The Guest

He was sitting in the den.

As I stopped by to ask how his dinner was he said....

"You have a lot of serious books, religious books!"

He is a lawyer in Boston.

I should have thought he would be interested in the books that line the den shelves.

And as I reviewed them this morning I thought, "no wonder he was interested in why we had ten different translations of the Bible along with Matthew Henry's Commentary- Genesis to Revelation, The Complete Works of John G. Lakes, Revivals of Religion by Charles Finney, Parallel New Testament in Greek and English, a first edition volume of A History of the Holy Bible, from the biginning of the World to the Establishment of Christianity by the Rev. Thomas Stackhouse, M.A., loads of commentaries on Romans, Philippians, James, Psalms and Proverbs, Ephesians etc, Vines Expository Dictionary, and a phlerea of books written by some of our favorite authors, Andrew Murray, Francis Schaeffer, Mary Whelchel, Tim Keller, A.W. Tozer, Watchman Nee, E.W. Kenyon, Derek Prince, C.S. Lewis, F.F. Bosworth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. We've taught a lot of Sunday School classes over the years,

So, we had a conversation about my best friend, my caring Father, my Comforter and my faith that has been developing over the last 45 years.

We've learned alot, we've experienced alot, we've survived alot and we've grown more and more confident that He is faithful, true and wonderful!

We've had some wonderful guests, both at 42 and at Litengard.

This weekend we had two sets of guests that had been here before. They have become friends. They brought me special jam from beach plums, delicious! And special coffee from Jamaica and cinnamon sticks. And today I got a package with a new apron for the fall. Wow! I'm blessed.

And I look forward to new friendships, new guests and new opportunities to share.

Fried Green Tomatoes and Other Such Things

We had an abundance of red.

Now we have bushel baskets full of green. Green tomatoes that is.

This is only one basket full. I have a huge colander, a large roaster full, and several other containers full of green and slightly pink tomatoes.

And I can't throw them away. I was raised by a frugal mom.

Last night I made Chicken a la green tomatoes. It was quite good. I had actually made sauce (roasted red tomatoes, my peppers, onions, garlic, carrots and an eggplant) and blenderized it into sauce. It's delicious. My friend, Danica, put me onto that method. Anyway, put chicken parts in a 13X9 pan, add 2 cups of sauce (i added more), 2 sliced onions, 4 sliced green tomatoes, 1 sliced zucchini and season with salt, pepper, paprika, oregano and bake for 1 hour. i sort of mixed the sauce and the veggies up half way through. Saturday I'm going to try another recipe: Curry Shrimp with green tomatoes.

I have already made two roaster pans full of roasted green tomatoes, and a huge amount of green salsa. They're like the widows oil though, they just seem to be multiplying. I've even given loads away to my neighbors.

Yesterday I had to take a break from the cooking and the Bed and Breakfast and go to Burlington for my every six months check up. It's quite a trek to go for something that you know is going to be fine but I have to obey orders!

It was a beautiful October day. The sky in the morning was a brilliant blue and it contrasted so with the yellow, gold and lime color on the leaves. I've noticed that this year the reds are more mellow and the oranges are more burnt amber. But it was just gorgeous. The Canadian Geese dotted the freshly mowed corn fields, gleaning the last of the kernels for their trip south. I would like to try to cook a goose sometime. It seems that they would be pretty easy to shoot, there are thousands around in the fields and skies. A hundred years ago immigrants used to keep flocks of geese in the backyards of their tenements in NYC. Goose fat was used extensively in their cooking. One also remembers reading about the Christmas goose. Yes, I would like to try cooking one.

I love the windmill farms doting the landscape in Chateaugay. Those tall metal monoliths with their graceful arms stretching heavenward and then towards the horizon. They are so architectural, tall sentinels guarding the adjacent farms and cattle. I don't know if I would like to live near them but they are magnificent to see in the distance and then drive by.

October is an interesting month. It's fickle; sometimes hot, sometimes cold and usually a lot of rain. My dad died on October 5th, five years ago. I miss him. It's Rob's birthday at the end of the month and two years ago it snowed on his birthday. We were all in Washington, DC two years ago in October, to watch Liz, Maja, Meka and Rachael run the Army 10 miler. Ethan and Laura ran the last two miles with the girls. We visited Arlington again and remembered again the fragility and preciousness of life. Two years ago Rob and I were hanging pictures at Elizabeth's new house on Judson Street. This October he has to hang pictures and mirrors in an apartment in Pittsburgh. Last year I only had three postings in my journal. Rob's cousin who was a missionary in Ecuador came to visit with his new wife, Liz was taking Rob to the gym to help him "get in shape", I planted garlic for the first time and wrote "I've lost the word mother and father forever. They have gone and are not part of my vocabulary anymore. Not my mother or my father. And I can hardly bear it." And this October I have a new venture and a house full of new fiends and guests at Litengard.

And so we go forward. Making green salsa, making new friends, establishing new routines and experiencing God's love and protection. And as I go through my old journal I read these words...God doesn't comfort us to make us comfortable, but to make us comforters.

Dinner and Lecture

I was prepared to dislike her.

I had done my research.

While Rob was installing blinds in the back room, I read all the articles aloud, describing her education, her experiences and her viewpoints on a variety of subjects. And I was prepared not to like her.

But we spoke with her on the back patio and I liked her. My heart went out to her as she reached for words, as older people sometimes do, when words are not at the tip of ones tongue anymore, but in the deep recesses of the brain.

She was 75, still a professor of a major university, still giving lectures across the country, and she is a former US Surgeon General.

And despite being total polar opposites, if she had lived here, I'm sure we would have been friends.

She was warm and kind. She smiled and was gracious. And she was a mother. I can imagine a grandchild cuddling up in her arms, and I can see her reading Good Night Moon as eyelids droop and sleep falls quietly.

But we would have disagreed on almost everything.

The lecture was organized with lots of sides and statistics. And it was a complete political statement with all the liberal talking points.

She believes that every problem of mankind would be solved by education. Hunger, poverty, prejudice, crime, unwanted pregnancies, obesity, sexual diseases.......

And she believes that universal healthcare is a moral obligation in this country and is out advocating that position as she did when she held her high postition. And if we could just educate our young people we would drastically reduce unwanted pregnancies, sexual transmitted infections, obesity, smoking, etc......

They advocate a moral obligation for healthcare but where are morals when they teach our children about sex. Then there can be no morals imposed. "Whose morals?" No one can teach our children from a moral and ethical viewpoint.

Is this logical?

Seems like someone with a basic knowledge of logical could refute all their positions easily.

But, I still liked her.