plaid shirt.

Yes, this is what occurred when Joe and I went to check out a townhouse as a possible future location for our living. I take a little comfort in the fact that my self-proclaimed clumsiness was not the cause of this mishap, though I still felt embarrassed and my elbow is now angry with me. Word to the wise- if you smell fresh paint, step carefully.

but what does eternity indicate?

What is known I strip away;
I launch all men and women forward with me into THE UNKNOWN.
The clock indicates the moment—but what does eternity indicate?

-W.W.

Thanks to Little Mike for asking to borrow Dead Poet's Society so that I re-explored Leaves of Grass and found the above lines to nourish my soul at the uncertain time of my life. Jobs, apartments, cities, friends... are all swirling around me. Lots of potential changes in the future and seemingly NEVER enough time to do everything I want to do as well as everything I need to do (pesky sleep and food).

These are the moments the clock indicates. Tick tick tick- moment moment moment- time flies. And don't get me wrong, moments are important. I've been living off of Switchfoot's Needle and Haystack Life with the words we are right now....it's no accident we're here tonight, we are once in a lifetime. In this lifetime the present is all we have.

All forces have been steadily employ’d to complete and delight me; 
Now on this spot I stand with my robust Soul. -W.W.

But last night, as I crept through the dark to the bathroom and tried not to bash into any walls or our suitcase on the floor, I caught a dim glimpse of myself in the mirror and felt my soul crawling beneath my skin. In that brief glance I felt my deepest being reach out for eternity and cry for God to bless me with a moment of clarity- to see what really matters, to open my true eyes that stay sleepy and half-closed too often. And my soul took a deep breath.

See ever so far, there is limitless space outside of that;
Count ever so much, there is limitless time around that.


My rendezvous is appointed—it is certain; 
The Lord will be there, and wait till I come, on perfect terms;


(The great Camerado, the lover true for whom I pine, will be there.)

-W.W.

Unexpected company

~opens door~
"Oh! Snow! I didn't expect to see you today. It's been what... a month or so since you left Syracuse? I didn't think you planned to come back until November... oh, no no no, I'm not trying to say I'm not glad to see you, I was just surprised is all. Yes, of course, we've known each other for years.... let's not talk about that time I spent in California, you know it only makes you upset. So.... umm... are you planning on staying long? Oh no? Oh, um, shucks. Of course I'm sad to see you go, let's not have this fight again. Well, yes, of course I love Sunshine. No, no, I love you both, just in different ways. Let's not make this more difficult than it already is, why don't we just enjoy the time we have together. Would you like some tea?"

It's a Battle of Me VS the SERRATED KNIVES

I have never seriously cut myself with a smooth edged kitchen knife. We've always been good friends. However, I firmly believe serrated knives are out to get me. Most recently I neatly sliced off the tip of my left pointer finger (just the ball of my finger, not the nail or bone) with a bread knife. A mere month later that same finger was cut with yet ANOTHER serrated knife while doing dishes at the cafe I volunteer at. Only moments ago one of my steak knives violently twisted toward my fingers while I was cutting (no blood spilled). Coincidence? I think not!

At this point I would be only mildly surprised to enter the kitchen one night to find all serrated knives plotting my demise.

Will April 16th always make me sad and homesick?

You see, I want a lot.
Maybe I want it all:
the darkness of each endless fall,
the shimmering light of each ascent.

So many are alive who don't seem to care.
Casual, easy, they move in the world
as though untouched.

But you take pleasure in the faces
of those who know they thirst.
You cherish those
who grip you for survival.

You are not dead yet, it's not too late
to open your depths by plunging into them
and drink in the life
that reveals itself quietly there.

-Rilke

What happened at Virginia Tech April 16, 2007 isn't something I like to talk about. It's something I sometimes feel like I want to talk about, but when I start I want to stop. The Hokies I love understand the ache that terrible day has left in my heart.

So let me just say, 4/16 makes me remember how precious life is, how loving God is, how much I love my family and friends, my hometown and school. And I'll pray for the families and friends that lost people they loved and hope that they can grip God for survival.

He is Risen

At that moment they heard from behind them a loud noise — a great cracking, deafening noise as if a giant had broken a giant’s plate…. The Stone Table was broken into two pieces by a great crack that ran down it from end to end; and there was no Aslan.

“Who’s done it?” cried Susan. “What does it mean? Is it more magic?”

“Yes!” said a great voice from behind their backs. “It is more magic.” They looked round. There, shining in the sunrise, larger than they had seen him before, shaking his mane (for it had apparently grown again) stood Aslan himself.

“Oh, Aslan!” cried both the children, staring up at him, almost as much frightened as they were glad….

“But what does it all mean?” asked Susan when they were somewhat calmer.

“It means,” said Aslan, “that though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward.”

-CS Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever."
-Revelations 1:17-18