Friday, October 18, 2019

Autumn Supper Hour (or ten minutes ;-)

 It takes a  lot longer to make a meal appear than disappear, huh?!!

I would like to start a what's-for-supper weekly post.
and the plan was to do it last night but that didn't work out
so here it is, the morning after...

I got a Pampered Chef pizza stone recently and finally had a chance to try it out! YUM!!
(google a pizza dough recipe that works into your time-frame) 
Also, had to settle for cheddar cheese instead of mozzerella because I didn't have any on hand. 
(Pizza is one of the most versatile foods I can think of!)
With the leftover pizza dough I made a few cheese rolls so we had the option of rolls or pizza with bean soup I prepared earlier in the day after cooking a ham bone the day before.
Skim fat then to the broth I added in proportion to pot and broth-batch-size,
a lot of thinly sliced onions, thinly sliced cabbage, some chopped celery, 
precooked black beans and navy beans, a handful of chopped parsley, 
a hefty pinch of black pepper and some bay leaves...
(for extra flavour I added a few envelopes of onion soup mix as well.)
I would love to know what extra seasonings would work 
with this combination so that I can keep it 'pure'!
(I added no salt because ham broth and soup mix is salty)
Add water, in proportion to batch size for desired flavour and consistency.

The delight of the supper crowd, (aka Matt and Victoria) was SO worth the effort!
Made supper feel like a simple celebration for a work day completed...well almost. 
(there's always the cleanup after.)

this is what yesterday's day-end felt like...

The rush of rain has eased; the trees bedazzled with its gems
Blue and gray weave a brooding blanket tossed across the day
The colours of October flare and dim on wooden stems
As twilight layers deepen and fold outdoor worlds away

Suppertime, like a simple celebration, warms and cheers
The lights of home beckon and draw our weary loved ones back
The Thing that turns us older as it spins laughter and tears
Is sweeter round a table where dusk trails night’s veil of black

…and makes us count the simple blessings that haste overlooks
It wakes a wordless hymn where time is both tender and brusque
And stirs an ache for pages sealed in fond echo-bound books
Yet makes us more aware of what slips through us dusk by dusk

The day is gathered in; darkness harvests earth's gold and red
We bow our heads in gratitude where swift the seasons roll
Thankful that Time slows down a bit in bowls of soup with bread
As supper’s simple celebration warms body and soul

© Janet Martin

After watching some pizza-dough-tossing videos I decided I'd like to learn to toss it like a pro!
Ha-ha! practice is required if you don't want to look like a snowman! 

Here is one video to teach the art of tossing a pizza crust
(note; some say never use a rolling pin to roll out the crust but rather just press with your hands)
I've tried both ways and the pizza disappears regardless! 😉




  

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Perfect Timing


 Sometimes the thing that is most prayer-consuming seems to fall on deaf ears.
My devotions the past few days, in perfect timing 
remind us they do not!



Sometimes we seek but cannot find
We knock but no one opes the door
Then we who are answer-inclined
Wonder what we are praying for

The hardest part, for you and I
When waiting is misunderstood
Is to believe that God’s reply
Is always working for our good

The scope of God we can perceive
Is but a glimpse at very best
Hope is the courage to believe
While faith is enduring the test

Then keep on seeking; knock once more
Yield self to God, then pray and pray
The answer we are waiting for
Is His perfect timing away

© Janet Martin






Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Sentimental...or Autumn After Dark





Melancholy murmur moves
through woodland’s waning roof
Wind, now wild and overbearing,
now a child, aloof
Summer, sweet, sweet summer,
like a flower-filled mirage
Flickers in the rustle
of fall’s colorful collage

An essence broods, torn between
 the pleasure and the price
Seeking affirmation but
receiving sage advice
Earth is like a festival
 decked in nature’s pizazz
Autumn yards and boulevards
like bars of bluesy jazz

And all of it together chills
 and thrills me to the bone
Like listening to Kenny
on an alto saxophone
I’ll take the ache of farewell
for the sake of hello
Break my heart but linger longer, love,
before you go

Leave me, oh, but leave me wiser
than the morn we met
Grant me the memento
of a day I can’t forget
Let me blush beneath the kiss
you brush upon my brow
Let me be the girl that some think
Time un-twirled somehow

River is a ribbon
of metallic ebony
Carries little leaf-boat
to uncharted destiny
Rain-song stipples puddles,
strums the merlot maple arc
Composing a melody
of autumn after dark

© Janet Martin

If We But Ask

No matter how much we brace ourselves for what we might face we are fitted only as we need it!
Sometimes it's comforting to visualize His nail-scarred Hand 
reaching down to hold our so-small hand as we reach up...
It's also comforting to visualize those same hands 
enfolding the rebel/prodigal/atheist as we pray!
(For we still live in the day of grace)



The Hand that lowers twilight’s bars
Then fades yon fathoms filled with stars
As daybreak like a weightless tide
Unfolds the muffled countryside
That tells the season by the shell
That cloaks the woodland, field and dell
And steals the wand’ring, wond’ring gaze
With nature’s invincible ways

That Hand that grants the benison
Whereby plant and harvest is done
That guides the earth’s orbit of teal
That spins upon The Potter’s wheel
That shapes with rise and set of sun
The legacy where said-and-done
When we are stripped down to bare clod
Are too small to shake fists at God

The Hand that weathers mortal glove
By the sheer joy and grief of love
That lends all that He gives and takes
In this go-round of sacred stakes
And instills shoal of dust-to-dust
With soul’s indelible Must
Where none, with rebel set of heart
Can shuck That which sets us apart

This Hand that does not slip or fail
That tunes the wind that fills the sail
That vexes vanity’s intent
And perplexes want’s prideful bent
Has scars left there by hate fulfilled
As He made Heaven possible
This Hand that fits us for trust’s task
Will hold our hand, if we but ask

© Janet Martin


For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you,
 Do not fear; I will help you.
Isa.41:13


 


 



Tuesday, October 15, 2019

We Could Focus On Fear Or...Faith


Let's face it; there are real, legitimate fears but it is futile to make them our focus.
Rather we should take them to God and plead on their behalf!

We could focus on fear that feels like it finds footholds in our gut
We could tremble and sink into doubt and despair’s engulfing rut
When we feel like a vessel lost or leaves tossed on a reckless gale
We could focus on fear or cling to promises that cannot fail

We could focus on what we see rather than Evidence Unseen
Self-pity could cry ‘woe is me’ and pine for ‘not-mine’ pastures green
Unknown, like a blood-thirsty beast could seem to stalk us like doomed prey
And we could be a sorry feast or cling to He who knows/IS The Way

We could focus on what we wish when God’s love leaves our spirits stung
To wrest from faith the size of it; to test the prattle of the tongue
We could focus on fear that paralyzes like a viper’s sting
Or we could fold fear into prayer and just trust God in everything

© Janet Martin