View from the Passenger Window

Our Garmin lady friend didn't get much of a workout during our Thanksgiving trip to visit Brent in Kentucky. It's really a pretty straight shot from here to there. We didn't even pull her out of the glove box except when we detoured to Santa Claus, Indiana, and later when we drove into Louisville to eat a Hot Brown at the Brown Hotel.

She didn't have to wear herself out, telling us "Recalculating" in that obnoxiously calm voice.

But 30-plus hours in the car caused me to do some recalculating of my own. Without a daily deadline for KFRM reports and blog posts, I think I read five books during the journey and while at Brent's. It had been a long time since I'd relaxed that much.

And I looked for beauty -- not in the quiet of a Kansas farmstead -- but at 70 miles per hour in the passenger seat of the car, when I thought the bridgework overhead resembled Christmas stars on top of the Zenith Co-op Elevator. 

"Narrow lanes" are a matter of context, don't you think? These massive bridges and their three lanes of pavement in each direction seem rather massive to me ...

 

when compared to the narrow bridge a couple of miles north of our house. That bridge gives a whole new meaning to "narrow lanes." (Just try driving a feed truck with no power steering as you come out a steep incline from the pasture and hit the "narrow lane" without taking a swim in Peace Creek.)

This time, we only saw the Gateway Arch at 60 MPH as we traveled through the heart of downtown St. Louis. (We stopped on our trip last January.)

None of our conversations were as complex as the bridge spans over the Missouri, the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers.

Randy said he'd just read a marriage survey in The Wall Street Journal in which the author said that comfortable silences are part of a good relationship. We have that covered. (And that's OK.)

 I only live the full life 

when I live fully in the moment.

Ann Voskamp, Author, One Thousand Gifts

Beginning an early morning of driving in a motel parking lot near St. Louis

Here's hoping for a weekend full of memorable moments - big and small. 

Christmas Lights Au Naturel

I finally got my Christmas tree and other decorations up yesterday. (The photo is from another year. There are no presents wrapped -- let's be realistic, people -- but at least there's progress from Winter Cold Central.)

But, even before I hung the last ornament on the tree yesterday, I'd realized I'd had Christmas lights all along. They just came au naturel during a beautiful sunrise yesterday morning.

It was another one of those mornings when the pink from the morning sky was so insistent that it peeked through the tiny basement windows and beckoned me upstairs ...

and outside, despite the frigid temperatures.

You can't beat these lights of the Christmas season. They don't even get tangled.

Tomato Tortellini Soup

Sometimes, you just need a little comfort food. What fills the bill better than tomato soup? I have several tomato soup recipes we enjoy. But when you're sidelined by a cold, you don't want to drag out the food processor or brown Italian sausage. 

This Tomato Tortellini Soup uses canned soup as the base, but, with the addition of some extras, it offers semi-homemade taste without the hassle. That's a good thing this week. 

Even if you haven't caught the latest bug that's going around, this soup hits the spot when the thermometer is struggling to get up to the freezing mark. Serve it with a grilled cheese sandwich and some fruit, and you've got comfort in a bowl. Enjoy!

Tomato Tortellini Soup

Adapted from The Not So Perfect Mom blog

9 oz. tortellini pasta
2 cans of condensed tomato soup
2 cups chicken broth
1 can evaporated milk (can use fat-free or 2% evaporated milk)
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. dried dill
1/2 tsp. salt
Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded or shaved

Prepare tortellini according to package directions. Meanwhile, in another pot, combine soup, broth, evaporated milk and seasonings. Heat through, stirring frequently. Drain tortellini and add to soup.

To serve, ladle into soup mugs and top with shredded or shaved Parmesan cheese. Serve with grilled cheese and fruit, as desired.

Notes:  The original recipe called for basil instead of dill, which I'm sure would be good, too. But I love tomato and dill: They were made for each other! The original recipe also used half and half, but I substituted the fat-free evaporated milk to cut calories. In the original recipe, the Parmesan cheese was stirred into the soup before serving. I just garnished each soup mug with cheese, rather than adding it to the soup itself.

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Or, if you have more time, try these other tried-and-true favorites from The County Line.

Cream of Tomato and Rice Soup

You can use the microwave or the stovetop for this one!

OR

Lentil Tomato Soup

 It has kale and lentils - hearty and nutritious!

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Today, I'm linked to What's Up Wednesday. Check out recipes from other bloggers' kitchens by clicking on the link. There are lots of holiday ideas over there!

Cold (in more ways than one)!

The winter wind had sharp edges, just like the prongs on the old barbed wire fence.

Sunday, December 8, 2013

The blue overcast sky mimicked the hardness of the landscape.

 

I have an early winter cold, likely a virus. And it's clinging to me as tenaciously as the ice crystals cling to the wheat that pokes through the frozen ground like soldiers peering out of a foxhole.

Taken Sunday, December 8, 2013

It paints the world in black and white, even without changing the photo editing setting.

Still, there's beauty in the cold, as wheat drill tracks make an abstract painting as the icy pellets settle in the grooves. Well, there may be beauty in one variety of the cold. (I'm not finding much beauty in a hoarse voice and lethargic body, but there are much, much worse things, I know. It definitely doesn't fit into my getting-ready-for-Christmas schedule. (I still don't have my tree up, by the way.)

But maybe it's a good lesson. Advent is a time of waiting.

Wesley Towers Nativity, Hutchinson, KS

It's finding the Christ Child in the midst of the cold (literally and figuratively.)

It's about finding Him in "lonely exile" created by not feeling your best ... or the loss of a loved one during the time when everyone else is celebrating ... or anything else that makes your heart feel cold during what's advertised to be the "hap-happiest time of the year."

O come, O come, Emmanuel.

And ransom captive, Israel.

That mourns in lonely exile here.

Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice! 

Emmanuel shall come to me, O Israel!

O come, thou day-spring come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death's dark shadows put to flight

Rejoice rejoice
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

A Break in the Action

Kinley has had a little break in her action. Literally. She has a thigh-high purple cast to prove it.

Two weeks ago today, Jill was carrying Kinley down the stairs and tripped down the last three or so. Accidents like that happen so quickly, but evidently, Jill hit Kinley's ankle during the fall. She called us that night, saying that Kinley wouldn't walk on it, but there was no bruising and no evident break. We advised her to see if it was better the next morning. It wasn't. So they took Kinley to get an X-ray on that Saturday morning.

"No," that doctor said. "It must just be a deep bruise or a sprain." But, when she still wasn't walking on it on Monday, they took her to her regular doctor.

And this time, they got a different X-ray and a different diagnosis. Miss Kinley had a broken ankle. Her doctor put it in a brace, and they headed to an orthopedic doctor the following day.

We were all surprised when the cast ended up thigh-high. Since yellow wasn't an option for a cast color at that doctor's office, none of us were too surprised that she chose K-State purple. (Brainwashing begins early in our family, but Kinley did the choosing.)

It doesn't slow her down much, especially now that they've figured out some friction for the bottom of a sock covering the cast. Who knew Eric was such an artist? For a daycare program this week, Kinley's fancy Christmas dress was accessorized with a purple cast and a sock with a Christmas tree painted on the bottom, courtesy of her Daddy.

We stopped and saw her on our way back from Kentucky. Girls with casts just might get a book to read and a Minnie Mouse figurine to dress up.

The cast doesn't keep her from helping Mommy in the kitchen.

 

She is still quite the cook - whether she's helping make beef and broccoli for supper or trying out a new white whole wheat muffin recipe for Mommy's work.

Another major issue has been trying to figure out how to keep the cast dry during bathing. They covered the top of the cast with a washrag, then wrapped it in plastic wrap, before inserting the whole kit-and-kaboodle in a trash bag fastened with duct tape. Quite a production just to take a shower.

She will be in the cast 4 to 5 weeks, so she'll probably still be wearing it during Christmas gatherings. Her Mommy is really hoping she'll get the cast off as a birthday present. Kinley turns 2 on December 30. It would be great to unwrap the cast before she unwraps her presents.

Morning at Eagle Lake

The camera button got jostled and I didn't notice it as I clicked away that morning at Eagle Lake on the Morehead State University campus. The setting was "soft." It wasn't what I intended, but it was a happy accident, I suppose, since it offered a dreamy, soft focus.

That was my second trip to the lake that morning. The first time, the sun was hidden behind a steel gray sky ...

... and fog lingered in the snow-tipped trees.

Eagle Lake is always on my list of places to visit when we're in Morehead. It never disappoints. Created in 1950 on the northern edge of the campus, the 30-acre lake was named for the majestic symbol of the University, the American Bald Eagle.

Whether reflecting the cloud-dotted blue sky of September ...

Created in 1950 with the impoundment of Evans Branch on the northern edge of the campus, this pristine, 30-acre lake was named for the majestic symbol of the University, the American Bald Eagle. Except for a small portion at the north end where Evans Branch empties into the lake, the shoreline property is owned by the University. - See more at: http://www.moreheadstate.edu/content_template.aspx?id=6707#sthash.bXlZKJis.dpuf Whether reflecting the August sky ...

... the icy waters of January ...

 

.... or the crisp cold of a November morning ...

... it never disappoints. 

Eagle Lake is part of the Daniel Boone National Forest. The Eagle Lake Trail starts on the Sheltowee Trace National Recreation Trail, but the majority of the trail is owned by MSU. So far, our visits to Morehead have not been conducive to hiking the trail. The first time, we were moving Brent from South Carolina to Kentucky, and our exercise was carrying boxes from the moving truck into the house and unloading them. During our other two trips to Morehead (the most recent during Thanksgiving week), we have brought unseasonably cold weather and snow.

So, instead of exploring the trail on foot, I stood at the start and took a few photos.

 

I would have liked to have seen the lake in the fall. Brent just might have made fun of my long-distance obsession with the leaves in Kentucky. But a fall trip didn't fit on the calendar of a Kansas farm family, what with fall harvest and moving cattle home from summer pastures.

So, I will have to be happy with another cold-weather view. And I am.

Earth and sky, woods and fields,

lakes and rivers,

the mountains and the sea, 

are excellent schoolmasters.

John Lubbock

Love Came Down at Christmas

My house still doesn't reflect any Christmas spirit after our trip.  (I did get all the Thanksgiving "stuff" gathered up yesterday.) But even though our tree is still in the cardboard box and the Nativity sets are likewise cushioned safely in their plastic tubs, I've been thinking about Christmas ever since our visit to Morehead (KY) State University last week. 

The bell tower in the center of the campus was decorated for Christmas. When I saw the tower and the snow-dusted world on Thanksgiving Eve, a song kept going through my head:

What the world needs now is love, sweet love.

It's the only thing that there's just too little of.

What the world needs now is love, sweet love.

No, not just for some, but for everyone.

The bell tower was presented to Morehead State University in April 1997 as a tribute to Kentucky horse breeder William Paul Little by his wife, Mary Caudill Little, who was an advocate of education through the creativity of the arts. Each of the tower's four sides feature a virtue important to the Littles:

WISDOM

You can barely see WISDOM through the eagle's wing from this angle.

SERVICE  (and love) ...

JUSTICE (and love). 

When I got back home, I realized that LOVE kept showing up in my shots of the bell tower. How fitting was that! (The greatest of these is LOVE. I Corinthians 13:13)

As the carol says,

Love came down at Christmas

Love all lovely, love divine

Love was born at Christmas

Star and angels gave the sign. 

 

Maybe if we incorporated a little more love into our daily lives, we, too, could fly like eagles in the face of our too-busy lives. Worth a try, right?

Those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40: 31

That's a message I need to hear during this busy holiday season.

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Today, I'm linked to Jennifer Dukes Lee's Tell His Story and to Emily P. Freeman's Chatting at the Sky. 

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Another interesting fact about the bell tower:  The bell came from the Littles' Palmeadow Farm. Cast in 1886 by the C.S. Bell Company of Hillsboro, Ohio, the iron bell is one year older than Morehead State University.