tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116919122024-03-13T15:59:42.925-05:00M e n a g e r i e by Monica E. SmithMonica E. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12869710851377388881noreply@blogger.comBlogger58125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11691912.post-27106380011830770492019-11-18T16:39:00.002-05:002019-11-18T17:08:49.320-05:00Reflection and Gratitude<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This time of year always
moves me to deeper thinking, because I increasingly tire of the world's decrying anything having to do with God or faith or humility, or even simple thankfulness. And that sentiment explodes with both barrels especially at this time of year. It's all about power and getting what you are "owed". Yes, there are pockets of movements for "random acts of kindness" that might get a few minutes on the news as a "feel-good piece" every once in a while around the holidays, but, in general, the world's mantra is "I want more and I want it now!" (and God help whomever gets in my way). The world views wealth and status as power -- more is more -- and sees humility, want and need as weakness. Add to that the increasing commercialism of
Thanksgiving and Christmas especially. Even these have been reduced to nothing
more than a list of things to buy or to get done, to check off and then move on to the next holiday without so much as a thought, let alone thankfulness...not much about which to feel joy. Each year the news reports, complete with video, about people waiting in line on Black Friday, or for Christmas sales. The countdown begins and the doors open, and the screaming hordes enter the store, no sign of kindness or gratitude, trying to be first so that they get what they want before anyone else takes it, trampling over people (as if they were not there) and screeching as though they were rabid animals. I
sometimes want to scream out with Ebenezer Scrooge about needing to see some "depth of
feeling"...! Is this what we have been reduced to?</span><br />
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<span quot="" sans-serif="" verdana="">I </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">receive daily reflections (from <a href="http://dynamiccatholic.com/">http://dynamiccatholic.com</a>), and have for some years now; I love starting my day this way, along with reading a daily Gospel or Bible chapter; the daily reflections are usually very short little blurbs taken from books,
prayers, poems, homilies, etc. which I receive in email each morning. Some can be
really profound, others just kind of give me a kick in the pants about
something, or maybe inspire me to do something, or just to think (Heaven forbid!). I look at these kinds of
feelings/moments as nudges from God -- things that I can't stop thinking about, or that I want to do to help someone, or just can't let go of; maybe God really does have an email account...</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A recent daily reflection quote was seemingly simple, taken from a
book by <a href="https://dynamiccatholic.com/matthew-kelly" target="_blank">Matthew Kelly</a>: "We are at our best when we are grateful." It is not that
extremely profound, but it stuck with me because I try always to be thankful for
the things and people in my life, even though things don't always turn out as I
would like them. "Thank you" is the last thing I say to God each night -- for the day, the restful sleep I am about to enjoy, the opportunities that come my way, and especially for my husband, my children and all those I love, or who have come into my life. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span 0px="" 16px="" 400="" black="" inline="" justify="" none="" normal="" quot="" sans-serif="" verdana="">On the same day I read the quote from Matthew Kelly, I also
came across an article about "Giving Thanks" written by Fr. Gary
Yanus (Vicar General/Judicial Vicar for the Diocese of Cleveland). The article
is worth the read, and can be found here:</span><span style="color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span><a href="https://www.dioceseofcleveland.org/offices/communications/northeast-ohio-catholic-magazine" target="_blank">Northeast Ohio Catholic</a> magazine; (click on November/December 2019<span 0px="" 16px="" 400="" black="" inline="" justify="" none="" normal="" quot="" sans-serif="" verdana=""> issue; it will be on page 30).</span> It resonated because it, too, was about being grateful. The article was quite simple, but I feel so much like the author; and, as he reminisced, it reminded me of my childhood, too, and how thankful I still am for my childhood, my parents and grandparents and entire family, how they never were embarrassed to express their faith, never wavered in expressing their </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">love for me and my siblings or their gratefulness to God for life. It is an example I have tried to follow in my life, with my children and family.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Both the article by Fr. Yanus and the daily reflection by Matthew Kelly<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> reminded me of what is important in life, of where all in life comes from, and that this life is a precious gift, that we should never take it for granted or wish things away (even the difficult times, as these are what help us to grow); the readings reminded me to
always be grateful for the opportunities that come my way, and the people who bring them and their love to me. It was good to read something like this. Fr. Yanus spoke of childhood memories with such fondness and love and thanksgiving, I could not help but be moved; because, I too, have a great fondness for the recollections of my childhood, love for my family (then, as a child, and now, as a parent) and gratitude to those who help me realize that being a child of God is a most precious thing for which to be thankful. Wishing you all a
happy Thanksgiving and holiday season, filled with love, good memories, gratitude, and peace.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Peace,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Monica</span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span><br />Monica E. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12869710851377388881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11691912.post-9924470408705372382018-06-17T10:17:00.000-05:002018-06-17T10:17:43.185-05:00Happy Father's Day to My Father, the Original Music Man...
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Dear Daddy,</span></span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I cannot believe it has been 43 years since I last saw you. I love you always, thank you for guiding me in life and faith, I remember still...</span></span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Viola d'amore</span></b></span></div>
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> (for
my father)</span></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><span style="color: black;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="margin: 0px;"><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">His violin rests against a
wall</span></span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">still, lifeless as the
skillful hand</span></span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">that once plucked from it </span></span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">life's poignant melodies</span></span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Shrouded in blackest
velvet,</span></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">it now pays silent homage</span></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">to the man whose life was
music—</span></span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">whose music was life
itself</span></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It's undying melody echoes
yet</span></span></div>
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</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">in the deepest chambers of
my heart,</span></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">and resonates with a love</span></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">that death cannot mute</span></span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><span style="color: black;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><span style="color: black;"></span><br /></span></div>
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<h1 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: left;">
<span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: small;">Unfinished Symphony</span></span></h1>
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</div>
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<br /></div>
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</div>
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<span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I
hear the music</span></span></div>
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</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Long
after you have gone, </span></span></div>
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</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
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</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Though
it plays softer, sadder</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Than
when we were together. </span></span></div>
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</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The
melody you have written</span></span></div>
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</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Echoes
far and wide.</span></span></div>
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</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It
cannot be silenced</span></span></div>
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</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">By
reason of time and distance,</span></span></div>
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</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Nor
will it ever draw to a close.</span></span></div>
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</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Rather,
your song will endure</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Unfinished
unto eternity,</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Where
we will meet once again </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">To
chant the melody of unity. </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><span style="color: black;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><span style="color: black;"></span><br /></span></div>
<span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">September</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">September was cold that year.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As I stood in sorrow</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">and bid you a silent adieu,</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">my tears became a stinging reminder</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">you would not rise with the sun</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">from this night's slumber.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">And in my grief my heart ached</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">at the thought of you lying still,</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">lifeless.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<i><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">How unlike you.</span></span></i><span style="margin: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The single red rose was clutched </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">tightly in my hand and I kissed it</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">before tossing it gently to where you lay.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The clouds became dark,</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">and the autumn winds blew stronger</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">drying any remaining trace of tears.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As I turned and walked away, I thought</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<i><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">How cold September is this year.</span></span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><span style="color: black;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><span style="color: black;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I
Thought You Long Dead</span></b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I
thought you long dead</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Until
I heard your laughter</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Among
our voices</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As
we remembered when</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I
thought you no longer here</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Until
I saw you</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">In
my mind’s eye</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I
thought you could no longer touch me</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Until
your image</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Warmed
my heart</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I
thought once more</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">And
felt the life still within you</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The
unmistakable nearness of your spirit</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Your
gentle reminder</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">You
would always be with me</span></span></div>
</span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="color: black;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Peace, and Happy Father's Day to all fathers, especially my sons, Aaron and Nathanael and my nephew, Adam. To my brother, Dennis. To my brother-in-law, John, to my cousin, Viktor, to all fathers in my family. And Happy Father's Day to my husband, Scott, an unequaled model of faith in God and love of family for my children, who are certainly blessed by God for having the perfect father.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Monica</span></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span>Monica E. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12869710851377388881noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11691912.post-79608151133123300512017-06-27T15:14:00.001-05:002017-06-27T15:14:20.799-05:00Finding Happiness<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19552577-finding-true-happiness" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img alt="Finding True Happiness" border="0" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1418247468m/19552577.jpg" /></span></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19552577-finding-true-happiness"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Finding True Happiness</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> by </span><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2412.Fulton_J_Sheen"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fulton J. Sheen</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My rating: </span><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2037914273"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5 of 5 stars</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I remember being drawn to Bishop Sheen's television program even as a child. There was just something about the way he spoke--with such love and conviction and understanding and totally without judgment, and as if he was talking directly to me; and there was just something about the words he spoke, that made me want to seek and understand and told me even then, "this is Truth and this is important. Listen.".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In <i>Finding True Happiness</i>, Bishop Sheen reminds us of when we were children, how happy we thought we would be when we had our fill, for instance, of Christmas cakes, our "hands glutted with toys", our eyes open wide and filled with the glow of Christmas lights. But Christmas came and we had overeaten, little by little the lights were taken down, the Christmas toys no longer excited us after a while, and then it was all over. And we began a new list of all the other things we wanted and didn't get that would make us happy. And we lamented at the fact that Christmas "somehow or other did not quite come up to ...expectations." And hasn't it been that way repeatedly since? And further, we think, perhaps, that marriage will make us truly happy, or a need to be well-known, or the perfect house on the perfect street, or the right job, or a big bank account, and on and on. But how many times when we achieve all those things we think will make us happy have we become disillusioned, disappointed, shocked, even so? Bishop Sheen reminds us that these things in and of themselves are not the source of happiness. We are reminded that the reason for our unhappiness is not because we want things "outside" of us, but "due to a want of something inside [us]". We "become so enamored" of the gifts that God has given us, we totally forget there is a Giver, attributing anything good in our lives to our own achievement, born of selfishness and pride. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">More and more we remove God from everything. We are the be-all and end-all, and it is "good enough" just to be a good person. We do not believe because we do not understand. And we do not understand because we do not seek understanding, which leads to believing anything and calling "Truth" everything that "sounds good". Bishop Sheen tells us that "because we do not pray or contemplate or love Him, we become vain and proud; but when we know Him better, we feel a deep sense of dependence which tempers our false independence. Pride is the child of ignorance, humility the offspring of knowledge."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But Bishop Sheen also speaks of faith, patience, joy, our own will and more, and explains how all these together play a part in our happiness. And he speaks of contentment, saying it "comes in part from faith--that is, from knowing the purpose of life and being assured that whatever the trials are, they come from the hand of a loving Father." He emphasizes that "what happens to us is not so important, but rather how we react to what happens. Judas and Peter both sinned against the Lord, and He called them both devils. But one became a Saint, because he overcame his weakness with the help of God's grace."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Finding True Happiness</i> could well have been written today--there is nothing obsolete or old-fashioned or trite about it. There is so much of worth in this little volume that it becomes difficult to summarize. It is a good book to keep on hand for reference from time to time, for when life begins to get foggy. I highly recommend it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Peace,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Monica</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/7836633-monica"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">View all my reviews</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
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Monica E. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12869710851377388881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11691912.post-42987548894572113352016-09-18T12:17:00.000-05:002016-09-18T12:17:13.186-05:00Living by Deed and Action<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I read a brilliant article the other day on http://lifenews.com, by Micaiah Bilger: </span></div>
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<a href="http://www.lifenews.com/2016/09/16/archbishop-slams-notre-dame-for-honoring-pro-abortion-joe-biden-you-betrayed-your-catholic-identity/?utm_content=buffera5b0f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">http://www.lifenews.com/2016/09/16/archbishop-slams-notre-dame-for-honoring-pro-abortion-joe-biden-you-betrayed-your-catholic-identity/?utm_content=buffera5b0f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It made me think (among other things) what it truly means to be a Catholic. It made me upset that the Catholic church doesn't proclaim this, unapologetically, from pulpit to pulpit to the ends of the earth. It made me disgusted that celebrities/public officials/ can dilute Catholicism and dictate to the Church just what they can or cannot do and still call themselves Catholic. It made me both very happy and sad at the same time; sad, because of the recent events which took place regarding Vice President Biden--and the similar things which repeatedly happen in the world today--prompting this article. I felt happy because these things are being named for what they are--despite probable criticism and with no concern of stature or place in society. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I encourage everyone to read this article in full (as well as Archbishop Charles Chaput's speech). But in a nutshell, Micaiah Bilger was referring to <a href="http://catholicphilly.com/2016/09/think-tank/homilies-speeches/sex-family-and-the-liberty-of-the-church/" target="_blank">Archbishop Charles Chaput's speech</a> at the University of Notre Dame recently where he was a guest speaker. The Archbishop spoke about the coming presidential election, about "sex, family and the liberty of the Church", and also strongly reprimanded the university for awarding Vice President Biden with the Laetare Medal, “the oldest and most prestigious honor accorded to American Catholics.” It is this topic that inspired me to write this entry today.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Vice President Biden is a public figure. He is a public figure who calls himself "a practicing Catholic".* Yet he is pro-abortion and has even officiated at a civil gay marriage ceremony. I don't know Vice President Biden, and he may be a very nice person, one who has sacrificed much for his children and family, and may have done some good things in his life; but being a champion of the things he espouses and supports which are in direct opposition to Catholicism and in every way a sla</span><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">p in the face to the very church/faith he says he cherishes, is very noxious, let alone confusing and misleading, to Catholics and most especially those who are learning the faith or know nothing of Catholicism.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Micaiah Bilger makes some wonderful points in his article, and quotes Archbishop Chaput on abortion and "irresponsible" sexual attitudes: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">“The </span><em><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">truth</span></em><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> about our sexuality is that infidelity, promiscuity, sexual confusion and mass pornography create human wreckage.”...What you get is what we have now: a dysfunctional culture of frustrated and wounded people increasingly incapable of permanent commitments, self-sacrifice and sustained intimacy, and unwilling to face the reality of their own problems...As families and religious faith break down, the power of the state grows. Government fills in the spaces left behind by mediating institutions. The individual is freed from his traditional obligations. But he inherits a harder master in the state. Left to itself...democracy tends toward a kind of soft totalitarianism in which even a person’s most intimate concerns, from his sexual relations to his religious convictions, are swallowed by the political process."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">These are things we should be hearing from pulpits and podiums in church and everywhere when one speaks about the Church and about Catholics specifically. It is what our children need to be taught, without apology or embarrassment. What respected Catholic institutions should not be doing is awarding public officials who embrace an entirely opposing belief. </span><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Catholicism is not religion--it is a way of life based fully on the teachings of Jesus Christ. One cannot pick and choose to which practice he will adhere, as if in a cafeteria. </span></span></div>
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<span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">For a Catholic university, especially such a highly regarded and respected institution such as Notre Dame, to honor a Catholic who publicly witnesses against his faith by his words and actions, with this prestigious American Catholic award is confusing, absurd, incredulous and inexcusable. Disappointing? Yes. Sad? Absolutely.</span></span></div>
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<span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">*http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/cnsnewscom-staff/joe-biden-i-happen-be-practicing-catholic</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana;">Peace,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana;">Monica E. Smith</span></div>
<br />Monica E. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12869710851377388881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11691912.post-34295489529421521282016-05-08T12:29:00.001-05:002016-05-08T12:29:59.501-05:00Happy Mother's Day - Olga Vera Stinich<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dig3r5yXhKk/Vy92TRh2JqI/AAAAAAAA4Qk/hj38UgyCaBkigYHUl6zHlIIrVdl5ux2qACLcB/s1600/Mommy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dig3r5yXhKk/Vy92TRh2JqI/AAAAAAAA4Qk/hj38UgyCaBkigYHUl6zHlIIrVdl5ux2qACLcB/s640/Mommy.jpg" width="434" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Olga Vera Stinich passed away March 14, 2005. No mother could ever have been more loved. Her life was one of laughter, love and a deep faith in God; but also one of tears, fear, sadness and frustration. It was not free from stress or anxiety, nor of disappointment, but it had certainly been a life well-lived. It had been all these things that made her who she was.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">From this remarkable woman I learned kindness, gentleness, patience; I also learned of prayer and of God and faith, perseverance, hope and, ultimately, Truth. While the lessons were learned--through her living them--I know that, through my own weakness, I have failed miserably to put them into practice at moments in my own life. But I still try.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My mother remains the woman I most admire and respect, and to whom I most look up to. She is never far from thought, and I speak to her often, asking for her prayers and help. I think, if anyone were to describe me, in time to come, the words I would hold most dear would be "She is like her mother"; for it is to this, I aspire. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Poems for My Mother</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Forever Remembered</span></span></h1>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana";">I don't remember</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span>Doing anything special</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To deserve the love</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Of my mother;</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Yet it is always there,</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Constant as she is</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In showing she cares.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A day is not enough</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To honor her,</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Yet a simple card,</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A mere token of</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My love and gratitude</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">For the happiness </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">She has given</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To so many over the years</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Brings tears</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To her bright blue eyes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Dear lady!</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">“Stay with me”, my cry.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">How do I return </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The love you have given?</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">How do I ever hope</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To become half the woman </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You are?</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Perhaps by sharing</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The love and beauty and wisdom</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The gentleness</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Of your heart, passing it on.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It is only a start,</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But in emulating you I know</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You will always be with me.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b> Bright Eyes</b><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">(For My Mother)</span><br /><br />Bright Eyes lives with style and grace<br />And a loving smile upon her face<br />With sadness veiled she grieves inside<br />One never knows that she has cried<br /><br />Her heart has broken many times<br />Yet she remains the most sublime<br />Desiring only another’s delight<br />She remains a loving acolyte<br /><br />In times of trouble, pain or need<br />Her help is wholly guaranteed<br />One need never fear to ask<br />For she’s up to any task<br /><br />Bright Eyes’ love is evergreen<br />Will never exist unseen<br />Her purpose here is simple and clear:<br />To her God bring others near </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Magic in My Mother’s Hands</span></span></h1>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There is magic in my mother’s hands</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">From whence flows her love</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A mighty river whose course runs true</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And one drop of that sacred water</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Poured on painful wounds</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Cleanses and leads me to my healing</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> <b>Namaste</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> (Letter to My Mother)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It hurts, this missing you.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I had seen the sand slipping through</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Your hourglass, but could do nothing</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To slow--or stop it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Then, how could I deny you the peace</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Which you now surely possess?</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Do you know that it is spring,</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That the sun now burns</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Hot in the April sky? I remember you</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Could hardly wait for the season to change.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Soon daisies will dance, bowing in the warm breeze, </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Awaiting their blessing from a cool morning's dew,</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And dandelions will scatter their wispy</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Transparent seedlings throughout the earth</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Like stars breaking free from a constellation,</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Tumbling down for our pure pleasure.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Lovely, how you always saw beauty--</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Even in a weed, or the God-likeness in everyone.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">How I long to share this beauty with you again,</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And even that which is not so beautiful,</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">For it takes one to appreciate the other.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But until such time, I will remain content</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To simply welcome your memory in the spirit</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Of Namaste, for in no other has the light of God</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Shone so brightly.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">**************************</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">*</span><i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Namaste</span></i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> (nah mah stae) is a Sanskrit word commonly used as a greeting in </span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">India</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">and in the practice of yoga. It can be translated in many ways. Literally,</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">it means, "Not me, you."</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Briefly, it means, "The Divine in me honors the Divine in you."</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The deeper meaning is often translated as:</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"I honor the place in you in which the entire Universe dwells - a place</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">of peace and light and love. When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are One."</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">Happy Mother's Day to all mothers.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">Peace,</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">Monica<span style="color: white;"></span></span></div>
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Monica E. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12869710851377388881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11691912.post-50192170604785602972016-03-26T17:25:00.000-05:002016-04-07T15:14:56.614-05:00Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!<br />
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>The night that sets us
free from the sleep of death</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Brethren, let us keep watch, for Christ
remained in the tomb until this night. It was on this night that the
resurrection of his flesh took place. On the cross it was the butt of mockery;
today, heaven and earth give it worship. This night already forms part of our
Sunday. It was very necessary that Christ should rise in the night because his
resurrection has enlightened our darkness… Just as our faith, strengthened by
Christ’s resurrection, dispels all sleep, so this night, lightened by our
vigils, is filled with brightness. With the Church throughout the earth it
causes us to hope we shall never be surprised in the night (Mk </i></span><st1:time hour="13" minute="33"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>13:33</i></span></st1:time><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>). <br />
<br />
Amongst so many peoples whom this feast - kept so solemnly everywhere - gathers
together in the name of Christ, the sun has gone down. Yet day has not
disappeared; the lights of heaven have taken over from the lights of earth… He
who has given us the glory of his name (Ps 28[29]:2) has also illumined this
night. He to whom we say “You lighten my darkness” (Ps </i></span><st1:time hour="18" minute="28"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>18:28</i></span></st1:time><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #4c1130;">) sheds his brightness in our hearts. Just as our dazzled
eyes behold these shining torches so our enlightened spirits enable us to see
how luminous is this night, this holy night in which our Lord initiated in his
own flesh the life that knows neither sleep nor death!</span> </i></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: "verdana";"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "verdana";"></span></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "verdana";"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(from Saint Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo (North Africa)</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">and Doctor of the Church (</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">2nd sermon for the Easter Vigil; PLS 2, 549-552 ; Sermon Morin Guelferbytanus 5)</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "verdana";">
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "verdana";"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oaCyJ35y42A/VvcJuW66WtI/AAAAAAAA3pU/pnINxIzUWWskWGx6ilNOmZbFGeFCPaKCA/s1600/resurrection.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oaCyJ35y42A/VvcJuW66WtI/AAAAAAAA3pU/pnINxIzUWWskWGx6ilNOmZbFGeFCPaKCA/s400/resurrection.jpg" width="261" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "verdana";"><a href="http://www.orthodoxroad.com/christs-descent-into-hell-icon-explanation/" target="_blank">Icon of the Resurrection (Christ's Descent into Hell)</a></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "verdana";">
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<br /></div>
</span><span style="font-family: "verdana";"><div style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #4c1130;">Christ is Risen!</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #4c1130;">Indeed He is Risen!</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #4c1130;">Monica</span></div>
</span><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.parma.org/ruthenian-church.html" target="_blank">Byzantine (Ruthenian) Catholic Church</a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><a href="http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/the-other-catholics-a-short-guide-to-the-eastern-catholic-churches.html" target="_blank">The Other Catholics (Eastern Catholic Churches)</a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><a href="http://www.archpitt.org/byzantine-easter-traditions-the-blessing-of-easter-foods/" target="_blank">Byzantine Catholic Easter Traditions</a></span></div>
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<i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span>Monica E. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12869710851377388881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11691912.post-68322061924932848022014-12-31T13:08:00.000-05:002014-12-31T13:08:05.298-05:00In Keeping with the Situation<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While the actual "holiday" of Christmas has passed, we are still in the Christmas season; for Christmas is the celebration of Christ's birth, and lasts until Epiphany, which is celebrated on January 6. (The Christmas song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas", is rooted in the celebration of Christmastime, from a time in England when Catholics were forced to disguise their beliefs. During the period of 1558 to 1829, Catholics were prohibited from practicing the faith by law. The twelve days of Christmas are actually December 25 through January 6, and not the 12 days before Christmas as many believe.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">After a viewing of Charles Dickens's <em>A Christmas Carol</em> this year, a question arose regarding the situation in which Scrooge found himself: "Why was it that the chance of reclamation was offered to Scrooge and not also to Marley? Was that "it" for Marley? Why was he not offered the same chance in life as was Scrooge? Did he spend the afterlife in hell, then, with no possibility of eternal salvation? </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">A very interesting question indeed; and I have been thinking about it on and off since the question came to be asked. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">First and foremost, I think we have to realize that Dickens was telling a story to offer hope and to teach. Interestingly, this is exactly how Christ taught--through parables. The stories Christ told were not of actual events, but a teaching tool of truths that could easily be understood by anyone (well, perhaps anyone but the ruling class of Israel!). In the same way, Dickens used <em>A Christmas Carol</em> as a teaching tool to explain the many lessons contained within. We sometimes have difficulty in understanding Truth unless hit in the face with it. Dickens did just that in <em>A Christmas Carol</em>. Dickens lived in Victorian England. It was not often a time that was as pretty as the scenes we see on Christmas cards. It was a time when orphan children roamed the streets and non-Christian society despised the poor and treated them atrociously. Living conditions were often unbearable. There were many social inequalities and injustices. There was much suffering and pain during this period in history. Dickens tried to bring all this to light, to expose the situation in his novella, and offer the solution. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The other thing that came to my mind was that we are never really told, in <em>A Christmas Carol</em>, that "this was it" for Marley, that he had no chance for salvation, and he was stuck for all eternity in this thick fog of doom and pain, unable to free himself. In the big picture, things happen to us all in the ways that are most beneficial to each person, I believe. There is no formula, no blanket remedy that will heal all of us in the same way. And simply because we cannot understand this, or why one has to suffer more than another, does not make it wrong or unfair or unjust. We also need to remember that Dickens was telling the story of one man, Ebenezer Scrooge, and his "sins" and his reclamation, and not Jacob Marley's. Dickens was in actuality using a parable.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">We all have the same chance Scrooge and Marley did, while we live on this earth. We have many "spirits" who visit us each day, in the form of friends and family, teachers, the Church, people who enter our lives for no good reason (or so we think), who try to open our minds to Truth, who bless us with their goodness, their knowledge, their kindness. We would be wise to learn from them, before it is too late. Each of us has a purpose, and what we do in life affects others:</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #ffe599; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Spirit," said Scrooge, with an interest he had never felt before, "tell me if Tiny Tim will live."</span><br />
<span style="color: #ffe599;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="color: #ffe599; font-family: Arial;">"I see a vacant seat," replied the Ghost, "in the poor chimney-corner, and a crutch without an owner, carefully preserved. If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die."</span><br />
<span style="color: #ffe599;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="color: #ffe599; font-family: Arial;">"No, no," said Scrooge. "Oh, no, kind Spirit! say he will be spared."</span><br />
<span style="color: #ffe599;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="color: #ffe599; font-family: Arial;">"If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, none other of my race," returned the Ghost, "will find him here. What then? If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population." </span><br />
<span style="color: #ffe599;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="color: #ffe599; font-family: Arial;">Scrooge hung his head to hear his own words quoted by the Spirit, and was overcome with penitence and grief.</span><br />
<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Christmas marks the celebration of Christ's birth, but it is not to be celebrated on only one day. We can change this world by changing ourselves. We can "live in the Past, the Present, and the Future!" We can allow "the Spirits of all Three [to] strive within...". And in so doing, we can say with Ebenezer Scrooge, "Christmas Time be praised for this! I say it on my knees, old Jacob; on my knees!"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">A most blessed Christmas season to you all, and the happiest of New Years!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Peace,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Monica</span><br />
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Monica E. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12869710851377388881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11691912.post-70805946851667506292014-07-30T10:44:00.001-05:002014-07-30T11:08:57.800-05:00Veni Vidi Vici--VENISON!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My son, Nathanael, made a successful bow kill this autumn--his first. And he was generous enough to share some of his bounty with us. I have always been hesitant, for some reason, to eat venison. Maybe it's the cute faces of the deer (but then, I do eat the meat from cows with cute little faces; so figure that one out); maybe I think that since deer are wild, the meat will taste gamey or "off" or that it will be tough. Whatever the reason, I always end up trying it anyway. And again and again to my surprise, I love it! </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I was excited when Nathanael offered us some of the meat from his kill, and could hardly wait to try cooking it myself. I chose cuts that I thought were most tender and flavorful, like chops, steaks and ground meat. For the chops and steaks, I searched recipes/methods of cooking online, and was pretty successful in reproducing them. By the time I got around to cooking the ground venison, I was brave enough to be a little creative. My Cowboy Venison Chili is the result! And I must say, if you think you do not like venison, you must try this. You would be hard pressed to convince someone it was not beef. And if you like chili at all, please try this. Anyone can do this, and I guarantee you will enjoy it. The meat is tender and tasty without any "off" flavor or wildness. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Nathanael came, he saw, he conquered the animal. But I conquered the fear and the flavor. And it tastes like.............CHILI!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span> </div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Cowboy Venison Chili</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">1
1/2 pounds ground venison (you may use any ground meat you like)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">salt,
pepper and garlic powder to taste<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">1
large onion<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">2
large cloves garlic, diced<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">1
can Campbell's Condensed Beefy Mushroom Soup (it is a thicker soup as opposed to a broth--</span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Campbell</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">'s preferably, but another brand would suffice)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">1
can (about 15 oz) diced tomatoes with juice (I always use Hunts; any flavor is
fine--for this recipe I used the basil, garlic and oregano; if you only have
plain, season your chili with herbs of your choice while cooking)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">1/2
cup water<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">2
TBS chili powder<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">2
medium potatoes, cubed<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">1
can corn, drained<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Shredded
Cheddar cheese (or cheese of your choice)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">fresh parsley, chopped (optional)</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Put
a little olive oil in a large cast iron skillet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">*I much prefer cast iron for browning. You simply will not get the same quality of brownness with non-stick or aluminum. You can't beat it. It gets hot and stays hot. You might be a little skittish or hesitant at first--I certainly was--and need a few trial runs to get the "feel" of cooking in cast iron; but once done, there is no substitute. I feel no kitchen should be without at least one cast iron skillet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Add the onions, salt and
pepper them to taste and cook on medium-high heat about 5 to 10 minutes. Add
the ground venison, breaking it apart and adding salt, pepper and garlic powder
to taste; cook until the meat is browned. If there is any, pour off the grease.
Add the diced garlic and cook a minute more. Add the beefy mushroom soup, the tomatoes,
water and chili powder and mix to combine. Add the cubed potatoes. Turn down
heat, cover and simmer about 1/2 hour, or until potatoes are tender and the chili thickens a bit. Turn off the heat, mix in the
corn, top with shredded cheese and cover until cheese melts. Sprinkle on parsley before serving.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"></span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YwBJL4RIx4g/U9kSKO_w2aI/AAAAAAAAi6c/fS_gYA_C9yk/s1600/Cowboy+Venison+Chili.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YwBJL4RIx4g/U9kSKO_w2aI/AAAAAAAAi6c/fS_gYA_C9yk/s1600/Cowboy+Venison+Chili.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">You may serve with
sour cream on top if you like, with biscuits, corn bread or hard rolls and a
salad.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RPsmQMUescY/U9kSK7e3g_I/AAAAAAAAi6k/p3ikovK3qYc/s1600/Cowboy+Venison+Chili2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RPsmQMUescY/U9kSK7e3g_I/AAAAAAAAi6k/p3ikovK3qYc/s1600/Cowboy+Venison+Chili2.JPG" height="544" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">*This would make an excellent campfire meal. Just brown the meat and onions over the fire, add the remaining ingredients, cover and let simmer. This would be great spooned over corn bread or biscuits. Could not be simpler or less work.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Peace and Good Eating,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Monica</span></div>
Monica E. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12869710851377388881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11691912.post-5681194207285514012014-07-30T09:51:00.002-05:002014-07-30T09:57:06.141-05:00Smokin' Sausage<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We were going to have smoked sausage for supper last night. While I normally love that simple meal with french fries or roasted potatoes and corn, I just wasn't in the mood for it. It is near the end of the month and my cupboards are pretty bare; so I got a sudden creative urge to use whatever I had on hand to dress up that little package of smoked sausage. It's always fun to create, and last night was no exception. Once I started, there was no stopping me! I cleaned out the pantry and harvested some goodies from the garden and voila! Dinner was served. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tqLwlq77ZLs/U9kAmVfQwvI/AAAAAAAAi5w/lmxcDGRtcqY/s1600/smoked+sausage+flatbread+pizza6-001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tqLwlq77ZLs/U9kAmVfQwvI/AAAAAAAAi5w/lmxcDGRtcqY/s1600/smoked+sausage+flatbread+pizza6-001.JPG" height="270" width="640" /></a></div>
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Smoked Sausage-Sesame Flat Bread Pizzas<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">The Flat Bread:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">1 pkg dry yeast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">1 3/4 cups flour <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">1 tsp kosher salt<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">1 or 2 TBS sugar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">1 1/2 TBS toasted sesame
seeds<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">1 TBS extra virgin olive
oil<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">drizzle of sesame oil<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">approx. 3/4 cups warm water</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Put
yeast into a small bowl. Add 1/4 cup warm water and the sugar, mix together and
let sit for about 5 minutes. The yeast will become foamy and double in
quantity.</span><span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">In
a large bowl, mix flour, salt, sesame seeds, olive oil and sesame oil. Add the
yeast mixture. Add about 1/2 of the remaining warm water and gently mix with a
wooden spoon to form a dough. If the dough seems dry, add the remaining water
and mix together gently. The dough should not be wet, but formed together, soft
and pliable, even if a bit sticky.</span><span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Pour
dough onto a well-floured board and knead about 5 or 10 minutes, until dough
becomes smooth and elastic. You may need to keep adding small amounts of flour
so the dough does not become too sticky.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Put
a small amount of extra virgin olive oil in a bowl, place the dough in the
bowl, turning around to coat in the oil. Cover and put in a warm (NOT HOT)
place to rise until double in size. It should take about 1/2 hour if you are
using quick-rise yeast. You may now form your pizzas, or refrigerate for later
use, or freeze for future use (allow frozen dough to thaw in the refrigerator
before using). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"></span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ipCJn6wSD54/U9j-F8w8ZlI/AAAAAAAAi5U/-I-gLy-wtDY/s1600/sausage+flatbread+pizza1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ipCJn6wSD54/U9j-F8w8ZlI/AAAAAAAAi5U/-I-gLy-wtDY/s1600/sausage+flatbread+pizza1.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">*If using in this recipe, I would begin with dough and while it is rising, you can move to the sauce. By the time the sauce is finished cooking, you can take it off the heat and let it sit while you prepare the flatbreads.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">The Sauce:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">1 large sweet onion, sliced<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">2 TBS extra virgin olive
oil<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">2 large cloves garlic,
chopped<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">1 can good diced tomatoes
(you can use plain; I used Hunts with green pepper, celery, onion in this
recipe)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">pinch or 2 of baking soda<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">2 TBS tomato paste<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">1 6-ounce jar sliced
mushrooms<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">1 roasted red bell pepper
(if using jarred peppers, about 1/2 jar)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">2 TBS Lipton Beefy Onion or
Onion Mushroom Soup & Dip Mix, or similar product (I think the beefy onion
tastes richer)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Seasonings of your choice:
I used Mrs. Dash Tomato, Basil, Garlic and also an Italian seasoning blend
(without salt)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"></span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T4a83UBHwoM/U9j_Mno_KgI/AAAAAAAAi5g/A31w6mumvso/s1600/sausage+flatbread+pizza2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T4a83UBHwoM/U9j_Mno_KgI/AAAAAAAAi5g/A31w6mumvso/s1600/sausage+flatbread+pizza2.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7SzwayT9LHY/U9j_L8Z82bI/AAAAAAAAi5c/2bR0Zjb-EXU/s1600/sausage+flatbread+pizza3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7SzwayT9LHY/U9j_L8Z82bI/AAAAAAAAi5c/2bR0Zjb-EXU/s1600/sausage+flatbread+pizza3.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a> <span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Put
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil into a medium saute / frying pan. Add the sliced
onions and cook until caramelized on a medium heat, about 20 minutes, stirring
now and then to prevent burning. When onions are caramelized, add the garlic
and cook about 1 or 2 minutes. Do not let the garlic brown. Add the can of
tomatoes, with a pinch of baking soda (adding the baking soda burns away acid
in the tomatoes, preventing the tomatoes from being too sour; <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">but always be careful when adding baking
soda, and add only a pinch, as too much will make your sauce completely
tasteless!!</b>). The tomatoes will foam a bit, so just stir it up. Add the
remaining ingredients and seasonings of your choice; stir together and cook uncovered at
a simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"></span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MZWJOXEABwc/U9kA7HSivNI/AAAAAAAAi54/MdAPIRsxzPo/s1600/sausage+flatbread+pizza4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MZWJOXEABwc/U9kA7HSivNI/AAAAAAAAi54/MdAPIRsxzPo/s1600/sausage+flatbread+pizza4.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">*You may use the sauce
immediately for your pizzas, or store in jars in the refrigerator for future use. It should easily
last a few weeks. Or, you can freeze it for a longer period of time. The sauce can be used as a cooking
sauce for chicken, pork or any type of meat, or a sauce for meatloaf. Use your
imagination! </span><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Try browning some chicken or boneless pork chops and then cooking in this sauce until the meat is tender, and serve over rice, mashed potatoes or noodles. Heavenly comfort food!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">The Pizza:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">1-pound smoked sausage, cut
in rounds (I use Hillshire Farms--it has a wonderful meaty, not greasy flavor--and no gristle.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">extra virgin olive oil<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">fresh basil leaves<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">sliced tomatoes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">2 cups shredded mozzarella
and provolone cheese (or cheese of your choice)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">*Using fresh cheese and grating
it yourself makes a world of difference in the flavor of your dish--gives a much creamier, buttery flavor; however, if
you only happen to have bagged pre-shredded cheeses, go with it. It will be
fine. Since I was "cleaning out the cupboards" and had no fresh cheese on hand, I simply went to the freezer and took out a pre-shredded bag of a mixed Italian cheese blend. I was not disappointed.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Divide
the risen dough into 2 or 3 equal parts (depending on how large you want to
make the pizzas). Flour a board and roll the individual pizzas into very flat pieces
(about 1/8th inch thick). Sprinkle a little olive oil on each piece of dough;
spoon on desired amount of sauce and top with basil leaves, tomatoes and
shredded cheese. Bake in a pre-heated 425-degree oven about 15 minutes on
baking sheets or pizza pans lined with baking parchment, until dough is cooked
and crisp and browned on the bottom and cheese is melted.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Tlj5zl3ReR4/U9kA-veOWYI/AAAAAAAAi6A/OsuRzKXgGXc/s1600/smoked+sausage+flatbread+pizza5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Tlj5zl3ReR4/U9kA-veOWYI/AAAAAAAAi6A/OsuRzKXgGXc/s1600/smoked+sausage+flatbread+pizza5.JPG" height="360" width="400" /></a></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">*Baking parchment is
not a must; however, I always use it, as it helps to prevent burning and gives
a lovely, evenly-browned crust. A pale, yeasty beer, such as Miller High Life,
truly pairs well with this meal, and gives a very pleasing lingering flavor!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jNIR7HiIJno/U9kEU9kLmwI/AAAAAAAAi6M/qBDQItfV04s/s1600/smoked+sausage+flatbread+pizza7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jNIR7HiIJno/U9kEU9kLmwI/AAAAAAAAi6M/qBDQItfV04s/s1600/smoked+sausage+flatbread+pizza7.jpg" height="611" width="640" /></a></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><o:p>Peace All,</o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><o:p>Monica</o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
Monica E. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12869710851377388881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11691912.post-92197283653152645472014-07-18T14:02:00.000-05:002014-07-30T09:55:35.747-05:00Be Fruitful!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It has been an amazing summer growing season! The weather here in Ohio, while a bit uncomfortable for a period of time because of rain and high humidity, has been absolutely perfect for our garden. I'm finding we may have put a bit too many tomato plants in the small area we designated for our garden this year, for they are overtaking the entire garden. Live and learn.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Still, they are in a good, sunny location and are providing a great amount of tomatoes. I see new baby tomatoes and new flowers each day. Among the varieties (six plants) are several heirlooms (including Cherokee Purple and a striped orange variety), a Better Boy, Goliath Hybrid and an Early Girl--from what I remember. Unfortunately, the foliage is so thick I can't see the little name tags I placed by each plant, and don't remember all the varieties this late into the season! I am truly salivating at the thought of my first tomato and mayo sandwich (on soft Italian bread, of course) of the season.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">For the first time this year, we planted garlic! One of my favorite accomplishments in the 25+ years we have lived on this tiny farm. I am one of those people who cannot cook without garlic, and it would be a disaster indeed if I were ever out of it. My husband planted 13 little cloves this past October. Every one of those little cloves grew and survived during the extremely harsh Ohio winter of 2014, which included mounds</span> <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">of snow and days--even weeks of sub-zero temperatures. They not only survived, they flourished; and so, today, we are rewarded with 13 heads of garlic which we harvested this morning. And the extent of our work was to put them in the ground and then forget about them. Each of those little heads of garlic contains about 13 to 15 individual perfect little cloves! And so, today my husband gathered them up, I braided them and we hung them in the barn for a month or so to dry. I am most proud of this endeavor. I will bring them into the kitchen when they are dried, to hang there, to use and share with family and to decorate my humble little farm kitchen--and to keep the vampires away, of course :). </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">This year's weather has also been perfect for our Greek Columnar Basil and Italian Flat Leaf Parsley. I love parsley as much as I do garlic, and must always have the flat leaf variety around for cooking and salads. I think it is much more flavorful than the curly kind. I am expanding my horizons. I used to think one could only cook with parsley or use it as a garnish, and not usually eat it right out of the garden. It took a magical Christmastime visit to London, England in 2012 to change my mind about that. The night before we left for home, we had dinner at </span><a href="http://www.rules.co.uk/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Rules Restaurant</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> in Covent Garden. Rules is the oldest and most famous restaurant in London, and one which none other than Charles Dickens himself frequented. We were truly blessed to have secured a reservation there the day before, as most often reservations require weeks in advance to obtain. We ordered two salads for the table to share with our meal, and one of them was strictly an herb salad, with flat leaf parsley being the main ingredient. No salad has ever been paired more perfectly with the roasted game entrées we enjoyed that evening. Since then, I have also been making parsley salads for our dinners at home, as well as cooking with it as always.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The basil is also quite nice. I don't like a very strong, harsh basil flavor, and this Greek Columnar Basil really fills the bill. It is a delicate basil flavor and has smaller leaves. I love it. I cannot wait for my own tomatoes to ripen so that I can make a wonderful caprese salad! It has started growing fast, faster than I can use it fresh; so I am drying a few stems of it so that I can harvest it before it flowers, and not waste a leaf.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We normally grow only bell peppers. I'm not a fan of the more bitter green ones, but love the sweet red, yellow and orange varieties. This year we have added a Carmen red sweet pepper and pimiento. They are all doing well. Do you remember that wonderful pinkish pimiento cheese spread in a jar from when you were a kid? I do. It was one of my sister's, brother's and my favorite snack on crackers. I cannot wait to make a homemade pimiento-cream cheese spread from my own peppers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It doesn't take a lot to grow a garden. And the rewards are so sweet--and savory. It's such a creative endeavor, and always reinforces my belief that we (should) work hand-in-hand with God to create, to share the yield, to be fruitful, to make good of the gifts we have been given. How can a world go hungry, when even the smallest garden space is so fruitful and multiplies to such an enormous yield? I don't think I could enjoy nourishing myself with food I had helped to grow if I did not share it: "...it is not only from eating, but in the breaking of bread with another that we receive our comfort and satisfaction in the gift of food." (</span><a href="http://www.blurb.com/b/2632474-from-thy-bounty" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>From Thy Bounty </em>by Monica E. Smith</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">). There simply is no greater feeling than to be aware we have been creative and fruitful at base level. Enjoy your summer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NLSVDCOobK4/U8ljD5wk8jI/AAAAAAAAiio/At_NfAlbMCA/s1600/garden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NLSVDCOobK4/U8ljD5wk8jI/AAAAAAAAiio/At_NfAlbMCA/s1600/garden.jpg" height="640" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">Tomatoes</span></span></div>
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</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DqCMTI0-8d0/U8ljBwklIOI/AAAAAAAAiiQ/C9maE7sPapQ/s1600/flat+leaf+italian+parsley+and+greek+columnar+basil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DqCMTI0-8d0/U8ljBwklIOI/AAAAAAAAiiQ/C9maE7sPapQ/s1600/flat+leaf+italian+parsley+and+greek+columnar+basil.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Italian Flat Leaf Parsley / Greek Columnar Basil</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tr8Kx3ndmeA/U8ljBv7fRQI/AAAAAAAAiic/mIXQd0DO6_U/s1600/carmen+sweet+pimiento+and+orange+bell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tr8Kx3ndmeA/U8ljBv7fRQI/AAAAAAAAiic/mIXQd0DO6_U/s1600/carmen+sweet+pimiento+and+orange+bell.jpg" height="640" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">Carmen Sweet Pepper / Orange Bell / Pimiento</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UxVf7qt5pwU/U8ljLg3zb_I/AAAAAAAAii4/ING4yQxCD4w/s1600/greek+columnar+basil+drying.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UxVf7qt5pwU/U8ljLg3zb_I/AAAAAAAAii4/ING4yQxCD4w/s1600/greek+columnar+basil+drying.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Drying Basil (above); Garlic Braided and Hanging to Dry in the Barn (below)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">Monica and Daughter, Veronica Browsing the Amazing Menu at Rules / Parsley Salad</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">My Husband, Scott and Son, Jeremy Anticipating Our Meal at Rules with Great Delight</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Peace,</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Monica</span></div>
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Monica E. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12869710851377388881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11691912.post-10154721176125872972014-06-04T10:35:00.000-05:002014-07-30T09:55:56.604-05:00Dangerous Brownies<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I ask you, "Who does not like a brownie?".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was watching the Food Channel the other day, and got a sudden craving for a chocolaty, chewy brownie. Maybe it was all the food cooking on TV that enticed me (I'm very impressionable in that way); but, maybe, it was also the suggestion from my husband planted in my brain the day before: "I...want...brownies". No, it wasn't a command, but one of those moments that overtake you and your desires are simply, unknowingly, blurted out loud in a hypnotic state. Either way, the seed was planted. I was tired of all the hundreds of brownie recipes I had tried that left me feeling less than pleased--too sweet, too crumbly, not chocolaty enough--and the craving not satisfied in the least. So, I set out to create the perfect brownie. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The brownie recipe, below, is one you can truly make your own. I'm the type of cook who adds a little of this, a bit of that, and just a pinch of something else. I find it very creative and satisfying. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In this recipe the kind and amount of chocolate and amount of sugar is up to you, as my measurements for those ingredients are estimates. So, my suggestion is to taste your batter. A good cook always tastes her food. I give you the perfect brownie:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Preheat oven to 350°. Line an 8 X 8 baking dish with parchment and grease it (I always use a butter blend or margarine type product, as I find that pure butter burns the bottom too easily).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">10 TBSs unsalted butter</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">approximately 2 oz, combined, bittersweet and semisweet chocolate (I use about an oz of each)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">approximately 1/4 cup unsweetened, dark cocoa</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1 cup sugar (add a little more if you prefer sweeter brownies)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2 eggs</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">pinch of salt (I like Kosher--I like the larger crystals and find the flavor not to be so "in-your-face" SALT! It simply enhances the food)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1 heaping tsp instant espresso powder</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1 1/2 tsps. vanilla</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3/4 cup flour</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">about 1/2 cup each, vanilla chips and walnuts</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Melt the chocolate with the butter. Add and whisk it into the sugar. Add the eggs to the sugar mixture and whisk until fully combined. Add the cocoa, salt, espresso powder and vanilla and whisk, again, until well combined. Add the flour and gently mix it in, just until combined. Mix in vanilla chips and walnuts (or other goodies of your choice) and spread the batter evenly into the prepared baking dish.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bake in a CONVECTION OVEN for approximately 20 minutes (I have a toaster oven with a convection setting that cooks wonderfully). You may need more time if using a regular oven. The brownies are done when an inserted toothpick is slightly covered with moist crumbs when removed. (you do not want the batter to be runny on the toothpick, or cover it like a paste). If using a regular oven, check the brownies with a toothpick at the 20 minute mark to see if they need more time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cool about 15 minutes on a rack. Remove the brownies from the baking dish with the parchment and place that on the rack until completely cooled. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, cut into desired size and TRY not to eat the entire pan! You will find these brownies taste/feel as though they have icing inside. They are satisfyingly chocolaty, without being overly sweet. The powdered sugar on top truly enhances the flavor of these brownies because they are not super-sweet.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Is it a brownie? Is it a molten dessert? Is it fudge? If you have a chocolate craving to be satisfied, these brownies are up to the task. Enjoy.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2UVvkoP5QOo/U482_VEnVSI/AAAAAAAAhYo/5DE_bDB-KoE/s1600/Dangerous+Brownies+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2UVvkoP5QOo/U482_VEnVSI/AAAAAAAAhYo/5DE_bDB-KoE/s1600/Dangerous+Brownies+1.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CCFWkXZtglc/U482-3naYsI/AAAAAAAAhYk/n7vz3TfwXzM/s1600/Dangerous+Brownies+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CCFWkXZtglc/U482-3naYsI/AAAAAAAAhYk/n7vz3TfwXzM/s1600/Dangerous+Brownies+2.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Peace,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Monica</span></div>
Monica E. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12869710851377388881noreply@blogger.com0West Liberty, OH 43357, USA40.2522771 -83.755766340.2280426 -83.7961068 40.2765116 -83.7154258tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11691912.post-23120598796540824902013-06-25T12:45:00.000-05:002014-07-30T09:00:42.313-05:00Sanctuary<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We lost our Beagle-mix, Bernie, last year. We had dogs in the past, but Bernie was the one who had most endeared herself to me. While I love animals of all kinds, Bernie was the one with whom I had that special bond. She will forever be missed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Since her death, there has been an emptiness that has been difficult to fill. There have been so many times when I just wanted to put my arms around a furry, innocent little creature, and let it know it was loved and would be well cared-for. We may, at some point, welcome another dog into our home, but I am not quite ready for that yet (but getting closer). In the meantime, I have been trying to find something to help comfort and fill the void.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Some months ago, I discovered a place in Marysville, Ohio, called <a href="http://www.sunrisesanctuary.org/" target="_blank">Sunrise Sanctuary</a>, a private not-for-profit charity. <a href="http://www.sunrisesanctuary.org/" target="_blank">Sunrise Sanctuary</a> relies completely on donations in order to care for their animals. They offer a safe haven for more than 170 neglected/abandoned, abused, disabled or simply unwanted animals. These animals--all rescues--are allowed to live out their natural lives in a loving and lovely country setting. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">We were introduced to "Carol", who is the main care-giver here. She is a wonderfully open person, whose love for these creatures is undeniable. She showed us the grounds, from top to bottom, and allowed us to stay as long as we wanted to spend time with the animals and take photos. Visits here need to be scheduled, but that is a simple process. An email or call to the facility is all that is needed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I loved this place! The animals are free to roam and interact with visitors and with each other, and you won't find a cage anywhere (except for, understandably, the smaller animals such as rats, gerbils, chinchillas, etc.). Our visit was totally hands-on. I hugged everything from cows to goats to donkeys to rats to chickens and even pigs! And, yes, pigs can be affectionate. While the attention and love given to the animals by visitors absolutely enhance their lives, I found that sense of well-being transferred to me. When love is given, there is a transformation within the giver as well. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><a href="http://www.sunrisesanctuary.org/" target="_blank">Sunrise Sanctuary</a> is, above everything else, a work of love. As God's children, we are to be stewards of the natural world given to us. And they take that to heart at this sanctuary. I would highly encourage you to visit <a href="http://www.sunrisesanctuary.org/" target="_blank">Sunrise Sanctuary</a> online, and in person, and support this most worthwhile cause. They are especially in need of volunteers, if you are so moved. And supplies and donations are always needed and, truthfully, imperative and fundamental in order to keep Sunrise Sanctuary up and running. A simple call or email query will give you an idea of the type of supplies that are needed. The many ways to be of service or donate are listed at the <a href="http://www.sunrisesanctuary.org/" target="_blank">Sunrise Sanctuary</a> web site, and also on their <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SunriseSanctuary" target="_blank">Facebook</a> page. Do yourself a favor, and truly love an animal today. It will make a profound change in you as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Sunrise Sanctuary</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">16730 Martin Welch Road</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Marysville, Ohio 43040</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Phone (937) 578-8771</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Email <a href="mailto:ask@sunrisesanctuary.org">ask@sunrisesanctuary.org</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Website <a href="http://www.sunrisesanctuary.org/">http://www.SunriseSanctuary.org</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Facebook <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SunriseSanctuary">https://www.facebook.com/SunriseSanctuary</a></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LBs5BpakAAs/UcnPPMiTDvI/AAAAAAAADz8/OMF7auCDhMI/s1600/DSC03691+Wesley.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LBs5BpakAAs/UcnPPMiTDvI/AAAAAAAADz8/OMF7auCDhMI/s320/DSC03691+Wesley.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>Scott with Wesley (check out the website </strong></span><strong><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">for </span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">pictures of Wesley's birthday party <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SunriseSanctuary/photos_stream" target="_blank">2012</a>!)</span></strong></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>Carol with Danny the Draft Horse</strong></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>Monica and Roscoe</strong></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b600_dxw06Y/UcnPXfxlJlI/AAAAAAAAD0U/YVlF3mYnSRo/s1600/DSC03702+George.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b600_dxw06Y/UcnPXfxlJlI/AAAAAAAAD0U/YVlF3mYnSRo/s320/DSC03702+George.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>George the Llama</strong></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>Gracie, George's Lady Love</strong></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>Woody the (love-sick) Goat</strong></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>Resident Camaraderie</strong></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TSSchzZcqqw/UcnPkyjVkrI/AAAAAAAAD1A/QntuapAG1cU/s1600/DSC03724+Baby.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TSSchzZcqqw/UcnPkyjVkrI/AAAAAAAAD1A/QntuapAG1cU/s320/DSC03724+Baby.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>Monica with Baby</strong></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>Supper, the Ornery Duck</strong></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EbSoJhDuCvY/UcnPs8Q-8II/AAAAAAAAD1Y/hR-X3DCCTuE/s1600/DSC03740+Esther.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EbSoJhDuCvY/UcnPs8Q-8II/AAAAAAAAD1Y/hR-X3DCCTuE/s320/DSC03740+Esther.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>Monica with Benji, the Rat</strong></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Chance, the Pit Bull in Mid-yawn (let's just say</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">he is not a fighter)</span></strong></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>Henry (the 8th), a Lover</strong></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>Scott with a Smiling Henry</strong></span></td></tr>
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Monica E. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12869710851377388881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11691912.post-37515175746358728242012-11-20T14:40:00.001-05:002014-07-30T09:02:18.510-05:00Sailing True North<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>from St. Francis de Sales from <u>The Devout Life</u></strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>"Each day is unique. There are cloudy days and sunny; wet days and dry; windy days and calm. The seasons roll by as day turns into night and night into day. This variety makes beauty. It's the same way with your life. There are ups and downs; no two days, no two hours, are ever exactly alike.</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>A compass needle always points north regardless of the ship's course. It we aspire toward God, the confusing changes of life will not unsteady us. “If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” (Romans 14:8). Nothing can separate us from God's love. When little bees are caught in a storm, they take hold of small stones so that they can keep their balance when they fly. Our firm resolution to stay with God is like stability to the soul amid the rolling waves of life."</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>We are ever encountering more and more “confusing changes of life”. Our course has become more challenging and dangerous, yet we steer away from “true north”. Is it, seriously, any wonder why our lives are fraught with confusion, frustration, doubt, anger? And, to help us along, even in the United States, our religious freedom is threatened. Specifically, to name one instance, wiith the enforcement of Obamacare, our fundamental religious freedom is being compromised. But no one has the right to mandate acceptance and coercion of practices entirely in opposition to the (Catholic) Church’s dogma, or to arrogantly tell members of any church how they are to live their faith. Not even the president of the United States. A directive such as this has no place in a health care coverage bill. Indeed, it has no place in any government policy of any free country. The term “freedom of religion” has now (by the present administration) increasingly become “freedom of worship”. Nitpicking? I don’t think so. It is a deliberate, subtle change in language; and little changes such as this can be used to change perceptions of rights or freedoms. It is just such subtleties of which we must be congnizant.</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Ashley Samelson, (International Programs Director for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty) stated in an article for “First Things” magazine: </strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>"To anyone who closely follows prominent discussion of religious freedom in the diplomatic and political arena, this linguistic shift is troubling. The reason is simple. Any person of faith knows that religious exercise is about a lot more than freedom of worship. It's about the right to dress according to one's religious dictates, to preach openly, to evangelize, to engage in the public square. Everyone knows that religious Jews keep kosher, religious Quakers don't go to war, and religious Muslim women wear headscarves-yet "freedom of worship" would protect none of these acts of faith."</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>But it is not only the government which demeans and thwarts spirituality. We distance ourselves from God, and ignore His every attempt to redeem our lives. We pray constantly, "God, why do you let certain things happen? Why don't you help us?! How can you let "this" happen to me? What kind of a God are you?" We continually condemn Him for not changing, not interceding, or saving us from what ever consequences arise from the choices we make. We expect God to fulfill our every desire, and are furious, to the point of abandoning Him, when He doesn’t; yet we have no room for him in our lives, save to display His Word as art (as long as it is not on public ground). We do not have the time to seek Truth and reason and guidance and understanding from it because our lives are so busy. God is OK, in His proper place. But, really, let’s not take Him too seriously. What a slap in the face to the One who called us into being.</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Further, we murder our unborn and call it "reproductive rights"; homosexuality is rampant, but we call that "civil rights", as if who we choose as a sexual partner is, in some distorted way, a basis/criteria for whether we should receive housing, employment, legal rights and the like. Not even taking into consideration the rightness or wrongness of homosexuality, how absurd is this? And yet, there have been recent attempts to equate homosexuality with slavery. Really? I shudder to think what is next in this arena.</strong></span></div>
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<strong>We allow, and even welcome evil into our lives. Perhaps we don't recognize it, or do not want to recognize it. It enters our lives so gradually, that we are not even aware. We simply accept more and more because it is constantly being hammered into us that we have no right to tell other people what to do. Inevitably, we find even “devout” Christians believing and saying “Well, I don’t agree with it, but who am I to say someone else is wrong?”. There are, however, “religious issues” which cross over into “human rights issues” and violate nature; and these cannot be ignored. But we are so afraid to speak truth. When we live a homosexual life, we are supposedly only “choosing an alternative lifestyle”. But when we do not defend the integrity and uniqueness of marriage between a man and a woman, we may as well be promoting homosexuality. When we abort a child, we say it is our “right”. Do we even spend a second pondering the right of the unborn child we have murdered so that we do not have to be burdened with the “mistake” we have made? We rarely speak out against pornography, because after all, we are all adults, and “everybody” dabbles now and then; and we have a right to live our lives the way we choose. And people are so afraid/hesitant to speak against another’s “rights”. But I believe people, especially Christians, are morally obligated to take a stand against such intrinsic evil. The more we allow evils to pervade society, the larger and more perverted they become. The more we accept, the more society is endangered. Our acceptance of anything and everything is much like the (proverbial) frog which was put into a pot of boiling water. It leapt out immediately recognizing that it must escape the danger. But when the frog was put into a pot of cool, pleasant water, and the water was gradually heated to boiling, the frog did not become aware of the threat until it was too late. </strong></div>
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<strong>Perhaps we feel that some things are none of our business, that they do not touch us or affect us. But when we fail to speak against things that are wrong, it is the same as saying that they are OK. And therein lies the rub. Little by little, things once thought of as abhorrent, are fast becoming accepted, commonplace in society and, “really, not that bad”. Before long, we will find ourselves asking “How did this happen?”.</strong></div>
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<strong>And what of our children? What are we teaching them by what we do or fail to do? (“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6) Are we teaching them at all? Do we guide and instruct them about what is right or wrong? Or do we just let them drift in the chaos we have created to (hopefully) find their own way? Our children are our responsibility. It does not take a community, a school, society, a village or a government to raise them. It is up to us as parents to provide them with example, discipline and instruction that will be a compass throughout their lives. We can no longer afford to float along in a comforting pool of lukewarm water, believing all is well; we can no longer ignore the true north reading of our own compass. The salvation of generations depends upon it. </strong></div>
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Monica E. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12869710851377388881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11691912.post-33121097177753484972012-11-13T11:04:00.001-05:002014-07-30T09:02:58.708-05:00The Maine Adventure<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab" height="425" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://images-community.shutterfly.com/flashapps/slideshow/slideshow-ui.swf"/><param name="flashvars" value="configXMLURL=http://images-community.shutterfly.com/flashapps/slideshow/config/config-share.xml&slideshowModuleURL=http://images-community.shutterfly.com/flashapps/slideshow/slideshow-module.swf&projectGUID=8AbN2TRm4atEee&swfName=slideshowFlashContent&showReplay=true"/><param name="menu" value="false"/><param name="quality" value="best"/><param name="wmode" value="transparent"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><embed width="425" height="425" align="middle" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" name="wrapper" quality="best" menu="false" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" flashvars="configXMLURL=http://images-community.shutterfly.com/flashapps/slideshow/config/config-share.xml&slideshowModuleURL=http://images-community.shutterfly.com/flashapps/slideshow/slideshow-module.swf&projectGUID=8AbN2TRm4atEee&swfName=slideshowFlashContent&showReplay=true" src="http://images-community.shutterfly.com/flashapps/slideshow/slideshow-ui.swf"></embed></object><br />
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Monica E. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12869710851377388881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11691912.post-41605600578744038782012-10-19T17:46:00.001-05:002014-07-30T09:03:51.679-05:00Today<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwZTTKSCUH7Ca_1K7hTXITWYIi_HMivn1k2QDql4IP0Vshwy9qSzABAakB6ASVWJMMAyUBp4hjF7ZI' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"> Video Music Selection: "Through the Dark", by Helen Jane Long</span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Today I set out on a walk through Logan County Ohio. I was armed with a camera, </span><a href="http://www.helenjanelong.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Helen Jane Long</span></a><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> on the ipod, hot tears and cold raindrops, and a few prayers: Of thanksgiving for what had been, joy for the life I now live, and petition for what I hope my life to become.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am in that proverbial "autumn of my life"; and sometimes the way becomes cold, frightening, confusing and unclear. Or, perhaps it is just hidden by all the tumult in the world. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But not today. Today I could see clearly, right through the low, dark clouds of this October sky. Today, I wasn't cold but rejuvenated by the day's coolness and the refreshing rain upon my face. Today, I could see and hear the beauty in the world I sometimes miss. Today, I was alone, but I was not abandoned. Today, I was not confused about which road to take. Today, I knew just where I was going, and with whom. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I share with you some of the beauty of today's images. God bless all, and be with you this day.</span><br />
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<br />Monica E. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12869710851377388881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11691912.post-65981871507765899832012-02-02T12:10:00.000-05:002014-07-30T09:05:16.779-05:00The Devil is in the Details<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">A growing number of Catholic bishops have said they will not comply with the Obamacare <span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">mandate</span> the administration implemented in January. The mandate forces religious employers to pay for birth control and contraception (including drugs that may cause abortions) in their health care plans:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"We cannot – we will not comply with this unjust law. People of faith cannot be made second-class citizens. We are already joined by our brothers and sisters of all faiths and many others of good will in this important effort to regain our religious freedom. Our parents and grandparents did not come to these shores to help build America’s cities and towns, its infrastructure and institutions, its enterprise and culture, only to have their prosperity stripped of their God given rights. In generations past, the Church has always been able to count on the faithful to stand up and protect her sacred rights and duties. I hope she can trust on this generation of Catholics to do the same. Our children and grandchildren deserve nothing less."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Setting all politics aside (and we must if we are to truthfully and effectively approach and address such intrinsically right-wrong issues), the citizens of the United States should be extremely concerned and wary of what is transpiring, little by little, within the present administration. Make no mistake about it, this particular issue is not simply about contraception. It is not a political party loyalty issue. It is not a Catholic issue. It is an American issue. It is a conscience issue, and it infringes upon the rights of every individual, regardless of religious expression, regardless of one's stand on contraception or abortion; and no man, no government has the right to interfere in a relationship between a man, his conscience and his God. No government has the right to force its citizens to violate conscience. No government has the authority to force its citizens to choose between faith and livelihood. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Simply speaking, no government has the right to interfere with the teachings of the church: "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." (</span><st1:givenname><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Matthew</span></strong></st1:givenname><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> 22:</span></strong><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">15 - 21). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The government’s responsibility is to adhere to the Constitution and secure its citizens’ rights, not to enforce pseudo safeguards under the guise of “freedoms” and “services” and “women’s health issues” which are in actuality ultimately designed to chip away at our God-given rights. But this administration cares nothing about God-given rights inherent to all men. This administration prefers engaging in semantics. This administration is abusing its power. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Furthermore, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”. Does this sound familiar? It should. It is the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States—that same Constitution to which the President of the United States affirms loyalty at his inauguration:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Really Mr. Obama?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The following ponderous statements (put forth in July of 1968) bear some serious consideration, not only as regards the so-called "contraception mandate" of Obamacare, but in discerning to whom we (should or should not) allow moral direction.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Excerpts from the ENCYCLICAL LETTER<b><i> HUMANAE VITAE</i></b> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">OF THE </span><st2:personname><span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">SUPREME PONTIFF </span><st1:sn><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">PAUL</span></b></st1:sn><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> </span></b><st1:namesuffix><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">VI</span></b></st1:namesuffix></st2:personname><span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"<strong>17.</strong> Finally, careful consideration should be given to the danger of this power passing into the hands of those public authorities who care little for the precepts of the moral law. Who will blame a government which in its attempt to resolve the problems affecting an entire country resorts to the same measures as are regarded as lawful by married people in the solution of a particular family difficulty? Who will prevent public authorities from favoring those contraceptive methods which they consider more effective? Should they regard this as necessary, they may even impose their use on everyone. It could well happen, therefore, that when people, either individually or in family or social life, experience the inherent difficulties of the divine law and are determined to avoid them, they may give into the hands of public authorities the power to intervene in the most personal and intimate responsibility of husband and wife."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Quite prophetic, no?<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"<strong>23.</strong> And now We wish to speak to rulers of nations. To you most of all is committed the responsibility of safeguarding the common good. You can contribute so much to the preservation of morals. We beg of you, never allow the morals of your peoples to be undermined. The family is the primary unit in the state; do not tolerate any legislation which would introduce into the family those practices which are opposed to the natural law of God. For there are other ways by which a government can and should solve the population problem—that is to say by enacting laws which will assist families and by educating the people wisely so that the moral law and the freedom of the citizens are both safeguarded." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">The conviction of the founding fathers, held in the highest regard, was that all men, all governments are subject to the Word of God. This was of utmost importance to them; so much so, that </span><st2:personname><st1:givenname><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Thomas</span></st1:givenname><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> </span><st1:sn><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Jefferson</span></st1:sn></st2:personname><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> begins The Declaration of Independence </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is no small matter. And it is not an issue solely unto itself. It is the beginning of, what I feel to be, a most difficult path ahead for people of faith. We often ask ourselves “What would I do if…?”. The time to answer is upon us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span>Monica E. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12869710851377388881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11691912.post-14643435657704099742011-10-01T12:03:00.004-05:002014-07-30T09:06:58.870-05:00The Good, the Bad and the Ugly<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As I enter the autumn of (my) life I tend to focus on the coming winter rather than allowing myself to enjoy and participate fully in the beauty of autumn. And what a shame it is when I yield to that darker side, for autumn has always been my fondest season, even as a child! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yet I believe that each moment in our lives is a gift; the good, the bad and especially the ugly. We can make of them what we will. Take them for granted, disconnect them from our lives as just "things" that happen, discount them as unimportant; fear them, hate them for the discomfort and inconvenience they cause, mindlessly plod through them, blame them on “Someone” simply being mean or cruel or uncaring, or even wish them away. I have done most of these things at one time or another. I'm certain everyone has. It is human nature, but is it wise? I, myself, have become more concerned, at times, about the state of the world and, more intimately, the state of my life. I seem more anxious at times, wanting things to be just so, wanting and needing to make amends, to live life to the fullest, to “fight the good fight”. It is only natural to feel concern and sadness in one's life, but it can sometimes be difficult not to let everything build into a full blown </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weltschmerz"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">weltschmerz</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">! </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">I don't think we live life to the fullest, add clarity or glean the importance of a moment in time (thereby discovering how awesome life is) and reap its benefits by just tossing it aside because we don't understand it or find it distasteful. If we try to hide from the bad and the ugly, we end up not recognizing what is good (you can't have one without the other, because all of these moments are part of a whole, and each is relative to the other). We don't appreciate the value of life and lose enjoyment in even the smallest of pleasures; we become bitter and resentful and sad;</span><span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: black;">Our lives are made up of the amalgamation of all three. Each of these moments, our moods, experiences and cherished—or not so cherished—memories helps us to grow into the people we are meant to be.</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is comfort in knowing that each of us has a purpose, that we are not designed to go through life alone, mucking our way through the bad and ugly to realize that purpose and find the good. ("Therefore encourage one another and build each other up..." 1 Thessalonians 5:11). We have others with whom we are connected in so many ways we do not always recognize, and who are there to help us, sometimes in ways they do not even realize. To me, life is no accident. We have a watchful Guide, leading us on the paths we have chosen to travel. What better encouragement for embracing all the facets of our extraordinary human nature. So, perhaps a proverbial word to the wise?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is no mere adage that time (seemingly) passes more quickly as we age. It has become so precious, and while there are days less perfect than others, I will never wish away any day, no matter how bad or ugly it may seem. All of my life I have heard “with age comes wisdom”. It could be that it is more accurate to say that as we age we become more <i>aware</i>, thereby learning the value of time. Perhaps therein lies the wisdom.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p>Synthesis </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Autumn has come quickly<br />
It both startles and assures me<br />
Hence I shall not be afraid,<br />
For the path I have chosen remains<br />
In perfect harmony with the seasons—<br />
Unified, though each a part unto its own<br />
Bursting forth in fluctuating hues,<br />
From brilliant, coolest argentine<br />
To the fiery red heat of vermilion<br />
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This mélange of moods and colors,<br />
Experiences, memories and remnants<br />
Of an earlier time varies from day to day,<br />
Molding, reshaping who I am,<br />
Enhancing my simple existence—<br />
As a wild pumpkin might adorn<br />
A quiet woodland patch of green</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AiKnqCVlfAs/TocnfkHooSI/AAAAAAAADk0/6J0yvM6rsz8/s1600/IMG_0395.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AiKnqCVlfAs/TocnfkHooSI/AAAAAAAADk0/6J0yvM6rsz8/s400/IMG_0395.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">*(Along with this entry, I have made the decision to change the name of this blog from "Rantings of a Mad Poet" to "Menagerie". Since it is a collection of writings, poetry, thoughts and emotions, questions and, hopefully, some answers, I felt it should be aptly named. A complete collection of this blog may be found in book form in the bookstore at <a href="http://www.blurb.com/search/site_search?search=monica+e.+smith">Blurb</a>. Volumes I and II are available for purchase, and Volume III is in production now. I hope you like the name and enjoy the new setup)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">*(Thank you to <a href="http://www.poemhunter.com/connie-marcum-wong/biography/">Connie Marcum-Wong</a>, moderator of the <a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/poetryforthought/">PFT</a> [Poetry for Thought] poetry group, for her poetry challenge suggestion to use the words <em>mélange, remnant, argentine, vermilion, path, harmony, adorn, woodland, pumpkin, unified </em>in a poem. These lovely and inspirational words led me to write "Synthesis", which, in turn, led me to deeper thinking, which led me to this blog entry. All of these actions together became, for me, another illustration that we are all somehow (and, at times, unknowingly) connected.</span></span></div>
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Monica E. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12869710851377388881noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11691912.post-34054644421497530712011-05-20T09:44:00.000-05:002014-07-30T09:07:44.291-05:00Hello, Nature Calling<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Being born a Jack-A-Bee (Beagle/Jack Russell mix), Bernie is not lacking in quirks. If laughter is the best medicine, my husband and I are quite healthy, as not a day goes by that we have not chuckled at something she has done.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Going outside for nature's call has produced a series of very funny behaviors. When it's a simple matter of watering the grass, Bernie will usually stand at the door staring at it, nose pointed upwards, willing it to open; or she just stares at me "loudly" like Eddie on <em>Frasier</em></span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">—that "Jack Russell stare"<span style="font-family: Verdana;">—making a hoarse whispering sound (her "inside voice", which I am now sorry I taught her) until I let her out. It's a comical, albeit annoying sound and always yields the desired result.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">When she really means business it is quite another scenario and, frankly, an odd routine. Because of the coyotes which frequent our rural area, we do not let her out at night alone. In the winter it can be an especially long and uncomfortable experience.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">When Bernie feels the urge, she wanders into my office and remains for approximately 30 seconds. We have no idea what actually happens in there, and have never been able to catch her in time to discover that. She suddenly runs through the beads hanging at the office door, full speed ahead, their wooden clacking startling all, and stares at us with that "IT'S COMING!" look of horror on her face<span style="font-family: Verdana;">—the same look that used to be on my children's faces when they were newly potty-trained toddlers.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Once outside one would think that, being such an emergency, she would get to it. But Bernie must slowly<span style="font-family: Verdana;">—walk<span style="font-family: Verdana;">—the<span style="font-family: Verdana;">—grounds sniffing every blade of grass to see who might have recently used her bathroom. She stands still as a statue, listening, smelling the air. When she finally gets around to the job at hand, of course she must find the perfect spot. She sniffs, scratches, circles around, then, finally the stance. But is that spot good enough? Off she goes again, sniffing and scratching. Just when I think it's all about to happen she gets in position and then decides that's not the right spot after all. So, in mid-squat, she scoots across the grass looking like a hunchbacked kangaroo, sniffing, resting, scratching, hopping on her two back legs to the next patch of grass and finally takes care of the business at hand. Then, with the same urgency as before, she begins barking like a mad dog, as if I had left her out too long: <em>Hey! I'm done here and I'm cold! Let's go inside and get my good dog treat!</em></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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Monica E. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12869710851377388881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11691912.post-59247688351778125902011-04-22T15:33:00.002-05:002014-07-30T09:08:30.470-05:00Good Friday<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What if we took just one moment from our busy days to recall Him Who, thousands of years later, the world has all but forgotten? He and His story have been reduced to a children’s fairy tale. Nor is He given a serious thought. After all, we are masters of our own lives and we have the free will to do whatever we please. Do we even give a thought about Who gave us that free will? </span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The world has become bored with His story, uninterested and numb to the pain, the excruciating torture, which was not forced upon Him but which He endured willingly for us. Do you want love? Here it is, but it has no place in our world today. We have neither the time nor the desire. And each time we brush Him aside, we scourge Him again.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Let contemplation of a moment which changed life forever saturate our souls. Let us give that moment its proper place in our world. Let us, with full intention and attention, take the time to sit quietly today or Saturday and think only of Christ. Do we have five free minutes? Perhaps today will be the day we take down that little dusty box, where we keep God neatly in His place until we really need Him, and behold the treasure inside. Let us prepare our hearts and our very lives for Christ’s entrance on Easter morning, when He breaks through the stone cold tomb of sin and into our lives, and we can truly proclaim “Christ is Risen!” without shame, without embarrassment, in Truth and in all joy! Do you want a reality story, something more inspiring and remarkable than any “reality” we can see on TV? Here it is. Do you want something relevant? Here it is. Do you wonder where the "good" is in Good Friday? Here it is. Do you want Truth? Here it is:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><em>I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch that doesn't produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned for greater fruitfulness by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful apart from me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who parts from me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you stay joined to me and my words remain in you, you may ask any request you like, and it will be granted! My true disciples produce much fruit. This brings great glory to my Father. I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey me, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father and remain in his love. I have told you this so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! </em></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">John 15: 1-11</span></div>
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Monica E. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12869710851377388881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11691912.post-69966357271261820642011-04-12T12:10:00.011-05:002011-04-14T10:49:08.548-05:00Easter in the Byzantine Catholic Church<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>Lent</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We normally go through our day-to-day lives without much thought about what we are doing. But lent provides direction and meaning; it is not just "having to give up" something. There are actually three elements which work together. <span style="color: #990000;">Prayer</span>, the first, is simply communication with God. We cannot get to know people without first talking with them, trying to understand "where they are coming from". We can't even begin to understand the Church without first knowing its Founder. Prayer brings tradition and meaning to the things we do. It gives us the strength to <span style="color: #990000;">fast</span>. And through our fasting, we are led to share our abundance with others (<span style="color: #990000;">almsgiving</span>).</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fasting is a very ancient tradition of the Church. There isn't much point in fasting just for the sake of fasting, to see how much food we can go without. A true fast should bring about the desire to change, and actually acting on it. When we feel hunger from fasting from food, it should remind us of our hunger for God and all that is Truth. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #351c75;">When we pray and fast, we should normally come to the desire to give, almsgiving. It was Christ's way of life and if we are Christians, it should be ours. Through prayer, we "contact" and listen to God. Through our fasting, or an emptying of ourselves to fill it with God, we come to a deeper conversion. And through both prayer and fasting, we come to the realization that the needs of others are the responsibility of all. In that same context, I have long loved this quote by author, George Eliot: <em>What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?</em></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #351c75;">The blessing of food at Easter has been passed down from the </span><a href="http://carpatho-rusyn.org/"><span style="color: #351c75;">Carpatho-Rusyn</span></a><span style="color: #351c75;"> people, my ancestors of the </span><a href="http://www.byzcath.org/"><span style="color: #351c75;">Byzantine Catholic Church</span></a><span style="color: #351c75;"> (and other Slavic groups). Originally, people kept a strict fast, not eating any meat or dairy products for the entire season of Lent (today the fast and abstinence rules are much more relaxed). At Easter, as we do today, the people took the food items that they had not eaten during Lent to church to be blessed. These Easter, or "paschal foods", hold great significance in that they are the foods God had prescribed for the ancient Passover meal—lamb, bread, wine and bitter herbs, and represent the spiritual feast awaiting us after our deaths, at Christ’s table.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>Easter Basket Contents:</strong></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><strong>“Pascha”</strong> (Easter bread) is an egg-rich bread, baked in the round; represents Christ, the "living bread".</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><strong>Meat Products</strong> (such as ham, veal, pork, lamb): represent the Old Testament sacrificial animals (which were a foreshadowing of the sacrifice of Christ).</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><strong>Dairy Products</strong> (such as butter, cheese, egg cheese [hrutka], cooked and decorative eggs) are symbolic of prosperity and peace. The butter is usually formed into the shape of a lamb and represents Christ, the Lamb of God who was offered on the altar of the Cross for our salvation. Eggs have always been considered a symbol of the resurrection, the emergence of new life, Christ coming forth from the tomb as a chick from the broken egg.</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><strong>Horseradish</strong> (and other bitter foods such as vinegar, sour cream, etc.) represent the bitterness of Christ's passion; and when mixed with sweet, red beets, represent the blood He shed.</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><strong>Salt</strong> Symbolizes the Truth of the message of Christ; as salt preserves food, so the teachings of Christ preserve our eternal life.</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><strong>Chocolate Eggs/Candy</strong> allow children to be a real part of this celebration and share in the resurrection. The Church takes ordinary food and blesses it, making it and us holy as we eat of it. God's blessing changes us from children of natural descent into children of the Kingdom of God. </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It has become customary to place a great variety of foods in the basket from which one has fasted during Lent. I have seen bottles of wine or beer, pop, cookies and even bags of McDonald's hamburgers or other fast food in Easter baskets. I think this is a fascinating and wonderful new custom which really brings the ancient tradition of blessing of foods into the modern world! How awesome, to be able to adapt such traditions to our contemporary, everyday lives. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">*Side Note (I see this as evidence that the people, while taking part in centuries-old rites, truly can bring the Church into the modern world and make it relevant. We hear so much complaint about the Catholic Church not being "up-to-date". But it is the people who can change this by their attitude, their involvement, their voices, their creativity. We are so privileged to be able to carry on the works and practices and rituals of a Church born directly from the apostles' steadfast adherence to and teaching of the doctrines directly given to them by Christ. We should take pride in this rather than feeling embarrassed or put out or diminishing the value of such ancient customs. Delving into one's ancestry is all the rage these days. Why not go all the way, and see where we truly came from?)</span></span><br />
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</span><span style="color: #351c75;"></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The words “Christos Voskrese” (“Christ is Risen”) are sometimes printed on the cloth which covers the basket. The basket is taken to church where a candle placed in the basket is lighted during the blessing ceremony. After the Resurrection Services, the people greet each other with “Christos Voskrese!” and reply “Voistinnu Voskrese!” (“Christ Is Risen!” / “Indeed He Is Risen!”). The people either share their foods, then, at a breakfast with the other parishioners, or take the blessed food home to be shared with family. The meal begins with the head of the family dividing one blessed egg into enough portions for all family members, and an extra portion to remember all family members who have passed away. He gives a portion of the egg to each family member saying, “Christ is Risen!”, and they answer “Indeed He is Risen!”. What a wonderfully fulfilling and beautiful way to remember Christ in His death and resurrection, and our loved ones, who are all part of Him Who gave all, that we might live forever!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana;">Happy Easter to all! Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zs3ZiUIO_eY/TaSGfwT6_bI/AAAAAAAADfI/h1uRZILnxO0/s1600/IMG_0057a.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" r6="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zs3ZiUIO_eY/TaSGfwT6_bI/AAAAAAAADfI/h1uRZILnxO0/s400/IMG_0057a.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Easter Basket Prepared to Bless</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-usgW0xYCZ6w/TaSHEkjnBGI/AAAAAAAADfM/t3Ugp41MDDE/s1600/tn_IMG_0100.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" r6="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-usgW0xYCZ6w/TaSHEkjnBGI/AAAAAAAADfM/t3Ugp41MDDE/s640/tn_IMG_0100.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div align="center"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana;">Basket Blessing</span></div><div align="center"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana;">St. John's Byzantine Catholic Church</span></div><div align="center"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Verdana;">Columbus, Ohio</span></div><br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(some information gleaned from </span><a href="http://carpathorusynsociety.org/"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">http://carpathorusynsociety.org</span></a><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> and </span><a href="http://www.stisidore-yubacity.org/"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">www.stisidore-yubacity.org</span></a><span style="font-size: xx-small;">)</span></div></div></div>Monica E. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12869710851377388881noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11691912.post-65186257045711944762011-02-19T10:33:00.000-05:002011-02-19T10:33:47.313-05:00Celebrity<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><h1 style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #073763;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><em>Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It means that you've decided to look beyond the imperfections. </em></span></span></span></h1><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: right;"><br />
</div><h1 style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(Author Unknown)</span></span></span></h1><span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She has lost her luster,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">this old movie star</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">about whom no one speaks anymore.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's sad, really, how she once sparkled,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">eliciting gasps and sighs</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">upon mere sight of her—</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">her entrances being quite grand.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Most loved her, but some knew</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">her true colors lurking deep within,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">though whether loved or hated </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">she was never far out of mind.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Time does take its toll, however,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">and if she once commanded respect,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">she now is seldom worth a thought. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She is criticized, mocked</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">kicked and walked upon—even feared,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">for we remember—and we do not...</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once, she had been admired for her beauty,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">but now she is simply old and cold</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">and has worn out her welcome.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">People want only to forget</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">how they were duped by her seeming magic.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She faded over time, as we all must,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">but make no mistake, she is only sleeping.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When winter returns again</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">she will awaken, and cover the earth</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">with a blanket of jewels as beautiful</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">and fit for a <em>Tiffany and Co.</em> showcase as any gem.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And we will "Oh" and "Ah" once again,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">mesmerized by her facade of beauty.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fickle, fickle man!</span><br />
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</div><span style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-size: x-small;"></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span>Monica E. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12869710851377388881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11691912.post-53134449783517554572011-02-16T10:56:00.000-05:002011-02-16T10:56:55.575-05:00Perfect Day<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><em>Be not mindless/Of the mundane moments</em></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><em>While seemingly unimportant/They pass quickly,</em></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><em>Yet command/A lifetime of remembrance</em></span></div><br />
<div style="text-align: right;">Monica E. Smith</div><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Perfect Day</span><br />
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</div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I remember</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">when fun was a Saturday bus ride<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">to downtown with my sister</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">on a cold winter day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Excitement</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">was a Beatles album</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">surprisingly on sale for $3.99</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">at Higbee's Department Store,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">the coveted place</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I could never normally afford</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">on my teenage salary</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Comfort </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">was a mid-morning cup of hot coffee</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">sipped with delight in a booth</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">at a Euclid Avenue coffee shop</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">as we reminisced</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">the still fresh experiences</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">of the morning, anticipating</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">the rest of the day to come</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Satisfaction</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">was lunch at the Silver Grille</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">and exercise</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">was an all-day walk</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">around downtown Cleveland—</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">window-shopping, talking,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">dreaming and planning</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">our next Saturday excursion—</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But contentment</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">was the aroma of Morrow's Nut Shop</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">which lingered on the bus ride home</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">while we warmed our hands<br />
on hot bags of fragrant, freshly roasted nuts</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Each of us treasured</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">this fitting end to a perfect day—</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A memento that would soon evanesce—</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">as would these precious times spent together</span><br />
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</span>Monica E. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12869710851377388881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11691912.post-33907160571722552802011-01-05T12:20:00.000-05:002011-01-05T12:20:09.804-05:00On the Twelfth Day of Christmas...<div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know you have experienced it, upon waking from a wonderful dream, the feeling that you did not want to wake up yet. And have you kept your eyes tightly closed, willing the dream to continue, willing yourself to remain asleep, willing that life created within your mind to continue? Have you tried with all your might to let it be so?</span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is already the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_days_of_Christmas">twelfth day of Christmas</a>, and the final hours of the spirit of Christmas Present are upon us. I no longer find the winter wind invigorating and tolerable, merely uncomfortable, the once picturesque snowy hillsides simply cold and bleak; and I have spent the last week trying to remain asleep, trying my best to allow the warmth of Christmas to continue, trying not to awaken from the most wonderful Christmas I have experienced in many years<span style="font-family: Arial;">—perhaps even since my (now grown) children were little, or maybe even since I was a child myself.</span></span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There have been years when Christmas came and went without much ado, when I seemed to simply go through the motions of preparation without much expectation or meaning, and was just as happy to pack away the season with its glittery accoutrement and forget about it for another year. There have been, sadly, Christmases past when I saw only the extra work mounted upon me. Not often, but there were times...</span></span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't know what changed this year that caused such joy in my heart during the season, and this great sadness that it is now over. Perhaps, as we age and come to a more profound belief of mortality, things we often have taken for granted<span style="font-family: Arial;">—or in which we have shown little interest<span style="font-family: Arial;">—become ever more consequential. Did I give the season a more spiritual significance? Perhaps. But, for me, honoring God and celebrating His Son's birth (and, thereby, our reclamation) have always been "the reason for the season". Without that, all the little things we do in preparation to make Christmas sparkle with excitement are simply things we do. They have no significance or impact. </span></span></span></span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I prepared for the holiday and celebrated with family as always. We ate and laughed and played as always, "for it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child himself..." (from "A Christmas Carol"). But perhaps there was one small difference which transformed everything for me this year. </span></span></span></span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have always been enamored with, and have always made it a point to watch at least one of the <a href="http://www.sheeplaughs.com/scrooge/introduction.htm">"A Christmas Carol"</a> productions each year. In the few weeks before Christmas, I kept hearing over and over in my head the words of Ebenezer Scrooge, upon his realization of what the gift of life really means, and what our response to, and responsibility in life is: </span></span></span></span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. </span></em></span></span></span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I set out to give life to his pledge, thereby making it my own. There is a saying of </span><a href="http://www.ccel.org/j/john_cross"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">St. John of the Cross</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> that I have long loved and which has always resonated within me: "Where there is no love, put love -- and you will find love." This is not so different from Scrooge's declaration, is it? And, perhaps, that is how this Christmas was transformed for me, where this Christmas differed for me, where Christmas<span style="font-family: Arial;">—or any day of the year<span style="font-family: Arial;">—can differ for us all. I approached the season with love from beginning to end, in the decorations, the food I prepared, arranging special "events" and activities to share with others to mark the season, to elevate it from the ordinary. I put so much love into the things I did and experienced that I could hardly contain myself. And so, now that it is over<span style="font-family: Arial;">—for this year<span style="font-family: Arial;">— I am so filled that it has no place to spill over but in tears, as I think fondly of how we laughed and loved this Christmas. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am not ready to awaken from the dream, or give up the ghost<span style="font-family: Arial;">—of Christmas Past or otherwise<span style="font-family: Arial;">—but I must be fully awake and aware of all the gifts of Christmas in order to let the dream live on. To ignore these gifts and lessons of Christmas would be much too costly. </span></span>I think this is the way we should<span style="font-family: Arial;">—must<span style="font-family: Arial;">—approach not only Christmas, but every day on this earth, fully awake and aware, living (as I was recently reminded) each day truly as if it were our last, in full realization of the magnitude of the gift of life...</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!...</span></em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>It is required of every man..."that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellowmen, and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. It is doomed to wander through the world -- oh, woe is me! -- and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth, and turned to happiness!</em></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Let it never be said of us that we did not know Christmas or the gifts it brings to us which live through the year. We can then begin to understand each other, who we are, where we are going, who God is. We are here for a purpose. Let us strive, with 'ol Ebenezer, to wake up and find that purpose, with each other...</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span> </span></span></span> </span></span><div align="justify"><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more...He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world...and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! </span></em></div><br />
Peace, Merry Christmas and the Happiest of New Years! <br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></em></span></div></div>Monica E. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12869710851377388881noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11691912.post-64400113514800872782010-12-17T13:03:00.005-05:002010-12-17T13:09:57.725-05:00Christmas in Logan County—Gifts of the Season<div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qjbHnnX2bpU/TQujKEMH0_I/AAAAAAAADQs/14NmdFguD2o/s1600/IMG_0870.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" n4="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qjbHnnX2bpU/TQujKEMH0_I/AAAAAAAADQs/14NmdFguD2o/s640/IMG_0870.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Every now and then, everything falls into place. Yesterday was one such day...</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was a cold, snowy day, and I awoke thinking about all the things I needed to do before Christmas, planning and wondering if I would have enough time to accomplish all that I wanted. Of course, there is always time for a cup of coffee, so I sat in my favorite lounge chair with a hot cup and my dog by my side, making mental notes and plans for the day, the room heated by that penetrating, osmotic warmth only a wood fire can give. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Soon I was out and about, doing some Christmas grocery shopping, and feeling very merry. The weather was cold and crisp and all before me was laid out in a soft white blanket, compliments of a fresh snow which had fallen a couple days before. The roads had been plowed, for the most part, and the ones that were still snow-covered had been flattened by previous traffic, and were quite driveable. So on the way home, Christmas carols blaring in the car, singing at the top of my lungs, I took a detour and turned off on a snowy country road.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I immediately knew I had made the right decision. After mere minutes of taking the turn, I was rewarded with the most beautiful sights. My first stop was a small horse ranch, where I spied a beautiful chestnut horse in the distance. I immediately pulled to the side of the road and got out of the car to take some pictures. To my surprise, the horse stopped, looked at me and trotted over to the fence to get a closer look. So I did the same, being careful not to mis-step in the deep snow. She greeted me as if I were a long-lost friend, lowering her great head over the fence, nuzzling me and braying softly, staying with me quite a while, as if she couldn't get enough of my affection and attention. Before I realized it, her foal had galloped beside us as well, shaking its head and wondering what all the excitement was about. They both were clothed in their long winter coats, hair, mane and tails blowing in the winter wind. I don't remember actually seeing horses in their winter finery this closely, and they were beautiful. It seems I had made their day; they certainly had made mine. They stayed a few minutes, then gave a whinny and off they ran—but not before I had taken some photographs.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I continued driving and soon came upon a a logging camp. Somehow, this sight was unexpected. I drove slowly by, as it was quite interesting to watch the work being done, managing to take a bit of video and a snapshot from my car window as I passed. I found it intriguing, as this scene is something I might normally only experience on The Discovery Channel, perhaps as seen through the eyes of Mike Rowe from "Dirty Jobs". And here it was in my back yard. It seems that even in frigid, snowy weather, the world must go on. Or, perhaps, <em>especially</em> in frigid, snowy weather, the world must go on...</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have always been fascinated with trains and railroad tracks. And, for some reason, they are even more attractive and appealing in the context of a snowy winter—decorated with the greenery of pine trees, bony fingers of bare tree limbs that seem to be pointing the way to life—much like the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come—the whispy dried brown briers and boskets peeking through the deep white snow on either side, and, yes, two deer who happened to cross the road just beyond the tracks, stopping briefly to consider me before bounding across the road, passing by a tiny covered bridge (red, of course) to the safety of the somewhat greener grass on the other side. No picture here—except in my memory—as I was too mesmerized by this "Christmas Card" to engage the camera!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I passed many farms of various sizes, beautifully decked out in the colors of the season. Somehow, there is something very Christmasy about a red barn in a snow-covered field, a hay wagon decorated with a green wreath. I think, living in the country, I sometimes take for granted the beauty that is all around me. These sights are before me always, but I sometimes do not see them. Like all people, I lose focus and sight of what is important, concentrating on my own problems and dissatisfactions and becoming so involved in the details or negative aspects of things in my life, missing the entire purpose and beauty of life, as a whole, altogether. I guess it's pretty much not seeing the forest for the trees...</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">A small detour became several hours before I realized I needed to get home to my dog, throw another log into the woodstove, turn on the Christmas tree lights and prepare supper for my husband and I. I had not meant to be gone so long, but the detour had become a found opportunity which filled me with the Christmas spirit through and through. It had been a good decision, which led to a better day and an even greater appreciation and enjoyment of God's special Christmas gift to His children.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Especially now, at Christmastime, there are gifts aplenty, gifts that anyone can afford, gifts more meaningful, more precious and more lovely than any amount of money can buy. The world is closer than you think—even as near as just outside your window, around the corner, or down a country road. I encourage you to explore the world of your surroundings and to experience the true gifts of this season or any season. I assure you it will be a memory not forgotten, one that gratifies the eyes, the ears, the soul.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Peace, and Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good, warm and memorable Christmas night.</span></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qjbHnnX2bpU/TQugUtsu11I/AAAAAAAADQc/Q-1ZfvuJ2RI/s1600/IMG_0996.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" n4="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qjbHnnX2bpU/TQugUtsu11I/AAAAAAAADQc/Q-1ZfvuJ2RI/s640/IMG_0996.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div align="justify"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qjbHnnX2bpU/TQughtTersI/AAAAAAAADQg/kbDvp6Pn7RI/s1600/IMG_1003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" n4="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qjbHnnX2bpU/TQughtTersI/AAAAAAAADQg/kbDvp6Pn7RI/s640/IMG_1003.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qjbHnnX2bpU/TQugKoLznHI/AAAAAAAADQY/FMcPua30dd0/s1600/IMG_0993.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" n4="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qjbHnnX2bpU/TQugKoLznHI/AAAAAAAADQY/FMcPua30dd0/s640/IMG_0993.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qjbHnnX2bpU/TQuhM1FRASI/AAAAAAAADQk/rREI01rCgd8/s1600/IMG_0981.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" n4="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qjbHnnX2bpU/TQuhM1FRASI/AAAAAAAADQk/rREI01rCgd8/s640/IMG_0981.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>Monica E. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12869710851377388881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11691912.post-39312082248010026542010-11-25T11:50:00.013-05:002010-11-25T11:55:39.111-05:00Happy Thanksgiving<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Happy Thanksgiving! </span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We all know the story of the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving. After their first harvest, the colonists of the Plymouth Plantation held a celebration with food and feasting in the fall of 1621. There are many varied and contradictory versions of this story. But while there were other smaller "thanksgiving"/harvest festivities since this event, well before George Washington, it was Washington's original proclamation signed by him on October 3, 1789 which marked the day, " Thursday, November 26 as "A Day of Publick Thanksgiving and Prayer", and began the official reason for Thanksgiving Day, later to be made a national holiday by Abraham Lincoln on October 3, 1863. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At that time, Lincoln issued a proclamation which called for the observance of the fourth Tuesday of November as the national holiday. It was president Franklin D. Roosevelt who moved the holiday to the third Thursday of November<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">—</span>IN ORDER TO EXTEND THE CHRISTMAS SHOPPING SEASON IN AN EFFORT TO BOOST THE ECONOMY. (I guess politicians will always be politicians; they have a knack for removing significance from and cheapening even the sacred, all in the name of money ). In an effort to quell the storm of protests which arose from this action, Roosevelt again changed Thanksgiving in 1941 to the fourth Thursday in November, where it remains to this day.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #990000;">Today I wish all of you a most content and happy celebration with family and friends, in the spirit so proclaimed by George Washington. </span></span><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">May we "unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him...to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best." And may we be for God first and foremost, as He is for us. For "IF GOD BE FOR US WHO CAN BE AGAINST US?"--Romans 8:31</span></span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><strong>George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation </strong></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-size: small;"></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:" </span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: small;"></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us. <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span></span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: small;"></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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</span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789. </span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qjbHnnX2bpU/TO6NbEOHp6I/AAAAAAAADQE/r-oz66-DbsI/s1600/wash_sig.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="53" ox="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qjbHnnX2bpU/TO6NbEOHp6I/AAAAAAAADQE/r-oz66-DbsI/s200/wash_sig.gif" width="200" /></a></div>Monica E. Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12869710851377388881noreply@blogger.com0