Catching Up

I am attempting to write this blog with a cat sound asleep on my lap. It makes things tricky.

So I finished my J-term class and came back to Ohio, and I was glad to be able to sleep in my own bed. And to unpack and not live out of suitcases anymore. I've spent the whole last week living wihtout a schedule and getting set up for a new semester of seminary.

On Thursday I finally went through with a plan I had had for quite awhile to adopt a cat. My friend Sarah and I went to a shelter together, and all the cats were out and about in thier various rooms. The woman working at the shelter showed me several cats who were cuddly, which is what I asked for, and then left us to meet several cats and decide who I wanted to take home. I picked up one, named George, and he immediately hugged me and started nuzzling my face. I picked up a few other cats who were all quite nice, but I kept coming back to George. I'm pretty sure he picked me out. I brought him home, and we have had a great time getting to know eachother and getting settled into living together. I'm very happy to have a cat in my life again.

The rest of my time has mainly been spent cooking, cleaning, crafting, and catching up with friends I haven't seen in awhile. I'm trying to get my apartment into good shape before I start school, so that I can keep it nice while I'm busy with classes. I'm also working on several crafting projects and I may have three new skirts in short order.

I've got another week off, which I'm going to use to keep working on my projects and to get my ministry in context set up, and then I start classes. I'm really looking forward to this semester, I think some of the classes will be more interesting than last semester were. I've bought all my books and I'm already looking forward to reading most of them.

Silas is also coming in right after classes start, which will be a wonderful way to begin my semester. I'll start writing here more regularly then too. I really have issues getting things done when I'm schedule-less - I've barely been on my computer this week.

Hoping everyone reading this is staying warm.

Kathryn

P.S. This is George

Potting

I started writing something today, but I haven't finished it yet. Until I have a chance to post it, here's a haiku about something else I did today (I re-potted a spider plant).

Digging through soil,
Wrapping up a compact mass
With more of the same.

-Kat

It's a Haiku!

Sometimes I look back on this past year and I am amazed at how things have changed.

I'm not used to it,
But good things can come of it -
Spontaneity!

-Kat

Fall

Today at a bus stop I noticed something beautiful.

The morning is still,
I see something in a tree -
Leaves are raining down.

-Kat

Dinner

Tonight I cooked again. I made hazelnut crusted chicken with a creamy gorgonzola sauce, but I couldn't find hazelnuts when I was shopping, so mine was really walnut crusted chicken. It turned out well, but I'd recommend being careful if making this in a small apartment - the chicken was getting smoky when I was cooking it and my smoke alarm started going off.

Ingredients

• 2 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 cup chopped hazelnuts, available on baking aisle
• 4 (6-ounce) pieces boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup Gorgonzola
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage leaves, plus extra for garnish – substitute 1 teaspoon dried sage and stir into sauce, if fresh is not available

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Mix flour, poultry seasoning and garlic powder in a dish. Beat egg whites in a shallow plate or bowl. Place hazelnuts on a piece of waxed paper or plastic wrap on a cutting board or work surface.

Preheat a nonstick skillet with oven safe handle over medium high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Turn in flour to dust the breasts, then turn in egg whites, then press breasts into nuts on both sides. Wash hands. Add extra-virgin olive oil to the pan and add chicken. Brown the nuts and chicken 2 minutes on each side then transfer to the oven and finish cooking the chicken through, about 8 minutes.

In a small pot, warm milk over medium heat. Add cheese and melt it into the milk. Stir in 2 tablespoons of chopped sage and simmer 5 minutes.

To serve, place chicken on plates and pour a couple of spoons of the Gorgonzola sauce over the center of each piece. Garnish with chopped sage.

-Kat

Baby Hat

I have a friend who is going to have a new baby very soon, so I made her this hat.

-Kat

Dreams

Always hold on to your good dreams.

-Kat

Thrift Shop

Once a month I work at a thrift shop.


Three books and a toy,
Two shirts and a pair of pants.
That'll be nine dollars.


-Kat

Abstraction

Today I learned something new.


The board is a simple, square grid, nineteen lines crossed by another nineteen lines in opposition. The pieces are smooth, perfectly round stones, half of them black and half of them white. That is the entire physical presence of this game. The board sits in the middle of the table and the pieces reside in matching wooden bowls, one on each side of the board.

When the game is played it takes on meaning much greater than the pieces of wood and stone can while they are still. Each tiny crossing point becomes a citadel waiting to be captured and each stone is an army of invaders. Generals man the board and begin taking territory for themselves. The tension is almost nonexistent as they begin conquering lands on opposite ends of the earth, but soon one side wants what the other has and they move toward each other.

Soon a battle has erupted. Each side continues taking turns, but they no longer move over a friendly map. Now the black and white stones are placed with deliberation as each side desperately tries to hold on to places to breathe. A fatal move is made and a small pack of white stones die. They are removed and their absence highlights the gains for the black side.

The game continues, a constant struggle on each side, gaining and losing ground with quick placements of the round stones that are battalions and the sky all at once. New land is taken and old land changes hands. Countless battles are carried out and the map is in constant flux. Then the game is over and the pieces are simple stones once again. They are swept aside and laid to rest in their bowls, the wooden board is put up and the war just fought returns to being an abstraction.


-Kat

Night

It's been a little while, but I finally sat down and wrote a new piece.


As the wind blows through my coat and I pull it closer to my body, I wonder why I took a job that left me walking alone in the dark late at night. Far away are the sounds of  a sporting event I cannot really bring myself to care about, but apparently it's going well - I've distanced myself considerably and I can still hear the cheers. I start walking a little faster, both to try to warm up and to get further away. It's really dark now, and I stick as close to the lamp posts as I can for fear of whatever unknown things might be in the shadows.

As I continue my solitary journey, passing between old and familiar buildings, I start seeing flashes of lightning all around. They're pretty far off at the moment, but they remind me of the predicted storms I heard about earlier and didn't pay much attention to. I wrap my coat closer to me again, although I am less cold than before, and keep walking.

I've made it pretty far now, and I realize I can't hear the cheering crowds anymore. Now it's nearly silent. It's late in the season, so there aren't many bugs out to create their evening music and there's still no one near me to disrupt the night air. A bit of thunder comes behind the most recent flash of lightning and I start to calculate whether or not I'll make it home before the storm hits.

The silence is deeper when it is punctuated by thunder, it's like the night is sighing between each burst of noise. Then, for just a second, lightning flashes right above me and lights everything up like daylight. The sensation is gone almost as soon as it has appeared, but it left it's mark anyway. I pay even less attention to my surroundings as I remember it and try to hold onto that memory and feeling so I can bring them back later.

I stop and look around me and realize I'm a lot closer to home than I had thought. Good, I think, I'll make it home before I get soaked. Then as I turn the corner to walk the last block home, the rain starts. I laugh out loud, thinking of the strangeness and simplicity of this evening walk, and then I break into a run to get to my door before I get completely soaked.


-Kat

Nighttime

Walking through the dark,
The wind blowing though my coat.
Out alone at night.

-Kat

Sleep

Sometimes I have a hard time falling asleep because I've got a lot on my mind. This is usually how I feel.

Tossing and turning,
There's a song stuck in my head.
I can't fall asleep.

-Kat

Tea and Books

This is a sentiment I feel pretty strongly, but have absolutely no time to act on now; so I thought I'd share.

-Kat

Another Review

I went to see a play this evening based on the shooting at Columbine High School. It was very good, especially in it's portrayal of the mental states of the shooters.

I just watched a man
Descending into madness -
Yelling and sobbing.

-Kat

Knit Fast

I don't have much time to knit right now, so I need to print this out and hang it somewhere to remind me to do it when I can.

-Kat

Mac and Cheese

Today I realized that I may not actually have time to cook all week, so I decided to make a decent sized batch of my favorite macaroni and cheese with chicken and broccoli so I can have leftovers later.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
• 1 pound chicken breast tenders, chopped
• Salt and pepper
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 pound macaroni elbows or cavatapi corkscrew shaped pasta twists
• 2 1/2 cups raw broccoli florets, available packaged in produce department
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 3 cups whole milk
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 3 cups yellow sharp Cheddar
• 1 tablespoon prepared Dijon mustard

Directions

Place a pot of water on to boil for macaroni.

Heat a medium pan over medium to medium high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil and chicken and season with salt and pepper. Saute a couple of minutes then add onion and cook another 5 to 7 minutes until onions are tender and chicken is cooked through. Turn off heat and reserve.

To boiling pasta water, add pasta and salt to season the cooking water. Cook 5 minutes, then add broccoli and cook 3 minutes more or until pasta is cooked to al dente and florets are just tender.

While pasta cooks, heat a medium sauce pot over medium heat. Add butter and melt, then add flour, cayenne and paprika and whisk together over heat until roux bubbles then cook a minute more. Whisk in milk and stock and raise heat a little to bring sauce to a quick boil. Simmer sauce to thicken about 5 minutes.

Drain macaroni or pasta and broccoli florets. Add back to pot and add chicken to the pasta and broccoli.

Add cheese to milk sauce and stir to melt it in, about a minute or so. Stir in mustard and season sauce with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over chicken and broccoli and cooked pasta and stir to combine. Adjust seasonings, transfer to a large serving platter and serve.

-Kat

Waiting

Today I had a day of entirely new experiences for me. I went to the homecoming parade and game with some pretty big football fans. This meant we got to the game about three and a half hours early and spent two of those outside the stadium waiting to get in. While we were there I wrote this.


Music with a deep base has begun, it's almost time. The base punctuates the conversations and the calls to friends made by the multitude of people here. From far away they look like an unformed mob, but here in the midst of them rough lines begin to from. People are waiting patiently, this is as much part of the day for them as any other event.

The sun is hidden by the massive facade, which towers over the waiters. It is a wall of bricks - red and black - punctuated at each level by a line of sandy concrete. It is outlined by the clear blue sky, a crisp delineation.

More people arrive with every minute, this concrete expanse is filling up. There are really only three colors here  orange, black, and the shades of blue in everybody's jeans. The people stand in groups, but the groups periodically blend together or move apart. They all make up one living organism.

If I look beyond the crowds and the cheers, the college buildings are visible. Quiet now, they stand peacefully waiting for the end of the weekend when they will be put to use again. Made of the same red brick and sandy concrete as the stadium, they seem hardly touched by the festivities a mere stone's throw away. No one throngs around their door, anxiously waiting to enter as they hibernate through the weekend. They are older than the stadium too - they look on as the elderly look on the young at a party. They have many memories, but now they are content to sit back quietly and watch others create new memories.



-Kat

Cookies

Today I stood on a street corner yelling "Free cookies!" at passing strangers.

Giving out cookies,
It's harder than it should be.
They don't believe me.

-Kat

Red and Green

I'm still working on my knitted Christmas decorations, and I've had a very busy week. Tonight I decided to sit down with the new Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince RiffTrax and make this.

This was also the first time I tried out an argyle pattern. It went quite well.

-Kat

Desk

I sat down and wrote something new today.


From this perspective, the columns are giants. They reach up, stretching to hold the ceiling in its place. They are marble, with gray-brown lines wandering through spots of sandy-brown and red dirt. The floor mimics the marble, but with paler tones and straighter lines. The tiles criss-cross, dancing away to the wall.

Next to the door on the far right sits a desk. Marble lines its top and bottom, gray with shades of brown so light they're almost white. Above the marble which rests on the floor, wood appears. Almost sickly light-brown in hue, it flutes - inward first, constricting in uneven steps, then back out matching the movements in reverse. This could be the work of a craftsman, or maybe just a factory machine.

The wood makes broader strokes above this, large rectangles with smaller ones set in at even intervals. The largest rectangle sits facing directly forward, while smaller ones - two on each side - turn away, giving the desk its shape. Above these rectangles the wood moves in a final flourish, although one much smaller than it began with. Then it is topped with a thin layer of marble.

If someone were sitting at this lone desk, they may very well feel pinned in by the thick wood and marble rising to waist height. But nobody sits here. The desk stands solitary, unnoticed by the many passersby going in and out of the heavy doors, while it gathers dust.


-Kat