A New Neighbor

We have a new neighbor. She took up residence in our kitchen window the other day, and I intend to leave her there, as long as she wishes to remain. She is a barn spider, araneas cavaticus, and since I was raised in this country as one of the last members of generation X, that means I am compelled to call her Charlotte A. Cavatica, so I do.
Meet Charlotte.

I took the picture, and then scoured the internet to find out what kind of spider she was, before I could decide on a name for her. Charlotte had come to mind at first, but I wanted to know what she was, in hopes of a less cliched name for her. No such luck, once I saw the latin name, I was stuck. But it suits her I think.
Isn't she pretty? I love the way her legs fade to a redder hue near her body. I wish I could get a picture of what she looks like with the light in the window behind her at night, but the camera wasn't doing so good at getting a good exposure with a shutter speed fast enough to fight my unsteady hand. But I still think she's pretty.

More Adventures in Baking

To continue on the baking theme . . . I did bake a few loaves of sourdough the other day, I just didn't get a chance to post pics because I ran out of time.
After adding flour and water to the starter, I had a dough ball

This I kneaded, and let rise for one hour. Then I folded it like a letter twice, and let it rise for another hour. Another set of letter folds and it was left to rise for a couple hours. I then formed it into a round loaf and placed it upside down in a colander lined with a towel. After another three hours or so, I carefully turned this out onto a baking sheet and put it in the oven. This made a loaf of bread.

I'm not entirely satisfied with the process, neither it's length or how the bread turned out - I don't like my crust that dark - but the bread tastes just fine.
Next time I think I'm going to forego the round loaf and make the loaves in my bread pans, for easier sandwich construction. Also, I'm going to turn down the heat in the oven a bit, and bake a little longer, which will make a less burnt looking crust.
I ended up with four loaves of bread from that baking day and we already had one in the freezer from some I'd made earlier - so I won't need to bake again for a little while. Now I'm trying to decide what to make next.
Whatever I do, the next baking day needs to include some more ciabatta - or chewbacca bread (the boy "re-named" it) - for sandwich buns. It makes a great panini, and we're betting it would be good as texas toast and hamburger buns.

A Surprise Today

I decided, that while I was over at mom's doing laundry, I would take the camera and peruse the garden for interesting things to shoot.
Well, mom's surprise lilies were up - we're not positive what they are, or how they got there, but they're pretty so we don't complain. See?


Well, this particular surprise lily included an added surprise, you might have noticed it in the last picture, but I managed to snap a better one . . . the lily had a little friend!

And just for flavor, I just want to share . . . A warm, soft, fluffy towel that smells lightly of lavender just makes a day so much better, even if it's already good.

A small lesson learned

1Today we remember as a country. We remember a day when we all felt the pain of a now iconic tragedy that struck us from behind when we weren't looking.Yesterday we remembered as a family. We remembered a day when we felt the pain of a still somewhat fresh tragedy that struck us from behind when we least expected it.Today is the five year anniversary of the plane crashes on September 11th. Yesterday was the six month anniversary of my dad's death.
And I've been thinking today, about pain and tragedy, in an altogether not depressing or morose context. I'm feeling incredibly blessed to have not experienced the numbing pain of a major tragedy too early on in life. I feel like I was spared that depth of painful experience until I was mature enough to handle it. One never thinks oneself capable of handing the pain before it happens, I certainly never would have guessed I could. And yet, I think of all of the versions of me that I've been as I've grown up, and I'm glad it's the post-freshman-year-of-college me that's been faced both with the tragedy of 9/11 and with the loss of my dad. The other me's weren't ready for that. God is good.
After the towers fell I felt tired and numb for a few days. I didn't know what or how to think, and I felt like napping a lot. Now I can look back and see some of the good that has come out of it all, though I still don't know quite what to think about all of it.
After I found out dad had died, God and I had a very animated conversation in my truck, in the Home Depot parking lot. Then I had mom to look after, and there were certainly tears, but I had something to do, I had a "mission" of sorts. Now I look back, and 7 out of 10 times, I smile. Sometimes I still cry. Like today.
I can't even hazard a guess as to what would have happened to the pre-college me, in this type of situation . . . I'm just glad I'm the me I am now. Like I said, God is good.
___________________________________________________________________1. I have yet to go to bed, so it is still today, despite the fact that it is past midnight.

Baking Day

Not too much going on in the gardening arena, and nothing to photograph of the knitting projects right now . . . but I did bake today. I also cleaned the bathroom, but that's not half as exciting, even to me.

So I decided a couple days ago to make a Ciabatta (Italian for slipper, bakenese for crusty italian bread with lots of holes in it)

This process starts with a biga

Meet Biga:



After a day or so, that's what happens to a small amount of flour, water and yeast, left in an oiled bowl.

So I mixed that with some more flour, water, and a little more yeast. Then I put it back in the oiled bowl to rise. This is when I went and cleaned the bathroom, made the bed, put away the laundry, and finally got out of my pj's. After a couple hours, I poured the blob out on the bread board, and poked it and stretched it so it finally looked like this, when I put it on the cookie sheet:

After another hour and a half or so, it looked like this:

Then it went in to a very hot oven, and came out like this:

Meanwhile, I had to bring a fan into the kitchen, because it was getting quite warm. I let the loaf cool a bit, and then sliced into it:

After that I decided it was time for lunch:

Nevermind the fact that it was around four o'clock. I had breakfast around noonish, so it worked out nicely. So, I noshed on fresh bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, olives stuffed with garlic cloves, hardboiled eggs, and carrots while I put these pictures on the laptop. It was a good day.

Sourdough Saga

I'm making a new sourdough starter - so this time I thought I'd document its growth.

Day 1: 9/2

Added - 120g organic whole wheat flour, 120g water
Removed - nothing
Aroma - wet wheat
Consistency - a moistened and stiff dough



Day 2: 9/3

Directions - there will be no visible change in the color or texture of the starter. Do nothing.

This was the day we spent up on the Northern Neck helping my grandparents, I have no pictures, though I assume it looked much like it did day 1, maybe a little bigger.


Day 3: 9/4



Removed - 120g starter (approx half the original amount) before feeding
Aroma - slightly wheaty, with an unknown note
Consistencey - a moist dough
Added - 60g flour, 60g water



Day 4: 9/5

(no before picture, my apologies)

Removed - 120g starter (approx half the original amount) before feeding
Aroma - cheese, more specifically, white cheddar cheese puffs
Consistency - thick pancake batter
Added - 60g flour, 60g water



Day 5: 9/6



Removed - 120g starter (approx half the original amount) before feeding
Aroma - Cheese with a trace of fresh paint
Consistency - thick pancake batter
Added - 60g flour, 60g water



"You will now have about 1 cup of active starter. (You may feel the impulse to give it a name. Give in to it . . .)"

If anyone would like to suggest a good name for my starter, I'd appreciate it. I want to give it an interesting name. Now I must keep feeding it daily for two weeks.

For the record - I have been working from "The Bread Bible" by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

Ernesto

Ernesto ploughed through Norfolk, the center of the storm passing right over our heads. Sounds scary right? Ernesto was back down to being a tropical depression when he hit us; I drove downtown to work just after he'd passed by - not because I needed to wait for him to leave, but because I didn't need to go to work that early. There was a little flooding, but we didn't even lose power. Well, there was a lot of flooding, but we didn't have much where we were.
Ernesto actually came at Hampton Roads from the best possible direction - over land. But as it continued up the bay, it had more water to push and hit a high pressure system, that compacted it, driving up the wind speeds. By the time he made it to my grandparents on the Norther Neck, he was dealing damage somewhat like Isabel.
We drove up Sunday to help my grandparents dig out of what Ernesto left behind.






We took around 100 bags of debris to the dump, and that still leaves half of the pile of sea grass in front of the cottage (another 50 bags or so). The boat losses were high, because Ernesto wasn't supposed to be so bad - but no one anticipated what he'd manage to do up in the northern bay - they had 90 mph winds in Baltimore. This was certainly not a Katrina - but I think we underestimated Ernie just a bit.

Cape Charles

Your 3 was on tour in Cape Charles last week . . . we had fun, see?




This is Nathan . . . he works at the station - he's working hard, can't ya tell?

Pretty Things

It's time for something on the lighter side!

So, the S&S Gray 2.0 household has a new camera. Be warned, this means more pictures in upcoming posts, and probably posts solely for the purpose of posting pictures. Now, I firmly believe that it's not the camera, it's the operator that makes beautiful pictures . . . but there is a point when the limitations of a point-and-shoot camera limit the posibilities of a person's skills. Thus the Canon Digital Rebel XT - our first fully functional SLR that can be completely manual. We are (obviously) excited. Tomorrow I'm headed to the eastern shore for a remote newscast "Your 3 On Tour" - I'm taking the camera, so expect one of those aforementioned pictures only posts in the near future.

Anyway, on the theme of pretty things, I was playing with the camera today. I didn't wander much farther than the fire escape, but I found some fun stuff.









Now, those are all pictures of things that aren't mine. On the gardening front, I planted a little New Zealand Spinach in one of the pots on the fire escape just to see how it did, and while it's still small, it's coming along nicely. I had good luck with some lettuce, but now that we've reached the dog days of august, lettuce gets very bitter (inedible, trust me). NZ spinach, on the other hand, doesn't mind the heat.



Now, the gardening thing is not new news around here . . . most anyone who has been reading my ramblings knows I've been playing with green growing things this summer. But in an attempt to find a portable form of entertainment that I could take to work for when I had down time, or long meal breaks, I have turned to . . . Knitting! I'm sticking primarily to small projects that provide a little challenge - the first of which was a pair of socks. I think I'm hooked. My domestic adventures never end!



Now I'm working on socks for the boy (gray w/red heels and toes), and a bunch of possible christmas presents . . . pictures will come, but not until after they're given to the folks they're for.

So, that's what's up here, at least for now.

I feel a need to clarify

. . . but as to whether or not I have the ability, I'll leave that to you.

As long windedness is not my strong suit . . . I will try to sum up what I was getting at last time -


I think that the legal battles being fought by the homosexual community in terms of their rights reguarding civil marriage ceremonies and the subsequent ability to file jointly on their taxes or obtain "family" memberships at establishments like country clubs and pools . . . should be decided in their favor - they do have the right to all those things. I don't think they should be treated any differently than any other person.

In terms of their battles within the church, I don't think the church should adopt a homosexual marriage ceremony, and I don't think the church should be elevating active homosexuals to positions of authority (priests, bishops and the like). But I don't think the church should exclude them from the fellowship, or sacramental activities of the church.

It's really a tough issue to deal with. I still think homosexuality is a sin. But homosexuals suffer from a great deal of exclusion in the church, not because of their lifestyle, but because their lifestyle is more visible than other sins. The reason the church shouldn't decided who gets to take communion, or participate in other ways is simply because the church can only make that decision based on what it sees. But the visible isn't everything. It is really up to the individual to hash it out with God and decide if they should or shouldn't do something . . . but within a large body made up of people, what should happen and what does happen are often quite different . . . and perhaps it should be that way - this is our earthly existance; I'm not sure we're supposed to get it right much of the time.

Clear as mud, right?

To Continue

In light of an article Curly suggested after reading my last post . . .

I would like to add something to my statements -

The church should not take it upon itself to allow or deny a person participation in the sacrament of Eucharist . . . it's not the job of the church to decide who can and cannot partake. Whether a person should or shouldn't take communion is between them and God, and if we were brutally honest more often . . . we wouldn't take communion half as often as we do (I too am guilty of that one).

Also - Wyman, glad to know I'm not alone on this one - it's one of the few issues on which I get all "separation of church and state" on folks.

Raising Controversy

I'm really not trying to raise eyebrows, or give people frown wrinkles . . . really.

I've just been thinking about some stuff, and I'm fairly sure my conclusions are going to make some people angry . . . somewhere . . . if they find out about them. Unfortunately, I'm feeling a need to get some of these thoughts off my chest - so here goes.

I think homosexuality is a sin in the eyes of God.
Therefore:
- Homosexual unions should not be honored in the church.
- A homosexual marriage ceremony should not be canonized.
- Active homosexuals should not be placed in positions of high authority in
the church. Just as people who sodomize young boys, or embezzel money, or lie uncontrollably should not be placed in positions of high authority.
- I'm not particularly comfortable with calling a homosexual union a "marriage"

But . . .
- I see no reason not to allow homosexual unions in the civil and legal sense.
- I don't think the federal or state goverments should outlaw homosexual unions.

And . . .
- I see no reason to treat homosexuals as second class citizens, they are
people after all
- There is nothing especially wrong with someone living a homosexual lifestyle that isn't wrong with all of us (we're all sinners, it's in Romans), so they deserve the same respect and love that I'd give anyone else.
- And for that matter, I know a bunch of really cool people; some of them are gay. No.big.deal.

Have I offended you yet? Or at least confused you?

As a species we tend to fear what we do not understand, and while that's a fairly good survival instinct in the wild, in society it's not a habit we should be proud of or try to maintain.

Ok, I'm done being offensive now.

This Looked Pretty Cool

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Quizzes . . . Internet Crack

1. One book that changed your life: they really all have in one way or another . . . I'm like a french lacquer finish . . . with every pass of the alcohol soaked cloth, my surface is refined.

2. One book that you’ve read more than once: Jeremy the Tale of an Honest Bunny by Jan Karon

3. One book you’d want on a desert island: Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder

4. One book that made you laugh: Corelli's Mandolin by Louis De Berniere . . . though I didn't get very far with it.

5. One book that made you cry: The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman

6. One book that you wish had been written: I often find the library lacking in practical guides for my age/stage/lifestyle/budget . . . they're either too gung ho or not at all helpful. (see: The Encyclopedia of Country Living: An Old Fashioned Recipe Book by Carla Emery)

7. One book that you wish had never been written: Beloved . . . and really anything else by Toni Morrison. I know lots of people like her books, but I.just.can't.

8. One book you’re currently reading: Rebel Angels by Libba Bray

9. One book you've been meaning to read: oh . . . here is where I confess to having not read any of the Anne of Green Gables books . . . but I promise it's on my to-do list.

10. Tag five others: Anyone who hasn't been tagged yet, is officially tagged here.

Garden Update . . . It has pictures

Let's see now . . .

It's getting warmer, and with the rain we've been getting, the backyard garden (at mom's) is really booming.

The tomato crop is starting to come in, especially the grape tomatoes:



We're about to have a second wave of beans, and the first wave were nice and sweet, so we're excited to have more.



There are lots of big green tomatoes on the vines:



On a side note, I've become very fond of lemon basil tea - it's really quite tasty. So I'm trying to multiply my lemon basil crop so I'll have more to dry for tea.

The chamomile is still flowering madly, I'm excited to have that to sip all winter.

We rescued mom's rose bush from being swallowed by the hedge and it's been thanking us with blossoms:











The daylilies have also been quite happy:



But, then again, mom has always been good and growing low maintenance plants - it's her specialty.

I'm hoping, when Seth get's further into the impending pond project in the back yard, maybe we can grow some more daylilies in different colors - like not orange.

That's what we've got in the garden these days . . . not much going on on the fire escape at present, I'm still experimenting with how much sunlight some of these plants really need. Oh, wait, there is news - the Jalapeno on the fire escape now has four peppers growing on it, for a total of 5 so far. We smoked the first one, in an attempt at home made chipotle. It's an adventure, what can I say?

I don't have the words

I really need a happier post after all this . . .

The Lindle family needs our prayers . . . their son Ben, a fixture at Asbury College and founder of the Lexington Kid's Choir has left this world.

Sweet, gentle, "Big Ben," you will be sorely missed.

Ok, so it doesn't have pictues, but I must accept the challenge!

1. Grab the book nearest you, turn to page 18 and find line 4. The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns, Ann Budd "are placed back on waste yarn or holders."

2. Stretch out your left arm as far as you can. What can you touch? a wall, a window, a cup full of sharpies, a computer screen, a keyboard, a couple of books, my planner, my nalgene

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV? The noon news - but it's my job.

4. Without looking, guess what time it is. 2:33

5. Now look at the clock. What is the actual time? 2:33:27

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear? The fans in the switcher, the fan in the kalypso, which sounds like the little engine that could, not much else, it's quiet in here

7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing? Ran out to get lunch - it's a rainy day, but if I didn't have to come back to work, I'd be playing in the garden anyway.

8. Before you started this survey, what did you look at? The production wiki - to check and see if anyone left me a note.

9. What are you wearing? Jeans, my film nerd shirt, and a hoodie - AC's on high for the electronics

10. Did you dream last night? Yes, I think I did.

11. When did you last laugh? This morning, hanging out with Seth before I had to leave for work.

12. What is on the walls of the room you are in? Some windows, lots of small TV screens, a bulletin board, and some memo's

13. Seen anything weird lately? I just was a trash truck with a cardboard box wedged in the gap between the front bumper and the body of the truck.

14. What do you think of this quiz? I'm likin' it . . . it's different.

15. What is the last film you saw? In the theatre: Cars . . . on DVD: Bee Season

16. If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy? Well, I'd give half of it away (a third of that being to the Media Comm or Theatre departments at Asbury, the other half I'd split between our church, a couple of missions organizations, and heifer international), then I'd do a couple little fun things, like a digital SLR and accessories, and invest the rest for our first house.

17. Tell me something about you that I don't know. Hmm . . . I want to have a cute little house on a decent plot of land where we can raise a few animals and I can have a huge vegetable garden, an herb garden, a knot garden, and a tea garden. And I want a really BIG dog - mastif perhaps.

18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt and politics, what would you do? shift the global balance of money and power closer to an even keel, and take 10% of the top 25 nation's respective budgets and spread it among the quality relief organizations in the world

19. Do you like to dance? yeah, sometimes

20. George Bush: Not too sure. Sometimes I think his elevator isn't going to the top floor, but he means well, and tries hard. Other times, I think he's looking after the interests of the wrong people, and not serving the nation that elected him. I'm waiting for Haley to run for president; that will be the first time I know I want a particular candidate to win.

21. Imagine your first child is a girl. What do you call her? I'd like to call her George, but only if that suits her. As for what I'd name her, probably something like Anne George, though Leigh Harmon is also a favorite of mine, in which case I'd call her Harmo.

22. Imagine your first child is a boy. George? Just kidding. I'd like a Jack, not a full on John Preston, but a John something. It'll probably make mom cry, might even piss Bit off, we'll have to see.

23. Would you ever consider living abroad? In a heartbeat! But I'm a little particular about where.

24. What would you want God to say to you when you reach the pearly gate? Dude!

25. 3 people who should do this quiz in their blog: Hmm . . . Rosie (when she feels like it), Bookie, and Wyman (though he might feel he's above quizzes).

Ok . . .

Sad mopey post out of my system . . . it's time for something with pictures . . . post haste!

A Quiet Drive Home

"Well I've never been the kind to ever let my feelings show
And I thought that bein' strong meant never losin' your self-control" 1

It's quiet in the truck, and traffic is light. Not many folks around, just me and the radio

"'Does it hurt?' asked the Rabbit.
'Sometimes,' said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. 2

The whole wedding was a bit of a blur, it was sweet, and fun, and great to see all those folks. Bit said she couldn't look at mom, too many tears.

"To hell with my pride
Let it fall like rain, from my eyes
Tonight I wanna cry."1

So apparently I have now run out of whatever's been keeping my mind on happier things.

"Would it help if i turned a sad song on
'All by Myself' would sure hit me hard, now that you're gone"1

It's been just over three months; mom's alone in the house for the first time since it happened. I wonder how she's doing?

"It's gonna hurt bad before it gets better
But I'll never get over you by hidin' this way" 1

I still walk into their bedroom and talk to him, tell him what's up . . . at least say "good morning."

"'When you are Real you don't mind being hurt.'" 2

Some details are fuzzy . . . did it happen before my quarterly review? Did I get to hear him say he was proud of me? Did he say "That's great gooz?" He would have. Who all came? So many people said so many sweet things. There was that stupid shopping cart - I need to get the dent in my door fixed.

"God has paid us the intolerable compliment of loving us, in the deepest, most tragic, most inexorable sense." 3

I miss my daddy.

"Let it fall like rain, from my eyes Tonight I wanna cry."


1 Tonight I Wanna Cry, Keith Urban
2 The Velvelteen Rabbit, Margery Williams
3 The Problem of Pain, C. S. Lewis

Back To My Garden

Seth and I had a really good time in Chincoteague, aside from our sunburn episode at the beach - I need to get better at reapplying my sunscreen. We saw some pretty countryside, and some cute shops. We wandered the trails on Assateague island, and only did what we wanted to. It was relaxing.

The only think I actually missed while we were gone was my garden - I'm such a nerd. When we left we had a tomato that was getting ready to chance, our first big one, and I didnt' really want to miss it. Turns out I didn't . . .