Don’t resist what is …

I zoomed into the Jarvis household today for Valentine's Day.

The heart-felt present to the family was a machine that puts carbonation into water.

A soda streamer of sorts.

This is Catherine’s resistance against people having developed a taste for Perrier water, 3 times a day or so. Catherine had all the flavours, a capful for every liter: apple, peach, peach mango, lemonade, even a flavour called Kool-Aid.

I remember using a machine like this in the 80s at our house. There are all kinds of ways to make water taste just a little bit better.

Ice is one way.

And injecting bubbles into the water is another.

Hebe had spent the morning giving her doll a beautiful new hairdo for church.

Hebe and I talked about the braids on the doll a bit and she showed me the shoes of the doll, which if she taps on the table, lash like those really cool runners.

There's lots of sociability before the our meeting begins, all of us catching up on what's been new in the week.

Eric said is in training to be the editor of a new journal.

That's taking him some time, and effort in a new direction.

George had some reading to do 60 pages in German and then some writing to do. 

Catherine was in the meeting working on the more mundane tasks of the work: folding her wash as she listened in on church.  I think it is OK to bring your washing to church.

We talked a bit about the concept of kindness.  Whenever we do, I am reminded of Lorraine Wright's article, The Kindness of Strangers.  The four- or five-word idea that I take away from that article every time I read it is the phrase 'don't resist what is'. I call that a kindness to self.  If anyone has three or four minutes, and likes to read articles with a personal voice, this one is well worth the read.

Such a loving voice, like having a nice visit with Lorraine Wright. at the end of the meeting.

People seem to be munching on something that looked delicious.

Finally, Kathy Jarvis and I asked what it was.

In a huge bowl on the island were french fries. Now that's a Valentine's Day I would have liked.

I took my hair down to show my braids to Hebe as I was leaving the meeting. I keep them pinned back behind my head because I'm too vain too vain to have people see the hairstyle that I have to use. I still can't reach to the back of my head; I have to do these braids everyday. When I look at myself, I can only think of the words Pippi Longstockings.

Arta

A Cooking Valentine

Photo credit: Moiiya Wood

When I was young my mother had a book that contained songs a person might sing to a five year old.  Even now when my siblings are in their 60's and 70's, if one of them breaks into a song from that book, the rest remember it.  One of the songs was Oh I have made a Valentine / For a little friend of mine / It's red and white and lacey too, / and opens and says I love you.

Moiya changed the words to the song, and sent me this picture of a Valentine pie.  Someone else gets the real pie.  She wrote

I have made a valentine. For a little friend of mine. It’s pie crust, cream cheese filling, And some strawberry purée and strawberries too. When eaten ... It says I love you.

I will take one of the strawberry pies and one of the apple pies.  That will be one each, Moiya.  

Oh how I wish I still lived near you!

Sending virtual valentines to all,

Arta 

 

Shostakovich V

University of Calgary String Quartet

Amir, Pouria and I took in the Celebration of Shostakovich V by listening to the University of Calgary String Quartet in performance tonight doing his String Quartet #5. The added bonus was Piazzolla’s Tango Ballet and the evening finished with Anton Dvorak’s String Quartet in A flat Major Op. 105. Edmond Agopian, Dean Obrien and Beth Roots Sandvoss were joined by Lev Nesterov, a third year Bachelor of Music student who is already an accomplished musician.

I wonder what other people are doing as they are listening. Tonight I was watching the violin and the violinist, now one instrument, the violin dipping down and around and back up during some of the melodies, the violinists feet coming off the ground, sometimes together, the knitting of an eyebrow, the lifting of a forefinger as the violinist's bow went back and forth on the strings.

Again, a lovely night.

At another venue and also filling the evening for others was the music of The Starlight Big Band that Tim Oldlham plays in.  Lurene was their female vocalist for their Valentine's evening of dinner and then dancing.

Arta

A Valentine for Bonnie

"Be Mine,   U R Sweet,   I luv U," 
 

Happy Valentines Day, Mama.

One reason you are nice is you give me presents

Two is when it is bedtime you read with me

Three is we have snowball fights.

Four is we ski together.

David

Valentine's Day -- Still Looking Forward

Mary received two free tickets to Cats tonight.

 Xavier was the chosen one since Leo couldn't go along  and Xavier was ecstatic with good reason.

 "My first show," he said.

After school, he and I watched some utube performances of some of the songs he would be hearing and he learned some of the names of the cats.

Then because the evening will be late, he went right to bed for a late afternoon nap.

Naomi's evening consisted of going to her piano lesson and then learning of the good fortune of her brother.

She was fine until Mary and he went out the door. 

Then it was only a few minutes until she dissolved in tears right  with we were doing cookie making. 
She didn't even want her picture taken while we were at the counter decorating our valentine cookies.  Only a snuggle with a plush toy and a weep on the couch would do. She did consent to having her picture taken on the couch at one point while she was in the depth of her misery (and I happened to have my camera in hand)... but only if I would show the picture to Mary tomorrow so she could see exactly how devastating it was for her to be left home.

I agreed.

The Healing Powers of a Spoonful of (Icing) Sugar


Anticipating some kind of sorrow would emerge, Mary left us with new cake decorating tubes and bags ... and instructions that we could decorate cookies all evening.

Mary didn't leave her mix master in plane sight though, though. So we made icing by hand and then put as much coloring into the mix as we wished.

Then we slathered on the icing with a knife and put the finishing touches on our cookies with some sprinklettes in the cupboard left over from Halloween, I presume, since they were white and brown ghosts.

The colour scheme defnitely did not go with our Valentine theme.

Not that the three of us care.

Rhiannon was licking her fingers often, which slowed me down with all of that finger-wiping..

 Late in the evening she gave up licking her fingers and went for a whole spoonful of icing.

Then we watched Annie,on a DVD, so though we weren't at Cats, we still had a musically good evening.

"The sun will come out, tomorrow".

Love,

Arta

Happy Valentine's Day

Cherry flavoured Valentine Cookies

When we got home from work and bead-stringing last night, the children had made two kinds of cookie dough to be rolled:  cherry and strawberry.

Mary took out her Tupperware pie dough rolling mat and had three children at the counter, all vying to be the one who picked the first colour of dough to roll, to use the rolling pin for the first time, or to be the one who got to eat the scraps.

Actually the tears over the scraps were about not eating them, which two of the children got to do.

"Why should others be getting treats and I don't get one, just because I don't like cookie dough," wailed Naomi.
We had all of the usual problems around making cookies.

In our desire to bring happiness into every child's life, Mary forgot one pan of cookies in the oven, so that accounts for the burned batch.



strawberry flavoured cookie letters

We finally had to separate the kids into different rooms on our Happy Family Home Evening Night, Naomi coming with me to the front room to practise sewing.  I was using some dental floss to whip stitch the cloth of a broken laundry basket back onto its wire frame.

At the end of the evening, as I was mopping up I heard myself asking aloud, "Why are there large streaks of red across tthe kitchen floor?"

"We had trouble getting the food colouring into the bowl, Grandma."

Stupid question.

Good answer.

Arta