I know, I’ve been missing for an awfully long time. I’ll be surprised if anyone still comes here. But I have an excuse! My MacBook’s screen went black. We weren’t sure it was worth it to fix, so I went without it for several weeks, but then we decided to go ahead and fix it. Now it works just like new! I have a hard time sitting down and writing up posts and updates these days, but it is my intention to update at least once a week or so.

For now, I’ll leave you with the stories of two saints I read about this morning. Before morning prayers, I try to always read the lives of the saints for the day, either from the Horologian or the Daily Lives, Miracles, and Wisdome of the Saints (a very helpful little book by godmother has given me two different years (it’s different every year). Here are the two from the Horologian for today:

Saint Eutyches was a disciple of Saint John the Theologian [the author of the Gospel of St. John] and a fellow labourer of the holy Apostle Paul. He preached the Gospel in many places, pulled down the idols’ temples, and suffered imprisonments and many torments at the hands of the idolaters. He finally reposed in peace in deep old age in his native city of Sebastia, near Tarsus.

Our holy Father Cosmas was from the town of Mega Dendron of Aetolia. At the age of twenty, he went to study at the school of the Monastery of Vatopedi on the Holy Mountain [the monastic republic off of Greece]. Later, he came to the Athonite Monastery of Philotheou where he was tonsured [a monk]. With the blessing of this abbot, he departed for Constantinople where he learned the art of rhetoric, and thereafter, he began to preach throughout all the regions of northern Greece, the Ionian Islands, but especially in Albania, for the Christian people there were in great ignorance because of the oppression and cruelty of the Moslems. Finally, in 1776, after having greatly strengthened and enlightened the faithful, working many signs and wonders all the while, he was falsely accused by the leaders of the Jewish people and was executed by strangulation by the Moslem Turks in Albania.

I find it interesting that St. Cosmas was martyred in Albania the year we signed the Declaration of Independence. Albania became the world’s most militant atheist state, and when Archbishop Anastasios arrived after the collapse of communism, the Church, long underground, had nearly collapsed. He has followed in St. Cosmas’ footsteps and assisted in the miraculous resurrection of the Church of Albania.

Outside my window…

It has been REALLY hot here the last couple of weeks. Days of 90 and very humid going on for what seems like EVER. And it’s only the beginning of June! We started getting hot weather in April. At least I’m not pregnant this summer like last one!

I am thankful…

For a nice evening that we actually wanted to go outside in! And for our very productive garden. We just got back from our near-nightly trip to the garden to water and weed (well, I water, and Paul weeds), and it was nice and breezy. James hung out on his blanket and tried his darndest to eat rocks, which Mama and Papa kept taking away from him. If you look very closely, you can see his two new teeth on the bottom!

From the kitchen…

We are trying to keep up with the amount of greens coming from the garden. We can hardly eat all the lettuce, spinach, kale, and basil we’re growing. Last night Paul grilled salmon and the best eggplant ever, and I had him set it on a giant platter of spinach right off the grill, so it would wilt, and garnished it with edible nasturtium blossoms. We ate it with a side of steamed kale with balsamic vinegar. Tonight we had fish tacos with lettuce and cilantro from the garden, and tomorrow will be pasta with as much spinach and basil as I can fit, along with tomatoes, kalamata olives, garlic, and pine nuts.

Here are last night’s pickings, which we repeat about every other day. It turned out kind of blurry, but there are several varieties of lettuce, some young kale, mint, basil, spinach, nasturtiums, and some rosemary in the vase.

Towards rhythm and beauty…

I have gotten very attached to my schedule. I find myself kind of lost and frustrated without it. For the month of June, I’m working three days a week instead of two, and that small difference threw my housekeeping schedule into a loop. So I sat down with iCal yesterday and revamped everything, including what I want to accomplish during James’ morning and afternoon naps when we’re home. I also scheduled in time to only spend time with James, since I think I sometimes take advantage of the fact that he’s such an easy-going baby and keep too busy to take him to the park, read books, or just sit on the floor and play with him. It makes me feel much better to know that everthing that needs to be done every week has a reasonable and doable time to do it. Otherwise the bathroom gets gross and Mama gets cranky :)

If my iCal schedule looks this complicated while I have ONE baby in a little apartment, I can’t imagine what it will look like if and when I’m homeschooling multiple children.

I am reading…

I’m nearing the end of a wonderful book on applying Charlotte Mason’s educational philosophy to the Christian homeschooling parent, For the Children’s Sake: Foundations of Education for Home and School. Now Paul is reading it. We both love it, as it describes much of what we already want for our children’s education and home life. While there are a few minor points that a Charlotte Mason education includes (as I understand it) that we would quibble with (this article is interesting reading in that respect), we certainly wouldn’t argue too much with an education that is so respectful of children as unique persons, that teaches children to love learning and nurtures their curiosity, and relies on really good literature rather than textbooks and workbooks.

I’m also reading The Road to Serfdom by Austrian economist F. A. Hayak, written just after World War II. It’s my layman’s Austrian economics, as Paul is reading some giant four volume tome of another Austrian economist.

I am listening to…

My mom on the radio! My mom and her good friend Joan Konzelman were recently interviewed by another family friend, Carrie Abbott, about homeschooling and specifically about their work implementing Carrie’s relationships and sexuality curriculum in the Tacoma homeschool community. You can listen to the interview here. (It’s the latest program currently listed, and aired 6/2/10.)

On keeping home…

I think I have to clean all the floors just about every day, because James eats EVERY SPECK HE FINDS.

This week in the Church…

We are in the second week of the Fast of the Holy Apostles. This fast is often so short (it changes in length depending on the date of Pascha) that I pay little attention to it. Since it’s an entire MONTH this year, I’m trying to think more deeply about the work of the apostles in spreading the Gospel in those early days, and how we are to go about continuing to share the light of Christ today as members of the Church.

A few plans for the rest of the week…

The family I nanny for has kindly invited us up to a cabin they rented in the Pocanos this weekend. So we’ll go hang out in the mountains for a few days, and since we’ll be so close to St. Tikhon’s, where Paul went to seminary for a year, we’ll drive up there for Liturgy on Sunday.

We also started getting out of the house extra early on the days James and I are home and going walking along the river for an hour or so before we go drop Paul off at school. We like it so much I think we’ll keep it up all summer, especially since it’s nice to be outside early before it gets too hot (although it’s often 75 and humid when we leave the house before 7:30 am).

In the garden this week…

The beans have grown so tall I had Paul tie string high up on the fence bordering the tennis court for them to climb up. I hope they’ll cooperate and grow slightly sideways instead of straight up.

Herbs and strawberries:

Cherry tomatoes:

My intrepid weeder weeding out the greens:

Nasturtiums:

James Benedict this week…

James has had a big couple of weeks! His Auntie Alyssa and cousin Canyon were here for a week (for another post, once Alyssa sends me the pictures…ahem), and on their last day here, he cut his first tooth. He cut a second one a few days ago. And he started crawling! His crawl is very cute, since he concentrates very hard and is still a bit hesitant. But if he wants something badly enough, he can just crawl himself over and get it. (Often, this is lint off the floor that he intends to eat.) He also plays “throw” with Papa (we can’t really call it “catch,” since there is not a lot of catching involved), and if I can figure out how to do it, I’ll post a video of a very intense game of throw.

Here’s a few recent pictures:

Outside my window…

We’re in the middle of spring. Our neighborhood is in full bloom and it looks like fairyland when we go out, with pink and white petals floating through the air. It’s causing us some sneezy, itchy eye, runny nose distress, but it sure is pretty!

I am thankful…

For my husband and son. Pretty much every second.

I am hoping and praying…

Still for my cousin Jenny Rose, now on the ground in Yushu, helping the victims of the earthquake. Please pray for her and for all those affected my this devastating earthquake in Western China.

From the Kitchen…

Baby food! My ideal had been to hold off on solid food until he was able to just eat mashed up versions of what we eat. But since we decided it was prudent to start some food for our little tiny dude, I’ve been cooking up some food just for him. So far he chows down pureed liver mixed with mashed sweet potato, about half an avocado a day, pureed cooked prunes mixed with yogurt, mashed bananas, mangos (just like candy…or baby crack), and an egg yolk a day.

Cooked prunes, mangos, and soft boiled eggs for James

I am reading…

Same as last week: the biography of St. John Chrysostom. Still neglecting my Bible reading program.

I am listening to…

Lectures on philosophy and the history of music, and a lot of Jennifer Knapp. I forgot how much I liked her back in the day.

On keeping home…

Everything’s fallen apart a bit since I haven’t felt well. Yet another perk of having a weekly schedule - if you fall off of it, you just pick it back up on whatever day it is, and within a week all is right back to normal.

Around the house…

I’ve had James’ name in wooden blocks written out on the shelf by his bed for a while.

But when I got up this morning (after my dear husband got up with the baby to let me sleep in), it looked like this:

One of my favorite things…

My cute geeky husband that spells things in Greek with wooden blocks.

This week in the Church…

We didn’t go to church this morning because I woke up feeling terrible, and Paul and James weren’t a whole lot better. But today we remembered the Myrrhbearing Woman and Friday is the Feast of St. George. I might have to think of something to do for St. George’s day. Let me know if you have any brilliant ideas.

A few plans for the rest of the week…

I’m just hoping to get over this cold. Anything else will be a bonus. We’ll still go take care of our friend Mel on Tuesday and Thursday.

This week in the garden…

Sprouts are coming up! Still not much to show, but I’m still going to post a progress photo each week. Here are a few lettuce sprouts just peeking through:

James Benedict this week…

Look! He’s reading!

He also thinks playing in his pack ‘n’ play is a terrific novelty:

He is still the happiest baby I’ve ever known. I know you all love your babies, but we’re pretty convinced we got the very best one.

Outside my window…

It is bright and sunny and the tree outside is getting green and leafy.

I am thankful…

For a chance to plant a garden! More details below.

I am hoping and praying…

For the people in Yushu, near Xining, China, and for my dear cousin Jenny Rose who lives in Xining. They just suffered a 6.9 magnitude earthquake, and Jenny Rose, a nurse, is hoping to leave soon to help the earthquake victims. Will you join us in praying for Jenny Rose and all those affected by this earthquake?

On a lesser note, that the cold James seems to coming down with (again!) and which kept him and his mama up all night, will be short lived.

From the Kitchen…

I’m feeling less inclined to spend so many hours in the kitchen lately. Trying to simplify. I’m not very good at that.  I really liked having my rotating weekly menu for Lent, so now I’m making one for the spring. Except it may not be “rotating,” seeing as it is already seven weeks long. See above about not being very good at simplifying.

Towards rhythm and beauty…

I’ve been reading and writing (privately) a lot about how to cultivate rhythm and beauty in our home and family. Rhythm of the seasons, of the Church year, of ordinary daily life. Making daily life beautiful, holy, and peaceful, sanctified by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes I think of the rhythm of life I’d like our family to have “someday.” But I have a family now! Habits and traditions take time to form. There are rhythms, habits, and traditions that I want James to believe have been there since time immemorial. So I’m working on cultivating these traditions, rhythms, and habits now, so as we (God willing!) add to our family and we all grow together, a life of rhythm and beauty is something we experience as everyday life.

I am reading…

I just finished a favorite book for the third or fourth time - My Name is Asher Lev as well as the beautiful, heartbreaking Father Arseny 1893-1973: Priest, Prisoner, Spiritual Father. I have a feeling that stories from Father Arseny, a beloved Russian spiritual father imprisoned under horrific conditions for decades by the Soviets, will be read aloud as a family for many years to come. Also reading Golden Mouth: The Story of John Chrysostom - Ascetic, Preacher, Bishop, a biography of one of my favorite saints. I have totally fallen off the wagon with my Bible reading project, so I need to catch up on that as well.

I am listening to…

I flipped through a Teaching Company catalog, turning down the pages of all the courses I would like to listen to someday. They record series of lectures from some of the best professors in the country which you can then buy on CD or DVD. I came home and told Paul this and he said, “I’ve done that before too. But why don’t you just start with the ones I already have?” I though he only had one series (“How to Listen to and Understand Great Music”), but it turns out he has several series I had wanted, and I had no idea he had them all this time! So I’ve started the series “Great Ideas of Philosophy” on the history of philosophy, by Professor Daniel Robinson at Georgetown University. So far it’s great.

Of course, we’re still listening to a lot of Pascha music around here too.

On keeping home…

There’s no getting around it. Having a housekeeping schedule and sticking to it religiously is the only way to go for me. This way everything gets done, nothing gets missed because I don’t feel like it that particular day, and I also don’t drive myself crazy trying to do everything in one day. It’s very calming to know that I don’t have to worry about that dust, because everything gets dusted every Wednesday without fail. (Well, actually, quite often there is a fail. Like today, for instance.) I made myself a cute chart for my schedule and stuck it above the sink, and as long as I DO it, all is well.

Click here to see a PDF of my cleaning schedule. Mostly just because it’s cute.

I don’t list anything for Tuesdays and Thursdays since I work those days, nor Sunday because I try and keep the Lord’s Day chore free, with a simple dinner. And this chart is only for weekly chores. I have a list of daily chores as well (dishes, sweep, bed made, nightly pickup, etc.)

Around the house…

Does this prompt seem redundant to you?

The garden this week…

That’s right, a garden! We have a community garden just around the corner from our house, and someone has offered to share his plot with me. It’s a small space, but better than the pots on my windowsill I had previously. On Monday I went with James and weeded out my half and amended the soil. Paul came and helped out later that day, and now there are two cherry tomato plants and an eggplant seedling, and we sowed green beans, nastursiums, kale, a lettuce mix, spinach, marigolds, tarragon, basil, and parsely. There are three existing strawberry plants. I hope to post a picture every week, so here’s the first. Obviously not much to show yet :)

One of my favorite things…

Seeing my baby playing in the weeds by my new garden.

This week in the Church…

Still in the midst of celebrating the Resurrection. Last Sunday we remembered St. Thomas who proclaimed the risen Christ as “Lord and God,” and this coming Sunday we remember the Myrrhbearing Women.

James Benedict this week…

Despite his little cold, I can’t imagine a more delightful baby. He is just unbelievably sweet and happy. I lay him down for his naps and he just rolls right over, puts his thumb in his mouth, and goes to sleep (most days:)). He is my little buddy and just tags along with me everywhere. He doesn’t seem anywhere close to crawling, but can get across the room on his tummy…backwards. He also started eating solid foods recently. It’s a little sooner than I expected to start him on solid food (just shy of eight months) but he is an awfully tiny little guy and seems to be quite interested in big people food. Because our goal in introducing solids is to get extra calories and nutrition into him while not displacing any breastmilk, we’re focusing on very nutrient-dense foods, and he chomps down all of the ones we’ve introduced like a pro. So far he loves avocados, yogurt mixed with cooked, pureed dried prunes, the occasional mashed banana, and sweet potatoes mixed with pureed liver. Yes, liver! He was unsure about it the first time, but has munched down tons of the stuff since then. Perfect early baby food!

A picture to share…

James covered in avocado, liver, and sweet potato

James was a trooper for his very first Pascha. We left the house at about 10 pm, and the service started at 11:30 pm and went until about 3 am. He was awake and entranced the WHOLE TIME. He watched the candles and processed around the church at midnight. He especially seemed entranced by all the flowers and the many, many altar boys :) He even made it through some of the feast afterward. This is what he looked like at 3 am (in his Pascha suit! With a seersucker jacket! And a tie!)

Mmmmm, can I have some of that chocolate?

He stayed awake long enough for a family picture (but still on the prowl for some chocolate):

But by 4 am . . .

He did ok the next day. Here he is doing his wake-up happy dance after his nap the day after Pascha:

And taking a picnic to the park afterwards (he can’t actually bite that apple, don’t worry):

But he took some awfully long naps in the next few days. It was 87 degrees.

Here are a couple bonus shots from playing trains with Papa:

My sister asked me for pictures of our apartment, since she’s never seen it, so I’ll put a few here:

I’ll post them as if you’re standing in the middle of the main room, turning clockwise. Here’s the shelf when you enter:

“Dining room”

Icon corner:

Going around to the right:

“Nursery” (haha)

The Chair. I keep a little icon, a prayer book, and a prayer rope by it since that’s where I nurse the baby and I liked having it there in the middle of the night. The icon is quite appropriate, since it is an icon of the Theotokos nursing the infant Jesus. Can you tell what the table is? It’s a box of disposable diapers. Someone gave them to us and I figured they might come in handy, you know, someday. But I’ve never had a use for them so far, so I put a cloth and a doily on it, and it serves quite nicely as my side table.

James’ toy basket:

Then, after the piano is the door to the bedroom. Here are the icons near the window:

The ladies at my home church (St. Paul’s Antiochian Orthodox Church in Brier, WA) made this quilt for us when we got married. There’s also a cute baby about to take his nap :)

This is getting prettied up a bit with some more color, but I don’t have a picture yet. Baby is now looking less pleased with the nap idea.

Dresser:

I don’t have a good picture of the kitchen, but here’s an old one from when I was making bread:

I don’t have a picture of my bathroom, but I’m sure you’re all ok with that :) Thats all! All 450 square feet or so. I kind of like my small space. It will come in very handy when James starts crawling - I can always see where he is!

Here are some obligatory Snow 2010 pictures:

Papa in the snow

Mama can’t see in the snow without sunglasses

James getting his hat in his eyes

The whole neighborhood came out to go sledding in the big bowl at the park near our house.

The car outside our front door. What, you don’t see a car? Hint: look for the side-view mirror sticking out.

James has come to love his monkey Chesterton (officially Chesterton Alyosius Thorndyke) from Auntie Becky. He is often James’ companion when Mama and Papa are mean and make James sit in his high chair during dinner instead of in their laps.

Sometimes Mama gives James a homeschool hairdo. If you don’t know what a homeschool hairdo is, you probably weren’t homeschooled. This hairdo suits him especially well when Papa decides to tuck James’ shirts in.

Tea and homemade cookie-dough ice cream the day before Lent, which also happened to be Valentine’s Day, so it necessitated the pink china.

Already helping with the laundry!

Like father, like son. I came across Paul reading Greek while James was reading about ducklings in his fabric book. Maybe soon I’ll come across them both reading Greek. He already has Greek alphabet blocks from Uncle Phil and Aunt Kelly, so I’m sure it won’t be long!

My sister Alyssa has a birthday today! Thus begins the two weeks or so that she and I are only one age apart (i.e. we are 27 and 28 until my birthday).

Here is my cute sister with her little German boy, Canyon Thomas, and her bigger German boy, Ian.

And here she is trying out my Ergo. The look on James’ face cracks me up! He looks like Canyon did something horribly offensive, and poor Canyon is wondering what he did to deserve such a scowl!

Auntie Alyssa the Baby Whisperer

Happy birthday, Alyssa! We love you!

(Now we get to see if she actually reads our blog…)

I usually balk at making menus more than a week ahead (but I ALWAYS make menus a week ahead and go shopping once a week; see this post for a good explanation for why) because I actually LIKE to cook. It’s kind of a hobby and I enjoy going through my massive pile of cookbooks every week and finding all kinds of new things to make. But it really does take a lot of time each weekend, and I think it’s a really good idea to simplify during Lent. Lent is not the time to be thinking about food all the time and spending three hours planning out menus and shopping lists, but instead to focus on prayer and repentence. Still, (baby steps here) I couldn’t go so far as to plan just one week of fasting recipes and repeat it all Lent long, so I compromised and did a three week menu to rotate through. I typed it up, I have one taped to my kitchen cupboard and one in my new homemaking notebook (in progress; see Mary’s series at evlogia for more info) and then made up PDFs of all the recipes to also put in the notebook. This part really helps; I have a very small kitchen, and I find myself either taking up a full one-half of my counter space with an open cookbook or even bringing the computer in to read a recipe from the internet. Now I just take out the recipe and clip it to the magnetized clip on my stove hood, and I don’t ever have to go searching for the recipe again. They’ll even be there for next Lent, so in theory, I never have to do all this again. So, since I did all that work making up a menu, I thought maybe it would help others get ideas for Lenten meals, so I will upload it here.

Download 2010 Great Lent Menu

I don’t have time to upload all the recipes right now (…or maybe ever) but I will try and return and link to the recipes online and maybe upload a few. Several of them are already posted here, and several I stole from other Orthodox bloggers. If you are really hankering to make one of these before I come back and link them, just leave a comment and I can email it to you. I’ve added links to several of the recipes, and will continue to add to it as I have time.

You’ll see that I only make about four dinners a week. Since it’s just Paul and I that eat actual food here, one batch of something feeds us for usually two dinners and some lunches. So if you’re feeding more than two people, you’ll probably need more meals than this. Also, we do not usually fast from oil. If a recipe calls for it, I still use it. I just try not to add oil when it’s not necessary. Our priest often encourages us to struggle just a little more each year, to fast a little more, give a little more, pray a little more, try to attend one more service than you were able to last year. So one of these years the oil will go too, but not this year.

Edited to add: Here are links to the recipes that are available online already, either on this blog or others.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cake (will open PDF)
Banana Bread (For pumpkin bread, switch out the banana for an equal amount of canned pumpkin and add as many sweet spices (nutmet, cloves, allspice) as you like.)
Koshari (this isn’t the best of recipes; I will upload my more streamlined recipe when I return and upload PDFs of other recipes)
Granola (from my other blog)
Pumpkin pancakes
Chana Masala
Palak Daal
Cuban Black Beans
Butternut Squash Soup
Curried Lentils and Sweet Potatoes
Black Bean Chimichangas (will open up a PDF. The only change I make is I cook up a few cups of black beans in the crock pot.)
Ribollita

A little belated, but posting it for my own reference too. Here’s the menu for the last week we eat dairy before the fast begins. (We give up meat as of last week. Easing us in slowly.)

Sunday

We actually ate breakfast on a Sunday! Other than right after I had the baby, neither of can remember the last time that happened, since Orthodox observe a full (no food or drink) fast from midnight on Saturday until after communion on Sunday. But 27 inches of snow was too much to drive an hour to church in.

Breakfast: scrambled eggs with zucchini, green onions, red onions, and cheese, with toast and orange slices
Lunch: tuna melts
Dinner: Shepherd’s Pie, salad with homemade ranch

Monday

Breakfast: Macrina’s Strata (egg casserole with baby portobellas, roasted onion, and fontina)
Dinner: Carmelized onion, red pepper, and Jarlsberg quiche, salad, french bread

Tuesday:

Breakfast: leftover strata
Dinner: Leftover quiche, salad, bread

Wednesday: (still a fast day)

Breakfast: oatmeal with chopped dried apricots and bananas
Dinner: Homemade hummus and baba ghanouj with pita, tomatoes, and cucumber

Thursday:

Breakfast: more leftover strata (it makes a big casserole)
Dinner: Fettuccini alfredo with sauteed mushrooms, and chopped broccoli

Friday: (Another fast day)

Breakfast: Oatmeal with apricots and bananas
Dinner: Hummus, baba ghanouj, pita, tomatoes, cucumbers

Saturday:

Breakfast: An egg and cheese something. Use up whatever dairy is left
Dinner: Pizza!

Sunday, the last day before the fast, is still to be determined. Probably something to use up yet more of the dairy in our fridge.

Desserts:

Homemade chocolate custard ice cream with homemade almond-toffee-chocolate chunks. Homemade vanilla ice cream with something yummy mixed in, haven’t decided yet.

Anyone have any good ideas from their own cheeseweek menu to add to the mix for next year?