I Tasted Summer This Morning

Yes, that's right: I tasted summer. It's been fairly cool today, but still, I tasted summer.

This was the day we made Christmas jam with my mother. We make at least a couple of batches once each year. It's our favorite jam--a cranberry/strawberry jam. It's called Christmas jam because we can only make it during the holidays--since that's when fresh cranberries are available around here. (Is that true everywhere?)

The summer part is from the strawberries. The ones we used this time were especially good because we'd frozen fresh ones this summer, in anticipation of this day. They were not our strawberries--the late freeze decimated our crop--but they were from middle Tennessee, at least. And oh, did they taste good this morning!


Christmas Jam

12 ounces of fresh cranberries
Two 10 ounce packages of frozen strawberries
4 cups of sugar
3 ounces of liquid pectin
wax (optional)

Slightly chop the cranberries in the food processor. Mix chopped cranberries, strawberries, and sugar in bowl on the stove top. Bring to a boil, and boil for 10 minutes. Add pectin, and boil additional 1 minute. Put jam into warm jars and boil in a water bath for 5 minutes. As an alternative to the water bath, let the jam cool after being placed in the jars, and pour hot wax over the top. This does just as good a job of sealing it as the water bath (sometimes better), and it doesn't cook the jam any more. Yield: 6 half pints.

Teaching Math through the Decades

This is not agrarian, nor is it about our family, or our church, or any such; it's just something I find humorous, possibly because it seems so true. It is old, and probably most of you have seen it; my sister sent it to me quite a few years ago, and I kept a copy of it for a long time, for some reason, but since I've misplaced it, I've referred to it often, and wished I still had a copy of it. I (finally!) thought to look for it online, and found it easily, with a change or two from the one she sent me. Anyway, here it is:

Teaching Math in 1950:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?

Teaching Math in 1960:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?

Teaching Math in 1970:
A logger exchanges a set "L" of lumber for a set "M" of money. The cardinality of set "M" is 100. Each element is worth one dollar. Make 100 dots representing the elements of the set "M." The set "C", the cost of production contains 20 fewer points than set "M." Represent the set "C" as a subset of set "M" and answer the following question: What is the cardinality of the set "P" of profits? [I'm dating myself, but this one sounds waaaaay too familiar!]

Teaching Math in 1980:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.

Teaching Math in 1990:
By cutting down beautiful forest trees, the logger makes $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the forest birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down the trees? There are no wrong answers.

Teaching Math in 2000:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $120. How does Arthur Andersen determine that his profit margin is $60? [My sister sent me this before the Enron trouble, so the one she sent says, "How does Jesse Jackson get involved?" instead of the Arthur Andersen question. It also did not include the 2010 math, as stated below.]


Teaching Math in 2010:
El hachero vende un camion carga por $100. La cuesta de production es.............
Mary Susan

Trebuchets, John Knox, and the Scottish Reformation

Our church celebrated Reformation day this weekend, inviting another local reformed fellowship to join us. Our focus this year was John Knox and the Scottish Reformation. We also had a trebuchet contest between our church and the other fellowship.

Here are pictures from what was a good day of fellowship and fun.

We especially enjoyed seeing friends from out-of-town, and hope to see you all again soon.

Mary Susan