Peach Frenzy

Cooking is like love; it should be entered into with abandon or not at all.

~Julia Child~

 

I followed Julia's advice very well this week when I turned these

 

 

into this:

 

20 quarts of frozen peaches. Abandon or not at all. :)

 

Can I also say how much I'm enjoying this magazine?

My parents got me a gift subscription in July. It's great!

 

Have a wonderful and safe Labor Day weekend!

 

A Colorado Recap



 

This post has a bittersweet edge to it, as my reason for visiting Colorado was that my wonderful housemate Rachel moved back to her hometown of Lakewood, CO. I had a great time visiting another part of the country and am so thankful to my thoughtful and fun tour guides, Rachel and her parents Dave and Kathy. Rachel and I did survive the 18-hour drive, even through the barrenness of Wyoming. Here are some pictures with captions from the trip:

 

The beautiful Grand Lake up in the mountains west of Denver. Rachel, her parents, and I went kayaking and canoeing on this lake for two hours, as you can see below. It was fantastic! When I was in Denver, it was really, really hot, so it was great to be near water.

The Miedemas' dog, Tasha, enjoyed the canoe with us in her pink life jacket. I tried to recall my sea-faring (or lake-faring) jargon, but all I could remember was starboard, port, and poop deck (from Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis). I'll have to work on that. :)

 

The Miedemas have a beautiful garden with some heirloom tomatoes. This picture shows a mix of two kinds; I think they were called Cherokee Purple and Black Krim. I'm growing heirloom tomatoes in my garden this year, so I particularly enjoyed eating these. Oh man, did I have good food on this trip...grilled bread salad, turkey sandwiches with Gouda cheese, fresh garden tomatoes and cucumbers, Kathy's homemade scones with lots of jam, BLTs, ice cream, and more. It was great!!

 

 

On Friday, we took a lovely hike about 45 minutes from Lakewood (above two pictures). We hiked up to a rock outcropping and had great views of the surrounding mountains that seem to roll on forever. I even got to see a little lizard! 

 

After the hike, we drove into the town of Evergreen and ate lunch by the lake. There was a charming Nature Center by the lake's edge with a huge elk head on the wall with this sign. I stared at that elk for a good minute trying to think of a name. If you can see up in the right-hand corner of the picture, I decided on Ernie. I like the alliteration. Wouldn't it be funny if they picked my name?!

 

After lunch at the lake, we toured the Hiwan Historical Museum and House, owned by two families over the course of 150-ish years. The orignial wife-owner of the house was one of the first female doctors in the area...very impressive! I can't remember the last time I was in a museum. I went to SO many museums when I studied abroad in England four years ago that I was pretty museumed-out. But that's been a while now, thankfully! I very much enjoyed this tour.

 

Rachel and her parents live close to the Red Rocks Amphitheater that you can see behind me. There are obviously lots of concerts in the summer because we went three times and each time couldn't get to the main amphitheater because they were preparing for a concert. But we were able to peek around the side from a viewpoint. The red rocks were stunning. There's nothing like it in Portland or Spokane, so it was a treat to experience.

 

Rachel's mom set out this beautiful vase of garden zinnias in my room. We spent time every evening watching the Olympics. It was great fun!

 

This is a beautiful early-morning view of the mountains near Bozeman where Rachel and I stayed on Sunday night after the first leg of our trip. It was hazy most of the week because of wildfires, but it made the sunsets and sunrises especially striking.

 

Of course, this is only a sliver of all I did on my vacation. It was a wonderful, relaxing week, and I am so thankful for the opportunity. We also had fun eating at a Middle Eastern restaurant called Ali Baba, working out at the Y, taking a bike ride, touring downtown Denver, walking by the river in downtown Golden, and more. Thank you Dave, Kathy, and Rachel!

 

The trip also prepared me well for my family's epic drive down to Azusa, California, to take my sister Julie to college this coming week. I'll be sure to post about that when I come back. Pray that I can fit everything for our drive in one reusable grocery bag and that my parents and I particularly survive two eighteen-hour drives in a week. It's going to be rough. :o) But we're so excited to experience Azusa with Julie!

 

May God bless you with many happy moments as the summer comes to a close!

American Grown: A Book Review

I've been researching popular Christian blogs at work and noticed that many Christian bloggers write book reviews on their blogs. I thought that'd be a fun thing to do on this blog occasionally. I know many of you love to read and are always looking for good book recommendations. I'd love for you to use the comments section here to recommend your own books or chime in on my review if you've read the book.

This will also help me be accountable to reading more often and blogging more frequently. A win-win situation, right? :o)

I appreciated American Grown right off the bat for two reasons. 1) It celebrates the history of American gardens from the extensive gardens at Thomas Jefferson's estate, Monticello, to the Victory Gardens of WWII. 2) The book embraces subjects that Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike can support because the book is fundamentally about the joys of gardening, eating fresh, local food and the benefits of an active lifestyle.

The book is divided into four main sections: spring, summer, fall and winter. The primary narrative centers on the evolution of Michelle Obama's White House Garden over the past several years. My favorite part of this book was the way the garden involved people and celebrated tradition and diversity. Elementary school kids planted. White House staff tended the garden. Visiting dignataries received honey from the White House beehives and pickled vegetables from the garden. Native Americans taught the "three sisters planting" (planting corn, beans, and winter squash in the same bed). The plants that grow in the garden celebrate culinary traditions from around the country and world. Etc.

Gardens have a great knack for building healthy communities. Besides using the White House garden as an example of this, Michelle highlights community and school gardens that are bringing new life to derelict land, introducing kids to homegrown food, and drawing communities together.  

I also love that a portion of food from the White House garden goes to a local D.C. nonprofit called Miriam's Kitchen that serves the homeless. Michelle writes "[Miriam's Kitchen's] philosophy is that if someone comes and will only get one meal, it should be the very best meal they can have" (132). I love the principle behind that...when someone is in need, we give them the very best we have.

There's a lot more to like about this book, but I'll leave it you to read and discover. It's not an explicitly Christian book, but there is much to enjoy from a Christian perspective, both in affirming the goodness of creation and its higher purpose in helping people enjoy God's good gifts. And now, in the spirit of gardening, here are some pictures from my garden! I was going to show you my first Silvery Fir Tree tomato, but I ate it before I could take the picture. Perhaps that's how it should be. :o)

My first heirloom Bennings Green Tint Scallop summer squash. I grew it from a seed I got from my friend Megan. Here's the description from the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed website: "Colorful light green scalloped shaped fruit, tender and good quality; excellent yields, easy to grow. We have grown this variety for many years; an old favorite."

A zinnia I grew from birthday seeds sent to me by my friend Lydia.

A street view of my garden at Dottie's house with the garden sign I bought at the Gresham Farmer's Market two summers ago. The squash is a Long Cheese Squash, supposed to be extra good for pies!

I will post more garden pictures later. I'm proud of my garden this year and thank God that it's actually produced!

Question to ponder from American Grown by Michelle Obama: Have you experienced community around a garden? What did it look like?



To Love Is To Be

Two of my housemates moved out this week and another will move out on Sunday. They're all moving far away: Los Angeles, Princeton, New Jersey, Denver. It seemed appropriate that I stumbled across this quote on a friend's blog:

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one...Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”

C.S. Lewis' insights are always astute, even poignant.

Astute observations are also why I appreciate my pastor. He preached on Ephesians 3:14-21 this past Sunday where Paul prays that the Ephesians may be filled with "all the fullness of God" (19). I imagine Paul knew a thing or two about saying goodbye to people. He spent at least two years in Ephesus and writes beautiful prayers on behalf of the Ephesians. Paul wants them to fully comprehend the "love of Christ that surpasses knowledge."

In his sermon, my pastor explored what the fullness of God might look like. He said he had always assumed that God's fullness meant blessings and good and prosperity. But if we look at the life of Christ, there is also hardship and betrayal and anger and grief. Since Christ embodied the fullness of God in human form, my pastor concluded that for our lives to overflow with the fullness of God we must also embrace "every emotion on the continuum of the human experience," joy, sorrow and everything in between.

I just noticed in the verse that the fullness of God is fundamentally rooted in love. Paul prays that we will "know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that we may be filled with all the fullness of God." We won't be filled with the fullness of God until we know the love of Christ.

And, ironically, love invites brokenness. The love of Christ ended in death.

Brokenness hardly ever seems like fullness. I'm always surprised when love ends in grief, in separation, in sacrifice. I expect love to be easy, to fix all the problems. But human love will never do that. And yet somehow, even as humans, we experience the fullness of God when we embrace love-giving-way-to-brokenness.

And ultimately, this is the only way we can know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. This is the only way we will be filled with all the fullness of God.

Because someday brokenness will give way to love.

And we will meet the Source of Love himself.

Forgot this Photo!

Taylor, Rachel and I went to Fred Meyer yesterday and outside was this little Tillamook truck! They had samples of Tillamook cheese inside and little booklets of coupons for Tillamook products (including ice cream!!). We just had to get our picture taken by the truck. Turns out the guy who took the photo went to Centenniel High School, just a couple miles from my high school. Gotta love this small, small world!

Summer Fun in Photos

I've been doing research at work about how the Olive Tree blog could be more effective . The nice thing is that the research will benefit this blog, too. I hope you still have some faith in me as a blogger and are looking forward to the good things to come. :)

My friend Heidi had a blog post with pictures from her various summer adventures. They say imitation is the highest form of flattery, right? So here's my post of Fun Summer Photos.

Over Memorial Day weekend, my family and several friends of the family enjoyed time at my uncle's beach house in Lincoln City, Oregon. My dad, friend Rachel, and I went on a hike that unfortunately ended in a broken arm for my dad. I just realized that my dad's looking off to the side in the top picture. Hmm...not sure what he's looking at! :)

Two weeks later, I drove back home to see Julie graduate from high school. I'm so proud of her; she's a compassionate, smart, and fun young woman. At the end of August, my family will pile into our Mazda van and drive her down to Azusa Pacific University in the Los Angeles area. Fun! Pray that we can all fit in the car along with Julie's stuff.

My housemates Rachel and Taylor biked 38 miles from Spokane to Coeur d'Alene in June. Super intense, right? What did I do? Read Harry Potter at a coffee shop where my friend works, drank strawberry lemonade, ate this peanut butter brownie, and picked them up in downtown Coeur d'Alene. Super intense? Not really, but I sure had fun!

My parents came to Spokane from July 6-14. We had a wonderful week together. I planned to bless them when they were here, but instead I found myself super-abundantly blessed by them. We made this Cherry Clafouti for dessert one night. Delicious!

Some dear friends from Partners International and I biked a portion of the Centenniel Trail in Spokane Valley on Saturday, July 21. Afterward we enjoyed a picnic, cherry pit spitting contest, and the turtles around this waterfall. Ya gotta love summer!

Last Sunday, my small group from church enjoyed a day on the Pend Oreille River about an hour north of Spokane. It was beautiful. We even saw two eagles flying when we were on the boat...amazing!

Unfortunately, my two lovely housemates, Taylor and Rachel, are moving out in the coming week. We had a wonderful day yesterday at Green Bluff, eating lunch together, visiting the Petit Chat bakery and spending an hour in Jim and Janie Edwards' garden. Here's a couple photos from our day together:

Acedia and Me

It's high time for a new post, don't you think?

First, I want to say a big THANK YOU to those who donated to my Team Running Water web page: Katie Gilsdorf, the Brummer family, Sam and Judy Palpant, Lorry Jackson, Brad and Kathy Beal, and my dear sister, Julie Brink. I met my goal of $250!!! If you don't know, Team Running Water is an effort through Partners International to raise money for clean water projects in Africa and Indonesia through Bloomsday, Spokane's annual 10k race. The really cool part, though, is the fact that clean water becomes a means for sharing the Gospel because Christian ministries provide the clean water. If you think about it, pray that God brings Living Water to these communities, not just clean, drinkable water. 

Since I haven't written in a while, I'll just give some highs and lows for the past couple weeks. I swear the weeks alternate in that one week, I'll have something after work every day and the next week, I'll be home every night of the week. I can't decide if this is a good or bad thing. I suppose, in the end, it doesn't really matter. I like to be active, hanging out with people, making meals, etc., but I also like to be home and have the chance to cook and bake and read and walk. It seems to work out.

I'll start with the low. This week I've been hovering on the verge of sick. My throat's been sore at times, but mostly, I've just been really tired. Really tired. Not sure what's going on with my body, but I'm trying to do all the right things: sleep a lot, drink lots of water, gargle with salt water, exercise, etc. But sometimes, maybe, our bodies just need to slooow dooowwwnnnnn.

The other low is that life has been speeding by with such rapidity that I can't reflect and process things in the manner in which I'd like. It's not just having time at home that restores my soul, but also solitude. Solitude is hard to come by in a house with four other girls. I've recently felt like I'm not doing anything well. In other words, mediocrity's been the name of the game. Bleh.

I've been reading this awesome book by Kathleen Norris called "Dakota: A Spiritual Geography." It's a work of creative nonfiction, which is one of my favorite genres of literature. This book is soaked in scriptural language that makes me think long and hard about the state of my mind and my heart. Because I like it so much, I looked on Amazon.com to check out Norris' other books, one of which is called "Acedia and Me." Acedia (ah-k-dee-ah) is an old monastic word (Greek? Latin?) that means a kind of slothfulness or carelessness, the "noonday demon" for monks who become restless with monastic life. Reading the book's description made me wonder if some of my tiredness isn't actually acedia. Why I else would I let the vacuum sit on the floor of my room for three days before vacuuming my 10x10 square-foot room? 

One reviewer summed up the book in this way: "In the end, her remedies for acedia are simple: Go for a walk. Memorize Scripture. Sing Psalms. Seek community. Worship. Shovel manure. Dust a bookshelf. Wash dishes. Study. Read. Write. And be kind to one another."

I love this quote because it made me realize that acedia attacks us physically and spiritually, which Norris must also realize. Her remedies call for hard work: physical labor and intentional community with God and people, but also the hard work of noticing the particulars--walking, reading, writing, and dusting. It's the paying attention that's hard. Acedia would have me slide through life with nary a hard look at the state of my soul or the state of the world around me.

Oh brother. I'm writing myself into obligation. This tends to happen. Perhaps that's why Norris lists writing as an antidote to acedia. You have permission to hold me accountable to looking hard at my soul and the world. And if you share your struggles of acedia with me, I'll do the same.

In "Dakota," Norris has a great quote about hanging up wet laundry on a line. I think it ties into this post rather well: "Hanging up wet clothes gives me time alone under the sky to think, to grieve, and gathering the clean clothes in, smelling the sunlight on them, is victory." I'm praying that our hard work to combat acedia is like smelling the sunlight on dry clothes, a victory.

Well, that would be the natural stopping place, but I promised you a high, too. I think my high would be last Tuesday. My Bible Study leader, Janie, and I took a meal to a hurting family we know. She made Split Pea Soup with the Easter ham bone, and I made fresh French bread. It was victory to see the dough billow in its bowl as it rose and bake to a burnished brown. I wrapped three halves of bread in plastic wrap, put them in a colorful woven basket and walked with the basket up the Back 40 hill, across Whitworth's campus, and down the street to Janie's house.

For some reason, I was agitated as I started the walk, but a couple minutes in, I felt peace and was able to pray and enjoy the outside, the sun, the view of Mt. Spokane, the first wave of spring in the forsythia and flowering trees. The Lord restored my soul and all was peace.

Thanks for reading my thoughts. I love being able to write such meditations. But I think even more what I want to say is this: thanks for listening. God bless you.