First in Flight
We visited the Wright Brothers National Memorial today. Their story is pretty amazing when you think about it....
Review: Breaking Up with God by Sarah Sentilles
Sarah Sentilles was not just your average church-goer. She was in the process of working toward ordination as an Episcopalian priest, was a youth pastor, and a Divinity student at Harvard when she broke up with God. This book tells her story, how she was raised, what kind of teenager she was, and when she started waiting what she thought she knew and attempting to reconcile it with the God she was learning about. She puts in terms of a man-woman relationship, which I found made sense to me, others may not like that.
To be truthful, I didn't like Sarah. I kept wanting to tell her to get a grip, to figure out who she is and stop relying so much on everyone else's image of her. But I guess that was her point, and while she did get there, it was pretty rambly.
While I don't agree with all of her decisions, I do think people can question God and...
Recipe: Spicy Honey-Glazed Chicken
We grill a lot in the summer. I love the taste of meat, veggies and fruit on the grill, it gets David to cook and not me, it helps keep the house cooler. A few days ago we had spicy honey-glazed chicken breasts that turned out pretty well.
Here's the recipe for the chicken from Rachael Ray.
Spicy Honey-Glazed Chicken
Ingredients:
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup honey
2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon lemon juice
8 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 4 pounds)
Salt
Directions:
In a small saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until translucent and beginning to brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the honey, hot pepper sauce and chili powder and simmer for 1 minute. Remove from the heat, stir in the lemon juice and set aside.
Preheat a grill to medium-high. Rub the chicken with the remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil and season...
Branches
Branches
368 words
The pain was excruciating, but she wouldn't scream. The tree howled as his branches pierced her skin, his upper branches whipping as if in a windstorm, sap rolling down his trunk like teardrops, but he wouldn't stop. She had made this choice, wanted this connection and he knew that she might be the one who could restore balance.
For too long, war had ravished the countryside. The new weapons could cause more damage than he had ever seen. Acres burned, fire came from above. No more was it simply arrows piercing their bark, swords slashing their branches or horses galloping over their roots. They were truly in danger now, and the humans did not seem to understand that their lives depended on the forest more than the trees had ever depended on people. The ancient tree did not care who was fighting, it made no difference. He had seen kingdoms rise and fall and human politics meant little too him,...
Friday’s Tale: Mike Fink
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We met Mike Fink briefly last week. He's another tall tale character, although in this case the legends are based on a real man who was born near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania around 1770 or 1780. In addition to the exaggerated and imagined feats that make up his story, it may have been woven from the stories of two or more men with the same name.
Be that as it may, I read his story in American Tall Tales by Adrien Stoutenburg. The story starts with Mike Fink growing up in the woods around Pittsburgh, shooting wolves, bobcats, bugs, anything really. He was tough and bragged a lot, but always backed up his bragging with a show of his skill. He entered a shooting contest and beat out all the soldiers, hunters, Indian scouts, and boatmen, all the best shots in the country, even though he was just a child. He was too young to fight in the American Revolution, but when...