Indonesian Nasi Goreng Recipe

Ask Mummy to help you with this one.

2 cups white rice, raw
4 cups water
pinch of salt
Bring rice, water and salt to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large frying pan or wok pour
1 Tablespoon of oil
heat on medium heat and add
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 hot pepper, chopped
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 bay leaf
Fry these ingredients in the oil and add
2 cans of ham, chopped
and fry until browned.  When the rice is cooked, add the rice to the frying pan, add a little soy sauce, (1 or 2 tablespoons should be enough) and mix well.
optional:  add 2 cups chopped greens for a full meal
Heat through until the greens are wilted and everything is warmed and serve.  Serves 3-4.

God And The Spider - the tale of how a manless woman caught a spider

     This is the tale of how a spider got into my house, unbeknowns to me and frightened the living daylights out of me.
     Hello, I'm a spider, said the spider under my kitchen chair.  Will you throw me out or will you step on me?
     I didn't step on him.  He was enormous.  I was frightened to death, nearly.
     Oh, she's so kind, said the spider.  She didn't step on me.  I love her so much.  Isn't she kind, God?
     God didn't reply, you think, but no, God always replies when you ask him something politely, sooner or later.
     Yes, said God.  You're going to go outside now and run around in the grass all night, He said to the spider.
     I was manless and thought I'd need a man to throw the spider out.  I put a jamjar over the top of the spider.  He was a very large spider and his long legs stuck out the sides of the jar.  I thought I'd throw him in the bathtub.
     Just then my teenaged son came to call.  I picked up the jamjar with a piece of paper covering the end, with the spider inside.  I threw the spider out on the grass while my son helped me with the door.

The End

Family Home Evening

     I think probably the aspect I like most about being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Family Home Evening, which we have on Monday nights.  Some families hold their Family Home Evening on Sunday nights, but we hold ours on Monday nights.  It's a night to get together with your family and have fun and learn about the gospel, and have a treat.  In the early days of the Church, every night was family night, because there was less to do, but one day came when the President of the Church decided that we were getting too busy for family, so Family Home Evening was instituted.

Husbands Ahoy!

     A while ago I wrote that I was looking for a husband.  Well, I'm still looking for a husband, so if you like me you guys out there, don't give up...(years later)...I found a fabulous husband, so it just goes to show prayer works, coz I prayed an in detail prayer for one and his name is Allan.

Girl In A Birdcage - Part Two (conclusion)

     She flew away through the bars of the cage.
                                                                                       The End
                                                                                     

Girl In A Birdcage

     Once upon a time, there was a girl from Lithuania who came across on the boat to Canada.  She was full of hope for the future.  One of her hopes was that she would make a living, and another hope was that she would marry and have children.  (Another hope was that she would go to heaven, and we will get to that later.)
      She sang in concerts at colleges, songs she had written herself and enjoyed some popularity.  She met a man called Stonehead who liked her and she thought perhaps he was her man.  He certainly phoned her often enough.  He took her out on a date and another and another.  She made him casseroles to put in his freezer for when he was sick, as he didn't like to cook a lot and really didn't like to cook when he was under the weather.  He took her skiing and hiking as they both loved the outdoors, and they had many an apres-ski party with fondue, just like his mother had when she came to Canada.  The girl took him to see her Ma and Pa and they got married.
      He put her in a giant birdcage for safekeeping and went away on a business trip.  After a while her nuts and seeds ran out and she had nothing to eat but moths which flew into her cage.  She sang and kept herself amused for a while and he came home and gave her more nuts and seeds.
      She said, "This is the pits.  I wonder what I can do to get out of here."
      So you see children,  just because a relationship has a good beginning before marriage, doesn't necessarily mean that the marriage will go well once you're in it, so the best thing to do is pray before you get married to know if this person is the right one for you!  It would be happier if you did it that way anyway.
                                                                                   More later

My Most Embarrassing Moment This Week

     I went into town to do some errands, to go to the bank and buy knitting needles, yarn and a knitting pattern.  On the way there I had to stand in the hot sun for about forty-five minutes waiting for a bus as I had just missed one, and worried that I would have sun-stroke.  When I reached town on the bus I went straightaway and bought a fruit smoothie so I wouldn't die of thirst.
      Well, I was walking near an intersection with lots of cars around, trying to drink my smoothie, but nothing almost would come out of the straw.  Unfortunately, some of it came out in one big splat on my face and my blouse.  

Raisins

     I love having raisins in the house because you can make things out of them.  I mix them up with nuts and put them in Baklava. 
     I love sewing.  I recently sewed two sets of armchair arm covers from a pattern I made myself :D  .  I love the freedom sewing gives you, to make what you want. 
     I love all kinds of things like the library, the art galleries, the museums, attending the ballet, classical music concerts, the theatre.  I like how the Netherlands has so many museums including the Rijks Museum, where you can see the art by Rembrandt van Rijn.  I'm sure many other places have oodles of museums too, but I've enjoyed visiting museums in the Netherlands and England and North America and Italy and France. 
     I like it when theatre companies do children's theatre, like the Mermaid Theatre in England.  I think the world of the theatre is fascinating.

The Big Attraction For Me Of Burns Lake When I Lived There...

     The big attraction for me of Burns Lake, when I lived there, was the snow!  I loved the lifestyle of cozy living indoors in the long winter, nurturing my growing family, while other folks went on with their lives outside.  The children and I had so much fun homeschooling using the Konos method :D
     My children pretended they were Aboriginal people wearing wolf skins, hunting buffalo, when we studied about the different tribes of Aboriginal people.  While this wasn't in the Konos curriculum, they were certainly entering into the spirit of things.  When we studied birds, we made a bird table outside our picture window.  My toddler grew so loving towards the birds that when I took him out for a walk attached to my back, he was attentively looking up into the sky to see if some were coming.  When we studied the instruments of the orchestra, my daughter's paintings of orchestral instruments covered the walls of our cabin.  My children also happened to think studying Konos was hilarious!

People

I'm grateful for people who make themselves look nice,
For people who can whip up a meal in a thrice,
I'm grateful for people who live in the country,
For those who are pleasant and make life lovely.
I'm grateful for the dancers, writers of medieval romances,
For the farmers and knitters and midwives and keepers of beehives,
And oh what a lot of nice people there are out there.

the world is a beautiful place

the world is a beautiful place.
i'm grateful for my time on earth.
my family is healthy,
not wealthy,
but wise,
and i am happy.

That's all for now, folks!

we feasted at the park

we feasted at the park
on blueberries, sausages and PANCAKES.
syrup dripped from our lips.
now we're over our feasts,
home again,
enjoying a day together.

song of the second fan

i am so weary of whirring round.
won't you please give me a break?

song of the second fly

i am resting
from my 40 miles flight today.
please don't swat me or i'll die.
i've heard about you
and your killing of poor innocent flies
who do no harm other than spreading germs!

Saint Paul's cathedral

when i worked at an art gallery
in london,
i used to go into Saint Paul's cathedral
before work
and ponder
what to do with my life.
i felt some change
was needed.

i found the way
to the Mormon Church
and joined - hurrah!

the art room at the mental asylum

the art room at the mental asylum
is a healing place,
a place full of love
and light,
full of possibility
and grandeur.
i painted a gondola
and they let me out
of the mental asylum.

a man in greece

a man in greece
wrote to me
and sent me
postcard art
and greeting card art
of the ancient synagogue in hania, crete.
so now i have a friend in greece.

the swiss alps

swiss alpine air.
breathe it in
and yodel.

how my sister and i ran away from home when we were little

my sister and i ran away from home when we were little
but we didn't run far - just to the next door neighbour's house.
we played with their toys until
our distraught mother
came to get us.
i've been looking for you everywhere, she said,
and the police are out looking for you.

seville

i loved the giralda of seville:
the minaret of the mosque,
so ornate and stately,
turned into the bell-tower
of the cathedral.
i walked around it
feeling love for the sculpture.
it inspired me to go home
and do art in my hotel room.

the dog poem

my owner threw a ball for me.
i'm chasing it the best i can,
but i don't know where to,
as it seems that he is going to catch it himself!

(Illustration made out of modelling clay.)

when i was sixteen

when i was sixteen
i went to italy
to the uffizi gallery
with the school crew
on summer school
to see the sights again.
my soul was filled with wonder
as i was left to ponder
on the making of the paintings
and the sculptures
as i shared lunches
in the market
with my good friend from brazil.

kindness overwhelms me

what shall i write for the next line?
i asked God.
write it yourself!  you've got a degree,
He said.
funny things happen to me
all day long,
but it's the kindness that overwhelms me.

Jesus said love everyone,
but so many kind people
aren't even Christian.
isn't that a refreshing world
where kindness is so widespread.

blog days, not dog days

highlights of life,
written on the web,
help me be grateful.

prince charming

prince charming has a temper.
i never knew.
i should be terrified of him, i thought,
but i'm not.
i think he's funny.

the black beret poetry festival

the dutch cousins

the dutch cousins came over from holland.
they gave me a gift,
a blank book
with the word "poesie" on the cover.
i marvelled over this.
do you seriously mean to tell me,
i thought,
that i get to write poetry?
the world is better than i thought.

Homeschooling Finds

     I find that homeschooling is a pleasure with a sofa, a bread machine (ours worked very hard, making two loaves a day some days) , a slow cooker, an answering machine and, especially if you have a new baby, a dishwasher.

Delightful Homeschooling

     My mother homeschooled me for one summer in Math.  She gave me the curriculum which was written on cards and told me to go to it while she had her nap each afternoon.   Each time I finished a card I felt I had accomplished something and mentally congratulated myself.   I was able to learn at my own pace, which is what I find so delightful about homeschooling, among other things.  I received straight A's the semester afterwards at school, even though I was two years behind the other students in starting school, as I had been living in Sweden where children do not start grade school until age seven, and then I had moved to England.

Summer Days

     I enjoyed working as a Camp Counselor at the Jewish Community Centre when I was young.  They were kind to me and made me feel at home.  There were lots of things I liked about it, but one thing I liked a lot was that there was no backbiting.

The Sea Beggars And The Siege Of Leiden

     The siege of Leiden happened in the Netherlands in 1573 and 1574.  The Spanish were trying to capture the Dutch city of Leiden.  The Dutch rebel fleet was known as the Sea Beggars.  They lay down in flat-bottomed barges, arriving just as the city was starving and fed the people of Leiden with white bread and herring.