coffee Coffee COFFEE....jelly??

There are so many things I enjoy and two of them are coffee and jelly (yay breakfast!). When I came across a recipe for coffee jelly I just had to try it!

Most of the friends I told about the jelly were "...okay..." but a few agreed to taste test.

I gave it a go. Syrup. Yuck. Went back over the recipe. Did I mention it was one of my first attempts at canning? No simple grape or apple jelly for me! I got a copy of the Ball's Blue Book of Canning and studied the instructions and their recipes. Ahh. The technique was right; the recipe wasn't.

I made a few alterations and gave it another go. Jelly!

My friends who tried it actually all liked it - husbands especially. (men...coffee...)

Here 'tis:

COFFEE JELLY

4 cups very strongly brewed coffee
    [I added grounds for about 10-12 c. but only put in water for 9 c. then let it sit on the plate for at least 4 hr.]

1/4 c. lemon juice

5 1/2 c. granulated sugar

1 box SureJell pectin

Stir coffee and lemon juice together in a 4-qt saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Add pectin to mixture and return to a boil. Add sugar and whisk vigorously for 2 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Return mixture to a full rolling boil and boil for exactly 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Ladle into half-pint jars with 1/4" headspace, wipe rims, and screw on tops fingertight.

Water bath - process 10 minutes. Transfer to a towel and let cool overnight. After cooled, test seal. Remove rings and wipe lid and jar clean. Label.

Best used in one year.  Makes 6 half-pint jars.

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There are a lot of sources for basic canning instructions but the Blue Book is my go to source.

Enjoy!

GOD's Pharmacy

• This is a guest post shared by Br. Ed Carriere from his blog on faithisbelieving.org
• 
  
• God opened a pharmacy, fruits for all ailments!
  
  1. Carrots
  Cut carrots like the human eye, we have the pupil, iris and radiating lines.
  Scientific research shows that a large number of carotene can enhance blood flow to the eye, protect vision, make eyes brighter.
  
  2. Tomatoes
  A Tomato has four chambers and is red, which is the same as our heart.
  The research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopene, high cholesterol patients in order to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke, may wish to eat. Eat cooked tomatoes.
  
  3. Grapes
  Grapes hang in a cluster has the shape of the heart, and each grape as red blood cells.
  Grape juice is rich in polyphenols, can help the body against cardiovascular disease.
  
  4. Walnuts
  Walnut looks like a little brain, a left brain, right brain, the upper and lower cerebellum of the brain, and even the wrinkles or folds like cerebral cortex.
  We now know walnuts contain more than 36 kinds of neurotransmitters, can help develop brain function.
  
  5. Beans
  Beans actually look exactly like the human kidneys, they can indeed help maintain kidney function.
  
  6. Celery
  Celery, and many other root vegetables look like human bones, but they really can strengthen bone. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium.
  
  7. Avocado
  Avocado is a variety of pear looks most like the uterus, to protect the woman's uterus and cervix health. Research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances her hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers.

  Amazingly, avocado from blossom to ripened fruit, is precisely nine months.
  
  8. Figs
  Like a man's testicles figs Figs are full of seeds and when they grow in pairs. Research shows that Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the number of sperm, and the treatment of male infertility.
  
  9. Sweet Potatoes (Yams)
  Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually, it does balance the glycemic index of diabetics.
  
  10. Olives
  Women's ovaries just like the size of olives, but it is most likely to occur in the organ tumors and tumor types is also up, there are more than 30 kinds. Olives assist the ovarian health, the prevention of ovarian cancer.
  
  11. Other Citrus Fruits
  Oranges, grapefruit and other citrus fruits look they seem to female breast. In fact, they contribute to the health of the breast and lymph out of the breasts. Orange antioxidant content is the highest of all fruits, including more than 170 different chemical constituents. When eating, do not throw away the orange peeling as it can relieve symptoms of breast hyperplasia.
  
  12. Onions
  Onions look like body cells. Studies have shown that it can remove all the cells of the body waste materials and dangerous free radicals.
  
  Given human nature's gift, the best medicines are not in pharmacies, but in fruit stores.  
  Because God opened a pharmacy, just for fruits... If you read this, please share with those who need to see.

It's amazing how these foods resemble the parts of the body they help! 

The Nature of Change

Change is inevitable. Big or small, lasting or just for a short time, changes rules our lives. Change can lead us to panic, acceptance, or joy.

Many changes are seen as a threat to the self. We are, for the most part, resistant to change; it can turn our worldview upside down. The death of someone you love, losing a relationship or a job - all of these can, and usually does, cause a sense of panic. One doesn't want it to happen; and he or she can be devastated by the change's impact.

Acceptance can run the spectrum from relatively easy to seemingly impossible and hard-won, depending on the intensity of the change. A relatively minor change, for example, attending a new school, leads to some reluctance but soon the person gets his bearings and his life is level once more. The loss of a loved one can take years to accept, and at first seems impossible. This type of acceptance needs not only time, but in a way, courage.

Those who create and bring the new into the world wecome change. For the change leads to a new book, a painting, a new theory of the natural world, or of GOD and His plan for us. The birth of a baby is a particularly joyful change. Life changes, and creative people embrace it.

How do you face change? Perhaps the best way is with your Bible in your hand....

Blondie girl

She's my 16-month Great Pyrenees. My baby girl has such a sweet way about her. She's playful, affectionate - and stubborn. Like most Pyrs she patrols her borders and (unfortunately) digs. She's a problem-solver so I have to keep ahead of her sometimes! We often play "Find" where I hide 6 biscuits around the living room and hall and she has to hunt them down.

And she's also very ill.

Blondie has masticatory muscle myositis. It's an autoimmune disorder where basically her body destroys these particular cells which are only found in her jaw muscles. It can get to the point where the jaw doesn't open at all and a feeding tube used.

Right now she has good jaw movement but she looks like she has a dent in her head.

I had to take away her rawhides and rubber chew toys. No more ice (well, they said I could give her crushed ice). I've started mixing her dry food with chicken broth and wet food. (and going to all wet food would be hard - she goes through a 15lb bag of dry a week!)

The doctor is putting her on corticosteroids (the only treatment for it). We're hoping it works, but the best I could get was a guarded prognosis. And the muscle she's lost won't come back. I was also told I may have to make some difficult decisions.

I'm so attached to her. When I got her at 8 weeks weeks was a 10lb ball of white fluff. Now she's a sleek pretty girl (who weighs 70lbs!). I don't know what I'd do without her.

I suppose a lot of people with animal companions feel the same...

My Blondie girl will be loved and spoiled whether she lives a year or - if I'm lucky - the 7-12 years Pyrs often live.

Faith's Works

..faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. -- James 2:17 NIV

I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. -- Acts 26:20 NIV

I read once that Martin Luther wanted to omit James from the Protestant Bible because it talks about faith matched to works. His firm belief was "sola gratia" - "by grace alone." James seems not to fit in.

I think it depends (as so much does) on your perspective. James can be seemed to say you need works to have faith. But it can also mean faith leads to works as an expression of the changed person.

And then we go to Acts. There Paul says those who repented (came to Jesus - found faith) should show their change of heart with their deeds. Here repentance resulted in Christ-like behaviour. Does the true Christian feed the poor to buy their way into heaven? No. The true Christian feeds the poor out of love which comes through their change of heart toward Christ. Do the true and false Christians look the same from the outside? Probably. I say "probably" because motivation affects how we perform an action. You don't have to be a cheerful giver when you're buying your way into heaven. That's from the outside in and reminds me of the Pharisees' "whitewashed tombs."

When your actions - your deeds - are an outward manifestation of your Spirit-filled heart, giving becomes cheerful. No "I'm better than you." No resentment. Just the joy of sharing Christ's love with others.

Instead of faith without deeds is dead try deeds without faith are dead. Think about it awhile.

May my deeds always live.

Collections

I collect. A lot. All sorts of small collections.

Darth Vader is the subject of one of my main collections - I have several small pieces, including the Pez dispenser and a relatively small solid brass keychain (serious blunt object!). I did, however, resist the pinata I saw a couple weeks ago. Ok, I did get the Vader head bank...

I do have one largish collection, though: rosaries. I fell in love with rosaries long before I became Catholic (fyi, I now consider myself ex-Catholic). There are around 60 in the collection. Different beads, different medals. Some (many) I bought; some I made. Short rounds of beads called chaplets. Full rosaries (the "normal" is only a partial one) with fifteen decades (the longer strings of beads, 10 each actually) instead of only three. Of course since Pope JP II added the Luminous Mysteries I guess a "full" rosary would be 20 decades.....

Poker chips from casinos my son visited on bowling tournaments. Thimbles. Japanese netsuke (small wood or, in one case ox bone, carvings, usually only a couple inches tall). Auburn University t-shirts. Bobbleheads of the popes (JP II and Benedict; haven't really looked for one of Francis).

Of course my truly largest collection is the one most in flux: books. I have some fiction but not a lot (ok, excepting the JD Robb In Death series, of which I have all 40-something) (google it, if you like murder and romance combined it's a hit), Most of my books are the non sort. I suppose you could call it eclectic.

Want to know about the Catholic Church? I have books for that. Henry VIII? Gotcha. Genealogy, including the genetic sort? Boy, have I got you covered. Plagues, the Civil War, writing, photography, knitting.... And a book called That Book - totally useless information.

My son used to call me the Queen of Useless Information.

Why do people collect? Sometimes I just like the looks of my collections. Sometimes I can't resist adding to my collections (mostly books!). Sometimes they act as visual triggers for memories. Sometimes they fill a hole....

What do you collect? Why? I think looking at the things we collect tells us about ourselves: what feels good for us to have, what pleases the eye...

Gotta run - need another book!!!

Intro to me

This is stepping a little outside my comfort zone - sharing my thoughts and writings with pretty much anyone. I'll be adding my little reflections, poems, and anything else that catches my attention.

Thanks to all who come to view me, especially those with constructive comments. When I share my writing, I have always appreciated knowing what others think about the topic and the writing itself. You could take a single topic - for instance a verse from the Bible - and let 10 people write about it. Ten different reflections would come from that verse, some almost like poetry, others devotional, and others in lecture mode. My style changes depending on the topic (of course). You'll see many of the types of writing I do.

I began writing in elementary school. When I lived in Columbus GA I was fortunate enough to take a journalism class in an after school honors program. I have used the basics of that class ever since: making outlines, taking notes, drafts and proofing, and so much more. I wrote my first real poem when I was about 14 - Grammar (written in English class!); I still have that - and will probably post it. My first novel (fortunately lost now) was written around that time, with my best friend my co-writer. It was...a learning experience.

High school was when I really took off. Poems and prose (most of which are lost) flowed through me. I was around creative people who inspired me. I was able to take some classes that sparked ideas (although most bored me so much...). Everything swirled through my head.

I wrote another (massive) novel in my late 20s. It too is unfortunately lost. This time I say unfortunately because it was good. It was a sweeping novel about power and relationships and good and evil. I would have loved to edit and shape it now, from the me that I am now.

Writing was once my life. Perhaps it will be again. Stay tuned....

Always

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. -- Hebrews 13:8 NIV

He was the Word, before creation. He was the Son of man, the Son of GOD, while He was on earth. He, the Son, sits at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory, Judge and King of an everlasting realm.

He is - always - Jesus.

Jesus loves us: Before we were born, before we accepted Him as our Lord. While we are weak, when we are strong. He loves us when we repent, and loves us enough that when we sin, He is sorrowed. As often as we turn back to Him, He forgives us, and rejoices.

He loves us when He judges us at the end of days. We who have turned to Him and loved our GOD are welcomed into His Father's house, where there are rooms for us all.

Does He love the ones who turn from Him? Yes, I think He does. Enough that He waits with open arms 'til their dying breaths. Enough to be sorrowed when He reveals His just judgement which sends them from the presence of the Triune GOD, I AM, who is Love.

He is our Promise, and our Reward. He is our adoptive Brother. He is our Lord.

We see Jesus in so many ways, some only known to ourselves, but He isn't one of these, He is All at all times,

He is - always - Jesus.