I Didn't See It

The Artist is convincing me more and more that she is aptly nicknamed.

After a party she and her brother delighted in popping a bunch of balloons on a string. When the noise quieted down there were lots of balloon pieces to pick up. They looked like garbage to me.

Ahhh, I was blind to the possibilities. With an artists' eye, she went right for a piece of paper so she could make an outfit.
Where I saw busted balloon belly buttons, she saw a blouse, a belt and blue jean capris.

Lately when the Artist draws, she is concentrating on the clothing of her figures. She took careful note of the gymnast's uniforms during the Olympics, drawing and labeling each one with it's wearer's name.

Church Like You've Never Experienced Before

Any sirens, bells and red flags in your head? When does a gimmick go too far?

Me too. This post card came in the mail last week. It's immediate effect was a tired sigh and great sadness for a population that needs to be entertained all the time. Are coffee houses on the 'church' campus not enough any more?

As if the front of the mailer were not sad enough, the reverse is down right depressing. I thought better of scanning my name and address, but the head shaking, hand wringing text I will quote. All the words from the postcard are bold to distinguish from my grumbling commentary.

"Church in a theatre? Yep! No formalities here. Grab a bag of free popcorn and check out Momentum -- great people, live music, funny videos, and attention grabbing topics that will speak to your soul. Mo engages all five senses. How? Well, it doesn't hurt that we meet in an auditorium that smells like butter..."

I don't know why they end with the ellipses. Could it be they were not entertained enough in English class? But let me continue with the text.

"[Momentum] might hold services in a theater,but it works!" -Mark Holan, The Sun Courier

No perfect people allowed! // No one stands alone! // No making out in the back row!

Was I supposed to laugh there? I'm not the least bit amused. I do want to tie up my tennis shoes so I can run. The other way.

And in bright orange at an off set angle we have
A church for people who hate going to church.

And I am to
Consider yourself invited...
Sundays 10:00 a.m.
@ (the local cinema complex)
Our next sermon series is "Momentum at the Movies" (Did they print a bad six letter s- word there?)
September 7 - October 5
Read more about it at
and then they include their website.

I don't suppose the six letter s- word will contain any condemnation of sin. I don't suppose the blood shed in Christ's atoning sacrifice will be mentioned. I believe it will be proclaimed that if you come back next week, and keep coming back, you will be on the right path.

I also believe the only benefit people will leave with is butter stains where they wiped their fingers on their jeans.

At first Rick thought we were put on the mailing list as a joke. But the spelling of the name makes me believe this was instead a mass mailing to the whole community.

I can turn a bit of a joke on him though. I saw that they are holding band auditions. If work and Hurricane Gustav were not causing him so much grief right now he might think that is funny.

Salute to Retiring Pastor

A week ago Sunday our congregation and celebrated Dad's career and his retirement with a banquet. Part of the program included three congregation members giving a salute to the honoree.

Months before, Rick and I knew the Artist was one of those selected to give a speech. She took the news in stride when we told her about it.

A few weeks ago over dinner we asked the Artist what she would like to say about her Papa. She came up with several items which I jotted into a bullet point outline. When we were done eating, she created the sentences around those bullet points.

Here's what she had to say:My Papa is special to me in three different ways: as a pastor, as a Latin teacher, and as a grandpa.

My Papa is my pastor. I like seeing him on Sundays, and I enjoy listening to his sermons, even though I do not always understand some things. Sometimes it helps me in situations, like when I get the creeps from reading a spooky book, I think about something Papa said in church about God, and that helps me go to sleep. Grandfathers should always help their grandchildren go to sleep.

I am happy Papa is my Latin teacher; I enjoy seeing him on Wednesdays when we have class. I like how he answers questions in class: instead of giving us the answer, he helps us figure it out. Sometimes he makes class funny. For example, the class translated "Dux proelium ferum spectabat" into "The general was watching the fierce battle," and Papa said, "Of course he was watching the battle; he couldn't sleep with all the noise!"

When I visit Papa's house, he always seems to know what I would like to do. He gets me interested in things, like a picture history book we looked at once. He shares movies with me, like Narnia movies and My Dog Skip. He always has a treat for Nathan and me, and sometimes he takes us out to eat.

I am happy that Papa is my grandpa. Thank you for being such a big part of my life.

Finis

Boy's Crafts

I'm not much of a crafty person. My talents will never be confused with painting, drawing, and sculpting. While I can use scissors and glue, it is not often that I want to. For some reason I still find the craft stores fun to browse, even when I'm not in the knitting aisles.

Earlier this week the kids and I had an opportunity to go to a craft store with my Aunt. She is a real, true, genuine artist and shopping with her was fun. First, because she came into the store knowing exactly what she wanted. Second, she wanted those things because she was going the give the Artist an all day painting workshop.

The Engineer was not so keen on painting with his great aunt. He did get to pick out some things of his own, however. He got some watercolors and a coloring/activity book, and a sun catcher craft kit.Leave it up to his little eye to spy the sports themed sun catcher on the wall with all the flowers, hearts, rainbows and butterflies. It was the very last one.

When we got home and got the girls started on their workshop, he read all the directions aloud to me. Then he carefully filled the sections of the frame. That part held his interest longer than I expected it would. He was patient for the baking, but not for the cooling off. He could not wait to get the sun catcher in the window where Daddy could see it.

Book Giveaway: Sweetsmoke

Indiana Jane recently posted about a book giveaway she is having at her blog, Indiana Jane's Journal. Sweetsmoke is a civil war historical fiction by David Fuller. Plantation life in Virginia during civil war times is a setting that has been used before, but the reviews at Amazon unanimously note that this story is exceptional and exceptionally well told.

All three reviewers at the Amazon site give the book five of five stars. In particular, Indiana Jane explains why the writing draws the reader in to the story. I look forward to being drawn in myself!

Retirement Celebration

Yesterday our congregation celebrated my Dad's career with a retirement party. An enthusiastic group of people worked together to pull off this event, and I think it went without a hitch. The hall was beautiful, the food was great and the program was fantastic.
The Artist, the head Deacon and Dad's assistant Pastor all addressed the group. The Sunday School children did a catechism recitation for the event. Sorry for the blurry picture. I'm glad I was not the only photographer. My camera is acting up and giving me messages that files are empty and such. I'm hoping other people have better snaps of this that I took! The children with some um-pa-pa support from the pastors in attendance also sang a German song for Pastor Gross. I must mention, too, that our gifted organist and choir director composed a piece for the choir to sing for the occasion. It sounded lovely in church and the encore at the banquet was beautiful too. The program was rounded out with the group singing several of the hymns Dad has written over the years. His collection of hymns, mostly iambic pentameter, is called Five Feet from Cleveland.

Brussel Sprouts

When Rick was out of town the kids and I had a chance to try the caramelized brussel sprouts the Rebellious Pastor's Wife wrote about here.

It is a winner! The Artist and I loved them. The Engineer decided not to try them in favor of the other vegetable that night. For once, I let him get away with not trying. That meant there were more for the Artist and me! Seriously, though, I'm very proud of the Engineer for his sudden willingness to try new foods countless times over the last couple of months.

I do not have any coconut oil at home, but I have plenty of butter. I also have olive and sesame oils. For this recipe I chose the butter and a little sesame oil. When the sprouts were browning nicely I removed some from the pan to give others more contact with the pan surface. It was tempting to eat them straight away!

Because of using the sesame oil I omitted the lemon juice sprinkling at the end.

In the past I've taken advantage of Rick's business trips to serve brussel sprout soup or steamed brussel sprouts. Those were usually just for me. I'm pleased the Artist likes the caramelized version too.

The Kitchen Window

Outside my kitchen window I can see a portion of my driveway and a close up of a neighbor's tree. I can tell whether our gate is opened or closed. I can also see a bit of the neighbor's well kept back yard and garage.

Dad has a kitchen at the back rather than the side of his house which makes for better views in all seasons. This one is pretty,especially because he doesn't have any veggies in his garden, only blackberries which have so far been left alone.

We do see deer around our house but not usually in the daylight like this. Mostly I find their tracks in the soil.

Irish Doll

When I was a little girl I had some relatives who traveled extensively. They kindly remembered me while en route around the globe and brought home for me some delightful souvenirs. Most often, the gifts were dolls dressed in native costume from the countries they visited.

After a few years of collecting, my mother noticed I needed a way to display the collection that I was accumulating and she built for me a beautiful corner cabinet with glass doors. I still have the cabinet, but it no longer contains the dolls as they grew too numerous for it.

Thankfully, the dolls were rescued from living in storage boxes when we bought our house. The former owners had built a huge desk and hutch into a basement bedroom. The hutch shows the dolls nicely as they can be viewed from both sides.

When cleaning my office this past week I dusted off the dolls and had a chance to revisit the memories I associate with some of them.

This little lady was a gift from my relatives after a trip to Ireland. Unfortunately, I don't remember receiving her. She's been in my collection longer than I can remember. I do remember naming her Little Green Riding Hood.

Tribe Memory

While diving into some much needed cleaning of my office that dark room in the corner of the basement where I store stuff, I uncovered some Tribe memories.

I thought I spied a fallen roll of gift wrap on the floor of the closet I was cleaning. Closer inspection showed the paper was wrapped in plastic.

"A new roll?" I wondered if it was generic or Christmas or floral or masculine.

As it turns out, 'twas none of those, but something better. I'd relocated a poster from the Cleveland Indians centennial season. Nice! It must have been a premium at the ball park, because it is not the sort of thing I'd spend money on. What a nice thing to decorate a boy's room with, though. Wheels are turning in my mind. Imagine how it would coordinate with these curtains on the Engineer's window!Later, in another part of the extremely cluttered room I found three of these posters. I remember receiving them last year when we exited the then called Jacob's Field after the division-clinching game. I guess it really has been a very long time since I've cleaned this room. As we were handed them I remember wondering what happens to the thousands of posters ball clubs print in preparation for this day and then the team loses that last opportunity to clinch?

I re-rolled all the posters together, keeping them in one place this time. Perhaps when the Engineer outgrows the kites and airplanes decorating his room now he will enjoy a sports theme. He loves baseball, and hates to miss an Indians game. I am a little worried though. Twice this week he sought me out to tell me, "Seriously, Mommy, I like the Cubs." And a few days later, "I seriously like the Cubs, Mommy." Both times he had such earnest in his voice and on his face.

Hear The World

Hear the World is a game my mom had bought from Discovery Toys years ago. I'd guess 10 - 15 years ago. Both of my children have enjoyed playing it with each other, alone, or with the family. Now the neighbor children I babysit a few days a week are enjoying the game too.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to find any place where this toy is still sold. However, it would not be too complicated for one to make his own version. The game box holds four cards, each with nine photos on them, an audio cassette (told ya it was old!) and ten each of four colors of chips.One to four players may play. To begin, select a card and color of chip. Play the cassette, and listen to the sound. Can you identify it? Some are unmistakable, like the popping popcorn, crying baby, and thundering waterfall. Others like the dolphin or distinguishing herds of sheep from the cows take more concentration. If you have the photo that corresponds to the sound on your card, place your chip on it. You can play for three in a row as in tic tac toe, four corners as in Bingo, play until a pre-set number of pictures are covered, or see who is first to cover their whole card.

I wonder if I can record the cassette sounds on a CD to make it more likely my grandchildren can enjoy this game!

Typing

This summer the Artist has been working with a typing tutorial I found on the internet. I looked at several and she tried three different typing websites before we settled on the one that worked best for us.

I like Free Typing Game dot net (the green option in the middle of the page) because it has more than lessons that make clear which fingers should be striking which keys. This program is different in that it allows the user to adjust goals for the lessons. The Artist chooses from a drop down menu which of the 30 lessons she will practice. Then she selects her word per minute goal from another drop down menu.

New keys are drilled as they are introduced, then a review is given. I like that the reviews use real words as much as possible. The program encourages speed and accuracy in that it gives the user an adjusted WPM score after factoring in errors at the conclusion of each lesson. And as a bonus for home schoolers who keep track of such things, each lesson has a certificate that can be printed out upon completion. The certificate lists the lesson, who took the lesson, the date and the results.

Soon the Artist will be clicking on the companion program, Free Typing Tests (the blue option on the right in the link above). The tests review letter combinations and numbers in detail. And finally the student is ready for test 26 in which classic tales are typed and graded for speed and accuracy.

Laughter to Tears in 30 Seconds

Hmmm, I find myself wishing for a camera phone for the first time. This post would be funnier and sadder with photos, but it is not to be.

On the way home from a friend's house Thursday morning the kids and I saw a sign that made us laugh. A local German cultural organization had posted a sign advertising their Oktoberfest. The sign said:

Oktoberfest
Sept. 12-14

While we were still regaining our composure we passed another sign. This one I did not point out to the kids. A local church's digital sign flashed the message:

Polka Mass
Aug. 3

I can go for a good polka. Can you guess which one I might attend?