The Outer Limits of: French, Food, Fun, and Laughter

Speaking French, funny stories, rollercoasters, West African music and dance, an assortment of photos, video clips, and discussions made this evening quite enjoyable.  My youngest sister is in town for a couple weeks, and I hadn’t seen her since my mom and I went up to Ohio back in April to see her performances. 

    
Since then she’s been to Burkina Faso for the second time and loved it.  I was excited to hear about her trip and looking forward to speaking with her in French, which she’d really like to keep up.  We hung out at my mom’s.  Kevin came over after work and grocery shopping and cut up fruit for us all to eat while we were talking. 

Food Matters

We laughed about some amusing moments from when we were growing up, one of those being the day that my mom quickly packed my sister “a lunch” for the day she was spending with me while I took care of “my two little guys.”  (For further explanation, see My Nanny Diary.)  The contents of said lunch were rather interesting: 1. a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread 2. a box of individual packets of hot cocoa mix.

   
Opening a package of crackers and eating a couple that were starting to go stale, my sister said she didn’t mind them.  I told her that she should have known they were stale since there wasn’t FRESH written on the side of the package in black permanent marker.  Writing FRESH in black marker was a trick a household member had for identifying the cereal purchased most recently that was least likely to be stale.  Rather than throw the stale cereal out, this individual helpfully marked the new box as FRESH.

Enjoy the Ride

My mom and sister just got back from some time in Rochester, New York, so we were talking about the people and places they visited up there and got onto the subject of roller coasters.  There is a rather small (in terms of other amusement parks we’ve gone to) place with rides and a water park that’s been in its current location since before I was born.  Often when we’d go up to Rochester to visit my grandma, grandpa, uncles, and my parents' friends from college, we would spend a day at Seabreeze where they have such rides as the Jack Rabbit, a wooden rollercoaster that my parents went on years before we were even a twinkle in their eyes.  My sister and cousins went to the park for a quick visit to hit the highlights at Seabreeze before they closed the gates. 

This got us into a discussion about rollercoasters at different amusement parks and how family members responded to those at Seabreeze, King’s Dominion, and Busch Gardens.  Kevin had to tell the story about the time we were at King’s Dominion for the day, and we rode the Outer Limits rollercoaster for the first time.  Afterward, we decided to have lunch.  I went up to an open window and asked for “two orders of stricken chips.” 

The person looked at me quite confused.  I didn’t even realize what I’d said until Kevin stepped forward and said, “I’m sorry.  We just got off a rollercoaster.  What she meant to say is that we’d like two orders of chicken strips, please.”  We spent the entire lunch laughing hysterically as we ate our chicken and fries, and later I drew a little picture of a house and wrote "Home for Abused Chips" on the front of one of the many letters I sent him back then when we were still dating. 

   
Kevin's kept every card, note, and letter I sent him from when we first met throughout the entire time we were dating, so I came across the envelope the other day when I was rereading cards, letters, and things I'd sent him which are now mixed in with the letters and cards he sent me way back when.

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 106)

-1-

Remembering My Dad I’ve been going through hundreds of thousands of photos, letters, cards, and many things have reminded me of years gone by.  One of the best examples of reconciliation and redemption has come through my relationship with my father, James Lester Niermeyer.       

     Only God could have brought about the necessary transformation in both of us, so that we could be there for each other in the last few years of his life.  It’s been hard to me to have a box of his things from high school football and college which I don’t personally want to keep, but which I don’t want thrown away.  I’ve been in tears a number of times when I see symbols of what he worked so hard for and wonder if all of the pain and suffering he went through in life was worth it. 

-2-

A Man of Faith One blessing of having a blog is that people who knew my dad years ago have contacted me and told me what impact he had on their lives.  I know that my dad’s true worth had little to do with his successful career, large homes, luxurious vacations, expensive cars, or corporate accolades.  I have some measure of peace knowing that he is finally where he knows he is appreciated and loved for who he is, not what he does. 

     Lord, thank You for our fathers.  Please give us the courage to learn from their wisdom as well as their mistakes.  Guide us in seeking Your will above all else, so that we may one day join those in Heaven.        

-3-

What’s Left I guess it makes sense since it’s been less than six months since my grandmother passed away and still under a year since my mom sold the family home that I’m sorting through many boxes, yet again.  The things I’m hanging onto (though there are lots of them) are: photos, letters, cards, and journals.  I have boxes and boxes of pictures, journals, cards, and letters from high school, college, my time studying abroad in France, dating Kevin, as well as recent years.  I know that others in my family would have gotten rid of many such things, but I’m grateful I rescued them.  I firmly believe that God can make something beautiful from the scraps, pieces, and fragments of our lives, and I trust He will help me use what memories I have and lessons I’ve learned to bring others closer to Him. 

-4-

Girls Day Out Last Sunday was an answeredprayer for a dear friend of mine who won’t be with us much longer.  She wanted a day out with her closest girlfriends to pick out a dress, find the perfect shoes, relax, have fun, and enjoy quality time before she goes.  We had a blast, and she was given her requested a day out with the girls, something she had hoped for a while ago when she discerned her vocation and knew she’d be a different kind of bride.  It’s hard for me to think that my dear friend and sister in Christ will be leaving and not coming back.  Michele Morris, the director/actress who wrote the original play “Teresita” based on the life of St. Teresa of Avila and her own discernment process, is performing one last time in Richmond, then she’s moving on to a new life in a cloistered monasteryin Carmel, California.   

   

-5-

Final Performance If you are nearby and able, I hope that you will join us for the final performance of “Teresita” on Sunday June 23, 2013 at 3:00pm in the sanctuary of St. Benedict’s Church.  The one woman play written and performed by local actress and prayer warrior Michele Morris is quite an inspiration to Christians.  There is no fee or reservation necessary.  A love offering will be taken up to assist Michele with her dowry, the remaining things she needs for her entry into the Carmelite Sisters by the Sea on August 6, 2013.  I have seen the play many times, and I guarantee you will be entertained, edified, intrigued, and given hope by this performance and this woman of God.

-6-

Les Misérables I finished reading Les Misérables this week.  Yes, it’s another classic that I’ve only just read in its entirety for the first time.  I loved it!  I’ve read a lot by Victor Hugo in French (as it was one of my majors in college), but I thoroughly enjoyed the masterpiece in English or in some parts franglais, as we say.  It brought back memories of my time in Paris to read the book and watch the movie. 

     More than anything else, the chef d’oeuvre has reminded me that Our God is God of many chances.  We are given so many opportunities to redeem ourselves and others in this life.  Actually, the first two relationships I thought of after watching the movie were with my two sisters.  I’ve felt awful that I wasn’t the big sister that I thought I should have been for them, but God’s shown me, in part through the book and the movie, that there’s still time to make amends.  Just as was the case with my dad, there’s room for reconciliation, vulnerability, honesty, healing, and closeness deeper than has been there before.

    

-7-

The Good We Do This week a friend got in touch with me to tell me how work that God prepared her to do last fall has been coming to fruition.  I find it so easy to see the Holy Spirit at work in this woman’s life.  I am grateful that the Lord has seen fit to give her a glimpse of the impact she has on others because she is so hard-working, compassionate, and caring.  It’s encouraging to know that when we are open to God and the promptings of the Holy Spirit, He works in mysterious,powerful ways often without us even realizing it. 

                  

Check out Jen Fulwiler’s tradition of 7 Quick Takes Friday at her tremendously popular blog Conversion Diary.

The Pirates Who Get into Everything (My Nanny Diary)

Sometimes Vivi calls me Captain Trisha, and I’m fine with that.  “The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything” is a wonderful Veggie Tales song and hilarious full-length movie which Kevin and I have counted among our favorites for quite some time.  I’ve made up a dance to the song that I do with the five and under crowd at school, particularly on rainy days when we can’t go out on the playground.  It’s one of the classic Veggie Tales songs on the CD Vivi requests we listen to daily, sometimes multiple times a day. 

    
The three girls have had a blast playing with their new water table, which is a pirate ship complete with a mast.  (Hopefully, it won’t confuse them later on that it’s best not to let your boat fill up with water).  I’ve decided that the girls are the pirates who get into everything, but who act as if they haven’t done anything.  It is amazing all of the things they manage to get into while inside, outside, even upside down.  For further details about our pirate-y adventures, check out Treasure Chest Surprises (My Nanny Diary).

Yesterday, when there were a plethora of water toys available, Livie decided to pull the pinwheel out of the planter.  I let her carry it around.  She even tried to blow on it to get it to spin.  As soon as she put the dirty wooden part in her mouth, I took it and showed her how to blow the pinwheel.  She took it back and was walking around the deck trying at random to get it to spin around. 

   
 At one point, Sophie got the pinwheel.  She was playing with it for less than 60 seconds before she put the dirt-covered wooden part in her mouth.  This occurred after she disassembled the pinwheel and tossed part of it into the garden.  I took the pinwheel and the dirt-encrusted stick to the trash only to turn around, and find Sophie sucking on the wooden pin that had been holding the toy together.  I thought it was lost forever in the garden, but apparently not.  In her defense, it looked a lot like a lollipop made of wood.    

    
I find it amusing that Vivi and the girls are so into Jake and the Never Land Pirates.  Her grandma got her purple sweatpants, a pink shirt, a little pouch, a pink bandanna, and brown boots so she can dress up as Izzy.  I lost count how many times we read the book The Croc Takes the Cake today.   

    
I can still vividly remember the two children (a 5-year-old girl and her 3-year-old brother) I babysat regularly when I was in high school.  The two of them absolutely loved Disney’s animated Peter Pan.  They were thrilled dressing up and pretending they were the characters, reading the books, watching the movie, and singing the songs. 

    
When I nannied for “my two little guys,” both of their parents got some books in French for me to read to the boys.  I was quite tickled that the two French books the boys requested that I read the most often both involved pirates.  In one, a grandmother is kidnapped by pirates, and her grandchildren have to go rescue her.  In the other, the main character of the book is the daughter of the most famous pirate in the world; she has to travel with a crew of pirates to different places around the globe on a scavenger hunt that leads her to the best treasure of all.  

    
Both books are actually pretty hilarious, so I was happy to read them over and over and over again.  I had to change the words at the end of one book after the first time I shouted them out before realizing exactly what was being said.  When we reached the end of Grandmère et Les Pirates which said “Mon dieu, ou est passé le bateau?!” I replaced it with a new beginning of oh  là  là! followed by the French equivalent of (where’s the ship gone?!).

I was given most of the books in French after taking care of the boys since neither set of parents spoke the language, but they hung onto the favorite ones.  I’d like to get those two books again to have as part of the collection I have at home to bring to work and/or school to share with kids.

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 105)

-1-

Thank You, God! I'm very grateful to the Lord for getting my sister Theresa safely to Burkina Faso, and for the really amazing, uplifting, wonderful people He's used to show me His love this week. Thanks Laura, Kevin, and Gwen for being open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and willing to share your gifts and just be who you are!

-2-

Fun with French I couldn’t resist the opportunity to have some fun with French.  Since I took French from fifth grade through college, and I spent an academic school year my junior year at Hollins studying in Paris, France, I offered to have some conversations in French with my sister before she went back to Burkina Faso (where she’s studying West African dance this month).  She wanted to brush up on the basics and learn some key phrases that wouldn’t likely be in a textbook.

     I began with one of the few things Kevin learned to say in French before he came over to visit me:

Est-ce que tu m’épouseras?   Will you marry me?

This was not my response when he asked, but is one I suggested for my sister to use if it turns out to be a more appropriate answer in her circumstances.

Non, ma mѐre va me tuer.    No, my mother will kill me.

     Actually, when Kevin said, “Je t’taime du fond de mon coeur Patricia Niermeyer.  Est-ce que tu m épouseras?”  To read the whole story and the entire French phrase post, click here.

-3-

Heartbreaking News One of our recently ordained permanent deacons, Joe Marotta, died suddenly and unexpectedly this week. He was married and the father of five young children.

     Another gentleman who went to be with the Lord this week was in his thirties, had cancer, and has left his wife and two young children behind.

     Please keep of these gentleman, their families, and friends in prayer. 

-4-

Tuesdays with Memories I watched my nephew Ezra for a bit Tuesday morning, went to Mass at St.Peter's, and got some organizational things done at home, along with some writing, and work on the YA novel that's next in the John Paul II High Series. I've gone through scores of pictures this week.  As anyone who knows me, knows I have a bazillion, especially from high school on. Kevin and I are thinking of doing a wall of photos of the two of us throughout our relationship, our favorite places, and such. I'm putting the mass quantity of pics into categories and in photo boxes. The next photo phase will likely involve mailing people prints of themselves and friends that I have that would make them smile, laugh, and remember when...

   

-5-

Daily Prayer Lately, I have had pretty much the same prayer routine in terms of what I read/do in the morning and evening.  I usually do the morning prayer included in the Magnificat, the daily readings and reflection before I leave for work, the evening prayer once I get home, and sometimes also do the night time prayer, but not always.  Of course, I pray spontaneously throughout the day, too.  I've found it helps me to have some regular things I do or I am not as grounded in prayer as is wise and helpful in getting through the day with the right focus.

-6-

Home Tonight I finished reading Home Tonight: Further Reflections on theParable of the Prodigal Son by Henri J.M. Nouwen on Pentecost Sunday.  It gave me a great deal to think, pray, and write about as well as meditate on. 

     As is often the case with Nouwen’s books, I am again very aware that I’m being challenged through these heartfelt personal reflections to accept the love, forgiveness, and mercy of the Lord on a deeper level than I ever have before.  This task is rather daunting because it’s really difficult for me to accept love, especially unconditional love and forgiveness when I know (to some extent) how little I deserve it… To read the full review, click here.
     

-7-

Push It Real Good! This week the girls were extremely excited about having the opportunity to play in a laundry basket big enough for them to fit inside of.  It was funny watching them climb in and out, as the twins are not quite tall enough to step over the sides and get in without stumbling.  Vivi, who is quite a fan of pillows and blankets, snuggled up in the laundry basket as well.

                  

Check out Jen Fulwiler’s tradition of 7 Quick Takes Friday at her tremendously popular blog Conversion Diary.

Parlez-vous français? Mais, oui!

I couldn’t resist the opportunity to have some fun with French.  Since I took French from fifth grade through college, and I spent an academic school year my junior year at Hollins studying in Paris, France, I offered to have some conversations in French with my sister before she went back to Burkina Faso (where she’s studying West African dance this month).  She wanted to brush up on the basics and learn some key phrases that wouldn’t likely be in a textbook.

    
I began with one of the few things Kevin learned to say in French before he came over to visit me:

Est-ce que tu m’épouseras?          Will you marry me?

   
This was not my response when he asked, but is one I suggested for my sister to use if it turns out to be a more appropriate answer in her circumstances.

Non, ma mѐre va me tuer.    No, my mother will kill me.

    
Actually, when Kevin said, “Je t’aime du fond de mon coeur Patricia Niermeyer.  Est-ce que tu m'épouseras?” He was down on one knee with a ring box in his hand which by itself got me crying so hard I hadn’t heard him.  He looked at me, waiting for my answer, and I looked at him not having heard the question.  He asked quietly, “Did I say it wrong?”  I told him, “I didn’t hear you.”  He laughed and asked again.  I said yes and gave him a big hug and a kiss.  I was thrilled!! 

This phrase I thought of because it’s a pretty cool French song that we learned when I took a French music course in college.  I still listen to the CD sometimes.
“Je crois que ça va pas être possible."    I believe that will not be possible.

These I included because they'd probably be useful: 

Dégage-toi!      Free me!  Let me go!

Aidez-moi!        Help me!

Je dois allez aux toilettes.       I need to use the toilet/go to the restroom.

Où se trouvent les toilettes?  Where is the restroom?

J’ai mal (à + le, la, or, les, l’) _____________                        My   _________________ hurts.

Combined becomes (au, à la, aux, à l’)                                           (part of the body)

    

J’ai soif.                I’m thirsty.

J’ai faim.               I’m hungry.

J’ai assez mangé.     I’ve had enough to eat/have eaten enough.

Never say: Je suis pleine.  (word for word translates to I’m full, but in French means I’m pregnant unless, of course, that’s what you mean to say.)

Je suis fatigué.        I’m tired.

J’ai chaud.              I’m feeling warm/hot.

J’ai froid.                I’m feeling cold/cool.

J’ai perdu…mon billet, ma carte de crédit…                I lost…my ticket, my credit card…

     I hope this has been a fun learning experience for you.  

How we love thee, let us count the ways…

This is the fancy card we received yesterday from John, our beloved brother in Christ who spent a month in Europe this summer visiting a number of beautiful and awe-inspiring pilgrimage sites. 

There are multiple translations possible for two of the French verbs and a couple of the nouns and pronouns used, but John doesn’t know French so he didn’t have a clue as to what the front said when he purchased the card for us in Lisieux, France while visiting the Basilica of St. Thérѐse. 
     
At least he’s honest.  The first sentence he wrote inside the card is: “I’m not sure what it says on the front. (I’m sure Trisha can translate.) But it looks nice.”
     
Kevin doesn’t know much French either beyond some of the basics and how to tell someone you love her from the bottom of your heart and ask her to marry you, so he couldn’t make heads or tails of what it said.  This gave me quite a bit of creative license in the translation.  The first one I think (and sincerely hope) is more in line with the sentiments John intended to express:
   

Happy Wedding

Would that the joy of this day

permeate your love
and that the reminder of it
return to you each day.

Rather than this other possible translation of the card:

Happy Wedding

Would that the joy of this day

impregnate your lover
and that his memory
would hit you every day.

     
Either way, it’s only eight years and four days late for our weddingJ. 

     
The prayers John’s prayed with and for us certainly bridge that wrinkle in time.  Plus, his is still the only card we received in any language this year that’s (most likely) intended to be a congratulations on our anniversary.
     
Truth be told, the message inside the card (after the I-don’t-know-what-it-says-on-the-front part) is quite touching, loving, and encouraging, especially coming from someone who knows us as well as John does. 
     
He’s certainly one of the people God has worked through in countless ways, prayer being the most important, to help Kevin and me grow closer to God and one another.  For God bringing him into our lives, we are beyond blessed.