pieces of linda

Jacob wants you all to enjoy his Lego sphere. He currently carries this thing around the house with him. His interest in crystals, gems, rocks, etc., makes me wonder if he views this as some sort of talisman along his nine-year-old journey.

He plans to ask Santa for a 10″x 10″pure gold star for Christmas. Wonder if Santa knows where to find that… If you have any great resources, please forward them to me and I’ll pass the message along.

excerpt from The Bells
by Edgar Allen Poe,
one worthy of reading at any time, but especially during this creaky and crusty time of year. This one is best read aloud.

III.

Hear the loud alarum bells–
Brazen bells!
What tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!
In the startled ear of night
How they scream out their affright!
Too much horrified to speak,
They can only shriek, shriek,
Out of tune,
In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire,
In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire,
Leaping higher, higher, higher,
With a desperate desire,
And a resolute endeavor
Now–now to sit or never,
By the side of the pale-faced moon.
Oh, the bells, bells, bells!
What a tale their terror tells
Of Despair!
How they clang, and clash, and roar!
What a horror they outpour
On the bosom of the palpitating air!
Yet the ear, it fully knows,
By the twanging,
And the clanging,
How the danger ebbs and flows ;
Yet, the ear distinctly tells,
In the jangling,
And the wrangling,
How the danger sinks and swells,
By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells–
Of the bells–
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells–
In the clamour and the clangour of the bells!

Soup recipes!

Please share with me. These don’t need to be fancy or so unique that one would rarely make them. I want recipes you’ve enjoyed day after day. Feel free to add any comments about alterations you’ve tried, what works well, what doesn’t, and any special stories related to your enjoyment of this dish. See below for one of our favorites.

Mennonite Corn Chowder

by Lois Kiser
4-5 servings

3 med. potatoes, diced             Add water to almost cover & cook
1 stem celery, chopped             until tender (15 min.).
1 large onion, chopped

2 cups corn (1 cream &             Add, and heat to boiling again.
1 whole is great)
1 12oz. can evap. milk
2 T. margarine
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper

2 T. cornstarch dissolved         Add, stirring until thickened.
in 1/4 c. water

3 strips bacon, fried                 Sprinkle over top.
& crumbled

This recipe is extremely easy and is a soup that you can actually have on the table under 30 minutes. It’s great with corn bread, crescent rolls, croissants… any bread. We’ve also put grated cheese on top and served it with other vegies thrown in. Delicious!

for Brian

My slate,
though seeming clean,
has remnants
of action
and word
forever embedded
in the green.

Mary Kay TimeWise® Age-Fighting Lip Primer
(I need to clarify that this is a product review and that I do not sell Mary Kay.)

Ok. I must wade in a shallow pool for a moment. I’ve always enjoyed makeup and remember, as a teenager, being mortified when certain relatives talked to me about how much I was wearing. Of course every girl wants to be noticed, but not by your Uncle Bud telling you there’s too much eyeliner. My sister Michelle called it “high drama,” saying it as a complement once.

Most women who wear lipstick in any shade but neutral know how annoying it is when the perfectly applied color at 8 AM feathers into a mess by 12. Those wrinkles and lines around our lips—I like to think smile lines—are sponges for color. This is not the stage when lip liner is all you need to combat feathering, either—that comes much earlier. I had gotten to a point in the last couple years that I stopped wearing lipstick altogether, and switched to glossy alternatives. It was one concession to aging.

BUT…
When a friend asked if I needed any Mary Kay, and that lump of dread hit the bottom of my stomach, I said, “Let me place an order.” The result was this possible solution for my lips.

The product is extremely smooth, has a matte finish, and is tremendously light. You won’t feel like there’s a layer of gloss under your color at all. It seems to achieve two things when I use it:
1) It smooths the surface of my lips, filling cracks, creating an untextured canvas for color.
2) It sets the color applied to it so that, even hours later, my lips have color left and, most importantly, the color hasn’t wedged into wrinkles. I still use lip liner to finish the look. If you need to reapply, all you do is swipe the stick back over your lips first.

Some of you are too young and fresh to need to think about this, and that is great. However, if any of you are interested in an honest review of a product to meet a similar need, this is my gift to you.

I appreciate the love everyone is showing us. We really have mixed emotions about Jake’s diagnosis, and definitely know that he will be ok.

They want the District 20 Autism specialist to observe Jake at school: in his specials classes, on the playground, in class, to evaluate for suggested adjustments. I’m glad about this. It will be nice to have an expert see Jake in his most stressful environment. They are also recommending that Brian and I go to a therapist who works with parents on how to effectively coach children with Asperger’s. (Coaching is less emotional than correction or discipline, but those are necessary for acts of willfulness.) One of the big triggors for these kids is feeling criticized. They equate it with utter failure, then spiral into deep emotional place, where most of us would be bummed for a moment then go back to our Legos.

His two biggest struggles are:
1) Rigid mental patterns
2) Social disconnection

Two cool things came from our discussion. The neuropsychologist said his memory function is better than that of an adult, and his math results were very far above average. I’m not surprised by the math, and they both give us insight into how to encourage him in his future. They said to speak to him mathematically… like “You can play after you write three sentences in your journal.” That number will help his brain link to meaning and will help him stay focused. The example the guy gave us had to do with looking people in the eye (which is very hard for these kids), “You must look the other person in the eye after two sentences.”

Anyway, thanks a lot. We really appreciate your care and concern for Jacob.

Jacob has two developmental disorders: Asperger Syndrome and ADHD.

To learn more about Childhood Developmental Disorders, visit this link: Thoughtful House and any of the links on Autism/ Asperger Syndrome or ADHD on my Check It page.

Love that will not let go is hard to find these days. There are so many loveless people; kids without homes, families on the streets… even here in downtown Springs. I often wonder what life would be like if my family dynamic were missing one of us… if Jake wasn’t part of our family, if Brian were married to someone else, if we’d never had Julianne. It’s a horrid thought because it means our hearts and minds would be totally altered. We would all be different people, and I love this family as it is!

For me, this is a reminder to cling hard to those I love, to hold on when things are rolled at us, almost bowling us over. Today is not a day for bowling. Today is a day for fullness.

The following is a hymn that has great lyricism and beauty. Think of the analogies, the language. I feel heat on my skin as I read it. I want to float in a warm pool and hear my kids laugh. I see the red it speaks of. Click on the title if you’d like to hear it play. Oh, and it was written by a man who’d just found out he was going blind, and whose fiancé left him because of it.

O love that will not let me go

(words by George Matheson, performed by Joel Rosenberger)

O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O Light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

Keep us in your thoughts today as Brian and I meet with the pediatric neuropsychologists to hear amplified results on Jake’s testing for Asperger’s. We are nervous, but it also fills us with power: power to know where to focus with him, power to communicate in ways that have meaning, and power to encourage when he gets down on himself. I’ll post tomorrow with the news.

Other than that, Julianne could always use special wishes and prayers because she often bumps herself, cuts fingers, scrapes her chin. She’s a walking physical ailment, actually one who’s not really hurt that badly, but is rather dramatic about it. Her school experience is nonchalant this year, with A+s as titles on each paper and friends abundant. She’s easing right into a responsible young lady.

Today marks the kids’ one month anniversary of returning to school. Jake and I spent this day at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo for his first field trip of third grade.

Docent Gail did a great job of leading students around the mountainous exhibits, explaining why the baby orangutan is not being raised by his mother, showing us the newly-arrived snow leopards. And, I hate to admit it, I finally learned how to “tail” the difference between apes and monkeys. Can you figure it out? (Seems like the type of question that would be on Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?)

Jacob was enthralled all day. He’s been to this zoo before, and he’s even been here with school. But today was different. He loved learning about the coral reefs—that they are the rainforests of the sea—and he told everyone about this fact as they passed. He asked scientific questions aloud, as if questioning the cosmos and not expecting an answer from mere mortals. His learning was beyond-docent, and this made me quietly proud.

Jacob has a sweet but melencholy temperment, so we’ve talked a lot lately about counting blessings and being grateful. Jake’s behavior at the zoo was fantastic. When we got home, he drew a golden trophy and wrote a blessing (in the tangible form of this “award”) in his journal. It read, “A Giraffe Award for a Great Field Trip at the Zoo with Momy.”

I’ve been asked to paint a
Wall on Wednesday
My Wednesday
A Wednesday for
Wrapping up boxes to mail
Stitching a book
Baking bread
But I will paint instead.

And to pop over
Next Wednesday
For party products not truly
Needed but worth
The high prices
Get ready for the Season
Is that enough reason
To lose my next Wednesday?

Brian has an office in Old Colorado City, which was founded in 1859 by people seeking to relieve their financial strain by tapping gold resources in the Rockies. I often join Brian at his office to do homework or write and will eventually do work for Dispatch eMail Marketing (a division of Brian T. Dreiling) from that same desk. The building is called The Argyle and was built in 1892. It’s gorgeous—ruddy red bricks, black iron fixtures, and imposing facade.

(rear of The Argyle building)

I thought you might like to see me at work, Brian smiling at task, and some of the gorgeous views around our building. What do you think?

Any of you who have been to Montrose, CA may see a similarity in the coziness and lightness of the town. It invites you to meander. I wish I had more time to sit on the bench below and watch people, feel the breeze, and smell BonTons Café heating their sausage for the morning rush.

Isn’t it a nice thought to be thankful before Thanksgiving
To deeply mesh into blessing
Despite hardship
To recall goodness past, anticipate growth future
To know we are lucky
Even if our cars break or our money runs out,
To feel
Things normally overshadowed by mail or dishes or cries in our hearts?

It’s an art.

Reason upon reason
to be thankful:
for the fruit of the earth,
for the fruit of the tree,
for the light of the fire,
and to have come to this season.

Charles Reznikoff

Almost. In the spirit of the official first day of Fall on the 23rd, I did a search for interesting folk art. I found this “Good Gourd” doll at Impromptu’s online store. They are based in San Marino, CA, and I know nothing about them (my disclaimer).

Don’t you think, though, that this doll is adorable? I love the thought of a pumpkin doll whose head just won’t stay put. Oh, the plight of a headless doll, especially when the one you’ve been assigned is a pumpkin. Unruly, wobbly things!

Now that I thankfully spend more time at home, I’ve realized that I really need to decorate my house. The trouble with being eclectic in your interests is that it can be difficult to create a common theme throughout your home. You should see my mom’s home: little groupings of artistic expression and meaning on each wall, each shelf—all without a single stitch of that dread “clutter” feel. I did not pick up that gene from her. It has even crossed my mind to gather all decorative pieces, fabrics, etc., pile them up and have her fly out to Colorado to make sense of it all. But I guess I’ll have to get organized first.

Speaking of my mom, here is a picture of the soulful painting she made for me this year. Turning 35 can be yuck, but her art reminded me that I’ll always be the same wild child who roamed the hills, stealing lemons out of people’s yards as I was when I was 8. Isn’t it enchanting?