Summertime remembered.....

Doxology - Awake My Soul......

Awake my soul, and with the sun

Thy daily stage of duty run

Shake of dull sloth and joyfully rise

To pay thy morning sacrifice

Lord, I my vows to thee renew

disperse my sins as morning dew

guard my first springs of thought and will

and with thyself, thy spirit fill

Direct, control, suggest this day

All I design or do or say

that all my powers with all their might

in thy soul glory may unite

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow

Praise Him, all creatures here below

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host

Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost

Ode on Imitations of Immortality From Recollections of Early Childhood

To me alone there came a thought of grief;
A timely utterance gave the thought of relief,

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;
The soul that rises with us, our life's star,
hath had elsewhere its setting,
and cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in entire nakedness,
From trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home.

Though nothing can bring back the hour
of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower;
we will grieve not, rather find
strength in what remains behind;
in the primal sympathy
which having been must ever be;
in the soothing thoughts that spring
from out of human suffering;
in the faith that looks through death

Thanks to the human heart by which we live
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys and fears,
to me the meanest flower that blows can give
thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.
~William Wordsworth  (abridged)

Family creativity

I am only creative by committee..ie..I need to quilt with a group...My mother and sister, Trina are both very creative...My mother, Julie Swennes Butler could sew anything with perfection..note the hem on the ashes of roses wedding dress...I can only sew by committee too...She and Hazel Peter of the Placer Street Quilters fame taught me all I knew about sewing and creative handiwork...

.there is no end to Trina's creativity...a naturalist by nature..she weaves natural fibers into all her work...the watercolor is one of two..the other bought by a congressman in washington dc...She also writes poetry and journals and has done so most of her life...Trina taught me everything I know about nature and gardening....

Details of my sisters wedding dresses

Clear Tomato Soup

My grandmother used to make this recipe for Christmas dinner....used to cleanse palate between courses...But it is also good the Passover seder for those who are vegitarian and made with matzoh balls...

Clear Tomato Soup Recipe

2 lbs tomatoes, chopped

2 cups onion, chopped

2 cups carrots, chopped

2 cups celery, chopped

1 bay leaf

4 cups beef, chicken or vegetable broth

1/3 cups very dry sherry

1 dash salt and pepper

1/4 cup sugar

1 dash fennel

1 dash worchester sauce

3 cloves

Chop tomatoes and combine with vegetables and bay leaf. Add 1 cup of broth and cover and simmer gently of low heat for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and strain through sieve lined with dampened muslin. Do not press vegetables through cloth or soup will be cloudy..Transfer clear soup to sauce pan...Add 3 remaining cups broth and bring to a boil...Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add a pinch of sugar if needed. Add dry sherry for additional flavor.

Summertime