Day 336: Mark

7 Mar

Apple Blackberry Pie

While they were at Ashland High School, both of my children had Mark for a class called “studio art.”  My daughter, Alexandra, came into his class as a senior and tried painting for the first time.  It was after she had had difficulties in another art class and so Alexandra was not sure how this class would go.  Soon after the class began, she was painting in oils, and her first painting was entered into a “best of the best” competition.  She was thrilled to have had that experience!

My own high school art experience was not as special.  In my only art class in high school, I came away discouraged after being told by my art teacher that my drawings were “awful.”  The only way to avoid any further embarrassment was to stay away from art… for years.  How I wish I’d had a teacher that was as encouraging as Mark!

This afternoon, I brought an Apple Blackberry Pie to Mark.  It was to thank him for giving his students a tremendous gift each and every day: the freedom to create art that they can love and be proud of.

“He who works with his hands is a laborer.
He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.
He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.”
― St. Francis of Assisi

 

 

 

Day 335: A Simple Gift

6 Mar

Bacon, Cheddar, and Onion Quiche

Sometimes in life we are privileged to be given the opportunity to help someone.  Several times over the past year, I have had the chance to bring a moment of happiness to someone; and often, it was someone I did not know.

Today I had another chance to do that… and I am humbled by the fact that a simple gift of pie can make a difference… and thankful that I was able do something to help.

I expect to pass through life but once. If, therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do for any fellow being, let me do it now … as I shall not pass this way again.

Day 334: Happy 60th Birthday John!

5 Mar

A few days ago, my friend Janet asked me to make a pie for her brother-in-law, John.  Janet has known about my pie project since day one, and has been an ardent supporter, but this was the first time she suggested someone to gift a pie to.

John is married to Janet’s sister and this is what she had to say about John and her sister, “They live in Pennsylvania where he works in full-time Christian ministry for The Navigators, where he helps churches and pastors to work with their parishioners to help people have deeper and more meaningful relationships with Jesus.”

Janet’s sister is allergic to chocolate, and so the pie that I sent, was all about John.  And for someone who is always thinking and working for someone else, this pie was a gift just for him… and I hope that John enjoys every bite!

Janet wrote, “They live a fairly simple life, so this package was a real indulgence to him. He’s never had anything like this before.  He opened it and saw that it was a pie, thinking apple or something, then saw that it was “Brownie” and was even more delighted.”

I was honored to give a gift to John that was such a treat for him… for all that he does in his ministry.

Happy Birthday John… and thank you for all that you do!

“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”
― C.S. Lewis

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Day 333: Coming Together

4 Mar

A few days ago I heard that a friend’s son was involved in an accident and that he was in the hospital.  The good news is that he is expected to fully recover; the “rest of the” news is that it will take some time to do so.

A friend of mine called the other day to ask if I would be interested in being “on call” for dinners as the family will have a lot to do when their son comes home, and of course, I said “yes.”  Today, when that same friend called to give me an update on the family, I asked if she thought a Chocolate Cream Pie would be appreciated.  We had a brief discussion, and decided, how could it not be?

I am always moved when, in moments like these, friends and community come together to help the person who is facing a difficult situation. In moments of crisis, we all want to help in some way or another, and usually preparing food is one area where we can actually “do something.”  Bringing food to someone in trouble is very common in many cultures; it is one need we can fill.

And so tonight I brought a Chocolate Cream Pie to our friends house (and put it in the cooler that was on the front porch) for the friends and family that will be there soon.  We send our love and good wishes for a speedy recovery and heartfelt thanks that the injuries weren’t much worse.

“There are no mistakes, no coincidences.  All events are blessings given to us to learn from.”  Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

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Day 332: Happy Birthday Princess!

3 Mar

When I was about four years old, my parents took me to Sunday School at the First Presbyterian Church of Staten Island. This had been my mother’s church when she was young and she must have still felt good about it to take me there.  However, I don’t really remember my mother attending church.  My guess is that she was mad at God because my baby sister had died and so for a long time she did not attend. However, for some reason she still wanted me to go.

My first teacher for Sunday School was Mrs. Henderson.  She was friendly, talkative, and she kept us entertained.  And best of all, I felt comfortable with her!  One of my classmates at that preschool class was Princess.  She was Mrs. Henderson’s daughter and she was a little bit older than me. Princess was not her real name, as you might have guessed.  It was the nickname that her Dad had given her, and all these years later, it is still the name that I call her. I think it is very sweet that her Dad considered her to be a Princess.

Princess is one of those friends that you don’t see for years, and then when you do get together with them, it is like time has stood still.  We are the same friends as always.  Today is Princess’ birthday.  Thursday I baked Princess a brownie pie, and sent it off to her home in Virginia so that it would arrive today.  I’ve not heard from her yet, but I can tell from the Facebook postings that she has had a wonderfully busy day.  So tonight I will send my dear friend Princess, the happiest of birthday wishes.  I am so very glad that we met all those years ago.

“A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.” Donna Roberts

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Day 331: Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss!

2 Mar

As many of you know, I have been a SMART reader for many years.  SMART stands for Start Making A Reader Today and is a literacy program begun in the early 1990’s in Portland, Oregon.  My husband, Emile, was a SMART volunteer for a year or so and then his company kept sending him out of town, so I began to fill in for him.  I felt that the kids that he was assigned to considered him a responsible adult, and if he was out of town and “did not show up” then how responsible could he be?  It was important to me that we show the kids that we were committed to them.

When we moved back to Ashland in 1995, we found that SMART had not yet come to the valley.  It was a few years before I could resume my volunteering with this program. What I love most about the program is helping kids enjoy reading. That is all that I am there for.  What is funny is that I don’t remember much about my early days of reading.  I do recall the books in first grade that went something like this: See Dick.  See Jane.  See Dick and Jane and their dog Spot.  At the time it was pretty heady stuff… but I am glad that books have changed a lot since then.

One of my favorite children’s authors is Dr. Seuss. I read all of his books to my kids over and over again and I thought that I was pretty good at reading them.  One day I was in the SMART room at Helman Elementary reading one of his more popular books, Green Eggs and Ham.  For those of you who were raised on Mars, this book tells the tale of a man who did not like Green Eggs and Ham.  On that day, I read the line “I do not like them, Sam-I-am”  to a little girl and the page showed the main character under water saying those words.

I read the words as I always have read them.  “I do not like them, Sam-I-am.” Then the little girl said to me, that is not how it goes.  I looked at her and thought, “excuse me?”  When I could speak I said, “Well how should I have said it?”  And then this little girl recited the words as if she was saying them under water!  Wow… I asked her how she knew how to do this and she said, “My Dad is an actor, and he told me that if you were underwater that is how you would sound.” And to think I had read that book a hundred times and never said it that way.  Amazing!  I’d learned a new way to read a Dr. Seuss book from a 6 year old girl!

Tonight I brought a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Pie to that actor and his family.  How wonderful to have learned something new about reading at this late date!  It is a lesson I have not forgotten.  I continue to be a SMART reader today because I love helping kids learn to read and I feel it is one of the best things I have ever done.  And who knows what I may learn next?

“The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”  Dr. Seuss

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Day 330: Karen and Bob

1 Mar

Karen is such a great lady that God made two of her!  What I mean to say is that Karen has an identical twin, but I like the first sentence better!  Karen and I met a long time ago because our children went to the same schools.  Karen’s children are a little bit older than mine and since I was new to Ashland,  she was a great support for me. I’ll bet that if you asked anyone that knows Karen what she is like, they would tell you that she is friendly, cheerful, thoughtful, and most certainly, a woman you can count on.

By trade Karen is a phlebotomist.  She told me that one day she told that to a young boy and he asked what that meant.  Then she told him that she drew blood everyday.  The young boy thought about this for a moment and said, “You must use a lot of red crayons!”

When my son Coco was in kindergarten, he jumped off a play structure at school and bit his tongue.  I was at work and did not find out about it until about an hour or two later. When I asked him to show me his tongue, he just shook his head no.  When I took him to Helman Elementary to pick up his sister, I saw Karen.  I told Coco that Karen worked in medicine and asked him to show her his tongue.  Immediately he opened his mouth and we both saw the huge gash.  Karen urged me to go to see Jack the Pharmacist at Ashland Drug right away.  Everything eventually worked out fine… Coco took antibiotics for a week, his tongue healed, etc.  But what amazes me still is that he was willing to show her his wound, but not me!

Another memory I have of Karen demonstrates her insistence for doing the right thing.  It seems that one of her boys (I forget which… and really, it doesn’t matter) and his friends decided to participate in some mischief (involving eggs and toilet paper).   A local policeman found them and called Karen to come and pick up her boy.  When she arrived she spoke to her son and then apologized to the police man for the incident and asked when her son could clean things up.  The officer was stunned. He said usually parents yelled at him for “picking on” their kids; few of them ever took responsibility for their actions.  When my own son got into trouble, I had a good role model to follow with Karen.

These are just a few of the stories I have to share about Karen.  Oh… and in addition to all that, she raises lambs!  What a wonderful lady… and to top it off,  her husband Bob is a pretty great guy in his own right.

Tonight I brought an Apple Blackberry Pie to Karen and Bob.  I want to recognize them both for all that they have done in our community and to let them know that we feel so lucky to count them as friends.

If you must follow someone, choose a person with vision, wisdom, love and integrity. -Philip Arnold

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Day 329: Ashland Home Health and Hospice

29 Feb

This afternoon was pretty busy around my house… I was preparing dinner for a friend, putting together a cake for Rotary, and getting ready to make a pie.  As I was doing this, I was chatting with my Dad on the phone.  During our conversation, I noticed that a call was coming in.  When I tried to get to the caller, I realized I had taken too long to answer, but since I had their number, I called back right away.

When the phone rang, Jeanie from Ashland Home Health and Hospice answered.  I gave her my name and she asked if I had a family member in hospice.  When I told her that a call had come in from that number, she told me that she would check with the rest of the staff.  A moment later, she said no one she could find had made the call; perhaps it was an error.

That’s when I told her that I had tried to find the hospice staff months ago and I had been told by someone (I can’t remember who) that there was no hospice building.  What that person probably meant is that there is no special building just for hospice patients, but Jeanie confirmed that there were a great number of hospice personnel that worked from that location.

Then Jeanie told me that she knew of me and my husband from when we opened Standing Stone, and that she thought I knew her sister Teresa.  Yes, I did know Teresa.  She was a talented artist who died far too young.  Then I shared something that Teresa had once said.  She had been a baker earlier in her life but had given it up because it was such a “temporal art.”  I think I looked up temporal and realized Teresa was right… baked goods are only here for a moment and then they are gone leaving nothing behind.  They aren’t art at all!

But then Jeanie said, “Wait a minute. I’ve seen your pie blog and all of those photos of pies… that is certainly art!”  She told me how she’d read my stories and looked through many of my posts – even the one where the pie hit the sidewalk (see Splat!) and thought that they were beautiful.  That was music to my ears.  When I asked Jeanie if I could bring a pie to the hospice center, she asked if it could be there in an hour.  I laughed.  That wasn’t possible but I did arrange to deliver it before closing.  Before saying goodbye I thanked Jeanie for sharing with me and said, “I’m glad that there was a mistaken call”, to which she replied, “There really aren’t any mistakes.”

And so tonight, I finally got to brought a pie to Ashland Home Health and Hospice.  It will be consumed at their meeting tomorrow morning.  I extend my gratitude to the men and women there who work to make our life transitions comfortable, peaceful and even beautiful.  We are very lucky to have them.

” I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge – myth is more potent than history – dreams are more powerful than facts – hopes always triumphs over experience – laughter is the cure for grief – love is stronger than death.”  Robert Fulghum

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Day 328: Westtown Friends School

28 Feb

Tonight, our friend Deedie Runkel hosted a reunion for friends of  Westtown School living in southern Oregon.  The event was held at Anne Hathaway’s Cottage in Ashland.  My husband, Emile, is an alumnus of Westtown, having graduated in 1977;  his mother, Diane,  is also an alum.  The opportunity to meet other alumni on the west coast is rare and so we made plans to attend.

Westtown is a Quaker school located in Westtown, Pennsylvania.  What follows are some of the facts about Westtown that I found on their website:

  • Westtown was established in 1799
  • Westtown is the oldest continuously operating co-educational boarding school in the country
  • 100% of Westtown graduates attend college
  • The campus for the school encompasses 600 acres
  • An N.C. Wyeth painting, The Giant,  hangs in the dining room at Westtown.  It is a beautiful memorial to Westtown graduate William Engle.

As I was thinking about where to give my pie today, I thought maybe it would be nice to share it with the friends that we would meet tonight.  I called Deedie and asked what kind of pie might be in order for such a gathering.  She suggested something savory, and so I prepared a ham, roasted asparagus, and cheddar quiche for the event.

About a dozen friends nibbled on quiche and a variety of other treats, as we shared our memories of,  and our fondness for, Westtown.  A pie shared with friends… what a perfect combination!

“Quakers almost as good as colored. They call themselves friends and you can trust them every time.”
Harriet Tubman

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Day 327: Lorene and Gary

27 Feb

A few weeks ago a woman named Christina emailed me and told me about a friend that she wanted to gift with a pie.  The friend had helped Christina with her Bible studies and she felt so blessed to have spent time with her that she wanted to do something special for her.

Because of the many things that were going on in my life (a trip to Montana chief among them) I was not able to get to Christina’s request until today.   She had suggested that her friend might really appreciate an Apple Crumb Crust pie and so that is what I prepared.  When it was done I called Christina to get the address for her friend and  shortly thereafter I made my way to a house in Medford and delivered a pie to Christina’s friend, Lorene and her husband Gary.

It was an honor to recognize Lorene for the time and attention that she had given to Christina.  Clearly it had made a significant impact.  I can remember a few people who offered me the same kind of consideration at various moments in my life – and know that because of their attention, my life was changed.  At some point in our lives, we all will have the opportunity to give of ourselves and make a difference in someone’s life.  I urge you to be on the lookout for those moments.  They have the potential to be tremendously powerful and may make you immortal in the hearts and minds of those you have helped.

“The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but reveal to them their own.”  Disraeli

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