What's For Dinner?

Last night's dinner was too good not to share.  We made Carrot Coconut Soup and served it with cheese toast and slices of papaya and watermelon.  It was colorful and delicious.  There are several good recipes for Carrot Coconut Soup on the internet but the one we used is as follows:

Carrot Coconut Soup

1 large onion, chopped
2 T fresh ginger, sliced
4 medium cloves garlic, chopped
1 t curry powder
3 c vegetable broth or chicken broth
2 c sliced carrots, about 1/4 inch thick
1 c sweet potato, cut into about 1/2 inch cubes
5 oz canned coconut milk
salt and pepper to taste

Chop onion.  Saute it over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring often.
Add garlic and ginger and continue to saute for another minute.
Add curry powder and mix well with onions.
Add broth, carrots, and sweet potato.  Simmer on medium high until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.  Add coconut milk.
Blend in batches.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
Return to pot and reheat before serving.

Happy Birthday, Tommy!

Tommy turns 20 today! We are proud of you, Tommy, and happy to have you as our son.  You add so much interest and humor to our lives; thank you for opening your world to us. We love you.

Just a Quick Trip to the Store

Some of my stories I tell out of my own experience; for some, I seek out information to share in response to a comment, question or curiosity; and sometimes stories come my way.  Like on Saturday -- a whole pile of stories fell into my lap while I was just out doing some shopping!  Here's a sampling:

At the fruit stand the young man asked what plans I had for the 4th of July.  We'd be having an early celebration for our son's 20th birthday, I told him.  Twenty years ago, on the 4th, I was a very hot whale, just waiting for delivery.  The mom behind the counter told us that through the summer before her September baby came, she'd take her chair to the beach and plop it in the water with her little ones playing around her, as the tide went in and out, just staying cool.  That's definitely cool!

When I pulled in to Bartell I saw Nancy, an employee who seems to be working every time I shop there.  Except for a few days last week, she told me, when she and her husband took a trip to the Olympic Peninsula.  They hadn't made arrangements for overnight lodging but when they got to Forks they thought they might like to spend a night at a bed and breakfast.  Glancing over the list, they decided the Miller Tree Inn, a 1916 farmhouse, sounded like a lovely place.  They were pleased to see that there were vacancies.  A rather baffling note on the door read, "The Cullens aren't here.  They are in Hollywood just now, so you will be served by the innkeepers."  Nancy thought that a little odd, but they knocked on the door.  Their innkeeper greeted them and Nancy asked about the Cullens.  The innkeeper told them that this was at the Cullen House from Twilight, and again Nancy shook her head in confusion.  "Do you know what Twilight is?" asked the innkeeper.  Why, yes, said Nancy, "it's that time of day between daylight and dusk."

By now the innkeeper was a bright shade of red, and she was dismayed that Nancy and her husband did not know about the current teen vampire book series called Twilight.  Neither did they know -- or much care -- about the movie series that is so popular just now.

I left the store and went to the car, stowing my purchases in the trunk.  Out of the store came an older gentelman, whistling.  I complimented his whistle and he came over to chat.  He saw my half-flat of strawberries in the trunk and then showed me his hands, stained red from the berries he'd picked that morning in Skagit Valley.  He used to work on Wall Street and lived on a farm in New Jersey, where he grew his own strawberries, among other things.  He taught me a couple of dutch words (his heritage) and we chatted about Princeton and preaching.

One more conversation happened at Haggen when I saw my friend Peter, who has just finished his masters in public policy and is hoping for a job with the diplomatic corps.  Maybe one day he will be in the US Embassy of some exotic country where we can go and see him.

Whatever happened to "a quick trip to the store"?

July 4th Video from History.com

To get to today's stirring video about the Declaration of Independence, click on the link below.  Have a safe and happy 4th of July weekend!

July 4th Video — History.com

Helen and Betty

My mom, Helen (on the right in photo), and her sister Betty were best friends.  They were twins born two years apart.  The last two of twelve children in a his-kids-her-kids-our-kids family, they were Grampa's favorites.

When they were young they helped in the logging camp where their mom cooked and their stern-looking, softhearted dad handled an ax and saw.  Among their many chores at home, they tended Grampa's strawberries.  On Saturdays they would work hard and fast so that they could do what they really loved to do -- play.

They rode their horse mile and miles without leaving home as they straddled a strong branch growing out of a tree in the front yard.  Thy were self-contained and happy together.  They loved sports, especially soccer, and even the boys were afraid of this fearless duo in their wooden shoes.  All through grade school they played on the same team.  Before the recess bell stopped ringing, there they were on the ball field, teaming up together.  The other side never stood a chance when Helen and Betty were playing.

As adults they played horseshoes and softball whenever they got the chance.  For her sixtieth birthday, Betty received a basketball hoop, the kind you see in cul de sacs outside the homes of teenage boys.  Well into her 70s she could still make 95 shots out of 100.

Mom had to miss her sister's wedding.  Auntie Bet and Uncle Paul were married on August 17 and she had asked Mom to be her matron of honor.  I was due the end of July but early on exercised my preference for being fashionably late.  My overdue mother had to witness the wedding from the church foyer, and then go to the hospital to deliver her baby on the 18th.

Between the two couples, eight children were born in nine years.  We lived 40 miles apart but grew up thinking we were one family with four parents.  Their last name was Cross, ours was Fosket; we called ourselves the Croskets.  Despite the distance, we spent innumerable Sunday afternoons together and as many summer days as we could.  We kids played baseball at the schoolyard near our home or explored the gully across from their house.  We often went camping, and for years we set up tents at Warm Beach Family Camp, creating a small homestead complete with a carpet over the ground between the tents, a food pantry and a centerpiece on the picnic table.  Long into the night the parents would play caroms as the fire died down and we kids fell asleep to the happy laughter of the grown-ups.

When Mom and Auntie Bet were winning at a table game against Dad and Uncle Paul, they were winning; when they weren't winning they said they were because they were actually playing give-away!  Always winners, these two, always finding some way through their difficulties.

Their love and friendship was a model for us in how to be family.  Their commitment to both work and play taught us to give ourselves to our work and incorporate plenty of time for recreation.  Their faith in Christ and living out of that faith led us to love Him too.  Thanks, you two, for being our moms.

On Keeping Company

We were talking about "keeping company with God" in our Bible study last night, about Philip Yancy's idea that ultimately prayer involves just two things -- letting God know who we are and learning who God is.  We talked about developing our relationship with Him, honestly telling Him what is in our hearts, even though He already knows, and coming to know His heart as well.

Dara shared a story.  A few years ago she and her best friend traveled for a time in Italy.  One day they were sitting in a sidewalk cafe, enjoying coffee and a pastry.  "We were already best friends and we'd been traveling together for a couple of weeks, so there wasn't so much to share with each other."  While she and her friend sat together with long periods of silence, the people around -- a couple, two women friends, a couple of elderly gentlemen -- talked and talked.  They talked for two or three hours.  What in the world did they have to talk about for such a long time, she wondered.

After a quiet time between Dara and her friend, she said, "Why don't we share the thoughts that come to our minds?"  That simple suggestion had a profound impact on their friendship.  They began to talk, to chat about things that popped into their heads, their interests and tastes, and to share their more intimate thoughts. They learned things about one another that they had never known, even as best friends.  And they learned the secret to the Italian friendships she saw around her at the cafe that day.

They took a step toward a deeper level of trust in their relationship. She became comfortable with asking her friend what she saw in Dara that might stand in the way of her being a good wife to TJ (whom she later married), and her friend also asked similar questions.  Their friendship deepened and they continue as best friends today.

Granted, nobody wants to know everything that enters the head of another person, but what would happen if we shared more of ourselves with the people we care about?  More thoughts, whether deep or superfluous.  More questions.  More dreams and fears.

Isn't that also the kind of relationship that the Lord desires to have with us?  Is today the day that we might begin to open up more with Him?

Running the Race

Did you know that right now there are 158 people from around the world involved in a foot race in the Gobi Desert?  They are participating in the Gobi March (China) 2010, a venue of RacingThePlanet.  According to their website, "RacingThePlanet is a unique category of rough country footraces that take place over seven days and some 250 kilometers in remote and culturally rich locations around the world."

The competitors range in age from 22 to 61, with the average age being 39.  They will be given bottled water, a spot in a tent where they can mingle with others and sleep, and they will receive necessary medical care and administrative oversight.  But they are responsible to carry all their own supplies and food.  The temperatures for this year's race in the Gobi Desert are expected to range from 50 degrees F up to 95-104 degrees F.  Dry rocky river-beds, dusty tracks and sand dunes will make up the terrain of the race.  I suspect that, unlike marathons, there will be no spectators positioned along the race course.

Again, quoting from their website, "RacingThePlanet is international; the events typically involve competitors from over 20 different countries who are able to mingle around the campfires and in their geographically mixed tent.  Currently the events consist of the 4 Deserts, a series which encompasses the Gobi Desert in China, the Atacama Desert of Chile, the Sahara Desert in Egypt and Antarctica, and a fifth event which roves to a new location each year."  In 2010 the "roving" event will take place in Australia; the 2011 race will be in Nepal.

I'm just trying to imagine what this must be like, how if feels to get up at 2:45 in the morning so they can get most of the event finished before the desert heat becomes unbearable; the brutal battering the body receives; the emotional and mental strain; exploring a microcosm of the world as you are living with people from many cultures (now that part sounds good to me).  What would drive a person to even consider entering? How could anyone ever prepare adequately for such an undertaking? Amazing, just amazing -- and a little bit crazy!

The entry fee if US$3100, and the winners receive only a trophy.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?  Run in such a way as to get the prize.  Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.  They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever...Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.  (I Corinthians 9:24-25; Hebrews 12:1b)

(Interested in reading blogs by competitors?  Check them out here.  Or check out their Facebook links.)