Front Page Girl

I just completed Front Page Girl a fascinating autobiography of Doris O'Donnell, former writer for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and some other newspapers. She grew up in a neighborhood not far from my church and stayed local most of her career. The blurb on the front cover states "A memoir brimming with local flavor and political intrigue" and it did not disappoint! The story of Ms. O'Donnell beginning her career in Cleveland and following several national stories is fascinating. The more local stories about the history of organized crime in northeast Ohio were eye opening too.

With the turn of every page I learned more tidbits of Cleveland history I did not have opportunity to pick up anywhere else, such as stories of some of the mayors in the city's history, the race riots in the 1960s, and the history of some of the unions so important to the region.

But most interesting to me were the stories of Ms. O'Donnell's travels abroad. The lengths she would go to in order to get a story are stated matter-of-factly in her book, but the fact that she went to those lengths is what set her apart from her peers during her career. I can't help but agree with her opinions about how news reporting has changed in the last two decades especially.
I am interested in the stories of Cleveland's history. Through reading front Page Girl I discovered two more books to request from my local library. I hope those lead to even more!

Apple Raspberry Crisp

Thank you, Dulce Domum, for the raspberry recipe in my comments on this post.

Yesterday my son and I had a chance to go and pick a few more berries. When I got home I made a big apple raspberry crisp (also called crumble). The house smelled so wonderful all afternoon, and the kids peeked in the oven door countless times while it was baking. The colors of the raspberries run together with the apples are so pretty too.

The cookbook I used recommends serving the crisp with heavy cream. That's is scrumptious, but we will probably opt for vanilla ice cream instead.

Herman and Grandma

Today I'm showing two dolls from my collection. Herman is a little four inch Red Coat soldier from the time of the American Revolution. I don't know why I decided to name him Herman. He has just been Herman as long as I can recall. Likely, it was a suggestion from my mom. He looks to be a model officer with his tricorner hat, powdered wig, lace ruff, big brass buttons and high polished boots. Herman is one of the oldest dolls in my collection. I don't remember a time when I did not have him on my shelves in my childhood room.

Later on, Grandma was added to my collection. I bought her when we took a family vacation to Colonial Williamsburg. That would have been some time around 1975 or 1977. I bought her primarily because I loved the lace she was tatting and the beautiful blue of her dress. But I got the small sized souvenir doll rather than a larger one so she would not dwarf Herman! As they are from the same time period I used to display them together.

Sometimes I'd imagine Grandma was forced to quarter Herman. Other times Grandma was a Tory making a gift for Herman's girl back home in England. Still other times, Grandma was an American spy weaving messages into her lace. Do you think General Washington spent much time admiring laces? Well, in my child's imagination he must have!

Here is a close up of Grandma's work table.

Pease Porridge

I remember going through phases with pea soup. There was a time when Mom would make it and I'd stifle a groan. Then I began to enjoy it in small doses. Now, I love the way it makes the house smell and the way it tastes.

Two days ago we had the aroma filling the house. I limited myself to one small bowl as a snack. Last night I let it sit in the refrigerator to thicken.

Yesterday it was delightfully thick. I added a cup of milk and began mixing it in as I intend to enjoy this for my lunch. The tea ball you see at the lower left in there is holding small crumbles of bay leaf. (I'm out of the nice whole leaves.) I should have removed this before I let the soup thicken, but I forgot.

The other ingredients are green split peas, the small remainder of a bag of split chick peas, water, salt, pepper, an onion, and some carrots, and some chopped ham.

It is good hot and good cold, but I think my preference is room temperature. And it never lasts nine days around here!

Racing Pigeon Field Trip

Yesterday the kids enjoyed the sunshine and each other's company as they learned more about racing pigeons and show pigeons.

Our speaker, Paster Tauscher, gave a presentation about his pigeons and answered many, many questions from the all-ages audience. It had been almost two years since he had last given his presentation to our group. There were some children attending this time who were not yet of school age last time. The attention Pr. Tauscher gave to each of them was wonderful.

Setting up:The Artist took a great interest in the birds, and was thrilled to see he had brought back her favorite variety from last time, the German Owl. She took careful notes listing the other varieties we learned about this time: Polish Lynx, Figurina, Mookie, Nueremberg Lark, Archangel, Thai Laugher, Galation Highflyer, Comoorner Tumbler, Bronze Show Tipler, Domestic Show Flight, Flying Tipler, Parlor Tumbler and Tumbler/Roller.

The Tumbler and Roller were fascinating -- I don't think any of us had seen pigeons do somersaults before!

The hands-on experience was fun for all, except maybe for the pigeons:This year we got to watch as around 20birds were released to fly the 15 miles back to their home. We saw them circle a field several times as they oriented themselves and then flew off south en masse. I was a fraction of a second late with the camera, but you get the idea!

Question and answer time:

Yellow!

The Engineer received his yellow belt at Tae Kwon Do last week. He worked hard on his test, and he was so very proud to earn his new belt.

The instructor hands the new belt to his student, the Engineer. The Engineer receives his old belt back with a knot in the belt, symbolizing his progress.

The Artist tested last week also. As she was going for a more advanced belt, she has to wait longer to get her results.

Why The Engineer...

...is called the Engineer:

Here he is watching the Standard Deviants Learn Geometry. He needed help opening the CD case, but he can get the answers right on the quizzes.
I loved geometry too. In tenth grade!

On Compromise

A few days ago an email made its way to my inbox to inform me that

"comments were received by the ODE
which overwhelmingly stated that the Ohio homeschool laws and
regulations were working fine and needed no substantive changes."

Every five years the state's home education laws are to come under review by the department. It seems the home-schoolers who sent comments to the Ohio Department of Education during the comment period of the law review process largely wrote that the law is working fine, no changes are needed.

This means for the next five years, at least, we can expect no substantive changes. The two changes being implemented will remove an obsolete reference to a section of the Ohio Administrative Code and will update the definition of "teacher" to keep in accordance with teacher licensing changes in the state. When I read this news I felt relieved that I would not have to learn a new system, and I was pleased that things would be staying the same.

Then, I reflected upon those feelings. Now I''m still struggling with my ensuing thoughts. We in Ohio had an opportunity to decrease the regulation over home schooling. Now, for another five years, that opportunity has lapsed. I am profoundly thankful that Ohio home school regulation will not be increased. Still, the status quo is a compromise in principals of freedom.

These thoughts were tumbling around in my head while I was preparing a meal. As usual, the radio was on and I heard a newscast. More stuff about McCain. Just the evening before Rick and I had had a discussion about how dangerous we thought Obama's ideas and inclinations were. Even more dangerous than McCain's!

I started the primary season wholeheartedly believing I could not spend my November vote on any of the Republicans. Since then I've learned more about Obama, about Chuck Baldwin, and about Ron Paul, and Alan Keyes. My county's board of elections website has been inaccessible for a couple of days now. So I'm unable to satisfy my curiosity and tell you now which of these third party candidates will actually be on my ballot. I suspect my favorite, Keyes, is not.

The other night, Rick and I talked about how we loathed the idea of holding our noses to vote again. We discussed how far left McCain and Obama were, and how far left the Republican party would move if Obama won, and if McCain won. And we ended up undecided about voting against the worst candidate verses voting for the best available. Oh how we wish NOTA were an option on our ballots. I'm not so willing to compromise this election as I was four years ago.

Why is that? Why am I so willing to accept the status quo with regard to Ohio home schooling laws and regulations? Why do I find myself merely thankful it didn't get worse, when at the same time I'm so resistant to voting for lets just keep it from getting worse in November?

Remembering

Photos © AP or Reuters
Aerial view of collapsed Pentagon wall. Photograph taken on September 14, 2001.

Writing Assignments

The Artist has had her share of writing assignments this summer. She earned herself a research paper early in the summer as a form of discipline. I think she learned about herself and about our expectations for her as well as a bit more about how to write a paper from that experience. She completed the paper she had all summer to do, two days before the start of school!

On the eve of returning to school for the fall she found out she would be testing for her red-black belt at Tae Kwon Do. The instructor has his intermediate and advanced students write papers for him in conjunction with their tests.

Mr. Weidendorf (Mr. W) chooses topics individually for each student. Last time, the Artist had to write about "Why Am I Important to Mr. W.?" This time, she has two essays to write. He wants to know her thoughts about "What is My Contribution to Class?" and "What Do I Expect to Do After I Achieve My Black Belt?" Here she is planning her martial arts future.

I appreciate the writing assignments. They light a fire under her complacency that I cannot duplicate with school work. Part of that is the subject matter and part is that she is doing the work for someone other than Mom.

The test was on Saturday. She should find out her results in a couple of weeks.

Summer Experiments

Now it is back to school time, and Homestead Lutheran Academy will take more of my time, and blogging and knitting will receive a lesser share.

The summer was not completely devoid of school work though. The Artist took achievement tests, the Engineer and I read library books, and the kids did some self study science.

On those days when we stayed indoors the kids needed something besides videos or television to occupy themselves. A little experiment package came to my rescue. This pack, from Educational Insights has kept the two of them occupied (and not arguing) for hours. The kit was produced in 2001, and I can't find it at their site anymore, but they have lots of other fun things to offer. The Artist reads the instructions and the kids gather the items they will need from the kit box or around the house. She likes being the leader, and for now, her brother is a willing apprentice.

Painting Workshop

Today is the first day back at school for this fall, but before I spend time blogging about that I'd like to catch up of some fun stuff that happened over the summer. When my aunt was in town for my dad's retirement celebrations she was able to spend some time visiting at my house. One day, she took the Artist shopping. They brought home several paint supplies and my Aunt spent the day teaching the Artist how to paint various things.

After learning how to care for her brushes, hold her brush, and prepare her paint and the Artist learned how to make several different kinds of flowers. Most of these they practiced on paper. Later on they did decorate some cardboard boxes with painted lace and leaves and flowers. The Engineer received some new watercolors from his great aunt. He didn't want to be left out of the painting action! The next day, the Artist continued practicing her painting. She also painted a wall mount sailboat for her brother. He chose the name Waterbird on his own. Until Mom or Dad gets around to mounting it on the wall, it will remain asail on the dresser top.

Children's Choir

May 24th our church held an installation. What a blessing to have one pastor retire and another installed in consecutive weeks. We avoided all the effort usually associated with calls. Well, from the layman's perspective we avoided it. I did not consult any board members before making that statement.
The service was beautiful and we had many guests helping to fill the church with music and song. We are fortunate to have a children's choir as well. And several child-guests joined the children's choir in singing Kyrie, God Father in Heaven Above (TLH 6) at the close of the service.
They did a fantastic job, and it was so nice to read of District President Cripe's commendation of the children's choir.

Thank you Presbytera and Barb the Evil Genius for working together on rehearsals and directing.