The Quintessential Love Story

After we enjoyed our yummy cream scones last night, I pulled out the laptop and settled back for a good movie. It's one I won't be forgetting for a while. And in 1994 millions of others felt the same.

Forrest Gump seemed to come along right when we needed it. I heard about the movie before seeing it because radio hosts kept up a running commentary. The theatrical previews were intriguing and made us curious, so we finally got a babysitter. For 142 minutes I sat mesmerized, and it has stayed with me ever since.

This really is the quintessential love story, far better than the Love Story that hit movie theaters in 1969 (which Al Gore said was really about him). But no politician would claim to be the source material for Forrest Gump - an I.Q. of 75, leg braces and no obvious bright future. 

This is all coming back to me now because of seeing it again, smiling and laughing to beat the band, and feeling the sad bits too. The likability for me has to be in the love and loyalty between the characters. Forrest and his mama. Forrest and Jenny. Forrest and Bubba. Forrest and Lieutenant Dan. Each of these is a story in itself, but the thread that holds it all together is that of Jenny.

     Jenny finds Forrest at the Reflecting Pool

Their friendship begins simply because she says he can sit next to her on the school bus. And in a way, that bus ride just never ends. She tries to escape it sometimes, but Forrest is still always there, waiting and faithful. And she comes back.

I guess we would all like to meet someone like Forrest. Someone whose innocence remains unchanged, however much it might be laughed at. Someone whose personality and kindness overshadows their deficits. 

I suppose we could become that sort of person, maybe. I suppose instead of wishing we knew more people like that, we could be people like that. 

Because I guess you don't need a low I.Q. to keep your integrity. 

 https://www.flickr.com/photos/fingershutter/1330116754/

See you along the way!
the SconeLady


BTW - I saw lots of reviews of this movie, in 1994. Everyone had an opinion and everyone thought they were right. One reviewer called the film "a baby-boomer version of Disney's America." Another said, "What a magical movie". 

I stand with the second reviewer.



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The Joy of Baking Cream Scones

I just can't wait another day to taste a scone. Yesterday we did a massive shop in honor of my S.I.L.'s Yummy Breakfast Granola and some of the other meals she made for us. One of the things I brought home was heavy whipping cream. This heavy whipping cream is lurking in the refrigerator and is not destined to stay there very long. I am heading in now to use it in a scone recipe I found on joyofbaking.com

Stephanie Jaworski        joyofbaking.com

This is her recipe:

Whisk together:

   2 cups (260g) flour

   1/4 cup (50g) granulated white sugar

   2 teaspoons baking powder

   1/4 teaspoon salt (if you are using salted butter, omit this ingredient)

Add:

   5 tablespoons (75g) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

Use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the dry ingredients (you can do it with your fingertips or two knives if you don't have a pastry cutter). Do this until the butter is in really small pieces. 

Whisk together:

   1/2 cup (120ml) cream (light or heavy)

   whisk in one large egg

   1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour in the milk mixture, and fold together gently with a rubber spatula. Don't handle the dough too much because you want a light flaky scone. When the flour is all mixed in, form a 7" (18cm) circle of dough about 1.5" thick on lightly floured surface. For round scones, use a 3" (7cm) cookie cutter. You can also cut across to make triangle shapes.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and place the scones 2 inches apart. I ended up with 7 scones for this recipe.

Brush the tops with cream, or with an egg & cream mixture. Bake in 375F for 15 - 20 minutes or until golden. 

They just came out of the oven, and ok, there is one confession: I forgot to brush the tops with cream or egg. Sad! I wondered why they didn't brown very brownly. But to make up for it, we had lovely whipped cream piled on and therefore spared not one thought regarding browning or confessions or mistakes. 

I'm going to tell it to you straight, that these are among the lightest and flakiest scones ever made in the SconeTherapy kitchens. Might be the cream. Friend Rosie's scones are still in a class by themselves right up there at the top, but these Cream Scones have a clear spot nearby.

There were two of us in the kitchen tonight, sampling. And may I say? What a superior way to end the day!

I highly recommend it.


See you along the way!
the SconeLady

Recipe and youtube video by Stephanie Jaworski

http://www.joyofbaking.com/scones.html

Maybe I'm Just a Foodie

The SconeLady of course loves and is attracted to many foods, not just to scones. She scouts out possibilities to cook/bake/broil/barbecue and serve to her smart and funny husband. Today's ideas didn't come from the SconeLady herself, but from a great lady whose cooking abilities are Legend. And I am inspired.

Sisters-in-law are a fabulous commodity especially if they love one's brother deeply AND want to be friends with his sisters. When my S.I.L. came into our lives, we immediately saw that he had struck gold. She was the cutest darling thing. Her clothes. Her hair! A perfect girl of the 1960s - and our brother was smitten (please see the post from February 9: 'The Backdrop of a Beatles Song'). 

These patterns are close in style to what my S.I.L. wore:

We stayed with them last week (she is just as cute as ever) and were served the most delicious food. It is what propelled me into a fever pitch of cooking today. 

My first favorite S.I.L. recipe is for her Yummy Breakfast Granola. It is everyone's top fave. And I made it today! We will dig into it tomorrow morning and I can hardly wait. Here is is:

YUMMY 

BREAKFAST 

GRANOLA

1/2 cup butter
1/2cup honey
1tsp vanilla
2 cups oatmeal (quick or old fashioned)
2 cups total cereal
1 cup sunflower seeds
3/4 cup sesame seeds (I never add these mainly because I just never think to buy them)
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup cashews (I usually add more)
1/2cup flaked coconut

Heat butter, honey and vanilla in large sauce pan. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.  Spread on a large cookie sheet (I sometimes spread them on more than one pan). Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden.  I usually bake at a lower temp for a longer period of time stirring once or twice to keep the raisins from "burning".  Cool and remove from pan.  Enjoy.

Even buying the ingredients was fun because I knew what the end result would be. And if you double the recipe as I did, you will have enough mixture to bake three pans worth of deliciousness! Any self-respecting Foodie would swoon.

Meals together around a table - aren't they a privilege? I think that was the best part. All the talking and eating, the laughing and catching up. Oh, and one more:

The loving.

See you along the way!

the SconeLady

The Sweetest Interruption

I was watching a lady baking scones on youtube when all of a sudden a FaceTime request was made and - bing! - a daughter and three small blondes appeared on a screen. As much as the SconeLady loves scones and wishes to eat them, the sight of the kiddies drove all such thoughts from my head.

As always, the FaceTime began calmly, almost dignifiedly as the 2 year old showed us his books of planets and snakes. He showed us that he was wearing 'big boy pants' instead of a diaper. He smiled and joked and generally had control of the situation whilst sitting on his mother's lap.

But suddenly there was an irratic phone movement and the SconeLady could not detect just what was happening. Someone else was in control. After that, things began to pick up and the pace was swift. There was bouncing. There was running! There were squeals of laughter. And the 2 year old with his planets and snakes and underwear were no more.

The small girl was wearing (of course) a pink princess dress, which was super pretty on her. There is no doubt that high heels were in the vicinity. The 6 year old's face flashed quickly past. We were shown closeup shots of noses, ears, tongues, and foreheads, but in such quick succession that we were not just sure which or whose head was being represented. They were all blond, so it's anyone's guess.

The pretty mother expressed an interest regarding bedtime. But it was such fun to watch the action that I'm afraid the grandparents weren't being very helpful. Finally all of us decided it was time to finish and go to bed, only no one wanted to press the 'end' button. So we had a round of photo taking whilst trying to get all four of them into one shot. The results here are evidence of a luxury, for us - the upward spike of a Bell Curve in our lives, here in this sweet woodland cabin.

In a word, the best.

So - ok now, what was I doing before I was so sweetly interrupted? Oh yes. The Joy of Baking cream scones, which of course the SconeLady dearly adores. But somehow the sight of cream scones on youtube doesn't quite have the same pull.

Thank you, Steve Jobs! I'll take FaceTime any day.


See you along the way!
the SconeLady

End of One, Beginning of Another (part 16)

Now that I'm thinking about it, I take back what I said about John Denver just now! We all loved his music (at least I think we all did). After posting last night, I sat and listened to Follow Me, which took me right back to the fun and the innocence of 1974. I think it must be like that for our mother when she hears something like Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.

The 1970s were such a surprising phenomenon, following the 60's Rock and Roll, long hair, weed, acid, hippies, free love, and campus protests/fires/bombings. The 70s turned a corner almost immediately, just as soon as 1969 could become 1970.

I'm not sure if all my dear Readers will know, or have even heard as much of Mr. Denver as the SconeLady has. But try these - they are just a few of the songs he created and sang that wafted out from radios almost every single day of the 70s:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/wordman/5190617692/

• Take Me Home, Country Roads (1971)
• You Fill Up My Senses ('Annie's Song', 1974)
• Leaving On A Jet Plane (covered by Peter, Paul, and Mary) 1969
• Sunshine On My Shoulders (1971)
• Rocky Mountain High (1974)
• Thank God I'm A Country Boy (1974)
• Follow Me (1970)
• The Eagle and the Hawk (1972)
• Calypso (1975)

There are so many more. But these, I recognize as tunes that became wildly famous and are immediately recognizable. They are the ones that bring it all back, in an instant.

And I'm sorry but not everyone was a fan. A few notable instances are:

• His CMA Entertainer of the Year award was actually burned on stage by the presenter! (I think Charlie Rich was mad about not having won it himself). 

• John Denver and Jerry Weintraub used to be best friends but John was thrown out of Jerry's office and called a Nazi because John quit Jerry's management company. 

•  'Annie's Song' was written for his first wife Annie, and we all thought how sweet it was to write something like that for your wife, but John almost choked her to death when he learned the extent of their divorce settlement. Hmm. It must have been a doozy.

But I think most people knew him as an icon of American music, and one of the world's biggest selling recording artists. The Guild Jumbo F-50 guitar you see on this page is my own favorite guitar. The two of them together made some pretty spectacular stuff, right up until his death in a plane crash in 1997. 

But the songs will remain on, and we won't forget them.

So kiss me and smile for me,

Tell me that you'll wait for me,

Hold me like you'll never let me go.

I'm leavin' on a jet plane,

Don't know when I'll be back again.

Oh babe, I hate to go.

Copyright J.Denver, 1969

But I'll see you along the way!

the SconeLady

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End of One, Beginning of Another (part 15)

(Please see part 14 of this current series, for the back-story)

That 'candlelight circle' had been so sweet! The newly engaged girl so happy. But I hadn't been on a date in two years. Don't get me wrong, the SconeLady could have had any number of dates, any number of times! She was just at a self-imposed distance from it all.

Ok, there had been possibilities. Young and honest men with high hopes for a future. But not just the Right One, so - no ring yet, and no 'candlelight circle' for me.

Walking into Coed Cottage one day in September, absently thinking about some paper that was due, I came upon a friend chatting with someone named Thomas. She introduced us. I really needed to get to that paper, but...we all talked about something he must have thought significant, because that night he called. The girl who answered the phone ran up to me, all a-flutter: "OH! It's a BOY, for you on the PHONE. Hurry!" But what on earth could he want? 

I was astonished, because what he wanted was a 'date' (do they call them that, now?).

That was sure quick, and I couldn't think what to say on such short notice. So I said 'yes.'

https://www.flickr.com/photos/thejcgerm/5478298604/

We were to go to dinner, but first he wanted to know if I had heard his favorite song, "Follow Me" by John Denver? Denver had just performed it on the Johnny Carson show, said Thomas, and he couldn't get it out of his mind.

No, I hadn't heard it yet, but that didn't matter because Thomas had it on his 8-track tape player (for the uninitiated, that is an ancient tape deck most cars had in the 60s and 70s). He pushed 'play', and sang it to me along with John Denver:

Follow Me

Follow me, where I go, what I do and who I know.

Make it part of you to be a part of me.

Follow me up and down, all the way and all around.

Take my hand, and say you'll follow me.

-copyright J. Denver 1970

Ok, so you can check it out on youtube or Wikipedia for the rest. And it was sweet, it really was. It was so complimentary to have someone sing such a thing to you. Two years after the self-imposed moratorium on dating, it felt pretty nice. But - so soon? 'Take my hand and say you'll follow me'?? So very, very soon?

         https://www.flickr.com/photos/brizzlebornandbred/11645555664/

It was confusing because I thought there was meant to be a sort of friendship first, then comradeship and of course love, and perhaps the broaching of the topic of a future. But I got it almost all in one go, first date.

This, and the fact that my own feelings had not yet 'followed' his, made me reluctant. Couldn't we just be friends? But, alas, this was not what he had in mind and it caused the most dreadful row, in the end. 

So, I scurried once again to the 'no more dates' plan. It was late fall of 1974 now, and what with classes and papers and friends, the idea of Mr. Right sort of faded.

Still, all of this had made me a bit wistful, and I remembered the girls in Fiddler On The Roof, wondering - 'Is there a canopy in store for me?...'

I hoped so. As long as John Denver didn't come into it.


See you along the way!
the SconeLady


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The Shoes of the Fisherman

Sometimes we make things way too complicated, and we need someone to help us simplify. The very words we say when trying to make sense of it all, distract us away from the solutions. I have been thinking of how we pass this off with the phrase, "It's complicated", as if that alone will make others understand, and back away.

Loved ones invited us, last night, to view one of the greater films. We made kettle corn, grabbed up our lap blankets, turned down the lights, and set in. This was a long film, but oh-so-worth every single line of every single scene. The film is called The Shoes of the Fisherman. 

We were taken to far away Siberia, where for 20 years a Catholic Archbishop had been condemned to work in the desolate Gulag. The story describes the priest's surprising release and eventual arrival at the Vatican, as a Cardinal. I do not wish to issue an 'alert', and then spoil the movie for you here. So the plot will remain vague for now. 

                     https://www.flickr.com/photos/gmacorig/240716807/

But what I am most thinking of is a conversation I would like to share with you. It is between this priest and a woman doctor in Rome, whose husband may be seeing someone else. This woman doctor runs into the Priest, asks him for help with a dying patient, and sees that he is no ordinary man; no ordinary priest. In a moment of candor, she says,

"Why is my marriage like this? is it wrong for a woman to have a job? is it because we haven’t got any children? Is it because we both live away from our own countries?  And the answer to why my marriage is like this is just, my marriage is like this. We seem to be given our roles. I’m this sort of wife... And what does the man in the long robe say to all of that?"

"Oh, the man in the long robes would have to put it to a pontifical counsel and study the ramifications. But the man inside those robes would have noticed that in all you’ve said, you never mentioned the word ‘love’."

"Do you mean I don’t love him? or I do?"

"Oh I can’t say that, nobody can. There is only one area to search, and, if love is mislaid, where did you see it last? And if you can’t remember, maybe there was no love in the first place."

"Oh - there was."

"Then it is mislaid. and you must find it."

See you along the way!

the SconeLady

https://www.flickr.com/photos/oter/5093781709/

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End of One, Beginning of Another (part 14)

It was April 1974, and nothing in the world is as good as an Oregon spring. Flowers literally competed with one another for space and color and beauty, tumbling around the campus in a profusion. Students came up out of the stupor of winter term and cracked a few smiles. Wherever you went radios blared with the ABBA song 'Waterloo', which had just won the EuroVision song contest. After the 10th straight day of this, we rebelled and shut down our radios (we wanted The Carpenters).

What fun it was to walk from class to Coed Cottage, where girls lounged around watching the door and shouting at whoever came through it. There was always something good being made in the kitchen, and we would hover in the vicinity to perhaps catch a taste. Not always totally delicious, but - satisfying.

I was delighted with it all. Comeraderie, and laughter, and the borrowing of clothes. And phone calls! 

One evening soon after I arrived, we were told to gather in the living room at 9:00 p.m. Something important was afoot! The girls sat on the floor in a circle in the near darkness, waiting quietly. There was an expectancy in the room and soon, someone softly began to sing the lovely melody of 'Tell Me Why The Stars Do Shine'.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jalalspages/842122500/

A single candle was passed slowly around as we all sang. When the candle came to me, I saw an engagement ring on the candle holder - someone was getting engaged! But who? I didn't know, of course, and I don't really think anyone else did either. Such secrets were guarded impressively. The candle went once, twice around the circle until suddenly, someone blew it out to the immediate shrieks of the girls. A Senior girl sat holding the ring, laughing and crying at the same time.

The joy was so palpable that not one person in that room could think of anything but having that song sung for you in the candlelight. Boys. Friends. Dates. Engagements. Weddings!!! 

For the first time, I began to wonder when this would happen for me. Would it happen? Was that one man anywhere near where I was sitting at that moment?

Well. Little did I know..


See you along the way!
the SconeLady






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The Quintessential Revenge Story

Do you know this place, dear Readers? Have you heard the tragic/triumphant story of Edmond Dantes? If you have not, you have something absorbing to look forward to. The Count of Monte Cristo.

             Chateau D'if
https://www.flickr.com/photos/a-herzog/5189891159/
It is a story we may well hope would never be our own. One of great love, but also great betrayal. In it there was a seemingly loyal, Chess loving friend. But because of greed and envy, that friend betrayed a trust unrighteously; and that betrayal brought confinement for Edmond in the treacherous Chateau D'if. For 13 years. While the betraying friend married Edmond's beloved.

But (for most of us anyway) we are not going to be betrayed, and we will not be sent to a place like this one. 

However, Edmond Dantes was a sweet and trusting man. Believing the words of certain people was the first step downward, which led to his eventual imprisonment. Not a nice prison with built-in air conditioning or television or the Internet. Not so much as a flush toilet. No, there was only desolation and horror awaiting Edmond. 

And then! you will need to read this great book, to find out! Or, hey - there are always the movie versions. Tonight, loved ones invited us to view one of these, and we were moved by it. Besides the sword fighting, the horse riding, the treasure hunting, and paternity questioning, the best parts were the loyalties. The Priest who loved him like a father (my favorite person!). The ship's captain who saved the Count as he dragged himself from the sea; the friend who owed his own life to the Count; the long lost son who found loyalty in the nick of time. In the end, this is what we all go back to, over and over again:

Family. It's what Counts.


See you along the way!
the SconeLady

https://www.flickr.com/photos/flippoker/6801501549/

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End of One, Beginning of Another (part 13)

1974, continued..

A very sweet reader had asked me, upon reading part 12, "So. Were they mice?"

Mice. Umm, no. My actual response was, "Haha! I wish."

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tonythemisfit/3099800070/

Then, 'Ding!' A new message: "So, what were they?" I had tried not to be too graphic about the 'nighttime visitants'  in my post, but began to suspect that I not been graphic enough. You will need to read part 12 and make your own decision on that (April 3). 

"Men. They were men." Enough said. The nighttime 'visitants' were men, calling on my roommate. And things had not been very easy, and now I was finding another spot.

I think probably many college students run into situations like this. Two roommates. Different opinions on the morality stuff. No more quiet nights. More like, nights shut into one's room, trying to study (I hope I'm not being too graphic).

No, it isn't easy.

So she and I met again, in the kitchen of the house on 10th Street. I had left it three days before - just long enough to find another living situation and gather my courage. 

My roommate was very nice, and very smart. In fact? a great student. Our two lives had never really meshed but we had made friends and gone from September to April without major catastrophe. But the situation had become a sort of dividing line between us. 

And so we talked honestly, which is just about the best thing you can do when life is messy. At some point during the honesty, the latest young man arrived, and we heard the footsteps as he ascended to our apartment. She and I looked at each other. "Should we tell him why I'm moving out?" I whispered.

"Yes, we'd better. He has been wondering where you went."

So we did. More honesty, and more explanations. The surprising thing is that both of them asked me why I would ever choose not to live the way they were living. They hadn't known another way, they said. This new way was shared, and when I left they were looking at me in a new way. Not convinced, but - thoughtful.

In the end, I took my things and my bicycle (after a tearful goodbye to the gracious landlords - "We wish you would stay!" they grieved), and was ushered into the new abode. Coed Cottage! Right on the campus, a place filled with young women who did not think a Sorority would quite fit them. They were sweet. They were open. They became my friends!

It's easy to despair, when nights are long and confusing. But then something new comes, and you can be the happier for it.

In the meantime, it was bliss to be in a place where no one - neither mice nor men - would be coming up the back stairs after dark.

See you along the way!

the SconeLady

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Happy Easter!

It was a tradition, going all the way back to 1982. Easter baskets. They started out pretty simply, with just a few small bits of candy and perhaps a bunny. Later, the baskets produced anything from Starbursts to Cadbury's Creme Eggs, or even those paddle thingies with a ball attached with elastic - which always broke off right away (and then the child whose paddle thingie broke would want the other child's paddle thingie, and.. you get the drift).

But whatever it was, the kids loved getting an Easter basket. I tried to include a cross, perhaps made of chocolate or marshmallow. I could always find a cross, and it made the inevitable discussion have focus. Realizing there are bunnies, and eggs, and chocolate, but that they are peripheral. 

This morning the tradition continued, as it always has, and probably always will. The young mother taking time earlier in the week to seek out bits and pieces for three loving Easter baskets. The three small blondies know the Theme, as did their mother back then when she sat at the kitchen table and peered into her basket.

We were not physically together this time, but through the magic of digital photo sharing we almost were. There is something to be said for 'Virtual reality', I am learning.

Dear Readers, I hope your Easter was a lovely day of family, and food, and especially focus. Although we were 1,000 miles from our children and out-of-state family, there were 3 other small fry with whom we spent today. Little ones who are getting to know the Theme bit by bit; little ones who will one day share it, in earnestness and love, with their children. 

"We love Him, because He first loved us." -1 John 4:19

https://www.flickr.com/photos/upyernoz/2819155661/

I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me.

And purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree.

I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow,

If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

William R. Featherston, 1864

(Public Domain)

He is risen indeed.

See you along the Way!

the SconeLady

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The Passion

You can't really see it, but through those windows shone the Three Sisters, mountains beloved by everyone in this sweet woodland town. The folk you see are some of those who gathered, to remember. You might say they were passionate about it. 

Each year at this time, we also try to see some of the movies that have been made about the Easter story. Sometimes it has been The Greatest Story Ever Told, or The Robe (excellent, both). For me today it was The Passion of the Christ (2004). It is not an easy thing to watch (but should such a thing ever be?). Everything else sort of fades as you look, your discomforts dissolving as you see the ultimate Discomfort unfolding for you. 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/100392349@N05/9561271054/

(Of course, the Book itself the best spot to read the real dialogue, and find your questions answered. The later chapters of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are clear and precise, lacking in nothing.) 

And thank you for reading! It is lovely to have friends from all over the globe, stopping by, checking in, touching base even though we may be thousands of miles apart.

And we eagerly await Sunday! 

See you along the way!

the SconeLady

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Good Friday

Greater Love Hath No Man Than This 

It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice said, "Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit!" And having said this he breathed his last. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, "Certainly this man was innocent!" And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. And all His acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things.

-Luke 23:44 - 49

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All over this world tonight, people are gathering to remember. No one who has been touched by it could ever forget. They will walk, drive, bicycle, or find public transportation, to be together and remember. 

Our daughter tells us today that her children want to talk about it. Want to hear, to share, to listen all about it. Easter. It is all so fascinating. They have recognized it isn't about chocolate or eggs or bunnies. They know it is about something so much more astonishing than bunnies. They sense a gravity about it, today; but this will change, gloriously, come Sunday. 

Their mother called today 'Good Friday'. "But that's terrible!" said the 6 year old. "It should be called 'Terrible Friday!'" And I certainly see his point. But we call it Good because of the wonderful thing done on that one terrible day. Provision for the sins of the world. 

(Sins? you ask. Yes, and if ever we don't think we have any, we must just wait five minutes. Or ask our husband..)

And so, we remember. I shall think of the words within the four gospels; descriptions of what took place this 'terrible' Friday. And of the song below, aptly written and shared by someone who was touched by all of this, and will never forget.

See you along the Way.

How deep the Father's love for us, how vast beyond all measure

That He should give His only Son, to make a wretch His treasure.

How great the pain of searing loss, the Father turns His face away,

As wounds which mar the Chosen One bring many sons to glory.

Behold, the Man upon the cross, my sin upon His shoulders

Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers.

It was my sin that held Him there, until it was accomplished.

His dying breath has brought me Life, I know that 'it is finished'.

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I will not boast in anything, no gifts, no power no wisdom,

But I will boast in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection.

Why should I gain from His reward? I do not have an answer.

But this I know with all my heart: His wounds have paid my Ransom.

©1995 Kingsway's Thankyou Music 

Words and Music by Stuart Townend 

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Red Raspberry Scones in this Sweet Woodland Cabin

On a recent trip to World Market (my new favorite place) I discovered a few scone mixes that might be helpful, in a pinch. The SconeLady is not above using a scone mix, although it may shock some to hear of it. I find it a little bit shocking myself. But I have been served these scones before and was not at all dissatisfied. 

I picked out the Red Raspberry and Original Recipe scone mixes to try. They are made by Sticky Fingers Bakery: 'Quick & Easy! Just add water, mix, and bake!' I had to hand it to the Sticky Fingers folks. It was quick. It was easy. It was less than five minutes to mix, roll, and pop into the hot oven. Wow.

Why is World Market my new favorite place? Well, the years spent in England acclimated us to certain food stuffs, which we gave up reluctantly upon our return. These food stuffs were not easily findable, here. And I looked hard. 

In California, my sister told me about a sweet place called 'All Things Bright And British'. Have you ever been there, dear Readers? I loved it. One could find British teas, fresh scones served properly, digestive biscuits, custard mix, Cadbury Chocolate bars, teapots and so on. You could literally pretend you had gone back.

But then the store closed, and I was bereft. The advent of World Market meant I was rescued and have loved them for it ever since.

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Some thoughts on this latest scone-venture:

• These scones tasted delicious! I served them to myself with butter, my M-I-L's homemade strawberry jam, and real whipped cream.

• The Red Raspberry scones came out of the oven about 9 minutes later than the mix suggested (they said 12 - 15 minutes, and mine were ready in 23. It could be the oven). 

• The actual height of the scones was a bit unimpressive. You will see below that they did not raise to the dizzying heights of those from The Little Book of Scones, by All'Scone.  

• Eating scones with oneself is not as satisfying as eating them with someone else. 

The real advantage of the Sticky Fingers scone mix is speed and convenience. And why should we not have speed and convenience? (I ask you). Some days you deserve to have a sweet and British treat without the wait. Dig in! But don't forget the cream.

See you along the way!

the SconeLady

Never forget the cream

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