Oatmeal and Whimsy

Happy Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T11:19:00.001-06:00

Today doesn't seem like Valentine's Day for some reason, but according to the roses that are waving around the school, I guess it is... We also have been blessed with some wonderful "singing telegrams" courtesy of our Coach, our principal, the librarian, and the counselor... Let me just say... They are soooo funny! The expression on the kids' faces says it all.... Oh, my goodness....

Hope you are all having a wonderful and sweet Valentine's Day... Enjoy happy memories and sweet thoughts all day long!

Valentine Cheer

2012-02-12T22:20:00.004-06:00

My dear cousin brought us a sweet today for Valentine's Day... Lovely on a plate!

game face

2012-02-04T21:48:00.003-06:00

Super Bowl Sunday... Have fun!

Thank you to someone for this picture. I found it one night when I was playing Scrabble online...

What is my word?

2012-01-30T19:27:00.001-06:00

January is coming to an end. Everyone is looking forward to Valentine's Day.... Today had a temperature of 65 degrees. Nice snow on Friday night... And I am still trying to think what my word for the year might be... The holiday decor is mostly tucked away, but here and there linger the angels, shepherds, the gingerbread kitchen....I tell myself that the nativity lasts all year, that gingerbread is winter, not holiday.... But I recognize a liar even in my own nightgown.... Today I felt under the weather, stayed home..... Tomorrow I have to get back in the Groove. I need to embrace all the wonderful new ideas around me. Stand back! Maybe my word needs to be "wake up." Other ideas for word of the year: gratitude, determine, grace, listen, enlighten, preserve, or..... Even go-with-the-flow.

Off limits

2012-01-19T18:38:00.000-06:00

My cousin sent me the most wonderful gift this week.. Tucked inside a lovely note... Here in all his sass and glory is my dear daddy... These photos were snapped in Japan during WW2 by a cousin who sent them to his aunt... and lo these many years hence they miraculously made their way back to me!! To me!!!! They are pretty clear, but I loved the gold tone glow without flash... Daddy is casually leaning against a sign that states "off limits"... woooo, what a daredevilmaycare thing for my dad to do!

Also slipped inside is this tiny (and I mean really baby tiny) letter that has gone through the mail. Those are actual stamps... Those are my readingglasses...

Here is the letter by a spool of thread for sizing... Inside in my grandmother's beautiful script... or maybe my grandfathers??? ----- (His handwriting was also amazingly beautiful... I'll have to check with my cousins on that one...)

Inside in "someone dear's" script is my daddy's birth announcement... And I loved knowing he entered this world at 8 pounds... Oh, so special!

He's on some kind of boat in the other picture... leaning over the side...

In the midst of all this anti-hoarding (and I know it's a problem), I am sooo very glad everyone involved took the care and time to keepsake these treasures. They sparkle my weary spirit on this chilly January Thursday....

Miss Dickinson's slant of light

2012-01-17T10:28:00.003-06:00

Today my college prep students "took apart" another poem by Miss Emily... They hinted they will be happy to move on to someone else. I understand. It takes a while for Emily's poems to make sense. They have a way of hitting the soul and causing a person to think too much...

I have a friend who used to tell me her husband often said, "You think too much." I don't know what he meant, but I do know the persistent thought life takes its toll on a person's psyche. We, as bloggers, currently look at the world through bloggy eyes.... ( this would be a cool picture. I could make that and it would be inspirational! I will have to think this through for a post...) The poets did the same... especially Miss Emily.

It worked its magic. Although the students aren't embracing her the way they did Elie Wiesel or Arthur Miller or dear, sweet Harper Lee, they do see a kind of a genius to her... That's all I ask.

This poem means more to me because I am obsessed with that concept of a certain slant of light. It's why so many of my blogs feature the sunset, the sunrise, or a certain shade or array of light/shadow.... It is a parable, a metaphor for life. Obviously I embrace the dark in the real world, loving the night, the moon, the starry canopy... I resist and fear the dark of the spiritual world if it means death, loss, or the scary unknown. That's pretty normal I'm guessing.

---------------------------------------------

There's a certain Slant of light (258)
by Emily Dickinson

There's a certain Slant of light,
Winter Afternoons –
That oppresses, like the Heft
Of Cathedral Tunes –

Heavenly Hurt, it gives us –
We can find no scar,
But internal difference,
Where the Meanings, are –

None may teach it – Any –
'Tis the Seal Despair –
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the Air –

When it comes, the Landscape listens –
Shadows – hold their breath –
When it goes, 'tis like the Distance
On the look of Death –

---------------------

I love the line, "when it comes, the landscape listens..." I feel that way at twilight... I have a passion for the colors, the essence, the feel of twilight... It is a melancholy time... My students had to take a moment and think of their own "certain slants of light" that touched them... Their choices were lovely: one girl wrote of a memory of the streets of a one-year post Katrina New Orleans from a mission visit she took as a Freshman; one boy wrote of the smell of his grandfather's truck bringing nostalgia because it was the exact same smell he remembered from his father who passed away when he was very very young... One girl wouldn't share, and I suspect hers was sad. One literal young man wrote about popcorn at the movie theater and insisted it was only food for the belly! (He plans to be a theater major, so I doubt that, but he held his ground).... I had slants of light as peppermint for Christmas, spring, and even one boy insisted he could write about his dream to see the Northern Lights, even though his feet haven't been out of Missouri....

I guess we all have our certain slants of light... something that triggers within us the immediate concept that we are about to receive the secrets of the Universe... We believe they are at our fingertips... and we reach out.... and they are gone... Vanished that same way the light changes imperceptibly when we race for our cameras after a glance out the window...

This photo is a picture of the windows as they appeared on our school one early morning a few years ago... I have never seen this phenomenon before or since... I love it and had to find it for this post...

For the remainder of this delightfully dark and melancholy winter's day, enjoy the light you love the most....

A beautiful day for a ride...

2012-01-16T15:28:00.001-06:00

I am enchanted by old barns. I just love the way they tower over the earth, a haven for animals, hay, equipment... the farmers.... Even in ruin, I love them all...

One of our good friends tells us she used to climb to the top of this huge, old barn near Paris, MO... I can imagine the view as a child... even now I would love to see from those little windows there near the rooftop.

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This mansion is a mystery to me. I have heard several stories about its origin, but they all seem to bear the idea of a dream home built by a city dweller in the heart of Missouri farmland... It's pretty, but always few cars or trucks...

For my holiday off from school, many ideas come into mind for a fun excursion. Mom and I decided to drive to Perry, MO, through the countryside from Shelbina... Lots of pretty homes, barns, cattle on the hill... It was so warm and sunny... and we shut our ears to the predictions for freezing rain, sleet, and snow later on tonight...

I have a few plans for the evening, but none of them include much industry... A nap sounds promising if I can sneak one in before sunset... I have my candles lit for the evening, though, so probably I'll read a bit on my Beth Moore James study... That's amazing grace for a weary woman...

Tomorrow is back to school if the weather doesn't grant us a snow day... I wouldn't cry....

Gratitude

2012-01-15T19:21:00.002-06:00

I accidentally deleted this post so I lost all five of the lovely comments. I was experimenting with the ipad, and I just cannot get photos to post.... And then I got mixed up.... Ah, blog master for sure!

The cold wind has a certain, unmistakable call. I sit here with a steaming cup of English toffee coffee. Mom has her magazines, and I gently glide from house to house. Through your tea parties, through your successes and through your new endeavors. Some of you feel like old friends. I can tell when you are celebrating, and I think I can tell the days when your hearts are sad and weary. This community of bloggers is an amazing, not-to-be-described family of sisters. Sometimes we are looking for that ultimate recipe, that beautiful camera snap of lace and roses on a hall table... With cookies and candlelight... and sometimes we simply seek a connection in spirit, in yearning and fulfillment of that beautiful life we all pursue. I have more friends who do not blog than those who do, and to those without our community there is a sense of doubt... I sense their hesitation As they ponder the wisdom of showing one's life online, they just cannot know why we blog until they experience the common tapestry of our daily round. Although most of us will never lay eyes on the homes and faces of our blog land friends, our thoughts and lives are changed because of something we have read or seen in each. other's lives. Thank you all for being sisters in the blog world. Your quests for joy and the good in life offer me daily inspiration

Back to School...

2012-01-05T01:03:00.001-06:00

Ahhhh, the pleasures of a little high tech break. Second semester,,,, teachers call this stretch the grim period---- post holiday, cold, drear----

So I do what anyone would--- crush my lesson plans into ideas to spark these days and grab a cute tote--- this from a sweet friend in Florida! Carry on... I saw a sign to p;ost by a classroom clock: "Time passes--- but will you?" Too mean?

Happy 2012

2012-01-01T02:53:00.002-06:00

Did you hear the news, girls?

Something is brand new!

I will spread the word!

Hey, it's a new something or other...

I give you all the happiest wishes for a fun year ahead,,,,,

After Christmas Tea...

2011-12-29T22:36:00.000-06:00

Just the sight of these pretty cookies makes me forget all the post holiday blues... My cousin made these for us, and they are super cute and yummy, too.

With milk for breakfast or tea for a nighttime snack, they keep Christmas a little longer in the heart (and on the thighs, too, no doubt!)

It's a bit quiet around here tonight... I have been sorting and trying to rearrange my room... and it's a MESS... Now it is the time that I wish I'd left it alone... All because of a gift Mom gave me, which I will show if I EVER get it all fixed up... Goodnight, all!

Hanging on to the Light...

2011-12-28T17:25:00.001-06:00

On this lovely, crisp December night, the sun sets exquisitely... my camera was available... and I tiptoe out on the step in bare feet to capture the strata... the beautiful layers, often quite similar to the layers of life...

As the year slips away, into the sunset almost... we cherish all the friends. lessons, challenges, and loves we have kept, the ones we lost... and the ones we've saved.... May 2012 be a happy one for all my dear friends here in Blogland and at home... We live in Hope...

Merry Memories

2011-12-25T01:07:00.000-06:00

This is the moment... the house is quiet, waiting for the advent of morning, family, love, simmering deliciousness, and more love. I have wrapped to my heart's content, the stockings for all are expectantly waiting on the dining room table... and I have spent Christmas Eve with my family. Tonight was spent watching a beautiful holiday movie with Mom and then specials from Giada, Pioneer Woman, and Donna Decorates Dallas.... a special phone call and a box of gifts to open. Scrumptious candles are burning, and I'm snuggly warm in my fleecy furry blanket....

May all of you have the kind of Christmas that makes you smile, laugh, and celebrate God's greatest gift to us all....

Christmas tea...

2011-12-23T02:00:00.000-06:00

Come join us for a little celebration of spirit!

Just 20 more minutes...

2011-12-21T14:35:00.000-06:00

Who says the Christmas countdown was until the twenty-fourth? All good teachers know it is until that last bell ringeth on the last day before holiday break.

The sun is shining, and I will soon make my way home to see what Mom has planned for us to do... Merry Christmas, to all of dear Blogland. I love hearing from you all. Happy New Year! I would say I'm taking a break from blogging, but actually I have taken that break all fall! So, I'll be in and out and about the net.

Blessings... Be sure to check out the link on the previous post. That is an amazing little video you won't want to miss. It really made me emotional to watch it.

A Christmas Gift...

2011-12-21T01:09:00.001-06:00

Click this link for an amazing experience!

http://www.godvine.com/Flash-Mob-Surprises-Everyone-by-Singing-Hallelujah-in-the-Food-Court-90.html

A gentle week...

2011-12-19T05:36:00.000-06:00

Softly dawn comes to tint the world a shade of pink... Many little Christmas tasks gather at our doors....

May you find the heart of the holiness and peace of Christmas...

Unwrapping the best gift of all, the precious love of a baby born to give us all the peace we seek.

Homespun Table

2011-11-28T21:41:00.000-06:00

There is a fiber in my soul that cannot decide between elegant, sleek, modern, Victorian.... or homespun... This year, the homespun won out for the holiday table...

Mom adores to use this overshot/undershot type of tablecloth, and my friend Karla gave us these cute placemats to go with our gingerbread finery... so we decided to bring it on out into the dining room.

Pip berries from the new store that took over my old storefront in Bevier, Jennings Mercantile... and a cup or two from Friendly Village... they just begged to be used through the holidays...

These wax pinecones are from Valerie Par Hill, and they glow from within...

We are ready to welcome our Christmas guests... Come on over for a little spot of holiday tea, coffee, and a goodie...

Happy Monday... After at least four hours of work on the phone with our internet provider and the help desk, I am back online... Hallelujah!

Welcome to the Gingerbread Kitchen!

2011-11-25T22:07:00.000-06:00

Last night after my family had left and Mom was sitting in her favorite chair, I decided to take the newest gingerbread goodies, a gift from my friend Karla, and fix up a magical gingerbread kitchen.

Karla gave us these pretty, tall gingerbread people, the pretty glass cannisters and the placemats that match.. Along with her ornamental cupcakes and candy, this corner of the kitchen reminds me of the window displays in St. Louis Stix, Baer and Fuller... We used to go once a season to see the Ice Capades and visit the shops with Santa and his elves...

The yellow tin is a perfectly awesome tin of Harney's tea blended for the Royal Wedding.... In the silk sachets are rose petals, blue cornflowers, and marigold... along with tea, or course... and vanilla pieces. It is one yummy cuppa tea!

Don't you love their happy faces?

On the north wall, we have a gingerbread village mixed in with Mom's flow blue dishware collection. I just bought the tall gingerbread girl and the lifelike popcorn tree and popcorn balls from my favorite Randolph Mercantile...

If I could imagine myself tiny and festive, I would walk along those streets and visit every shop to try to finish up my holiday gift buying... No black Friday for me!!!!

She looks real, but she isn't... Do you love gingerbread? I confess I haven't had much real gingerbread. I like gingersnaps from the store, and when I was young, my grandmother made Laura Ingalls Wilder's gingerbread cake... It was dark and tangy, kind of mysterious. We always mixed up a form of cool whip called Dream Whip from a box, and it often had a little runnier texture than Cool Whip... Gramma was a bit heavy on the vanilla, and that dream whip was food of the gods!!!! She poured it over this cake when Christmas time came, and I thought I was ON Little House on the Prairie!!!

One time Gramma offered to give me 100 dollars if I lost 50 pounds... I thought that was a bunch of money back then, so I accepted the challenge.. the very next night when I got home from school, she had made this gingerbread... (I think it was sabotage)---

Those pounds have long been lost..... and found again!!!! And I would love to taste this lovely concoction again this season... I found her recipe, so I may try it soon... Bake it as you risk because gingerbread isn't for everyone... I know my daddy didn't love it, and actually I'm not sure if I did or not... Tastes change, but memories stay beautiful...

Have a fun weekend... My vacation days have been fun, and the weekend isn't quite over yet... Hallelujah!

LAURA'S GINGERBREAD

1 cup brown sugar blended with
1/2 cup shortening.
1 cup molasses mixed well with this.
2 teaspoons baking soda in 1 cup boiling water
(Be sure cup is full of water after foam is run off into cake mixture).
Mix all well.

To 3 cups of flour
add one teaspoon each of the following spices:
ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Sift all into cake mixture and mix well.
Add lastly 2 well-beaten eggs.
The mixture should be quite thin.

Bake in a moderate oven for thirty minutes.

Raisins and, or, candied fruit may be added and a vanilla frosting adds to the goodness.

A Glance at our Thanksgiving Table

2011-11-25T03:01:00.001-06:00

Today's table centers around my grandmother's Johnson Brothers Friendly Village dishes...

We love to use these around this time of year...

At the center sits a beautiful pumpkin tea light luminary from my dear friend Karla.

Today was so warm and sunny. Mom's dishes sparkled, didn't they?

About this time the house smelled divine, and my friend brought his mother, Mom's college roommate by to say hello. She lives in a convalescent home, but he was taking her to his house for a family dinner.

After lunch, I pulled a little trick I reserve for holidays. I slipped off to my room and relaxed while my son and his friend helped with the dishes and cleaning up...

Just a few moments of stolen rest soothed my tired but happy spirit...

After lunch we played a game of Spinner. My partner and I were not the "spinner winners" today.

And I was off to decorate the kitchen after our guests of honor left... This year's theme will be gingerbread!!!

But there's still time for a quick cup of tea if you choose to drop in.... Happy Black Friday!! I'm internet shopping for this one..

Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T11:15:00.000-06:00

Crisp and golden, Thanksgiving Day is beautiful this year in Missouri. Autumn always brings out the mellow gratitude in my soul. The trees are almost bare, and the ground covered with wind-tosssed, russet clutter. I love the look of the ground here the last few days before our first snows set in.

Today we set the table for four, Mom, my son, my almost son, and myself... The turkey smells delicious, and the stuffing and green bean casserole wait their turns in Mom's vintage gas range. We baked two pumpkin pies at 5:30... If I count right, that's three pieces each!!!

Noodles, mashed potatoes, salads, cranberry sauce cooked down the old way from scratch, crescent rolls and Christmas Morning Jam from my friend Marguerite's kitchen. Oh, baby.... Thanksgiving feasting sets the tone, but the real bounty is that which we've been given as children of God. I am so grateful for the grace that surrounds us all, for my family, friends, students... for each of you who write such beautiful blogs, snap those inspirational pictures, and those who read this blog, as well.. we are a community bonded by the written word and the magic of a culture not even imagined when I was a little girl.

From this night forward through the next few weeks, the light of Christmas, the Yuletide Magic, will illuminate each day and hallow every evening of our lives. My magical, loving Thanksgiving wish for all of us is to truly appreciate the love of God, the grace of God, and the grateful spirit of a living Lord.

Happy Thanksgiving....... from Mom's house to yours!

Blessed

2011-11-13T01:29:00.000-06:00

As I lie in bed, my candles glow.... and I consider the blessings of a cozy room, a cup of chamomile mint tea, family coming to dinner tomorrow. Autumn gratitude for my life, my family, and all of you who take the time to read my blog.

I'm back...

2011-11-08T01:12:00.000-06:00

What has happened to my blogging? Here it is, my favorite season, and I'm out enjoying the weather, snuggling in tonight with a candle, a cup of Earl Grey tea, and some lovely music.... the rain pelts on the green metal roof overhead, and I begin to think about school in the morning...

I love it when the time changes, and what used to be midnight is only eleven... What once was up at six o'clock becomes seven... It is one of my favorite times of year anyway, and then the gift of extra hours seems overly abundant.

I put out the Fontanini nativity figures today... their colors blend well with the autumnal colors, and they begin to invite me into the true beauty of the holy season ahead. While I was in the spirit, I set out Mom's carolers on a cabinet beside the fireplace... and I replaced all the Halloween and oranges with muted white ironstone tea leaf, bittersweet, treenware, and pilgrim greys... I just wasn't ready for Christmas yet... even though I know it is right around the corner and my original thought was to decorate the mantel with old world Santas... My Thanksgiving heart called to me, and I changed my mind...

I have been home a few days with the virus that has claimed so many of my students... It's a pity to waste a sick day being ill, but I just didn't feel like doing anything except snoozing, drinking hot tea, and catching a glimpse here and there of television... One program blurred into another there for a while.

It's now getting late and lovely/stormy outside... Underneath the cloud cover, I understand the moon is nearly full... She missed Halloween by a week, but the moon maiden will bless our Thanksgiving season with her charms..

What are you thankful for this year? Family, yes... always and forever. Friends, of course... they are wonderful... and for the grace of God to give so abundantly to his children... Amen..

2011-10-30T23:49:00.001-05:00

Want to go for a Drive?

2011-10-29T15:05:00.000-05:00

Here it is... the final week in October. Mom and I headed out this morning in pursuit of a little of the final fall color... We stopped at our favorite Crossroads restaurant for an early lunch... chili was ready, so we decided to celebrate that first hard freeze of last night with a bowl of their famous chili and batter dipped cauliflower buds...

Instead of our usual trip through Amish country, we headed west and back north through what I think is beautiful "fall road." Of course, the bright blue skies and bright noon sun helped accent the leaves in these hills...

Huge papery-thin leaves floated across the road, sashaying back and forth to hypnotize us with their final shouts of glory...

Every tree is just one huge autumn rain away from losing these leaves, and that is as it should be for November's advent...

We ran by this sign... How clever and kind of sweet.... It truly makes me think HIgbee must love its children!

Winding our way back home, we talked about future ideas to move some of our garden furniture around... (It's always way more fun to plan than to actually maneuver...) Now we are back ready to make some Halloween cupcakes... Our treat bags are waiting for future little trick-or-treaters, and I am busily trying to wear my three Halloween sweaters during these spooky weekend days... Have a lovely holiday!