from paradise to arctic...

All my life through, the new sights of Nature

 made me rejoice like a child. 

Marie Curie

A  glimpse into my visit with Mary and Andrew in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

My first sight of the Caribbean was one of awe..  Honestly it is the most beautiful beach I've ever seen.  Blue ocean with aqua waves, white sand.  The ocean was cool at first but soon felt warm and soft on my skin.  And the ocean is quiet because the waves break far off in the distance.  We did see some surfing.

Just a thirty minute drive and we were on the winding roads of the mountains and jungle. Our destinations was El Yunque National Forest, (it is the only rain forest in the US National Forest System) Here we hiked through the rain forest, heard the sound of the Coqui, the little tree frog and strange bird calls.  Climbing up was laborious because of the altitude.  We climbed stone towers to see views like this. Afterwards we stopped at a roadside stand and bought whole coconuts that the tops have been lopped off and with a straw we drank the cold coconut water. Refreshing.

Old San Juan has a majestic beauty because of its cobblestone roads, old buildings and harbor.  This picture was taken from one of the forts that used to guard the city from invaders, built in 1535.   The old and new are mingled together. 

Colorful street in Old San Juan.  My eyes feasted on all the color, flowers and green trees.

Dorado is a small town on the northern coast of Puerto Rico and about 15 miles from San Juan. The beach here was just a lovely. Many wealthy people have lived here.

I'm standing by a fern covered wall in the Fort in Old San Juan.  What a joy to wear sandals!

We went snorkeling here.  Mary and I saw a baby sea turtle, fish with bright yellow fins, and one very large spotted fish with whiskers.  The water is very clear and not as salty as our east coast ocean.

What a treat to escape the cold of NC and bask in the warmth of Puerto Rico.  The best thing was spending time with Mary and Andrew.  Their apartment is very nice and even though it's not air conditioned, the many fans and open windows kept it cool.  Hart and I got to see the island from a residents point of view, bypassing many of the touristy attractions.  One day in Old San Juan there were four cruise ships in harbor and boy was Old San Juan crowded. We ate at local hangouts, experiencing pinchos (chicken on a stick), monfongo (mashed plantain, seasonings and different fillings ), tostones (fried plantains),  and much more. It was the perfect month to visit as it didn't rain once and the temperature stayed about 84 degrees with a nice breeze blowing.  Thank you Mary and Andrew for a lovely visit!!



BUT.......

This is what we came home to!  Fortunately we did have power, (but no water) and our kind neighbor had cleared our driveway for us.  Spring can't get to NC soon enough for me.  I've been thoroughly spoiled!

Escaping winter...

As I sit in my kitchen sipping the last drops of my hot chocolate, I think, soon  I will no longer be cold. What a thought and treat!! Hart and I are heading to the Caribbean, Puerto Rico to be exact. How blessed we are to have Mary and Andrew living there. I will be able to give them big hugs and see their apartment  for the first time. While the men work during the day, Mary and I will visit the market, tour some of her favorite places and just  sit on the beach. How blissful! Ten special days set apart for this trip , I can't wait!! I've always said wherever God leads my children I will come and visit. Of course if I had MY way , they'd all live next door, but not my way but God's. So Puerto Rico, Mary and Andrew, here I come!!

The best laid plans of  mice and men....

I have plans.
Simple plans, short and long term plans that keep my mind in a constant whirl.
There is so much I want to do, to try and experience.

For example,
I want to become a top seller on Etsy.
I want to become a top seller on Amazon Books.
I want to run a least three races in 2012.
Hike to the top of Mt. Rogers, again.
Go on a mission trip.
Make my own face and body creams.
Organize my house from my garage to my basement...

Catch my drift?

Just last week, God spoke to me about all of this striving.  Me, huh?  So I looked it up.

Striving is:
1. Make a great effort to achieve or obtain something.
2. Struggle or fight vigorously

Hmm, that quiet voice spoke to my spirit telling me that I don't have to strive so hard to get these things.

Thinking and planning and working towards them was causing my inner peace to dissipate. 

 In other words, I was going about it in my own strength.

Some might call this worrying, but it was causing me frustration.

I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord.  They are plans for peace and not disaster.  Plans to give you a future filled with hope.  Jeremiah 29:11

Yes I remember that verse.

Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.  Psalm 37:4

Now I do know this is true, too.  In fact that verse caused me to remember a  time, long ago, when my girls were little.  We were incubating eggs for 4H.  It got me excited.  I wanted to raise chickens.  How cool to have our own eggs!  But it didn't happen, not then.  Not until this summer-2012-, my husband built us a chicken coop and now we have four chickens and a rooster.  How about that?

My audience as I was writing at my computer.

And there are so many other desires of my heart that only God knows about.  And he has given  many of them to me already.  (And the ones that weren't good for me, I'm glad he was the one in control:)

So it really doesn't help to get uptight, to strive unnecessarily. A lesson relearned.

It's not wrong to have goals or desires.  It's just when I let them become my thoughts that keep me awake at night or are the first in my thoughts in the morning and it causes me unrest and irritation.   (Or I think they are impossible, like how would I EVER get enough money to go on a missions trip? )

Yet..

I have even bigger and greater desires than the ones I mentioned earlier. 

 For a long time I have had the desire to adopt an older child.

God knows.

You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace.  The mountains and hills will burst into song before you and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.  Isaiah 55:12

My daughter was able to snap some great pictures.

A New Year Eve to remember....

 Each age has deemed the new-born year, the fittest time for festal cheer. ~Sir Walter Scott

We brought in the New Year, French style, at our dear friends' home in Summerfield. What a fabulous time we had with old friends, making new ones and feasting our way into 2012!  Christine and Chris had transformed their already beautiful home into the perfect setting for a  sit down dinner party for 24.  I can't begin to describe the 8 course meal we were served, beginning at eight o'clock and ending at midnight. 


Downstairs, the kids were having a party of their own with hosts, Gabrielle and Jack.  Pizza, lasagna and other snack foods were what they had.  Games and music kept them busy the whole night.


Back upstairs, with champagne flutes in hand, we cheered 2012!  Horns were blown, confetti flew as we all hugged and kissed each other.  Then we settled back down for coffee and liqueors before finding our coats and heading home.  Good byes and wishes for a happy new year were said to all as we left declaring that this was a night to remember.  

Bonne Annee!

The joy of Christmas Eve

I love everything about the Christmas season, the shopping, the baking, the parties and the family get togethers.  It is such fun plotting and planning all the special gifts to give to our children and family members.  I love getting them just what they always wanted or just the right gift that would show that I know just what they would like.  But nothing in the season compares to Christmas Eve at our house.  It is my favorite day of Christmas.  The preparations are mostly finished, the guests have arrived, the anticipation is building and the festivities begin.

Once again we were at Old Salem at 10 am waiting in our same pew for the  Moravian Children's Lovefeast to begin. For an hour we sat and watched the church fill up to overflowing, some of the faces familiar, most were not.  I love the service for it's simplicity.  The church is decorated simply with the traditional greens hanging from the ceiling, the paperwhites line the altar, perfuming the sanctuary with its fragrant smell.  The service is simple, straight to the point.  We sit, sing, eat together, re-commit and leave. This year the church seemed noisier, more babies and toddlers were present.  A younger generation carrying on the tradition that they grew up with, sitting with aged parents.

No where else do I have the privilege and joy to sing the old familiar carols and every verse too!  The children's choir is small and once again faintly heard.  We wonder each year if they will be miked.  But this is no performance, just a sharing of the sacred Christmas songs.  Soon we are served buns and coffee.  As we sit I think back to last year when I held a little baby in my arms, tiny Gabriella, who this year is walking and playing in Nashville.  It is a pleasant memory and her absence, as well as her parents, brings tears to my eyes. But still our pew is full and my heart warms at the sight of my grown children, son-in-law and daughter's boyfriend.  My husband may be graying, but he is still handsome in his suit and tie.  I smile as I remember the days when he dressed like that, everyday, for work.

"Silent night, holy night"...my thoughts go back to Mary and Joseph as they searched for a place to have this baby.  As we sing "Away in a manager"... I picture baby Jesus lying there, newly born, my Savior, Holy, and perfect, lying in straw, surrounded by animals and shepherds.  Amazing night.  I am so thankful.  As we sing our last hymn, "Joy to the world" once more we lift our beeswax candles high as we sing the words, "joy to the world, the Savior reigns; let men their songs employ; while fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains, repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy".
Luke 19:38-40

 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the 
Lord!”“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” 
“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” 


Luke 19:38-40

Tomato tea

A cure for the common cold... I think I've found it. I woke up Tuesday night unable to breathe and could not go back to sleep.  Since I do not keep over-the- counter or prescription drugs in my medicine cabinet, I went downstairs to seek help from the Internet.  I found a natural remedy and amazingly enough I had all the ingredients on hand.  So at 2 in the morning I, along with my ever loving husband, made Tomato Tea.

1 cup tomato juice
1 tsp minced garlic
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 ts hot sauce
dash of celery salt for taste
Heat and drink.

I went back to bed and immediately my sinuses cleared up and I was able to sleep. ( I will say that I brushed my teeth very well and gargled with Listerine, first)

I made more TT in the morning and again that evening and each time it helped.

PS.  Hart has discovered a really good tomato juice that he enjoys each morning.  He buys it at Save-a Lot and it is Diane's Garden Tomato Juice, all natural ingredients.  I like it as well.

The Long Winter

Summer, Winter, Spring or Fall, Which is your favorite month of all?  I remember saying that rhyme as a kid and the answer for me is easy....any month except winter!
 Summer has to be my favorite month simply because I can live at my favorite place for about six weeks.  Also living green things grow in my garden at home, and my flower box is a riot of pinks, reds, whites and purples.  The sky is blue and the sun shines.  The leaves on the trees are green and  my favorite fruits are ready to be picked and eaten.  Sandals feel so much better than restricting socks and shoes.  Skirts that blow around my bare legs and sleeveless shirts gives me a sense of freedom.  The feel of the lake on my skin is invigorating not shocking.    I'd rather have sweat dripping down my face and my hair be stuck to my neck because of the heat, than to have one blast of cold air on any of my exposed skin.
 I do not tolerate frigid temperatures well.  Funny how I live with a man who loves winter and despises summer.  He likes the cold on his skin and not the bugs that bite him in the summertime.  Plus he sweats buckets in the humidity and gets tired of mowing the grass.  So I guess it's a good thing we live in the South so we have a chance to experience all four seasons.
Plus winter seems so long, endless days of cold, sunless days.  Walks are rare and I resort to exercising indoors.  Why do January and February seem to go on and on.  It is snowing as I write this.  It's beautiful for a time, but soon the piles left by the scrapers are gray and dirty.  Spring seems like a dream and summer a fragment of my imagination.
Yet... I am trying to see beauty in the bareness of these long months.  I've always thought that people's homes look so sad in wintertime, every flaw and trash pile exposed.  No color to admire, as everything is brown or gray. But we took a three mile hike on Sunday.  The trail we chose, or rather my husband and daughter , chose, was the one at Chinqua- Penn Plantation near Reidsville.  Little did I realize that it was whopping 29 degrees.  However I did dress warmly as I could and by the end of the three miles I was beginning to regain feeling in my glove clad hands and  feet (that had  two pairs of socks on them).
 At first the wind and cold made my face feel like it had been slapped with blasts of icy air, so I kept my head down.  Then I realized that I could pull my turtleneck up over my mouth and nose.  That really helped.  In fact I've decided not to do this again until I purchase a ski mask.  Little by little I looked around as the girls got excited over "Little Niagara" being frozen.  I noticed that the trees were all bare and bent over like ancient stick people.  The lake was icy in spots.  There was no wildlife. We were surprised to see there was a fish lightening rod on top of the stone gazebo, something we had not noticed when the trees were in full leaf.  Bamboo does stay green, as do the wild mountain laurel and rhododendron.  I could see through the forest and past the fields where the 4H Betsy Penn camp is located.  We found a dump in the woods and Nan scavenged a old green Mountain Dew bottle and another green soda pop bottle.  As we passed the cow pasture there were quite a few newborn calves, amazingly oblivious to the cold.  My yorkie, enjoyed the walk, but was impatient if we stopped too long.  She got cold if we stood around too long.  My sentiments exactly.
 By the time we got back to our solitary car, there was another car pulling up into the parking lot with a little dog.  So another family was out to brave the cold like I did.  I looked at them as we were driving away and watched as they all put on ski masks.  Now they had the right idea. 

Reflection

Sometimes I wonder if I were to see myself walking down the street would I recognize myself?  Is the image in the mirror a true representation of what I really look like?  My mirror reveals a woman with blond hair and fair skin that is slowly (I hope slowly) becoming creased and crinkled.  Her skin is more translucent and delicate.  Funny I rarely notice her blue eyes, but they are blue.  The truth is-- she is going to be  50 years old in a few weeks.  Did I say 50 years old?   Me?

 I did not mind 30 or 40 but just hearing the words 50 makes me want to cry.  Why?  I will be on the other side of life, getting to closer to the old age and the do I dare say it...death?  I've always looked forward to a new year and have had many of those "New Year Resolutions" , but not so much this year.  I was telling this to  Hart and I told him that I picture aging as a step ladder.  One begins at the bottom and work his way up.  Fifty is on the top and it is downhill from there.  He said to imagine the ladder as an extension ladder with fifty being in the middle and you have the rest of your life stretching out  in front of you.  Which I must say it a more positive way to view this fearsome subject.  Hmmmm...

   So I will smile at becoming 50.  I will learn to love this new decade in my life. From now on when I see my outer reflection I will think, there goes a vibrant woman who loves  her husband and wants to continue to spend the rest of her life with him.  She lives to be outdoors, to walk her Yorkie  and run with her teenagers, to canoe and swim at Aylen, to cook and eat, to laugh at a good movie and to cry too, to be a friend to her daughters and sisters, and a grandmother to her darling Ela.  She smiles at the sunrise each day and can't get enough of music; the music of Bach, Michael Buble, of her daughters playing either the piano or violin.....  and of the songs of  birds.  She thanks God for waking her up each morning and letting her rest each night in a warm, safe place.  She wants all that God has in store for her and to do all that God has for her to do.  She wants to mirror Jesus in her life and for it to be his reflection that is seen in her.

It's as a former pastor once said, "Often we just tolerate life rather than celebrate it".  I will become an intolerant woman:)  

  

Big pot of Stew

Day before yesterday, I made a big pot of Brunswick Stew.  I used turkey that was leftover from a meal I had made when Lauren and Jered were here.  Actually, Jered didn't eat with us as he went to the Carolina game at UNC-Chapel Hill  with Mary, Claire and Witt.  But the rest of us enjoyed a delicious turkey meal, with stuffing and a new rice dish I made.  But anyway, I had quite a bit of turkey leftover and Brunswick Stew came to mind when I was trying to decide what to do with it.  I put the turkey carcass in my biggest pot, covering it with water and let it simmer for a half the day, which left a nice broth.  After removing the the bones from the pot I added  chopped onions.  As that was simmering I boiled potatoes in another pot.  I did not remove the skins and once they were done I roughly mashed them.  Into the pot the potatoes went along with lima beans, corn and a large can of crushed tomatoes and the leftover turkey, which I shredded.   For seasoning I used a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper and A-1 Steak Sauce.  Unusual spices I know, but in my mind I was recalling my favorite recipe, which is in a cookbook I no longer have.  It's the St. Francis Episcopal Church Cookbook that was given to me when I was newly married.  I looked online for a similar recipe but could only find ones that used barbecue sauce.  I happened to have a bottle of A-1 steak sauce on hand, a small new one in the back of my pantry, perhaps for an occasion such as this.  I carefully read the label to make sure it was gluten-free and it was.  But I was surprised at the list of ingredients in the bottle.  There was the usual corn syrup, yuck (but it only contributed 2 grams of sugar) and other seasonings.  I didn't know it included orange paste and raisin puree among the ingredients.  I guess that's what gives  the unusual taste to the steak sauce.  I let the stew simmer the rest of the day and once it cooled, I refrigerated it for the next day, which was nice  because the girls and I are in Greensboro from 7:45 am to 7:00 pm.  How nice it was to come home to a hot bowl of stew!  I quickly made corn bread with honey and we were ready to eat in 30 minutes.
 I will have to ask my mother-in-law if she has her copy of the cookbook since she is the one that gave me mine in the first place.  I'd be interested to see if I forgot anything.

I was able to make 4 quarts.

An Old Salem Christmas Eve

Picture a quaint town with a picturesque church where the sanctuary is draped, from the ceiling, with luscious green boughs of cedar and fir.  The smell of dozens of narcissus greet one's senses each year as they bloom daintily on the altar railing.  The brass band is merrily playing familiar, sacred carols while the people entering are dressed festively in reds, greens and golds to  match their holiday spirit.  Mugs of warm apple cider and fragrant buns are served to each  by smiling ladies dressed all in white. Then the beeswax candles are passed to each person, lit to symbolize the Light of the World, our Savior born to save us from our sins.  This is where 10 members of the Gordon family and one friend  were trying to get this Christmas eve morn--one of them only 7 weeks old.
 I had my doubts that we'd make it. Girls move slowly in the morning, the baby has to be nursed and then the traffic was slow.  To top it off we missed our exit too.  It is important to be on time to this yearly event. For you have to arrive at Home Moravian Church in Old Salem by 9:45 am in order to find a pew long enough for our crowd although  the service doesn't start until 11 am.  This is the first of three services held there this day, this one being the children's service.  And sure enough by the time we got there the church was mostly full.  Fortunately for us I had talked Claire and Witt, who were traveling from their own quiet home in Whitsett, to be there at the appointed hour, because I knew we, more than likely would be a little late this year.  Although we were a little late  we did get our pew, thanks to the Davises.  We even had time to spare.  ( To pass the time a few of us women always stand in line at the ladies room waiting to use the one stall facilities.)  Also Lauren and Ela had to make an emergency diaper change assisted by her nanny to be.
  I  really enjoy the brass band and the organ as they play the meaningful songs of my childhood. It is a service I don't want to miss, nor does any one else in the family. As we filed into the pew I  noticed I was quite a few people away from my grandbaby, Gabriela.  I whispered to Hart that I had wanted to sit beside Lauren and Ela, but oh well.  But Lauren leaned over all the family members and asked me if I wanted to hold Ela and of course I was elated.  She was restless for a few minutes but soon settled into my arms and snoozed throughout the whole service.  There was the constant sound of babies cooing or crying and toddlers talking, seeming to answer one another from across the sanctuary.  But it was fine as this was the service for the children.  The pastor said that in Germany of old only the children were invited to this service, but now adults are allowed to be a part of it as well.  It is a simple service.  The children's choir sings, the youth read the scripture and pray.  The pastor did give a sentence message. As we sang Away in a Manger I couldn't help but feel how Jesus must have really looked when he entered the world, much like the baby I held in my arms--helpless, sweet smelling and warm.  Mary, what must she have thought and felt.  Such awe and wonder. ( I just wanted to constantly kiss that plump little face and couldn't stop staring at her perfect rosebud mouth.)  The service ended with the congregation standing, singing  Joy to the World.  And as we sing the last verse, He rules the world with truth and grace all candles are lifted high into the air by the congregation declaring that Jesus is indeed Lord of our lives, one can see hundreds of flames waving towards heaven, a fragrant offering to the baby born so long ago.

.