The word of the day for April 26, 2008 is "beatify" — transitive verb — 1 : to make supremely happy. 2 : to declare to have attained the blessedness of heaven and authorize the title “Blessed” and limited public religious honor.
My son began calling my mother "GrandmaAgarForceofNature" while he was in High School—not to her face, mind. The soubriquet fits her so well that my sister and I plan to publish the Force of Nature Cook Book filled with recipes gleaned from Mother's recipe box. Some of the recipes we found were the old standbys: spaghetti sauce that was basically a white sauce with tomato juice, for instance. I don't ever remember having some of the recipes; I suppose people gave them to her or she copied them out of magazines. One, which we intend to put into the book purely for the weird factor, involves olives in lemon jello. [Don't hold your breath for the publication date, we have to recreate some of the text.]
Since we were raised Methodists, Mother expended no effort to emulate Marjory of Kemp. Marjory, who wanted to be a saint and spent most of her life and a great deal of her husband's money in the attempt to achieve it never was recognised by any pope, but probably would be a better patron of travelers than St. Christopher mainly because she always managed to get on the boat that made it. Mother's forte was that she just "knew where people were going wrong and what they should do to straighten out their lives." (Some of you may rememeber the "Button Box.") Not that she was overbearing (for the most part): she just let you know what she expected of you. Mother and Dad raised the three of us in the United Methodist Church. They taught sixth grade Sunday School for a number of years—not while we girls were in that age group. I don't know whether that was because Jo and I were so angelic or whether they thought they needed to save their strength for Wes's cohort.
Our quote for the day is from Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), U.S. essayist, poet, philosopher. “Eloquence,” Society and Solitude (1870):
There is also something excellent in every audience,—the capacity of virtue.
They are ready to be beatified.
6 comments:
I thought that was what I was going today ,putting a colour on my hair and a face pack on my face too ,Tomorrow is Sunday so will deal with the inner me then! hee hee ..love Jan xx
congrats on winning the weekly sentence with Val! that was a great sentence you had :)
betty
... I really understand what you are saying about your Mother ... I think that there are plenty of Mother's with that ability ... not just for theirs, but for other's too ... and with every word of the day you post, I hope to beatify you with my efforts ..!
i remember seeing the film of Bernadette where her face was beatific with love on seeing Our Blessed Lady.
I have so many recipes gleaned from over the years. Magazines, friends, etc but I never really use them as I am one of those cooks who learned all the basics then like to improvise to my own taste. The trouble is though that no two recipes are ever the same. Lol! Exciting and interesting ...yes? Hahahahaha!
Hugs
Jeanie xxxx
Congratulations on winning Sentence of the Week. Love Pam xx
http://journals.aol.co.uk/pamal3/almost-40/
Oh, several of us grandkids (at least the older set) decided that was a prime name for her. In fact, a few years ago I had bought a couple luminaries for the Relay For Life walk. You can buy a luminary and have it read off in honor or in memory of a loved one with cancer. Toward the end of the evening they read off all the names and short messages on the luminaries. Like GL, loving dad and husband.
Grandmother's was basically Grandma Agar, Force of Nature.
I have often tried to explain Grandma's spaghetti sauce* and her total abandoment of any thing remotely like a spice or herb. It probably says more about my contrary nature that my kitchen overflows with a WIDE variety of spices and herbs. (Two spice racks full and still have some in my cupboard.)
*Don't forget the whole cooking the pasta until WAY past el dente and THEN baking it with the sauce. I actually liked it because of the meatballs.
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