That Soup Recipe from Sunday

Full disclosure, this is NOT a picture  of the soup I made for Sunday's fellowship dinner. I never thought to take a picture of that until it was all gone and people were asking for the recipe. This is a picture of a Pumpkin and Mustard Greens Colcannon Soup I made five years ago, and it looks similar to what I made Sunday. So I guess you would call this picture a... wait for it... stock photo (soup chef's pun there).

Let's call this one "October 2 Soup" or "Fall Vegetable Potage" or just "That Soup." I'm just not getting the clever naming vibe today. It was the result of a need to make a soup for the church dinner and the knowledge of what I had a lot of in the freezer and the vegetable bin. Here's my recipe. All information is approximate and from memory.

2-3 T butter
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 T minced rosemary
1 clunk chicken stock (about 1 quart)
3-4 C pumpkin puree (mine was frozen in a quart bag)
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
2 turnips, peeled and diced
2-3 C cauliflower, chopped
3-4 C frozen chopped mixed greens (or 6-8 C fresh)
water
milk
salt
pepper
cayenne


Saute onions and garlic in butter; add rosemary. Add the stock (Peter invented the term "clunk" in his preschool recipe book for Mother's day, I presume because of the sound a container of frozen stock makes when it falls into the pan... and by the way, Peter's recipe for Potato Soup was actually pretty good, even at age 4) and then pumpkin, potatoes, turnips and cauliflower. Simmer until all vegetables are tender, then puree, either with an immersion blender or in batches in the blender. Add mixed greens (mine were probably beet, turnip, mustard, and Swiss chard, and I used kitchen shears to snip them down to more bite-size).  Transfer to crockpot. Add liquid to reach soup consistency, if needed (I had to add about 1 C water and then I added about 2 C milk. You could certainly use cream if you wanted it richer). Season to taste and cook on low until hot and ready to serve.

Randomday; Housekeeping, Substitute Teaching and Parties, Oh My!

 I like to have a clean house, but cleaning large spaces, like entire living rooms, overwhelms me. So I tackled the tall storage cupboard in the kitchen a week ago... the one that I hadn't touched in about 6 years. At the top are all the stamp collecting hobby supplies.

 If you save all the important papers long enough because you don't want to have to file them, they become unimportant and you can toss them. Genius! Now, as originally intended, there is a shelf for the stuff of each person still at home, and a place to charge our electronics, and a place for household organization, and I'm stowing some of my Latin stuff there too. I found Steve's lost headphones too, hiding in plain sight. If only all of my organizing jobs could be broken down into such relatively small bites.

 And here are some Latin cards, more than fifty years old. I thought I recognized my Dad's handwriting, but he had always pretended to be no good with languages and have a terrible memory. Which, I guess, is why he felt the need to make flash cards. I had had them with my Latin supplies all these years but never had time to organize them when I was actually teaching, but it was a fun way to spend a few days now that I'm not teaching. Here's how I organize my flash cards for Latin: alphabetically by category, and the categories are: 1st declension nouns, 2nd declension masculine, 2nd declension neuter, 3rd declension masculine/feminine, 3rd declension neuter, 4th declension, 5th declension, oddball nouns; 1st/2nd declension adjectives, 3rd declension adjectives; pronouns (my Dad had made cards for every pronoun, so I just alphabetized them); 1st conjugation verbs, 1st conjugation deponents, 2nd conjugation verbs, 2nd conjugation deponents, 3rd conjugation verbs, 3rd conjugation deponents, 4th conjugation verbs, 4th conjugation deponents, irregular verbs, special verbal constructions; adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions. As I have told my students countless times, it all breaks down into Nounland and Verbland, and if you organize yourself and review your vocabulary, perhaps following my 3x5 rule (3x per week, 5 minutes at a time), the greater part of your battle will have been won. Now I have a neatly organized cigar box full of Latin flash cards with a theological emphasis. Again, a small container to organize, but it took quite a bit longer than the cupboard.

Oh yes, and I also defrosted and cleaned the fridge last week. Unfortunately the icemaker is no longer working despite several attempts to reset it. If I can find a small, enclosed area to clean a few times every week, I might actually be able to have a clean house for the first time in years!

I substitute taught the 3-5th grades for three days this week. I had forgotten what the younger kids are like. I had fun with them and some of the 3rd grade girls even gave me hugs! Middle schoolers never do that. Even so, the sheer quantity of small bodies for which I was resonsible for three hours each day made me utterly exhausted when I came home, and each day I had to have a nap. This confirms two things for me: this was the right time to retire and not have to teach every day, and I am one of those people that Donald Trump would condemn as having "not enough stamina."

The 5th grade had some sentences in their assignment like "Puellae pueros amant." And this prompted the quickest students among the girls to gasp and say "ooh, gross!" I told them they could use "like" to translate it instead of "love." And one said, "But that's even worse!" I had forgotten what 5th grade is like.

Tertia's 17th birthday party was a success last night, I think. We sent her off to school with invitations enough for both special ed classes and a few extra. It was charming that some of her friends who aren't in special ed came, had lovely manners, and played Uno and Apples to Apples with her. Because mothers worry about these things, and it's nice to see she has genuinely nice friends of all abilities. We had Little Caesar's pizza and fancy cupcakes, and tomorrow I need to give her a lesson in how to write thank-you notes. Quarta pitched in to make the games flow nicely, and she's going to help her sister put together a costume for "fandom day" on Monday, which kicks off spirit week at River.

Buddy Walk, 2016

I took Tertia to the Portland Buddy Walk today. We've been going there for several years and she always enjoys it. It was a little subdued for her today because she has a cold. I was a little nervous today because the Burlington mall shooter is still at large and could have decided to come south and shoot up a bunch of peaceful people wearing orange shirts, but thankfully did not. (Moms worry about these things. They really do, even though they know how silly it is. I understand now so much better than when I was 17. It's been a tough year to be a mom, all over the world. Maybe it always is.)

But Wonder Woman was there to protect us, plus Portland Fire and Police officers. So we were good!

This is the band they had this year. Costumes were all white and silver, with lots of spandex, even the guys. It was very Portland.

Stormtroopers also seemed to be on patrol in the interest of public safety. And the speaker was Megan from "Born this Way", which I have only seen 2 episodes of, ever, but I would like to binge-watch it if I could.

 It is not often you see Storm Troopers using hula-hoops.

He has to roll it around his wrist because I assume his armor doesn't let him wiggle his hips enough. But that would be fun to watch. Speaking of wiggling hips, the MC, Tony Starlight, had a fun take on "I can't stop this feeling anymore." It was "I can't get these jeans on anymore," and sang of the pitfalls and perils of middle-aged spread... maybe you had to be there. I found it amusing.

You have to love friendly pirates who let you borrow their hat for the photo. Say "Arrr!"

Randomday

Randomday... go! (15 minutes timed blogging)

 Cleaning the floor last week, I also swept out the storage cupboards in the mudroom and paired up all the men's shoes I could find there. I posted this picture on Facebook but without much success. Steve has claimed E, I've thrown out H (which had a hole in the sole), and still waiting to hear from the boys about whose is whose. I'm just going to make my best guess and dump them in their rooms, I guess.

 Sheet pan dinners are in, and this one looked pretty when I was putting it into the oven last Sunday, so I took this picture. Olive, veggies and garden herbs with a little salt and pepper, added to the frozen chicken breasts. It was good with brown rice and lentils, green beans, and a big salad.

Quarta's first day of 9th grade on Monday. That was the day my sister in Virginia scared the whole family by having a heart attack (apparently not a classic heart attack, but a coronary artery spasm). I was once again relieved not to be teaching, and it has continued that way this week. My sister is doing fine and recovering; I believe her prognosis is pretty good. Quarta has accomplished a lot in her first week; I've accomplished virtually nothing in my first week of retirement.

The rains have started today (typical Northwest, once school starts, Saturdays are rainy days and all the weekdays in September and often October are beautiful!) Quarta has a "barn dance" this evening and thus we can't watch Dr. Who, but Steve and I may watch the second episode of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell if video streaming works in a reasonably timely way.

I have been knitting on some socks for Steve... and I don't think I've ever taken a picture of them. I'll aim to get back to documenting my life a bit better on this blog, and aim for some actual work progress photos next time.

An Anniversary Trip

Today is the first day of school; it's also the first first day of school in the last sixteen years that I haven't been teaching. It feels great... and weird. I have a half-empty nest; both boys are launched, more or less, and I may not see them for a matter of months. My youngest is in her first year of high school. My teaching career spanned a very full 16 years; that's a third of my life. My pregnancy with Quarta was during my second year of teaching. So to cope with the disorientation and a bit of melancholy at not being in the thick of the whirlwind of teaching, here is my retrospective on the trip I took out to meet up with Steve and see Daniel off on his internship, over Labor Day weekend... which just happened to be Steve and my 24th anniversary. That's half of my life. I just now realized that. I guess one of the benefits of being retired is that you finally have time to do the math.

Bei-Bei the baby (well 1-year-old) panda eating a stick of bamboo. While Steve and Daniel drove out to the East Coast starting on Monday of that week, I flew out early Friday morning. After a very sound sleep on a comfortable hotel bed, we took a trip to the National Zoo on Saturday. I hadn't been there in decades, possibly since the early 80's, but I may have gone in the early 90's when I lived in the area. Daniel had never been. It was even better than I remembered... back then the pandas had never cooperated with my viewing time and all I ever saw of them was Hsing-Hsing's back as he slept. This is obviously a new and promising era in the saga of the National Zoo pandas, and the experience of her supreme cuteness (she also gobbled down an apple as we watched) may have been worth the price of the trip right there.

And I think this is Bei-Bei's older sister, Bao-Bao, playing and tumbling over the decor in her den.

Also high in the cute-factor is this Fennec Fox. You know, it was really fun to go to the zoo and see the beautiful and cute and fascinating animals, and the cute and ornery and fascinating kids, and not be the least bit stressed about the kids. I could get into this idea of not having to be the responsible adult all the time.

Most of our meals were in and around the Mosaic District in Merrifield, not far from the Dunn Loring Metro station and walking distance from our hotel. This brand new and very posh shopping area would have been unimaginable in the days when I was commuting daily from Dunn Loring. The Metro stop itself was only recognizable after you got really close and saw the entrance; the parking structure was not there 25 years ago at all, and only two buildings that had been in the general vicinity looked familiar at all... it was certainly not convenient to anyplace trendy. Steve had the bizarre experience of going by the address of the house he had lived in before we were married and seeing that it had been torn down and two new houses built on its lot.

Sunday, we attended McLean Presbyterian Church, which was where Steve and I met and were married, and where Daniel will be doing his internship. The church has changed a lot since then, but the essentials are the same, and the people have that lovely Virginia gentillesse that may strike a cynical newcomer as too good to be true... but it's legitimate. Interesting ironies of church life abound; Daniel's work experience supervisor is an old friend who led singing and played guitar back in our day; his host family are sweet people - he was the organist at our wedding and she was in choir with me. They also found a link I wasn't expecting; he had been on a missions trip to Chile with our good friend and favorite handyman, Scott Janku, who has made countless improvements to this old house. And it was great to reconnect with those friends who weren't out of town for the weekend.

We went to the National Cathedral, hoping to hear a choral service, but it had been cancelled, so we just enjoyed a leisurely tour of the stained glass windows and the gardens. Then we headed up to Fourth Presbyterian, where Steve grew up, for the evening service. Rob Norris, although retired as head pastor, happened to be preaching and it was a treat to hear him. Steve also connected with former Sunday School teachers and youth group leaders, including a gentleman who's been leading church youth since the 1950's.

Monday, our actual anniversary, Daniel left early to head down to Norfolk for a friend's wedding. That left Steve and me to wear our feet out (or maybe it was just my feet that weren't up to it) by going all over the American Indian museum and the American Art Museum/ National Portrait Gallery. There is a mezzanine level where they have "intermediate storage" of works, all crowded together and not so carefully curated, that might be in long-term storage (I'm thinking the warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark). We ended up going top to bottom and spent the bulk of our time on the 3rd floor and mezzanine, recently restored to its Civil War era grandeur (we're told it was the site of Lincoln's 2nd innaugural ball). But we dutifully saw almost everything that we could.

Tuesday morning we had time to pay a visit to Mount Vernon with Daniel. It was a lovely day and a good time to benefit from all the historic presenters... they know their stuff and it's always nice to let them teach you. The house is impressive (I particularly like the bas-relief of G.W. as Cincinnatus in the study) and the farm and gardens are great to wander through. I particularly appreciated this prayer of George Washington, which was displayed by his tomb: George Washington's Prayer for his Country. We wouldn't be doing half bad even in this current political climate if we took this seriously. We ate at the restaurant on-site, and then it was time for Daniel to drop us off at Reagan National Airport and continue on to his retreat center for the Capital Fellows program. Our flight left after 5 Eastern time and we got back to PDX just a little after 8.

I intended to write this up quickly as a way to fill time this morning, but it ended up taking all day, off and on. An anxious day with concerns about my sister's health, but I think ending on a mostly positive note. I leave you with our group selfie as we were waiting to enter Mount Vernon.

The Family Camp Song

We returned from a few days at Family Camp on Saturday. Once again, I felt stirred to follow the questionable lyric proddings of my poetic muse, and this song for the Talent Show is the result. There is a cell phone video which I will do my utmost to make sure never gets shared here.

The OP Family Campers
by Katherine Chapman

Tune: Battle Hymn of the Republic
Inspired by speaker's (Karl Thompson) description of being a "circuit-riding preacher" and the first two lines of the old gospel song.
Lyrics sung by yours truly; accompaniment by Steve on the syllable "doom" - like "batter the doom drums" from Agamemnon, but more light-hearted, like plucking a bass fiddle. Additional "dooms" and charming hand motions by Tertia. Intro and vamp between verses is eight beats on "doom" - as close to bass as a tenor can get: Do Sol Mi Sol Do Sol Mi Sol -- and then improvised throughout on bass-ish/tenor-ish lines and keeping the beat as much as you can when you've only practiced it twice. Daniel begged off from making it a family act (and nailing the bass) by being appointed the MC of the talent show, and Quarta bailed because singing "doom" in a trio was beneath the dignity of a rising 9th grader. Soprano was trying very hard not to giggle or forget the lines, and even with the scratch sheet of lyrics in front of her ended up switching a few unintentionally. Here is how it was supposed to be:

The OP family campers come from all across the land -
With their hammocks in their hatchback and their bugspray in their hand.
They paddle in the murky lake, play volleyball in the sand -
   In Wamic, OreGON!

(CHORUS)
Glory, glory hallelujah!
Come on, children, we'll canoe ya -
Lots of fun times will come to ya
   As Family Camp goes on.

This August we converged upon the tiny town of Wamic,
And we all hope the Morris' boat won't sink like the Titanic -
But the ice cream stand is open soon so no one needs to panic
   After the great BANANATHON!

(CHORUS)
Glory, glory hallelujah!
Come on, children, we'll canoe ya -
Lots of fun times will come to ya
   As Family Camp goes on.

In the heat of the afternoon we go down the waterslide -
We eat cookies, fruit and pancakes till we're 50 inches wide!
Board games, golf and carpetball -- we play them all with pride
   In Wamic, OreGON!

(CHORUS)
Glory, glory hallelujah!
Come on, children, we'll canoe ya -
Lots of fun times will come to ya
   As Family Camp goes on.

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

It came to my attention after the fact that some people pronounce Wamic as "WAHmic" and if that is the accurate pronunciation, I meant no disrespect. Certainly, this girl grew up in Akron and Canton, Ohio, and a bit of the nasal on the short A's is a good antidote to appearing too pretentious, which we would certainly never want to do, especially at Family Camp. The mockery of the pronunciation of Oregon was perhaps a little more intentional. I count it a success, as I heard the tune being whistled and hummed on the evening air as the crowd dispersed.

The Bananathon itself was an eventful one, as two of the three teams had their canoes sink right off the start, but alas! my lyrics were already written and the muse had departed by then. Perhaps next year's poem will be a mock epic styled after "The Charge of the Light Brigade." Or a spiritual, "Down by the Waterslide." But it doesn't pay to overthink these things. Who am I kidding, it doesn't pay, period!

I need to go put ointment on my mosquito bites.

Randomday

At long last, a Randomday post. Randomness has not been, by any means, in short supply lately, but it has been of a depressingly political variety.

Nice picture above is of my little visitor who kept chirping while I fed the cat the other day. I think it may have recently graduated from the nest in the Camellia tree, and didn't seem to have much fear of either humans or felines. Granted, Smudge is not much of a threat, but still.

If you search Pinterest looking for "borsch" and hoping to find a quick recipe, did you know in the first 20 or so results you get half that are recognizably the famous Russian soup. The rest of the first batch are mostly other recipes that might also appeal to the same market. But after that, the results are weighted in favor of Hieronymus Bosch. I enjoyed that. I plan to make a fairly simple borsch recipe to take to fellowship dinner tomorrow with some of the beets from our Grace's Garden basket, and then Monday I may make this recipe with the turnips.  I would like to turn the entire 2016 election cycle into a vast Hieronymus Bosch landscape painting, but I'm afraid that's above my pay grade. Especially now, since I don't have a pay grade anymore.

The plum tree was pruned last year (inadvertent plum pun), and has not produced a significant yield this year. However, in the spot near it, at the end of the driveway, we have our most productive cucumber vines ever, and some respectably productive zucchini.

Summer marches on, with August here and the drumbeat of back-to-school beginning. I am infinitely relieved I do not have to get ready on the teacher end. It has taken more out of me than I realized, these last 16 years. I never could contemplate the prospect of daily teaching without high anxiety, in the month before it was actually upon me.

 Among other things found when I began tidying up my Latin things: the Venerable Bead. It was a relic I found on the floor when I was cleaning up the former 2nd grade classroom 8 years or so ago, back when I had a designated Latin classroom. I taped it onto my Celtic map of Europe right about at the location of Jarrow, and never really had anyone ask for an explanation. The map stays at school; it's the best one I've ever found for teaching Caesar's Gallic Wars. I can now dispose of the Bead, since its story has been told.

I took a picture of my breakfast making a face at me a month or so ago. Tertia thought it was hysterical too. She probably thought the egg was making "the scream" face because the mushrooms were too close.

Steve's sister Kristine has been visiting her mom this week and we've had some time with her as well. Clark County fair began yesterday with free admittance to the pancake breakfast; we didn't make it until 11:00 (we were never planning on breakfast there anyway) because the van had three screws in one tire and needed to have two tires replaced, for proper balance. So yet more to add to the expenses column as it seems all of our recent conversations involve me wondering "Why are we so broke?" But anyway, the Fair was fun as it always is, we came home and visited a while with Kristine, and then cooked up Mexican food for dinner. Kristine is on her way back to Arizona now, where it's much hotter than here.

We've been fighting the flea infestation, which is weird since Muffball is an inside cat. That's another expense: $76 for a 6-month supply of Advantage.

The raccoon has not been seen for over a month. This is a good thing. We have a nest of yellow jackets over the front door that has been resistant to two cans of raid and a yellow-jacket trap... although all three have taken their toll. My entertainment this summer has been to check on how many are caught in the trap, at least once per day.