A Poem for Home

A Pot of Red Lentils

by Peter Pereira

simmers on the kitchen stove.
All afternoon dense kernels
surrender to the fertile
juices, their tender bellies
swelling with delight.

In the yard we plant
rhubarb, cauliflower, and artichokes,
cupping wet earth over tubers,
our labor the germ
of later sustenance and renewal.

Across the field the sound of a baby crying
as we carry in the last carrots,
whorls of butter lettuce,
a basket of red potatoes.

I want to remember us this way—
late September sun streaming through
the window, bread loaves and golden
bunches of grapes on the table,
spoonfuls of hot soup rising
to our lips, filling us
with what endures.

"A Pot of Red Lentils" by Peter Pereira, from Saying the World. © Copper Canyon Press, 2003. Reprinted with permission. (buy now)

I wanted to share this poem (I had to read it for my English class), because it reminds me of home! Also because its perfect for fall. It made me miss our fresh vegetables from the garden, and how in the spring and summer we would weed the garden as a family (okay, i hated doing that...but I miss being together.) And it made me excited for Christmas, when we eat lentil soup and spend time as a family! I guess the point is, I miss home. Love you all!

You Asked for It...

So, Mom says we don't post enough, and Ginger says we should write about little things that happen. Fortunately for you all...I have plenty of hilarious mishaps.
Most recent first:
So, I'm getting all settled into my new apartment on my day off, and I realize: Hey! I have everything to make chocolate chip cookies! And I'm working on perfecting the fluff, so I went ahead and started making some. I get all the way through and taste the dough and...it tastes really funky. So I look around the table at my ingredients, and guess who wasn't paying attention to labels? This girl. I put onion salt in place of real salt!! Being a broke college student, I tried adding spices, and sugars, all to try and save them form waste. But no matter what, after I cooked them, they had a thick, onion-y aftertaste. It was really gross. And really embarrassing.
But it was not nearly as dumb as when I was doing my laundry, and realized that I had washed my pepper spray. Now, my laundry room has only one vent, and its a tightly sealed room. (which i always thought was a bad idea.) Again, not really thinking, I wanted to make sure it still worked. So I sprayed the pepper spray right there. Away from my face, and into the corner...where it bounced right back. And, hey! The pepper spray worked. I couldn't breathe. Lol.
I also had an incident where there was a wasp on the inside of my window sill, but the window was blowing too strongly for it to fly back out. I freaked out, and put it under a cup, and was going to slide paper under it, to take it out side. However, the wasp started flying down, so I couldn't lift it up without losing the paper. I decided I was going to leave it there to die, when I suddenly felt really guilty about murdering it. (Don't ask me why.) But as I flung open the window to let it out, another wasp flies at my head! I dodged, and accidentally knocked over the cup with the trapped wasp.... I ran like the dickens! And tripped over everything in sight. Everyone there was laughing their heads off at me. :)
Well, there you have it. Stories. Because Mom thinks she's too boring.

Oh man its september!!!!! ahhhh.... Its getting hot again... ewww.

 

but so this week was really really good. really good... :)  i learned a lot and set a lot of new goals and i feel, honestlya nd truly, like the Lord has forgiven all of my errors. all of my mistakes. and i am so grateful for that. I am so grateful for the atonement and for Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for us. I know that it is only through repentance nad change. constantly changing and growing that we can grow nad later be worthy to return and live with him. I am so thankful for that opportunity.  I hope everyone someday can realize the significance of that sacrifice and have the desire to change their lives. and be better.

 

but so this week was my companions birthday! and so we decided to surprise her. she said like 2 weeks before that she wanted a lomito (a sandwich type thing...) and so i arranged with hermana franco and hermana wills (the other hermanas we live with) so that htey would buy the stuff and then id make a giant chocolate chip cookie (because she likes those tooo...) and we would have a surprise birthday party.  :) hehe but did you know that its really hard to create a surprise birhtday party for someone you ahve to be with 24-7... luckily in the apartment we can be in different rooms. but it was sooo fun.. im not really sure why because i just made a cookie and put a candle ona sandwich that hermana franco bought and we sung happy birthday and took pictures... but it was a lot of fun.. I love my companion so much. she is amazing.  and someday i hope you guys can meet her.

 

We also taught some great people this week. one we are pretty excited about. we have a member whos husband is not a member... he doesnt even really believe in god btu we went to teach her and he came nad listened!!! it was so exciting. he doesnt have the greatest opinion about hte church but thats changing little by little. and that he listened to us is HUGE!!!!!!! im pretty excited about that.

 

So ive started to read Doctrine and covenants this week.  Ive always loved church history but d&C isnt my favorite. i love the book of mormon. but D&C has some really great stuff. I really like to look at all of the advice the Lord gave to these early saints and to us to help us.  Today i found a scripture that i just fell in love with! its D&C 6:33-34

It says:

 33 ^aFear not to do ^bgood, my sons, for whatsoever ye ^csow, that shall ye also reap; therefore, if ye sow ^dgood ye shall also reap good for your ^ereward.
 34 Therefore, fear not, little ^aflock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are ^bbuilt upon my rock, they cannot prevail.
Isnt it just great?!?! i love that it tells us to "fear not to do good" and then it tells us to "fear not" and hten to "do good" this little change i just really like.  we shouldnt be afraid to do good because only good comes from good but also we shouldnt fear. we shouldnt fear anything nad hte solution for that is to do good!!! Service and love can really overcome everything. that is one of my goals this week is to serve. really really serve.  and you guys should try it too!!!
love you! i should go.. but have a great great great week!
hermana applegate