View from the Aerie

Cabbage-Vegetable Soup

2010-06-04T13:10:00.000-07:00

(Amounts are approximate and variable.)
Olive oil, 1/4 C
Onion, 1 whole, chopped
Carrot, 1 large, chopped
Celery, 2 stalks w/ leaves, chopped
Green pepper, 1/2 chopped
Zucchini, 1 whole, chopped
Egg plant, 1/2 skinned & chopped
Water, 2 quarts
Tomato, 1 chopped
Tomato sauce, 16 oz.
Garlic, 2 cloves, crushed
Cabbage, 1/2 head, chopped
Green beans, 16 oz. can
Corn, 1 C frozen
Basil, 1 tsp.
Salt, 1 tsp.
Brown sugar, 2 tsp.

Add items in order to large pot, stirring frequently before water is added. When everything is in pot, simmer for awhile. Serve with rolls and sausage.

Sox's Favorite Homemade Dog Biscuits

2010-03-02T19:39:00.000-08:00

2 C cornmeal
1 C flour
1 egg
1 lb. raw liver, pureed (eeew!)

Mix all ingredients. Spread in oiled 9"x13" pan.
Bake about 30 min or until done. Cut while still warm.
Bag pieces and store in freezer.
Note: liver purees better slightly frozen.

Coming Home

2010-02-12T19:32:00.000-08:00

Fingerprinted walls and long gray winters closed in on this young mom's mind. Our apartment, narrow and not too long, sat atop our shop in an aged building at the edge of town. Piles of clutter competed for attention with runny noses and household repairs. I liked the building, really I did, for its bit of a view and proximity to work, but the more children we tried to cram into it, the smaller it apparently got.

The latest little arrival prompted a search for larger lodging. We scoured papers and studied websites, yet every lead turned out just wrong, with money often the limiting factor. Meanwhile, the children were growing in more than just numbers, and a place for them to meet with friends at home was becoming essential.

Lamenting to my single friend about our house-hunting saga, I was miffed when she breezed, “Just give it to God.” The long gray ponytail on her shoulder seemed to delineate the gulf between her life and mine. What did she know of my pressures? Yet she spoke from her own struggles, I knew, and her words resonated to a younger me. Was this a trust issue? Accepting her offer to pray, I relinquished my fretting.

The next day I tripped onto a house for sale, spacious and well-lit, that would accommodate our family, store and budget. How we had missed it until then is a mystery. Perhaps we were not given eyes to see until my heart was prepared to receive it as a gift.

Pumpkin Waffles

2009-10-27T19:00:00.000-07:00

2 1/2 Cups flours (I use wheat, rice and tapioca)
1/4 C brown sugar
1 Tbs. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 Tbs. lemon juice
2 Cups milk (I use rice milk)
1-15 oz can Pumpkin
1/3 C oil
2 eggs

It's easy. Mix the dry ingredients. Mix the wet ingredients. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together.
Pour batter onto a hot and oiled waffle iron. Cook until done.
Serve with applesauce and syrup.

Poem: Two Gifts

2009-10-08T12:35:00.000-07:00

I love you exactly, precisely, completely
The way that you are, through and through.
No sinister attitude nor smug ingratitude
Can change that, for my love is true.

But 'round the next bend could come trial or friend
Who grants you less gracious esteem.
More, you may aspire to lay hold much higher
Of that which you now only dream.

Unbridled appetites soon become parasites,
Hindering all you can be,
So I'll give correction, an act of affection,
I learned from the One who loved me.

It's not out of spite or some secret delight
That I faithfully purge your dross,
But to spare you much grief and buy some relief
Against disappointment and loss.

It may not be pleasant, this discipline present
I offer, unbidden, to you.
Yet through all the strain,
As you loudly complain,
I will love you, as love you I do.

Holly's Chicken Sesame

2009-10-05T14:25:00.000-07:00

4 Chicken breasts, cubed
(may cook separately, or sub tofu)
1 small onion, cut in strips
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 carrots, cut in strips
1-2 heads broccoli, cut up
oil for frying
1/4 C soy sauce
3 Tbs. honey or brown sugar
1-2 Tbs. rice vinegar
3/4 C water
2 Tbs. corn starch
2 Tbs. whole sesame seeds

Heat oil in large fry pan or wok on med to med-hi heat. Stir fry chicken until loses color. Stir fry carrot & onion briefly, then add celery and broccoli, stirring often until desired tenderness. Mix remaining ingredients and add to pan. Stir until darkened and thick. Serve over rice.

Poem by Fannie Stearns Davis: For a Child

2009-09-22T18:58:00.000-07:00

Your friends shall be the Tall Wind,
The River and the Tree;
The Sun that laughs and marches,
The Swallows and the Sea.

Your prayers shall be the murmur
Of grasses in the rain;
The song of wildwood thrushes
That makes God glad again.

And you shall run and wander,
And you shall dream and sing
Of brave things and bright things
Beyond the swallow's wings.

And you shall envy no man,
Nor hurt your heart with sighs,
For I will keep you simple
That God may make you wise.

Roy H. Williams Quote

2009-09-17T13:37:00.000-07:00

"Growing up poor gives you marvelous advantages. The people who love you are unable to hand you the things your friends take for granted, so you develop quick resourcefulness and humble audacity. .... Priceless."

Read more Roy H. Williams at
www.mondaymorningmemo.com

Reply to Insecure Homeschool Grad

2009-09-12T19:45:00.000-07:00

The social insecurity of a homeschool graduate is the topic of an article in the September 12, 2009 issue of World Magazine: http://www.worldmag.com/articles/15814 It prompted these thoughts.

I question if homeschooling is really the cause of Alisa Harris's insecurity. After all, "becoming comfortable in (one's) own skin" is not exclusively a struggle of homeschoolers, though theirs is the advantage of gaining some maturity before wading into it.

Harris's reason given for wishing to homeschool her own children is to spare them being hurt, or robbed, or demeaned, a rather negative way to approach the question, I think. Perhaps she is too close to notice the forest for the trees?

The benefits of homeschooling are often not easily quantified and may be missed in a profit and loss analysis. That Harris has the confidence to write candidly about her insecurities in a national magazine may actually be a testimony for her education.

It's hard to believe that being educated in one's home would prevent someone from knowing about Michael Jackson or some other element of pop culture. How many homes do not have a radio or TV in them? Internet access, a library card, or a daily newspaper ought to be sufficient to keep a willing learner abreast of current cultural trends.

Does homeschooling get an even hand in these debates? When a classroom child cops a 'tude, we shrug and say, "Well, kids are like that," but when a homeschooled child hits a social glitch, we say, "Well, he was homeschooled, you know." Would that instead, we said of the young person who resents authority, "Well, his education was farmed out to an institution, you know," and of the one awkward around the opposite gender, "Well, kids are like that."

Homemade Cough Syrup Recipe*

2009-08-12T17:48:00.000-07:00

1 Lemon, whole
2 Tbs honey
2 tsp food-grade vegetable glycerine

Boil the lemon whole for a few minutes; cool.
Half and juice the lemon. (Boiling it softens the skin, making it easier to extract all the juice.)
Mix juice with other ingredients.

Keeps in 'fridge for 1 week. Take by spoonful as needed for dry, irritated cough. Also good stirred into a cup of tea such as green tea for expectorant, or lemon balm and slippery elm bark for allergies.
*This recipe has worked for our family, but it is not intended as medical advice and should not supersede your own good judgment about what works for you.

Barbara Bush Quote Applies to Students

2009-08-11T10:52:00.000-07:00

"If human beings are perceived as potentials rather than problems, as possessing strengths instead of weaknesses, as unlimited rather that dull and unresponsive, then they thrive and grow to their capabilities."
Barbara Bush

Susan Wise Bauer Quote

2009-07-29T14:33:00.000-07:00

"You must push back against an immoral ethic that says your worth as a person is measured by the visible results you produce in the world."

FDR Quote

2009-07-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

"Any government, like any family, can for a year spend a little more than it earns. But you and I know that a continuance of that habit means the poorhouse."
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1932

Multi-Grain Veggie Pasties Recipe eh!

2009-07-09T20:03:00.000-07:00

This is a large recipe; it makes about 10 pasties.

CRUST:
7 C flours (2 rice, 2 rye, and 3 wheat)
1 1/2 Tbs. sugar
1 Tbs. salt

1 1/2 C oil
3 eggs
3/4 C water
1/2 tsp. vinegar

Mix the dry ingredients together, mix the wet ingredients together, then mix the two mixtures together, kneading with hands. Refrigerate crust while preparing filling.

FILLING:
4 carrots, chopped
2 small onions, diced
4 large potatoes, chopped
3 turnips (or 1/2 rutabaga), chopped
1/4 C oil
1 Tbs. dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Break off pieces of dough and roll into 8-inch ovals. Scoop about 1/2 C of filling or so onto dough. Fold in half and seal edges. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 375F for 40 minutes. Serve with sausage if desired.

Stealing Buddha's Dinner: Book Review

2009-07-06T16:37:00.000-07:00

Stealing Buddha's Dinner served up a string of morsels reminiscent of my own memories of the 70's and 80's, and I had fun partaking of the nostalgia for the culture (or un-culture) of the time. There were other flavors too, ones with which I was unacquainted, from Vietnamese culture. By intermingling the two types of sensations, the author gave this Western reader a new perspective on her own society as well as a peak into a foreign one.

The story is a sad one on many levels, but the writing is done so poignantly that the telling of the story becomes its own vindication.

Parental Rights Amendment

2009-07-05T11:58:00.000-07:00

As a homeschooler, I am a big proponent of parental rights, believing they are among those implied by "among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Proverbs about mother bears come into my mind when I consider the infringements of governments and courts into family affairs and the increasingly institutionalized way in which children are being raised. So why won't I be signing a petition to amend the Constitution to delineate rights of parents?

First of all, the Constitution already retains for the people rights it has not spelled out: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." -Amendment 9. I'm not a Constitutional lawyer, thankfully, but it seems to me that the spirit of this amendment would be weakened if further amendments were to follow it, enumerating various rights of the people. And where would it end? The right to choose one's own spouse, work, health care, dress? How many amendments would we end up needing? The principle is already there, and frankly, the political climate in our nation today does not seem conducive to making changes to a document that has already stood the test of time.

A second but a more fundamental reason I won't be signing such a petition is that I don't look to the Constitution as the ultimate source of parental rights or securer of them. A parent's rights are of a higher, more basic nature, such that politically meddling with them can only weaken them. A funny thing can happen in the minds of free people when they place the confidence for their freedom in a person or a document; they can lay down their "eternal vigilance", which Thomas Jefferson said is the price of freedom, and become apathetic in their trust. Moreover, those entrusted with rights are just one election away from being replaced by those who would oppress. To my mind, a more potent course of action is for parents to assertively and gratefully embrace the rights that are theirs by divine right.

And so, instead of signing a petition for a Constitutional amendment, you will see me advocating homeschooling and other involved parenting. It's interesting to note that all of the terrifying anecdotes used to demonstrate the need for a Parental Rights Amendment that I have seen involve public school counselors or day care. One has to wonder, are parental rights being taken away so much as being given up?

George Eliot quote

2009-07-02T12:26:00.000-07:00

Enjoying this quote:

"For the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs."

-George Eliot, aka Mary Ann Evans