Snowshoeing Trip

Setting out

God's good earth

Going up

Looking back to where we started

Almost there

At the cabin

Troops 9 & 14

Inside

The Snow Monsters

Heading back

Still snowing

Break time

Winter Land

Rear view mirror

Nature's art

The road home

Kiddie lit

Yesterday, Matthew approached me with a library book in hand.

"Mommy," he said, "Will you read In Which Curious George Takes a Job to me please?"

Yes, he added "In which" to the beginning of the title.

Winnie the Pooh is everywhere. :-)

Coming up for air

We've been sick. Cold, fever, earache, sinus infection sick. Everyone in succession from John to Patrick to Katie to Joseph to Meghan. Praying that Matthew and I will be spared. And I can get back to writing something on this blog.

Back to the infirmary.

Baptism of the Lord

In the new calendar of the Catholic Church, Christmas ends today. Our readings at Mass in the past several weeks have given us glimpses into the childhood of Jesus: little moments in His life with Mary and Joseph. Today the story takes a leap forward to the adult life of Jesus and the beginning of His public ministry.

This morning's Gospel reading (Mark 1:7-11) is the briefest account of Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River. Like the "hidden years" readings of the past several weeks, however, there is a lot to learn from the few words and actions we are given. Our pastor pointed out one lesson this morning by telling the story of the baptism of an adult who died unexpectedly the very next day.

Remembering the Baptism of the Lord reminds us of the importance of receiving the Sacraments. God has given us these avenues of grace in order to help us in our journey to heaven, and we do well to embrace them. We are reminded that Jesus, who is God, and therefore had no need of Baptism, received John's baptism anyway. And we know that we are to follow His example in all things.

To celebrate the Baptism of the Lord and our Baptisms, we lit all of our Baptismal candles at brunch this morning, along with the Christ candle we made during Advent and have been lighting throughout the Christmas season. We lit Tommy's candle for him, too, even though he is back in the U.S. now, visiting my sister and her family before returning to UD next week.


The light brought another table decoration to Joseph's mind. "Mom, when is Candlemas?" he asked. We are a people of feasts, after all, and Candlemas (Feb. 2) is the traditional end of the Christmas season. I like that he unconsciously made that connection. :-)

For some photos of the place of Jesus' Baptism in the Jordan, visit my friend Ammanmom and read her post about Bethany Beyond the Jordan. She and her family visited the site during Christmas break. Lucky!!

Lunch

As I gave Matthew his lunch Saturday, I was thinking of how conveniently-sized Japanese dishes are for kids.


No unnecessary touching of different foods.


Happy lunch man!

Another time, I'll think a bit harder about portion size in relation to body weight and how what I think of as kid-sized dishes are adult-sized dishes for the Japanese. But not today. It's still the Christmas season, after all. ;-)

A partridge in a pear tree

Photo credit: Katie Riordon

Rather, a Green Pheasant in a crabapple tree.

Photo credit: Katie Riordon

Make that TWO Green Pheasants.

Photo credit: Katie Riordon

We often see one and keep trying for photos, but haven't been very successful.



When I went closer, this gentleman got nervous.

I'll be on my way now.

Oh, okay, just one last pose.

By the time I looked up from the camera, he had flown off.

The Green Pheasant is the Japanese national bird. Like the California Quail and Ring-necked Pheasants we knew in Yakima, the males and females live separately in winter. In the spring, we see them together. Last winter, they nested in the little woods behind our house. We frequently saw the females, but the male is more secretive. Just about the time someone said "Hey, the pheasant is in the yard," he raced into the woods. No photos for him.

We did get these unsatisfying shots of one of the mamas and older chicks in the fall.



You can see why we didn't share them with you then. There were six or seven chicks. I hope there is another successful brood this spring. I love seeing them scooting around the yard and around the neighborhood. And I'm hoping for better photos. :-)

Mochi eating

I found Mochi ice cream in the commissary this week and brought it home for a new year's treat. How ironic that we ate Japanese-style dessert imported from the USA!


I'm sure I would find it in the Japanese grocery store if I looked. But it would be more expensive. The commissary system creates a surreal sort of economy.



The mochi was yummy! Much better with ice cream in the middle than bean paste.



But that's just us.