Flame, Glass and Ink are Poems, essays, and reading notes by Stefania Joori Suh

Category: Miscellany

Anything that’s on my mind.

  • Sunday Episode – Avonlea Tunes

    Little ones’ sweet days (Click here for what they did.)

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    It’s still cold here in the town of Avonlea with the North Wind reigning his realm of winter. The snow has stopped falling since the last Tuesday, but the cold temperature still befalls the residents of Avonlea. However, the spirits of the little ones are all the more upbeat with their seemingly nonstop frolics and curious minds about what goes around them everyday.

    Yesterday after attending their 9:00 AM Sunday mass in the Church of St. Mary, the little ones gathered again at Mrs. Lompstrompf’s cafe to confabulate with one another with sweets and refreshments. It was a reward for their attending the early morning mass despite the frigid temperature added by frightfully pungent wind slapping he little faces without mercy as they had marched forth to the church. What brave souls they were! That’s why Jesus told that we should be like children to inherit the kingdom of heaven.

    So this was how they spent yesterday in Avonlea. However simple the story might be, it’s recorded in their chapters of life. That’s what a life is. The meaning of life depends upon whether or not we fulfill the demands placed upon our daily tasks. The little ones seem to know it. What about you, dear reader?

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  • The Arrival of the Beaver

    Calico Times (Click here to read the article.)

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    At the outset of the new year, which is also Year of Dog, a new family lands at Littleton Airport in the vicinity of Avonlea with their new hopes and aspirations. The Calico Times, which is the one and only newspaper in Avonlea, welcomes the new family wholeheartedly as new residents of Avonlea with a heartwarming report of their arrival.

    Meet the Beaver from England: the household is headed by Paul Beaver, an able mechanic with amazing technical dexterity and a heart of gold. Brenda Beaver, his better half, is a full-time homemaker, administering the domestic affairs while her husband is working outside the home for the family. In fact, Mrs. Beaver regards housekeeping as a formidable domain of work, contrary to the received idea of the work as drudgery or menial labor degraded by women nowadays. Betty and Wille are their adorable and bright children. They have inherited the good qualities from their parents but are by no means spoiled, thanks to the child rearing balanced with loving care and discipline.

    So the new family will start their life anew in a new land with auspicious thinking and go-aheaditiveness. Also, they are happy to reunite with their good friends, the Collie from Scotland.  In fact, the Beaver will stay a week at the Collie until they find a new abode in the town. Let’s make good wishes for the Beaver!

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  • At the cafe on a New Year’s Day

    NEws Article about the upgraded cafe   (Click here for the cafe scenes)

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    Benjamin Franklin in his Autobiography advises his reader for the New Year to resolve to perform what he ought and perform without fail what he resolves. Mrs. Lompstrompf’s bakery whose official business name is “Rilakuma Cafe” is accordingly decorated anew with a variety of new snacks at affordable prices to accommodate the little ones’ pocket money. How thoughtful and generous the proprietor is! There is seldom anyone like Mrs. Lompstrompf in these days.

    So after wishing Happy New Year to their families and friends, the little ones gather in their elbow room in Avonlea. What is better than uplifting your spirits with sweets and refreshments in a wintry afternoon?

    The little ones are busy talking about their new year’s resolutions and plans among themselves, and listening to them makes anyone smile at their innocent wishes and simple hopes for the future, which is a prerogative of the young at heart.

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  • Episode VI – Ramen soup for the soul

    Ramen night   (Click here for the ramen dinner)

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    It’s a frightfully cold night tonight; so cold that it will freeze your toes out if you forget to wear your socks or have holes in your shoes. Boreas. god of the North wind in collaboration with the White Witch are at their zenith to in this time of the year and orchestrate the symphony of arctic winter in Avonlea, where the little residents gather together at home to warm their bodies and jettison their sprites from frigid cold.

    Of all kinds of soup that can provide both delicacy and warm to the body and the soul of the Avonlea residents, they have chosen Ramen unanimously because (1) you can cook it in 10 minutes by putting the ramen noodle in the boiling water with ready-made seasonings in it; (2) there is a variety of flavors you can choose, such as vegetable, beef, chicken, and shrimp; (3) you can mix it with lots of creative additions, such as dumplings, battered eggs, cheese, minced scallops, tempura, fried shrimps, or tofu to your liking; and (4) a package of instant ramen noodle is pleasingly inexpensive. Hence, it is nicknamed – somewhat endearingly- “a poor soul’s victual” in some Far Eastern countries, such as Korea and Japan.

    So here the repast of ramen noodle soup for the family. Tom is especially good at cooking a delicious bowl of the noodle soup for his friend Fred and himself.  The night is still young and  cold, but their home is warm and cozy. It seems that “God is in his heaven, and all’s well with this world.”

  • Episode V: Spaghetti Evening

    A Spaghetti Dinner  (Click here, and it will take you to the House where you can read the dinner story with pictures of the characters.)

    PROLOGUE

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    Last thursday was a spaghetti evening at Mrs. Lompstrompf’s house, where Sally and Mathilda lodged. Sally was still recovering from a serious case of abscess on her neck due to her weak immune system for being anemic. The medication Dr. Humbug had prescribed to  her was Ajaxcillin/TMP 800/169 MG TB, which was to be taken twice per day. It’s an antibiotic, and Sally took 2 tablets a day religiously with her hands supplicant for a quick healing of the wound. The effect of the medication dovetailed with its name derived from Ajax the Great, a towering figure and great warrior of valor and strength fighting alongside Achilles and other famous Greeks against Trojans. One portant tablet would make Sally dizzy and her stomach feel light. No feeling of hunger would be shed over her. In a way, Sally thought this could be an opportunity to  lose some weight.

    But Sally was prabably not meant to be thin because she could not resist the wonderful aroma of Mrs. Lompstromfp’s spaghetti. Mrs. Lompstrompf had receipts from her old Grandmother in Norway, the land of fjords and the Norse gods and goddesses, where her relatives were still thriving on their homemade dairy products.  Her spaghetti surpassed the most authentically Italian made one in flavor, texture, and contents filled with genuine affection for cooking and caring for whoever would taste her culinary blessing.

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    So Sally gladly joined the dinner table with Mrs. Lompstrompf and partook in a convivial conversation. She talked about her Web log activities, how much she liked writing anything that came to her mind, such as poetry, novellas, and book reviews although the works published were not widely recognized. Upon hearing this from Sally, the good old Norwegian lady gently encouraged Sally’s somewhat downcast spirit by saying, “Sally, but your writings are all original, written bottomless from the bottom of your mind. And besides, you are writing in a language that is foreign to you when all these other people write in their own tongues. ast out literary, grammatical, and syntactical inhibition when you write. Be like Hercules whose confidence equals that of gods and goddess.”

    With this inspiring word of advice and encouragement from the saintly lady, Sally suddenly felt a rush of appetite that had been quelled by the antibiotic agents, thus joyously enjoyed the delicious spaghetti. Anything coming from Mrs. Lompstrompf was opposite to deceit, flattery, and lie. She talked only truth like an oracle at Delphi. Surely, the spaghetti tasted better than ambrosia or nectar.

    fa8e830c9e8170c16507cc49b7b0aeb7And what about Mathilda, another boarder? She was in her melancholic mood again, so she stayed in her room. It’s not that she felt uncomfortable with both of the ladies but that it was her nature to be solitary once in a while. She was by  the way a writer like Sally. Both Sally and Mathilda kept their traveler’s notebooks in which  they wrote their journals and drafted what they would post on their Web logs.

    So it was a nice warm Thursday evening dinner. Sally’s spirit was emboldened by Mrs. Lompstompf’s truthful revelation, and her wound on the neck seemed to heal considerably. Sometimes, everyone needs good food for the mind and the body because as the ancient Greeks said, “Mens sana in corpore sano.” (A sound mind dwells in a healthy body.)

     

  • Episode IV: Lunch at Rainbow Bakery

    Lunch at Rainbow Bakery (Click here.)

    73eea028ace6869003bb394a78d4e400It’s after a wintry weekend, and the boys of Avonlea met together at Rainbow Bakery for lunch. It’s their elbow room where they can sit down with a set of delicious food, always freshly cooked on premise by Mrs. Lompstrompf according to her old world recipes from her grandmother in Norway and enjoy their time there as long as they like. In terms of the food, Anika, Mrs. Lompstrompf’s only granddaughter who can speak both Norwegian and English thanks to her grandmother’s bilingual teaching since she was a toddler, always adds a great touch of many inventive flavors to the food. In fact, were it not for Anika’s delightful fusion of diverse flavors from all over the world, the little ones would not make Rainbow Bakery their yummy den.

    There was also Sally at the bakery after a visit to her doctor’s office on Kingsbridge Avenue early this morning.  Sally had been suffering from an unfortunate case of abscess on her neck. It gathered and burst 5 days ago, which lessened the pain considerably. She thought that there would be no need to see a doctor for such because she could be healed of as time would go by, but her ma and pa told her to see to a medical provider’s help. So Sally, being always a good girl with full of humanity and great filial duties, hearkened to her parents’ advice and took a trip to the office by tram.  Sally endured the pain of treatment with ladylike dignity, got her prescription from the doctor, and decided to go to Rainbow Bakery to rest herself with the food prepared by her aunt Mathilda to brighten up her weary soul and weakened body. Now she felt much better and relieved, thanks much to the hearty food and the ever gentle kindness of  Mrs. Lompstrumpf (“Grandma” as Sally endearingly refers to and calls her) and vivacious Anika’s personality.  Grandma cheered up Sally with a mug of hot peppermint tea she made especially for the poor girl.

    The lunch at Rainbow Bakery is always pleasant, and even a total stranger would feel included just by sitting there with a cup of coffee and a donut. There is no time limit for how long one can stay there regardless of the cost of food from the menu; you can buy just one croissant and sit there until you are bored with sitting. That’s why the little ones, Sally, and others regard the bakery as their elbow room.