Tea at Bonbonerie

Local bakery and cafe, Bonbonerie, here in Ohio, is a lovely place to have tea.  They serve spinach asiago quiche, scones, raspberry jam, clotted cream, French macarons, and fine Elmwood Inn teas from Kentucky.  I ordered a pot of China Rose tea (black tea) and added a few sugar cubes and cream...

My sisters, Mary, Susanna, and I took our mom there. ♥  We all got a different kind of tea, and tried the other kinds. 

All of our plates, teacups and saucers were mismatched nice china, which I really liked.  Doilies used as placemats.

Shelves lined with pretty teapots.  There were a bunch of kitten teapots with a paw up to the side, the spout!

Mom walking outside Bonbonerie and also by the irises...her favorite flowers!

Butterflies of Morocco

I remember hearing of my grandma's trip to Morocco...  She gave me a t-shirt from Tunisia when I was about 10 and I wore it for many years after.  I guess she must've gone to Algeria, too, because that's between those two countries in northern Africa.

We went to see the Butterflies of Morocco at Krohn Conservatory (it's a huge greenhouse with all kinds of exotic plants, like banana trees and cacoa pods growing) in Eden Park in Cincinnati.  Admission is $7/adults and $4/children, under 4 are FREE.  We got coupons to use for $1 each admission at the library.

We walked around Eden Park to where there is a nice lookout point over the Ohio River.  The girls took turns in the old phone booth!

 

Little Elizabeth is 9 months old today...exactly 3 more months until her first birthday!

 

You probably know the story of Remus and Romulus, the two brothers who were raised by a wolf. 

Bright Monday

The week after Pascha (Easter for Orthodox Christians) is called Bright Week, so today is Bright Monday.  It's also a very special day because it is the feast of St. George (for those of us who follow the old calendar), which is also the name of our church!

My parents have had a difficult time recently, but made it to church this morning!  I was so glad, because they missed the midnight Paschal service, which is our favorite.  Here is a picture I took of Rob and the girls about 11pm on Saturday, all ready to go...

Olivia holding her candle.

Afterwards, we all broke the fast together.  This cheese pascha, below, was SO delicious and pretty with all the fruit around it!

Sunday we went to have lunch with at my parent's house.  I bought bunny ears for all the girls.

Today, Holy Communion in our church, and then a procession:

Almost everyone had an icon to carry and we walked around the church, Father Pavel and Father Daniel sprinkled the faithful with holy water...it was really beautiful.

Just around the corner

We will be celebrating Pascha, the Lord's Resurrection, on Sunday, May 5th.

• Last Sunday was Palm Sunday.
• Monday, I baked kulich with Maria, a friend from our church.
• Tuesday, we cleaned the house, my sister, Mary, her husband, Andrey and 8 month daughter arrived late.
• Wednesday, we bought some special things at the market.  Olivia wanted sliced olive loaf (basically bologna with green olives with red pimentos in it) and we also got some of our favorite Guggisberg baby swiss, smoked cheddar, cheese curds (to make poutine), etc.  That evening, we all went to Confession after church.
• Thursday, we went to church and celebrated the Last Supper in the morning by going to Holy Communion.  I used yellow onion skins and colored our eggs, Hannah polished them with olive oil, so they shine!  In the evening, we went back to church and read the 12 Passion Gospels.  We take the candle we held while listening to the gospel and put it in a lantern and take it home and mark our doorways.
• Friday, a solemn day, we dressed in our darkest colored clothing and went to church, where the crucifix was in the middle...and then replaced by the tomb.  I frosted the tops of the kulich and added almonds & raisins to the top and started making "cheese pascha" (I should've done that earlier in the week).  This is Gretchen's blog post on Holy and Great Friday!
• Saturday, tomorrow, we will go to church in the morning and then again about 11pm, as we have a beautiful midnight Paschal service.
• Sunday, we will probably get home at 4 or 5am, after the service we have our Pascha baskets blessed with Holy Water.  Then, sleep...and have dinner at my parent's house with almost all our family (missing my littlest sister, Andrea, her husband, Wally and 2 boys).

Please pray for my father, Fr. Paul, and mom, Barbara.  It's been a tough week.  Yesterday, Dad's coffin arrived.  If you've seen the film The Island made in 2006 which is about a monk who has his coffin ready, you'll understand why I think this is so beautiful.  This link takes you to the 11th of 12 parts of the film, if you forward to the 8:00 minute mark you'll see what I mean.  They ordered it from Fr. George Brooks in Arkansas.  It's beautiful, smells like fresh pine or cedar, has a nice big cross on top, and the words "Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal have mercy on us," around the sides.  My dad fell again today.  Parkinson's disease affects so much of your life.  It's been about 10 years now for him.  He would be at every single church service this week, if it were possible, and so would my mom.  ♥

Our dog had surgery...

Sunday afternoon, we were surprised to find that our dog, Lusy, was very ill.  She was have spasms in her abdominal area and couldn't walk.  Rob carried her in his arms and we brought her to MedVet's emergency room.  They took an x-ray and found that her intestines were looped tightly, and although they couldn't tell exactly what was going on, it didn't look good.  We opted for immediate surgery, the doctor there called us after, it was 11pm on Sunday...and told us that they'd found she had peritonitis, an inflammation of the abdominal cavity wall, due to a rupture in her uterus, which they had to take out.  They took a swab (and sent it to the lab, we will find the results in a few more days) and lavaged her insides, put in a drain, and stapled her up.

She was on IV antibiotics and pain medication, too.  She was there for almost 48 hours, spent 2 nights away, and they said she wouldn't eat ANYTHING.  Yesterday (Tuesday) we were able to take her home.  To get her to eat, I cooked a pound of ground beef and a cup of brown rice, I put 1/4 of it atop her dry dog food, and she ate it, with pleasure.  She is getting special treatment.  I had just cut off her arm bandage where the IV was and then snapped this picture below...looks like she is smiling!

She is now on oral antibiotics, pain medication and anti-nausea meds.  Lusy is doing well, I'm struggling to get the pills down her.  She is wearing an Elizabethan collar, so that she won't be able to lick her wound and open it up.

 P.S.  Yesterday was also my dear husband's 40th birthday!!!

Edible violets

Many violets are edible.  Not the houseplant, the African violet.  Wild violet jelly, candied violets on cupcakes for a little tea party.  I didn't take that picture, but thought it was inspiring.  Violets are a weed, to many, but so pretty and abundant in our backyard here in Ohio right now.

While Hannah was in dance class, Olivia helped me to pick these.  We got 2 cups of violets, then boiled 2 cups of water and poured it on top, this recipe I followed says to let it steep overnight.

Can you see how blue-green the water turned?  When you add the lemon juice, it turns to a pink-purple!  Then we added 2 cups of sugar and the 3 oz. packet of liquid fruit pectin.  My first time making jelly with violets.  We'll be doing this again!

Violet Jelly Recipe:

2 cups violet blossoms, no stems

2 cups boiling water

juice of one lemon

1 package pectin (I used Certo Sure-Jell liquid, it came in a package of 2 3oz. pouches for $4.59)

4 cups sugar

Steep blossoms in water overnight.  Strain.  Have 2 18 oz. jars ready.  Add lemon juice.  Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve.  Add sugar, return to rolling boil, and boil for one minute.  Pour into jars and put lit on.  We let ours cool overnight and in the morning, we were happy to find it set up nicely and ate it on toast!

Writing...

I am a person who never liked writing much, but has always kept a diary or journal.  Now, I find myself NEEDING to write.   It’s a wonderful release.  I write personal things, about my family,  spiritual life, our garden and how we are growing...

I ♥ to read my old journal entries.  I take my journals on trips, too...from a couple years ago (I also draw a lot, I do not like lined books, but one with completely blank pages, just so I can draw & write).  I'm first an artist, I love to draw, but find that art is truly visible in writing down beautiful words, too, and in baking, in photography & watching things grow. 

After last week's adventure to meet one of my favorite fictional authors, I've been thinking a lot about the difference of fictional writing and non-fictional writing (which is mostly what I do), I really enjoy writing and documenting my life.  And a friend of mine, Jenny, just blogged about a book she is writing, which inspired me to blog about writing!  One of my favorite books is The Diary of Anne Frank.  My intention as I write is that it is not only therapeutic for me, but also something to pass on to my daughters and grandchildren one day, that they may read of our life together, the happiness and sadness.
I've been helping my dad write his memoirs.  I need to sit down with him on a regular basis and do this, but with Parkinson's disease, there are often bad days, where you just don't want to do much of anything.  Or you can't do anything.  God help him.  That is a portrait I drew of my dad in 1996.
Dad's dad (my grandfather is now 90) has written a few short memoirs, of his time in the Navy and sketched a picture of the view of Mt. Fuji from the top of his ship.  My grandfather's dad (my great-grandfather, who passed away when he was 101 years old, I keenly remember his 100th birthday party, I had a broken arm from a skiing accident and there were LOTs of people there) also write his life and all of his children and grandchildren and even great-grand children, like me, have a copy of his book: