January 3, 2010

January 3, 2010, originally uploaded by krikketgirl.

This is one of my favorite pre-1950 cookbooks, full of good "building block" recipes that one can add on to. I used it to make dumplings for our chicken stew on this bitterly cold day.

Quote

"A kind heart is a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity freshen into smiles."

Washington Irving
(1783-1859)

I can think of only a few things that I would rather hear about myself than this. Iwas so delighted to read it today, buried in the trivia of the student access page of my college web site; it says so clearly what I want to become.

I think of a fountain in a stone courtyard on a hot, dry summer day. Without even feeling the spray from the fountain, without dipping your fingers in, without even seeing the fountain...you feel refreshed. The fountain doesn't change the scene around it; it is superimposed on what is already there, changing your perceptions of the scene.

I'd like to be that way. I'd like for people to feel refreshed and lighter when they interact with me, see me, hear me, think about me. And so I work on this stubborn heart of mine and I ask God for the help I need to make it softer, gentler, kinder...better.

January 4, 2010 (and two extras)

This is one of the bulletins I'm putting together for the library at school, and my picture of the day.



This is the other bulletin board, designed to complement the display of our paper "quilts" that the children created during December.



And this just seemed so sad, like this flip flop had drug itself as far out of the snow as it could get and then beached itself.