Christ is Born!

Glorify Him!

Last night, most of the family was gathered in Homer, AK. Only James and his fiancee Nichole (couldn't afford tickets and saving dimes for a wedding), and Naomi and her family (Disneyland) were missing. Well, Technically it was this morning, because Dad and Cyp were driving down from Anchorage and didn't get home until after 1 AM, and the Midnight liturgy didn't get finished until about 1:30. So we were all together at about 2.

Joachim was by that time passed out and went straight to bed. The rest of us, including Macrina, stayed up for an hour or more eating a meat and cheese laden breakfast casserole Mom made. YUM! Then we all went to bed.

Now, all of us are up, we've opened up the stockings and Mom is making bacon and eggs for breakfast. After that, we get to open presents!

Merry Christmas, everyone.

What I got Mom for Christmas

Well, I pulled it off. As most of the family knows, I decided to surprise my mother for Christmas. There were some complications, of course. I stayed at my brother Ben's house for a couple days, then we all drove down to my parents house in Homer, about 5 hours south of Anchorage today. My sister, Cyprianna was supposed to come up the day after me, but her flight was canceled, and she is flying tonight into Anchorage. Dad drove up to pick her up, and they will hopefully get back in time for our midnight liturgy.

So it was just Ben, Kari, Joachim, Macrina (Ben's wife and kids), my other brother John, and me. Mom was shocked, almost speechless for a few moments when she saw me. Ben got a great picture of her that I'll post once I find my chord to the camera.

Christ is born!

Glorify Him!

North to Canada!

There is a couple at my church, Bill and Lynn Day, who host a gathering of young single people once every other month or so from all the Orthodox churches in the area. The people from St. Joseph the Damascene's in New Westminster, BC invited everyone up to their church last Sunday.

I decided to go, not least because of the mention of a falafel feast. So I woke up a bit early last Sunday and left my house at about 830ish. Church started at 11. I figured that that would give me plenty of time to get through the border, and probably get there for Matins.

From my place its about 15 minutes to the border crossing in Blaine. I got to the border with no problem, until I realized that I forgot my passport on my desk. So I turned around to get it. On my way home, I stopped at the post office (its on the way) to pick up my mail. I got home, took the mail in and grabbed my passport. Turned around, and headed back to Blaine. Got back to the border, and realized -- I took my directions in with the mail.

So I head back home. I left the first time at 830. By the time I actually got to talk to a Canadian border guard, it was almost 10! And I still had an hour's driving ahead of me. Of course, they pulled me over for additional screening. I finally got out of there at about 1020, and started booking it toward New Westminster. Of course, once I got off the main highway, I got lost, and had to ask directions three or four times. The upshot of it is, I got there just in time for the English Epistle reading (St. Joseph's has a large native Arab population, so they read the Epistle and Gospel in both Arabic and English)

It was a good service, and while the Arab tones were different from the Russian, Kievan, and Byzantine tones I am used to, it was very pleasing.

And the Falafels were out of this world amazing. There is truth in the saying that Arab Lenten food is better than their non-Lenten food.

While I was driving around looking for the church, it had started to snow. I think the most we got was about 2 inches, maybe three. On the drive in, I was going about 140 kph in a 100kph zone. On the way out, because of road conditions, 30 kph on the same highway. It was slicker than snot the whole way home. But I made it home safely.

I'm now looking at getting a Nexus card so I don't get stopped again.

Cold

I moved from Alaska partly to get away from the cold. Back in Eagle River, it regularly got to 25 or even 30 degrees below zero (F). Down here in Everson, it rarely gets below 30 degrees.

The last three days, and probably the rest of the week are an exception. We got a huge wind from the Canadian Rockies moving in, bringing the air temperature down to 14 degrees, wind chill brings that down to 5-10 below zero! To make it worse, my house is drafty. The door leading outside from my bedroom won't shut all the way, so I have a dresser in front of it to keep it from blowing completely open. The window above my bed is SINGLE pane, and poorly installed. There is no insulation under the floor.

So I've spent the last two days with the bedroom closed off, all the taps running to keep my pipes from freezing, and sleeping on the couch next to the furnace.

And they call this global warming.

I Lost an X

I have been struggling with my weight for quite a long time. I've been overweight my entire life. Last year, I resolved to do something about it. I've resolved the same thing about a hundred times since high school. But something about the dial on the scale creeping ever closer to 300 lbs (I never quite got there, thank God) did something and I have been dieting and exercising (off and on) since mid February.

Since then, I've lost 45 lbs.

Yesterday, I finally went shopping for new clothes. I hate shopping, and I get sticker shock even at the Value Village ($15 for used jeans?!?) I know, I'm cheap. Anyway, I used to wear XXL shirts and 38 x32 jeans. Now, I fit inside XL shirts (and can almost squeeze into an L) and 36x32s are comfortable on me!

Green tags were half off, so I bought just about every pair of green tagged pants that didn't have holes or huge stains on them, and a couple of shirts too.

I still have at least 30 pounds to go, at which point, I'll decide if I look good, or if I need to loose more weight. The charts all say that a 6 foot man should weigh 165-190 lbs. I think that is bunk. I know people that when they were at their so-called ideal weight, they were sickly and anemic. They were healthiest when they were about 20 lbs over "ideal" weight.

Anyway, just to let you know, there is now alot less of me to love.

Gotta love the Muppets

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgbNymZ7vqY

Watch this. I just about died laughing.

Aaron's Awesome Apple Butter

The name of it says it all. This apple butter will blow your mind away, it is so good. And I made it up myself, experimenting over the years since I moved into Apple Country (aka Washington State.). Here is the recipe.

Apples
lemon juice
2-3 C sugar
2 T Cinnamon
2 t ginger
1/2 t allspice
1/2 t cloves

Peel, core and slice enough apples to fill your 6 quart crock pot to the line. throw in a few splashes of lemon juice and stir them up to keep them from browning too much. Let it cook a few hours, till the apple slices start to break down. Add 2 C sugar and the spices. Stir it up, and taste. Depending on how sweet the apples were, add more sugar, up to 1 cup. Let this cook down till the apples are super mushy, then blend it all together with a hand blender. You can also do this, in batches, in a food processor or blender. Or run it through a food mill. Just get it uber smooth. Taste and adjust the spices if necessary. Let it cook with the lid partially off until the butter reaches the right consistency; it should coat the back of a spoon. Can it in a hot water bath fifteen minutes for pints or half-pints, 20 minutes for quarts. (this is longer than what the USDA recommends, but butters are so thick I like to give it extra time, just to make sure the center of the jars get hot enough.) Naturally, if you live at a higher elevation, increase you canning time.

The secret is the Ginger. I've never run across a recipe with ginger in it. I've also made apple blackberry butter and plan to make plum-apple butter by replacing about a third of the apples with the other fruit.

Not much going on

Not a lot has been going on down here. It's apple harvest time, so I've been picking and drying apples from my back tree. The front tree isn't quite ready, and the other three trees were severely pruned, and didn't produce much, if at all.

I've also got more blueberries, and I tried my hand at drying them too. DISASTER!!!!! I had read somewhere that you had to blanch them before drying to remove a natural wax and to open cracks in the skin. So I blanched them, but left them in the hot water too long, so they got all gloppy and stuck together. I tried to dry them anyway. It did not work. Short story is, I had to throw away about three pounds of blueberries. :( And on top of that, I reread the book, and it was the grapes that had to be blanched, not blueberries. How I got that confused, I don't know. So I'll have to try again.

I also need to get out and start picking the blackberries. In fact, I'm going to go out and do that right after I finish this post. I'm thinking apple-blackberry butter, blackberry syrup, and blackberry jelly.

Pickled Eggs

I made pickled eggs today from the five doz I bought just before the fast. The recipe was simple: just vinegar, pepper, allspice, and ginger boiled together, cooled and poured over hard boiled and peeled eggs. It is supposed to take a month to brine, but I doubt that they will last that long. They may start to slowly dissapear starting on the 15th of August, at about 7:30 PM.

I'll let you know how they are coming then.

Watch This.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJYvaLS-xOw

You will not like it.

This woman's mother is alive today because she was able to get a second opinion. A second option. A second chance. When Obama get's his national socalist health care put in place, there will be only one place to go. The Government. And then, where will the Jane Sturms of the world be? Taking an asprin, because God knows that it won't be worth the cost to use the really good stuff on old hags that have outworn their usefulness to society.

Life is always worth living, always worth protecting. There is never a time when it is good, for the person or a society, to take a life. This book says it all.

Why can't I read an Orthodox Callander?

I went shopping the day before yesterday. I got ham, butter, 5 doz eggs, milk was on sale, so I bought two gallons. Polish sausages. Cheese. Then I was reminded about the Dormition Fast.

Sigh.

One would think I would know what pink days mean.

The best blueberry pie EVER. Heck, the best summertime desert ever!

The other day, I went blueberry picking. I found this great place in Lynden, about 12 miles from my house. I 40 minutes or so, a friend and I picked 14 pounds of berries. And you can't beat the price at 1.50 a pound (at least until my three blueberry plants grow up.) So, what did I do with this bounty? A bunch went with the friend (I kept most, cause I paid for it) and most went into the freezer to be turned into jam when the weather turns sane again (95+ for the last three days or so. Its 'only' supposed to get to 85 today.) A large bowl is in my fridge for fresh eating.

But I made two of Kathleen Jones' fantabulous fresh blueberry pies. They are easy as heck, light, nothing bad in them.

I put them in a store-bought Graham cracker crust, and topped with canned whipped cream instead of making the cream cheese-whipping cream topping.

So, in a pot, whip together 1 cup water, i packet unflavored gelatin, 2 tablespoons cornstarch and 1/2 cup sugar. heat until it turns from cloudy to clear. Add 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and remove from heat. Do not let it boil. Add four cups fresh blueberries. Stir, put into the pie crust and refrigerate until it's set. It took me longer to type the directions than it took to make two of the pies!

Misadventures with Cherry Jam

OK, I will try this one last time without the pictures I took. I cannot get the pictures to go where I want them. This is one of those better late than never posts

A few weeks ago was the height of the cherry season, and I picked about 30 pounds of cherries off my tree. Most were pitted, bagged and frozen. They will be canned when the weather turns cool. A lot were eaten, or given away, and, as usual, I could not even reach the top half of the tree, so another 20 to 30 pounds of cherries were eaten by the birds or rotted on the tree.

But I did make two jams, Spiced Orange Cherry Jam, and a variation I made up called Citrus Cherry Raisin Jam

For the original jam, I ran out of sugar, and had to substitute brown sugar. I still came up about 2 cups short, so it didn't jell like it was supposed to. So I added a bag of powdered pectin and it came out really good. It was not overly sweet like so many jams are.

The next night, after I bought regular and light sugar, I tried it again. This time, I substituted a half pound of the cherries for a half pound of raisins. I put in three cups each of regular and brown sugar. It came out tasting real good. The only problem is, I spaced on checking the temperature (jams jell at 224 F) and I let it get to 236 F, which is closer to CANDY temperatures. So now, I have seven jars of tasty stuff that is too hard to use as a jam, and too soft to call a candy.

The Labrecque Clan Emerges

Wow! in the space of a couple of days, Ben, Cyp, and I all decide to post!?! What are the chances. Naomi, of course has been regular on her blog, of course.

And no, this is not the blog I was wanting to post. I just got to my blog, and saw that my younger siblings had posted.

Super Busy Weekend

Man, my weekend (S-M-T) was full of stuff. Sunday, the Grows decided to name their daughter Miriam. She is super cute; I walked into church, and Holly was outside the Sanctuary, holding her. I finangled Miriam, and ended up holding her outside in the narthex until she had to go in to get Churched. Also, another couple in the church ( Stacy and Louie Furtado) got a baby they are adopting, named Zoë. (Sheesh it took me about 15 minutes to get that umlaut there. Finally had to go to Word, make it there, then copy and paste) She is cute too.

Second, I got my new oven! Basically, I've been working with a terrible mini stove, with a broken oven, since I moved to the place I'm at now. Found out the other week that Fr. Mel, my landlord, has a full sized, functional stove in storage just a hundred yards from my house. I got permission to change them out. Well, Mike Jones, Mike Ganion, and Subdeacon Mike and I finally got it moved. I was waiting for Mike Jones to be available because I do not want to mess with the gas lines and accidently blow up my cabin. Fr Mel might get upset about that. I innagurated it by baking some oatmeal-butterscotch cookies. YUM.

Next, I weed whacked the garden spot, about 30 by 70 feet. Pain in the Rear End. But it needed to be done. I know I'm late for my garden, but, at least I'm getting it done. I have a friend with a troy built horse tiller with a hiller attachment that he will let me borrow, so sometime this week, I'll have to get it plowed up. Man, was I sore the next day!


I also spent alot of my weekend cleaning the cabin, 'cause Naomi, Levi, and Claire are coming up so Naomi can do Ski to Sea. They're coming up Friday afternoon and will hang out a while and visit. It's strange being able to see my floor.

What's-Her-Name Grow

My friends Holly and Forrest Grow finally had their newest baby on Monday. They've known for months that they were going to have a girl, and they still haven't picked out a name for her. So untill she gets one, she is What's-Her-Name. I, of course have suggested the name Egwene Honor Hermione Leia Grow. They didn't seem to thrilled with it.

Anyway, welcome to the world, whatever you name is.

Wish me luck!

I am applying for a Lead position that is opening up at my airport. I really, really want this job. It would put me at full time, that and the pay raise would almost double my take home pay!

The application is due on Wednesday, and I just got my resume and essay questions back from a career coach (can you believe the government? They have a bunch of people on the payroll who do nothing but help people like me make more money!). So, I'm making a few rather minor changes, and will send it out in the morning.

Memory Eternal

Lynn's father, Ed, passed away yesterday afternoon.

Pray for the Days

I live in an awesome community. Everyone at St. Innocent's (my church) is great. Two of the best are Bill and Lynn Day. The Days have me over for dinner every Tuesday, and they host regular parties for all the single young Orthodox people from all the local churches. There was supposed to be one tonight. unfortunately, it was canceled at the last moment.

Lynn's father is dying in Minnesota. This has been a long time coming, but he took a sudden and rather unexpected turn for the worst yesterday afternoon. Needless to say, the Days are flying out to be with him in his final days.

Please, remember Bill and Lynn, and her father Ed in your prayers. They are wonderful people who need them right now.

Hammocks rock!

I have to let you all know that hammocks are the best thing ever. WalMart had some (made in USA, too!) on sale for around $9, so I bought one for myself. I had to get a pair of eye-screws (I don't really know what they are called. They have a big circle at the end of a long screw. Hence the unofficial name eye-screw.) Anyway. I have a pair of old pine or spruce or whatever -- they are evergreens -- about ten feet apart.

I borrowed my neighbor Mike Jones' drill, drilled some holes into the trees, screwed in the eye-screws (I just decided that sounds a bit wrong. Don't say it out loud in front of, say, your supervisor without a spelling aid. Fortunately, I have said spelling aid. And my boss is a reasonable sort. Don't worry, I'm on break. I work hard when I'm not, though. At least for a Government worker.) Yes. the screws. So, I got the screws into the trees, tied up the hammock, and have been practically living in it ever since.

Most of the past two weeks have been super nice. Warm, sunny, not a cloud in the sky. We've already had one day hit 70 degrees! and no night frost in a week. My cherry and prune trees are blooming, and my apples will in a bit. And I'm taking it all in while swinging in my new favorite toy.

Just getting started

OK, I've officially been dragged kicking and screaming into the blogosphere. Is that how you spell blogosphere? I don't know. I Can't spell to sav mi liff. Oh well. Anyway. As I was saying, I am the last Labrecque, and just about the last H. sapiens to get a blog. I hope to blog at least once a week, and definitely more than once a month *cough* Marcel *cough* unlike some other siblings of mine who will remain nameless.

Anyway, now that I am here, the Internet will never be the same again. . .

Aaron