Day 1-This Little Babe

Welcome to my first "blog series"....which is actually only my fourth blog entry. I figure now is as good a time as any, following my quirky little concoction of topics so far (pickled okra, crappy doll hair, and grieving with dragonflies.) So here is the first entry of 10 Carols In 10 Days: one for each day leading up to and including Christmas Day. These are carols that don't often come to mind immediately when listing our seasonal favorites.....songs that I've grown to love as I've gotten older, because I have finally paid attention to what they are saying. Or, I have a love for the beautiful melodies and poetry that dwells in these ageless songs. 

First is Benjamin Britten's setting of This Little Babe, from his "Ceremony of Carols". This poem was written in the 1500s by Robert Southwell, who was a Jesuit missionary and was eventually hanged, drawn, quartered, and beheaded. He was beatified in 1929 and canonized as a martyr in 1970. The full poem is entitled "New Heaven, New War" (read it here.) Britten set it to this amazing melody in 1942. His intense expression matches his music, I think. That and he looks like a broody Gary Sinise. I am also in love with his work Saint Nicholas.

The Virgin and Child Enthroned, with Narrative Scenes

probably about 1263-4, Margarito d'Arezzo

This little babe, so few days old, 

Is come to rifle Satan's fold;

All hell doth at his presence quake. 

Though he himself for cold do shake,

For in this weak unarmed wise 

The gates of hell he will surprise.

With tears he fights and wins the field;

His naked breast stands for a shield;

His battering shots are babish cries,

His arrows look of weeping eyes,

His martial ensigns cold and need,

And feeble flesh his warrior's steed.

His camp is pitched in a stall,

His bulwark but a broken wall,

The crib his trench, hay stalks his stakes,

Of shepherds he his muster makes;

And thus, as sure his foe to wound, 

The angels' trumps alarum sound.

My soul, with Christ join thou in fight;

Stick to the tents that he hath pight;

Within his crib is surest ward,

This little babe will be thy guard.

If thou wilt foil thy foes with joy, 

Then flit not from this heavenly boy.

Here is a good performance of it (it is often heard by female choirs, so this is a little different). There are many more on youtube.

This song is known for its moderate difficulty (note the 3-part canon, each vocal part just a beat behind the next, with words and spit flying out everywhere to get the intense message across) and its brevity (less than 1:30). I love that Britten chose the original instrument to be a harp and that it's fast and the melody has some pretty difficult jumps....this ain't your Mama's lullaby! Most of all, I love the imagery in this carol....this tiny, innocent soul fresh from God as a little warrior in a feed trough. This newborn that makes hell itself quake just by being....he is described in terms of weaponry and artillery. A MAN's little tiny 8 pound 6 ounce baby Jesus! This picture of war and such a seemingly violent setting builds through the last verses and urges the reader to join in His fight. It almost makes you envision this little boy in his own Sons of Anarchy leather jacket, until you take in that last line....which Britten so brilliantly composed in a firm offset accent of change: If thou wilt foil thy foes with joy, then flit not from this heavenly boy! He takes down His opponents with joy, not violence! Not with joy like "Hey, I'm so happy to stomp a mudhole in you!" But He guards the one who joins Him in the fight with His lavish joy! (Sorry, Mark Driscoll, this is not your kind of ass-kicking Jesus.) 

This musical masterpiece feels rough and harsh, filled with these conflicting ideas of war and infant joy....but in its flourish of emotion it is comforting and sweet. And doesn't it dig down to the bare nature of what we celebrate in the nativity? That Love Incarnate brought JOY into the world which would be our greatest weapon against our enemies (not of flesh and blood, but of loss, loneliness, anger, sadness, pride, anxiety, stress, lack of trust....) A deep, powerful, sharp-edged joy....the joy of His surest protection and care....the joy of our salvation!!

Leaving the water

We had stopped by the church to drop off our trash on the way to the community meal tonight (it’s okay, we rent from the church, so we get dumpster usage in the deal : ), and when we stopped, Kaemon noticed the green tent from Groce Funeral Home.

“Can we walk down to Mr. Willis’ grave, Mama?”

He kind of surprised me with this request….I just didn’t expect a 10 year old to even be thinking about these heavy, holy things. (Lesson to Mommy: never underestimate these precious little humans.)

Kaeddin agreed, “Yeah! Mama, please?”

Trash got dumped, and then we saw Pappaw’s old blue truck driving back around the church. He stopped and said “Let's walk down to see Willis’ place.” We laughed that Kaemon had just asked the same thing.

When we arrived at the tent, there was a big group of dragonflies all around that side of the cemetery. Kaeddin walked all around his grave, looking at the flowers, and Kaemon stood with Pappaw and me. As usually happens with 10 and 8 year old siblings, a scuffle began, and Pappaw said “You all stop that now, you know what Mr. Willis would say.” They looked up at Pappaw with a little fear in their eyes, and he said “He would tell you all to not be so loud.” They stopped and giggled. I think I will be invoking the name of Willis Wright every time my kids fight. He was one of the most peaceful and soft-spoken people I know, and he can now be the patron saint of quarreling siblings!

Pappaw explained to the kids that it was just Mr. Willis’ body that was in that grave, that his soul, the essence of who he was, was now with God. He reminded them that Preacher Joe calls our body “the pod” (from the epitath about Oliver Pease, see if you can figure out the pun.) We had a good talk about our soul being with God, and how many chances will God give us to accept His gift of eternity? I told Daddy about my husband’s deep question we have discussed before….what would happen if Satan asked for forgiveness? Let that sink in….and see if your answer reveals to you anything about your view of God and His mercy.

We explored a few other gravemarkers, and Pappaw told the kids how to do a tombstone rubbing. Kaemon tried to read some of the old markers, and we told them about some of the stones there that have no markings at all.

Kaeddin wandered all the way down to the honeysuckles and brushy area next to the trees, and Pappaw told us that there are even more unmarked graves….possibly of some of the Native Americans and African-American slaves that were members of the early Hominy Baptist Church….under that honeysuckle.

She came back with some large fuschia silk roses that had blown into the brush. She carried them back up to Mr. Willis’ grave and laid them neatly next to the white hydrangeas and red roses. The dragonflies were still swarming all around, and it was so pretty in the bright getting-ready-to-set sun. Another moment this week that I needed my camera!

Pappaw and I wondered if there was something about cemeteries that drew the dragonflies. There is no water source very close to it, and there were so many of them. I told him about the movie Dragonfly and how the symbol of dragonflies eventually led the main character to find where his wife died, and a great treasure with it (I don’t want to completely spoil the movie if you ever want to see it.) Daddy thought maybe dragonflies sensed the freshly turned dirt, or maybe the change in the state of the soul of the deceased. It was a very beautiful and spiritual moment watching them fly around in the sharpness of the sun.

When we got home later, I found two blogs about dragonflies and how they get their wings…one was more of a legend and the other was a little more based in natural science. Basically, a dragonfly lives in its nymph form underwater, attached to a reed or other water plant, for as long as 1 to 5 years. (Gross goofy science footnote: It breathes through gills in its rectum, and propels itself up the reed when it’s time to metamorphosize by expelling water through its anus…can’t wait to tell the kids this little science fact in the morning!) When its time comes to change into a dragonfly, it has to leave the water, shed its skin, and then it can fly away, but only lives for 1  to 2 months. 

The legend version of the story compared the dragonfly’s life as a nymph underwater as our life here on earth, in the flesh….and the dragonfly which has left the water and gained its wings represents our souls as they leave this earth and become a new creature, freed from our earthly bodies. It’s a great little metaphor for the spiritual change we undergo when we die.

This is a sweet and comforting way to understand seeing dragonflies after losing a loved one, and in our case, seeing them swarm around the church cemetery. Even without the legend aspect, we can see that there is a connection of mystery between all of God’s creatures, great and small. 

If the Bible tells us that the very rocks will cry out and the trees will clap their hands in praise of their Creator, maybe also these little winged pretties share their praise and love for their Creator by being present in the places we name as sacred where we honor the transition of those we love as they "leave the water".

Leave the hair alone....and no one will get hurt.

Dear Mom and Dad of baby girls, a word of advice...

When your daughter is six, and she promises that if you let her take the braids out of her American Girl Doll Kaya's hair, she will be responsible with it, because "Mommy, I will keep it brushed and braided", just. don't. do it. 6 year olds do not work well with doll hair. Especially long doll hair.

Or you will find yourself with this hot mess here.....

 ....soaking her hair all day in fabric softener, draining the fabric softener, brushing, detangling, rinsing, then brushing some more, detangling....then with a dab of coconut oil you will end up brushing for hours on your couch at night when all you really want to do is play Candy Crush.

LEAVE THE BRAIDS IN. TRUST ME, YOU WILL LIVE TO REGRET THE DAY YOU CHANGED THE HAIR!!

On the other hand, I hear I can send Kaya to the AG "hospital" for a "new head" for just $44. Hmmmmm....just think how many candy bopper things I could buy for $44 (not that I would spend money on Candy Crush, haha : )

Pickled Okra, Y'all!

See these lovely green pods? Two of my church friends gave these to me when they overheard my sob story about a groundhog eating the tops off all our okra while we were at the beach. Yay for gardening church friends! Okra is a southern staple....we were raised on fried okra, pickled okra, and okra in our gumbo (gumbo in WNC? Hey whatevs.) 

1. Get your stuff ready. (See list below with condensed recipe.) Ingredients in containers, all your pots and tools in place, veggies washed and drained, clean towels, rings, etc. 

My pot set-up.....large canner on largest stove-eye, on the opposite side of where I'm working (because I'll bump it and steam my elbows.) Large stock pot for the vinegar/salt/water mixture to boil in. Small pot for keeping lids warm (medium heat....do not boil, it will ruin the sealer.) We use only stainless steel or enamel. Even if you cook with Teflon, I'm pretty sure you can't use it for canning. My mom likes to keep her teapot full of almost-boiling water for adding to the canner to make sure your jars are covered with plenty of boiling water. 

 2. With rack in canner, fill each clean pint jar with water, place on rack, and fill the rest of the canner with water. Get that stuff to boiling. It doesn't take super long due to the thin enamel canner (that's why they are thin metal) but you still have to wait a while to get it going. This is heating your water and sterilizing your jars. Doesn't need to be a rolling boil, but close. 

 3. Make the vinegar mix. I double the recipe from the Ball Blue-Ribbon Book of Canning because the recipe only makes 4 pints. 2/3 cup of canning salt, 6 cups water, 6 cups white vinegar. Bring to a boil. Reduce slightly to keep it at an almost-boil (rolling boil will evaporate too much liquid while you pack your jars, and your okra will taste too salty, trust me, I did this the first time.) **Do not use regular table salt.... canning/pickling/preserving salt is made specifically to not leave a residue in the bottom of your jars of lovelies.

  4. If using fresh dill, cut into sprigs, use 1-2 per jar. Some recipes call for dry dill weed added into the vinegar mixture. This is just as easy, and pretty. If dry dill weed is all you have, the flavor is still the same. This is partially dried dill, so not technically fresh and ferny looking. 

 Isn't it pretty??

5. Take hot jars out of pot (it's helpful to pour the hot water out of each jar into a metal bowl or another pot, just in case you need it....the volume of the okra/vinegar mixture will take the place of this heated water.) 

6. In each jar, place 1-2 dill sprigs, 1-2 cloves of garlic, and 1-2 fresh or dried hot peppers.

7. Start packing the okra in the jars, in two groups.....pods with stem side down, as tight as you can get them in, and then the second group with stem side up (pointy part can wedge in between the upright pods.) Mush that pepper, dill, and garlic out of the way (remember if you break the pepper pod it will make your okra hotter, which is not necessarily a bad thing.) It's like a puzzle. A green, squishy puzzle. (Note that wide-mouth jars will need shorter okra pods....small-mouth jars have a little more height to them.) 

 8. After all 7-8 jars are packed, use the handy funnel thingy to pour the vinegar mixture into each jar (go slow, they fill fast.) Leave 1/4" headspace. I usually just fill them to the top, because as the air bubbles escape, it makes a little more room at the top. Use a thin, non-metallic spatula (I use this plastic knife that came with my pasta maker) to slide between the okra and the side of the jar. Press in a little to release air bubbles. Add more vinegar mixture if needed.

Please take a moment to love on my dish towels. These are from a set I got from Ikea about 3 years ago. 8 year old artist daughter decided one of them would make a nice paint pallet, but I still use it. I love these happy colors and designs! 

 9. Wipe the rim of each jar with a clean, dry cloth. Any moisture or food particles here will keep the lid from sealing well. Take lid out of hot water (you can get that cute little magnet jar thingy, but I just lift them out with a fork and then hold them with my fingers....they shouldn't be painfully hot or it's melting the sealer.) Center the lid and then put the clean ring on....tighten it like you would any regular jar (not Superman tight, but tight.)

 10. Gently place each jar into the rack (wide-mouth jars are harder to hold with these things so be careful.) If water does not already cover the jars by about 2 inches, add more of the boiling water you saved (or the water from Mom's teapot) over the jars. Place lid on, return heat to "high" and wait about 5 minutes for it to go back to a boil. When it is a rolling boil, slightly reduce your heat (I turn mine from HI to between 8 and 9) so it continues to boil but doesn't come out of the pot. Set timer for 15 minutes.

11. After 15 minutes, turn off heat, and if you feel like wrestling that blasted rack up into position where it can hang on the edges, go ahead and do that....let cans sit partially out of the water about 5 minutes (to begin cooling), then place on a clean DRY cloth. I don't do the balancing rack thing except with pressure cooking so the jars won't bust. With short-time canning, I have never had issues with just placing them straight from the pot onto the towel on the counter. Be sure your towel is dry....putting this hot puppy on a cool, wet surface will probably burst it. Hot mess that is. Let them rest a while, and listen for that happy little "doink" that shows you they are sealed. After a few hours, I go back with a clean wet cloth and wipe the lids and jars down (sometimes there is some salty residue) and feel each to see if the button is down showing it's sealed. 

Serving ideas:

• Side dish for breakfast, sandwiches, salads
• Condiment on hot dogs, hamburgers, grilled chicken sandwiches
• Place inside any wrap sandwich
• Garnish for a Bloody Mary 
• I've always wanted to try a home-made grilled pimiento cheese sandwich with pickled okra in it

Supplies:

• 7-8 jar canner with lid
• Canning rack
• Jar lifter
• Magnetic lid wand (optional)
• Stock pot for vinegar mixture
• Small pot to warm lids
• 7-8 clean pint-sized canning jars (Ball, Kerr, or Mason)
• 7-8 lids and rings to match jars
• Clean dish towels (at least 3)
• Jar filling funnel
• Ladle or glass measuring cup
• Plastic spatula
• Potholders if needed

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 pounds small, fresh, clean okra pods
• 2/3 cup canning salt
• 8 sprigs fresh dill (or 2 teaspoons dry dill weed)
• 6 cups water
• 6 cups white vinegar
• 8 cloves garlic
• 8 fresh or dried red peppers or other hot peppers (long and skinny works best)