Every new duty calls for more grace

My wonderful Amy sent this today, from The Valley of Vision, a collection of Puritan prayers. Those Puritans: they really got it.

Lord Jesus, Great High Priest,
Thou hast opened a new and living way
by which a fallen creature can approach thee with acceptance.
Help me to contemplate the dignity of thy Person,
the perfectness of thy sacrifice,
the effectiveness of thy intercession.
O what blessedness accompanies devotion,
when under all the trials that weary me,
the cares that corrode me,
the fears that disturb me,
the infirmities that oppress me,
I can come to thee in my need
and feel peace beyond understanding!
The grace that restores is necessary to preserve,
lead, guard, supply, help me.
And here thy saints encourage my hope;
they were once poor and are now rich,
bound and are now free,
tried and now are victorious.
Every new duty calls for more grace than I now possess,
but not more than is found in thee, the divine treasury
in whom all fullness dwells.
To thee I repair for grace upon grace,
until every void made by sin be replenished
and I am filled with all thy fullness.
May my desires be enlarged and my hopes emboldened,
that I may honour thee by my entire dependency
and the greatness of my expectation.
Do thou be with me, and prepare me for all
the smiles of prosperity, the frowns of adversity,
the losses of substance, the death of friends,
the days of darkness, the changes of life,
and the last great change of all.
May I find thy grace sufficient for all my needs.

Soup and company

This is a Teffer post. Unfortunately, no photos in this post because my camera got stolen. Sigh.

However. Anna has flewed the coop for Boston for the week, so it's just me holding down the little crooked fort. Yesterday I went to Jean-Talon market with two friends, bought a great deal of produce, and made a very large soup, roasted eggplant, and an apple-rhubarb crisp. My friend Olga is vegan, so this was my first attempt at vegan cookery; it was quite successful. However, we miscalculated numbers, and made food for an army, instead of our cohort of six.

This is good, because I have leftovers.

One of the things I love about Jean-Talon: ten-pound bags of fresh apples for $3.00. Which I got for $2.50.

One of the things I love about fall: Fresh apples.

One of the things I love about life: filling the kitchen with soup and people.

Also, my friends, being the wonderful people they are, helped me clean the kitchen and bathroom, took out the trash, and did the dishes.

Now I am going to go eat leftover soup and analyze poetry.

here's what happens when you spend the weekend with two photographers

almost all of the following pictures taken by this guy, the no-longer-incognito Jake Leishman.

the aftermath of a wonderful breakfast courtesy of Vera, the first morning

lenses and coffee - the finer things in life

photos, food, and singing: that was the weekend. here Vera writes lyrics

other people were making music, too, in the Old Port - we stumbled upon an 18th century festival!

two of my favourites, eating bagels on the balcony.

they made me eat ribs. it was deeply intimidating - but ultimately pretty tasty.

bagelfaces and love. I miss my sweet Vera bee.

and tonight... the siblings descend!

even a maggot has a mother

This morning (all right, it may have been slightly after morning, but I'm writing this story and I get artistic authority to alter small details) Anna woke me with a stricken look on her face.

Anna: So I was taking out the garbage and I found maggots on the porch, so I went on a cleaning purge and got rid of them. And for the last hour, there have been these two bottle green flies buzzing in circles around the porch where the garbage was...

Pause, in which Anna's face becomes more and more guilt-stricken


Anna: And I feel terrible, because it made me realize even a maggot has a mother!!

Ladies, ladies, ladies.

My Emily came to visit!

Cheeeeese.

 

We went to Schwartz's with the ladies. They're famous for the smoked meat that they store in large, grey, greasy, unappetizing hunks in the window, but you really should go for the pickles. Oh man, those pickles. Oh man.

These girls. They're good stuff.

There were many other Montrealy activities including a poetry open mic at which Malek was the best, and the tam-tams, where we found medieval knights fighting with foam swords - which may explain why they needed to invent castles and fortifications and catapults and things.

Is the guy in the green shirt using a Rock Band kit?

 

Also, his armour does not shine. Disappointing.

 There was also much browsing of book stores, drinking of tea, eating of bread, and walking late at night, and just enjoying each other's company.

Then, we kitty-sat.

Maggie enjoys the book of Hebrews.

And that, for now, is that.

produce and words

Because Maro and Eric are gallivanting in California, Anna and I get to pick up their panier bio. A panier bio is this wonderful system where you pay an annual fee, and you receive a basket of assorted produce from local farms every week. So this week we've been gorging on fresh local vegetables.

Anna enjoys local produce

For one of her job applications, Anna had to take a proficiency test in Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word. Since she has a Mac, she used my PC to futz around on Microsoft before her test. When I started my computer the next morning, I found the following file:

Insight into Anna's mind?

And so life carries on, full of food and song.

of love and banana bread

Anna here, with a small apology for our sporadic posting habits - apparently blogging requires, like, remembering to put stuff on the blog. But Teffer's been awfully busy working crazy hours at the Y and trying to win her battle with the plague (she still seems to be thriving, however - she sings very prettily while she makes her breakfast, even though for a few days she was sounding much less like herself and much more like Janis Joplin circa 1969); and I've been awfully busy avoiding job-hunting through such various occupations as trying to learn to play the mandolin, attempting gluten-free baking, and reading about string theory (did you know that if an atom were the size of the solar system, each fundamental string would be the size of one tree? String theory is really cool).

Life's been full of company and love lately: Alice came up for a quick visit while on vacation in Vermont with her aunt, and then Jonathan came in for the weekend. Then Maro and Eric flew off to California to love on the family out there and get ready for Celine's wedding - Mom and Dad will head out to join them next week (yay!). We wish we were there too, guys. Hugs and kisses all 'round.

...and now of course some pictures..

Love.

Where there are visitors, there must be maps.

It was so lovely to see Alice. Thanks so much for coming - we miss you.

Daddy and Mama with Alice and her Aunt Donna - a fiesty and loving history buff. I had a lot of fun touring old Montreal in the rain with the two of them.

love my Papa and Mama

Finally, if any of you had a scientific, culinary, or aesthetic interest in what happens when you leave banana bread in the oven for six hours, fear not: Teffer has done the experimental legwork for you. It comes out as a sort of leather-encased pudding. N.B.: should you decide to attempt this feat yourself, be warned that your loaf pan may not survive the ordeal.