Walk with me by the water...

A friend of mine sent this to me, I found it very inspiring.

A BEAUTIFUL MESSAGE ABOUT GROWING OLDER

Oh gosh, I forgot the words..

Recovering my posting...

While I was editing my blog the other day, I accidentally deleted my two latest postings! I guess, I was experiencing my "senior moments".

Here is my March 17, Saint Patrick's Day posting:

May I express my best wishes to all my Irish friends and readers. God bless you all!

The windows of St. Mary Magdalen Chapel

This lovely chapel was built during the WWI years from the contributions and dreams of the Camarillo Family in Camarillo, California. The most notable fixtures of this Spanish style building are its magnificent 13 stained windows. These azure, crimson, green and gold windows tell a double story - one of the life of Christ, the other of a world at war.

While on a trip to Europe, Juan Camarillo selected the windows in Munich, Germany. The year was 1913, and the rumbles of the continent gathering its strength for conflict were growing with each passing day. Somewhere between the studios of glassblower F. X. Zettler of Munich and the church on a hilltop in faraway Camarillo, the stained glass windows were lost. Despite the best efforts of the Camarillo family through consuls and ambassadors, the windows appeared to be lost forever. Juan Camarillo feared they were at the bottom of the sea.

One day a letter arrived from a German official. This official in Munich had been noticing several large crates staked outside a building with Juan's name on them. He had written Juan several letters and finally one got through at the end of Word War 1. Much to the joy and relief of everyone, the lost windows had been found. However, it was a painfully slow and long trek to Los Angeles, and then on to Camarillo, before they were finally replacing the temporary, heavy paper windows in the thick brick and plastered chapel walls in 1919.

Our marriage was officiated in this beautiful chapel in 1985. I'm dedicating this story to my dearly loved husband's memory who departed three years ago.

On Valentine's Day

Wishing the happiest Valentine's Day to all my Blog Friends!

Old lady Hits Robbers With Handbag and takes them down

WOW! Where she got her energy from? I bet she doesn't play Pogo all day like some of us old girls do...

Vesti la Giubba

The great Bjorling sings from Leoncavallo's "I Pagliacci", "Vesti la Guibba", possibly in 1953.

Jussi Bjorling (1911-1960) was a Swedish operatic tenor and a highly regarded singer. He was one of the few non-Latin tenors to rival the Italian dominance of the opera world a that time.

Happy New Year - Happy 2011!

As an old Hungarian custom, lencse leves (lentil soup) eaten on New Years Day will bring financial success. But it is delicious on cold ordinary winter days also.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups dry lentils
2 carrots, peeled and diced

1 medium onion, chopped

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons cooking oil or lard

2 heaped tablespoon flour

1 teaspoon paprika

4 frankfurters, sliced

1 teaspoon vinegar or 2 tablespoon sour cream

Water

Wash the lentils in cold water and pick them over, discarding any shriveled or black ones. Pleace them in a cooking pot and add 6 cups of water, bay leaves and salt. Bring to boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover with lid and simmer for 35 minutes. Add in the carrots. Bring back to simmer and continue cooking for about 25-30 more minutes. Take out the bay leaves.

For the roux, heat up the oil or lard in a 3-quart saucepan and saute the onion until it is translutent. Stir in the paprika.

Stir in the flour and cook on low heat for 3 more minutes, stirring constantly.

Poor the hot soup into the roux, stirring gently all the while. Add in the frankfurters and cook uncovered on low heat for 10 more minutes. Stir in the vinegar or sour cream right before serving.