My dad used to tell a funny story about root beer and I wish I’d written it down or recorded his telling of it. This past week my Uncle Fraser, the last of my dad’s siblings still living, has been visiting in Perth-Andover. The other day, I mentioned that my dad used to tell that story and he immediately launched into what may or may not have been the real story.

Tom, the oldest of the three boys, decided to try his hand at making some homemade root beer and roped in his two younger brothers, Charles and Fraser, as helpers. They mixed all the ingredients, bottled it up, and looked for a warm dark place for it to ferment (as in getting the bubbly). It turned out that the best place would be right over the kitchen, the warmest part of the house. So with the help of his brothers, Tom managed to get the root beer containers in the space above the kitchen ceiling.

Apparently, above the kitchen was very warm and Tom underestimated the time it would take for the root beer to ferment. The bottles or jars popped their lids. That evening during dinner, there was a leak in the ceiling… drip, drip, drip the drops of root beer plopped right on the dinner table as they were eating. Their father (my grandfather) was some angry! That root beer made enough of a mess that he had to repair the ceiling.

Now my dad’s part of the story (at least what I remember) was bringing down one of the remaining bottles/jars of root beer that hadn’t already popped it’s lid so they could try it. So while one held the bottle and the other the glass to hold the root beer, the one holding the root beer carefully pried off the lid… and the root beer erupted from the container like pyroclastic eruption from a volcano! So instead of pouring in the glass, the root beer’s fountain of foam sprayed out over everything! The one holding the glass did his best to move the glass under the falling foam to no avail. The one holding the root beer container followed the one holding the glass trying to get the root beer to pour into the glass instead of spraying the kitchen. What ensued was a comical dance as the two tried in vain to get the root beer from it’s container into the glass. By the time the root beer container was empty, the glass was only about half full – and the rest of the root beer was… you guessed it – all over the kitchen.

Now it was Mother’s turn to be angry. It took some time for the boys to clean that kitchen!

So, I’m sitting here eating an apple with cheese cubes – a snack for a meal. I’m especially enjoying the apple, even though it has to be cut up in chunks for me to eat it. But the day is coming when I should be able to bite into an apple without cutting it up first. In three days I lose what teeth I have left. Isn’t she cute??

Actually, this is going to be a busy week. I get my hair cut tomorrow, Tuesday I have lunch at York’s (lobster bisque anyone?) with two cousins (a first and second), then Wednesday I see the dentist. Depending on how I feel after, I will join the cousins for another lunch, this time at Valhalla in New Denmark. At least I can order soup and ice cream!

I had the greatest weekend! My oldest brother Dan and my two sisters Barb and Annette (and Annette’s husband Rick) arrived Friday afternoon. Dan and Barb drove up from Boston in a rental car. My bro-in-law, Rick, and my sister, Annette, rode up from North Carolina (I think Annette met Rick somewhere in New Hampshire) on Rick’s fully tricked out Harley.

Would you believe they are part of an organization called Peacemakers and work with churches in crisis by providing conciliation services?

After a BBQ steak dinner, we visited and went through an old box of memorabilia that our parents (mostly our dad) had collected during the time they attended Gordon College and first met. Barbara took the items with her so Annette’s daughter, Carrie, can create a scrapbook from the items so that they can be kept for posterity.

Saturday we started the day with an old family (at least our immediate family) tradition of buttered homemade rolls dipped in hot tomato juice. Then we went across the border to the Farmer’s Market in Perth-Andover, NB, to meet some Goodine relatives (on our grandmother’s side of the family. This market is held every Saturday during the summer and it’s just as much village social as it is market. We had a great time!

From left to right: Me (hidden, thankfully), Murietta (with her back to the camera), Barb, Dan (with his back to camera), Rick (Annette’s husband), another cousin (Verdell’s wife — and Karen will waste no time telling me her name so I can edit this), and Nita (who I adore). Later we stopped by Nita’s and Murietta’s homes for more visiting, viewing pictures and sharing stories. Before those visits, though, we went by the Larlee Creek Church and Cemetery to walk around and visit our family’s headstones. Not too long ago, we sold off the plots that Dad had purchased long ago for the six of us siblings. Both Mom and Dad were cremated and I want to be as well and I can easily be buried with Mom and Dad with a simple stone. I’m not sure why, but Dan and Annette decided to “try out” their plots and Barb got a funny picture:

You might notice that Dan is talking on his cell phone while he’s laying there. After visiting with Nita and Murietta, Murietta and her husband took us up to the Goodine homestead in Tilley and we had a great “dooryard” visit with some more cousins. Our last stop of the day was in Aroostook. Dan wanted to drive by our grandmother’s house (disappointingly falling apart) and the church where Mom and Dad were married. Barb and Annette stood on the steps to have their picture taken before noticing the sign with the next day’s sermon subject! Did we ever get a laugh out of that one!

Sunday morning they left – Rick and Annette on their way west to their next stop in Chicago and Dan and Barb back to Boston where Dan will fly home and Barb will spend her last week of residency for her Doctor of Divinity. Even though the weather was damp and the sky overcast, it was bright with laughter and camaraderie.

My sister, the minister, is currently in Boston at Gordon Conwell Seminary on her final residency for her doctorate. One of the subjects in her workshops is “wholeness” and the reference in Proverbs 31 about a woman’s strength. For as long as I can remember, the qualities listed here were held up as the qualities men should look for in a woman. Forget all that. Here is the entire passage in the New International Version:

10 A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.

11 Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.

12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.

13 She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.

14 She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.

15 She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.

16 She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

17 She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.

18 She sees that her trading is profitable,
and her lamp does not go out at night.

19 In her hand she holds the distaff
and grasps the spindle with her fingers.

20 She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.

21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.

22 She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.

23 Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.

24 She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes.

25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.

26 She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

27 She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.

28 Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:

29 “Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all.”

30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

31 Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

Read that and think about women’s lib and the goals they wanted to achieve. Who’d have thought that millennia ago King Lemuel’s mother laid down those goals.

To my daughter and her friends, read this carefully and memorize it. Make these your goals – not for the men in your lives, but for yourselves. Think how successful your lives could be!

My sister the minister has been blogging the last day or two about the media reaction to some of the comments made by Michelle Obama. There apparently has been some chiding that she should “tone down” her public comments so she won’t overshadow her husband. Barb’s reaction was to wonder what happened to women’s lib? You wold expect a “smack down” from Christian conservatives but not from secular sources. In responding to her post, I had a sudden inspiration…

What if a husband/wife team ran for Governor/Lieutenant Governor and President/Vice President? (Yeah, I know. That kind of constitutional change probably won’t ever happen, but this is just a “what if…”) As I pointed out on Barb’s blog, if you take a close look at the strengths and weaknesses of a man and woman, I’ll bet you will find that they complement each other – one’s weakness is the other’s strength. As a society I think we have moved beyond the whole First Lady doing “womanly” duties and a strong woman (like Michelle Obama) could be a great asset as Vice President. Or maybe a strong woman could be President and her husband could be a great asset as Vice President.

So… what do you think (all three of you very young people )?

I have always been a voracious reader; at least I was until I got hooked on my computer… When my kids were growing up, they knew that the best time to ask me something was when I had my nose in a book. My dad would have said that my love of books was due to the fact that I spent my first two years of grammar school in a Canadian school. I do know that reading books fueled my imagination.

I’m not sure where Dad got the books (probably from the Salvation Army when he was working there), but we had a complete set of the Childcraft Encyclopedia. I believe I read through the entire set. One volume was dedicated to the best children’s poetry and nursery rhymes; others included classic children’s stories, fairy tales and fables. How I loved reading those!

Yesterday, while working in the rock garden (that is on a slope), I took a serious tumble by falling off my little gardening seat and rolling down and over the low stone wall onto the pile of grass and weeds bordering the driveway. (Becky, I’m all right! I just skinned my right arm (now bandaged) and bruised my left knee that was already painful from acute arthritis.) The tumble made me think of Jack and Jill, which in turn made me think of other rhymes and poems… I wonder how many of today’s children, especially those in inner cities, would recognize the nursery rhymes like Jack and Jill or poems like Wynken, Blynken and Nod. How sad for them if they haven’t.

Whatever happened to proper grammar? If you watch any police show, you will hear an officer at some point say “Myself and my partner…” *shudder* Correct grammar would be to say “My partner and I…” I watch a lot of Forensic Files on Tru TV (formerly Court TV) and I’m always hearing how the guilty person, when faced with the overwhelming evidence, pleaded guilty. No, no and no! It’s in the past. He plead guilty! (That’s pronounced like “led.”) What are they teaching in high school English these days? And how many teachers from the past are rolling over in their graves over the way our language is garbled due to “texting?” Check out this grammar website: English Grammar and Writing.

My muscles have been quite exercised of late and I’m feeling the pain. But. I have some new plants in the ground and as soon as the weather cooperates, I’ll be planting some lettuces, spinach, carrots, and tomatoes. I’m planting Roma tomatoes because they are better for cooking and preserving. I’ll make my own spaghetti and marinara sauces. I wonder if there is a recipe for tomato soup; I’ll have to check on All Recipes