I’ve sometimes secretly wondered…..

I’ve sometimes secretly wondered if there wasn’t something a little “weird” in our marriage.

(Not to worry…I told my wife this on Thursday) ….after reading the following article.

Here’s what weird:  we’re coming up on 32 years of marriage  this April and we  still experience  lots of romantic feelings for each other.

  I am not lying. 

 The “sizzle” is still there.

Not going to get all TMI  on you here.

But after reading this recent column by Andree Seu  I felt a lot better…

(I’ve reposted it below)

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Superlative Song

Scripture has a powerful response for those who think God dislikes romance

The  Song of Songs stands through the centuries, as an immovable testimony of God’s intention for man and woman.  It is a rebuke to our tiny loves, a constant goad to our lackluster marriages.  It calls drifting and depleted couples back to the Creator’s ideal: Do not settle for less than joy.  It is far from a manual, and yet in its poetry it shows how the secrets of connubial bliss are found in the readily available commodities of openness, verbal affirmations, playfulness, occasional getaways, committed oneness, and working through trials.

      We thought we had made too much of love when we had made too little of it.  We thought our songs too charged with passion when they had fallen short.  Our honeymoons are a mere two weeks when God had suggested a year:  “When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be liable for any other public duty.  He shall be free at home one year to be happy with his wife who he has taken.”  Deut. 24:5

     The ancients, embarrassed by the Song, stripped it clean of scents and touches.  It is no shabby proof of divine inspiration that when the smoke cleared on the canon in the mid-third century, the Song was still there.  Cyril of Alexandria (376-444) made the two breasts of the Shulamite the Old and New Testaments.  The bearded ones were right that the Song is about Christ, but it is about Christ via the erotic love of husband and wife (“This mystery is profound”- Ephesians 5:32)

Painting by Domenico Morelli depicting the Song of Songs

     For some of us, the Song is not only helpful but essential.  It gives permission to be as in love as you want to be.   It destroys the notion that God grants romance as a concession but holds His nose.  It debunks the notion of love sickness as a brief biological agitation for the prosaic purpose of perpetuation of the species.  If your marriage passes from intoxication into humdrum cohabitation, it is not God’s idea.  Put away from you the fatalists who say, “Romance is a flame that dies but companionship is its consolation. ”  Put away those who believe that “letting yourself go” after the ring is on is normal.  Not from heaven does such counsel come.  “At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:11)

      The Shulamite brings warning:  ”I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem….that you do not stir up or awaken love until it pleases. ”  (vs2:7, 3:5, 5:8 8:4)  She is so very much in love with this man that she doesn’t want her friends to forfeit this experience by forcing love prematurely, by taking matters into their own hands.  (also note the emotional price tag for love- 3:1-5; 5:2-8.)

     The “daughters of Jerusalem” are cheerleaders, for our sakes.  This love affair enjoys the approval of objective onlookers and is not some tawdry tryst that must keep a nervous lookout for men and from the light.

      Tend your marriage, even if you think it is too late.  There is wonder-working healing in a touch, a look, a word, an unexpected embrace.  Nor is it artificial to work on love.  C. S. Lewis reminds us that a garden is no less beautiful for needing to be weeded and fussed with (The Four Loves)

      “Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards.”  (2:15)   What are the little foxes but our inconsiderateness, laziness, resistance, hard-heartedness, and above all unbelief?  Believe in love, for love is of God.  Everything in the universe is arrayed on its side.

     The world has had many songs since the world began, but this one is the Song of Songs.  The Hebrew construction in the superscript indicates the superlative.  Tell me what is more superlative , if you know.  Whatever you propose, the daughters of Jerusalem will spurn it and will say:  “Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave.  Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord.  Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it.  If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised.” (8:6-7)

Andree Seu February 26, 2011 World Magazine

More chickens.

I’m thinking about getting some more chickens.   

Right now we have 5….4 hens and a rooster.

The following story comes to mind every time I think about our little flock….

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Not Even Chickens by Robert Fulghum

      With all the recent seaside development, it is easy to forget that Crete and Cretans are fundamentally about the mountains – the steep places, the high and isolated villages that breed independent, self-sufficient people who have always been a rule unto themselves.  They still are.  The Mountain Cretans say they fear nothing and nobody, and would look at God, Himself, with hat on and eyes open.  Thus they look upon strangers with interest, not suspicion.

     One afternoon I parked my car and walked a narrow road that connects several small villages along a high mountain ridge.  A voice called out from the porch of a whitewashed house:

     “Ehla, ehlah, kahtheeseh!” (Come come, sit!)  An old man beckoned to me, pointing to the chair beside him.

      I went.  I sat.  On a small table were almonds, raisins, olives, and a bottle of tsikoudia (tsee-koo-di-ah)  the Cretan equivalent of white-lightening or grappa- the proffered sign of hospitality and welcome to a Cretan home.  He was expecting company -and anybody would do.

     “tho-kee-maseh” (Drink this, eat this!)  he said, handing me a glass of tsikoudia and filling a small plate with almonds, raisins, and olives.

      “Lee-pon.  Germanos?” (Well, then, are you German?)

       I was touched to know that the hospitality came first, even though I might be German- from a country that had brutalized Crete in WW II.

     “Oshee, Americanos.”  (No, American.)

       “Americanos!  Americanos!  He shouted into the house, and a younger man appeared.  They spoke high-gear Greek with a Cretan accent.  The look on my face tells them I cannot follow, so the younger man says in fine English, “My father is excited to meet you.  He has never met an American.  He hears that in America they have everything.  He would like to ask you some questions.”

     Fine.  With his son translating, the examination began.  How old was I?  How many children?  How much money do I make?  Very Cretan inquiries.  Then a harder question that led to even tougher scrutiny: “How often do you dance and sing and recite poetry?

      “Not very often.”

       The old man looked at me with narrowed eyes.

      “How many sheep and goats do you have?”

     “None.”

      The old man looked puzzled.

       “How many olive trees do you have and how much oil put away?”

      “None.”
    

      The old man frowned.

      ” How many vines do you have and how much wine put away?”

     “None.”

      The old man was nonplussed.  He raised his eyebrows.

      “Do you have any chickens?”

     “No.”

     The old man looked mildly outraged and fell into high-gear Greek again with his son.  The son was apologetic.  “Pardon me, but my father says that it is a lie that Americans have everything.  You have no sheep, no goats, no trees, no oil, no vines, no wine, not even chickens.  He asks,” What kind of life is that?  He says, “No wonder you don’t sing or dance or recite poetry very often.”  He is dismayed.”

     The old man peered at me with pity bordering on contempt.

      Shaking his head in disgust, he mumbles in English, as he rose and limped out into his garden, dismissing me from his mind:

“Nothing.  Not even chickens….”

How Do You Say “Grain Mill” in German?

        I (DM) came across the following information two months ago.  It sent me on another  adventure…..

       an adventure into the world of bread, bread making, healthy breads (if there even was such a thing)…..  (and there is!)

        I thought to myself, this stuff is really too good to keep to myself! …sort of like the Three Sisters Gardening concept...

I know there are people who already know this , but for one reason or the other, it is not well-known by the general population.  Unless you run in certain circles, (and I apparently don’t)  this information  was  all new to me.

Thought I would post a portion of that original article on the blog:

What’s In A wheat Grain?
To understand the benefits associated with milling grain, you need to understand what comprises a whole grain. There are three main layers: the bran, the germ, and the endosperm.
• The bran is the outer layer where all the roughage that helps move unwanted poisons and toxins through your system is found. The bran also contains numerous vitamins, minerals, and proteins.
• The germ is the health center of the grain, overflowing with vitamins B and E, as well as unsaturated fat and protein.
• The endosperm is the starchy white center. Whole grains contain almost 90% of all the vitamins, minerals, and protein you’ll ever need. However, commercially milled products don’t offer you those nutrients. Why? Once milled, the oils found in the bran and germ oxidize and turn rancid within 72 hours. So for commercial purposes, both the bran and germ—and all the nutrients contained within them—must be removed in order to give products a shelf life.  

Hard Red Wheat and Rye for sale

Bread Is Made of What?
The endosperm is all that’s left of the original grain. So you’re basically eating gluten and starch when you eat products off the shelf. For PR purposes, you’ll see breads and cereals claiming to be “enriched with vitamins and minerals!” Don’t be fooled. The fact that a product needs enriching is a sign of how much of its health value has been diminished. Usually only 2-4 of the missing vitamins and minerals can be replaced anyway, and nothing can be done to replace the fiber and protein.

Health Benefits
Although the nation is currently experiencing low-carb mania, fresh whole grain products are in fact good for you. They are low in fat, high in protein, and provide energy for your muscles and body. High fiber found in whole grains helps in the management of obesity, diabetes, hemorrhoids, stroke, and heart attacks. Eating whole-grain foods on a regular basis has been shown to decrease risk for heart disease and high cholesterol levels, and is also thought to lower the risk of breast and colon cancer. Most commercial products reek with preservatives, and bleaching agents. When milling your own flour, you’re able to mill only the amount you need, so nothing goes to waste and you are left with fresh-tasting, chemically unaltered flour. 

 Hard Red Wheat and Rye for sale Iowa  

Taste
After eating bread prepared from grain you mill yourself, there is no going back. Commercial products will taste stale, even if they’re “fresh” off the shelf. Freshly milled breads can have a variety of taste depending on which grains you chose to mill. There’s fun in experimenting with different grains in your recipes. Try adding or combining buckwheat, spelt (good for people with wheat allergies), oats, rye, wheat, quinoa, millet and many other grains for a never-ending variety of taste.

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Hard Red Wheat and Rye for sale  Iowa

 I  tracked down a source for Organic  hard red wheat   and Rye, which  I would even sell  to you  if you’re interested.  Leave me a comment and we can talk current prices.  For a lot less than anything I found anywhere else on-line  and no minimum quantity for sale right   here  in River City… Iowa that is.

Diagram of a “Wheat Berry” : (or Kernel of wheat )

Picture of me grinding my first batch of fresh flour….living the dream