Fess Parker - August 16, 1924 - March 18, 2010

Mr. Parker is always a hit at our house. He was a wonderful Christian man and a loving husband and father.

-Fess Parker in his role as Daniel Boon

-Fess in "Davy Crockett"

-Fess Parker and Patricia Blair in "The Daniel Boon Show"

-Fess Parker, later years.

I wanted to do this post to tell you all about a very good film called "Gentleman's Agreement". With this film and other future ones I post about, there may be things in it that I don't agree with - such as smoking, excessive drinking, etc., though I do think the film has a good message and many will appreciative the content. This is one of my favourites!


Philip Schuyler Green (Gregory Peck) is a widowed journalist who has just moved to New York City with his son Tommy (Dean Stockwell) and mother (Anne Revere). Green meets with magazine publisher John Minify (Albert Dekker), who asks Green to write an article on antisemitism. After initially struggling with how to approach the topic in a fresh way, Green is inspired to adopt a Jewish identity ("Phil Greenberg") and write about his own first-hand experiences. Green and Minify agree to keep it secret that Phil is not Jewish; since he and his family are new to New York, it should be easy to hide.


At a dinner party, Phil meets Minify's divorced niece Kathy Lacey (Dorothy McGuire), who turns out to be the person who originally suggested the story idea. Minify provides her with a large apartment and money. Kathy "works" as a pre-school teacher. Phil and Kathy begin dating. Though she seems to have liberal views, when he reveals what he intends to do, she is taken aback and asks if he actually is Jewish. The strain on their relationship due to Kathy's subtle acquiescence to bigotry becomes a key theme in the film.


At the magazine, Phil is assigned a secretary, Elaine Wales (June Havoc), who reveals that she too is Jewish. She changed her name in order to get the job (her application under her real, Jewish-sounding name, Estelle Wilovsky, was rejected). After Phil informs Minify about Wales' experience, Minify orders the magazine to adopt hiring policies that are open to Jews. Wales has reservations about the new policy, fearing that the "wrong Jews" will be hired and ruin things for the few Jews working there now. Phil meets fashion editor Anne Dettrey (Celeste Holm), who becomes a good friend and potentially more, particularly as strains develop between Phil and Kathy.


As Phil's assignment proceeds, his childhood friend, Dave Goldman (John Garfield), who is Jewish, moves to New York for a job and lives with the Greens while he looks for a home for his family. Housing is scarce in the city, but it is particularly difficult for Goldman, since not all landlords will rent to a Jewish family. When Phil tells Dave about his project, Dave is supportive, but concerned.


As time goes on, Phil experiences several incidents of bigotry. When his mother becomes ill with a heart condition, the doctor discourages him from consulting a specialist with an obviously Jewish name, suggesting he might be cheated. When Phil reveals that he is himself Jewish, the doctor becomes uncomfortable and leaves. Also, when kids at school learn that Tommy is Jewish, he becomes the target of bullies. Phil is troubled by the way Kathy consoles Tommy, telling him that their taunts of "dirty Jew" are wrong because he isn't Jewish, not that the epithet is wrong in and of itself.


Kathy's attitudes are revealed further when she and Phil announce their engagement. Her sister Jane (Jane Wyatt) invites them to a celebration in her home in Darien, Connecticut, which is known to be a "restricted" community where Jews are not welcome. Fearing an awkward scene, Kathy wants to tell her family and friends that Phil is only pretending to be a Jew, but Phil prevails on Kathy to tell only Jane. At the party, everyone is very friendly to Phil, though many people are "unable" to attend at the last minute.


Dave announces that he will have to quit his job because he cannot find a place for his family. Kathy owns a vacant cottage in Darien, but though Phil sees it as the obvious solution to Dave's problem, Kathy is unwilling to offend her neighbors by renting it to a Jewish family. She and Phil break their engagement. Phil announces that he will be moving away from New York when his article is published. When it comes out, it is very well received by the magazine staff.
Kathy meets with Dave and tells him how sick she felt when a party guest told a bigoted joke. However, she has no answer when Dave repeatedly asks her what she did about it. She comes to realize that remaining silent condones the prejudice.


The next day...... you'll have to watch it :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

"The beautiful prayer of St. Patrick, popularly known as 'St. Patrick's Breast-Plate,' is supposed to have been composed by him in preparation for this victory over paganism. The following is a literal translation from the old Irish text . . ."


I bind to myself today
The strong virtue of the Invocation of the Trinity:
I believe the Trinity in the Unity
The Creator of the Universe.


I bind to myself today
The virtue of the Incarnation of Christ with His Baptism,
The virtue of His crucifixion with His burial,
The virtue of His Resurrection with His Ascension,
The virtue of His coming on the Judgement Day.


I bind to myself today
The virtue of the love of seraphim,
In the obedience of angels,
In the hope of resurrection unto reward,
In prayers of Patriarchs,
In predictions of Prophets,
In preaching of Apostles,
In faith of Confessors,
In purity of holy Virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.


I bind to myself today
The power of Heaven,
The light of the sun,
The brightness of the moon,
The splendour of fire,
The flashing of lightning,
The swiftness of wind,
The depth of sea,
The stability of earth,
The compactness of rocks.


I bind to myself today
God's Power to guide me,
God's Might to uphold me,
God's Wisdom to teach me,
God's Eye to watch over me,
God's Ear to hear me,
God's Word to give me speech,
God's Hand to guide me,
God's Way to lie before me,
God's Shield to shelter me,
God's Host to secure me,
Against the snares of demons,
Against the seductions of vices,
Against the lusts of nature,
Against everyone who meditates injury to me,
Whether far or near,
Whether few or with many.


I invoke today all these virtues
Against every hostile merciless power
Which may assail my body and my soul,
Against the incantations of false prophets,
Against the black laws of heathenism,
Against the false laws of heresy,
Against the deceits of idolatry,
Against the spells of women, and smiths, and druids,
Against every knowledge that binds the soul of man.


Christ, protect me today
Against every poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against death-wound,
That I may receive abundant reward.


Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ within me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ at my right, Christ at my left,
Christ in the fort,
Christ in the chariot seat,
Christ in the poop [deck],
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.


I bind to myself today
The strong virtue of an invocation of the Trinity,
I believe the Trinity in the Unity
The Creator of the Universe.

My week so far....

I am thinking a lot about NY the last few weeks! I am leaving in just 14 days. I have to slip down to NY to a UPS store. It is only about an hour and a half from our house. I am ordering some skirts from a really nice modest clothing store in the states. The skirts fit nicely and are very comfortable.They are also very good about returns if need be.


Thank-you Shawn for driving me :)

I am growing three pots of tulips for Easter and they have been growing fine....but they have gotten so tall that they are starting to fall right over. We have put some string around them hoping to try and keep them upright but it is not working. We were thinking of just cutting them and putting them in a vase, but they are not open at all really, just slowly starting to peel back at the top. Do you think that this will work? Please leave your thoughts!!

I was doing some cleaning today with Mom (it is March break here!?!) It is interesting how the house seems to keep getting dirty isn't it? There is a a quote that I really like.

"Better to die tired by doing good, then to just die"

From "Mom"

I was given a beautiful pot of violets at Christmas (I just love violets). There are about seven buds on it and I think in about a week or two it will look like this :)

Have a great rest of your week everyone!

Erin

A weekend smile.....

A five dollar bill met a twenty dollar bill and said. “Hey. Where’ve you been? I haven’t seen you around here much.” The twenty answered. “I've been hanging out at the Casinos, went on a cruise and did the rounds of the ship, back to the United States for a while, went to a couple of baseball games, to the mall, that kind of stuff. How about you? The five dollar bill said, “You know, same old stuff…church, church, church.



Have a great weekend everyone..... and don't forget to "Spring Forward" tonight!

Boiled Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients-

1/2 cup butter ( I used margarine )

1/2 cup milk (I used rice dream )

2 cups sugar (I used 1 1/4 cup sucanet)

1/2 cup cocoa

2 1/2 rolled oats ( I used 3 cups because I used less sugar )

Directions-

Put butter, milk, sugar and cocoa in large saucepan. Bring to a boil stirring often. Boil for 5 minutes. .Remove from heat. Stir in rolled oats.

Drop by teaspoonful onto waxed paper.

Makes about 3 dozen

Substitutions.....

I wanted to do a post on substitutions.



We have some food allergies in our house so we have gotten used to changing our recipes around. Pretty well all of the recipes that I will be posting are changed :) I will add what I have done at the bottom of the recipes.

We use organic Coconut milk and Coconut Oil in our baking, they give the baking a tasty and non greasy flavor. We also use rice dream and goat milk, as well as cow's milk.

When we use sugar in baking I usually use sucanet. We buy from Wholesome Sweeteners-we get the 50 pound bag which is about $115.00- this lasts our family+my grandparents at least a year and three months ( and we bake alot )When we bake with it we use 1/3 cup to the 1 cup the recipe calls for. That way it is not too sweet. Sucanet has a very nice taste to it as well.







When we are baking bread I make Spelt bread for Mom and I as sometimes wheat bothers us. There will be a post on that soon! I also find with spelt you sometimes have to use a bit more as it is a very soft grain. I always use spelt when I am making cookies, cakes... things like that. I usually make the boys whole wheat bread. I will be doing a post on how I make our bread soon! I also like using dark (whole) spelt when I bake with cocoa. Nobody knows!


Blessings,


Erin

MASHED POTATO BISCUITS

Ingredients


2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour ( I used light spelt )


2 tablespoons baking powder


1 teaspoon salt


1/4 cup sugar ( I used sucanet )


1/4 cup butter or margarine ( I used coconut oil )


1 1/2 cups leftover mashed potatoes


1 egg, beaten


1/3 cup cold water


1/3 cup milk ( I used rice milk )


extra milk for brushing the tops


Directions


Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).


In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Cut in butter, until pieces of butter are no larger than peas. Use a fork to stir in mashed potatoes, breaking them up into chunks. Make a well in the mixture, and pour in egg, water and milk. Stir into a loose dough using the fork.


Turn dough out onto a floured surface, and knead for 6 or 8 times so the dough holds together.


Pat the dough out to about 3/4 inch thickness, and cut into circles with a biscuit cutter or drinking glass. Place biscuits onto an ungreased baking sheet. Brush the tops with a bit of milk.


Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until bottoms are golden.

Make about 12


These taste wonderful! I had always wanted to do some baking with mashed potatoes in them and this fit the bill! Worth a try...

Psalm 23

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters.He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name' sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,I will fear no evil: For thou art with me;Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies;Thou annointest my head with oil; My cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.

My Cat Jenny...