From Food Navigator

Beers rich in hops and barley malts linked to better bone health

By Guy Montague-Jones, 08-Feb-2010

A new study suggests that beers containing plenty of hops or pale barley malts could promote better bone health thanks to their dietary silicon content.

Just a quick note today to thank all our parents for all you do for us. It is always a blessing to have so many cooperative parents especially on days like today.

We realize how hard it is to have snow days, and quite frankly, I think it’s a shame we were called out today. We have always called school when every other school in Evansville and Newburgh were closed, but it appears that we need to do something else now. What to do…what to do. Well, not being a sitter but rather a doer, I called WFIE and got on the closing list page, and from now on we will post our own closings with the other schools. Please look for this in the future as Garden School. Today should have been a school day.

There will be more information going out to parents tomorrow about this.

Tomorrow was supposed to be a field trip, but it’s a long ride to St. Meinrad along country roads, and then there is the long steep hill the bus must climb. I’ve talked to Br. Maurus and he has told me that the hill has yet to be plowed. In addition, the temperature is going to be 24 degrees with a seventeen mile an hour wind. We have to walk what amounts to three city blocks between buildings. Plus the fact the “Hill” is now on slow or our time as opposed to other years when by decree of the Abbot it was on fast or Louisville time, so there would be no time to eat lunch and still take in Noon Prayer with the monks. We need to be back in Evansville at 1:30. Usually we go up to Monte Casino, a lovely shrine a couple of miles east of St. Meinrad, and this time we can’t, so we think it’s best to cancel this trip. I am so sorry.

We will make up this trip later this season, and there will be no charge to parents. We will give some advanced notice. St. Meinrad is a very wonderful place to tour. Parents may want to see this very Medieval style Archabbey. It’s one of only seven in the world.

We will start our race to the presidency this week. Children will be taught how to campaign and how to be a candidate. We encourage every child to participate.

Next week, we will be studying Asia. We are still trying to take the children to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. This will be a very fun experiment. I’ve wanted to do this for years, and finally, I have the faculty support I need to step up to the plate, so to speak ;-}

Again with many thanks for your understanding, and many blessings,

Judy and Edith

Snow today. 164 and Green River area was closed earlier this morning for an accident. It’s about three inches over here and it’s still coming down. It is beautiful. I’m hoping all the kids will keep enjoying the snow. Adults are often bored easily by repeats of natural phenomena, and that’s not the best example for kids. Enchantment at what is NOW is a much better example.

We will be studying the map of Africa this week when we get back to school.

We will be starting to work on the idea of a President of the Garden School this week. Campaigns may begin as quickly as the children understand what that means.

I am still trying to get a field trip to St. Meinrad on Wednesday for a tour and ashes and Noon Prayer. Not sure it will happen. St. Meinrad is about fifty miles East of Evansville. It’s one of seven Benedictine Archabbeys in the world. It’s quite beautiful and there is lots to see. We will be there only in the morning and will return to school at 1:00 -1:15 if we go. I will try to either get a room to eat a picnic or try to get the kitchen up there to provide a lunch. Depends on the cost.

The race to read continues, and so does the spelling that goes with that. It is wonderful to know that this years children are so advanced. Many of them are able to spell consonant blends! Yeah!

A hearty cheer to all of you reading this.

These long winter days and all this snow has lots of people cooking. I’ve heard of just about everything being whipped up. My darling husband made chili this afternoon, and I made taco bread to go with it. Cook, cook, cook… the food product is always worth the effort…until later when we have to tackle the mess, sigh, big sigh.

Cooking should be a neat process. There should NEVER be a mess in a kitchen. First of all, it’s dangerous-this is how fires start and people get hurt and poisoning begins. Second it’s disappointing – all that work so that there is twice more – almost doesn’t seem worth while. Third, it’s completely unnecessary; messy in the kitchen is the tell-tale that one’s life is a mess as well. I learned a long time ago from my mother who liked to use every single dish in the kitchen, that a kitchen should always be neat.

Both my kitchens are very small. You couldn’t get a table in either of my kitchens. At home, my one hundred and eighty year old kitchen has a brick floor and antique furniture – a large hutch with a porcelain pull out counter, and a large oak breakfront with drawers and a cabinet on top for dishes. The sink barely has enough counter space to drain dishes on either side, and the only other surface in the room is a flour barrel with a fruit bowl on top. Yet, unless someone else cooks, I always try to keep the kitchen clean and functional.

I keep all my appliances out because I use them nearly every day. I keep out various spice jars, flour jars, bowls, paddles and whisks, so it’s a tight squeeze – I can’t spread out, so every thing is used and either put away promptly, or cleaned and put away promptly. Every dirty dish goes directly into the sink – I have a dishwasher but I never use it.

At school, I cringe when someone stirs a pot and leaves the dirty spoon on the counter. “OUCH,” I want to scream! When as many as five dirty spoons are left on the counter, two things happen: the first is the drying crusted mess on the counter that needs to be scraped off and is a serious crime against health, and the second is there is no place to put a hot pot or a finished product because the dirty spoons are taking up the space- dangerous! When you taste or stir a pot, take the spoon and either wash it or leave it in the sink to be washed during a pause in the cooking. This way, the counter stays clean and what space you have is usable.

I need: flour, sugar, butter, cinnamon, eggs, and baking powder. When the right amounts are in the bowl, there should be one thing on the counter – the bowl. When an egg carton and egg shells linger on the counter, the cinnamon is opened and the jar is separated from the lid, when the flour and sugar containers are opened and the lids are who knows where, and the butter paper is stuck to the front of the baking powder with the spoon still stuck into the tin…you have a mess.

Cleanliness dictates that it is far easier to open a can of tomato sauce for spaghetti and toss the can away than to leave it on the counter while the sauce dribble makes its way down the can and makes a ring on the counter. When the can opener has done its business, rinse it off and put it away!

When making pancakes at school, the first thing to do is to gather six eggs in their carrier and crack them open into the mixing bowl of the electric mixer making sure every egg shell is deposited into the garbage can a.s.a.p. Wash the carrier and put it away. Measure or pour the oil into the mixing bowl, and put the oil away. Pour half as much milk into the mixing bowl as you need and put the milk away and put the bowl aside. Next, get out a second bowl. Measure the flour and put it away. I use a dog food storage unit with a strong hinged lid that rolls for flour. Measure your baking powder and put the spoon into the sink and put the baking powder away. Use the salt dispenser and put it away. If we are making a spiced pancake batter, measure your spice into the flour mix and put your spice away. Whisk all dry ingredients and put the whisk into the sink. Using an electric mixer, heap great spoons full of dry mix into the egg- milk mix one spoon at a time until it is all mixed well, adding more milk as needed. Put the dry bowl into the sink with the spoon. Wipe your counter. Wash your bowl, your measures if used, your spoons, and your whisk.

Now look at your kitchen. It doesn’t even look like you’ve cooked. And if you were suddenly called away, you can pour your batter into a pitcher for later without coming home to a disgusting mess rife with bacteria spread across your kitchen.

Now plug in your griddle. As you ladle the batter onto the hot griddle, wipe up any spills and drips. Wet spill is always easier than dry ones. Wipe the excess on your griddle, your batter bowl and any surface that is caught by unsuspecting batter. When the cooking is done, put your batter or mixing bowl into the sink with your spatula and swish swipe and let these pieces dry while you eat.

Cooking sans mess is the only way to fly. After a delicious dinner, it’s so hard to face dishes and mess. And it always amounts to the same amount of work, so it makes sense. It’s really a matter of thinking things through – I think they call it prudence.

The Power of Acknowledgment Reveals the Astonishing Impact of Acknowledging Your Partner!

(New York, NY, February 12, 2010) – Picture this: you are sitting at your desk, disgruntled, frustrated, tired, perhaps you were yelled at during the staff meeting. Let’s face it, today is just not your day. Suddenly, an email pops up, brightening and uplifting your mood. It is a love letter from your partner – the person you thought was the least likely to write such a note. How would you react?

Judith W. Umlas experienced the mood altering power of acknowledgment first hand when she was having a down day at work. After hearing about her day, Judith’s husband, Bob Umlas, a Microsoft Excel “geek” and guru emailed his wife a heartfelt love letter, detailing and acknowledging every positive aspect of her personality, actions, and looks. When asked where these acknowledgments had come from, as she had never heard most of them before, he confessed rather sheepishly that he has always thought these kinds of things but just did not bother to “get them from his brain to his mouth.” Once convinced of the authenticity of these acknowledgments, Judith was so thrilled with them that almost as a joke, she suggested that he write these kinds of communications about twice a week, since he obviously needed the practice! The result? For the past four years, Judith has been receiving love letters from Bob every Monday and Thursday via email. Both husband and wife are clear that these acknowledgments have positively transformed their relationship.

Bob’s loving acknowledgments encouraged Judith W. Umlas to write The Power of Acknowledgment (IIL Publishing, New York), a compact book that illustrates the tremendous power everyone has to dramatically improve relationships – the simple act of acknowledgment.

When asked why she wrote this powerful little book, Judith said “To repair the world by improving relationships in every aspect of living. I have seen ‘the power of acknowledgment’ at work and throughout all parts of my life, because it is something that comes easily to me. I have also witnessed how many people can’t, don’t, or won’t do it – or don’t do it enough. Once they grasp the positive results it can produce, they can’t help but try it out and then immediately see the benefits: enhanced work productivity, better relationships and even improved health.”

Umlas has been a senior executive at International Institute for Learning (IIL) for the past 19 years, and was a producer/writer for CBS before that. As Senior Vice President, Learning Innovations at IIL, former Publisher of a newsletter for 50,000 project managers around the globe, and trainer of more than 10,000 people worldwide on the power of acknowledgment, she is seen as a master communicator. Her skills and poignant powers of observation led her to develop the seven clear, concise principles for acknowledging others in all walks of life. These skills, when exercised are guaranteed to make immediate and profound changes in the way readers interact with others. Reports of the instant effects on readers and those around them have poured in professionally and personally. To see such stories, visit Judith’s blog,

Log onto reader praise for positive results.

On Friday we celebrated our Valentine’s Day event. It was very cute. CJ and Jill and Sophie and Abbie and Ella and Alexis and Scotty came all dressed up. The other children looked their usual school-beautiful The children seemed to enjoyed the dancing.

During the week, we practiced a dance we created similar to what we see in the movies coming from the early eighteenth century. It was difficult for the kids to learn this probably because they had never seen anything like it. But all in all they did a good job. This kind of dancing actually gives the kids something to do on a dance floor besides wiggle and snake. Dancing is something we learn to do. It’s a social achievement.

We want to thank all the parents who were kind enough to bring a treat to share. It is always nice to put on a big spread and enjoy each others company for a short time. The treats that are left over are used the next week as prizes and special treats – nothing goes to waste.

Joseph and Rachel Go received our prize for the first dancing adult couple. They got a box of homemade candy compliments of the Garden School. We hope they enjoy their treat.

One of the fun things I saw was Mr. Austin approach Miss Emily and present her with a red rose and ask her to dance. She was beaming, and they danced for a little while to some of the old pop music.

The afternoon ended gracefully, and we are obliged to all our parents for attending.

When Mr. Knightly steps up to Emma and says, “That was poorly done; shame on you,” Mr. Knightly is stepping out of the door of his ethical architecture and offering Emma a big bowl of correction and admonition. It’s a gift to Emma that he hopes will allow her to see more clearly good and evil. It is the charity of “keeping one another on the road towards good.” Can you imagine a line like that written today?

Not only does a great portion of the world seem to have lost the ideals of correction and admonition, we seem also to have dispensed with ethical architecture altogether. We build a little pyre of sticks when someone does something horrendous to us or to someone we know, or even to society, and then we burn those sticks pretending the ashes are not ours.

Charles Krauthhammer is one of the exceptions to the modern world. Every time the President moves, Charles builds an ethical structure not unlike a Gothic Cathedral. He has the wisdom and knowledge that allow him to fully understand flaws and errors and the character to name it. In response, his critics busily build a series of little pyres and burn them down in secret, but they don’t dare step up to Charles’s door for a big bowl of correction and admonition.

But this wonderful development of character does not start from whim. I had an editor once who said, “Never admit you’re wrong.” Whoa. I thought at the time, “If I’m never wrong, then I’m never right.” If it’s about never being able to admit to wrong, then I can’t be a fully developed adult, because a fully developed adult admits to their wrongs.

The problem with being able to admit to wrong, and publicly, when the world all around is failing to ever admit to wrong, puts the admitting adult into a perpetual position of being the bad guy. Admit once, and you are always suspect to those who have never made a mistake. It’s almost laughable, but at the same time, it’s not funny, because this is the example we are giving to our children. Those who are willing and able to admit errors are deemed weak and hateful.

Children watch parents for examples of behavior. If parents never admit to their mistakes, children will learn they can’t make a mistake either. How often have we cried because we did something awful and then blamed it on everything and anything but ourselves. We love to make excuses, smooth over the incident with silence, and lash out at anyone offering correction and admonition.

And worse, try to be a Mr. Knightly in today’s world, and not only will you be ostracized, you will be spit on by anyone listening. If you said to someone, “That was poorly done; shame on you,” most retorts would attack you. “Weeeellll, you did this or that or you’re not perfect; I’ve seen you…” This kind of retort burns the pyre of the architecture of ethics.

Building an ethical architecture means exploring wisdom, gathering wisdom’s tools and being able to understand the lessons wisdom teaches. But one can’t explore wisdom without knowledge because you would have no path to wisdom. You can’t hope to approach wisdom without trying to understand what is good and what is not as two clearly defined paths. Also, understanding that gray areas pertain to that which is not important like material goods is a part of wisdom. Black and white areas apply to what is important like the intangibles of character, attributes of good habits like reliability, strength of purpose, determination, and the hatred of those things that pull man down.

In teaching children, building an ethical architecture begins with being able to winnow good from lesser behaviors. It is hard for someone unfamiliar with the two paths of good and not so good to direct the innocent. When there is no ethical architecture, or the idea of ethical architecture is thrown out the window, the situation reverts back to primitive man – out in a field without protection and without the shelter of thousands of years of ethical structures and lessons. There is no platform for instruction. There is no shelter of answers, no reason, no personal cost.

On the other hand, it is easy for the fully developed builder to stop lesser behaviors and teach because the adult knows that lesser behaviors will lead down the path away from knowledge and therefore wisdom. Simply not allowing impulsive, selfish, lazy and naughty behaviors EVER in the classroom will create a respect that by a well formed adult’s very presence will stop. When the goal is to show the child that good is good and lesser is lesser, the lesson is taught and the hope is that the child will begin to gather tools and supplies for his own ethical architecture so that he can escape the primitive field and live in a well ordered house.

The next step in teaching ethical architecture is in choosing. One chooses all day long. We choose our behavior with ourselves, our friends, with our employers and employees, with our families and with the strangers we meet. The goal here is in the habit of good choices so that we can store up more tools and more supplies. When the choice amounts to “what do I get from this behavior,” the architecture becomes flat line. The answer is nothing. The ethics of building stop. A diversion from self to others is the goal of instructing children. Think outside yourself, is the lesson to be taught by a wise and knowledgeable teacher.

“Judge, and you shall be judged.” With the ethical architect, that statement is not frightening. The ability to judge for oneself, because of the work of gaining knowledge and wisdom, what is good and what is not is simply not a frightening ideal. For the enlightened, the very idea of not being able to judge that which is good and that which is not is more frightening. For the developed not being allowed, by non builders and field dwellers, to call out in a loud and clear voice, what is good and what is not is even more frightening. To be trapped by a family or group of any kind from being able to offer correction and admonition is the modern prison of serfdom.

Judging behaviors is more difficult because there is something called intent. We are not always sure of someone’s intent, and even with children, the behavior can be poor, but the intent was not, and ferreting out just exactly what the child meant is not always easy. Again knowledge plays a great part here. Knowing a child well and being able to climb inside his youthful and delightful ethical architecture is part of the teaching job, but along with this one needs to be able to communicate well and have a desire to let go of self and become the nameless faceless advocate of the child. This too is part of wisdom.

Ethical architecture is the crown of the adult. The acquisition of tools and supplies – namely wisdom and knowledge, understanding, prudence, patience, humility, courage, and charity are the attributes of the developed man. Without these things, we might as well just go live in the open.

Just some pondering for a winter’s day.

This week is Valentine’s Week and this is what you should know:

Monday is a regular school day.

Tuesday is a perchance snow day. If Warrick or Vanderburgh Counties close school, we will be closed that day too. Pleas watch your weather channels.

Wednesday is not Miss Dayna’s Birthday. It is Friday, February 12.

Thursday is a regular school Day.

Friday is our Valentine Day Card Exchange. Children will need to bring at least 45 Valentines to school that are signed but not addressed. Children will spend the morning passing these out. It is a very fun time.

Friday is the party. The party begins at 3:00. All children need an attending adult. It is the children’s first dance. Children are welcome to dress up that day. Please bring a treat to share. School will dismiss about 4:00.

Please help your child identify countries on the big world map sent home three weeks ago. This is a contest. The child who can identify the most countries will win a prize.

This month is reading for real. Please help your child with letter sounds and word recognition. When working with children and handwriting please use one upper case letter for the child’s first letter of his name, and every letter after should be a lower case letter. Example: Judy, not JUDY.

Have a marvelous week.

So many parents have asked me over the years about feeding children in the evening. “I just don’t know what to feed him. Last night I gave him a Lean Cuisine and he vomited it up an hour later.” This is not a child friendly food. It’s a weight loss food, and not for kids.

But what do kids need after a long day? Well, like farmers, kids should have their biggest meals early because they will use a lot of calories playing. By noon, a child should have eaten most of what he is going to eat during the day. That’s why we insist on a big breakfast and a big lunch. Dinner is a social time, but many very young children simply can’t keep up with another big meal. So for the lighter eater, and that’s many many children, a dinner of fruit and veggies, good whole grain crackers of bread and a protein like a hard boiled egg or peanut butter or good cheese is all a child needs. Most children will eat more calories in a dinner like this than a big heavy adult dinner.

The one thing NOT to do is to give a child a mono meal. A mono meal is an egg on a dish; a hot dog on a dish; a slice of pizza on a dish; a sandwich on a dish in front of TV. This is a snack and not a meal. Snacking for dinner will encourage children to eat all evening. This kind of grazing will put on the pounds. A meal consists of at least three food components. Even if you serve a child in a six cup cupcake tin with every cup half filled with different things, the child is getting a little dinner – a variety of food.

Children are often tired at the end of a long napless day. They need to rest, and that includes their bodies digestion.

By serving children a cracker and cheese and fruit dinner, the bank won’t break. They don’t need a lot. Half a banana, half an apple, a half dozen crackers and two ounces of cheese is a meal. The alternates can be carrots, celery, raisins, melon, grapes and any canned fruit or vegetables a child likes. Toast a good piece of whole grain bread and make four little open face sandwiches with the cheese or peanut butter or cream cheese. Boston Brown Bread in a can is a wonder to some children. Slather it with cream cheese and add some fresh pineapple and grapes, and you have a nutritious little meal children can handle and will eat. The cost is nominal.

Enjoy dinner with something lighter. You’ll be glad you did.

Friday was a great and busy day. Normally, Friday is a very slow day, but Friday’s are picking up because kids know that Friday is Fun Day. In the morning, we had our theatre class. We told the story of Little Red Riding Hood, and then after the teachers had acted out the story, the children got their turns. It was very funny and very cute. We had a couple of props which made it lots of fun.

We had eggs and cheesy potatoes and fruit and vegetables for lunch. It was well received. Then in the afternoon, Mrs. St. Louis told a Bible Story – Daniel and the Lion’s Den, and then we drew lions. They were very cute.

At last we had our first weekly spelling bee. I was stunned by how well the children did. Miss Leigh only had to coach a little and the spelling came out like little songs. The winners were Jill Hawkes and Emily Juhl. They got big prizes and a big clapping ovation. When kindergartners can
spell three to five letter words and do it quickly and with consonant blends, you know you have a bulls-eye teacher. We are so proud of our little guys and so proud of Miss Leigh.

The day ended with a new treat the children liked very much – pizzelles. They are a thin, homemade cookie. The flavor was ground orange with orange icing. Next week: Chocolate for the party!