TJ Hirst

Try-It With-Me Tuesday, an interactive weekly time and place to foster connections that challenge and encourage the process to become a well-rounded person.

“Mom, do you know why Sam in My Side of the Mountain might be like Thoreau?” My fourth-grader questioned me. “If I find out, I can get extra credit.”

“You just learned about Thoreau,” I said. “Remember that talk we heard about Walden Pond? That was about Thoreau.”

She was skeptical. “I don’t think it was the same Thoreau.”

I assured her it was and that we even had his book, Walden, on our bookshelf. “Go get it and get your book, too, so I can see the reference.”

Not many fourth graders would understand that allusion without an explanation, but she got a jump start this week when we heard a leader in our church speak about Thoreau’s experience to separate himself for two years to live a simple life. When she came back, I quizzed her on the four things that he discovered he needed—food, clothing, shelter and fuel. By thinking about those answers, she could see the comparison between Sam and Thoreau.

Since this seems an appropriate time in our society and in my life to consider how Thoreau’s experiences might apply, I’m introducing Walden by Henry David Thoreau as my first selection for the Try-It-With-Me-Tuesday Book Club. By the way, thanks to Holly at Marathon Bird for starting me with Bodacious Bloggity Book Club.

Want to Try It With Me?

First - Find a copy of the book. Thanks to Rachel, who suggested Project Gutenberg would be a great source for books. You can download Walden for free from Project Gutenberg. Or download and listen to the audio book version. Your public library, a friend’s bookshelf or retailers are also a good source if you like to have the book in hand. But hurry . . .

Second - Read it in the next three short weeks, before Tuesday, October 28. Jot down your thoughts and impressions in a journal or on sticky notes on the pages to mark your insights.

Third - Share your impressions in an online discussion here on Tuesday, October, 28. Write a post on your website if you have one. Or just come back and share your thoughts in the comments.

If you do write a post, I want to publish your link so we can visit your website and see what you have to say. Please email your  permalink to tj (at) tjhirst (dot) com no later than Monday, October 27 at 12 a.m. (Central Time). If you don’t make that deadline, just leave the link in your comments on the Tuesday post.

I’m inviting anyone to participate for what I hope will be far from a stuffy discussion to discover what simplicity meant to Thoreau and what it means to us today.

Join in by trying the challenges with me, commenting, linking, or suggesting a challenge. If you want to write a post on your blog about what happened when you took the challenge, I will publish your link. Just link to my website in your post and send me your link. Feel free to use the TIWMT image in your post.

Filed in Try-It-With-Me Tuesday

The places, events and people of my life emerge from my subconscious as the settings, plots and characters of my dreams.  In my sleep I pluck from a lifetime of who, what and where like I am trick-or-treating at doors across the world. Then, my mixed assortment of real people, places and scenarios appear in eerie fictional stories, out of time and situational context, as the ghosts of my sleepy-time entertainment.

The ghosts of houses past loom as stages for the dramas behind my closed eyes, with the childhood home of my elementary school years as the most frequent backdrop.

In the latest, I peered out that familiar living room window on Fisher Lane to see a bridge explode and fling debris through our ceiling. (Never mind that that particular bridge crosses the Missouri River 20 miles in the other direction). Fortunately, the home of my teenage years with a centuries-old cemetery—or graveyard as we called it—in the back yard has slipped from my nightmare writer’s notice.

The ghosts of decisions past add anxiety to my sleep when I discover that I am reliving old deliberations with new twists and outcomes. As a notorious second guesser, whether I am awake or asleep, I am more suited to the role of third party observer of a friend or family member who is weighing his or her options.  That is why I particularly enjoyed a recent dream when my friend invited me along on her house hunt, where we easily chose a cleverly-updated ranch with new tile and a curved bar in the kitchen. In reality, she moved over six months ago.

The ghosts of people past reacquaint themselves with me in the oddest places and times in my dreams.  I’ve had fictitious mass reunions with people I have known in a food court of a shopping mall and while waiting in line for a restroom. Our conversations create comic relief during a night of fitful sleep.

The closely related ghosts of relationships past are far more frightening than funny. I get a little panicky in the morning when I remember my dream included someone from my life five, ten or twenty years ago. Why is my subconscious pulling HIM into my dreams at this time? Is is a crush I never outgrew? Does it mean something more?

If you’ve ever read Dicken’s Christmas Carol, it is hard not to wonder why each ghost appears. Most nights, though, my candy stash of characters and scenes doesn’t add any more meaning to my life than a handful of Milk Duds. But think of the possibilities I can pull out of my bag during the day when I write.

Author’s Note: Since I am not a huge Halloween fan, the theme of “Ghosts” for Scribbit’s October Write Away Contest nearly scared me away, but it was fun to dress up my writer self in a little different costume for this entry.

Filed in Everyday Lite

More visionary than a scenic leaf drive, more exhilarating than a homecoming football game, more productive than planting daffodil and tulip bulbs. . . My favorite fall tradition is General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Watch or listen here.

Filed in Ponderings

When I was a young cook, a young wife and a young mother, I never strayed from a recipe. For years, I followed every step precisely. My husband, on the other hand, could put in a little of this or a little of that. I surmised that he was more experienced, more creative or that he just didn’t care. I have since learned that he had more confidence to try it out.

A leader in my church gave an inspiring talk last week to women about finding happiness through creativity and compassion. He said.

The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before.

Everyone can create. You don’t need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty.

Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty—and I am not talking about the process of cleaning the rooms of your teenage children.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Happiness, Your Heritage

He shared a funny example of the difference between how he and his wife cook, which reminded me that my husband is not like most men, or at least most men of a certain generation. He cooks. But not only that, he cooks with confidence and creativity. After watching him for the past 18 years, I can now set aside a recipe and create one of my own, like this cherry almond bread. Overcoming my fear of failure and trusting myself in the kitchen was just what I needed to uncover my hidden creativity out of the kitchen, too.

I’ve discovered creativity follows a need. A few weeks ago, I wanted to make a special breakfast for Saturday morning on Friday afternoon. Unfortunately, I ran out of time making three other things that day. (My cooking limits is usually three items. Otherwise I become overwhelmed in the kitchen.)

Sometimes a particular ingredient sparks my creativity, like the dried cherries I had left over from making the Wheat Berry Salad last month. Those are great. Have you ever tried them?

I considered making the bread dough I had already prepared into cherry almond sweet rolls. That would have been tasty, but an even faster alternative would be to roll out the dough, add the dried cherries, almonds and a butter/sugar filling, roll it into a loaf and cook it whole. I slathered cream cheese frosting on top and YUM!

My Cherry Almond Bread is a variation on my mom’s Cinnamon Raisin Bread. Here’s how I did it, step-by-step:

1. Make bread dough. I used this recipe and reduced the whole wheat flour by a cup to two cups and added an extra cup of white flour. Allow to rise for one hour.

2. After the dough doubles, cut into two pieces. Shape one loaf according to the recipe and set aside in a loaf pan to rise. Roll out the second piece of dough into a rectangle.

3.  Partially melt ¼ cup butter in a glass measuring cup in the microwave (about 30 seconds, depending on your power setting and softness of butter). Add ½ cup granulated sugar to the butter and ½ teaspoon almond extract. While I didn’t do this, I would recommend adding a drop or two of red food coloring to make the sugar mixture pink for a more visible swirl in the bread. Stir to combine.

4. Spread the sugar mixture on top of the rolled-out dough, leaving about 1 inch all around for an edge.

5. Sprinkle ½ cup to 1 cup dried cherries over the sugar mixture. Sprinkle ½ cup slivered almonds over the cherries.

6. Fold up the edges on the short ends and roll up the dough, beginning from the long end of the rectangle. Place seam side down on a large greased baking sheet, and allow to rise for about 20-30 minutes.

7. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 25-30 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack and make cream cheese glaze.

8. Soften 3 oz. of cream cheese. Stir in enough powdered sugar to make a spreading consistency. Optional - add ¼ teaspoon almond extract to the glaze. Frost the loaf when still warm but not hot, about 30 minutes after baking. Store in refrigerator to set glaze. Slice to serve.

Filed in Recipes

The Question: Have I Seen the Hand of God Reaching Out to Touch Us Today?

I like nice people. I especially like nice customer service people on the other end of the phone when I call about a problem. Do you know the type I mean?

They answer in a courteous tone. They have access to all my information in front of them. They ask questions that show me they listened and understand me. They offer solutions to resolve my concern. And they give me information about what I can expect from that solution. At the end of that, they even thank me for the privilege of serving me.

That’s nice customer service.

Lifetouch Photography’s phone representatives were all of these things when I had a minor mishap this week with my son’s order for school pictures. On our end, we misplaced the photo packet. We guessed about the package price. We picked a packet without the 5×7’s for grandparents. And when we realized all of this, we had a parent/child meltdown.

And when I called for help—TWICE—they helped. They even sent two extra photo pages and wouldn’t let me pay for them. Wow, that is rare and worth some notice!

Thank You, Lifetouch!

Filed in The Question