Wednesday, April 27, 2011

A Royal Invite!

It's so great to be me! I just received a one of a kind invite to the Royal Wedding! Aren't you all SOOOOOOO jealous?????
Wanna be queenies.. ( aka. Rita, Jackie and Jayde and
lil princesses. ( aka: Abbie and Elena and Lexi )
The Queen is pleased to give you a cordial invitation to her palace for tea on Friday 29th April - at 10:30 am to attend the royal wedding ( ie watching a repeat of 5am wedding on BBC entertainment .. yes we got it live in the house).
You will be served lashings of English tea and lots of cucumber sandwiches and cake and we will follow the procession and service etc.. and comment on the dress and stuff.
The Prince charming will NOT be attending the tea and so it is strictly a gals only kind of deal.
dress code - whatever you want - but lil princesses MUST wear appropiate princessy type dresses
RSVP  (  we understand if you are busy or cant be bothered - just let us know asap)
lots of love and kisses
The Queen
ps.  Get polishing your crowns and MINE ...! 

I know you never knew the Queen of England lived here , but my grand daughters are sure it is so and have given the nick name to a dear British friend. It will be a blast to view the wedding with her and to finally eat cucumber sandwiches! 
What is a 'lashing of tea'???

Monday, April 18, 2011

What I have been doing

We had a lightning storm Thursday night that fried our modem and knocked another limb off a tree in our yard.
Friday night we lost power and spent most of the week end without power or running water.
When the water returned it was unusable as it was the color of chocolate milk for another half day.
OH! And we are helping my daughter move. 

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

The Things I See...

The drive thru at Mc Donald's here in Ciudad del Este.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Biblical Languages

"And let us be sure of this: we will not long preserve the gospel without the languages. The languages are the sheath in which this sword of the Spirit is contained; they are the casket in which this jewel is enshrined ... and ... they are the baskets in which are kept these loaves and fishes and fragments. If through our neglect we let the languages go (which God forbid!), we shall lose the gospel." 
-- Martin Luther

Thursday, April 07, 2011

The Things I See...

My daughter at her piano recital.

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Wicked Awesome!

My youngest  daughter recently attended a Retro  80's Youth Group Party. We had fun getting her ready. It brought back so many memories of my own teen years.

It was totally rad!



We had no bangs to do the big bang thing with so we went with the big side pony tail!



And the blue eye shadow!


Valley Girl!



Jungle Mom, vintage photo @ 1981

Saturday, April 02, 2011

The Devil's Brew

(My husband's coffee maker. We call it THE HOLY OF HOLIES!)

What do church history and coffee have in common, you ask?

In her aptly titled book, "Coffee," Claudia Rosen explains that 16th-century priests wanted Pope Clement VIII to ban "the devil's drink." They insisted that Satan had forbidden his followers--Muslims--from drinking wine because it was used in Holy Communion. Instead, the devil provided this "hellish black brew".


The elixir made from coffee beans does in fact have a long history in Islamic regions.
--African tribes mixed the crushed beans with animal fat and molded them into balls to eat as a stimulant before battle.
--Arabs made the first hot coffee beverage, in 1000 A.D.
--Dervishes--mystic devotees of Islam's Sufi sect--consumed coffee at all-night ceremonies as fuel for achieving religious ecstasy.
--Arabs also invented the ibrik, or coffee broiler.
--As coffee lost it's strictly religious significance, the first coffee houses appeared in Mecca.

Clemente VIII,wisely, decided to give it a taste test!

"Why, this Satan's drink is so delicious," he declared, "that it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it. We shall cheat Satan by baptizing it."

And so, I am now able to enjoy my coffee, which my husband makes and serves me each morning. Now that's romantic!



My favorite coffee is a Venezuelan blend. Cafe Madrid! We are out of it now, but are substituting with a Brazilian coffee we purchased here. My son in law recently left us some great Costa Rican coffee too.



Do you drink coffee? How much and how often? Any favorite blend?