Advent is here, and the Poinsettia is getting ready!

Advent begins today! When I was a kid, there was Thanks giving dinner, followed by the Thanks- giving parade and downtown decoration lighting on the Friday afterwards that brought Santa to town, and a month of singing Christmas Carols in church and browsing the Western Auto catalog and making out my Christmas list. I knew that out of my list of 6 to 10 wishes I would actually get three presents.... the ones that Santa had in his workshop and could fit in his sleigh. There was also the Christmas concert by the grade school choir (where I memorized all of the words to all of the verses of the carols we sang in church) and the school play, usually an adaptation of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens--I got to play Fanny, Tiny Tim's sister, one year. And a Christmas pageant at church in which I never got to play Mary--I was either a shepherd (we had a shortage of boys or else we were ahead of the times in bending gender roles) or one of the sheep. So when I first encountered Advent, during my college years, it was new to me. I was excited to learn about this tradition of preparing the heart and spirit for the coming of the Christ child.

In Denver in the 1970s Norm and I acquired an Advent wreath and a booklet with ideas for family reflection. We followed it for years, but then expanded with a bigger wreath and various Advent devotional books, including a series of them written for the three lectionary cycles by our friends the Dixons. For the past three years, our church and another Disciples church in St. Louis have jointly published a booklet of Advent devotions written by elders and other leaders of the respective congregations. (If you are interested, there are links to a PDF version and a Word version on the home page of Affton Christian Church's web site here. You are welcome to download and use them. And yes, Norm and I each wrote one of the meditations!)

So this morning our church observed Advent, and Norm and I were asked to light the first candle, the candle of Hope. How we all need to have hope in times that seem dark and threatening. One of the best signs of hope this morning was a group of eager children who gathered at the front of the sanctuary and helped set up a bare outline of a wooden stable. Then 9 of them, ranging in age from 10 years to 13 months, sat at our pastor's feet while she read them a story about the angel's visit to Mary. Three of the children had just joined the congregation as our student pastor's family had finally been able to move to St. Louis and join him at the seminary. Three were visiting their grandmother. Three were with their mom. Since our church has had a shortage of children in recent years, it was a very positive and hopeful moment in the service.

So what do geraniums and a poinsettia have to do with the first week of Advent? Well, they are in our house, in the sunny upstairs south windows after spending the summer on the porch. The two red geraniums came from the church last spring, when a whole bevy of them decorated the sanctuary on Mother's Day and then members were invited to adopt them. They are still blooming bravely in their new environment and every morning when I get up and walk into that room to do a few simple exercises and say my morning prayers, they greet me. Few things in life are more hopeful than flowers. And the poinsettia was a gift Last Christmas from our friends the Dixons. It was a lovely rich red and had decorated the church where Mike has been preaching. It spent a quiet summer on the porch and the leaves became green and lush. It has been in an upstairs closet window, and since mid-September it has been naturally getting the number of hours of darkness a poinsettia needs to start showing color. Never before have we had this happen, and so to me this, too, is a sign of hope. Maybe sometimes you can use a little darkness to bring forth something of beauty. I don't know how many leaves will turn red of if flower bracts will appear by Christmas, but even if they don't, this reddening blush brightens each day for me.

Of course, all this begs the question: but Judi, where is your Advent Wreath? Well, I am about to go get it out of the back closet and tomorrow I'll try to find some new candles. I may have to settle for semi-traditional blue if I can't find traditional purple and pink, but it will be out very soon. It has to be: the prayer shawl ministry group is meeting at our house this Thursday!

Thanksgiving Snow, Turkey and Blessings

As the cold front finally swept the rain and fog out of our part of the Mississsippi River valley on Thanks- giving afternoon, the rain changed quickly over to snow. We came home last night to about 1/2 inch on the ground, and this morning in the 10 a.m. sunshine it is still visible from our back door, looking over at Barb's yard.
Driving was not a problem on our way home from Edwardsville, where we were fortunate to join in the annual Myers family feast.

Gary and Karen have a wonderful view from their deck of their woodland garden and on into some common ground. I took this as we were waiting on the turkey, while the snow was beginning to fall and coat the ground.






One blessing was getting to see Lily, who is 18 months old and talking very plainly. One of her favorite words yesterday was "Pie!" And she put away quite a bit of pumpkin pie after an all-to -brief nap. Here she is with mom Michelle, grandma Karen and great-grandma Mary Ann in the kitchen while dinner was still roasting and bubbling on the stove.

Once the turkey was pronounced perfectly done, Gary prepared to carve the bird for the buffet. This was the best tasting, most moist and succulent yet.

Reflecting on this year's Thanksgiving, we were especially mindful of how much we enjoy "face time" with our friends, even though we are also grateful for the wonderful web of electronic connections we savor with cousins, nephews, nieces, their children, far-off friends, siblings, former students and everyone else who makes up our still-expanding extended family on Facebook. In this season when we celebrate abundance, it's timely to remember that even when we are worried about scarcity, we are blessed to have more than enough of love, memories, faith, and friendship.

Doris' Holiday Cactus Blooms Early

Our most venerable holiday cactus, started as a slip that Norm's Aunt Doris gave us many years ago, opened in a pink frenzy earlier this week. I didn't put it outdoors on the porch until September because the summer was so hot, and I thought maybe it would delay the blooming if it wasn't out all summer. Fat chance of that. But it has really brightened the dining room this week!


This week was less hectic than last, but still I was pushing to get some fabric cut to exchange at the Quilt Guild meeting tonight, and I have a lot to do tomorrow to get ready for the last Scrap Quilt Club meeting of the year. We will take December and January off, then start again. I hope I can take some photos of quilt blocks soon and post them. Also, I'm excited that the Linville Reunion Quilt is down to only 2-1/2 rows of blocks left. The goal of the Spanish Lake Quilters is to have it "out of the frame" before Christmas. I have enjoyed getting to know these ladies, even though we have different philosophies about some things. Quilting brings all sorts of people together.

Last night we had a steady, slow rain that amounted to only 10 or 20 points as Norm's mom would have said, but it was nice to get some moisture--October and also this month so far have been extraordinarily dry. Tomorrow is leaf raking day, and grocery day. Saturday is scrap quilts for me and book club for Norm. Sunday we will have a joint worship service with the Presbyterians in the neighborhood, followed by a carry in Thanksgiving dinner, so today I started looking at my recipe box to decide what I'm going to take. It is so hard to believe that Thanksgiving is only one week away, and we all know what comes after that. I don't think we ever quite finished putting away the Christmas decorations last winter, and here it is almost time to get them out and put them up again. Time does go faster the older you get.

Fall Colors III: At Last, The Maple

About a week ago, our sugar maple was getting close to its peak color, so I snapped a photo. On Friday, when you stood beneath it you were bathed in a golden glow because all of the interior leaves had turned as well. Yesterday, half of those leaves landed in the yard, and the ground glowed golden. Today was cloudy, windy and quite a bit colder, and the tree is beginning to show its branches. I imagine that by Tuesday, when the tree trimming guys arrive, only about 5% of the leaves will remain on the tree, making it an easier job for them. Of course, then it will be time to get the leaves raked! Norm has been sweeping the driveway and raking paths for Ava to use in the yard, but it still looks like the leaves are ankle deep. I wonder how much they all would weigh before they start to dry out?

Speaking of drying out, we are getting a tad dry in this neck of the woods. Several days last week it was windy and there was a Fire Danger warning posted. We were supposed to get a nice rain this weekend; then the forecast backed off to showers; last night they said we might get 1/10 of an inch, or "10 points" as Mom Linville used to say. I'm not sure we got anything except a damp spot on the driveway.

Today as I drove to and fro for our church Bazaar, it seemed to me that all of the late coloring trees were more intensely red, even almost purple, than I remember. Nature saved the best of the show for the last act, or maybe even the encore. At any rate, our Indian Summer seems to be over and it feels and looks like November now. Time to think about baking breads and looking for sweet potato casserole recipes, etc. At least I could find cans of pumpkin in the stores this year!

House Plants Showing Off

Most people have Christmas Cactuses (Cacti?) although they might bloom around Thanks- giving, or maybe even close to Easter. But beginning with its second year with us, this graceful white tinged- with- orchid cactus insists on blooming within a couple of weeks after we bring it in from its summer sojourn outside. Or, as it did last year when we left it inside all summer, at Halloween. This year it is a Veterans Day Cactus. A gift from a friend many years ago, it keeps on giving.

Another friend's gift (dear DH) from 5 or 6 years ago, the rubber tree was almost as tall as I am by the time I lugged it downstairs and out to the porch in July. It threatened to outgrow the porch, so some serious trimming was in order. After I removed 4 sturdy stalks, a bevy of shorter stalks remained for a more compact plant. (Will post photos of it later.) I had read that you have to air-layer a rubber tree to get its cuttings to root since the stems are quite woody, but I didn't have the patience (or the time) to try that. And yet I couldn't throw such obviously healthy vegetation onto the compost heap. So I stuck the four stalks in some moist potting soil and waited to see what would happen. (Norm says I never met a plant I didn't want to propogate, or a cutting I didn't have to try to save.) Three of the stalks rooted, so they have become a new plant, about 2-1/2 feet tall. When I took this photo I thought I would have to use it in an advertisement: Well Behaved, Resilient Rubber Tree Needs a New Home. As much as I would LIKE having two rubber trees, there is room in the sunny upstairs window for only one. Then my plant-loving friend Lola the librarian heard about it, and today it went home with her. I hope it continues to prosper, but she has a small condo, so I also hope it doesn't completely take over her home.

Our church is having a bazaar on Saturday, and right now I'm in the process of deciding which projects I have no time to finish, so I can concentrate on the remaining ones that are doable. Watch tomorrow for some preview pictures of it. If you are in STL on Saturday, drop by Compton Heights Christian Church, 2149 S. Grand Blvd., between 10 and 4 for some great ornaments, knitted items, Gypsy bags, Fair Trade coffee, chocolate and handcrafts, plus delicious baked goods and snacks (spiced pecans, or champagne jelly, anyone?) Oh, and some fantastic chili for lunch--the day is supposed to be showery and in the low 50s, so that sounds really good!

After the bazaar: the Maple Tree. Seriously this time.

Tim's Talk: Guest Post: Trusting God

This post is by the wife of Tim Graves, a seminary student we have known for many years, since he and his siblings were in the youth group at Florissant Valley Christian Church that Norm and I sponsored back in the 1970s. Tim went to college, married Maggie, and they had two children and a dog named Susie that they allowed us to adopt from them. Maggie went to seminary and was ordained first. She has been serving First CC in Wheeling, WV while Tim has being going to Lexington Theological Seminary. In this article, Maggie discusses their amazing journey to a call to a new kind of ministry, and what it means for a couple in mid life, with children grown, to set out on a major journey trusting in God.

Tim's Talk: Guest Post: Trusting God: "by Rev. Magdalyn M. Sebastian Maggie is Tim's wife. This column appeared in the Wheeling Intelligencer on November 6, 2010. Trusting the D..."

End of the Growing Season

We have had several predictions of a freeze, but each one seemed to miss us, and the flowers have just kept on doing their thing. I think geraniums, especially, get more beautiful in the fall when the hottest weather is gone. This porch box contains plants that spent last winter in our basement. My plan is to move them inside and trim them back this weekend so they can rest in the basement windows again until next spring. Tonight it is supposed to be 28 degrees at the airport, which is close to us. The plants that are still outside are tucked away next to the house at the bottom of the basement stairs, out of frost's way. It is about 7 degrees warmer there than out in the yard.

This salmon beauty is about three years old. I have already brought it into the house since this photo was taken, and it is in one of the upstairs south windows. The coleus has been magnificent, but strong winds blew it over and shattered the pot after these pictures. I have some cuttings in a glass jar to see if they will root, but the plant itself is going to meet its fate either tonight, or soon.

Another multi-year geranium, this apple blossom will spend the winter downstairs. I have a cutting from it that rooted, and it is in one of the upstairs windows. I hope we will have many new plants to enjoy in spring 2011.

Of course, some summer plants in the yard don't seem to know that their days and hours are numbered, so they have been going merrily on. There is probably a lesson there someplace. This is a seedling coneflower from this summer that burst into bloom in the fall, while its parents were all sporting seed pods and feeding the local flock of goldfinches. For some reasons our coneflowers love this south facing wall by the driveway. A little butterfly found a late season snack on this one as well.

Petunias are so hardy, I think they might survive a nuclear fallout event, like cockroaches. Except they are much prettier. We grew these purple ones for their great petunia scent. Twice they were decimated and defoliated by little green caterpillars, and twice they have battled back. Usually they will survive a light freeze...these are under the euonymous bushes out back, where we moved their planter after they were attacked the second time. If they won't give up, why should I? Thoughts like that are helpful when the news is disturbing or discouraging, and I guess that is one reason I am so crazy about plants. They just do their thing and don't think about it too much.

After a summer of dis- appoint- ment in the tomato patch, our two vines finally started producing in October. These are on the cherry tomato vine we planted. We also have harvested a lot of medium Jet Stars from the other plant, and just tonight enjoyed a nice ripe one in our salad. Fresh tomatoes...in November...in the Midwest. Gotta love it.

Next up: Fall Colors III: At last, the Maple has turned!