by jphilo | Sep 6, 2013 | Family
Many, many thanks to everyone who sent Mom a card for her 85th birthday. The card shower was a stunning success with mail coming from all over the country and from every era of her adult life. For example…
- Many of her nieces and nephews (a large group as Mom’s side of the family is a prolific bunch) sent cards.
- Several of Dad’s cousins (he was an only child, so no nieces and nephews there) and their children also sent birthday greetings.
- So did friends and neighbors for her many years in LeMars,
- and her eleven years in Boone.
- Most touching of all were the many, many cards from students from her first year of teaching sixth grade in Roland, Iowa in the late 1940s. Not only did her former students send cards, they recalled anecdotes and described their lives since then.
How do I know what was in them? Because Mom felt it necessary to spread the love by requiring my presence as she opened each piece of mail. Once she read then, she passed them on and expected a comment about each one.
Which I did.
Because I’m such a good daughter. And because the sooner she was finished with the cards, the sooner we could dig into the homemade German’s Chocolate birthday cake (dairy-free version) made for the occasion.
Unfortunately, the cake’s all gone or I’d offer you a piece.
But the cards are in a neat stack for Mom to peruse whenever the mood strikes her. Your cards were truly a gift that keeps on giving. Again, many, many thanks for participating.
by jphilo | Aug 19, 2013 | Family
Camp Dorothy’s namesake has a birthday coming up.
She’ll be a wee bit older than in the picture above which was taken in 1929, some months after her birth on September 3. Which happened to be Labor Day in 1928 when Dorothea Lorraine Hess made her debut appearance at the Pipestone County Hospital.
This September 3, 2013 Dorothy will turn 85.
So the Bro, Sis, and I are organizing a card shower in honor of the occasion. Though Mom’s not much of a letter writer anymore, she still loves to get cards. She reads them over and over, until she squirrels them away in stacks, where they wait for me to find them months later and discard.
But I digress.
Here’s the big question. Would you help make Dorothy’s 85th birthday extra-special by participating in the card shower? If you need Mom’s address, please leave a comment, and I’ll send it to you in an email. And I’ll do a post after the big day to let you know how the shower went and what Dorothy had to say about it.
Right after we watch Judge Judy, of course.
by jphilo | Jul 29, 2013 | Reflections on the Past
A couple weekends ago, I turned 57. Not a Big–0 birthday, but big nonetheless. Because I’ve now been out of teaching for an entire decade.
This 1–0 anniversary is a good reason to think about what’s happened since my wonderful co-workers gave me a send off that included the granting of a childhood wish to be a flower girl by making a “Mrs. Philo Phlowergirl Phorever” sash for me. (Which, by the way, is still in my closet.) Here’s a smattering of where the decade went:
- We said good-bye to both Hiram’s parents.
- We hosted a foreign exchange student from Japan.
- My daughter and I went to Europe.
- My daughter graduated from high school and then college.
- Hiram and I adapted to the empty nest smoothly.
- Mom moved from her home to my brother’s house.
- Mom’s house sold 4 hours after it was listed on the market.
- Both our kids got married…within 3 months of each other.
- We helped them move from here to there to there to….
- Our first grandchild lit up our world.
- Hiram and I celebrated 10 more anniversaries, with the count now standing at 36.
- We’ve vacationed together in Alaska, Idaho, Savannah, Wisconsin, and probably other places that slip my mind because I’m 10 years older than I used to be.
- I’ve traveled to speaking gigs all over Iowa and in DC, San Diego, Long Beach, Nebraska, Missouri, Minnesota, Illinois, Texas and other places that slip my mind because of jet lag.
- Only my mother, 2 of her sisters, and 1 brother-in-law are left of her 7 siblings and spouses who filled my childhood with security and a sense of belonging.
- I worked for our church part time 4 years.
- God allowed our congregation built a new church, and He provided everything needed to furnish it.
- I’ve published scads of magazine articles and 2 books with contracts for 2 more.
- Those books have led to friendships with the most amazing people in special needs ministry around the country.
- I’ve gained enough tech savvy to be dangerous, but not enough to be proficient.
- My retirement pension started sending checks 2 years ago.
The list could go on and on, but you get the picture. God blessed my step of faith out of education and into writing and speaking. He’s been with us through every joy, every sorrow, every good-bye, and every challenge. Sometimes, He even provides opportunities so I can wear my Phlowergirl Phorever sash at speaking engagements.
What more could I possibly want?
by jphilo | Mar 13, 2013 | Recipes
Last Friday was Hiram’s birthday, and as is the tradition at our house, the birthday person chose the menu. So what did the birthday boy choose? Round Steak Roll-Ups, a dish I made for him when we were dating in college, and we looked like this:
Instead of like this:
I haven’t made the dish in at least 20 years, probably longer. After a diligent search of my old cookbooks, it seemed the recipe, like Hiram’s hair and my unlined face, was long gone. Today’s recipe is my best recollection of the original, and it received the coveted Hiram seal of approval…though neither of us could eat quite as much of it as we did the first time it graced our table.
Round Steak Roll-Ups
1 1/2 pounds tenderized round steak
1 4 ounce can mushroom pieces, finely minced
1/2 cup onion, finely minced
2 tablespoons sweet pepper, finely minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Cut round steak into 4, roughly rectangular pieces. Put a couple teaspoons of sweet pepper, onion, and mushroom on each piece. Roll each piece up, from the long side, and secure with toothpicks.
Heat oil in frying pan on medium-high heat. Put rolled up steak pieces in pan and brown, turning periodically until all sides are brown. Add remaining onion near the end of browning process, and continue cooking until they begin to caramelize. Add 1 1/2 cups water and bring to boil. Add any remaining mushrooms and pepper. Turn down heat until liquid simmers gently. Put lid on pan and cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Check liquid level in pan every 15 minutes, and add water if needed. After 2 hours, remove meat to serving platter and cover.
Gravy: Measure remaining liquid and add enough water to make 1 1/2 cups. (You can use potato water for this.) Return liquid to pan and bring to slow boil. Put 1/4 cup flour and 1/2 cup water in a jar or gravy shaker and shake until all lumps are gone. Slowly add flour/water mixture to liquid in frying pan, stirring constantly. Return to a slow boil and continue cooking for 2–3 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with meat and mashed potatoes.
by jphilo | Sep 13, 2012 | Three Thoughts for Thursday
- On September 11, 2001, one of students came to in early to talk about the birthday party his mom had planned for after school. The party never happened. So this past Tuesday I prayed, as I do every September 11, that someone threw him a party. Happy birthday, Michael!
- No one ever told me how hard Baby Watch is for the grandparents-in-waiting. My blood pressure still hasn’t recovered from our son’s call at not-his-usual-call-time last Friday.
- BLTs are my favorite summer sandwich. I like ’em with whole wheat bread, lightly buttered, crispy bacon, romaine lettuce, and thinly sliced, fresh tomato. How about you?
