Calgary’s Bishop Frederick Henry.

If you’re not up on your Canadian daily news, here’s a headline for you. Canadian Parliament government is voting today on the issue of legalizing gay marriages, and it looks like it’s going to pass. This will make our neighbors to the north one of just three nations in the world to give same-sex couples the same rights as heterosexual couples.

I’m not going to dive into that today, though. Because as I was reading the article, I was too distracted by the statements of Roman Catholic Bishop Frederick Henry. He says that “biological parents usually protect and provide for their children more effectively than non-biological ones.“

Wow, Bishop. Just when I think the outdated, patriarchal, self-righteous judgments can’t get any more repulsive, you Catholics surprise me again. Let me tell you something, Freddy. I was raised alongside three adopted siblings – children who have gone through their whole lives with no inkling of what a biological relationship is like, and these kids were as well-provided for, well-protected and well-loved as any other child in the world. In Bishop Fred’s zeal to push his only-straight-people-can-be-good-parents message, he (knowingly or unknowingly) slapped every person in the face who has sacrificed their time, money, hopes, energy and love by bringing a child into their family – children who otherwise wouldn’t have had a family. In fact, at this very moment in the U.S., the Catholic church is busy lobbying to outlaw gay couples who want to adopt. They apparently believe that a loving couple of the same sex is, for a child, a fate worse than having no parents. Unbelievable, that we put up with this kind level of intolerance.

I’m fed up with the Catholic church. But that’s not all… I’m fed up with the thousands of silent people who show up and give their money every week, but won’t wake up long enough to realize what’s going on behind the Father’s thin, sanctimonious smile. These guys make their living telling people how to run their marriages, run their reproductive systems, how to vote, how to avoid Hell… all supposedly direct orders from an all-loving, “forgiving” God.
For centuries, these men have shown us that their archaic teachings have no place in a society that strives for love and inclusiveness… and I think it’s about time somebody stood up and kicked these guys off their velvet thrones.

Being that it’s thick as tar, I elected to serve ours in tiny, 2 inch-high tea cups.

It was 104˚ in the shade the other day. Certainly no time for any sane person to think about hot chocolate, yet that’s exactly what happened a while back when I discovered a recipe for Mexican drinking chocolate. I’d heard about it during some we’ve-discovered-previously-unknown-Mayan-ruins show on the Discovery Channel said it was used as medicine back then.

But last month while grocery shopping, Melis brought home a bar of 99% cacao, and I was instantly intrigued at the possibilities. Most bitter baking chocolate you’ve ever laid your tongue on, but nothing is better when it’s used properly. Here’s the recipe for a 5-serving batch of the Mexican drinking chocolate – guard it with your life.

BUY IT:
• 4 ounces Scharffen Berger 99% unsweetened chocolate, chopped.
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional, but just try it!)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground chili pepper (again, optional. Don’t be a wimp!)

MAKE IT:
1. In a saucepan, warm the milk until it’s hot to the touch.
2. Add chopped chocolate and sugar, whisking until well blended.
3. Add cinnamon, vanilla and chili powder – whisk thoroughly. Don’t boil.

After a long month, Melissa’s job in upper Michigan is complete, and a very weary girl is back home where she belongs. From what I can tell, the project was a huge success, though getting information out of her is a little difficult – she spent the whole afternoon doing some well deserved napping…

While she was in slumberland, however, I managed to dig up some photos of the job site off the digital camera she took along. Out of respect for the privacy of the client, I won’t include any interior shots of their home, but trust me – after three years of planning and a month on location, she and her coworkers put together an incredible vacation home.
As usual, the pictures grow when you click.

Melissa played copilot in the clients’ private jet during the trip from Chicago to Michigan.

Aerial view of the job site from the cockpit.

The bay from the rear porch.