Mike, the headless chicken

Since school gets out on Wednesday, I started looking at interesting “holidays” Al can celebrate to give him something interesting to do during summer vacation. Thursday will be Brother’s Day, and I’m sure Al can think of something nice to do for his big brother.

Friday will be Cookie Monster’s birthday. Actually, it is the birthday of Frank Oz, who has performed Cookie Monster since 1969. Cookie Monster’s own birthday is apparently Nov. 2, but someone with such an appetite probably needs two birthdays a year. (And a friend at church told me the other day how much better it works to serve cookies than cake at a birthday party, at least for people old enough not to want a display of candles.) I think we will need to bake some monster cookies.

As for this weekend, Al is away at a Boy Scout campout, so I didn’t really need to find anything to celebrate. But I couldn’t help being curious about the strange celebration in Fruita, Colorado this weekend, honoring Mike, the Headless Chicken.

From what I have read at a few different websites, it appears to be a true story, however improbable. I’m not sure how much his owners really wanted to honor Mike’s “will to live” and how much they wanted the money they could make off him. But it certainly is an interesting and unusual story, well worth a weekend festival.

So the next time you feel like you are running around like a chicken with its head cut off, take heart. Life goes on. You just might find it hard to do much crowing.

Happy National Chocolate Chip Day!

In case you didn’t already know, today is National Chocolate Chip Day. (According to the National Confectioners Association, both May 15 and August 4 have that distinction. It’s a good enough cause to celebrate twice a year, right?)

In honor of this important holiday, I bought Eggo chocolate chip waffles for my family for breakfast, and chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream for dessert this evening. For myself, I have my usual afternoon snack of Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips and some nuts (today I have walnuts and pecans, because I ran out of almonds).

If you want something different from the usual chocolate chip recipes, there are lots of ways to vary things. There’s always M&M’s, various kinds of nuts, and peanut butter. Sometimes I buy mint chocolate chips or raspberry chocolate chips, but if I don’t have those on hand I can always add mint extract to the cookie batter, or mix in some frozen raspberries. I haven’t tried adding dried cherries, but it sounds like it would taste good.

Now, if you want something really different, check out this page. (Note: it takes a while to load.) Personally I don’t care for the chocolate/bacon combination (I haven’t made my own, but I’ve tasted such products from a gourmet bakery). I don’t think I’d mind the dried crickets, but I’m not going to go buy any. (Not that I have any idea where I’d go to buy them.) I’ve heard of adding chocolate to chili, or chili pepper to chocolate cake, but I haven’t tried them – either as cook or consumer.

If you have any great chocolate chip ideas, please share! I probably won’t try them today – but there’s always August 4.

Awake, my soul

There are many things I like about Easter, but one of the best has to be the glorious music. When I was little, the older children’s choir at our church always sang “In Joseph’s Lovely Garden,” and I always found both the music and words very moving. (Unfortunately, by the time I was old enough for that choir, the music program had changed and that choir no longer existed, so I never got to sing it.)

Once I was old enough to join the adult choir, I got to sing the Hallelujah Chorus for Easter. As the lone high schooler in the group, I struggled to learn the alto part while the adults easily sang through it from many years of practice. Once I had learned it, though, I was disappointed to discover, over the next several years, that most churches do not perform it every Easter, as did the church I grew up in. (Adults in most church choirs seem to consider it too difficult, and I have to admit that in some cases they may be right.)

Even so, there are several wonderful Easter hymns to sing. There are “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today” and “Jesus Christ Is Risen Today,” two hymns by Charles Wesley that are so similar that unless I have a hymnal in front of me I tend to intermix the words and music of both hymns. I never heard “Low in the Grave He Lay” until I was a teenager at a fundamentalist church, and I have to admit that it has never become one of my favorites, but it provides an effective contrast between the disciples’ grief, and the joy of the resurrection, that few other hymns do.

Today, at the early service (I am reluctant to call anything at 7 AM a sunrise service) at the Methodist church, we finished with “Crown Him with Many Crowns.” Like the Hallelujah Chorus, it speaks more to me of Christ’s Lordship over all than specifically of the Resurrection, but if one is fit for Easter then certainly the other is also. What struck me as we sang it this morning, though, was the first half of the third line: “Awake, my soul, and sing.”

What did I do all year?

Last Friday’s Plinky prompt was “Summarize your 2011 with one sentence for each month this year.” I thought about it briefly – and concluded that I would find it very difficult.

For the last several years, I have written some sort of family Christmas letter (or at any rate year-end letter, as I often don’t get it done by Christmas). I always intend to work on it long before Thanksgiving, but there are two significant challenges. One is finding a way to write the letter that is interesting and avoids bragging or complaining. The other is remembering what actually went on in our family more than a month or two ago.

This year I didn’t even try. Family and friends are communicating more and more by facebook these days, so they should have a reasonably good idea what has been going on with us, without my having to write a letter. (Though we did get a Christmas card asking if my husband had heard from any churches lately, so apparently we failed to effectively communicate about his new position as part-time pastor.)

Doing the Plinky prompt offers one advantage over sending out a Christmas letter. People who receive one of those letters may resent having to either read it, or perhaps feel guilty for not reading it. But no one has to read answers to Plinky prompts. I could brag about accomplishments or complain about problems – if I could just remember them.

I tried looking back through my saved emails to see if that reminded me of major events from the past twelve months. But apparently I don’t send or receive emails related to major events. Or else nothing major has happened.

Then I tried looking through my blog posts for the past year. That yielded a few more ideas, though it still appears that 2011 has been fairly uneventful.

• January: In between reading several books, I helped my son Al make an alligator pinewood derby car.
• February: I helped my son complete the last of the requirements to earn the Arrow of Light before he bridged from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts.
• March: I participated in a Toastmasters area speech contest and won – due to the lack of any other competitors.
• April: I found out that my Toastmasters membership had lapsed the previous fall, so I was ineligible to compete at the next level.
• May: I became the President of our Toastmasters club – primarily due to being the only member willing to volunteer to serve in that office.
• June: We visited a church and town in Nebraska that seemed like a good fit for our family, but it did not work out.
• July: My son Al and I celebrated his twelfth birthday with a Pirate Party.
• August: I became more enthusiastic about Toastmasters as I attended officer training – but learned that most of the members of our club planned to drop out and that the club would most likely disband.
• September: I started following Dr. Ann’s Eat Right for Life program, learning to choose more healthy fats and carbohydrates.
• October: I helped Al make an Ent costume for Halloween that won him first place in the costume contest at the church party we attended.
• November: My husband was called as part-time pastor at a church where he had been doing pulpit supply, so we finally have a real church home for the first time in a few years.
• December: We lost our home internet connection for two weeks and I spent a lot of time reading (even more than usual).

Not much to write a year-end letter about, is it? But considering all the unpleasantly eventful things that could have happened that didn’t, sometimes it can be good to have an uneventful year.

What’s merry about Christmas?

I read an interesting essay yesterday by the late Christopher Hitchens, on why he objects to the “forced merriment” of the Christmas season. I agree with him in principle, though I have not experienced the degree of coercion he rails against.

Perhaps he exaggerates for effect. Perhaps his dislike of the religious nature of the holiday colors his perceptions. I don’t recall any “compulsory jollity in the hospitals and clinics and waiting rooms.” But I have heard objections, including from devout Christians, to the monthlong assault on our ears by the seasonal music played at shops, malls, and other public spaces.

I haven’t noticed it much myself. I spent time yesterday in a mall for the first time in months, and if there was music playing I was oblivious to it. Perhaps I tend to tune out piped-in music along with all the rest of the noise that I associate with crowded stores.

I do dislike it when I am expected to act happy when I don’t feel happy. I have never liked it when someone, seeing me walk by with a serious look on my face, says, “Smile!” Whether I was looking serious because I was unhappy or deep in thought, I don’t want to be told how to feel, or at least to pretend that I feel.

Books: A Log Cabin Christmas

I don’t normally read any book identified as a romance. I read some romances when I was a teenager and decided that they were not only a waste of time and money, but probably also an unhealthy form of escapism. I have made a few exceptions, such as the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, and The Time Traveler’s Wife, and enjoyed them. There are probably some other good romances out there, but there’s too much junk to be worth sorting through.

I learned about A Log Cabin Christmas from the writer of one of the novellas in this collection. I’ve never met Michelle Ule in person, but we’ve communicated by email, as well as interacting in the Community area at WORLD Magazine. I decided that if I could get the book from the library, I’d at least read Michelle’s “Dogtrot Christmas” even if I skipped the rest.

As it happened, I got the book from the library at about the same time as I was trying to find a book to give to a co-worker. A couple dozen of us at work were doing Secret Santas, and I was buying for someone who likes to read “any kind of book.” That should make it easy, but instead I was stumped. If someone reads just about anything, what are the chances I pick out a book she already has? And I couldn’t feel comfortable buying a book I wouldn’t want to read myself.

Then I noticed A Log Cabin Christmas at Walmart. It was unlikely she had read it. It’s Christmas, so that made it a good Christmas gift. And while I don’t know her well, my guess was that a book with a Christian perspective would go over well. But I still wasn’t going to buy the book without having read at least most of it myself.

I had just finished reading The Sparrow (see my post about it from yesterday). The contrast between the two books is striking. They are very different books, with different goals, but I’m afraid most of these romances seemed pretty shallow in comparison. I enjoyed some of the historical detail, and there were a few interesting characters, but not much to make me think.

Fourth Sunday of Advent: Love

Why is it that I have more trouble thinking of something to say about the theme of Love at Christmastime, compared to the previous three Sundays of Advent? It was easy to think of something to say about Hope, Peace, and Joy. But Love? It seems almost trite to say that Christmas is about love.

I try to think of Scriptures related to Jesus’ birth that mention love, and realize that I can’t think of any. The angels talked about joy and about peace, and all the prophecies about the Messiah imply hope. But I can’t think of any that mention love.

Is that because love is so basic to the idea of God that it hardly seems necessary to mention? Is it because, at the time, the events surrounding Jesus’ birth induced feelings of fear and confusion more than love? Is it because the meaning of Jesus’ birth only made sense long afterward?

I’m guessing that Joseph loved Mary, but all Matthew 1 actually says is that he “did not want to expose her to public disgrace.” After the angel appeared to him in a dream, “he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.” How many women would want to know that their husbands married them because they were commanded to do so? Yet acting out of obedience doesn’t mean one is not also acting out of love.

Second Sunday of Advent: Peace

I wonder how many millions of cards are being exchanged this month with the words “Peace on Earth.” I wonder also, how many millions of people consider the sentiment foolish – and the faith behind it misguided – when even a cursory look at the news shows that there is not peace on earth.

People’s real reasons for rejecting Christianity are certainly not always the same as the reasons they give – even to themselves. But I know that for some people, the fact that our world is still so plagued by wars and strife, two thousand years after the coming of the “Prince of peace,” is a strong argument against it.

For me, the traditional theological explanation that the time is still future when “the lamb will lie down with the lion,” after Jesus returns in power and glory, is satisfactory. Until then, those who follow Jesus have peace with God and with one another. (That is, they have peace with one another to the extent that they follow Jesus; examples abound of people who claim to follow Jesus fighting amongst themselves, unfortunately.) Once He returns, there will be outward peace as well as inward peace.

Perhaps this is at least part of why I find it hard to get as excited about the idea of peace as I do the idea of hope (see last Sunday’s post). Hope is by definition oriented toward the future. Peace is something that we experience to a certain extent now, and expect to more in the future – but we have no idea how far in the future that may be.

First Sunday of Advent: Hope

I see from looking at my posts from the past few years that I always blog about the first Sunday of Advent. But I don’t have any posts for the second, third, or fourth Sundays of Advent. I don’t think it’s because the theme of the first Sunday – hope – is more important to me than the remaining themes of peace, joy, and love. More likely, it’s similar to what happens to most people’s New Year’s resolutions shortly after they are made.

The first Sunday of Advent is the beginning of a new church year for those who follow the liturgical calendar. If I’m going to commit myself to develop new or better habits of prayer, Bible reading/study, or other practices to deepen my spiritual life, this seems like a better time than on January 1. Advent, after all, was traditionally a time of repentance and preparation, rather than an early start to the Christmas season.

But in practice my Advent resolutions don’t seem to last any longer than my New Year’s resolutions to lose weight, exercise more, and get more organized. Apparently I haven’t even expected them to, because my previous posts on the first Sunday in Advent haven’t given any indication that they are first in a series. I wouldn’t have wanted to say I was starting something and not finish it, so I made a point of not saying I was starting something that I suspected I would have trouble finishing.

Giving thanks

My list of things I’m thankful for really doesn’t change much from year to year. At least the big things don’t change – friends, family, church, health, a job, a home to live in, good schools for our sons, and the love and grace of God shown in so many ways.

When I think of what I am thankful for, though, I think also of lots of little things. For instance, this fall as I have been trying to eat more healthy foods, I am thankful for some healthy foods that also taste very good. I have come to enjoy quinoa cooked with chicken broth and mixed with peas, black beans mixed with corn and tomatoes, and blackstrap molasses as an all-purpose sweetener.

I have tried to cut out most of the sugar I had been eating, which means no more hot chocolate mix in my coffee, buying breakfast cereals with a lower sugar content, and no more brown sugar in my oatmeal. I also cut out diet pop and other artificially sweetened beverages, because Dr. Ann (whose book Eat Right for Life I have been trying to follow) points out that artificial sweeteners distort our sense of what tastes sweet. I guess she must be right, because last time I tried blackstrap molasses I didn’t like it at all. Now it tastes good, and I use it on my oatmeal, on my buckwheat pancakes, and in my coffee.

Dr. Ann also advises against eating white potatoes, along with white flour, white sugar, and white rice. But she says sweet potatoes are great, which is good, because I like them just as well as white potatoes. She also recommends that people trying to lose weight avoid dried fruit – with the exception of dried apricots, because they are so very healthy. And I have always loved dried apricots, so I’m glad of a reason to eat more of them.

I’m thankful for my bifocals, and for the low price at Walmart and the employee discount that made my new pair of bifocals affordable (about a fourth of what it would have cost at the clinic where I got my exam and prescription). I had put off getting a new pair, because I remembered how much the old pair had cost (at the clinic), even though that pair was nearly useless. I used a cheap set of reading glasses for the computer and other reading, though even with those I found myself squinting more often in recent months. And as for seeing things in the distance – things were blurrier with the glasses on than without them.

So I wasn’t surprised to find out that I am now slightly farsighted instead of nearsighted. Or that the prescription I needed for reading had changed a lot. What I was surprised was to find out that even bifocals cost less than $100 at Walmart now. I still can’t quite see the eye of a needle (but as someone explained to me how to use one of those wire needle threaders, it’s not a big problem), but I can read the clues to the crossword in the Friday Wall Street Journal without a magnifying glass. And things are nice and clear in the distance.

I’m thankful for the internet, which gives me the opportunity to have this blog, play Scrabble with a friend in Maryland, read the news from a number of sources, keep in touch with my sister by email, and look up all sorts of information. This week, for example, I found a recipe for a (relatively) healthy pumpkin pie, with no fat except in the eggs, the chopped nuts in the crumb crust, and the canola oil that I used in the crust in place of butter or margarine. I also cut down on the brown sugar (and used blackstrap molasses!), so it isn’t as sweet but still tastes quite good.

I am thankful for silence, when I can have it. One of the Plinky prompts this week asked, “Does silence make you uncomfortable?” I was going to answer, “Not at all! I love silence.” But my husband was listening to something on his computer (I don’t remember whether it was Rush Limbaugh, a TV show, or just some of his favorite music. And I find it hard to blog when I don’t have quiet to let my thoughts flow. I can faintly hear the washing machine downstairs, and the sound of the keyboard as I type, and the faint whir of the ceiling fan. But it’s pretty quiet right now.

Those are the kinds of things it’s easy to be thankful for. This column reminds us to be thankful for difficulties as well, because of what they teach us, and because they make us stronger. I do try to take that attitude toward difficulties when I am facing them. But when I sit down to list what I am thankful for, somehow those don’t seem to come to mind so quickly.

And because I am likely to miss some important things when I do try to list what I am thankful for, it is good to be able to borrow words others have written. For our prayer before dinner today, I printed out this thanksgiving litany from the Book of Common Prayer (another handy use of the internet, since I don’t own a copy of that book). And that’s one more thing I’m thankful for – books in general, whether for entertainment or education, but especially those that pass on wisdom that has stood the test of time.