There's Always Something...

Tony Bennett and Stevie Wonder - For Once in my life...

Oh boy. This is it.

Celebrating Jo Ann's Homecoming...

Yep. Home from the hospital. And what nicer welcome than Stevie Wonder singing - "You are the sunshine of my life"?

Drum battle...

When I was a teenybopper, lo, these many years ago, nobody caught my imagination quite like Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich, drummers of the generation.

You may imagine my surprise when I came upon their famous "drum battle" on YouTube. Guess what. They STILL excite me. Love those guys - and it was almost exactly 60 years ago when one night I sat at a table in the "400 Club" in New York City and could hardly breathe in wonder as Gene Krupa did his thing.

Hugs...

We have a son, Peter, who writes a blog with soul. He has a particularly poignant one today. Hugs. We raised some good kids.

Hugs. Lots of hugs this past week.

I guess this isn’t so unusual being that we were at a wake and funeral and all.

But these hugs were different. Heartfelt. Warm. Compassionate. A sense of connectedness.

I hugged Andy’s wife, Jeanne, a few times over the course of three days. Jeanne referred to me, more than once during our visit, as being a HUGE man. (I’ll take that as a compliment, I guess…) She also said that she liked “big man hugs”, and that she’d miss the hugs she got from Andy. I may be wrong, but I’m guessing that she was comforted by my “big man hugs.” With all that she’s been through and has yet to go through, Jeanne needs all the comfort she can get. And I was happy to give whatever little comfort I could give.

Jeanne’s daughter, Charlotte, on Saturday night during the piano sing-along, jumped into my arms and gave me the longest hug that perhaps I have ever had in my life. This kid is one lover of hugs. And I couldn’t have been happier to hug her right back. Charlotte hugs with gusto. Beautiful kid; inside and out. Her smile lights up a room. I’ll never forget that hug.

Jeanne’s older daughter, Nora, also gave me a few hugs. Nora is an absolutely beautiful young lady; stunning. Being a teen, there’s more of a reservation when she hugs, but Nora’s well on her way to becoming an expert hugger. Jeanne must be so proud of her girls; she done good with them.

Andy’s son, Roger, is also one who I got to hug a few times also. Being a guy’s guy, Roger’s hugs were, shall we say, more tempered. But still a hug. Often times, Roger would just come and stand by me or one of my brothers and give us the non-verbal message of “I need my uncle to put his arm around me now ’cause Dad ain’t here to do it.” Which Bo, Joe and I were more than happy to do. I’m sure I speak for Joe and Bo when I say that I wish we could give Roger a hug on a more regular basis. Big, burly guys like Roger need hugs too. Roger is cool and mature enough to understand that.

Hugs with my brothers, Bo and Joe, are always loved by me. There’s the guy familial pat on the back while hugging, but there’s also the “man, it’s good to see you” holding of the hug. Good stuff; wish we could do that more often.

Hugging Joe’s wife, Maureen, and Bo’s husband, Daniel, was also very special. Perhaps losing your brother makes your heart grow fonder for your family members, and I certainly treasure the presence of Maureen and Daniel in our family.

Last, and certainly not least, are the hugs from my wife, Nancy. We hug on a regular basis, each and every day. Hugs are probably better for a person than vitamins, I’d venture to guess. Nancy and I hug so much that we know our various hugs. There are hugs that are playful, ones that are supportive, ones that are romantic, ones that are reassuring, ones that are tired, ones that are excited, ones that are congratulatory, and ones that are comforting. There are many others, I’m sure. We have a hug for virtually every occasion. And we certainly hugged quite a bit over our visit to Andover. Perhaps the biggest hug with Nancy while we were in Andover was the one we were unable to do when we needed to. I was a pallbearer at Andy’s funeral and was involved in getting Andy’s casket into the waiting hearse after the worship service. After doing so, I was really struggling/grieving. I stood off by myself as the hearse pulled away. I needed Nancy’s hug; right then and there. People standing in the doorway of the church kept her from being able to get through to be with me. Painful for both of us because we both so desperately needed the consoling hug from one another. But that didn’t keep us from hugging once she was finally able to get through the door and over to where I was standing outside. And, man, did I need that hug. And she did too.

Hugs abounded last week in Andover. What a great byproduct of such a sad occasion. As I said before in Part I, I’m sure Andy’d have it no other way. As I recall, Andy could hug with the best of ‘em as well…

I Saw This Somewhere...

Too good to pass up. Too old to remember where I saw it. If anyone recognizes it, let me know so I won't be guilty of plagiarism.

"The sooner we shed our illusion that people end up financially where they deserve to, the faster we’ll fix the economy. "

PS...

Ah, my wonderful readers! Steve writes that it might come from http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-02-22/you-dont-deserve-to-be-rich/

Sure enough, You Don't Deserve to Be Rich by Matt Miller is the resource.

Thanks, Steve

Texas Recipe...

I read this great blog http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/2009/01/carne-guisada-tex-mex-stew.html from Lisa, a homesick Texan who loves Texas food - as I do.

Here's one she posted last week. I haven't tried it yet, but, man, am I intrigued. I would substitute a carton of frozen green chilies for the jalapenos and the seranos for a richer flavor. The cilantro and the bay leaf would be optional in my experiment.

Let's cook.

Carne Guisada

Ingredients:
4 pounds of chuck or bottom round beef, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 tablespoons of peanut oil
2 tablespoons flour
1 medium onion, diced (about 1 cup)
5 cloves of garlic, minced (about 1/4 cup)
1 14.05 oz. can of diced tomatoes or 3 fresh tomatoes, diced
2 jalapeno peppers, diced
2 serrano peppers, diced
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 cup of chopped cilantro
1 bay leaf
2 cups of water
1 12 oz. bottle of dark Mexican beer such as Negro Modelo

Method
In a large pot or a Dutch oven, brown the beef on medium high heat in 2 tablespoons of the peanut oil, may have to do in batches.

Remove beef from pot, add the final 2 tablespoons of peanut oil and cook on medium heat the onions and chilies for about 10 minutes or until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.

Throw in the browned beef, add the herbs, spices, water and beer and mix everything really well. Turn up the heat to high, bring the stew to a boil and then turn heat down to low and simmer for five hours, stirring occasionally. At this point, some of the meat will have turned to strings thus thickening the gravy.

Note: If you want your meat to be distinct cubes rather than strings, lessen the cooking time. If you cook the stew for less time, you may also need to add some flour to thicken the gravy. Take out a 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid, stir into it a 1 tablespoon of flour and then incorporate this back into the stew. Stir until gravy has thickened. Also, I like my meat in big stringy chunks, but if you prefer smaller pieces, cut the meat into 1/2 inch cubes.

How to make the most of social networking on Facebook...

Here's an interesting article By Edward C. Baig, USA TODAY.

I found it interesting because I've come to believe that Facebook, far from being the superficial touchy-feely fad it appears to be on the surface, has quite a bit of value to offer people who are interested enough to think it through and personalize it.

Here's what Baig has to say:

To provide guidance to those new to Facebook, I've turned to my own social network: my Facebook friends and other members of the service, plus USA TODAY readers who are members. Basic recommendations:

•Finding friends. Face it, some people collect friends like baseball cards. (Guilty as charged.) I'm approaching 900 pals; 5,000 is the max.

But not all friends are created equal. Mine may represent a typical mix: distant and close relatives, neighbors, current or former classmates, camp mates, co-workers, industry contacts and bosses.

Frankly, there's a voyeuristic appeal to the idea that you might get to rub elbows virtually with a celebrity. Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was my Facebook friend for a while, until I was unceremoniously dropped. You aren't even notified when someone gives you the heave-ho.

I typically expand my social connections by searching friends of friends. If you don't know the person well or at all, send a brief message telling them why you belong in their inner circle. I see which friends we have in common before I accept a stranger's invitation.

If you want to be found by old comrades, consider allowing people to see your list of mutual friends, even if they're not connected to you. That way they know you really are the John Doe they went to high school with. But letting people see your friends is a double-edged sword: Your friends may not want people they don't know hounding them.

•Private matters. Facebook has been described as a party where you need to assume the entire room can hear you. Learn the terminology. Wall-to-wall posts can be seen by others. Send a private message if you want to keep an exchange under wraps.

Familiarize yourself with the privacy options, found under "Settings." You can determine who among your network (friends only, friends of friends, etc.) can view your user profile, personal info, status updates, photos and videos tagged of you, friends lists, wall posts, and education and work information.

It's also a good idea to group friends into customized Friend Lists, perhaps one for professional contacts and another for school chums. You can apply different privacy settings to those lists. Your bosses need not relive your college exploits.

Generally think long and hard about the information you reveal in your profile, from the year you were born to political or religious beliefs. But you're likely to get as much out of Facebook as you put in, so withholding too many details may be counterproductive.

One of my Facebook friends, Roger Matus, CEO of e-mail archiving company InBoxer, recommends three tests before posting: Would you be upset if your mother saw it? Would you be upset if the most nefarious person you ever heard about saw it? Would you be upset if it was on the front page of USA TODAY?

It's all a balancing act of sorts. What good is a social network if you're too timid to be social?

Around the World with "Something"...

Goodness! I've had this "clustermaps" program on this blog for a long time, but never took time to look at it. (You can find it on the right side of the page.)

It tracks people who read your blog according to their location. I opened it today and was amazed at how far this little squib has traveled.

Here's the big picture. http://clustrmaps.com/counter/maps.php?url=http://viewfromarizona.typepad.com/citrus/

Guess I'm not big in Libya or Syria. That's OK. There's always someone.

Joy in the Morning...

Natalie Sleeth was the wife of Ronnie Sleeth, my Preaching professor in seminary. She was an amazing woman and composer. Both she and Ronnie are gone now, but they leave a wonderful treasury of inspiration.

"Joy in the Morning" was composed by Natalie for Ronnie's installation as President of West Virginia Wesleyan University. I hope you will enjoy it!

Working on the Funeral...

I am composing the liturgy and conducting the Memorial Service for our son, Andy. this coming Saturday.

It will be unique in that 2 services will be going on simultaneously, one in an Episcopal church in Andover, Mass and the other in a Lutheran Church here in Arizona - clear across the continent, but one in purpose and spirit.

Doing this is a highly creative task, combining the personal and the universal elements of mourning and celebration of life. I have secured two wonderful musicians, who will bring both musical and theological integrity and power to the gathered friends and family. Jim Haller, the organist/pianist has a wonderful gift of playing great hymns of the church with a jazz expression that always lifts and amazes us as we listen to him each week. Bonnie Siegle is a highly gifted soloist - and person.

Patterned on the classic liturgies of the church, the service itself will hopefully express an earthy spirituality that consists of scriptures, prayers, silences and what I call a "floating homily". This is an intermittant sermon, patterned on the nearby desert  Hassayampa River, which flows underground and keeps surfacing and disappearing as its moods dictate. Mini-homilies.

All this for Andy. And because I need to.