Thursday, December 15, 2011
Certain Moments
Certain moments in life present different opportunities and challenges. Sometimes those are clear, other times not. For me, moments in these days after the loss of my parents and our move here (all in the last 4 1/2 years) present the need for a deep and nurturing rest. I suppose that is Winter's plan in the normal cycle of things. I feel richly blessed that I live in a space where I might revel in such doin's. Like the ground hog, I may come up and check for my shadow in early February. But the big plan for me (and to some degree my family too) is a tender rest over the coming Winter months. I will likely write some but not as much.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Quote
Each of us is put here in this time and in this place to personally decide the future of humankind. Did you think the Creator would create unnecessary people in a time of such terrible danger? Know that you yourself are essential to this world.
~~~~
Chief Arvol Looking Horse (Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Nations)
~~~~
Chief Arvol Looking Horse (Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Nations)
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
I Remember Now
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I had forgotten
how on a night
when the Earth
has a blanket of Snow
the inside of the house is
blessed with light.
I remember now.
~~~~
Glinda Crawford, 2011
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
I Seek to Know
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The less we know of who we are
the more we have to fill our lives
with something outside ourselves.
No thing
on the outside
is sufficient to fill that gaping hole.
No thing
on the outside
is sufficient to fill that gaping hole.
I seek to know
who I am.
I seek to be
who I am meant to be.
I have no need to fill my life
with something outside of me.
~~~~
Glinda Crawford, 2011
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Povitica Day
Tomorrow Melanie and I are making Povitica, a Croatian nut roll attributed to my Grandmother Dora (Dragica) Budiselich Bloskovich (Blaskovic) and my Dad (Jack Felix Bloskovich) too. The ingredients are all lined up. Starting time has not been announced, but when that magical moment arrives, we will find our places as if in a play of which we know our roles as true nature. The elves will be quite busy in the kitchen throughout the day. The aromas will be wonderful. It's a celebration day that seems to connect us with all those who came before. It is an honoring of the ancestors and of who we are.
Here We Go
I am pleased to report that the "Holiday Heritage Tunes and Treats" (Fri., Dec. 9, 7pm, 1st Presbyterian Church) is shaping up to be a wonderful event. The program includes: singalong of beloved songs of the season, free will offering to Hope's Kitchen, door prizes from local merchants, and heirloom treats.
The music is just fantastic. Rich McKinney has set it on a smooth, even, and quick pace. We go through a lot of music in a relatively short time period. There will be some spot solos. It is just amazing how he has organized this. The quick pace is in balance with the serenity of the songs. I find the whole thing just uplifting. (Plus, Rich tucks in 2 teasers of the upcoming "Christmas Cantata", which is our concert on Monday, Dec. 12, 7:30pm, 1st Christian Church. The "Cantata" is an original composition by Rich who is a gifted composer. Yes, this is a big weekend for us.)
Melanie has headed up the door prizes for our Friday event. The response by local merchants has been wonderful. The door prizes are all "heart", they are playful, they represent time, talents and sharing abundance of people within our community.
I am heading up the treat and social part of the evening. We will be working on "transforming space" in Fellowship Hall for this special event. Volunteers are fantastic. People are bringing heirloom treats which have special meanings in their holiday traditions. The treats could be relatively recent or connecting to those who have gone before. I am asking those who are bringing treats to bring the recipe (with their name on it), brief story of the origin of the recipe and why it is special to them, plus a picture of the originator. The latter is optional.
The feedback on the treat portion has been great. This is a relatively new concept in conventional times where life is fast paced, traditions are cast aside, store bought and fast foods are elevated as standard and as better. These foods introduce "slow food". You just have to think about it. People are calling Elders and other relatives in distant places. They are searching for those old recipes down in the bottom of recipe files and drawers. Some are practicing this week as they have never made the recipe before. Some are being shipped in because that's who makes them.
We will post the recipes, write-ups, and pictures on 2 large bulletin boards behind the treats. Cindy is meeting me there on Friday to work on design. Linda will be helping too. I love to work on the creation of space as "art".
To me, the overall theme of the event is "giving". Because we each are giving to the event, the event is just full of boundless joy. It is quite fitting that we give a free will donation and in this case it will be to Hope's Kitchen. How cool is that?
Thanks to Rich and everyone who is helping make these upcoming concerts 2 very special events.
It seems like whenever I start out on a new project that I am on a roller coaster slowing going toward the top. Clickety clack clickety clack. I am not sure that I will get there. And then all of a sudden, there is a stunning view and here we go. That's where we are now.
The music is just fantastic. Rich McKinney has set it on a smooth, even, and quick pace. We go through a lot of music in a relatively short time period. There will be some spot solos. It is just amazing how he has organized this. The quick pace is in balance with the serenity of the songs. I find the whole thing just uplifting. (Plus, Rich tucks in 2 teasers of the upcoming "Christmas Cantata", which is our concert on Monday, Dec. 12, 7:30pm, 1st Christian Church. The "Cantata" is an original composition by Rich who is a gifted composer. Yes, this is a big weekend for us.)
Melanie has headed up the door prizes for our Friday event. The response by local merchants has been wonderful. The door prizes are all "heart", they are playful, they represent time, talents and sharing abundance of people within our community.
I am heading up the treat and social part of the evening. We will be working on "transforming space" in Fellowship Hall for this special event. Volunteers are fantastic. People are bringing heirloom treats which have special meanings in their holiday traditions. The treats could be relatively recent or connecting to those who have gone before. I am asking those who are bringing treats to bring the recipe (with their name on it), brief story of the origin of the recipe and why it is special to them, plus a picture of the originator. The latter is optional.
The feedback on the treat portion has been great. This is a relatively new concept in conventional times where life is fast paced, traditions are cast aside, store bought and fast foods are elevated as standard and as better. These foods introduce "slow food". You just have to think about it. People are calling Elders and other relatives in distant places. They are searching for those old recipes down in the bottom of recipe files and drawers. Some are practicing this week as they have never made the recipe before. Some are being shipped in because that's who makes them.
We will post the recipes, write-ups, and pictures on 2 large bulletin boards behind the treats. Cindy is meeting me there on Friday to work on design. Linda will be helping too. I love to work on the creation of space as "art".
To me, the overall theme of the event is "giving". Because we each are giving to the event, the event is just full of boundless joy. It is quite fitting that we give a free will donation and in this case it will be to Hope's Kitchen. How cool is that?
Thanks to Rich and everyone who is helping make these upcoming concerts 2 very special events.
It seems like whenever I start out on a new project that I am on a roller coaster slowing going toward the top. Clickety clack clickety clack. I am not sure that I will get there. And then all of a sudden, there is a stunning view and here we go. That's where we are now.
Recipe: Springerles
4 Eggs
1 # Powdered Sugar
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Anise Oil
1 Tbsp. Butter
Flour for a stiff dough
Beat Eggs and Sugar until light and fluffy with mixer. Add Baking Powder, 1/4 tsp. Anise Oil, 1 Tbsp. Butter, and enough Flour for a stiff dough. (I added 1/2 cup of the Flour at a time until it was just about stiff enough to roll out. Then I put the dough on a floured surface and worked in a small amount of the Flour so that it could roll out easily, but still stay "soft".) I shaped the dough so that it was smooth on top and the width of my Springales rolling pin. Roll out with a regular rolling pin until the dough is about 1/4 inch thick. Then use molds to shape. Place on lightly greased and floured cookie sheet. I like to put a sprinkling of Anise Seeds on the cookie sheet. Let stand for a few hours or overnight. Bake in slow oven at 300 or 326 degrees.
Source: Walter "Wag" and Adah Wagner were our neighbors across the street when my Dad, Mom and I moved into our "new house" in 1951. Mr. and Mrs. Wagner had no children of their own and their family was far away, so we became their family and they became ours. They were kind of like grandparents to my brother and me, although we did not call them that. We were grandparent deprived as 3 of the 4 had already passed and the 4th lived a long ways away and didn't speak the only language we were taught (English). Over the years, Dad became like a son to Wag.
I will always remember that night when my Dad carried me across the street in my pajamas to stay for the rest of the night with the Wagners. My Dad and Mom then went to the hospital; that's where they "got my baby brother". I was 5. And I will never forget that Mrs. Wagner sat with me in my darkened bedroom during those 2 weeks when I had the Old Fashioned Measles. In those days, children were kept in darkened rooms because of fear of blindness.
I remember that Mr. and Mrs. Wagner were small, even to me as a child. My child's eye remembers them also as blocky in stature. They reminded me then and to this day of gnomes. I would surely hope that is not a negative statement. Their house was small too. Mrs. Wagner even had an extensive collection of tiny little pitchers.
Wag and Mrs. Wag were of German descent. Wag was a baker, candy maker and carpenter. I am not sure how all of those things fit together, but they did. At Christmas time, he would make "Springales" with those lovely wooden block molds. When Richard and I were married, he and Mrs. Wagner gave us wooden Springales molds and this recipe. The molds are long gone and the recipe's ink is badly faded from being underwater in the flood in 1997. Richard and I have been on the lookout for Molds. I found a wooden rolling pin with molds in an antique mall this fall. It's still not quite right, but it will do for now.
Wag's recipe is abbreviated: "Springales Xmas Cookies 4 eggs 1lb pd Sugar 1/4 tsp xxxx 1 teaspoon Baking pdr, 1/4 teaspoon annise Oil, flour for a stiff rollout do- Beat eggs + sugar until light + fluffy with mixer when you add the flour add 2 tablespoon of butter. Rollout + cut in shapes desired. we use the molds. Let stand a few hrs or over nite + bake in a slow oven 300 or 325."
("xxxx" Wag lists what looks to be a leavening ingredient and then crosses it out.)
1 # Powdered Sugar
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Anise Oil
1 Tbsp. Butter
Flour for a stiff dough
Beat Eggs and Sugar until light and fluffy with mixer. Add Baking Powder, 1/4 tsp. Anise Oil, 1 Tbsp. Butter, and enough Flour for a stiff dough. (I added 1/2 cup of the Flour at a time until it was just about stiff enough to roll out. Then I put the dough on a floured surface and worked in a small amount of the Flour so that it could roll out easily, but still stay "soft".) I shaped the dough so that it was smooth on top and the width of my Springales rolling pin. Roll out with a regular rolling pin until the dough is about 1/4 inch thick. Then use molds to shape. Place on lightly greased and floured cookie sheet. I like to put a sprinkling of Anise Seeds on the cookie sheet. Let stand for a few hours or overnight. Bake in slow oven at 300 or 326 degrees.
Source: Walter "Wag" and Adah Wagner were our neighbors across the street when my Dad, Mom and I moved into our "new house" in 1951. Mr. and Mrs. Wagner had no children of their own and their family was far away, so we became their family and they became ours. They were kind of like grandparents to my brother and me, although we did not call them that. We were grandparent deprived as 3 of the 4 had already passed and the 4th lived a long ways away and didn't speak the only language we were taught (English). Over the years, Dad became like a son to Wag.
I will always remember that night when my Dad carried me across the street in my pajamas to stay for the rest of the night with the Wagners. My Dad and Mom then went to the hospital; that's where they "got my baby brother". I was 5. And I will never forget that Mrs. Wagner sat with me in my darkened bedroom during those 2 weeks when I had the Old Fashioned Measles. In those days, children were kept in darkened rooms because of fear of blindness.
I remember that Mr. and Mrs. Wagner were small, even to me as a child. My child's eye remembers them also as blocky in stature. They reminded me then and to this day of gnomes. I would surely hope that is not a negative statement. Their house was small too. Mrs. Wagner even had an extensive collection of tiny little pitchers.
Wag and Mrs. Wag were of German descent. Wag was a baker, candy maker and carpenter. I am not sure how all of those things fit together, but they did. At Christmas time, he would make "Springales" with those lovely wooden block molds. When Richard and I were married, he and Mrs. Wagner gave us wooden Springales molds and this recipe. The molds are long gone and the recipe's ink is badly faded from being underwater in the flood in 1997. Richard and I have been on the lookout for Molds. I found a wooden rolling pin with molds in an antique mall this fall. It's still not quite right, but it will do for now.
Wag's recipe is abbreviated: "Springales Xmas Cookies 4 eggs 1lb pd Sugar 1/4 tsp xxxx 1 teaspoon Baking pdr, 1/4 teaspoon annise Oil, flour for a stiff rollout do- Beat eggs + sugar until light + fluffy with mixer when you add the flour add 2 tablespoon of butter. Rollout + cut in shapes desired. we use the molds. Let stand a few hrs or over nite + bake in a slow oven 300 or 325."
("xxxx" Wag lists what looks to be a leavening ingredient and then crosses it out.)
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