Sabrina Lewins

My mother, Sabrina Kathleen Lewins, born Kathleen Peters Moss, wrote and drew and painted and cooked. On this page I will gradually post some of her creative work and associated memories, to help make them available to friends and family.

Blume Stories

Between 2002 and 2004, Sabrina wrote and illustrated a series of stories about Blume, the blue knitted mouse at the Unitarian church in Cambridge. The stories featured scenes and characters from the Church, including the tiny church garden which Sabrina helped to renovate and make beautiful.

I remember Sabrina telling me that the Minister had asked her "Won't Blume come to life and walk around when the humans aren't looking?" and she told me that no, the point of Blume is that he is a real, limited mobility person, who brings value to his friends by his personality and what he says.

The stories were published in the Unitarian magazine.

  1. Someone New Appears
  2. Blume's Garden Surprise
  3. Special Flowers
  4. Blume's First Christmas
  5. An Extra Summer Day
  6. A Day at Wandlebury
  7. Blume's Special Cardigan
  8. Blume Visits a Friend
  9. Blume's Church Music
  10. The Mended Christmas
    11. Blume the blue mouse Garden of the Unitarian Church, Cambridge

    Sabrina's original drawings and paintings can be seen here.

    Poems

    Old Man and Birds

    An old man now, my rumpled clothes have bulging pockets
    of brown paper bags containing
    peanuts, seeds and crumbs.
    In the park, pigeons gather round me,
    sitting on my outstretched hands, my shoulders, my head.
    Pecking food I have placed there for them.

    I walk slowly, a king among minions,
    watched by solemn children and busy mothers,
    who throw crumbs to ducks. Surpised by my appearance they
    follow me with their eyes.

    An old man now, I shuffle along with my birdy friends,
    Grey city birds, not upper class folk I assure you,
    but glad of my company, as I of theirs.

    And would you wonder to know,
    that inside me lives yet that dreaming boy
    who lay in summer long ago
    in a field so sweet with scents and swaying grasses,
    That even the cries of skylarks high above, wheeling round and round in the sky
    Did not dissuade him from thinking this was heaven.

    © Sabrina Lewins, 2003

    Recipes

    This section is a bit of a miscellany, of recipes that Sabrina had written out and I'd like to preserve them / make them available.

    Ye Old New England Indian Pudding (House of Seven Gables 1954)

    Sabrina worked at the historic House of Seven Gables in the 1950s, and from the notes on the card, I guess this must have been a dish they served there.

    I have not tried this myself - and I don't recall Sabrina ever serving it to the family. I'm unsure how the different quantities of water work, but from another version of the recipe online, I think that the idea may be to start by mixing the listed ingredients together and then add 2 more cups hot water after, to help mix the ingredients smoothly? If you try it, please let me know how you get on!

    Mix together

    • 1/4 cup corn meal
    • 1/4 cup cold water - add
    • 3/4 cup boiling water
    • 3 eggs beaten light
    • 1/4 cup sugar
    • 1/3 cup molasses
    • 1/2 tsp ginger>
    • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
    • 1/4 tsp salt

    Mix together and add 2 cups hot water. Cook in double boiler 20 minutes - put in greased baking dish and bake in 300 degree oven for 2 hours.

    At end of first hour add 3/4 cups milk & stir several times during the second hour. This will keep for as long as 2 weeks in the refrigerator. Heat and use when needed.

    My Quick Hollandaise

    Everyone likes this and it's so easy!

    • 2 tbsp. mayonnaise
    • 2 tbsp. sour cream
    • 1 teas. lemon juice
    • 1 tbsp. melted butter
    • paprika if desired

    Mix mayonnaise, sour cream and lemon juice. Add melted butter and blend well. add paprika.

    Heat if desired, or it may be served cold.

    Spinach and Bean Casserole

    Apparently Sabrina got this recipe from me in 2007 but I don't remember where I got it from!

    • 1/2 lb cooked black eyed beans + liquid
    • 1 onion, chopped
    • 1 red, 1 green pepper, chopped
    • 4 tomatoes, chopped
    • 2 tbsp. tomato puree
    • 1 tsp. cinnamon
    • 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
    • 1 lb spinach, chopped
    • oil, salt, pepper

    Fry onions in oil until transparent. Add peppers & cook until soft.

    Add tomatoes, tomato paste, cinnamon & nutmeg. Stir well.

    Add beans, salt & pepper. Stir. Put spinach on top. Add bean liquid & stew 20 minutes.