Matthew Ward

Remember him? He was the male third of the sibling Christian band Second Chapter of Acts. I love his voice - it's so powerful and distinctive. I was listening to his solo CD titled "Even Now" yesterday. It is kind of old school Christian - traditional style with rather dramatic music. Most of my friends would probably not tolerate the musical style. But I tend to like just about any musical style if the lyrics move me. And this album is full of weighty, moving, meaningful lyrics. This song gave me chills as I listened to it yesterday:

My God is faithful
My God is truthful
My God is boundless in all He is
My God is wisdom
My God is righteous
My God is vision for all who seek

So I will worship You
In the beauty of holiness
And I will worship You
For the things you've done in me
And when my life's complete
I'll place my crown at Your feet
And I will worship You on bended knee

My God is power
My God is glory
My God is ruler over all that is
My God is timeless
My God is justice
My God is mercy to the oppressed

His name is Love
his voice is thunder
his heart is tender
His hand is strong

So I will worship You
In the beauty of holiness
And I will worship You
For the things you've done in me
And when my life's complete
I'll place my crown at Your feet
And I will worship You on bended knee

House Tour

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, the turkey is in the oven and I can smell it cooking. It smells absolutely delicious and it's driving me crazy. We are going to eat in about two hours. I have always disliked smelling the turkey cooking all day on holidays because it makes me so hungry. When I was in high school, I figured out that if I kept my bedroom door shut all day, the smell wouldn't waft in there and I could go retreat and hide all day.

Anyway, we were supposed to have friends come down from Portland for the holiday, but at the last minute, they were not able to come. So it will be cozy with just Denis, my mom and I. On the upside, we will have plenty of leftovers!! :o)

Menu for today:
Turkey
Mashed Potatoes
Stuffing
Gravy
Cranberry compote (Emeril Lagasse's recipe. I made it last year and it's great!)

That's it, really. We don't generally mess around with peripheral vegetables since they will prevent us from being able to eat more of the main feature items.

I hope you are having a wonderful day with your family as well.

Christmas Music

I balk at listening to Christmas music already, but we recently received some new CDs that we ordered. So we are listening to one of them now. This is an artist who we discovered from watching an episode of Austin City Limits on PBS. He is Sufjan Stevens, singer-songwriter, folk/experimental. He has a sweet sounding voice, an offbeat sense of humor and a lot of talent. You can hear some samples as www.asthmatickitty.com

Networking

Not to be outdone, Phoebe and Monica have started their own blog.

Temporary Diabetes

On Monday of this week, I came down with temporary diabetes. Two of my coworkers and I are wearing insulin pumps for two weeks to learn more about how they work. We are to pretend that we have diabetes, test our blood glucose levels at least four times each day, count all the carbohydrates that we eat and treat them with "insulin". It is actually saline that we are using, so don't worry about me accidentally overdosing myself with insulin.

The three of us who are wearing the pumps do not really have diabetes. We have each been working in the Diabetes Education department for about a year and working towards our certification. We should all be ready to take the certification test about August of next year. Learning to manage patients wearing an insulin pump is a vital part of our jobs and it is the next step in our training. It's very exciting but also a bit intimidating.

BTW, in case you are curious, an insulin pump is a device about the size of a pager. It contains a cartridge that is filled with very quick-acting insulin. The insulin is delivered very slowly all the time to mimic what the pancreas is supposed to do. Then, when you eat or have a high blood glucose reading, the pump calculates (based on the settings that are programmed in) and gives the amount of insulin that is needed as a larger dose. All the insulin is given through a tube that is inserted just under the skin (usually on your abdomen). The tube must be changed every 3 days to avoid getting an infection at the site.

Poplar Tree

Isn't that a beautiful tree? So calm and serene, with the fluttering leaves and the filtered light... This is our neighbor's large poplar tree which extends its branches over our back yard. It is a large, mature tree and it had several offspring - 7 small poplar saplings - that were on our property when we moved here. We had them taken out so that we wouldn't wind up in a poplar forest.



Well, here is the result of having a big poplar tree in our neighbor's yard. That tree drops leaves and twigs into our backyard year round! It is the bane of Denis' existence. This photo was taken one day after he had raked the yard. The fall is of course, the worst part of the year for the leaves. Well, at least we don't have any lack of composting material. :o)

Halloween

We live on a flag lot - quite a bit off the street. Last year we had no trick-or-treaters for Halloween. So, I did not bother to buy any candy this year. About 4 PM, Denis and I had a little discussion about the evening plans.

"We have no candy?"
"no, no one came last year."
"What if someone does come?"
"Well, we just won't turn on our light."
"Then what will we do for the evening in the dark? You know, I was a boy scout and our motto was 'Be prepared'."

I went to the store and got some candy. Have you tried that new-ish candy bar called Take 5? It has caramel, peanuts, pretzels, peanut butter and chocolate! Really good.

We had no trick-or-treaters this year, so we will enjoy the candy ourselves... :o)
Incidentally, when Denis was a child in Iowa, they went from door to door on Oct 30 - called Beggar's Day. On Halloween they just stayed home and ate their candy! Strange.

Garden

One last rose before the winter.












Our new Clematis with the trellis that Denis built.














Violas in our little "courtyard" bed. They last through the winter in our mild climate.

A Fun, Busy Weekend

What a weekend we had! Friday, I had a surprise day off from work because of a scheduling mix-up. I took the opportunity to accompany my mom and her friends on a day trip out to the woods in search of "sugar pine cones". They are the really big ones, and the trees that produce them are a bit rare, but grow around our area. Part of the day involved my mom and I trying to learn how to identify these trees on our own so that we can collect the cones again. It is a bit tricky to tell them apart from the Douglas Fir tree - the bark is very similar and they grow in the same areas. We had a picnic lunch after collecting the allotted amount of cones. It was great exercise and a nice time to spend together.

Saturday, Denis and I went to the Grange Coop to hunt for a clematis plant. We had to make a final decision on which variety we wanted. We decided on the classic Jackman and it now has it's home next to our front door. We also planted some Sweet Pea seeds in the same bed. The two plants will climb on trellises that Denis built this week. (Very handy, isn't he?) At 1:30, my sister-in-law flew in for a 3 week visit. So we went to the airport to greet her. She is going to be busy with her own local family, but we expect that we will get to see some of her.

This week was Contra Dancing week. So Saturday evening, we all trucked over to Ashland for the monthly dance. I am the only dancer, but I had a "fan club" of 4 people who observed and enjoyed the music. The caller was great and the beginners caught on quite well. It was great fun.

Sunday after church, we had a couple over for lunch. The "get to know people from church better" campaign continues. I served a mexican do-it-yourself bar with chili-lime chicken, refried beans, brown rice, guacamole, and whole wheat tortillas. We had a brief lull in the action and then had family over for dinner - mom, her friends, sis-in-law and her father. It was so nice to all be together. Woo Hoot! A great weekend.