+Patrick's funeral and Mercy Meal

I told Mr Husband that +Patrick timed things perfectly:

Funeral Liturgy for Soul Saturday

(a day we pray esp for the departed world wide in

all Orthodox Churches)...

Psalter Reading, then the 6th and 9th hour,

then Liturgy, then the Funeral service,

then the Burial, then the Mercy Meal.

***

The Roses at the funeral were incredibly beautiful...

the icons of St. Patrick (one given by dear friends of Patrick

a few Christmases ago) and St. George from Patrick's icon corner,

were so wonderful to see throughout the service...

***

I am not going into detail about it here, but the Orthodox

Funeral Services, to me, are the most healing,

the most freeing, the most natural way to deal with what

is most unnatural - that a person with an immortal soul dies and 

is put back into the earth he/she came from.

***

I have personally been deeply healed from unresolved grief of 

20 years by having a memorial service done, years ago,

for my dear childhood friend Timothy Mark.

Hard to believe that this summer will be his 30th year since

we lost him on this side of Heaven.

***

It was so wonderful to be at +Patrick's funeral today.

I am deeply grateful to the Lord that He gave me

the strength and health to bake for the

Mercy Meal.

I was able to give the 8 mini-loaves of

Cranberry Orange Cake away in memory of +Patrick

and had good amount leftover that DV will be used 

for the church coffee hour after liturgy tomorrow,

Sunday... 

***

Mr Husband printed the icons of St George and St Patrick for 

dear friends of Patrick and myself...

and let me buy (and pointed out to me!) tins of tea as a 

comfort to them and to me as we grieve...

***

We took a cab to the funeral and from the mercy meal -

they were at different places... 

My Husband is still on the weak side of recovering 

and it was over an hour drive each way.

We had really nice cab drivers....

We ate simple food for dinner,

including Pascha bread from last Pascha,

which somehow seemed deeply fitting,

as the true resolution and healing of all pain and loss is found

in the Lord's Holy Pascha.

{Baking @ Home} ~ Christmas Cranberry Chocolate Chip {Vegan} Cookies

My cranberry chocolate chip cookies I have made

are very crumbly, while delicious and 

I thought I would try a different way....

I went back to the original recipe...

from this cookbook: Betty Crocker's New Christmas Cookbook...

while this cookbook is a 'mass market one' I can't help

feeling that it is very personal...like the author of the recipe

talking right to you as it were.... 

I used vegan margarine and an egg replacer.

I was talking to my Grandma last week and 

telling her how I made my Christmas Chai with

my coffee grinder (will do a blog post on that in the next weeks

I hope!) and she said she uses her food process to chop cranberries.

Genius I thought and did the same!!! 

Mixed up the dough with egg replacer, 

added cranberries coarsely chopped and vegan chocolate chips...

I could tell the batter was great as it was 'thicker' as it were...

I don't worry as much about having my cookies look 'neat' as it were... 

They turned out well!

I think I will try to make four batches of these next year,

what you see here is two batches done in 1 batch... 

All these cookies are now in the freezer to get out later this week

for St. Nicholas day!

Some of them were enjoyed earlier for a Ladies Tea I did...

and they were quite enjoyed! 

****

Edited in 2018 to add this picture with baking times:

10-15 minutes @ 375F! I do mine about 12 minutes or so.

{baking bread} ~ First time making cranberry orange bread in our new home

My new measuring cups are getting lots of 

good use!

This is the bread that I baked

last week when I went to practice

highway driving for the second time.

The yeast bloomed well and rose nicely!

And I remembered to score the tops!

Mr. Husband and I enjoy this toasted

with jam.

I froze the second loaf in preparation for a friend

coming to tea.

Recipe here and here.

Friday, oh Friday...

I woke early this morning, insomnia.

I feel like I am in the middle of a million things

and my heart is having a hard time containing it all.

As if my heart is at once both joyful and light

but yet on the floor weeping.

*

I've had the joy of finally baking again.

I accidentally bought too many apples

in the confusion of weeks and last week's fridge adventure.

I baked up an apple cake.

It's in the freezer safely wrapped up tight.

*

I have been using my new measuring cups

and just love them.

They are easier to clean, can mix cinnamon and sugar in the 

measuring cup, pour easily...

just have to be careful not to drop them or put them

near the edge of the counter when baking.

*

I baked the apple cake on Wednesday

and Mr. Husband asked if it was fasting, but no, 

it was not so I quick whipped up a so all

batch of apple crisp from Katherine's recipe
that is now taken down...thankfully I had Mr. Husband print it!

(I miss her blog, but just know she needed

to go 'underground' for need of silence)

I hope to blog about this recipe in the future

so all is not lost...

The apple crisp was lovely with coconut oil,

raw sugar and maple syrup.

*

Then after dinner, I cut up more apples and made

two loafs of Dutch Apple Cake.

Both in freezer as well.

*

The house has smelled so good with baking...

*

Yesterday I baked two loaves of

cranberry orange bread.

 In the middle of that,

while the bread was rising,

I went on another 1 hour driving lesson.

Half of it in normal city driving, speed limits

generally slow from 25 to 35 mph.

Then I did a good 20 plus minutes on the NJ turnpike.

I need to get used to highway driving and did so 

during rush hour.

It was intense, hard to keep my speed up, and I was

rather miserable side instead of enjoying it.

I just could not calm down/get over my nerves.

*

At least I got to go back home and finish baking

the bread....

*

And then my boots came!

And they fit!

est miracle!

*

I've been listening to these sermons and 

thinking of Ottawa.

I've been missing French and wishing I could take it again.

But seriously, I have too much going on to do it.

*

I am still working on building a life here

and once again it takes so much time and energy.

I am a person who is an introvert but who in Ottawa

had a good amount of friends,

some of who are no longer there either,

and I am really missing these.

*

I am thankful for my new life,

but just aware that I am still in the building stage of it

and it's hard and tiring at times.

*

I really appreciated this article on loneliness

and what to do about it.

*

I ordered a Christmas tree last night.

YES, that early.

A reviewer of it posted this 'real life' photo of it:

It was well under $$100.00 mark and I got three strands of lights for it.

My very Geeky Mr. Husband helped me with how many lights for it.

The conversation went like this:

How big is it?

He then asked me to look up circumference formula ...I googled it and found:

and right away Mr. Husband uses the formula, just standing there and says,

Ok, it's going to be :

120 inches to go around at bottom, at top, 24 inches (or less) around at top

and with cord length two strings will be:

6 times around with two of them, 1 every foot 

So I got three strands, as I want it more than every foot 

and we will go from there.

*

I got one strand of hanging twinkle white lights.

I am thinking of the two big windows

perpendicular to where the tree will be.

I bought a wreath for our door.

Simple.

*

I told Mr. Husband before that if I ever had to 

choose what a church would be named for,

it would be Holy Nativity.

*

It's the beginning of our salvation,

it is God Emmanuel,

God with us.

*

It is the hope of all the earth,

of all the heavens and the deep...

*

God is with us,

let everyone understand, 

that God is with us...

I can still hear my Ottawa spiritual father sing it in 

Great Compline for Christmas...
*
It will be my DV third Christmas here...
I still can't think of what the music for Christmas sounds
like in my new church, but I know
it will be beautiful and Christmas Eve
esp. special...
*
I am grateful:
God is with us.