Annette's Place

Blue

2009-10-16T15:46:00.003-05:00

STORY ONE:

I found out last night that a woman died. A woman not too much older than I am. The family belongs to my church. This is not a eulogy.

Maureen's daughter and my daughter played soccer together for a season. The other girl's dad coached the team. She had divorced and her ex-husband had custody of the kids. She still came to all the practices and games. She was sociable, friendly, and you could tell she was a caring person in many ways. Her oldest son committed suicide a few years ago, having not talked to her in several years. The anniversary of that sad day was a couple of weeks ago. That's also the last time anyone talked to her. The police were finally called to open the home and they found her body, decomposing. A disaster of a life, now ended with no chance to change.

STORY TWO:

My friend Evelyn has a brain tumor. I just got the news today. She doesn't understand why I love her so much. She's getting close to 90 years old. She's a steamroller. She has her own opinions and when she's right, or believes she is right anyway, she will argue with you and give you the reasons why you should agree! She is the closest thing I have to a communist friend. I love her for that too. It makes her sad that she can't change the world. She makes me want to fight hard for the poor and forgotten in the world. Will she have to have chemo? Will the chemo give her any extra time? And, will it be time that she can use?

STORY THREE:

My dad has leukemia. He's had it for going on 20 years. They told him it was a slow moving kind (around 20 years or so before anything would have to be done) and something else would likely kill him first, since he's been diabetic for years, plus has some heart issues and more.

Well doctors, it's been almost 20 years now. He's still among the living, but crepitation has my dad in it's sights. His hip is a mess, and his other joints aren't doing too hot either. This kept him from any meaningful rehab after his heart surgery. Each time I see him I am so affected by his weakness which seems to get worse by the month. Now the oncologist needs to see him about his blood counts which are changing.

STORY FOUR:

I left work today feeling awful. Like somebody beat me up. The sky mirrored my mood. It was completely overcast with autumn chill and damp in the air.

The wait at the bus stop was longer than usual. Aboard the bus I did my best not to start crying. Denzel in the whipping scene in "Glory" crossed my mind.

Once in my car, I turned on the radio and listened to commercials to distract myself. I found myself driving up the steep ramp from Front Street to the Paseo Bridge. The angle of the car forced my gaze upward. The smallest patch of blue sky was visible right in front of me. I looked around for more blue. Nothing. Completely overcast. But this tiny little piece of blue sky suddenly became my fast friend. I smiled. I thought of the overcast sky and the tiny patch of blue.

I thought of hard times, and tiny slivers of hope.

12 on the 12th

2009-02-13T19:06:00.005-06:00

It's that time again. 12 random pictures on the 12th of the month.

Just a snapshot of life on the 12th.

Kids driving off on the way to school.

Steve's classical guitar music.

John's empty desk at home.

Sunrise

Doctor's lobby

Martha Lafite Thompson Nature Sanctuary

My gear for birding.

My shoes for getting muddy

Jordan got a handmade rose from Chris.

Made from colored duct tape. Very cool.

Steve with a 2-day old driver's license.

This is a cool piece of glass.

My m-i-l has a similar one,

so when I saw this at a garage sale

about 15 years ago, I immediately bought it.

Fireball

12 on the 12th

2009-01-13T05:15:00.010-06:00

Today is the 12th of the month. The object of this challenge is to take 12 pictures of your everyday life.

#1 - 6:00 am, dinner in the crock-pot. Chicken with sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, olives. (unfortunately the olives made the chicken way too salty, not my favorite new recipe).

#2 - 7:00 am, just got dropped off downtown. There goes my bus! BRRRRR.

#3 - 8:00 a.m. at work. This is one of my Christmas presents from John. A Dunder Mifflin paper shredder. It is awesome! I love it.

#4 - 9:45 a.m. - I put a Linkin Park sticker on my cube wall. Part of a Christmas L.P. package from Steven!

#5 - 4:50 p.m. - BRRRR - waiting for the bus to take me home!

#6 - 6:30 p.m. - We finished dinner and Fireball takes over a random warmed-up chair.

#7 - 6:35 p.m. - Steve doing his thing.

#8 - 6:35 p.m. - Steve's IPOD

#9 - 7:40 p.m. - John back from the parents Model U.N. meeting, getting info about the trip to Chicago.

#10 - 8:00 p.m. Watching 24

#11 - Jordan skipped watching 24. This is really strange because she is the biggest fan. She is mad that Tony is alive. Yes, they resurrected him.

#12 - I organized my sock drawer today. Tossed all the "holy" socks.

Tune in again next month for more excitement!

What a difference two weeks make.

2009-01-10T12:33:00.002-06:00

From Tuesday January 6th.
I have 2 choices when taking the bus home from work each weekday. The early bus and the late bus. Keep in mind these are only separated by a scant 28 minutes. So early and late could more accurately be called first and second. Today on my four block walk to catch my late bus I glanced around at the usual buildings and parking structures, discovering to my amazement the bricks were truly aglow. The sun, not fully set, was washing the air of my walk with happy orange-red rays. I remembered a similar walk, just three weeks back, that was marred by frigid temperatures and darkness. It may be just as cold today, but oh how the setting sun-glow warmed my spirit.

Common Goldeneye

2008-12-26T18:21:00.002-06:00

Went to the lake today looking for a Snowy Owl that's been sighted around the dam. No luck (didn't really have high hopes). Did get a nice couple of pictures of the common goldeneye.

Fireball at the Vet

2008-12-22T13:27:00.003-06:00

Took Fireball to the vet this morning. He howled in his crate the entire drive. Then when we got there, he tried to shove his way back into the crate, and finally hid himself in my coat. It was cute. He was really good though. He got 2 shots today and a checkup and all is well. He is in tip top shape for a 10 year old kitty.

On the way home? He did not make a peep!!! I guess he knew that wherever we were headed, it couldn't be any worse than the vet!

Steller's Jay

2008-12-20T17:12:00.002-06:00

I started birding in 2007. Unfortunately I missed a HUGE birding opportunity on our road trip of 2006. However, today when I was browsing my pictures I discovered a new lifer I didn't know I had!! I mean, I took the picture of the bird, because it was pretty. But here is my terrible picture of this cool jay!!

syymphony and sickness...

2008-12-08T08:34:00.004-06:00

My friend Darleen and I, and a few other friends, went to the symphony Saturday night for the Christmas concert. It was pretty good. A couple of parts made me sleepy. At the end they had a fun sing-a-long. That was awesome! They did some of Handel's Messiah too which was very cool. Here's a picture.

In other news, the kids went to a tournament this weekend and Steve came home sick. So, I'm staying home today as he gets better. He had some toast for breakfast, so hopefully he'll be able to go back to school tomorrow. He already missed Thursday and Friday because of the tourney, so one more day away is NOT good at this point.

Thanksgiving Day

2008-11-29T14:09:00.002-06:00

I am thankful for my husband and children. I am thankful to live in this country where I have so much freedom. I can move around town or the entire country as I wish. I can earn money and save it and spend it. I can attend any church I want to. I can kneel down and pray on a street corner if I choose and won't get arrested. I can argue for, and against, politicians and presidents. I can trash talk. I can praise. I can learn. I can vote for representation in the government. I can listen to music of any kind should I choose to do so. I can speak up, or keep quiet. I can talk to strangers. I am thankful that our nation allows diversity of values, thought and lifestyle. Only by allowing freedom to all can we preserve our own.

Squaw Creek - and a lifer

2008-11-29T13:54:00.002-06:00

I enjoyed a few hours driving around Squaw Creek yesterday. I took load of pictures. Here are five. I chalked up one lifer for the day. (that means the first time I ever saw a particular bird). That bird was the Sandhill Crane. Click the pictures to enlarge if you like.

This is the sky. See all the dots? Those are snow geese flying into the refuge. They just kept coming, and coming, and coming. It was a constant flow for the over an hour.

This is a Short-billed Dowitcher.

This is a Sandhill Crane.

This is a Northern Shoveler.

This is a Bald Eagle. The estimate is there are around 60 on the refuge right now. I saw at least 30 myself.

Hallway talks

2008-11-18T14:21:00.000-06:00

Seems like about once a week when me and the kids head to bed around the same time, we end up standing in the hall talking, laughing, joking, singing and otherwise spending quality mom-teen time. These hallway moments are so fleeting, 10 minutes maybe. But they are precious to me.

Not your typical Linkin Park/Green Day fan

2008-11-18T14:20:00.000-06:00

Does our taste in music say anything about us? Is it incongruous that I am wearing a nice corporate suit today and have my Ipod tuned to Linkin Park? I don’t know. I guess we are all unique and this is one of the crazy little things about me, one of the better things about me.

Here are some of my favorite lines from LP songs

“every step that I take is another mistake to you”

“you live what you’ve learned”

“sick of the dark ways we march to the drumming”

“amen”

“your time is borrowed, your time has come to be replaced”

“let me apologize for what I’m about to say”

“the only thing that’s worse than one is none”

“if you’re asking me I want you to know, when my time comes, forget the wrong that I’ve done, help me leave behind some reasons to be missed”

I grew up learning to love music from a young age, but more than just hymns and classical. I learned to love and appreciate almost all music. To my parents, my music was just too loud and too objectionable I guess. I feel like this was a wedge between us. A part of my life they were not interested in, although it meant a lot to me. I guess it’s made me much more sensitive to how my own teens feel, and not just regarding music, but what they think about many things. I want to be able to relate, talk, share, and appreciate our differences. I think over the past years I’ve been able to do that for the most part.

The Lake

2008-11-18T14:19:00.001-06:00

I worked overtime all weekend, but left at noon Sunday and Jordan and I headed up to the lake to enjoy the sun. We stood on the shore listening to the waves coming in. We closed our eyes and imagined ourselves in Florida on a sunny beach, instead of in the Midwest on a chilly day in autumn. Lovely. *sigh*.

A New Day for Hope

2008-11-05T13:06:00.002-06:00

I read the transcript of Obama's speech today at lunch. Here's a small exerpt that brought tears to my eyes.

"This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon
Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons -- because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America -- the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.

And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.

Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves -- if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.

This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.

Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America. "

Playing catch-up and I now have one Schrute Buck

2008-10-12T21:47:00.004-05:00

It's been a busy couple of months around here with school starting. Dad got broad-sided and was pretty shook up, hurt a little bit. The minivan was totalled, so they replaced it with something that will pull the camper a little better. I'm just glad everyone was okay.

Amelia turned one last week and it was fun to see her eat her spaghetti dinner. She's a smart little girl and has some good parents.

I've been getting out and birding a lot this fall with migration going on. It's been fun. Since I'm a pretty new bird enthusiast, I get a lot of LIFERS. This fall my lifers have been Swamp Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, Palm Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler to name a few. (if you aren't a birder, a lifer means the first time you ever saw a particular bird). I've been taking loads of pictures. Here are just a couple.

This is the Black-throated Green Warbler.

This is the Fox Sparrow.

Johnny took me to watch the sunset this week. We also got to try the irish pub menu which was yummy. I had fish and chips and john had bangers and mash. All delicious. (we shared of course).

My new toy: A negative scanner/converter. It's built for 35mm film, but I've been sliding 110 negatives through it anyway and getting 'okay' results. Here are some oldies pictures.

1978 approximately. ME! Check out that outfit and those bangs! Wow!

1972 approx. I'm on the far right. Bea is right next to me in the back, taking a sip . Someone donated a bunch of 50's style party dresses to the thrift store and mom let us girls dress up before they took them in. It was so fun.
My mountain pic. 1979. Not the first time we went to Rocky Mountain National Park, but the first time I, as a teen, did my own hiking. In this one, I took the Fern Lake trail, about a six hour hike which I didn't realize when I left that morning on the Bear Lake shuttle bus. This picture was taken right before the trail takes a horseshoe turn and starts heading downhill. Mom takes painting classes, and she copied this picture for me. It's hanging in my craft room. Anyway, a moment I'll never forget and I'm glad it's digital now!
This one's from 1980. I'm on the right, mom in the middle, Bea on your left. Don'tcha just love my hat????Again at Rocky Mtn Natl Park.

Okay, that's all for now.

Oh, wait....I've been watching a ton of "The Office" lately. Thanks to Jordan we own season 4 now. The best show ever. I have One Schrute Buck too. See below:

nothing much

2008-09-06T18:06:00.002-05:00

It's been a week since Labor Day and I keep thinking of things I want to blog about but my computer is far, far away. Well here are some random Netski doings.

The Friday before Labor Day, Aug 30th, took the day off. John was returning from 2 weeks in Austin (ugh, again...). I actually enjoyed a wonderful day of cleaning. Yes, sometimes I enjoy cleaning. WEIRD. Picked John up at the airport around 4:30 with the kids and we were very, very happy to have him home again. The weekend of Labor Day was nothing special, just a nice relaxing 3 day weekend. I had aspirations of bird watching but decided I'd rather just spend time with the family. Sunday before L.D. we had a nice party to go to at some friends. Monday we just relaxed.

Back to work on Tuesday, I continued with my 5-day review that would determine whether I got released from the training section. Wednesday was the final day of that review and yes, I did pass this review and got released. Thursday was moving day and Friday was my first full day in the new module. I have a window seat and I absolutely adore that.

Today, Saturday, has been fun. I am still on a high from finishing completely with training. I brought in all the bird feeder equipment and cleaned it, getting ready for the winter bird season. I think I need to get a heater for the bird bath. This afternoon some of us girls met up at a quaint little wine shop and participated in the tasting. That was quite nice.

In other news, dad got in a wreck Thursday evening and the minivan is totalled. He's okay, just sore and a bit banged up, but nothing broken thank goodness. I plan on visiting tomorrow.

I guess that's about it. Oh, yesterday while waiting for the bus, a guy drove by with his windows down, and he had "What I've Done" by Linkin Park blaring out his windows. I almost ran over to his car to give him a thumbs up sign, but then I rightly second guessed that impulse. He drove around the block again trying to get into the parking garage and the song was still going. That was nice.

He's Sixteen Now

2008-08-20T19:39:00.002-05:00

Some STAYcation pictures

2008-08-20T18:32:00.006-05:00

NELSON SCULPTURE GARDEN

NELSON SCULPTURE GARDEN
NELSON SCULPTURE GARDEN
NELSON SCULPTURE GARDEN
NELSON SCULPTURE GARDEN
NELSON ART MUSEUM
NELSON ART MUSEUM
NELSON ART MUSEUM

WWI MUSEUM

WWI MUSEUM
WWI MUSEUM
WWI MUSEUM
WWI MUSEUM

AT THE ZOO - my best shot. She was obviously posing for me.

AT THE ZOO - can you tell we got soaking wet? It rained the entire time, but it was still a lot of fun.

One is the Loneliest

2008-08-19T14:02:00.003-05:00

Last night, our first night without John for another two weeks. At least we have each other. Poor Johnny just has Frank.

Being back at work after a week off stinks. Is there some way I can have a permanent vacation AND get paid at the same time? (something legal...)

We cleaned out the refrigerator, since Tuesday is trash day. Ate leftover and threw out some things that were spoiled. I had some blackberries in the fridge for a couple of weeks and I think they had begun the fermentation process, a distinct alcoholic odor came from that bowl!

Well, with the fridge cleaned out, the dishes done and the bathrooms clean, we sat down to watch a movie, "Tootsie" from the 80s. I still can't believe Dustin Hoffman didn't get best actor for that. He was just amazing. It was funny, just what I needed.

Today was the first day of school and I took the annual picture. I also took a few as the car drove away with my two teens in it. Weird. Jordan's last year of high school, Steve's first at the high school building. But their last year together.

I hope this coming year is as happy as the last one
I hope Jordan gets straight A's
I hope Steve brings the house down with his improv
I hope that life is good to them.

Linkin Park

2008-08-17T17:17:00.002-05:00

Linkin Park was the highlight of our stay at home vacation last week. Wednesday night we headed out to Sandstone. Okay let me rephrase that..."Capitol Federal Park at Sandstone", previously called "Verizon Wireless Amphitheater" previously called

SANDSTONE. (way back to the olden days kids) Thank God it's gotten it's real name back.

We had seats out of the mosh pit ruckus which was good. Body surfing has become too dangerous. Jordan on the other hand ventured out into the pit following a couple of friends. Let's just say the mosh pit made an impression on her.

What is my favorite LP song? Papercut. But I love every single song. The set list was just perfect.

what i did last summer (last week)....

2008-08-17T14:48:00.003-05:00

It's Sunday evening and summer at our house is drawing to a close. School starts next week and it will be strange having both the kids in high school. We did have a nice staycation though. Here's a recap of our week. I'll try to get in some pictures later on.

Monday: Plaza, Barnes and Noble, Winstead's for lunch. Just relaxing.
Tuesday: Nelson in the daytime, Fiddler on the Roof in the nighttime.
Wednesday: WW1 museum in the daytime, LINKIN PARK at night!!!
Thursday: Zoo in the rain. It was fun, but wet.
Friday: Truman Library.
Saturday: Computer shopping, wiping hard drives on old computer, reinstalling software, setting up new programs. UGH. A stressful day.
Sunday: Back to the routine, laundry, etc...

P.S. I am really getting tired of hearing about STAYCATIONs. It has been all the rage in the media with the high price of gasoline, so you hear it all the time. But hey, that's what it was.

Senior Picture taking

2008-07-28T19:04:00.003-05:00

There are about 35 photos in all. Jordan got her senior yearbook picture and her cap and gown picture taken at school. Then we drove around town taking more pictures for the official picture.

My favorites?
9, 19, 25, 35, and 02. What's your favorite?

summertime lemonade

2008-07-25T15:37:00.003-05:00

take a can of frozen lemonade, add a beer or two, and vodka to taste.

and, as this was being discussed, the comment was made "if you have nowhere to go, it's okay to drink this..."

Do I have anywhere to go? Am I going nowhere? Hmmmm. I guess we all wonder if we're going nowhere, approaching dead-ends, or contributing to anything or anybody. I guess it's a sign of our self-absorption that we even have the time to consider this question.

I plan to keep looking outward, keep my focus as much on others as possible, and keep sipping my lemonade.

July so far

2008-07-20T05:54:00.002-05:00

We had an enjoyable July 4th, visited lots of family. We closed out July 4th watching the fireworks at the local amusement park. July 5th John saved Jordan and her boyfriend from getting a citation for shooting off leftovers. Just in the nick of time! Jordan and I made the first college visit last week. It was quite the adventure. In other news, we've had a stray child at our home for much of the summer. Good news is that his parents have gotten into a transitional housing program. It is a very strict program, but hopefully they can complete the 90 days .

Mean Girls

2008-07-01T16:32:00.002-05:00

Dedicated to the Bible reader on the bus who "hmmph"'d at me Monday.

The bus is crowded. The bus is noisy. The bus stops suddenly, starts chokingly, and sways to boot. What little pleasure I have on the bus is usually attributed to nice folks who smile when we are in "standing room only" mode, the men who offer up seats to the ladies, the ability to play Tetris on my cell phone.

And once in awhile, perhaps one day out of five, I strike up conversation with a stranger or new acquaintance.

On the day in question I squeezed myself into a spot between two large ladies. "Donna" was on this four-seater bench too, but we were separated by above-mentioned Bible reader. Ms. Bible Reader was reading around Psalms 31. I was thinking of saying something to her, since my very favorite Psalm happens to be #33. But, before the words could get out she had flipped over to Proverbs. About three minutes later she flipped over to Song of Solomon. Moments later, Isaiah.

Curious. I guess it wasn't what you call in-depth reading. More like browsing, or perhaps window shopping. (Verse shopping?).

Anyway, Donna caught my attention and I asked how she enjoyed her Friday off. She replied in kind. (We were talking behind Ms. Bible Reader's head which was leaned forward to read).

We hadn't gotten more than two pleasantries exchanged, when Ms. Bible Reader let out a loud, annoyed-sounding, HARUMPH. She also used her body language to convey how much our conversation annoyed her. I guess we were disturbing her "verse shopping".

So, Donna and I, being the nice people we are (you know.... Golden Rule followers) did not return tit for tat, but sat patiently through the remaining few minutes of the ride. As we walked to our building together we had the chance to vent.

Usually when I spend time Bible reading, I am inspired, thoughtful, calm. I can't remember a single time in my entire life when Bible reading actually made me grumpy!

Some Birds and Flowers of June

2008-06-25T08:33:00.008-05:00

Just wanted to share some nice nature with you.

This guy is a little Chipping Sparrow. I built a brush pile in the backyard, and I think he is living in there. He actually came to our finch feeder last night, nibbled a bit. But I've seen him in the brush pile before too.

This picture turned out so pretty with the finch reflected in the birdbath water.
Indigo Bunting, taken at the nature sanctuary.
The hummingbirds have been coming to the feeder. This little one ate from the feeder for a minute, rested here, then went back to the feeder for seconds, rested again, then flew off!
Okay, can you say Finch Fight? I think it was a lover's quarrel. They were sitting on the fench just squabbling.
A pretty pose for this robin.

Now some flowers!

Just a mixed planter on the patio, mostly marigolds.

Balloon-flowers.

Geranium.
Shasta Daisy (the big tall ones)
I forgot what these are called, sorry.
Purple coneflower.
I think the red ones are impatiens, but I forgot what the little purple ones are called, we got them about 8 years ago.

Our biggest hydrangea bloom so far, not quite done. As of this week its a beautiful blue color!

Happy Tuesday....and musical thoughts.

2008-06-24T16:20:00.004-05:00

Approaching the end of another workday. Nothing to show for it until payday on Friday. I was thinking about music yesterday as I was on the treadmill. (yes, another music rant, sorry).

I was listening to some music, probably 65 Days of Static. While my legs were plugging away at 3.8 mph, my mind was soaring over the sights seen by the Mars Rover, and the new robot that is exploring the poles there. I visited the Amazon too. I time travelled to the future to a week in Austin and another to be spent in Florida. I travelled to the past, Minnesota, the Grand Canyon. I visited a lost loved one.

Why does the right music set my mind so free?

A song on my mind, depressing I know.

2008-06-22T19:50:00.005-05:00

Things are wrong in this world and I feel powerless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdRd3k4CIAg

System
Of
A
Down

"Chop
Suey"

Wake up (Wake up)
Grab a brush and put a little makeup
Hide the scars to fade away the (Hide the scars to fade away the shakeup)
Why'd you leave the keys upon the table?
Here you go create another fable

You wanted to,
Grab a brush and put a little makeup
You wanted to,
Hide the scars to fade away the shakeup
You wanted to,
Why'd you leave the keys upon the table
You wanted to,

Oh I don't think you trust,
In my self righteous suicide,
I cry when angels deserve to die
In my self righteous suicide,
I cry when angels deserve to die

Father (Father), Father (Father), Father (Father), Father (Father)!
Father into your hands, I commend my spirit,
Father, into your hands,
Why have you forsaken me,
In your eyes forsaken me,
In your thoughts forsaken me,
In your heart forsaken, me oh!

Trust in my self righteous suicide
I cry when angels deserve to die
In my self righteous suicide
I cry when angels deserve to die...

Travels

2008-06-14T08:07:00.002-05:00

I like traveling. I mean, I REALLY like traveling. I can get in a car, drive for hours, and hours, and still arrive at my destination with positive energy. (provided enough sleep was obtained the previous evening of course). This weekend Steve and I took a road trip up to Minnesota. John is working for 2 weeks in a very small town, but for the weekend we are staying with Aunty Mary in Minneapolis and John has joined us there.

Floods:
There is MAJOR flooding going on right now in Iowa. Our route, I-35, was not closed at all. But in Des Moines we were able to see the flooding of the Des Moines river which was way out of its banks, and very close to the highway surface. East of Des Moines I-80 was closed due to the flooding. There are many people who have had to evacuate, and will probably lose their homes.

People are jerks:
We ran into a little stretch of construction where the highway narrowed to one lane only and traffic had to merge. As semi drivers sometimes do, two of them formed a blockade to keep cars from cutting to the front of the line. I really don't mind when they do this, but not everyone feels that way. I was driving next to an extra-long tractor trailer. There was a small purple car behind him that kept trying to peek around the right side on the shoulder. When we finally arrived at the merge spot, the purple car tried to pull around the semi on the right shoulder and pass him to get to the front of the merge line. The semi driver just drove onto the shoulder himself and almost put that purple car into the ditch. Eventually the purple car did get in front of the semi as we merged to one lane. They were right behind me. Now that traffic was at a better pace, the purple car drive just kept going at a snail's pace, and there was nothing the semi driver could do. I was glad to get FAR ahead of them.

The Weather:
It's bright and sunny this Saturday morning. I would like to drive over to see Minnehaha Falls later. I've been there once before with John, the kids and my parents. It was probably around 1995 though. I think Mary and the boys are going to the gym to work out around noon, so perhaps this afternoon.

"How Chris W. Saved My Life" a story from the 70s.

2008-06-05T18:45:00.004-05:00

The Salvation Army vehicle was a big station wagon from the 70's. Rather angular in shape. The cool feature of this station wagon was the neat seats in the very back of the wagon. There were two little mini-seats that faced each other. After church when it was time to take people home the kids, including me, would fight over the back. The neat thing about the back door of the wagon, it had a huge window that had electronic control. Wow! An electric window! That was cool. We pretended the back of that station wagon was our own little house, or spaceship, or train, or ocean liner, or airplane.

Back to my story. It was late on a Sunday night and we were taking the usual folks home. Chris and I were in the very back of the wagon just goofing around, laughing at our silly jokes. When he got dropped off, my dad just rolled down the electric window and he climbed out. I stuck my head out, still talking to him as he started toward his house, but my dad, unaware of my little head sticking out, pushed "the button" that could have spelled my doom and chopped off my silly pre-teen head!

But no, not a chance. I made a startled squeak of some sort and Chris, in a couple of strides arrived at the back of the wagon and pushed my head inside! Of course I was very frightened and cried all the way home. My dad apologized profusely of course for scaring me. I lived, didn't hold too much of a grudge about it, and wonder if that little event changed my life in any way.

Yes, it's been a month. Here's what went on, with lots of pics.

2008-06-02T19:03:00.026-05:00

Hiya. It's been awhile. You're probably wondering what happened? Let's just say it was probably the busiest two month period of my entire life. But, a lot of fun and cool stuff happened, so here's my 'travel' report. (no travel, really, but we can pretend..) Here's the story of spring at our house.

March 23, 2008 - Easter Sunday. Here's a picture of the family that I stitched together. It was FREEZING. None of the usual crowd was around to do Easter pictures. We always have a 'just the girls' picture, but this year it was just us. It was a really nice day too.

On April 5, we had a nice girls dinner to visit with Denise Z who was in town for a week. Then Jean and I went downtown to Artopia. My pictures aren't great from that event, but we had a good time. Got to see some interesting performances and some really nice music.

April 17, 2008 - Jordan performing her Dramatic Interpretation for Showcase Night at the high school. She'll be taking this performance to Nationals later this summer.

April 18, 2008 - The funniest play ever. The Complete Works of Shakespeare, abridged". Steve was one of 3 primaries in the play and they all played various roles. Steve played about 15 or 16 different parts, including most of the female roles, such as Juliet, Hamlet's mother, etc... I can't remember laughing so hard for a long time.

April 25 - Choir Competition at State. This is a picture of Steve and his girlfriend Victoria at M.U. All the kids did fabulous at state. Steve's ensemble received a 1 at districts and a 2 at state . So that was great. A couple of the kids we know got 1's at state.

April 29. Well, you just go right ahead and guess what this picture is about. I bet you will never guess. The answer is somewhere below..... Just look for the word fishing pole. Okay, if you are impatient, like I know you are.. I'll just tell you now. We were doing some housecleaning, as in "clean sweep' style cleaning. It suddenly occurred to the kids that the little tiny fishing pole, leaning up in a corner, in the upstairs hallway, right outside Jordan's door.....well....we tried to decide how long it had been there. We finally decided it was at least 3 years. So, what does that say about our skills in ignoring things? It got pitched finally.

April 30 - Debate and Forensics award night. Jordan received her pins for lettering in Debate and Forensics.

May 02 - The HAZING OF STEVE...in other words, how he got into the Improv Group at the high school. Three openings were up for the improv group this year, to replace the three outgoing seniors. After a workshop one night, auditions the next night, and making it to final callbacks, he still had to wait and see if he was one of the 3 who were chosen. We all went to bed, since the call hadn't come by 10:30 or so, we figured he didn't make it. (even though I made him wear his black shirt and red tie for the final callback)! Well about 11:15 the phone rings. It's a young man we know from church who is one of the outgoing seniors. He pretty much begged me to find a way to get Steve outside the door (keep in mind it's a school night) and he promised to have him back no later than 12:00. It was a 'tradition' for the new members to get initiated. So after about 5 minutes of deciding with John's help since we were in a sleep-deprived fog, I walked down the hall, woke Steve up, told him to get some clothes and shoes on so he could do something for me. Of course he is pretty groggy too. Finally I get him downstairs and trying to keep the whole thing a secret (they were going to jump him on the porch), got him to go out. They took him away, painted and taped and dunked him, and he came home the happiest I've ever seen him!

May 03 - Jordan and PROM!! The limo story. Corey's parents rented a town car style car with a driver to take them to dinner and the prom. When the driver took them to dinner, he asked if they would mind a big limo, at no extra charge (as long as they didn't get the cups dirty since he wouldn't have time to clean them). Umm, of course yes! So he drove them around a few places downtown for pictures before taking them to prom. What a great night for them.

May 10 - BEN GRAD! Our nephew Ben at his college grad party!

May 11 - Mother's Day. Can you believe I took no pictures other that this one? It's Fireball sleeping on the electric blanket. He's getting arthritis and he really likes the warmth. For Mother's Day, Steve got me the new Killers CD "Sawdust" which is GREAT. Jordan got me the Fiddler on the Roof WIDESCREEN special edition DVD. It's great to finally see it widescreen!

May 16 - class is finally over! Hooray. Eight months of intense training and now I'm official starting 'on-the-job-training', working to get stats high enough to be assigned to a group. We had a really nice graduation day. One of our classmates wrote "on the last day of training" to the tune of "On the first day of Christmas", and "this job is your job" to the tune of "this land is your land". We had lunch and bowled at one of the new places downtown and it was fun. I got three strikes in a row, and had my highest bowling score ever. !

May 17 - Nephew Luke high school graduation party . He is heading off to the Naval Academy this fall.

May 19 - The CURE in concert! What a blast! The opening act was called 65 Days Of Static. We have already downloaded a bunch of their music. It was a great night. The weather was perfect.

May 20 - the junior high awards ceremony. Steve, "best actor" award. His drama friends also got some certificates. Emma got a special commendation from the House of Representatives in this state! She's pretty awesome!

May 22 - Choir Concert, the last one of the year. The kids also received their awards for the district and state competition, medals and certificates. About a dozen, including Steve had enough points to LETTER! So, Steve got a letter! He was thrilled.

May 27 - Happy birthday Jordan!

May 27 - a family picture on Jordan's birthday. We had dinner at Bo Lings. It was my first time there, Steve's too, and we really loved it. Steve has decided that he now likes Chinese food.

OKAY TIME FOR A FEW BIRDS, but stay tuned for a picture of my new fountain! These bird pictures were mostly taken May 31st around town, at the nature sanctuary and at the local park.

Summer Tanager

Two Carolina Wrens building a nest.

Male Baltimore Oriole.

Eastern Meadowlark singing

AND HERE IT IS - June 1st! My old fountain got smashed recently and was beyond repair. John helped me pick out this neat one. I love it. It has 3 lights in it and lights up at night!

THE END

Some bird pics from the new camera...

2008-04-26T15:37:00.000-05:00

The Five-Year Cure

2008-04-25T19:28:00.002-05:00

When a person has battled cancer and has gone cancer-free for five years, the doctors say "you're cured".

I have a theory that all life's traumatic events also have a five-year cure rate.

When my head-on car collision occured back in 1998 I wondered if I would ever learn to love driving again. In 2003 (five years after the wreck) I found that, finally, I did once again love to drive for hours and hours.

John had two layoffs in quick succession, one lasting almost a year. He has one more year to go for a complete cure. But he's getting there.

Something I just realized this year, for Steve who was extremely traumatized after the shooting death of a classmate (November 2002 - his 4th grade year), it has now been over five years since this terrible event and I am almost convinced that Steve has been "cured" from his heartache. This 9th grade year for him, if I could describe it in one word, "flight". He's taken off. He's on his way. He's a young man with aspirations, amazing abilities, and just plain awesome-ness. He's earned some respect as a performer, singer and friend. He's managed to dig himself out of a grade snafu and even enjoy some of his core classes.

Is he cured? Perhaps. Will he ever forget his friend? No, never.

Walking Mary

2008-04-05T09:47:00.002-05:00

I took a walk from 6am to 7am this morning. The sky was just getting a hint of light when I left the house, and when I returned the sun was about to come up. It was a bit chilly outside and my cheeks were very cold.

As I was heading back to the house I walked by a field that had just a shadow of fog. There was a herd of deer, numbering about 10-12 in the field eating grass. They were backlit by the eastern sky. Can you picture it? It was just lovely.

But it got me thinking. I remembered back to my teen years, and an unknown lady who we saw nearly every day walking down a busy main thoroughfare in my city. We just called her "Walking Mary" since we didn't know her. She must have walked all day long, or at least a good many hours each day.

As I walked this morning on the new 4-lane road that cuts through farmland, but will someday be crowded by gas stations, car dealerships and tanning salons I wondered if I would still be walking this same 4-lane road twenty years from now, and in my mind still seeing the farmland, the watchful deer, and remembering the sweet sounds of spring birds.

I wonder if Walking Mary saw Noland Road the way it used to be.

UPS where are you?

2008-04-04T17:21:00.003-05:00

After getting the used camera of my dreams, a second hand older model rebel, I am now anxiously awaiting the cheap-o zoom lens I found on Ebay. Scheduled for delivery today, but still not here. But after checking the UPS site I have high hopes for some lovely outdoor bird photography tomorrow! The weather is supposed to be lovely!

Package Progress
Location_______________Date____Time _____ Description
KANSAS CITY,KS, US ___04/04/2008 _9:06 A.M. __OUT FOR DELIVERY

My lens has really travelled!

04/04/2008
12:09 A.M.
ARRIVAL SCAN

LENEXA,KS, US
04/03/2008
11:41 P.M.
DEPARTURE SCAN
04/03/2008
1:33 P.M.
ARRIVAL SCAN

EARTH CITY,MO, US
04/03/2008
9:31 A.M.
DEPARTURE SCAN
EARTH CITY,MO, US
04/02/2008
7:09 P.M.
ARRIVAL SCAN

DORAVILLE,GA, US
04/02/2008
10:49 A.M.
DEPARTURE SCAN
04/02/2008
9:55 A.M.
ARRIVAL SCAN

JACKSONVILLE,FL, US
04/02/2008
1:57 A.M.
DEPARTURE SCAN
JACKSONVILLE,FL, US
04/01/2008
3:01 P.M.
ARRIVAL SCAN

MIAMI,FL, US
03/31/2008
9:35 P.M.
DEPARTURE SCAN
03/31/2008
7:30 P.M.
ORIGIN SCAN
03/31/2008
5:15 P.M.
PICKUP SCAN
US
03/31/2008
9:50 A.M.
BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

blog challenge - $50000 question.

2008-03-25T12:06:00.003-05:00

Congratulations! You've won 50,000!

Oh, but there's a catch.

You must spend every penny of it within 2 days.

What do you buy?

Here it is...... 1972 Ford Mustang Grande, with hardtop, color ginger.

Happy Easter Sunday

2008-03-23T05:06:00.003-05:00

Happy Easter! This Easter will be with just us four. This will be the first time in 18 years that has happened. I think it will be fun, but I sure miss the old Easter egg hunts with the little ones and all the little cousins.

In NCAA news, my bracket is looking horrible. Although I did pick KU to win it all. (crazy from a mizzou fan, no?). But although most of my first round picks were good, many of my second round choices now have a big huge "X" through them.

I made waffle iron cookies last night. Chocolate and then sprinkled with powdered sugar. They were GOOD. I heard about them somewhere and found the recipe on the 'net. I managed to ride my bike yesterday afternoon too and do a chest/arm workout.

John is taking care of our dinner today. He went to the store yesterday and got the goodies. He also got some jelly beans and things so we would get our Easter candy fix. I think the plan is for ham and mashed potatoes. The kids have to be at church at 9am to practice for the 11am service. I should get done working at 1 so that is probably when we'll have dinner. Then we might watch a movie. They rented a couple.

In other news, John spent most of our tax refund on getting a bass! His plan is to learn it, so he won't be the only one in the family to not play anything. Pretty exciting. It's a pretty little guitar.

And I didn't think so, but I did have enough stashed away for a camera upgrade! Yay! It's just an old used canon rebel 6.3 mp. Nothing earth-shaking. I was shopping first for the nikon d40, but that was much more. Then I started looking at olympus evolt older model, and it was about the same. Then I looked at old canons and they must be a lot more common because they were about $100 less than the other ones! Now I just have to save up $99 for a zoom lens.

More squaw creek on Sunday March 9th.

2008-03-11T07:17:00.000-05:00

Back to Squaw Creek again. This time I dragged the family along. I promised the kids this was the last, the very last time I would force them to go along on a bird watching outing. I think they were impressed though. When you're talking about almost 1/2 a million birds, it's hard not to be impressed. Here are some of the best shots of the day including a better shot of a bald eagle sitting on the ice. I also got a nice shot of a juvenile bald eagle as it flew right over our car. Did you know it takes a bald eagle 4 years to get its beautiful black and white coloring?

Squaw Creek on Saturday (3/1)

2008-03-05T11:42:00.000-06:00

Oh what a WONDERFUL day....

You could feel the heat in the south wind. You could feel the chill coming up off of the ice. But oh, the combination of hot/cold/blue sky and fresh air was just what I needed!

Here are some pictures

trumpeter swans

common goldeneye in flight (duck)

i'm speechless

wish I could recreate the sound
snow geese
another common goldeneye
this is a bad picture of a bald eagle that was flying
in for dinner as I was driving out.

My house is so damn loud! And yes, I love it that way....

2008-02-28T20:58:00.000-06:00

What's Annette ranting about now you ask? Not a rant. I swear. Walk into my house almost any evening and you will hear LOUD stuff. Music, IPOD, piano, electric guitar, and cat yowling all at once. Oh, you might hear me singing too, but that can be frightening, so...let's talk about cool sounds, not geek sounds.

Steve's and I went to Vintage Stock tonight and he picked up a Ramone's CD. So that was going full blast for awhile. Then Jordan had some Avenue Q blasting and Steve moved downstairs to play some Green Day on his electric guitar. Fireball just thinks we're all nuts I think. I love all the racket.

Anyway, back to my story. Ummm Yessss I was going to tell a story. Steve has been under a LOT of pressure this week and actually been forgetting to breathe. Yes, it happens to all of us I think. He felt like his heart was having a seizure. So, we thought SEIZURE OF LIFE was a good title for a rock and roll song. John is working on the lyrics. It'll be interesting to see what he comes up with.

And, just 'cause i know you miss him, here he is --
Fireball, a.k.a. Lion-O a.k.a. Sofa King

Feb 15th - Dad gets to go HOME!!!

2008-02-26T17:47:00.000-06:00

Finally after 17 days, Dad got to go home from rehab on Feb 15th. YAY! Steve and I went over to help out that day. Here are some pictures.

Dad sitting in his wheelchair, until given the go-ahead!

Dad and Steve reviewing Steve's script for the spring play

2nd floor elevator

Down on the first floor, ready to walk on out!

Getting set up in his chair, Dad gets love and kisses from Missy.

Annette cuts off those silly wristbands!

Steve ponders life as a pig. (Grandpa is part pig now for real, with his replacement "porcine" valve)

Mom supervises kitchen clean-up

Kelly's blog challenge

2008-02-25T12:02:00.000-06:00

Here's this week's challenge:You have to move. You have two choices: 1. A farm house in the middle of the field. Your closest neighbors/grocery/etc are miles away. 2. A big city apartment in a high rise. Yep, you still have your kids. Which is it and why?

MY CHOICE:
Definitely the farm.

Here are my pros and cons listed in "an organized fashion"

CONS:

Planning trips to the grocery store, library, etc. I'm only a few blocks from the store now, and the distance can be walked.
Transportation delays. If a kid wants to have a friend over, or go over to a friend's house, it would be a major undertaking.
Shopping woes. I guess I'd have to do a lot more on-line shopping.

PROS:

Birdies, birdies and more birdies.
I could have an Irish Setter like I want.
Peace and quiet.
Independence, self-reliance would be required.
Starry nights.
No impulse buying (except for the on-line kind!).

February Birds

2008-02-24T17:12:00.000-06:00

Its SPRING (for some of the birds anyway). I've been spending time at a local park off the beaten path.

YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER:

Today I got some HOPE that spring is around the corner. I saw the Yellow-rumped Warbler. I only got a picture of the female, but I have a picture of a male from last year. There were a few of them at the park today. I also added some other birds that I got pictures of this month.

Male:

Female:

Tufted Titmouse:

Northern Flicker:

Juvenile Red-Headed Woodpecker:

Brown Creeper:

A month of updates

2008-02-04T09:49:00.001-06:00

Wooooah Nellie. Has it been a month since I posted? A lot has been happening and here's the run-down.

Dad's surgery. If you did not know my dad had some major heart surgery last week. Very serious stuff. Fast forward to today and he sounds pretty good. He's on a ton of meds and today they are trying a new insulin dose since his blood sugar seems to be out of whack. BUT, he is up, walking the halls, enjoying visitors and his many piggie companions (yes, dad is a pig fanatic and he now has several new additions to the pig family, especially the pig valve now residing in his own heart!). "so far so good" was the mantra of the surgery waiting room, and I suspect will be our continued motto as dad recovers.

A Day After Surgery Story: About 9 am the day after the surgery (he was still on the ventilator and couldn't talk) I started telling Dad about how nice it was weather-wise when he got to the hospital, and then told him about the white out snowstorm that happened during the day, and how the temperature dropped down to 10, blah-blah-blah. His response? Making the little circular motion with his right index finger to indicate "big whoop". :-) So, of course when I told mom about that, I said, well, we know his sense of humor is intact!

Tuesday night, the night of his surgery, there was a code blue in the ICU that we heard while standing in the cafeteria line, and we all looked at each other saying "no, dad's not in ICU quite yet, so it can't be him". It wasn't. The brother of the guy was in the cafeteria line behind us and we found out later after we moved up to the ICU waiting room it was a 28 year old young man, never sick in his life, and died of bacterial pneumonia. It was very, very sad.
In other family news, Steve's gerbil died sometime during the night Tuesday. We have just been discussing his age lately, and Tuesday night I was telling our family friend Kelly about him and how he was almost 5 years old which is ANCIENT for a gerbil. So, not unexpected. He is in a little wooden box in the garage and the boys are going to take care of him later.
Training is going fine.
Our little finch kingdom in the backyard is something to see! John wishes for a cardinal or a blue jay, but we don't seem to get any. The various finches though are really pretty.
We are considering getting a dog.
The superbowl was FUN! I don't remember having that much fun watching a superbowl for a long time.
We watched Ratatouille yesterday afternoon, great movie. I loved it!

Pileated Woodpecker

2008-01-07T18:47:00.000-06:00

Yup, I saw two, not one but TWO! My pictures aren't the best, but that doesn't lessen the thrill for me at all! We also saw a Sharp-shinned Hawk. He posed for a bit, then flew off. Some other birds shown below.

Nearly as large as a crow, the Pileated Woodpecker is the largest woodpecker in most of North America. Its loud ringing calls and huge, rectangular excavations in dead trees announce its presence in forests across the continent.

Pileated Woodpecker, used to be rare,

but these guys are making a comeback

and I suspect moving their range northward,

as many other birds are doing.

Pileated Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker
Red-Bellied Woodpecker

American Tree Sparrow

(a winter only sparrow)

Sharp-shinned hawk

(similar to Cooper's Hawk)

Sharp-shinned hawk

Black-capped Chickadee

Hiking Kansas City - Return of a Legendary Book....

2008-01-01T14:36:00.000-06:00

IT REALLY HAPPENED! The co-authors finally after 6 years published a new version of my all time favorite book "Hiking Kansas City". I have such fond memories of taking the kids on little day trips when they were younger, even in a stroller! The previous 2 versions of this book helped me plan, envision, dream and have giant adventures on a small scale. My previous versions have many little notes inside, records of hikes with one or both of my own children, and sometimes we added to the mix with childhood friends or family members. The first hike I took using this book as a guide was the October when Jordan went to kindergarten, and Steven and I took one of the hikes in the book. I still remember it like yesterday.

This 2007 version jumped off the shelf at Borders right into my eager hand! As I paged through this quote in the back caught my eye. It speaks my language.

Afoot and light-hearted,
I take to the open road,
Healthy, free,
the world before me,
The long brown path before me,
leading wherever I choose.
...Walt Whitman

Terrified

2007-12-10T11:47:00.000-06:00

In January it will be the 10 year anniversary of a head-on collision I was in that totaled my lovely little Ford Escort 4-door, green of course. That was the last new car I bought. Saturday night we had a bit of freezing drizzle with threat of ice. We had a dinner party to attend a couple of miles out in the country. Not too far. The roads were salted and it wasn’t horrible or anything, but as the time approached I found myself becoming almost paralyzed with fear. Really terrified. I just can’t believe that after all this time I still have this terror. On the drive home from the dinner party I ask John if he’d mind terribly if I just put my Ipod on and closed my eyes. He was okay with that and it really helped. I peeked a couple of times but the music was really good to keep me from panicking. When we got into town I was able to relax.

I guess as much as I try to have my mantra be “fear is the mind killer” it doesn’t always work that way. I guess I should be glad that I actually got into the car……

We had snow that I drove in Thursday with not a bit of trouble. Of course it was daylight and I have a stick which is great for snow.

Here are some lyrics to a Steve Green song that I have liked for a long time. The only place I’ve seen it though is on his Christmas album featuring the Salvation Army band on the cover of the album.

Rest, the Lord is near
Refuse to fear
Enjoy his life

Trust, His mighty power
Fills every hour
Of all your days

There is no need for needless worry
With such a Savior, you have no cause
To every doubt

His precious Word
Still reassures
In every trial

Call Him
If you grow frightened
Call Him
With loving care

He’ll lift the burden and you’ll
Rest, the Lord is near
Refuse to fear
Enjoy His life

Just some pictures

2007-12-03T07:17:00.001-06:00

I haven't updated for about 3 weeks. Here are some snapshots.

Desiree and Hunter

Jordan, Mom T, David, Dad T., Steve

Jordan, Dad and Mom B., Steve

Desiree and Chris

Cameron and Brett

David and Steven

Dad T, Shannon, Erin, Mom T, Jim, Brett, Cameron, Kevin, Desiree and John

Jordan at NHS induction

Jordan and NHS induction

Baby Mykala with parents

Baby Mykala with grandparents

Reflecting on Poverty

2007-11-13T07:13:00.000-06:00

From our Just Faith week 6, after our reading assignment from "Amazing Grace" by Kozol. Here are the questions, and a part of my answers.

Question 1: What are your early memories of poor people, or of being poor yourself?
-Poor people and addicted people coming into the Salvation Army for assistance, money, a meal, a bus ticket somewhere.
-Visiting a lady in a one room house.
-Working in the thrift store.
-Was I poor? Not really. We did live in a trailer while dad was in the Air Force but after they joined the Salvation Army our homes were provided and they were in decent blue collar neighborhoods. I always felt like I wasn't "cool enough" in school since I didn't have the name brand clothes or a nice hairstyle, but I wasn't ever hungry or cold.

Question 2: What did people close to you say to you about poverty, about poor people?
-Being raised as the child of Salvation Army ministers, the poor in town were just a part of our lives. Our job was helping others. "Heart to God, Hand to Man" is the S.A. slogan. A lot of government programs (WIC, cheese, etc.) were run from the church.
-Being poor was never a cause for distancing myself from another.

Question 3: What experiences as an adult have you had of poverty in the world?
-My own experience was a year or two of absolute poverty. I didn't think of it that way at the time, but there were many occasions that water/electricity was shut off. One place I didn't have any heat at all. I have had to haul water from the pizza joint across the street from my apartment in order to flush toilets when the water was shut off. I've used a bunson burner to keep warm. I have subsisted on macaroni and cheese box dinners for weeks at a time. I've rode the bus because I couldn't afford a car.
-As far as poverty in the world, until Just Faith I really hadn't given it a thought. Since then, studying a lot, reading, and watching educational video as part of the program I have learned. In addition I've had the chance to actually spend time with the poor, not just handing out food but really talking and finding out what they think, what they think should be done to improve things. When we visited the Catholic Worker House on Linwood and got to eat dinner with some of the people coming for a meal, it was very moving, but also a learning experience. Some of my assumptions were very wrong.

Annie Get Your Gun

2007-11-11T15:16:00.000-06:00

Here he is, the one the only, STEVE!

This is a small sample of 15 pictures from the musical.

Click to make larger if you choose. Enjoy!

Weekend

2007-11-05T07:16:00.000-06:00

Just a quick little post to talk about the weekend... but first....An exciting adventure on the way to work last week.

Flatbed semi trailer in front of me. It had what appeared to be a tire rolling alongside it. But then it disappeared, and I wondered if I was hallucinating. The truck (right in front of me) began throwing sparks out from under the flatbed. I called the MO hwy patrol and reported this. While still on the phone with them, the tire (yes it was real) rolled out from underneath on the right side, then rolled in front of me, over into the left lane and hopefully noone was hurt. I guess by this time the trucker had been informed by other trucks that saw this, and he pulled over. Crazy!

Saturday morning I went to Squaw Creek. Saw 2 bald eagles sitting side by side like they were posing for me. Saw lots of snow geese, white fronted geese, and lots of ducks. (Northern pintail, Shoveler, etc...) Oh, also some white pelicans, and the usual egrets and herons.

Sunday was church and laundry day as usual. We did a little shopping. I was able to get some much needed snow boots for free with my coupon. Yay coupons!!!

Today is training day #35 of 168!

When I Walk, an original poem by.....me

2007-11-01T12:03:00.000-05:00

The bumpy winding path leads the way

to peace and unique understanding

Silence will make things right, but not quite.....

quiet

The floating melody drifts, collides with my ears and spirit and

distinct harmonies resonate

Imagined wings on my back ache to stretch and lift me aloft.

Dinners For Eight Halloween party - Its all about Kato

2007-10-29T06:19:00.000-05:00

Kato Devil Dame

Kato made a deal with the devil....

Mike and Jean as Hippies (crazy ones I might add)

Ed and Nancy

Greg and April as the Flintstones.

Al and Sandy as roaring 20s couple.

Brian and Carlin as the crazy mad scientest and his nurse!

The electric slide I think. Chuck and Joann are out there, and Jo is the pirate lady.

Rich with his crazy homemade glasses.

Witchiepoo.!

Steve's mixed choir concert

2007-10-29T06:17:00.000-05:00

The only 5 boys in the 9th grade mixed choir!

Steve introducing one of the songs.

C.J. and Steve.

Some October pictures

2007-10-29T06:10:00.000-05:00

This is a picture of "lucky linda's" carrot pumpkin she made for bunco in October.

This is the Jewell fountain. I just thought it looked neat with the lights from the field behind it, so I took a timed exposure to get this shot.
This is the famous swan couple at the Precious Blood Center. We had our Just Faith retreat there in October. Luckily Mr. Swan was behaving himself and didn't get too aggressive! No chasing us off or anything. There must not be a nest right now. It was a beautiful day!

Cardinal and sparrow at the feeder.

Jordan and Kari picking up trash on a Girl Scout walk. There were only 2 girls so we just decided to take a walk and the girls thought they should pick up trash too.

First finch at the feeder.

Just the news

2007-10-26T09:52:00.000-05:00

I’m very happy to say Dad’s throat problem is NOT cancer. That’s such a relief. They think his vocal cord paralysis was caused by a virus and they are going to try some various treatments over the next few weeks.

Six weeks of class are finished as of today. Amazing. That makes it day 29 out of 168. That means 139 days to go. (not including holidays or weekends!). So far, so good. I think I am getting a reasonable grasp on all the lessons we have covered so far. It is a complicated job. I truly think my programming background is a huge asset here. There are many rules to follow and computer coding that goes hand-in-hand with each rule. There are also many exceptions to rules. It’s interesting when the lessons move along. It’s tough to stay focused and not daydream when its slow going. Our class seems to be pretty good, on the ball. Of course from what I hear we will all be at each other’s throats by May 16th (graduation day)! Let’s hope not.

Just Faith is going well. We are heading into week 5. The first few weeks focus has been on poverty, so some of the video and reading we are assigned is tough to take in. We had our opening retreat last Saturday and that was a very beautiful day, clear blue skies and mild temperatures. Since we were such a small number we shortened it to one day rather than an entire weekend. The swan at the Precious Blood center was behaving himself for a change. He didn’t try to chase us or anything. Although when Sara fed some leftover donut to the geese he swam up and they made way immediately. He must be “king of the pond”.

I finally finished my Santa cross-stitch that I’ve been working on (off and on) for 2 years. I took it up for framing and hopefully it will be back soon. I forgot to stitch my name on it! I will have to write it on the back of the frame I guess. Now I am working on an “Antique Wedding Sampler” that I picked up on the cross stitch hop in May on a clearance rack. It is really hard. Since there is a lot of symmetry, any mistake MUST be fixed. No shortcuts or ad-lib. So far I’ve had about 5 major re-do episodes. Very, very annoying. However, in the end it will be a beautiful piece.

With just 2 girl scouts yesterday we took a walk and the girls decided (mostly Kari’s doing) to pick up trash along the way. We cleaned up one whole side of the road!

That’s all the news for now.

Martial Arts MADNESS - i.e. "what the *#@!"

2007-10-12T23:43:00.000-05:00

~~~~~~~~ start of back story~~~~~~~~~~~

I don't understand some people. John and Steve went to a black belt prep class (for 3rd degree recommended - they are already black belts BTW). The first question that was asked, and NOT to the DAD, BTW, was "where's jordan?". Um excuse me but could you talk to the DAD and not the BROTHER? (she's off debating).

ANYWAY.... Next comment from the MADAME MASTER (okay that just didn't sound good, but I don't really give a *$#!).

"Steve, you need a hair cut. ". Okay, but if you have seen Steve on my blog you know he doesn't have long hair. It's just regular guy hair and he keeps it pretty neat. Ummmm. So, not NEAR enough to braid, dread-lock, or any such thing. Just normal guy hair. So....she made some more comments about the hair.....

And again, the kid's DAD is standing right there. Is there a reason you do not ask the DAD about the kids hair, when he's standing right there? Is there a reason that if you have a problem with a kid's hair you don't take it up with the PARENT, who is standing right there!?

(Do you all get it that the DAD is right THERE!?)

So, on with the black belt prep show. Next we are subjected to a 20 minute lecture about *drumroll*......., let's hear it folks,

DISCIPLINE. I.E. Parents not disciplining their children, letting their children make all the decisions, ummmm..... specifically "long hair".

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~end of back story~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My issues

You don't know anything about our family's discipline. If you did you would know that we have the best kids ever. We are a happy family and if our hair is "not right" then you can kiss my lily white *#! And for heaven's sake, if she thinks Steven's hair is long, good Lord!
You don't know anything about JOHN and discipline. Obviously not.... John is the one who taught ME about discipline. I didn't have too much of it when we met. Sure I was a sweet gal and all, but it takes self-discipline to get through life too and lots of it if you don't want to be bankrupt and have lots of health problems. So let me get this straight..... you Madame Master want to lecture my son and husband on their hair and discipline????
Enough already. Martial Arts was one of the neatest things that happened to this family. It is the coolest family activity ever! It has taught our kids so much, a lot of hard work has gone into this activity. But for goodness sakes, enough is enough. We don't have to take abuse like this and won't. Our family can live without your particular brand of "hair correctness".
And another thing, just because you are devoted to martial arts, have your own studio, live and breathe it, does not mean that others don't care about the sport just because they travel for work, have school activities, etc... What are you THINKING woman????
If you have a problem with someone, just OUT WITH IT. I say this because we believe the master was pissed off about something else, such as missing last week's prep class, so she decided to make Steve and John a target in front of the whole studio. This really irks me (could you tell?).

So, they are done with that particular "brand" and will move on and find something a little more family friendly. It's sad.

Seems like this year has brought many changes for our family. It also seems that most of the changes have been for the best, and I think this one probably will be too.

What moms say

2007-10-06T12:58:00.000-05:00

spanish and english - espanol y ingles

2007-10-05T18:03:00.000-05:00

In an effort to improve my Spanish and eventually get the designation of BILINGUAL I decided to make a project out of it. I will begin, as of today, to blog in both English and Spanish. This will enable me to really practice my words, sentence structure and tenses. I will attempt translation first on my own, and then enlist the help of translation tools, dictionary, etc.

En un esfuerzo para mejorar mi hablando de espanol, y conseguir eventual la designación de bilingüe, decidia para hacer esto un proyecto. Comenzaré, en fecha hoy, para escribir aqui en ingles y espanol. Esto me ayudará realmente a practicar mis palabras, estructura de oración y tiempos del verbo. Intentaré traducir, primero por me. Si no, conseguiré ayuda del diccionario.

Muy bien!

Special Effects and the last two weeks

2007-10-01T19:51:00.000-05:00

Training day 011 of 168.

So, after two weeks of class, I felt toxic. Seriously toxic. Some days were just a struggle to stay awake and focused. A slew of plain M&Ms helped me through, or did I imagine that? Regardless, by Friday of the second week my body was rebelling. I just felt like a bit jumble of "ickiness". Puffy, toxic, and gross. I ate healthy all weekend, worked out every day and by this morning (Monday of the 3rd week) I feel very much improved, almost back to normal. Another week of healthy should do the trick. I had NO candy at all today. And I didn't even have a diet pop!

I was browsing around the computer and remembered this special effects picture that Jordan altered. I just love it. Well, I took the picture of course, but I have always loved to take pictures of the kids when they aren't actually "posing" for the camera. Just natural shots of life. This was was during a heavy rainstorm a couple of weeks ago and the kids were watching it come down through the storm door. Jordan made some changes to the color and I think it's awesome! Click on it to make it giant size!

new

2007-09-17T05:56:00.000-05:00

new job - it starts today at 8am. 8 months of training. then several months spent on review and then finally, you're free. i am worried about a few things. will i find a parking spot. how much will the damn spot cost me? i really wanted to take the bus---but unfortunately the schedule just does not work out with the training hours. after class ends, perhaps. i worry about what to wear. i am so freakin' anal I actually have in my closet 8 outfits put together already to take me through the next 8 workdays. i worry to much about some stuff.

i haven't been sleeping well this weekend. nervous about what is to come, excited about what may happen in the future.

last night was a beauty. ran over to karen's to give her the Amish baby blankie i picked up in jamesport. they are all doing well. just a few short weeks and amelia will make her appearance into this world. a new person, a new life, a million possibilities. told brian he needed to be a park ranger and work for the MO dept of natural resources. it would just be fabulous if he thought he could live around here. like fixing the past. you can't ever reclaim what's gone, but you can make your present world the way you want it to be in many, many ways.

by the way, jordy drove all the way to karen and ricks. we almost slammed into somebody at a stoplight, but other than that she got 1-1/2 hours of driving time in, and did pretty well on the highway. we practiced parking in an empty parking lot.

i spent about an hour on the patio last night reading 'return of the king'. just all comfy and spread out on the new furniture out there, with my amaretto and seven and I read outside until darkness forced me back in. and, the neighbors were all behaving themselves! no crazy yelling going on.

movies we watched this week that i will have to watch again,
Gattaca
Othello

Loose Park

2007-09-10T07:04:00.000-05:00

After I got back from Squaw Creek, then John and I headed over to Loose Park to see the last of the season's roses.
This shot of the trees needs a person in it. Oh well. I still like it.

Ducks and geese.

A quiet spot.

Okay, let me talk about these turtles (see the ducks in the bushes?). They would climb up on this little concrete ramp. Ducks would decide it was time to swim and just slide down, knocking some or all of the turtles off. Then the turtles would climb back! It was hilarious.

There were two weddings happening that we saw at the rose garden. The first had a bagpipe and guitar player. The second couple arrived as we were leaving, in a REAL ROLLS ROYCE - steering wheel on the right and everything. About 200 feet away, just walking away to our car, we heard a computerized voice that said "for security purposes you may not photograph this car.. please step away..." Something like that.

A Mini Road Trip up to Squaw Creek

2007-09-10T05:54:00.003-05:00

Saturday I had a really great trip up north to Squaw Creek NWR. I was fully loaded with binocular in one hand, and camera in the other (plus Off bug spray and a water bottle!).

It was a fabulous day for it. The sky was clear blue and the temperature in the morning hours was still pretty cool. I spent about an hour and a half making the 12 mile loop around the refuge. I only ran into a very few people. I talked to an older gentleman from Nebraska who was wondering about eagles. I told him he'd have to come back in January or February for that. Told him I was hoping to see some migrating ducks. I did see one diving duck that I couldn't identify yet. Here are some of the pictures.

First we have an Eastern Wood Pewee. Isn't he cute? On the last leg of the 12 mile loop, the drive takes one through a wooded area. I heard some bird chirping noises, so I just stopped the car and turned off the motor to listen. Couldn't see anything with my binocular though. This little fellow, after about 10 minutes of just sitting there, decided he had to find out more. He flitted to a few different trees near my car to get a closer look. Or maybe he was just posing for me!

I was so amazed to see Great Egrets on our Louisiana trip in August and guess what! There were a few at Squaw Creek. I saw 3 for sure. Their summer range extends all the way up the plains. These are probably the last few around though. I am sure they wil be heading back south very soon!

Here we have an American Coot and some unidentified diving birds.

These are my favorite shots of the day. They are both of a Great Blue Heron I was observing from the loop. The second shot shows him taking off and I love the picture of the wings outstretched. What a gorgeous pattern.

So, all-in-all it was a very nice trip. I have to go up again in a week or two and see if there are more migrating birds. The Pewee and the Egret are summer birds, so I think the migrations are yet to come. I am looking forward to a trip out to Quivira NWR in October to hopefully catch sight of a whooping crane. At least the sandhill cranes if not the other.

Road Trip Day 7 - Hotter than ****

2007-08-09T19:48:00.000-05:00

It's still HOT here. Hot, humid, sticky.

Started off the morning with a load of laundry. *whee*. Fun eh? We had breakfast in the hotel. Really getting tired of fast food for sure.

Headed off to the Bluebonnet Swamp natural area. In a word? "spider" would be the word. Plus the heat. Even at 9:30 a.m. the heat and humidity was just awful. From the parking area there were two paths to the visitor center, a boardwalk through the trees and a gravel maintenance road. We were good people and followed our instructions. Huge swamp spiders had webs strung across the boardwalk (usually over our heads, but a couple we had to bat out of the way). This was FREAKY to say the least. None of us like spiders much. And these were strangers to us. They were really colorful anyway. We did a "fear is the mind killer" reality check and finally made it to the visitor center unscathed. One of the two ladies working there was a little bit scornful of our "trial by spider". "They won't hurt you." Okay, whatever you say lady. But they are still pretty danged scary looking. They handed us a laminated trail guide and sent us on our way. We braved about 1/4 mile, but especially nice to see was an older lady power walking the trail. Needless to say, we picked HER way! It appeared she knew what she was doing. We figured, later, that the visitor entrance boardwalk was overrun because they have so few visitors. The swamp was pretty cool. I showed the kids what Cypress Knees are. *woooo* *shouts of excitement*. Oh, I also stepped on some red ants and one bit me. Luckily I didn't have many on my foot and was able to shake the rest off or kill them. Nasty critters. After hearing a couple of birds and barely seeing any (they were just too high up in the trees) we went back to the visitor center and looked at the exhibits. They had a few baby alligators which was neat, and a lot of snakes and turtles. The gal we saw power walking was with a man who seemed to be the volunteer photographer for the swamp. Many, many of his very great photos of the swamp creatures, birds and flora were posted inside the center. Excellent photos. He did comment to me that it was a slow bird day. He was down on the ground photographing a wasp as we left. We left by way of the maintenance road..... Imagine that! No spiders. It was only 10:30. As promised I did not keep the kids there more than one hour! Hooray.

Next we headed downtown. We toured the Old State Capitol building. There were some really interesting exhibits inside this building. One exhibit traced the moveable history of the Lousiana State Capitols. There were between 15 and 20 different places that the capitol was located for various reasons.

We walked over to River Road and entered the U.S.S. Kidd veterans museum. I really enjoyed this. I know any veteran would spend a lot of time here. We spent a couple of hours. First we bought sodas to rehydrate ourselves. You just cannot imagine walking around in this heat and humidity all day. We decided to tour the ship first. Mr. Leroy Jenkins who actually served on the Kidd was the ticket taker and I enjoyed talking to him about his time. He told me where his bunk was located. I asked him if he went down those little tiny stairs backwards or forwards. He said that when they would go down they would seldom use the stairs at all, just take the first two steps and then grab a bar and swing down the rest of the way. It was really fun talking to him and he showed me some pictures of his navy football days. The ship was very interesting and I took lots of pictures which I'll post later. We walked back over to the museum and toured all the exhibits there which included some personal effects of Kidd himself.

We had a little snack at the FrostyMug, a little dinner from the 50s. Awesome root beer float! Back at the hotel I watched Val Kilmer in "The Saint". We had dinner at Parrain's. Jordan and I shared an "everything" plate and had some fried alligator, oysters, crab fingers, shrimp, stuffed shrimp. They put PEANUTS in the cole slaw. It is GOOD that way too! We also got to sample the dirty rice and the seafood gumbo. Both were very good.

Time to pack and head home tomorrow.

Road Trip Day 6 - To the Ocean (and the bayou!)

2007-08-08T18:19:00.000-05:00

Bayous, canals, and the Gulf of Mexico. That sums up the day. We started off at IHOP for breakfast. Jordan and I thought we were getting a side of sliced strawberries, but it was pie filling. Oh well. We ate the berries anyway. The long drive to Grand Isle State Park took us back towards New Orleans on the first leg, I-10 East. From the edge of Lake Pontchartrain we took I-310 south to its end at Hwy 90. From there we headed back west to LA #1 South all the way to Grand Isle. Once we were on LA1 we were alongside a canal/bayou most of the way down to the gulf. That was pretty neat. Just small towns along the way hugging the bayou, big telephone pole size boat tie-ups / docking spots all along the sides of the bayou. There were all kinds of little shacks selling shrimp and crabs along the roads. I saw more draw bridges today than I think I ever have in my whole life. We also drove by a Saint Mary shrine along the road, right next to city hall, and I got a couple of pictures of that.

We finally got to Grand Isle State Park after a 3-1/2 hour drive. The hurricane (Katrina) really did a number on the facilities. The toilets flushed but there weren't any showers at the bath house we parked by. There were lots of crabs to be seen, many, many birds. Yes, I think we are all sunburned too. I did stop and get sunscreen, the new spray on "sweatproof" kind. But, I don't think it worked (user error). Unfortunately I walked around for about half an hour with my clothes still on in a tank top to take some pictures. The burn is following the lines of my tank top, not my swim suit. Can you say "DUMMY get on your sunscreen!"? We all got our suits on and splashed around. The kids had a lot of fun and so did I. I talked to a nice lady from about four hours away in Texas. They had come to do some crabbing, but there weren't many out in the heat of the day, although we did see lots of partially decomposed crabs above the water line. The tide started to come in. I walked around past the rock jetty to check out a bird conclave, and I SAW A FIN. Yes, I really did see a fin. It was way out there, and I took some pictures. It was kind of freaky to say the least. I wasn't worried about the people in the water or anything, as it was shallow for a long way out. I think he was probably a small one, I saw his back a couple of times when he came up and dived back down. But there was definitely a fin. About 2:30 we decided it was time to go and that's when we discovered the showers at our bath house were not working. Luckily we had a gallon of water in the trunk and used that to rinse off a bit. One other thing, we didn't come out with oil on us at all. The water seemed pretty clean to us.

The drive home was still interesting. I had to fight urges to stop every time I saw a bird. These coastal birds just fascinate me. Especially the Great Egret. It's such a pretty bird and when one or two fly over the swamps they are just beautiful. They have an interesting hunting stance too. They are so patient standing in the water until their target appears, then GULP. Dinner. Ahhh.

We drove across a little draw bridge to the other side of the bayou on LA1 for some Burger King. Cajun food just doesn't appeal to me, and I hope that doesn't disappoint any of you.

We got stopped when the draw bridge over the Intercoastal Canal (a big one) was raised to allow some boats to go by. We had one more traffic jam about 15 miles out of Baton Rouge. The traffic had to merge to one lane and it was a 20 minute process for about 2 miles.

Back at the hotel we are all interested in getting the salt off our skin, so I am patiently waiting for the shower.

Kids are anxious to check their face book accounts and e-mail of course. I try to imagine a world without computers sometimes, but I just can't. Then I remember Isaac Asimov's description of the planet Solaria (The Naked Sun novel) where all human contact, physical of course, was disdained, in favor of flawless "virtual presence" technology. Is that where we are headed?

LOTR Update: Two Towers, Gollum, Frodo and Sam in The Dead Marshes.

BIRDS: Brown pelican and more, but I have to look them up first.

Road Trip Day 5 - a swamp and Nawlins (new orleans)

2007-08-07T19:01:00.000-05:00

John headed off to work and the rest of us got cleaned up for the day. By the time we came home we needed another shower. It's HOT today.

On our first stop for gas I got a call from work and found out I GOT THAT JOB! More later about that.

Started the day heading over to a place called Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Refuge. I wanted to find the endangered "Red Cockaded Woodpecker" . Didn't see it. We walked the boardwalk trail, about a mile, most in the burning hot sun. *whew*. I did get to see one bird to check of my list. It took me about an hour of internet searching to figure out what it was when we got back to the hotel. It was a Yellow Crowned Night Heron (juvenile). That is the only checklist bird I saw today. But hey, that's one more off my list!

After the swamp sweat, we headed through Sidell, over a 5 mile bridge to get across Lake Pontchartrain, and into New Orleans. We headed right to the French Quarter. We had lunch, I had Muffliato ? sandwich, Jordan had a shrimp sandwich. I loved seeing all the architecture, but the T-shirt shops had a lot of disgusting things on them. We stopped at Jackson Square and the Moonwalk (river front walk). We saw the Supreme Court building too. We drove by the superdome on our way out of town.

The drive back was unremarkable. Tomorrow we head to the Gulf Coast - Grand Isle State Park (oh the BIRDS!) Just call me a bird loser. :-)

LOTR update - we are still in Two Towers, chapter 5.
BIRDS: Yellow Crowned Night Heron - juvenile.

Road Trip Day 4 - happy birthday Steve

2007-08-06T19:31:00.000-05:00

Started off the morning with a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday for Steve who turned 15 today. After we were all clean for the morning and had our breakfast, Jordan gave Steve his present (a Green Day CD). Then we headed off to downtown. First we drove around downtown not once but twice, trying to figure out the parking dynamics of a new place. We drove by the Brand Spankin' New "Welcome Center" situated right on River Road. Found some free parking by the tracks. The ladies at the welcome center were very nice. We walked from there over to the State Capitol, which was not in session so we got to see all the chambers. We also took the elevator up to the observation deck on the 27th floor. We saw a couple of very strange bugs up there. John things one might be a palmetto bug. After that we walked back to our car and noticed an odd thing. Probably not odd to Mardi Gras savvy folks, but new to me. I saw LOTS of beads that appeared to have been thrown up into tree branches.

Next we parked at 7th and Laurel and walked to the City Deli, a little kosher luncheon place. The kids weren't hungry but I wanted to try something. I had a pulled pork sandwich and it was pretty good! We then walked about 4 blocks to St. Joseph Cathedral. We went in and looked at the inside. Apparently they have confession on Mondays at lunchtime. Oh well. We were quiet but I did take a couple of pictures. The inside of the church reminded me of my own St. James in a way. By the time we walked the 4 blocks back to the car we were HOT. It was about 95 degrees and very humid. I drove by the Capitol Lake, parked and got out to take some bird pictures. The kids sat in the car with the A/C on!!

We got back to the hotel around 1 and played, you guessed it, BURNOUT REVENGE! Although first I finished my book. Jordan and I drove around to find the pizza place Steve wanted to go to for his birthday dinner, and we also stopped at Winn Dixie to pick up a birthday cookie for his "cake".

John finally got to the hotel around 4:30 or 5. We went to pizza. I tried this appetizer with sliced tomatoes layered with mozarella and basil covered with a vinigrette. It was pretty good. The pizza was good.

Back to the hotel for more BURNOUT REVENGE!! Steve enjoyed all his birthday presents. We left one at home so John wouldn't have to bring it on the plane. It was an Effects Board for his guitar. Can't wait to hear it!

BIRDS: Today I saw a Great Egret, a Snowy Egret, and I think a Neotropical Cormorant. Got photos of all three, so I will double check on the cormorant when I get back home. The other two were pretty obvious.

Road Trip Day 3

2007-08-06T08:21:00.002-05:00

After our free breakfast at the hotel we headed back to the car. I made the kids wait around while I tried to spot a bird making an interesting call that I didn't recognize. I never did get a good look at the bird though. Oh well.

We stopped at Walgreens and bought batteries for my camera and a gallon of water (the same price as an individual water!).

Next we headed north on I-110 and then US 61 to Centenary College State Historic Site located in Jackson Louisiana. This was a really nice tour. Our tour guide was originally from Joplin Missouri which was neat. We got some neat pictures. In one of the old dorm rooms where the old lead paint had been peeled back, this exposed some handwritten messages from the 1800's. It was very cool! 19th century college grafitti. Nothing bad. "Sophomore class of 1857" and a list of names is one example. Latin quotes was another. The really sad thing is that the Main Academic building with its 3000 seat auditorium was torn down in the 1930's. Before the days of historic preservation. There was no one to save the building. Kind of sad.

http://www.crt.state.la.us/parks/icentenary.aspx

We headed southwest on LA 965 to the Audubon State Historic Site at Oakley Plantation. Apparently he taught their child for a few months during the time he was drawing and painting for his famous Birds of America book. We met Gus the turkey and got caught in a sudden rainstorm. Very fun. A small plantation, but really neat because it was in the same family since its beginning, until sold to the state in 1942.

http://www.crt.state.la.us/parks/iaudubon.aspx

Well, by 1:30 we were HUNGRY. The nice lady in the visitor center at Oakley mentioned a little place called the Audubon Cafe next to an antique shop. That sounded interesting so we headed over to St. Francisville and found this place, right next to the local grocery store. The place was very homey, just old tables and chairs and a kitchen tucked into a corner. But the food, oh, the food. I swear that must have been the best egg salad sandwich I'd ever had. The kids each had something called pita pizza which was just a pita bread base for a pepperoni pizza but it looked really good. Then we splurged for dessert. Jordan had Butter Pecan Cake, Steve had Chocolate cake and I had Coconut Pie. Oh MY! Wow. We all sampled each others and WOW is all I can say.

We headed back to Baton Rouge with the thought of a nap. That actually turned into a Burnout Revenge round. Then I thought I would try and head out to Bluebonnet Swamp (to look for birds - just a few miles from our hotel) but when I looked it up on the internet, found out it closed in a half hour, so that was a no go.

Jordan and I got a load of laundry started, stopped by University Lake for a few minutes, and picked up some Wendy's for dinner. We watched the 4400 and then The Dead Zone on TV. The Dead Zone was really good. I hadn't seen it before.

BIRDS: Today I saw a Swan Goose and a Tri-Colored Heron!!!!

Road Trip Day 2

2007-08-04T19:16:00.000-05:00

After a nice late morning start, we ended up at Cracker Barrel for breakfast at 10. Actually that was a good thing, since after that yummy homestyle breakfast, we weren't too hungry until suppertime. The drive was once again flat and dull. As the sole driver I wasn't able to enjoy the scenery. Some things I did notice:

Older style air force jet in someone's backyard (seriously-their backyard!) that was adjacent to I-55.
Washington Monument style obelisk, complete with viewing holes at the top, about 50-75 feet high, right on the highway in the backyard of what looked to be some kind of commercial property.
Big red barn with a rainbow painted on it!

Okay, now here's a little tidbit. If you're taking I-55 south through Mississippi, be prepared. EVERY rest area was closed. Can you say "bummer"? We did stop at the Country Junction Truck Stop in Wesson MS. On a Saturday afternoon the restaurant section seemed to be the local hangout for old guys. However, the restrooms were clean.

We crossed into Louisiana and the Welcome Center was a great thing to behold, just one mile across the border. *sigh*. It was really nice. We picked up a lot of literature. I found an AWESOME Louisiana Gulf Coast guide to birds! WooHoo. I got my first glimpse of the "southern fox squirrel". I got a great picture of it too. You'll have to watch for my "road trip recap with pictures" post when I get home. It was a cutie.

LOTR Book on CD Update: We finished "Fellowship" and got two chapters into "Two Towers".

We easily found our hotel when we got to Baton Rouge. It was right next to an Outback, so that solved the dinner question. Kids had burgers. I just had some potato soup.

BIRDS: I saw what I think was a Great White Egret. There's a drainage ditch / creek that runs behind our hotel and the restaurant. It was just standing around. It flew off though when I tried to walk towards it, so no picture. Can't wait to get to the coast! I might try and visit a park tomorrow and see if anything interesting appears. We're on the 3rd floor and our balcony faces the trees, but all I saw was Mockingbird, Cardinal and Blue Jay. The Usual Suspects.

Okay, back upstairs to play some more BURNOUT REVENGE. Um, fellow moms, I HIGHLY recommend this Xbox game! Great for stress relief. You'll especially like it if you enjoy demolition derbies.

Road Trip Day 1

2007-08-03T21:13:00.000-05:00

A LONG DRIVE. Nothing exciting to report. We arrived safely in Southaven MS. We listened to much of "Fellowship of the Ring" on CD. That was relaxing for me as the driver. We skipped some of the boring parts. The kids got a bit tired of the british accent. Overall a good drive. Ran through a rainstorm in southern Missouri, but nothing too awful. It didn't last too long either. After a wrong Google maps turn, we called the hotel and got the correct exit (just 2 miles away) and found our spot. This hotel computer is very, very slow though. Must be dial-up or something. No rush to get up early. We just have a 5-1/2 hour drive down to Baton Rouge. We'll finish Fellowship early and be able to start on Two Towers, which is much more exciting than Fellowship. No bird sightings to report yet. I saw something I didn't recognize but as I was driving, I couldn't exactly pull off the interstate to whip out my binoculars! Eating lots of junk food and slugging down sodas like crazy. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better food day!

It's been a long, long month. - Updated 8/3

2007-07-04T06:59:00.001-05:00

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~start of update~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

July was just an awful month. What with Diane's , the family squabbling that ensued, and the bridge collapse on 8-1. There have been some good things happening too, but I just haven't felt like saying anything about how I'm feeling. It's just hard sometimes to put all that down in writing. Embarrassment? Afraid to share the deep stuff? Maybe.

Good things. Jordan's Lead America trip, Driver's Permit, and getting the job she really wanted. Steve's amazing guitar skills and my introduction to Halo 2 and Breakout revenge (the most awesome drive and crash game - I LOVE IT). Home improvements, much needed and turning out great! VACATION. Potential of a new job on the horizon? (hope and pray).

Time to move on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~end of update~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I haven't blogged for awhile. I guess I'm just too sad to try and put down in writing what I've been expecting for awhile. Diane is losing. She has been fighting cancer for about 10 years now. After just 3 she had her first recurrence/mets. She's been close to several times in the past few years. Medical advances have given her more years than any of us could have expected, but eventually comes the day when they say "There is nothing more we can do". That day came shortly after Father's Day. We drove up to St. Joe and visited on Father's Day, and that was Diane's next to the last day at home. She was awake and enjoyed our visit I think. However, she has been in a lot of pain for a long time, and it just became too much. She returned to the hospital a couple of days after Father's Day and won't be coming back anymore. Each time we have visited, she's been slowly getting worse. Last night we heard news that 24 hours may be all the time she has left now. Their kids have made picture boards already over the past couple of weeks, and a picture book, preparing for the funeral and rosary that will be said. God be merciful.

Hail Mary,
full of grace.
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our .
Amen.

Ohio Road Trip

2007-06-13T18:01:00.001-05:00

IT'S ALL ABOUT

AUBREY!!!

After many long years and hard work, she

completed

her

paramedic

school

Hooray!

Here we are on the campus of the college.

Cool stained glass

sculpture

thingie

L-R

Terry, Aubs, Steve, Sue, Grandma, DeeDee

Next day: Steve and I did a little touristy stuff

not wanting to wake the sleeping Aubs too

early. Here we are at the Scioto River park in Dublin OH

This is a sculpture of Chief Leatherlips. Ummm, there's a story about him, but I can't remember it right now.

Next we went to the Olentangy Indian Caverns.

It was a regular tourist spot with a climbing wall,

"gem mining" for kids, playground, souveniers, etc.

The museum part (which I'd have enjoyed) wasn't even open.

We saw this old church c.1810 on our way and

stopped to look through the cemetery.

This was on the tomb of a young many

who died in 1857 at the age of 23.

"Stop young friend as you pass by

As you are now so once was I

As I am now so you must be

Prepare for death and follow me"

The Scioto Mile - Riverfront park in

downtown Columbus OH

Steve and Aubrey

FRIDAY NIGHT CONCERT AT

THE LC

Here's a pic of the inside of the venue.

Band #2

The Scotty Bratcher Band.

Very, very good band!

http://www.scottybratcher.com/

Then, the act DeeDee came to see!

Here's his band....

And here is

Joe Bonamassa
ttp://www.jbonamassa.com/

This was pretty much one of the best

concerts I've been to.

The venue was small, choice.

The music was over-the-top excellent.

What a skilled musician

and an excellent showman too!

His band is superb. And to think we'd

never heard of the guy before this!

Ummmmm....

Don't think that

Steve is enjoying this.

Not for one minute.

*cough, cough*

L-R, Aubrey, Sue, Steve and DeeDee)

SEE OUR STAGE POSITION

FRONT ROW MOSH PIT

QUITE FABULOUS!

Little nature walk

2007-06-13T17:42:00.000-05:00

Cool Sky picture by Jordan

2007-06-13T17:40:00.000-05:00

Jordan took this stellar picture after we hung out at MLNS for awhile. Awesome!

Father's Day means sadness for some

2007-05-29T14:44:00.000-05:00

Father's Day is getting closer and I have so many friends and co-workers who have lost fathers just since the first of the year. It will be hard for them. I can't imagine not having my dad here on Earth. I wish I could do something for all these friends, Jim, Joanne, Judy, Dana and others. I wish they knew how often I think of them. In honor of lost fathers and living fathers....

Old as she was, she still missed her daddy sometimes. ~Gloria Naylor

The greatest gift I ever had came from God; I call him Dad!~Author Unknown

When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years. ~Mark Twain, "Old Times on the Mississippi" Atlantic Monthly, 1874

Fatherhood is pretending the present you love most is soap-on-a-rope. ~Bill Cosby

A father carries pictures where his money used to be. ~Author Unknown

Speaking of reason

2007-05-26T07:48:00.001-05:00

Seems like a lot of protestants (and I grew up one) take issue with the Catholic Church because according to some, we just sit at church and take whatever we are told without reasoning and questioning. Obviously quite untrue for those who care enough to seek out what's real and what isn't. There's plenty of questioning going on!

Unfortunately it seems like the same group think I shouldn't question this friggin' war, or use my capability to reason and my human instinct, my women's intuition. I should just take everything that's dished my way because otherwise I'm anti-American or something. What a joke.

Just Faith

2007-05-26T06:29:00.000-05:00

www.justfaith.org

I'm teaching it again next school year. A 30 week long process with two retreats. A huge time committment but one I feel so strongly about. I've been thinking ever since I went through two years ago as a first time student and co-facilitator about what I can do with myself, where I should focus. I guess now I finally recognize and am willing to admit and embrace that I do have a gift for organizing things, and "bossing" people around (haha). But it's true that not everyone has this skill. So, I think that by facilitating another year of Just Faith I will be able to put that skill to really good use. St. James is hosting the city-wide seminar on July 7th which is pretty exciting. I know we'll have a lot of folks from all around the diocese. As I go through it this year I will probably do a lot of blogging about the classes, reflections, etc. There were some really sad moments in the program. It happens when your eyes are opened to a different perspective. It's UNCOMFORTABLE to say the least. The first time you see that little kids in Peru live at a mountain of a DUMP and go digging through trash to find things to sell, well, you realize that if you don't have that new thing you want today, it just doesnt matter.

Lie to yourself

2007-05-26T06:14:00.000-05:00

Look deep inside yourself and if you're an American like me you'll probably see the heart of greed and materialism that we all carry around secretly inside. We want to have it all, our cake, eating our cake, freezing the extra, then disposing of the excess because we didn't need all that cake after all. Cake being a metaphor for THINGS. That's the root cause of the war. We want our things, protected, guarded and hoarded up for ourselves.

Americans proved in the last election that they CAN make a difference, upsetting the balance. I hope and pray that the balance will be upset even more. This war is NOT RIGHT. I'm so sick, sick, sick of human beings dying for this horrible cause that's really just about money.

The fear campaign aimed at selling the Iraq war was timed precisely for the kickoff of the 2002 midterm election. The president's chief of staff explained the timing as a marketing decision. It was timed, Andrew Card said, for the post–Labor Day advertising period because that's when advertising campaigns for "new products," as he referred to it, are normally launched. The implication of his metaphor was that the old product—the war against Osama bin Laden—had lost some of its pizzazz. And in the immediate run-up to the election campaign of 2002, a new product—the war against Iraq—was being launched. For everything there is a season, particularly for the politics of fear.

Excerpted from The Assault on Reason Copyright 2007 by Al Gore.

What is Your Power Bird? Blog Thing.....Have Fun.

2007-05-18T19:07:00.000-05:00

Your Power Bird is a Swan

You are a truly graceful and gorgeous creature.

You easily see beauty in yourself and others.

Intuitive and in touch, you can often guess what the future will bring.

And you're flexible enough to accept the changes that life has in store for you.

What's Your Power Bird?

The Killers in concert at City Market May 11 2007

2007-05-17T09:30:00.000-05:00

WHAT A NIGHT! We had such fun! Okay, the pictures of us aren't too good, since I had sunscreen slathered all over my face and not much makeup left. Oh well. Not too worry, most people were in no condition to notice. Jordan, Steven and I all got a concert T (see the picture from the Nelson below to view mine!). The opening band was "Red Romance...FROM NEW YORK". (they kept saying this after every two songs. "We're Red Romance...FROM NEW YORK". Ugh. Okay, okay, you're from New York, great... Thanks for sharing. Second act was Hot, Hot Heat. Very great! Then the main event! A dancing mass of people scrunched up together. We hit the road about 10:15 pm and headed home, before the end. But the kids and John had to go to St. Louis the next day for a TKD tourney. Here's some video and some pictures.

Sam's Town:

Here are some pictures from our cell phone cameras.

May 16 - Girl Scouts at the Nelson/Plaza

2007-05-17T06:04:00.000-05:00

Our idea was to spend an hour at the Nelson, but little did we know they close at 4:00. We arrived about 3:55! Oh well. They let the girls use the restroom, thank goodness. We spent about half an hour in the sculpture garden, then headed over to Cold Stone Creamery. Mmmmm.

May 16 - A Northern Mockingbird

2007-05-17T06:01:00.000-05:00

I took this picture on my way to a church meeting. These birds were very defensive, feeding their little babies, and did not like getting their picture taken!

May 13th Jakob the Grad

2007-05-17T05:59:00.000-05:00

L-R, Jordan, Jakob, Steve

May 4th - Landon's picture

2007-05-11T05:38:00.000-05:00

Landon was born today! He was 8 pounds 13 ounces, 21 inches long, born at 1:35 p.m. All the assorted Lunts are doing fine.

May 4th...17th anniversary

2007-05-11T05:34:00.000-05:00

Friday May 4th was a fun day! I took the day off work. John and I exchanged presents in the morning (see below). Spent the better part of the day on the Cross Stitch hop with La Verne and Mary Jo. That was a lot of fun. I got some really good buys on the clearance racks. I guess none of us won the big prize since we didn't hear anything. Oh well. We had lunch in Lawrence again at the same place as before. I keep forgetting the name of the place. Oh..Milton's... That's it. Made it home by 4:30 which was a small miracle with all the driving we did!

John and I had dinner at the Texas Roadhouse and that was really great! They danced shortly after we arrived, very cool in a country sort of way. We did a little shopping at Vintage Stock, picked up Seven Samurai the old black and white movie.

2007-05-11T05:23:00.000-05:00

April 30th, ROYALS game. We had a nice family evening attending the Royals versus the Angels. The picture below is the Royals only run of the game. After 3 innings the score was 3 to 1 Angels, and that's how it stayed for the remainder of the evening.

Wednesday I took the girls scouts to the new part of the Liberty Memorial. I hadn't been yet but can't wait to go back and spend more time. They closed at 5pm so we didn't have too much time. While there we got to sit in a listening booth and listen to early 19th century poetry about the war, songs of the period and more. It was very interesting. I think our tax dollars are well spent here.!

Weekend update

2007-04-30T14:02:00.000-05:00

It was our usual Friday night at the dish. This time however I had a nice little $25 “reward” to use up! That’s always nice.

Saturday dawned bright and early! No sleeping in for any of us. John and the kids (after Cody arrived to ride along) spent the morning and early afternoon down at Municipal Auditorium for regional Tae Kwon Do qualifier / tournament. They even saw the Olympic coach there so that was pretty cool. Me? Well, I worked a few hours overtime, but only until noon, made some headway on a long-term project and completed two small projects. At noon I stopped by the house and grabbed a PB sandwich, then headed over to my favorite nature sanctuary and spent about 2 hours just walking the trails, taking pictures and enjoying the sun and fresh air. There’s one trail where the deer always seem to hang out during the day (off to the right of the trail). When you walk along all of the sudden they will scare the **** out of you, running across the path right in front of you and down the hill towards the creek. I got home just a little after the rest of the family. They had a great time! John and I drove over to Lowe’s to get some batteries and stopped at Sheridan’s for a little treat. We took a walk through the park too which was nice. I got a lot of exercise today!

Sunday was an early day again. This time I joined John and kids at Municipal. John and I ended up assisting the official photographer. He was an interesting fellow. He had a nice camera get-up which he enjoyed showing. Of course, I was very surprised that he left it sitting under the table with no guard after he said it was a $15,000 camera. Maybe he exaggerated a bit. In this job we were right next to one of the rings and got to see a lot of sparring matches. It was fun! I left around noon so I could get home and get the laundry going. I drove back downtown around 4 to pick up the family. On the way home in my rearview mirror I spotted some motorcycles (about 20) moving VERY quickly, darting in and out between cars, and prepared myself. As they WHIZZED by at top speed John and the kids really jumped. I said out loud, “those guys must have a death wish!” It was very scary thinking what would happen if just one little misstep happened. There was one lone biker that was trying to catch up with the group, but he got stopped by the cops. Sunday night ended with the last Planet Earth episode on Discovery channel. It was the filmmaker’s commentary, their favorite shots, how they did it, etc… Very cool show. I can’t wait for the DVD.

Jordan's confirmation

2007-04-25T18:09:00.000-05:00

After they came into the church (Jordan and La Verne on the left).

Fr. Joe, Fr. Matt and Bishop Boland

Bishop Boland, La Verne and Jordan

Jordan's confirmation group and the leaders

Jordan and La Verne

A very great day.

Steve in "You Can't Take it With You"

2007-04-25T18:00:00.000-05:00

The last night of the play! John took my place selling tickets since I had to drive 5 hours to Columbia and back (see previous post!). The play was just FABULOUS! Some of the kids were in Midsummer Night's Dream with Jordan last year. Anyway, here are some pictures.

Jordan at Reader's Theater STATE FINALS

2007-04-25T17:46:00.000-05:00

Okay, so here's the story. Friday the school bus left LHS early and headed to Columbia for semi-finals. The team was one of FOUR to qualify for Finals on Saturday. Of course, Steve had a play that same night and Jordan really wanted to go. So, we decided that John would stay home and get Steve to his places Saturday, and I would drive to Columbia and pick up Jordan after their performance. Here's my funny story.

1st. The drive. MUCH longer than anticipated. I called Jordan's cell to let her know I didn't think I'd make the performance, but to call as soon as she got the message.

2nd. Found out later Jordan's cell phone was on vibrate. Ummm. She didn't get ANY of my calls or text messages.

3rd. Showed up at Hickman High School where I thought the performance was. Lots of cars in the parking lot, but oddly not a single school bus. Hmmm. Well, I parked and walked in. There was a table with a couple of students sitting there, a registration table of some sort. I said I was looking for my daughter. They told me to follow the green signs to the auditorium. I got to the auditorium and it was quite dark. A movie was showing. I sat in the back and tried to peer through the darkness and spot Jordan. The crowd seemed a little thin for a state competition. I walked out and flagged somebody down, and asked what was going on. They said, "they're watching a movie". Well, duh. I went back in and sat down. Sent a text message. Peered again. After about 5 minutes I thought to myself "this is just wrong". By the way, I didn't mention this, but the movie was about the horrors in Bosnia and quite graphic. Probably not what a bunch of Forensic finalists would be wanting to watch, right? I walked out again and saw an adult, but just as I started to ask her a question, several hysteric teen girls came out of the auditorium and she had to calm them down. FINALLY I went back to the registration table and said "I really think I'm in the wrong place" and mentioned the state finals. One WONDERFUL young lady knew JUST what I was talking about. The finals were at a different school, but she told me it was over by now and they'd be at MU for the awards ceremony. She drew me a wonderful map. I subsequently found MU (what a way to have a first time visit!) and immediately saw Jordan's group (distinctive in their red shirt and black pants)across the street from where I parked. Their bus had just arrived. So, we were reunited and able to head back home! Found out Monday that her team placed 2nd.

Steve and Katie

2007-04-25T17:43:00.000-05:00

NO KISSING ALLOWED!!!

hehehe

April 20th - Friday Date Night

2007-04-25T17:36:00.000-05:00

With the kids busy with their respective theater and forensics activities John and I took a walk through the neighborhood park. There's a migrating Warbler in town. I saw it at Martha Lafite too. It's the "yellow-rumped" warbler, Myrtle version, Spring Male coloring. Cool! After our nice nature walk we headed over to The Dish and relaxed a bit. A nice evening.

April 15th - Martha Lafite

2007-04-25T17:31:00.000-05:00

Steven, John and I spent an enjoyable hour at Martha Lafite Sunday. The first picture is the McGowan bridge. It is really fun to photograph. The next picture is me by the biggest sycamore tree (i think) in Liberty. Lastly, Steve and John by Rush Creek.

Some pictures

2007-04-14T05:14:00.000-05:00

EASTER WEEKEND

The men

The Women

Kevin and Diane

The gals

HOW TO DRESS WHEN THE WINDCHILL IS ZERO

HOW NOT TO DRESS WHEN THE WINDCHILL IS ZERO

Grandpa's trains

Mary and David

David at his computer

Steve and Missy

Two weeks later.....

2007-04-13T09:35:00.000-05:00

I don't know why I haven't blogged for awhile. Just lots going on I guess. Kids in their respective theatric productions and other obligations.

We had a nice visit with Mary in Minnesota. I'll post some pictures later on this weekend. It was FREEZING. I think one day that Mary drove me out to some lakes around her area the wind chill was zero. I had the idea that I would see some bird up there that I hadn't seen down there. I think all the birds were HIDING from the wind, except that red-bellied woodpecker I saw and a few ducks and geese.

Easter day was nice. We had brunch with the in-laws in St. Joe, then stopped by to see Kevin and Diane. Steve had his first band practice that day too at his friend Nick's.

One of my kit ideas got accepted by the store "buzz into spring" and I am trying to put together 10 kits. I came up short and stopped by last night to pick up 2 pieces of paper and in addition, received my design team assignment.

Exciting news that cuz Karen is preggers! Fun! I'm already plotting all the crafty things I want to make. A little scrapbook, a little blankie, etc.... *sigh*.

Got the Mass of Creation and Mass of the Angels and Saints music from Tom Tuesday. The latter seems to come easier for me, probably because its my favorite mass music. The pipe organ lesson went well. It was a bit intimidating.

Tomorrow I'm going to work a few hours for the hospital, then a few of us gals are going to Parkville. That should be fun. Have to work Sunday too for them. Whee.

Spring

2007-03-27T21:58:00.000-05:00

My favorite day of the year is the day when you look across at the land, and seen the faintest sheen of light yellowish green tint, and you think "are there leaves?" and you realize YES, leaves are starting to bud! (look very, very closely to see that green, but it's really there! )

Weekend update, one of those weekends where its either real good or real bad.....

2007-03-27T21:26:00.000-05:00

Friday after work, finally made it to RACK DADDY'S. I have driven by that place for years, literally, every time I drive to Ind. Center. Anyway, a few of my coworkers and I, and John tagged along too, investigated. It's a dive, but hey, it's awfully close to work which is handy. They didn't start getting busy until about 4:30 or 5. Our margaritas had about 90% tequila. Oh WOW!

Friday night we had what will probably be our last dinner for eight of the season since Clint and Andrea would have had a turn, but they were unable to come. John and the host had words after the host brought up the bill the House of Rep just passed setting a date for getting troops out of Iraq. Our host should not have said anything, but once he did, well, we just can't sit by anymore and let these stupid comments go. I think the problem is the church we are in is getting to be a little on the elitist side as far as some are concerned. Sometimes I want to go to St. Monica's and join a more diverse parish, but then I think, it's probably better if we are where we are and try to educate those we are with. So, thinking real hard about facilitating a new Just Faith season for 2007-2008. Oh, John's dessert was great by the way, buster bar dessert. MMMMM.

Saturday I headed up to work my 4 hour shift at the crop. Joann came up around 1 and we were able to have a nice long talk in relative privacy. She is in a tough spot, facing her dad's death and being farther away than she would like to be. I am glad she came by. I had been so worried. When I got back to work Tuesday I saw the e-mail that her dad passed away early Monday morning, so she's off to Chicago for the funeral. I know she was really worried about many, many things, aside from grief, but how would her mom live if he was in a nursing home was a pretty big worry. She was relieved that he didn't linger on and on, suffering, and the family suffering along with.

Left the crop about 5 and picked up the Fillas for their anniversary double date. 17 years for them (us too in May). We saw Arnez J do his stand up routine at the Majestic at Zona Rosa. That was interesting. It was quite weird, we had a table almost at the stage. And, as we were the closest white people to the stage, we got picked on, a BUNCH! But, hey it was still fun. I laughed so hard I had the hiccups for 30 minutes after we left. We stopped at the Brass Rail but couldn't get a table, just too busy.

Sunday morning, I was thinking of sleeping in, but the laundry called my name and I got up early. The boys did some yard work and oil changing. I went back to the crop from 11 to 5. Didn't get much done. Just two layouts. One is a speech and debate layout which was the best one I think. Two of my four kits have sold. That makes me happy. I wish I could think of something brilliant for a new kit. Managed to get the laundry done while we watched this new Discovery Channel program "Planet Earth". It was really exciting to watch. Great, amazing, wonderful.

Monday I only worked 3 hours so I could go to the dentist. Turns out I have a fracture in a molar and it will need a crown. Geez. School board mtg was interesting. A lot of great discussion about the expansion project, our parent surveys, elections, and more. I can't believe, only a May and June meeting and then that's it for me! John's out of town to St. Louis this time, just until Thursday. But Thursday night and Friday night are the fish cut and the fish fry. Some days I wonder if it'll ever just slow down. Then I second guess and think, "hope not!".

Jordan got her class ring! Here are some pictures. She's got a debate symbol and a martial arts symbol. Can you see the peace sign in the stone?

Steve and I went to the thrift store to find a dark colored suit for his part in the spring play. He also found this cool red tie! I printed out a guide to tying the windsor knot and he did it a couple of times, a breeze!

Random Thoughts......

2007-03-22T12:26:00.000-05:00

Can’t help smiling

As I walk on my breaks and lunch sometimes I just have the biggest grin on my face. The actor Alistair Sim said it best in A Christmas Carol. “Oh, I don’t deserve to be so happy…. (begins laughing) I just can’t help it!” Today why the big grin? Just listening to “Matchmaker, Matchmaker” from Fiddler on the Roof. Like I said, I just can’t help smiling when I hear that song. I thank God every day for the gift of music. What a beautiful thing. It is just amazing to me how a composer / artist can take a few notes and twist and turn them into something so emotionally charged. Same thing as good writers do I guess, but with music, just some individual notes put together. It awes me. Another piece that is on the opposite end of the spectrum is the music from the movie “Glory”. There is joy there yes, but not giddy joy. It’s strong, heroic joy, woven through with sadness. How did the composer do this? What sparked it? How did he figure out how to translate emotion into musical notes and various instruments? Who teaches that? Music is a Miracle.

Travel for work stinks

John’s off again next week. This time to St. Louis. Since I’ve already volunteered for the food kitchen Monday from 3:30 to 7:30, I have to make alternate arrangements for the kids music lessons. That’s not such a huge deal. The lonely part is the huge deal. I feel like a part of me is missing when he’s gone.

Evelyn

So my good friend Evelyn and I will be at the food pantry serving Monday. I have wanted to go but was never able to. Now with my flexible hours at work, this is possible for me. So, I’ll probably make it a new habit. Can I tell you about Evelyn? She is dear to me, but the funny thing is, she doesn’t know why. I guess she’s humble. I think she’s about 81 this year. When we first started talking about Peace and Justice about three years ago, it was just the two of us, and the job was too big, we weren’t sure where to start. Then we got Pam and Carol involved and got Just Faith going. Over the years I think Evelyn has been losing faith that humans will ever change and create what we are capable of creating on this planet. She can’t believe that I am ever optimistic about humanity’s future. Of course at the rate the U.S. is going…. I just had better stop right there or I’ll get myself into trouble. Let me just say with our wealth and advanced social ideals, why aren’t we leading the world in this respect? Why are we beating up other countries? Why do we treat the planet, our ONLY planet, like CRAP? Okay, I’ll stop now. Love ya Evelyn.

Cropping Saturday and Sunday

I’ll be up at the Paperie Place most of Saturday and Sunday cropping my little heart out, and working too. My plan is to get our Road Trip pictures all scrapped. Of course it would help if I’d upload them to Walgreen’s and get them printed out. Maybe I’ll do that tonight after my hair cut.

Speaking of haircut

FINALLY getting my hair cut tonight. It needed it about two weeks ago. That means I’ll have to get some highlights and do that tonight also. My highlights are just old enough that if I cut off an inch of hair, it’s going to look like I dyed my hair darker! Ah, the lives and trials of women with gray that can’t stand gray.

Back in the music game....

2007-03-22T09:02:00.000-05:00

While my girl scouts were busy planning their May 5th dance (money earning), I spent a bit of time with our music director. He's had a notice in the bulletin that he needs piano/organ players to help out. One of our main helpers is getting up there in years and I can understand the need. Anyway, I talked to him about it and we are going to work out some times to meet regularly, probably after Easter. I went home and dug out all my old copies from the Gather book and picked out a few to focus on. My favorite is "Shepherd Me O God". It's very lovely but haunting too.

I can't begin to say how neat this is to me. I've kind of put my piano on hold for a few years, kind of didn't want Jordan to feel like I was competing or that she had to be better than me, or I was better than her or any of that silly stuff that moms and daughters sometimes get into. Plus, I really had no reason of my own, no incentive, to practice. I mean why bother? Well, now I have a reason and an opportunity to take advantage of. I want to someday play "Little Fugue in G" on that organ! Woo Wee!

"Talking With..." by Jane Martin

2007-03-20T21:06:00.000-05:00

Jordan performed the part of the woman in the "Lamps" segment of this series of monologues. My second favorite was "French Fries". See below.

Talking With, a radically new type of drama consisting of 10 monologues, each done by a woman and each employing a symbolically charged prop. “This is a play about women daring enough to leave their mark on those closest to them, and brave enough to allow themselves to be marked by those with whom they share their world,” he says. “It is only through this shared experience - as painful as it sometimes may be - that they - and we - are able to fully exist.”