Book Swap: A Parchment of Leaves

Silas House's A Parchment of Leaves is a portrait of the tension of humanity. Woven with rich language, the text tells the story of a young couple trying to navigate the ties between families. They are asked several times to stretch beyond themselves to forgive past and present faults, and many times only the natural world can help them come to that realization. The novel is set in Kentucky during the early 1900s, when being Native American was not appreciated. A young man, Saul Sullivan, goes up the mountain looking for work but returns with a wife who is nothing like his mother expected. Vine, the young Cherokee girl who steals the heart of Saul, spends the next few years of her married life learning about family ties, forgiveness, and the hatred toward her people. 

The connection to nature in this book made me want to be outside more and more, especially during the gloaming. Unfortunately I spent most of my time reading this book in an airport or inside. Like the characters I have often looked at nature as a connection to God, not in the sense that I speak to God through the trees but that the trees represent God's ability to create beauty. At one point, Vine wonders about the trees and says " They were like God in many respects: they stood silent, and most people only noticed them when the need arose. Maybe all the secrets to life were written on the surface of leaves, waiting to be translated." If we all spent more time pondering nature, I think we might understand God just a bit more or at least desire to be closer to him. 

Family is huge theme in this novel. Amidst tough situations, Saul realizes that "All a man had in this life was his family, and he had to do his best by them. This was the think that would matter most to him when he lay upon his deathbed, taking inventory of his days on earth." At first Saul and Vine each try to cling tightly to their individual families, unwilling to see any faults in their own natural family and always running back when things got tough. They learn that while they can remain close to their own natural family they now have a new family by marriage.

I give this book a 5 out of 5. The story kept me entranced and the language was beautiful. I will leave you with one more quote from the novel that really sticks: "Words become solid on the air when spoken, but quickly drift away. Ink lasts always."

http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/83293/a-parchment-of-leaves-by-silas-house/

Thanks to Martha S. for letting me borrow her book.

-Granny Eyre-

New

Settling In

Wow! Much has changed for me in the matter of a week. I began moving my things into the little apartment a little over one week ago. It is very different living on my own, but I am slowly adjusting. I've lived in this town before but this is such a different setting. I still have boxes to unpack and things to find a place for, but I am enjoying figuring everything out. I have been shopping for home wares and everyone knows I enjoy shopping for a deal! I have found some bargains I need..and some I could have lived without but couldn't resist. Shopping at the local thrift store I found a set of tea/coffee cups with saucers. They were all so colorful and cute, I couldn't pass them up! I'm not sure what I will use them for when I am not hosting a tea party. Very practical, right!? But, they are adorable. Just look at them!

Coffee & tea party, anyone?

This past Sunday my beau was able to come over and enjoy the day with me. We fixed dinner on the grill and it was great! We fixed "baked" potatoes, corn and steak all on the grill and we also had some fresh green beans. We purchased our ribeye steaks from the BC Farm Store because we thought it would be neat to try their beef. They weren't cheap and we weren't totally impressed. They seemed really chewy for ribeyes and I'm not sure if that was a reflection on their beef, our preparation or what. All the sides were great though!

Peach Dump Cake

Speaking of fixing food, I had Miss Ellaneous over for a lovely visit on Monday night and I fixed a peach dump cake (which I have actually been calling peach cobbler) for us to enjoy. We thought it turned out really well, so I thought I'd share the recipe. The original recipe can be found here, but I made some revisions to it, so I will just include the revised edition on here.

Ingredients: 

• 6-8 ripe peaches, sliced
• 1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk
• 3 whole eggs
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 white cake mix
• 1 cup sliced almonds (or other nuts)
• 1/2 cut butter, melted
• vanilla ice cream, for serving

Directions: 

• Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.
• In a large bowl, mix peaches, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar and cinnamon until well blended. Spread peach mixture in prepared baking dish. Mixture will be very wet. Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly on top of the batter. (Do not prepare cake batter.)
• If adding pecans, sprinkle them over the top of the dry cake mix. Pour melted butter evenly over the top of the cake mix. Bake 50 minutes. Let cool. Top with ice cream and caramel sauce as desired

Various stages of yum

Home

Yesterday I went back home to see a play with my mother and some neighbors she invited. It is The Stephen Foster Story and we have been to it multiple times, but it is a very beautiful production. I didn't want to rush off this morning, but I had to come back to mow my nearly knee-high backyard. My beau was able to help me with it this morning so I hurried back and we tackled it. It looks so much better, but I had to cut it on the highest length setting on the mower so it would cut it, so it'll probably need cut again next week.. It was a very slippery, difficult yard to cut, but I'm just glad to have this first cut behind me. I'll try to keep up with posts about life in the new city!

The Farmer's Daughter 

The Storyteller

Well I finished another book swap book in the midst of other crazy activities. In true Jodi Picoult fashion, The Storyteller was a mix of characters that fit together towards the middle of the book and then the book raced toward the end. When thinking about my review while starting the book, I thought I would give it a less positive review compared to other Jodi Picoult books, but now that I have finished it, I think it still deserves to be placed on the shelf next to the rest of her books.

The story begins with a young woman with some major self-esteem issues. She works at a bakery in the night because in addition to loving to bake, she wants to avoid people. Sage (adequately named for a baker, but maybe a bit forced for a novel character) frets that other people will judge her for the scar down the side of her face, but when she meets an older man who comes in to the shop and stays after it closes she can't continue to hide behind her flour and hair anymore. She begins to have a friendship, but the friendship gets rocky when he reveals that he was once a Nazi.

Picoult really displays her ability to create dynamic and real characters. There's the bakery cashier who only speaks in haiku, which as you might imagine displays Picoult's ability to write poetry. Josef, the former Nazi, is known by the rest of the town as the kind, retired German teacher who coached baseball and wrote letters of recommendation. The bakery owner is extremely nice to Sage but has an interesting past as an ex-nun. She now keeps a garden on a hill above the shop, called Our Daily Bread, where she is often found praying. She acts as sort of a spiritual guide for Sage, who is an atheist but comes from a Jewish family. Adam is the one character who is a bit flat because he plays the boyfriend who is also married. Personally I found his character a bit unnecessary except that he contrasts Leo, the detective. Leo is the guy that Sage contacts once Josef tells her that he regrets his actions as a Nazi and requests that she help him die.

This book centers around a couple of key questions.
1. Who can forgive?
               Josef comes to Sage because he regrets his actions as a former Nazi and wants her forgiveness. Since she rejected Judaism, Sage doesn't feel that it is her place to forgive him regardless of her family's religion. She also argues that her forgiveness will not undue his actions. This logic is exactly the same logic that is keeping Sage from forgiving herself. We learn that Sage blames herself for her mother's death, which is why Sage hides from the world. This is also why Sage has a relationship with a man already married; she doesn't see herself worth anything more.

2. How powerful are stories?
              Interspersed between narratives are short chunks of what is obviously a different story about a vampire falling in love with a girl (better than Twilight I promise). Towards the middle of the book, we learn that this story was written by a Jewish girl living during World War 2. I think this question is what makes me think this book is worth reading. The girl writing this story uses the story throughout her entire life in the ghetto and concentration camps to encourage other people and to save her life. While in the camp, she tells the story to the other inmates as a way of enticing them to live one more day, if only to hear the next part of the story. At one point, her whole existence in the camp is based on her writing ten more pages a day to present to a curious officer. The story literally saves her life. Later, she trades the journal where the story was kept for her life.

3. When can the past stop dictating the present and future?
               Josef has created an entirely new life for himself in the United States, but he can't quite seem to shake his past from his mind. Sage lives in isolation because she can't let go of her past. Sage's grandmother won't talk about her past because it is so full of pain. So many characters in this book let the past tell them how to live in the present and the future. Sage has to figure out how to first learn about the past and then how to let it guide but not control the future. She learns this for herself and others throughout the course of the book.

Overall I would give this book a 3.5 out of 5 stars. It ends really well; in fact I was almost late to work because I wanted to finish reading it. The book, though, starts sort of slow and I wasn't a huge fan of some of the characters. Some of the sub-plot was unnecessary and distracting.

Thanks to Miss Ellaneous for letting me borrow it.

-Granny Eyre

Our Friendcation and Whole30

Just got back from friendcation with Hubs, Carp, and Syd. It was a blast and just what I needed travelwise. When it's just Lucas and I traveling, I tend to be anxious and stressed. You're thinking, 'What the heck? It's vacation for crying out loud.' Well, I typically have itineraries made up with backup plans. Type A much? This vacation I tried super hard to convince everyone to do it again and they kept putting it off. Honestly, I was a bit annoyed that they didn't want to have a plan for vacation. How could we possibly see anything without a plan? What if we could purchase tickets in advance and get a discount? Going without a plan and seeing how chill everyone but me was about it and having an even better time than usual is the best thing that could have happened to me. No, we didn't see every single thing we wanted to but we had a relaxing time seeing the things that we did. For the first time in what feels like forever, I felt restored when I got home. 

My favorite thing? Folly Beach. Everyone smiles when they're at the beach. The breeze was wonderful considering it was 90 and humid the majority of the days. I jumped waves, ate salt cookies (aka got a mouthful of ocean water), laid out, hunted for shells, and walked the pier. Folly is a small community. There aren't highrise hotels or corporate department stores. Most every shop is Mom and Pop style which you know I love.

What I wished I could've done but didn't? Thrift shop. We passed several great thrift stores that I would have loved to look through. Many Charlestonians have big money making my chances of finding a few gems a lot better. Next time, for sure.

I'll try to put some photos somewhere in the internet world soon.

Post-friendcation:
Lucas and I determined before we left that we were going to do Whole30 when we got back. Both of us ate junk and lots of it during June and during friendcation. We were both getting bogged down by our bad food choices. I had heard a few people talk about Whole30 and liked the idea. I'm not into fad diets. However, a detox is right up my alley. I've only done one. It was about a month before getting married and it went really well. It was only 7 days. I lost a few pounds but I didn't feel much better afterwards because it was restrictive to the extreme. Only very specific items can be eaten each day. This detox encourages eating meat, seafood, fruits, veggies, nuts, and oils. It discourages dairy products, any added sweeteners, MSGs, carrageenan, and any form of grain including corn. We're on day two and so far, so good. I've eaten a lot more protein than I normally which (I never get enough). I normally quite a bit of carb-loaded foods so I've increased my fruit and veggie intake a lot too. I'm excited to see how I feel at the end of the 30 days. If nothing else, it will definitely make me more aware of how frequently I consume nutritionless calories and how infrequently I eat an adequate amount of fruit and veggies.

Oh yea. Did I mention that you can't have gum or mints because of the added sweeteners? Out of all the no-nos, this one made me weep the most. I'm always reaching for one or the other. On the bright side, you can have coffee and tea with no dairy or sweetener, which will be a lifesaver for me. Have you ever done a detox? Did you like it?

Hope all is well.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Last Thursday, I injured my back. It had been hurting a little all week, but suddenly got a lot worse. I was in so much pain that I was unable to work, so I took the rest of the day off and went to the doctor. He concluded that I had strained a muscle in my lower back and recommended that I rest for a couple days and take some anti-inflammatory meds, as well as muscle relaxers. 

By Friday evening, I was feeling well enough to go out to dinner. Jeff took my sister and I to the Bluebird Cafe in Stanford, Ky. It was my second time eating there and their first. Everyone was pleased with their order and we will probably be back in the future. Jeff got a burger and my sister and I each ordered pasta. We also got their homemade chips as an appetizer. The kitchen is partially open, so it was neat to watch them prepare the food from fresh ingredients.

A beautiful rainbow on Friday.

On Saturday, I went fishing in our pond with Jeff and Matt. Below is the picture of the only fish I caught. 

After fishing, we went to Al's Bar in Lexington to listen to one of their friends' band play.

In other news: I have approximately two weeks of summer work left. This means that I am again on the search for a new job. I have applied to one job in particular that I am pretty excited about. It would be full-time and the pay is quite a bit more than what I am currently making. Plus, it has benefits and is related to my major. I should find out whether or not I got the job tomorrow.I will do my best to keep you all posted. Wish me luck!

-Miss Ellaneous

Ye Ask and Ye Shall Receive

BOOM! Yesterday's second annual Fourth of July Party was a hit. I was thankful that several of our friends were able to come our and enjoy the evening with us. Although I didn't take any pictures this year, so I can't post a photo of the goodness, I was asked to share the 3 Bean Hamburger Bake recipe that I prepared for the party. I was surprised at how many people complimented it and will definitely be making it again it the future since it went over so well.

Ingredients:
1 package bacon
1 lb ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1 can pork and beans (with juices)
1 can kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can pinto beans (drained and rinsed)

Instructions:
In large skillet, cook bacon. Once all the bacon has been cooked, pour out the grease. You can rinse the skillet, however I didn't because I wanted a bit of the bacon flavor to be in the bean mix. Now, add the chopped onion and ground beef to the skillet. Cook until onions are transparent and beef is done. Drain the beef and onion. While that is cooking (or afterwards), combine sugars, dry mustard, and ketchup. Then, add beans. Finally, add beef and onions. Stir well. Pour into casserole dish. Lay bacon strips over top of bean mixture. Cover and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Wah-la! There you have. Hopefully you'll get some more enjoyment out of this dish in the future.

Until next time,