Antony & Cleopatra

Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety. Other women cloy
The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry
Where most she satisfies.

do the right thing, do it every time.

pretty good video, excellent reminder.

remember

Go ahead. Arrange and rearrange the stones on top of your beloved's grave. Keep arranging those stones for as long as it hurts to do it, then stop, just before you really want to.
Put the last stone on and walk away.
Then light your candle to the living. Say your prayers for the living. Give your flowers to the living. Leave the stones where they are, but take your heart with you. Your heart is not a stone. True love demands that, like a bride with her bouquet, you toss your fragile glass heart into the waiting crowd of living hands and trust that they will catch it. --Kate Braestrup, Here if You Need Me

chills

It's only a matter of time until Grand Rapids makes headlines. Not for artistic breweries or large social media events, but for the latest round of senseless gun violence.

Just saw the preview for Fruitvale Station right before watching the biography of Nelson Mandela. The juxtaposition of these was interesting as I considered how little my generation concerns itself with the affairs of others. Perhaps if we were made more disturbed by the pattern of gun violence we would be able to steer our ship away from the course that has been set before it.

I just watched this video. I can't get it out of my head.

At the end a few victims of police brutality are listed, and the name Amadou Diallo jumped out at me. Ouari Diallo was a close friend of my parents while they lived in Guinea, and his brother's name is Amadou. This is merely coincidence as the two Amadous are not related-- yet maybe not so much coincidence as circumstance, for Amadou Diallo was also a Guinean immigrant who was shot by police when he pulled his wallet out of his jacket. 41 times. 41. 41. 41.

Completely chilled at the thought that one person has the power to end another's life with a flick of a finger.

I don't know what I can do, but I know I can't allow myself to sit back and do nothing.

A CLASSROOM OF KINDERGARTENERS WAS MURDERED AND NOTHING HAS CHANGED.

What hope is there for African-American men if cute little white kids didn't change the minds of the nation?

Sean Bell, Rodney King, Trayvon Martin, Oscar Grant. Amadou Diallo.

Maybe my name will be next.

a recipe from my mother

Anna loves blueberries. 
Anna turned 24 today. 
To welcome her to the age of maturity, I asked my mom for her blueberry pie recipe. Mom sent me the following (verbatim). 

Blueberry Dessert (a.k.a. Grandma Pranger's best of all time dessert)

The directions below are for a 8-9" pie shell.  If you need to make a 9x13 pyrex size dessert, check back for adjustments. :)

Read all directions through to the end before beginning.

The crust:

3/4 or slightly more of one stick butter

5 tblsp. sugar

1 1/4 cups flour

Comments:

a. Use butter.....margarine makes it flop.

b. A trick that seems to work for me is to mix the sugar in with the flour and then add this mixture to softened butter.  If the butter is hard, you can let it set in a warm room for an hour OR microwave it on very very low power (20-30%) for 30 seconds.

c. Pat slightly in pie plate and bake for no more than 10 minutes at 350.  You want to check this from time to time.  Crust should NOT start to become golden.

The glaze:

1. A blender 1/3 full of blueberries (approximately 1 1/2 - 2 cups)

2. 1 1/2 - 2 tblsps. cornstarch

3.  1 cup sugar

4.  scant amount of salt (little less than an 1/8 of a teaspoon)

5.  1 tblsp. lemon juice (fresh is nice but bottled is fine)

Comments:

a. Put the blueberries in first, whirl until crushed, then add the cornstarch and the rest of the ingredients, cornstarch first, then sugar.  This is important because otherwise the cornstarch adheres to the side of the blender and it's hard to mix in.

b. Don't get smart and reduce the sugar.  You don't need to add any sugar to the blueberries the glaze goes over, but you need this amount to give the whole dessert flavor.

c.  When the mix is blended in the blender, pour it into a saucepan with a higher side --so you can keep it from spattering.  I turn the burner on medium and keep stirring it, preferably with a wire whisk, but if you don't have one, a fork will do.  The trick is to stir constantly once it becomes warm or it will burn on the bottom of the pan.  After a couple minutes of boiling, it will start to thicken.  Keep cooking it a minute or two longer and then remove from heat.  Don't worry that it is too thin, as the sauce will thicken as it cools.  

d. Be sure the sauce is at least room temperature before you add the berries below.

e.  This is the second thing I do after washing the berries and making sure the above amount are more or less dry....the crust can easily be made while the sauce is cooling down.

gettin' saucy (note: blue tongue. mark of a good chef.)

The fruit:

1.  3 - 4 cups of blueberries, approximately a quart (you'll also need the cup and a half for the glaze above, so be sure to get enough).

Comments:

a. The first thing I do when I start to make this dessert is wash ALL the blueberries, hull them, if needed, and put them on a cookie sheet lined with a paper towel (or clean dish towel--but it might have purple leopard spots when you are done) to dry.  You can shake them back and forth to speed up the process, but when you add the glaze to the berries for the pie, they should be dry, not wet, or you will have a watery glaze.

It always annoys me when people write, "Enjoy."  So I will not say that, but you will find this dessert is absolutely the best dessert in the entire world. !!

L,

M.

Bliss. 

Love-- Billy Collins

The boy at the far end of the train car
kept looking behind him
as if he were afraid or expecting someone

and then she appeared in the glass door
of the forward car and he rose
and opened the door and let her in

and she entered the car carrying
a large black case
in the unmistakable shape of a cello.

She looked like an angel with a high forehead
and somber eyes and her hair
was tied up behind her neck with a black bow.

And because of all that,
he seemed a little awkward
in his happiness to see her,

whereas she was simply there,
perfectly existing as a creature
with a soft face who played the cello.

And the reason I am writing this
on the back of a manila envelope
now that they have left the train together

is to tell you that when she turned
to lift the large, delicate cello
onto the overhead rack,

I saw him looking up at her
and what she was doing
the way the eyes of saints are painted

when they are looking up at God
when he is doing something remarkable,
something that identifies him as God.

Things

Being a soccer mom this week (complete with three boys age 10-4 and a minivan) has taught me a few things. Trading cards is still a thing. Minecraft is a thing. Watching (endless) youtube videos of someone ELSE playing Minecraft is a thing.