• Tag Archives C.I.P.
  • Chicken Pot Pies and Memories

    Fall                                                 Waning Back to School Moon

    Before the Vikings game on Sunday I made two chicken pot pies, whole pies filled with chicken, vegetables and a thickened vegetable broth made in the process.  These are my second and third meat pies and I find I enjoy making them as much as I do soup.  Something about baking a pie that has meat and vegetables intrigues me.  This one had our leeks, potatoes, onions, carrots, garlic, parsley and thyme.  My favorite vegetable from this garden is the leek.  The subtle flavor and the delicate flesh of the leek both appeal to my palate.

    Here are a few of the ingredients plus a tomato and raspberries from our garden.  This potato looks similar to the woman of la mouthe in the MIA’s collection.  At least to my eye.670_0300 Fresh ingredients are key to Italian, Chinese and vegetarian cooking so a garden facilitates those cuisines, at least during the harvest system.  Our best meals of the summer happen in September.

    Visiting Westminster today brought up all kinds of memories.  Don Meisel, former head pastor, came into the men’s room once during a Presbytery meeting.  I had a report on top of the urinal, reading it.  Don said, “My, you must get a lot of work done.”  Presbyterian humor. Another surprising Don Meisel moment.  There on the wall of a hallway was the exact same Granlund sculpture, the Tree of Life, that I bought Kate for her 50th birthday.  Don had given it to the church in memory of his wife.

    Jim Campbell’s name came up, too.  Jim was a top exec of Northwest Bank and a leader on the Community Involvement Program’s board.  I worked at CIP for 4+ years, starting as a janitor and week-end staff person during seminary and moving up to Director of Residential programs.  Jim came to me at one point and asked if I would take on directing both the Residential programs and the Day Activity Centers.  I thought about it and said no.  That surprised him, I could tell.  It surprised me a bit, too.  I had no interest then or later in advancement, even though I did end up as an Associate Executive Presbyter.

    Then, the chapel.  What a peaceful space,  a definite English feel to it wood, limestone, slate floor, a beautiful organ.  Wilson Yates, then professor of society and religion at United Seminary, married Raeone and me in that chapel in 1979.  Ed Berryman, the organist, refused to play the music we wanted.  I don’t remember what it was.  We had Handel’s Water Music.  Ed liked it.

    There were, too, many mornings of bible study with urban clergy in the now much renovated basement area.  Bible study was always one of the fun parts because Presbyterian clergy pride themselves on their scholarly ability.

    Well, off to bed.  Gotta catch the Empire Builder at 7:30 am.


  • The Declutter Genie

    Lughnasa                            Waxing Green Corn Moon

    This morning a few more items got moved out of the computer room and a space for not currently needed electronic accessories created.  I’m still not sure why the declutter genie has landed on me, but she’s buzzing me pretty hard.

    I remember, long time ago, in the early 1970’s, a hoarder.  Community Involvement Programs had hired me as a week-end and night time staff person.  In return I received a minimal salary and an apartment.  C.I.P. provided independent living training to recently deinstitutionalized persons.  This was a time when states all across the country began to shut down their state hospitals.

    C.I.P. got mostly developmentally delayed adults though some of our clients also had an M.I. diagnosis.  This guy, whose name I don’t recall, never threw anything away.  He lived in one of the apartments in the Mauna Loa building, one the same as the one I had.  In his he kept grocery sacks, magazines, food wrappers, junk mail, gift wrap.  While wondering what to do about him, I read an article on overloading therapy.  In this case instead of insisting on the hoarder cleaning things up  you give them more and more things to hoard.  The idea is similar to desensitization therapy.

    It may be that I’ve hit my overload point.  I’m a hoarder of a certain kind.  I buy books, lots of books.  I keep them; I keep almost all of them.  I’m reluctant to throw out magazines.  In both instances I think, what if I want to look something up.  Then, there are the files and research, gathered over many years.  And, too, the computers.  On this desk right I have three desktop computers, each a different generation.

    I also hoard knowledge, stuffing it in, stuffing it in until it feels like my head could not hold anymore.  Then I add something else.  In all these cases I operate from the just in case principle.  Just in case I ever need to know more about the pre-Raphaelites, Chinese history, linguistics, American political philosophy, water politics, philosophy, the Renaissance, the middle ages, Taoism, Chinese literature, poetry I read and learn.  I also watch movies in the same way, television programs, too.

    Now the upside is that I gain a broad knowledge base and have a few areas where I have some real depth:  biblical studies, theology, certain areas of history, gardening, perhaps some aspects of art history, politics.  It has always been my dream that at some point a gestalt would appear, a synthesis of all this learning.  Some insight, some new understanding.  Maybe they’ve come and I didn’t recognize them.

    A long time ago I took a test to see what my strengths are.  My top strength was curiosity and interest in the world.  My second was love of learning.  So, you might say that this is not hoarding at all, rather it is an expression of my core personality.  Whatever it is, in terms of books, papers, stuff, I’ve got too much and before Kate retires next year I’m gonna get rid of a lot of it.