My big, fat Greek Easter

by | Apr 19, 2009 | Uncategorized


So our friends Abby and Jason invited us over to celebrate Orthodox Easter with their family and friends today. My first Greek Easter. When we arrived, the smell of roasting lamb and the sound of Greek music wafted toward us from the backyard. Stuffed grape leaves and spanikopita were passed around, wine was poured, Greek soup was served, and a whole lamb was turned and basted on a spit. Even Chiara tried her hand at basting with fresh oregano sprigs attached to the end of a wooden stick. (See photo above.)

At the dinner table, I received my first lesson in tsougrisma, a Greek egg game where one person takes a red-dyed Easter egg and clinks the end against the egg of the person next to him while saying, Christos Anesti! (Christ is Risen!). Then the person turns the egg over and using the other end taps back, saying, Aleithos Anesti! (Truly He is Risen!) Around and around it goes until one person is left with an uncracked egg, promising a year of good luck. I ended up being the lucky person tonight. Despite some pretty hard taps, my egg remained unscathed. (That’s it in the photo below.)


I loved the ritual. The red color symbolizes the blood of Christ, the hard shell of the egg the sealed tomb, and the white egg inside the resurrection. I am told that if I keep my egg uncracked and save it, the inside will dry up and I will be left with the intact shell. I’ve already put it on my prayer shelf downstairs as a reminder of the beautiful Greek Easter tradition. Now we’ll have to wait and see about that promise of good luck. I think I’m pretty lucky already, with or without the red egg.

The cowgirls return home from the ranch

by | Apr 19, 2009 | Uncategorized

We’re back from the Ridin-Hy Ranch Resort on Lake Sherman in the Adirondacks. See those cowboy boots above. This is the first time that these authentic Texas-made boots that I bought in Austin back when I lived there for the first time in the late 1980s have actually looked like real cowboy boots — all dusty and covered in who knows what. Our Brownie trip was a huge success. I don’t know who had more fun the Brownies or the moms.


The family-owned ranch was just beautiful with sparkling clean log chalets and cabins, which were not at all like cabins (just the way I like it). The food was great — and never-ending. The boat ride was windy but fun (that’s a view of our camp above from the pontoon boat). The horseback trail rides (we did one each day) were tons of fun and such an adventure for our third-grade girls. And on Friday night, during the “dance” held in the main lodge, I got up with the country band that was playing and sang the Patsy Cline song “Walkin’ After Midnight,” something I haven’t done in years. Boy, did that make me miss my days as a frontman for my old band, Jade.

All in all, a great weekend, helped along by the fact that the weather cooperated. Our giggly girls said it was the “best trip ever,” which made those Girl Scout cookie sales, which helped make this outing possible, worth all the effort.

On the road with my Brownie cowgirls

by | Apr 17, 2009 | Uncategorized

I am heading out to a dude ranch with my Brownie troop and four other moms in an hour or so. Should be interesting — and fun, I hope. Horseback riding, indoor swimming, hiking, shuffleboard, all on the shores of beautiful Lake George. And the weather today is absolutely perfect.

Of course, I’m not a complete optimist, so I’m also packing ear plugs, my iPod Nano and an eye mask. I’m not kidding. I’ve been camping with these girls before and I know their quirks — the one who talks or cries all night, the one who never turns off the light, the one who has to go to the bathroom at 2 a.m. in the middle of the woods where the outhouses are out of order (don’t even ask me how that’s possible). So I am prepared, although this location should be like a luxury resort compared to our last outing.

Olivia is so excited for this mom-daughter weekend away. She’s been looking forward to it since we first mentioned the possibility back in September. I’ll let you now how it goes when we return late tomorrow.

An unexpected gift on a Thursday afternoon

by | Apr 16, 2009 | Uncategorized

My brother just sent me this YouTube link. Maybe you’ve already seen it or heard about it, but I had to share it. I just watched it twice, the first time in amazement, the second time with tears in my eyes because it made me sad to think of someone with such a powerful and amazing voice going unnoticed because she doesn’t fit the world’s version of superstar. When you see the reaction of the crowd before she begins to sing, that fact becomes all too clear.

Thanks, Fred, for sending this one to me. For some reason, embedding has been turned off on YouTube for this video, so you’ll need to click HERE instead.

From my pew in St. Patrick’s Cathedral

by | Apr 16, 2009 | Uncategorized

From my OSV Daily Take post:

What can I tell you about the installation of Archbishop Timothy Dolan that you haven’t already heard? Well, I can tell you that sitting in St. Patrick’s Cathedral yesterday watching the event unfold and listening to the new archbishop speak to the standing-room-only crowd gave me renewed hope for the Church in New York and the Church in the United States. Archbishop Dolan’s enthusiasm for his faith is surely infectious, but, more importantly, his ability to speak clearly on Church teaching while drawing in people from all camps seems to be just what the doctor ordered in these days of moral relativism and cloudy consciences.

The most moving moment of the entire two-and-half-hour installation came when, during his homily, the archbishop stressed the Church’s position on the dignity of life. At the mention of “the tiny baby in the womb,” the congregation erupted in applause that just went on and on, and, after a few minutes, rather than dying down, the applause became more deafening and the crowd got to its feet for a rousing standing ovation. As I stood there clapping, near tears at the sight of thousands of people spontaneously applauding the unborn, I wondered if all the politicians and secular media present were taking note. These weren’t the on-again-off-again Catholics interviewed by pollsters. These were practicing, faithful Catholics, and their collective voice on the abortion issue was obvious and evident and clear yesterday afternoon.

One of my favorite lines of the homily came soon after when the new archbishop said that the Church is a loving mother who has a “zest for life and serves life everywhere,” but she can also “become a protective mama bear when the lives of her innocent cubs are threatened.” What a wonderful image, and what a gentle way of putting a teaching that many in our society find very hard to accept.

Of course, the new archbishop touched on many other topics, including the fact that he wants to help Catholics reclaim Sunday as their own and give the “family meal” of the Eucharist renewed prominence. He acknowledged that many Catholics are fatigued due to the problems of our day, and the “wounds” of the sexual abuse scandal, and by ridicule of the Church for its positions on things like the sanctity of life and sacredness of marriage (which was especially timely since, hours before taking his seat in the front row of St. Patrick’s, Gov. David Paterson of New York had just announced his plan to introduce a gay marriage bill today).

Alluding to the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus from the Gospel reading, Archbishop Dolan said that Catholics today cannot be downcast as those disciples were at first, failing to recognize Jesus as he walks alongside them — and us.

“My new friends of this great archdiocese, would you consider joining your new pastor on an adventure in fidelity, as we turn the Staten Island Expressway, Fifth Avenue, Madison Avenue, Broadway, the Major Deegan and the New York State Thruway into the Road to Emmaus?” he asked.

Those roads will eventually take the new archbishop to the corners of his archdiocese, which stretches from the urban neighborhoods of Manhattan and Staten Island and the Bronx, to the suburban centers in the counties just north of the city, to the rural farmland of the lower Hudson Valley. Having covered those areas for many years when I worked for Catholic New York and having sat in St. Patrick’s Cathedral through many Church events over the past two decades, I can tell you that yesterday’s Mass was a high point for this New Yorker and, I think, for many others who welcomed Archbishop Dolan. As my husband said, “My faith has been energized by what I saw and heard today.” Amen to that.

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