My Empty Nest

If I were starting over -- how to do preschool at home, homeschooling a preschooler, starting home school, beginning home education

2011-07-25T10:31:00.012-04:00

Our four daughters are now all adults. Even though we did not start formal "school" with any of them until age 7, they all subsequently skipped a year somewhere along the way and ended up graduating right "on time". Oh, and yes, they all went to college, too.

I wish I had let them all learn more independently and less "formally". I wish I'd let them homeschool more than the between 3-7 years each that they had (even though almost all of their institutional time was served in small christian schools). I wish that, back in 1981 when we first started homeschooling, there'd been the kind of support for homeschooling that is so widely available now.

Anyway, for those of you with 4 or 5 or 6 year olds who are thinking and wondering about homeschooling, this is what I recommend for those early years before that "cognitive leap" that comes around 8-10 kicks in:

If I were starting over

For "curriculum", I would use Five in a Row

and the wonderful Ruth Beechik Three R's booklets--check out the reviews--impressive!

In addition (and perhaps more importantly), I would:

Talk (and listen!) with them throughout the activities of the day--answer their questions, explain how the world works, show them how to be responsible and thoughtful of others and gently guide them to develop the good characters that will benefit them their entire lives.

Make sure that they have regular chores that they are responsible for completing. When my now-adult daughters were pre-readers, I made some picture cards to illustrate the chores the non-reader was to do so that they could gradually become more independent about meeting their responsibilities.

Do as much outdoor stuff as possible.

Play lots and lots of audio tapes of Bible and other character-building stories--particularly nice while driving around, doing art stuff, playing with blocks or legos, cleaning up, falling asleep.

Do lots and lots of reading aloud.

Provide plenty of time for play with blocks, legos, baby dolls, toy cars, dress-up clothes, etc.

Allow (and encourage) lots of those imaginative games that seem to require complicated props to be arranged--all over the house, of course, it seems.

Give them opportunity for counting things while setting and clearing the table, etc.

Help them learn measurement and fractions while helping cook.

Do letter sound games. Perhaps also make or buy sandpaper letters for them to trace around with fingertips and find pictures of things for them to match with the initial letter.

We'd do science experiments with water, light, levers, etc. (often using ideas from library books or illustrating principles that come up in everyday life). Help them learn how the world works--and children, particularly young children, learn best by doing, not hearing or seeing. A study was done comparing children who studied science but not reading in the early school years with children who studied reading but not science in their primary school years. When they compared the two groups in 5th grade, the early science/late reading kids were better and more avid readers than were the early reading/late science kids--who tended to avoid both reading and science.

Let the child tell stories or about experiences or outings (for you to transcribe) and then draw pictures to illustrate. (Put together into a book they make a wonderful keepsake of the child's life).

Don't forget creative art stuff--just supply a box with regular paper, construction paper, markers, crayons, scissors, glue, glitter, etc. and the opportunity to use it all (and clean up afterwards) and the children will provide the creativity!

Mazes (pencil practice) and puzzles provide opportunity for practice in logical thinking and small motor development.

Thank you cards can get very interesting when dictated by the child, transcribed by mom or older sib and then illustrated by the child.

Let's Talk About Television

In order for the approach to learning/education/life that I am outlining here to be successful, it is absolutely vital to drastically limit the child's exposure to/time spent with television and video games.

The biochemical/physiological explanation is very complicated but the bottom line is that because of the way the brain processes the kind of stimuli received from television, watching television actually deadens the language and analysis (thinking) parts of the brain! In the developing brains of children, television's damage to language and thinking skills (as well as to the ability to concentrate and even to learn to read) is particularly pronounced.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has responded to this discovery by recommending that children under the age of 2 be protected from exposure to television. No TV under two! Because of the great cognitive growth that takes place between ages 3-5, I'd expand that no-TV recommendation to age 5. At the very most, expose those precious little preschoolers' brains to no more than 30 minutes a day of carefully selected non-commercial television (Mister Rogers, for example).

For parents of older children, AAP makes these recommendations:

* Remove TV from childrens' bedrooms
* Limit children's TV viewing to 1-2 hours per day
* Avoid using TV as a baby sitter.

Again, your children will be much better off (mind, body and soul) if you limit their time with TV/videos to no more than 1/2-1 hour a day of thoughtfully selected programming. We used a token system to help keep our TV watching under control. Each person received 5-7 half-hour tokens at the beginning of each week and it really made us think about what we wanted to "spend" our time watching.

Oh, and, if you have to be away and don't want the children watching TV in your absence, just slip a tiny padlock through one of the holes in the plug. ;-)

Television anesthetises the higher brain functions so that what is seen on television is stored in the deepest parts of the brain as reality. Our conscious minds think "It's only TV" but, deep inside, we really believe what we see. That is why TV advertising works--and we "consumers" keep buying more and more "stuff" that we really don't need.

Television, as we know it, exists primarily for the manipulation of the minds and behaviors of the masses. If we want to raise thoughtful children, it is up to us to protect them from television's brainwashing power.

After that 8-10yo Cognitive Leap

After that cognitive leap kicks in (usually when the child is somewhere between 8 and 10 years old), it's time to "fill the gaps". This is the time when a child is ready to gain the foundational skills for future self-education. It is time to work on what didn't come easily.

If low key learn-to-read opportunities haven't already produced avid readers, then now is the time to become very intentional about making sure that every child becomes a skilled reader. Reading is the key to higher level learning and to much of success in life so this needs to become a high priority. Like any skill, reading becomes easier with practice, and, the easier it is, the more enjoyable it will be and the more the individual will read. Interestingly, my two later readers, the ones for whom reading was the most difficult to master and who didn't become fluent readers until ages 8 & 9, remain the most avid readers as adults.

After the child is reading fluently, instruction in spelling becomes appropriate--ideally by using words the child has misspelled to help him/her internalize the 28 Rules for English Spelling

Again, aside from learning the actual mechanics of penmanship, the rules of capitalization and punctuation, and basics of grammar, (the process of getting thoughts from brain to paper), quality writing comes from quality thinking and from reading well-crafted works, so choose carefully what your child will put into his/her brain. Just "reading" in and of itself isn't the goal, but reading that which will educate and influence young minds for good.

Keep your long-term goals in mind when deciding what you want your children to do for "schoolwork". In fact, I strongly recommend actually committing your long term goals to paper and then reviewing your progress (and goals) every year or so. Do you want to raise thinkers instead of media-following lemmings? Do you want children who will be self-deciplined workers for God? Decide now what sort of adults you want them to become and then study, consider and, most importantly, pray for guidance to find the best route to your ultimate goals for your precious children.

Mathematical literacy is nearly as important a life skill as is reading. After that "cognitive leap", children are more ready to comprehend mathematical concepts and better equipped to memorize basic facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication). Math is learned by doing math and doing math and doing math so this is not an area in which to skimp. Try to find a math curriculum that will allow the child to move ahead at his/her own pace--rapidly in areas that are really just review and more deliberately in areas that s/he finds more challenging.

Algebra, in many cases, is better saved for after the next cognitive leap (often around age 15 or so). That said, a definite correlation has been shown between level of mathematical attainment and eventual income level. Again, once your child is the age to start to dive into academics, don't skimp on math!

People remember what they do. This is the age of experimentation. Now is the time for doing lots and lots of hands-on science experiments and nature study. Now is the time to develop a love for scientific discovery and a treasure trove of discovered details.

Mathematics is the language of science, so while that foundation needs to be strong before it really becomes possible to delve deeply into the higher sciences, there is still a wide abundance that can be learned about God's beautiful creation. Again, don't get boxed into "grade levels" but go directly to expert sources--learn to identify local birds, insects, trees, flowers, rocks, stars, and find ways to discover the principles of the physical and chemical sciences. Get a chemisty set and go through the experiments while learning the vocabulary. Do experiments with air, water, gravity, vacuums, propulsion, and heat exchange, etc. Guess what will happen if you do this or that. Try it and see if you were right. Figure out why things happened the way they did. Think of ways to try the experiment slightly differently. Predict how the outcome will change. Encourage your child to wonder, to observe, to experiment and, most of all, to think.

History is the story of how different peoples lived at different times. Read their stories. Whenever possible, travel to where they lived. Dress up like them and do the things they did. Imagine yourself living there and then. When learning about new people/peoples, find out how they connect to those you've already met. Put their pictures on a timeline to help you make that connection. There is plenty of time yet for memorizing dates--this isn't that time.

There is a wonderful window of academic opportunity tucked between the 8-10yo cognitive leap and the distractions of the onset of puberty. Take advantage of this opportunity to lay a strong foundation of the skills that will allow for a lifetime of learning.

One More Thing

Learning is also to a degree dependent on physical health. Do not let your children be sedentary. Model an active lifestyle that includes the children - suggestions include: daily family walks, frequent visits to recreational facilities, town sponsored swimming lessons, for those in northern climates, try the "mid-week ski specials", soccer and other active games.

It is very easy for children to develop a sedentary lifestyle that will result in a number of health problems that can interfere with learning and life in general.

Active children will be much more efficient and effective in their studies.

I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

2011-01-19T08:44:00.005-05:00

I've been loving this delightful new season of grandbabies and was recently reminded of this lovely old poem so thought I'd share it. Other tasks definitely have to wait when I've been rocking my (grand)baby and babies don't keep.

Song for a Fifth Child
by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
For children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

Doctor Larry's response to the statement "God hates divorce."

2010-09-25T21:27:00.003-04:00

God loves those that He created and hates to see them hurt. We tend to frame 'church' issues about divorce today in our own social and cultural contexts. However, in the days of Moses God told His people (Deuteronomy 24:1-3) that a man could give his wife a divorce certificate if he found something 'unclean' (indecent - not adultery which carried the penalty of death) in her she would have to leave and he would be free to marry whoever else he desired.

This to us sounds very harsh, however, God was trying to improve the lot of women when He gave Moses this regulation to stop the process of simply sending a wife that was no longer desirable away with no explanation. In these days a woman who was no longer a virgin (yes, they kept the undergarment they wore the night of their marriage to prove they were a virgin on the night of their marriage) being sent away was effectively taking all support away from her because property - the source of wealth - followed the husband's family line. What did she have left to support herself? Not much - s*x trade or selling themselves as slaves were their only options if they were not received back into their father's house (which they might well not be due to the affront to the family honor).

What is God doing? He is trying to elevate the status of the women that He created to be the equal to the men that He created. Jesus commented on divorce (Matthew 5:31) and said that the only grounds for divorce was adultery by the woman. He is again elevating women and their position in society by restricting capricious marriage/divorce because someone more attractive or socially/financially better connected is now available to them. He is essentially saying to the men of His day that when you marry a woman, you are to love, honor and care for her forever. If she is always faithful to you, you are to never divorce her. In so doing He is providing for support for them and their children throughout their lives in a day when there was no welfare or Social Security.

In fact, if the man took a second wife, he was required to still give the birth right (a double portion of the father's possessions) to the oldest son of his FIRST wife, even if she was no longer his favorite wife. God had to spell this out because Jacob didn't get it right.

Yes, God hates divorce because of the way it hurts - REALLY hurts - the women (and the children they have borne) that He created, loves passionately and died to save.

Please do not ever take anything in Scripture as pushing you as a woman away from God. God loves women and is very hurt and upset with the way men treat the women that they marry and then do not love the way God loves the church (remember: He DIED for the church). Until we as husbands have loved our wives as God does, there is no option for divorce in God's eyes. I believe that we, as men, will be called to account in the judgement for the way we have treated our wives.

This is not to say that wives have free license to abuse and mistreat their husbands either. But historically the 'power' was with the husbands and too often was abused.

Christ and His apostles, including Paul, uplifted the rights of women to/toward their rightful status that they had at creation.

Larry
Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

Homemade baby wrap

2010-06-02T19:39:00.002-04:00

Homemade baby wrap, originally uploaded by LarryandJean.

Cut five yards of cotton "homespun" fabric in half lengthwise, round the ends and hem all edges. Voila! You now have two inexpensive and easy-to-make summer weight wraps for baby-wearing.

Fabric shoulder bag

2010-01-29T20:18:00.001-05:00

Fabric bag, originally uploaded by LarryandJean.

I thought it would be useful to have a key/phone pocket on the corduroy side of the reversible fabric bag I made for my "baby" sister.

Oral Rehydration Solution -- Homemade Pedialyte Substitute -- Electrolyte Replacement Solution -- for Vomiting or Diarrhea

2009-02-04T09:20:00.015-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I caught a stomach bug that's been going the rounds in our town. I needed electrolyte replacement so mixed up a batch of the World Health Organization's Rehydration Solution. This doctor-approved recipe replaces all essential electrolytes with simple ingredients that, with one possible exception, are already in most kitchens.

I was very glad we already had the potassium chloride (salt substitute) right there in the cupboard. I was even more glad that very slowly sipping one glassful was enough to turn things around so that I could then switch to water and apple juice. Ah, but that one glassful tasted delicious...which tells you how much it was needed.

Here's the recipe for anyone else who might pick up a (not so) lovely stomach bug:

WHO Oral Rehydration Solution

Table Salt (NaCl) 1/2 tsp.*
Salt Substitute (KCl) 1/2 tsp.*
Baking Soda 1/2 tsp.
Table Sugar 2 tablespoons
Tap Water 1 Liter (= 1 Qt. 2 tablespoons)

Chill. Can be served with fresh lemon squeezed into it. One can also mix it with Crystal Light or "sugar-free Kool-Aid" - don't use Regular Kool-Aid as it takes extra sugar which can worsen diarrhea.

This tastes quite salty to someone who isn't dehydrated.

__________

NOTE: *Morton's Salt makes that is half NaCl (table salt) and half Potassium salt (KCl) and is called "Lite Salt" - if that is what your grocery store has, simply use 1 teaspoon of the the Lite Salt in place of of the table salt and potassium salt.

I highly recommend
1) copying down this recipe and putting it where it'll be easy to find when you need it and
2) getting some potassium containing salt substitute--add it to your shopping list now so that it is there when you need it!

__________

The doctor says

"Have small children start with 1 teaspoon every 5 - 10 minutes, which is usually quite well tolerated. The amount can be increased every 30 - 60 minutes (2 teaspoons, 3 teaspoons, 2 tablespoon, etc. every 5 - 10 minutes). "

__________

See a physician if any of the following occur:

1. No urine output in 8 hours,

2. No tears with crying,

3. Excessive thirst,

4. Dry mucus membranes in the mouth,

5. Persistent vomiting and/or diarrhea,

6. Abdominal pain, especially abdominal pain that settles in the right lower abdomen.

__________

Keyword: Pedialyte Substitute, Abdominal Pain, Vomiting, Diarrhea, Dehydration, Rehydration, Electrolyte Replacement

Oral Rehydration Therapy Part Two...or...dealing with Diarrhea

(written by a Family Practice/Emergency physician)

The electrolyte solution (see recipe above) typically tastes REALLY good ... when you actually really need it and is the preferred oral rehydration fluid because the potassium (which gives it the 'flavor') and sodium in it cause 'active transport' of fluid across the small bowel wall and into the blood stream.

I mix the rehydration solution with Crystal Lite (or generic) beverage powder to help the palatability issues as well. Sugar-free KoolAid and other similar beverages also work -but don't use any powdered beverage that requires sugar or you will be very disappointed or will have to use way more sugar than you should. Why not just use more sugar you ask? After all it IS a natural product. Well, too much sugar in a beverage (as occurs with soda, Gatorade and all sports drinks that need to provide 'quick energy') causes an increase in the osmotic content of the beverage. A high osmotic level is the principle behind GoLytely, the colon prep for colonscopy procedures. Therefore, avoid sports drinks and other beverages with sugar in them while ill and convalescing from gastrointestinal viral illnesses causing vomiting and diarrhea.

Additionally, even when vomiting actively, about 1/2 of the fluid consumed IS absorbed even though it 'looks like nothing stayed down." So keep taking fluids frequently in small amounts. I recommend starting with 1 teaspoon of clear liquids (which do not include soda or sports beverages of any sort preferrably as they can worsen diarrhea - see above) every 5-10 minutes. Increase the amount of fluid by 1 teaspoon at at time every 1/2 to 1 hour. If you get nauseous or vomit, back off to the last volume that worked and keep going. Over a few hours one can get up to taking an ounce or more at a time, which will effectively provide 180-360 ml of fluid per hour - as much or more than a physician would prescribe by intravenous route.

Finally, remember "LACTASE". Why? It sounds so innocuous. Here is why. This digestive enzyme sits like the 'frosting on the cake' in one's small bowel ready to help break down dairy products that we eat. Yes, it is just resident on the surface of the bowel lining. So, imagine taking a hose, even at a low spray force to a birthday cake. Even if the cakes survives, the frosting is quickly swept away. So it is with the Lactase lining or coating of the surface of the bowel after repeated episodes of diarrhea--it's gone. You have just lost the ability to digest any dairy products effectively for a couple days AFTER the last diarrhea stool until more lactase is formed. So avoid ALL dairy products including cheese, ice cream, milk, yogurt (I'm sure I missing some) during and for a couple days after your diarrhea spells.

OK. Say you didn't know or ignored my advice on dairy. What then? OK, here is what happens. The dairy that you eat gets curdled by the acids in the stomach and make their way to your small bowel where ... nothing happens. (Remember in usual state of health the lactase enzyme splits the lactose sugar molecule into smaller sugar molecules that your body can absorb - but lactase is 'missing in action'). So your dairy continues on its journey through your GI tract until it hits your ... large bowel. There it meets up with its friends - colon bacteria including E. coli and others. These bacteria LOVE dairy products that contain undigested lactose!!! They jump right in and start splitting up the lactose molecules into the basic building blocks of life: Oxygen, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, and sugars.

And what is wrong with that? Nature is providing the built-in back up system, the dairy gets digested, the bacteria are healthy, fat and happy. Where's the problem? Oops. The by products of the bacteria who have had a happy feast are ... GASES!!! They also created double doses of sugar in the large bowel where they cause ... osmotic diarrhea because there are at least two molecules of sugar for every molecule of dairy. They also cause bloating and cramping and ... gas (yes, THAT gas - flatus).

See, wouldn't have just been better if you avoided dairy products for a couple of days after your diarrhea stopped?

Hints to make colonoscopy prep (with Golytely) a bit easier

2009-01-05T19:32:00.008-05:00

This time last week I was in the midst of prep for everyone's favorite (not!) procedure--colonoscopy. I'd eaten lightly the day before (so there'd be less to clear out) and then had been surviving that day on clear liquids and was just finishing up the not-so-fun every-ten-minute downing of a glass of Golytely.

As you see, I survived it and so can you. Here are a few hints to make the prep go easier when your turn comes for this procedure:

I used a tall, thin glass for the chilled Golytely (premeasured and marked so I'd know how full to fill it each time). I drank the Golytely over the kitchen sink so as not to have to worry about cleaning up any little spills or splashes. The kitchen timer was very handy for notifying me when it was time for the next glassful.

Before taking the first swallow, I'd hyperventilate--breath in and out deeply several times--then take a deep breath, hold it and pour that stuff down my throat while swallowing as fast as possible. It didn't taste too bad until I breathed out. Then..blech. However, I'd quickly grab a second glass with lemonade flavored Crystal Light to rinse and spit (into the handy sink) and gargle. That worked amazingly well to clear away that Golytely taste.

The pharmacist told me that the laxative works better if you keep moving around. It took about an hour (during which all those cold fluids had me shivering) before I began to see any results. Which leads us to the next hint: your anal area won't get as sore if you've invested in a thick package of flushable moist wipes--generic is fine. You'll find them either near the baby diapers and wipes or the adult diapers and wipes. To further protect that sensitive area from digestive acids during the colon cleanout process, apply a layer of vaseline after cleaning up each time.

Drinking the Golytely wasn't my favorite thing to do but I liked that it did its job relatively quickly and the cleanout was done in time for me to get hours of sleep. When I had a colonoscopy 10 years ago, I had phospho-soda and that stuff kept me dashing to the bathroom almost all night. Definitely not fun.

Now--go ahead. You know you need to do it; call your doctor and get yourself scheduled for your colonoscopy. It could save your life!

I'm a Sewing Fool

2008-12-22T11:41:00.010-05:00

This is the year of the homemade Christmas gifts and projects and in the last month I've made:

6 unbleached muslin pillowcases. They look like real pillowcases--I was in awe! Auntie A. did a beautiful job of decorating and personalizing them using fabric markers.

2 fleece pillowcases. One extra long for a body pillow and both with plastic snaps.

1 child's jumper our of red fabric in a sturdy duck. It's a trial run for possible later jumpers in school uniform blue.

1 twin sized flannel quilt. The front has two colors of 6" squares in a checkerboard pattern. But it does have batting and backing, and a very tricky self binding which required a fair bit of work to get the pattern to come out right all the way around.

As you can see, it was a big hit--which makes all the work so worthwhile!

1 padded fleece cat bed. The fleece is held in place with a stitched-in cat outline in the center. This will be appreciated both by the cat and her loving owner.

1 fleece scarf. That was unbelievably easy, though, just measure and cut!

Auntie B. provided wonderful help with filling the gift box by knitting two beautiful doll-sized afghans and two child-sized scarves!

Once the box was in the mail, and Auntie A's much anticipated Christmas-themed scrub top finished, I started in on the Christmas pageant costumes. Most of the costumes the church has used the past several years mysteriously vanished so I set about to create replacement costumes for Mary, Joseph, an adult shepherd, and two of the three wisemen. (I ran out of time so the third wiseman was creatively wrapped in a long length of fabric.)

Fortunately, the childrens' angel costumes didn't disappear and we still had most of the simple child sized costumes (suitable for shepherds) I'd made a few years ago so the job wasn't as bad as it could have been. It was still a challenge, though, making 4 long robes, 3 cloaks, and several drapes, headwraps, ties and other accoutrements in just under 10 days--the family was about ready to toss my machine out in a snowbank! Well, I'm sure the OC was tempted but, instead, he cleaned and oiled my tired, complaining machine until it fairly purred. He definitely had me purring, anyway.

The pageant is over for this year but this project isn't done yet. The other night, I went out and bought a length of lovely (discounted 60%!) gold brocade to dress up one of the wise men's costumes. I'll be watching all year for on-sale fabrics that can be used to improve these costumes...and so that next year there'll be three fully and (hopefully!) beautifully costumed wise men.

But I will not be buying any more satin--no matter how beautiful and silky it may look. That stuff is horribly slippery and difficult to work with...(shudder)!

Now it's time to stop writing because Auntie A is hoping I'll get her winter-themed scrub top done very soon...and it isn't even cut out yet...

The Frugal Tourist explores NYC

2008-10-29T11:37:00.058-04:00

The OC had business in New York City...with a paid-for hotel room. How could I possibly not go along and share that free hotel room when it had been decades since I'd last been in NYC?

We drove to where I-84 and the Hudson River intersected, parked our car and took the Metro North commuter train while looking out at the wide river almost all the way to Grand Central Station. We passed prisons (the destination for those "sent up the river"), West Point, and went under the Tappan Zee bridge that we've so often driven over.

We came out of the subway into the hustle and bustle of Times Square with its flashing bright lights and teeming crowds.

The next morning, the OC went off to do what he'd come for and I set out to explore the city while also seeing how little I could spend for a day in New York.

Hey, look! There's the famous Radio City Music Hall. Wait. What are all those people doing crowding around the entrance with lights and giant white reflectors? Must go see...

They must be setting up to film something. I wonder what.

"Pardon me, sir, but why are all those people standing around over there?"

"They're extras? Waiting to film a scene for a TV show? Cool. When will filming begin? In about half an hour or an hour? Thank you. I'll come back then. Bye."

"Oh. One more question, please, but what show is it?"

"30 Rock?" "Uh, okaaay." "And it will air on October 30, you say?" "Thank you."

Walking away, (to his relief, I'm sure) I'm thinking to myself, "Hmmm, it will be interesting to see what they do behind the scenes. Did he say "3rd rock" or "30 rock"? Ah, well, off to check out the place where crowds of people try to get seen on NBC's Today Show.

Hey, they're doing that outdoor thing right now. Look at the crowds of people. I'll just hold up my camera and see what's happening.

Well, my camera can see cameramen, the back of Al's bald head...and more people! Me? I can see the backs of the people in front of me...until the cameras get turned off, that is, and people start to drift away and I can finally see the center of the ring.

Okay, that was interesting. I guess. Now to walk a few blocks back to where I can watch a TV show being filmed.

Whoo-eee, at this time of the morning, at least, the streets of midtown Manhattan seem to be filled with primarily taxis and busses with only an occasional car. Oh, and a great many walkers, too, of course.

Wow! Those are some serious cameras they're using!

There they are--filming in action. Of course, I can't actually see the action...

Now they film the star (with green scarf) walking along. Hmmm, she looks kind of familiar.

They kept the cameras rolling while she stops to do an interchange with a "family" of actors/extras. I have no idea what they were saying--I guess I'll have to wait until Oct 30 when I can watch 30 Rock and find out! The lady in the khaki pants was one of the many extras who kept walking back and forth to add "sidewalk of NYC" realism.

I hung around there a long time snapping pictures ("No flash! No flash!") and trying to stay out of their way because I was certainly not one of their extras!

Someone finally told me the name of the green-scarfed star; she's pretty famous now--in large part because of the Sarah Palin impersonations she's been doing recently. The man in front of her, I'm told, is Peter Dinklage. (Thanks, Shelly)

Yup, it's Tina Fey! Three yards away from me. And, before you ask, no, I certainly did not do anything like interrupt the filming to ask for an autograph.

But I confess that I was fascinated watching them all work. It takes a lot of people to film even a few minutes of television!

I finally left them to their project and continued on with my own project--playing frugal tourist in New York City.

After walking several blocks, my feet began to get tired (all that standing around on hard concrete watching TV shows being made is hard on feet) so I hopped on a city bus bound for Lower Manhattan many, many blocks away. Cost: $2

When the bus driver said we were nearing Ground Zero, I got off and began exploring. In a big, elegant building that turned out to be the World Financial Center, I found a Rite Aid. It just happened to be running a sale on Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate so I bought 3 bars. Cost: $1

Half a block back, there was an intriguing raised green area. So, I pulled a water bottle and an apple out of my backpack, opened one of the chocolate bars and set off to have a picnic. Except that green area turned out to be the Irish Hunger Memorial--a rather incongruous place to assuage my hunger. Pondering the pain of those thousands and thousands of starving people did make me appreciate my simple lunch all the more.

I got my first glimpse of part of the massive crater of Ground Zero from an overpass not far away. Downwind, there was still the faint hint of smoke in the air.

See that bit of green and the church steeple on the left?

It is St. Paul's Chapel, Manhattan's oldest public building in continuous use. It was witness to the Great Fire of 1776 and host to George Washington on Inauguration Day. It survived the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and was where the many rescue workers rested and were fed after 9/11. Amazingly, the trees took the brunt of the crashing debris and not even a window was broken in the chapel.

I made my way down canyons of tall buildings in search of Wall Street and finally got a glimpse of the Stock Exchange.

But then a gorgeous building caught my eye. I had to find out more about it!
So, of course, I promptly crossed the street in search of a sigh, placard or door. It turned out to be Federal Hall, the first capitol of the U.S. and the site of George Washington's first inauguration.

After exploring the inside of this fascinating national memorial, I came out the other side to discover crowds of people--including several news crews--in front of the New York Stock Exchange building.

"What ever is going on here?" I wondered. It turned out that I was there on the scene at the beginning of the stock market plunge!

There were five or six news crews from different countries filming reports to be sent out via satellite. I was able to identify crews who were filming broadcasts for Russia, Brazil and Japan--countries whose own stock markets, I found out later, have also suffered severe declines.

"Please explain to our viewers at home the effect this dramatic drop in the US stock market will have on them."

I bade a non-too-fond farewell to the scene of the stock market frenzy and fear

and took myself off toward Battery Park in search of the dock for the (free!) Staten Island Ferry.

It was a beautiful day for a boat ride from the tip of Manhattan across to Staten Island and back--with a good look at the Statue of Liberty both ways.

By now, I was running out of time before the OC would be expecting me so, after getting off the ferry, I rode the subway ($2) back up toward Times Square and our hotel. The OC and I walked a few blocks past Carnegie Hall

and on to Central Park where I got to see the beautiful handcarved horses of its famous antique Carousel.

In Central Park, you can forget you're in the middle of a big city...until you look up!

bus ride: $2
candy bars: $1
subway ride: $2

A day of New York City adventures: priceless

How to make veggie sushi ~or~ How to make vegetarian sushi

2008-10-17T08:29:00.017-04:00

The first time I tasted veggie sushi, I knew I'd found a new favorite! But it's so expensive to buy premade and making sushi myself seemed so difficult and mysterious what with its unfamiliar ingredients and strange, hard to find equipment. Where would one find a bamboo rolling mat, after all? Not at my local grocery store, that's for sure! They do sell sticky rice, though, and the seaweed sheets called nori and even the special seasoned rice vinegar that gives sushi its distinctive flavor, so I decided to go for it. And if my homemade sushi looked weird and tasted worse, hey, I'd have had fun experimenting, anyway.

I am here to tell you that making sushi (especially veggie sushi) is not difficult at all! Okay, confession time. First I did a lot of internet research and there are some sites with great directions and photos out there. And then Sunny (who has made sushi, only she calls it something Korean--kimbop) conveniently phoned me while I was right at the most intimidating stage. So I asked her a whole string of questions whose answers I hadn't found on the internet. Perhaps I'll be able to answer a few of yours, too.

So. First you need to buy some sushi sticky rice. I think it can also be called sweet rice. Then cook it according to package directions. But apparently you don't be too intimidated about the rice. Sunny just used what she happened to have in her (2!) rice cookers--some brown and some white. Just don't try to do this with that nasty quick cooking "rice" that crowds typical supermarket shelves. Use real rice. The kind rice-eating peoples around the world use. That said, the sticky rice was really, really sticky and I think using it made making these much easier. So, even if I add some of my yummy brown rice to a future batch of sushi, I'll make sure to use at least half sushi rice.

While the rice is cooking is a good time to prepare the long, thin strips of sushi fillings. I used cucumber (the part without the seeds), avocado (obviously these can't be "long" strips), carrot (use a vegetable peeler) and egg (break into a small bowl, whisk with a fork and then fry on low heat).

So, here's my shopping list:

sticky rice
seasoned rice vinegar
nori--sheets of dried seaweed
the vegetables: a carrot, an avocado, a cucumber
and, if you a) aren't vegan and b) like the taste--an egg.

Okay, that doesn't look so scary, after all. Hey, if I can do this, so can you!

Once the rice was cooked, I let it sit in the rice cooker awhile and then emptied it out into a large metal bowl, measured and stirred in the appropriate amount of seasoned rice vinegar (the bottle label tells how much to use). I stirred and spread it out at intervals while the rice cooled enough that it wouldn't cook my fillings. Be warned, though, that the cooler the rice got, the gloppier and harder to spread it got.

Now comes the part where I make sushi without a special bamboo rolling mat. It was surprisingly easy! I came as close as I could, though, to including the traditional bamboo in the prep--I rolled them over a bamboo cutting board. Hee, hee. But a piece of plastic wrap worked perfectly fine...and I'm not 100% sure even that was necessary.

So, we begin. First lay down a piece of plastic wrap. On top of that goes a sheet of the dry seaweed--rough side up to make it easier for the rice to stick to it (I think). On top of the seaweed, use wet hands to spread out a very thin layer of rice up to about an inch or so from the farthest-away edge. It doesn't go far enough in this picture because it was my last sushi roll and I ran out of rice!

Notice there's a bowl of water and a dry cloth in the picture? That's because you need your hands to be dry when touching the seaweed and well wetted when handling the rice! You'll use both water and cloth--a lot.

In the picture, you can see the strips of carrot, egg, cucumber and avocado all ready to make more sushi rolls. I could have cooked a lot more rice. Of course, the four rolls I did make fed three people lunch very nicely...especially with the addition of all the unused fillings that were happily devoured after the sushi was gone. Okay, back to how to make sushi.

Now that the rice is spread on the nori, it's time to lay the strips of fillings across the rice. I piled the fillings in a bit from the very edge of the rice. You can use any combination of fillings that you like. We found that we like our sushi to have plenty of fillings--though it's easier to roll with fewer. This was the last roll I made and it has two strips of cucumber and one each of avocado, carrot and egg. Next time I'll use more in all of them.

Now comes what (next to choosing the rice) is probably the most intimidating part of making sushi--actually rolling this flat rice and mound of stuff.

Hint #1 (thanks, Sunny) is to squish the bottom pieces right into the rice. Then, starting at the bottom and using that handy piece of plastic wrap as needed to help, just roll it all up. Hint #2 is to be sure to press firmly as you roll. You can see how the side on the right is falling apart because there's nothing holding it together. I only have two hands after all and one was busy with the camera...

You want your nice sushi roll to stay rolled, so dip a couple fingers into that handy bowl of water and moisten the seaweed along the far edge. Then continue rolling and press the seaweed together. Press the rice and fillings in at the ends, too. Set the roll aside (with the stuck together edge down) for a bit while you assemble the rest of your sushi rolls.

Using a clean, sharp, serrated knife, cut the extra fillings off the ends of your rolls. Then, regularly cleaning the sticky rice off the knife, cut your rolls into approximately 1 inch thick slices. You'll have to clean the knife a lot--that stuff is really sticky! I made some slices thicker and some thinner and we decided that we like thinner sushi better than thicker. It's up to you.

Arrange your beautiful sushi on a plate

with a small dish of soy sauce

and don't be surprised if your sushi vanishes as quickly as did mine--and with nearly as many expressions of delight and gratitude!

A True Hero

2008-10-15T13:20:00.007-04:00

We just finished watching The Conscientious Objector, an amazing documentary about a real American hero who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Desmond Doss was a quiet, frail, unassuming Christian who took God's command not to kill so seriously that he refused to carry or even touch a gun during World War II. He held firm to his beliefs even under pressure and harrassment. It's an incredible story!

The movie follows his life through his letters home, archival photos and video clips and moving interviews with him as well as some of those with whom he served--men who had first ridiculed him but later came to respect him--and whose very lives he ended up saving. Under heavy enemy fire, Doss single-handedly rescued 75 (or more!) injured men and lowered them to safety over a high, steep escarpment.

When Harry S. Truman awarded him the Congressional Medal of Honor, he said that meeting Doss was a bigger honor than being president.

Listening to these old soldiers talk about their experiences during the war was very, very moving. It made me wish I'd asked my father more about his experiences serving as an Army Medic in Italy and North Africa during WWII. I think I'd have been more grateful and more understanding of his post traumatic stress behaviors.

This documentary also made me hunger for the deep faith in God--no matter what--that Desmond Doss had.

Just plain fun

2008-09-17T17:44:00.005-04:00

I love riding my bike. I adore it. There's something about gliding easily along feeling the breeze in my face, soaking in the sights, sounds and scents of the world around me that makes me feel happy, free and so ... alive.

Walking feels like work -- like something hard and uncomfortable that has to be done regularly to stay strong and healthy. Traveling in the cocoon of a car feels isolating--the world zips by almost un-noticed while the focus is on the destination more than the journey.

Biking, however, is just fun! I'll miss it when winter's coming bad weather sends me back to feet for exercise and motorized vehicles for transportation. In the meantime, I'll keep looking for every possible errand that can be done on my bike. Today it was the post office, library and grocery store. Tomorrow--who knows how far I'll go? Likely nowhere near as far as the new freshman who, along with his 49 year old mom, biked all 500 miles of the way from New York City to Colby College in Waterville, Maine!

How "green" are YOU?

2008-09-14T21:47:00.006-04:00

Your Life is 64% Green

You live a very green life, and you're aware of how your actions help the earth.

Of course, it's hard to be totally green. But when you make a tradeoff, you know why you're making it.

How Green Is Your Life?

Cat Tales

2008-08-27T08:39:00.007-04:00

Reuters ran a story this week about a 4 year old cat in Germany who survived being walled in beneath a bathtub for seven weeks. It had dropped from 13 to 4 pounds and the vet recommended it be put down. Fortunately for that cat, the owner disagreed and nursed her back to health with watered down cat food.

After reading that story I confess to feeling more than a little justified in declining to spend the money take our then-four-year-old kitty to the vet after a similar experience. One day she simply vanished. Poof. Gone. No cat to be found.

About six weeks later, in the midst of a driving November rainstorm, I thought I heard a meow--her meow. I looked out the window, didn't see anything, opened the door to listen again and there she was, huddled under the car. Until she dashed inside, that is.

She was so, so very thin. And cold. And wet. And hungry! Fortunately, I had procrastinated on donating her left-over cat food so quickly opened a can and gave her a dishfull. She scarfed it down--and promptly vomited it back up! Oops. After that, we gave her just a little food at a time until her stomach learned to handle food again. Poor thing was so very thin that when she was curled up, she looked the size of a kitten! She couldn't stay in one position for long, though, because she didn't have any padding left on her bones so every posititon was uncomfortable.

Interestingly, early every fall, she starts eating and eating and eating; she eats more often and more food every time. It's almost like she's storing up an emergency supply of fat "just in case". Hey, by the time you get to be an old lady of 18, you've learned to be prepared!

Thinking back, we realized that she'd disappeared about the time a neighbor across the street moved out and reappeared about the time the new neighbor was moving in. We suspect that she was trapped in their garage during the intervening weeks--a suspicion reinforced by the fact that, once our garage was built and in the eight years since, she has absolutely, positively refused to set even one royal paw inside it!

2008-08-22T18:03:00.000-04:00

more animals

I Need to Learn Korean!

2008-08-13T16:30:00.006-04:00

I have this wonderful new Cuckoo brand pressure rice cooker (serously--that's its name!). It's from Korea, well, it's from a Korean store, at least. Fortunately for me, the buttons on mine are labeled in English, as well as Korean.

It automatically produces lovely and delectible brown rice, but while it's doing that, it keeps talking to me...in Korean. And I'm bursting with curiosity to learn what in the world it's saying to me. Hopefully it's not saying, "Hey, dummy, you used the wrong setting for that kind of rice"!

This house is SO quiet!

2008-08-11T10:22:00.004-04:00

My empty nest is back.

After a very full six weeks, I'm back in an empty nest. Okay, it's not completely empty but the OC is at work and B (who works a late shift so we see little of her) is still sound asleep.

But this house surely feels quiet and empty: C and her five lively little ones were here from the west coast for virtually all of July. Then, after a 9-day visit, D and her dh left yesterday morning for their two day drive home.

I've still got plenty of laundry, cleaning, cooking and errands to do but this morning I happily crawled back into bed and had myself lovely nap!

Back on the water

2008-07-28T13:54:00.006-04:00

Thanks to the urgings of our visiting daughter and grandchildren, we were able to get our double kayak out on the water--only with little ones along it acted as a "triple" and even a "quad" this time!

Note to self: do not envy the owners of those "deep water frontage" homes we paddled past ... just keep reminding yourself of their astronomical property tax bills... =:O

Happy little tree climber

2008-07-24T21:07:00.001-04:00

Happy tree climber, originally uploaded by LarryandJean.

For such a tiny little thing, Maribeth is a mighty confident climber. She loved climbing high up in the old apple tree in the backyard--this was back when we had sunshine...before the deluge that has kept us indoors began.

Third cousins

2008-07-14T20:28:00.001-04:00

Third cousins, originally uploaded by LarryandJean.

We're just back from a family reunion and I simply had to share this photo of the group of third cousins who were there. When the photo was taken most of them were still damp from swimming !

The best "pill" you can possibly take

2008-06-24T09:34:00.002-04:00

Walking every day brings many health benefits

A brisk walk in the afternoon will help you get a better night's sleep, experts say

You can significantly reduce breast-cancer risk by walking, one study says

Walking may help ward off Alzheimer's disease, studies say

A half hour daily walk is just about the best "pill" you can possibly take:

1. It's great for the heart
2. It cuts breast-cancer risks
3. It helps you sleep
4. It cuts down on aches and pains
5. It makes you happy
6. It keeps you slimmer
7. It staves off senior moments
8. It protects your bones

Read the full article here

Get up and go for a half hour walk.

Do it for you.
Do it for your family.
Do it today.

Flounder for Lunch?

2008-06-21T22:35:00.001-04:00

Flounder for Lunch?, originally uploaded by LarryandJean.

An optimistic seagull finds lunch on the foggy coast of Maine.

our newest nurse

2008-05-10T07:13:00.001-04:00

our newest nurse, originally uploaded by LarryandJean.

This was at her pinning. The pins were attached to ribbons to reduce the fumble factor.

The photo was taken indoors zoomed in with no flash so it's kinda fuzzy but you can still see what a very proud and happy day it was for everyone!

Oh, goody, it's our very favorite snack--fresh, tasty...GRASS!

2008-05-04T11:16:00.001-04:00

Oh, goody, it's our very favorite snack--fresh, tasty...GRASS!, originally uploaded by LarryandJean.

Two of our "grandkitties" were thrilled with the gift of fresh, tasty,
wheatgrass. What a snack for indoor kitties!

Sisters are Forever

2008-04-13T21:31:00.005-04:00

I grew up in a family which included three girls and then the OC and I raised a family of four girls. After enjoying another lovely long conversation with one of my geographically distant sisters this afternoon, I was reminded of one of the homemade posters I'd had on the wall when our girls were young and going through their turbulent teen years.

Friends come and go, but

SISTERS ARE FOREVER!

My prayer is that, throughout all their lives, they'll continue to remember what took me years, nay, decades to realize.

Stepping out of my comfort zone

2008-04-13T21:19:00.003-04:00

I don't mind helping to organize events but I really, really, really mind being in charge of organizing...anything. But somehow I ended up being the primary organizer for a 24 hour prayer vigil at our church. It's now over. Every hour had 2-10 participants, many people were greatly blessed, and, with God's help...I seem to have actually survived. Whew!

So now I wonder; why did I worry and stress so and lose so much sleep over inspiring people to participate when our Beloved Father, who wants nothing more than to have His precious children slow down long enough to talk with Him, was perfectly capable of getting people (even out of their beds!) to come together and join in the conversations with Him!

I have to send you to this blog

2008-04-12T00:34:00.002-04:00

Sunny is one of my favorite people. She doesn't post often on this particular blog, but what she does say there is definitely worth reading!

Thanks, Sunny, for pointing out the value of winter

2008-04-07T20:51:00.004-04:00

Thanks Sunny for sharing these quotes:

"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."

Anne Bradstreet

"A RICH PERSON IS NOT THE ONE WHO HAS THE MOST, BUT THE ONE WHO NEEDS THE LEAST"

anonymous

"Character is, for the most part, simply habit become fixed."

C.H. Parkhurst

A pictureless bird story

2008-04-07T20:01:00.005-04:00

While driving Gram from church back to her assisted living center, I found myself open-mouthed at the sight of a beautiful male turkey desperately beating against a chain-link fence trying to get inside. That silly fellow didn't realize he was already free. I've occasionally seen wild turkeys roaming about fields and beside roadways, but this was the first time I've seen a domesticated turkey loose in the (not so) wild.

Unfortunately, there was too much traffic in that busy commercial area to allow me to slow down enough to grab my camera and take a picture.

I wonder what happened to him. And I wonder how much energy I waste needlessly bashing against all sorts of "walls" because of not opening my eyes to something larger than my own familiar little world.

Look--spring IS coming, after all!

2008-04-04T15:32:00.001-04:00

Look--spring IS coming, after all!, originally uploaded by LarryandJean.

We'll take our hints of the coming spring wherever we can find them!
Our neighbors' maple tree is just starting to bud out.

Inadvertent science experiment

2008-04-04T15:31:00.001-04:00

Inadvertent science experiment, originally uploaded by LarryandJean.

Now to see how long it will take this plastic bag, trapped high in a treetop, to degrade.

The pond is back!

2008-04-04T15:29:00.001-04:00

The pond is back!, originally uploaded by LarryandJean.

Melting snow has given us waterfront property...however temporarily. But we'll enjoy it while we have it!

Even the Mallards think its time for spring!

2008-04-04T15:28:00.001-04:00

Even the Mallards think its time for spring!, originally uploaded by LarryandJean.

I take it all back

2008-03-28T22:06:00.006-04:00

Remember all my talk of spring finally, finally arriving?

I take it all back...

Even the poor little crocuses are shivering!

Sigh.

Perhaps if we all just assume

that winter is here to stay

then spring might finally

slip in the back door.

Perhaps.

Spring at last! ... or not...

2008-03-27T16:04:00.008-04:00

Oh, Joy! We have Spring at last. Spring at long and weary last!

or not

Come on, snow, didn't you see the calendar? It's time to melt!

Shine well, sun, shine strong.

You have an important job to do here.

There's a geriatric kitty

who's been cooped up

for far too many icy months
and needs to get OUT

into the wide world again.

So get busy, sun, and get this snow melted!

In the meantime,

we'll savor any hint of spring we can find,

wherever we can find it,

no matter how miniscule it may be!

The dead don't come back to life -- with one exception

2008-03-21T21:21:00.002-04:00

I just read this question and its answer and simply have to share it:

By DR. BILLY GRAHAM

DEAR DR. GRAHAM: Do you think they'll ever find Jesus' grave with His bones in it? I respect my Christian friends who say this can't happen because Jesus came back from the dead, but I'm studying to be a doctor, and I know that once someone is dead, nothing is going to bring them back to life. -- Z.J.

DEAR Z.J.: It might surprise you to discover that one of the Gospels that tells us about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead was written by Luke -- who was a medical doctor.

If anyone knew from personal experience that dead people didn't come back to life, it was Luke. And yet he was absolutely convinced the words of Peter he later recorded were true: "God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact" (Acts 2:32). In fact, the Bible says hundreds saw Jesus after His resurrection, including more than 500 at one time (see 1 Corinthians 15:3-8). Years later, those witnesses were still bearing testimony to the reality of Jesus' resurrection.

Not only that, but they were willing to die for their belief. People don't willingly die for what they know is a lie -- but they were, because they knew beyond doubt that God had raised Jesus from the dead. They knew too that His resurrection proved death and Satan had been conquered, and eternal life is available to all who put their faith and trust in Christ.

This Easter I invite you to take a new path in life -- Christ's path. He alone gives us hope -- hope for God's presence now, and hope for life beyond the grave. No, they'll never find Jesus' bones, because God raised Him from the dead, and because of that "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul" (Hebrews 6:19).

Contact the Rev. Billy Graham c/o Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, 1 Billy Graham Parkway, Charlotte, NC 28201, phone 877-247-2426, or see the Web site billygraham.org.

Birds, birds, birds

2008-03-17T15:20:00.012-04:00

While we're on the bird theme, here are photos of some of the many, many varieties of birds who live in the Lake Yojoba area of Honduras.

Consider all the green in these photos as a nod to St. Patrick's Day--a very special holiday to me.

One of our favorites of their birds is this yellow-tailed black bird. The yellow is very obvious when they're flying!

They also have ordinary blackbirds and lots of really colorful varieties of birds including parrots, a flock of whom flew rapidly down the canal and past the house every morning and evening. Unlike the parrots, this handsome fellow obligingly stayed put for the few moments it took me to grab a camera.

Right off the back deck of the home where we stayed during our time there was a palm tree, complete with nest...and cheery little occupant!

Who, me?

2008-03-13T17:02:00.003-04:00

Who, me? Do what?

Why, I am perfectly innocent!

It was that other gull.

The one who just flew away.

Couldn't have been me!

Green, Lush, Warm, Beautiful! Honduras!

2008-03-12T10:24:00.006-04:00

Our last trip to Honduras wasn't all work; we took a couple of afternoons off to play tourist.

The memory of our delightful visit to Panacam Falls is made even more precious because it is snowing today. Again!

I'll just have to close my eyes and imagine that I'm back in Honduras, walking through lush, green forests and across a swinging bridge to splash and play under the falls.

Now Paging Spring. Paging Spring.

2008-03-09T23:18:00.013-04:00

Now paging Spring.
Come in, Spring.
You are needed immediately.
Please report to New England immediately.
Code Blue. Code Blue.
Code Blue in New England.
Overdose of Winter.
Now paging Spring to New England.
STAT!

Too much snow.

Too much ice.

Ice must go.

It's not nice!

Watch closely, little icicles.
You are feeling warm...and sleepy...and drippy.

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Time to go bye-bye little icicles.

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Pretty please?

Perhaps. Just perhaps.

There is hope at last!

Honduras is a beautiful country!

2008-03-01T19:55:00.007-05:00

Honduras seems especially beautiful in February when New England is cold and snowy and Honduras is lush, green and warm! These beautiful mountains were part of our lovely view from the back deck of the house where we stayed.

We walked to and from campus every day on this dirt/stone road.

The first morning, as I walked through the soft, warm air, I was thrilled to see 5 or 6 different kinds of colorful butterflies flitting about!

Can you spot the black and yellow striped butterfly?

Homeschooling in Honduras...or...half a year of math in 4 days!

2008-02-25T12:16:00.004-05:00

One lovely February day as I was walking back from the Pan American Health Service campus to the house where we were staying, I said to God, "I'm feeling useless in the Casita Feliz, like I don't belong there right now. Is there something else I should be doing?" And I got back such an immediate answer that it brought tears to my eyes, "Do school with Little Friend". Little Friend had started second grade in the US and then, at the beginning of November, her family moved to Honduras to help with PAHSmanagement. Little Friend had been working on her 2nd grade workbooks...when mission life didn't intervene...but the new school year in Honduras starts in February and Little Friend was going to be beginning 3rd grade in only 4 days!

I got the okay from her sweet mother and then set about that very afternoon finding out what Little Friend needed to master to make her new school year a success. Fortunately, Little Friend is a very good and eager reader so I soon realized that she'd be fine in reading, spelling, grammar and even writing. Whew!

That left math. Math, of course, is cumulative and leaving holes in understanding/knowledge can cause major problems later. Her US Math book was very thick, with 39 units, only 9 of which she'd completed. Four days for an 8yo to cover 3/4 year of math? Now there's a challenge!

Step one of any teaching program, of course, is to prioritize, so I looked through her math book to weed the wheat from the chaff, to the pluck the basics from the fluff, to identify the essential foundational building blocks for her future math study. Those turned out to be "telling time" "place value" "addition and subtraction with regrouping" and, if time allowed, an "introduction to the concept of multiplication".

Another vital part of teaching is to develop a relationship and then maintain attention. So we did lots of laughing and had lots of silly fun over the math concepts she was learning...and kept attracting curious adults who simply had to see what was so funny.

The goal wasn't to "finish pages" as much as "master concepts" so we skipped blithely ahead and around in the math workbook. We had to improvise manipulatives so we made a paper "clock" using a couple of colored pencils for the hands, devised our own numbers chart (for discovering patterns) and scrounged what we could find to use for counters and to represent ones, tens and hundreds places.

We took lots of move-the-muscles-and-wake-up-the-brain breaks for things like hopping down the hall and running around the house. We had "Snack School", "Tiny Toy Animal School", "Beanie Baby School" and even "Outdoor School". I think Snack School was her favorite--because snack school provides a tiny, tasty motivational snack as a reward for finishing a problem (the first day), row, or page (the last day). One of our new friends who was also staying in the house had brought a supply of granola bars which Little Friend discovered she loved so those were our snacks for Snack School:

I am happy to report that she did it! In four lively days Little Friend mastered telling time, place value, addition and subtraction to three places--with regrouping (borrowing and carrying) and checking for accuracy. I was very proud of her! And when she got her new 3rd grade math book, I was very relieved to see that those were just the skills she needed to have going into grade 3 in her new (bilingual) school in Honduras.

Yesterday we received an email from her mom that Little Friend is doing great in school and math is no problem! It is, indeed, a satisfying feeling to know you've made a real difference in someone's life.

Snow, snow, snow...and more snow!

2008-02-17T03:39:00.000-05:00

This photo was taken 6 weeks ago--and we've had at least that much more snow since then. Folks are getting more than ready for spring here in snowy New England!

Let's talk about peanut butter, malnutrition and 'Plumpynut'

2008-02-14T04:01:00.005-05:00

On the plane on the way to Honduras, I saw a 60 Minutes newsclip about Plumpynut -- a peanut butter, powdered milk, oil, confectioners sugar and vitamin/mineral mixture which is saving the lives of starving children in (mostly African) third world countries.

All those years when I was giving my children peanut butter and powdered milk balls I thought they were just eating a tasty treat, not a nutritional supplement! I began to wonder if perhaps we could mix up something similar to use with the nutrition hospital patients. When we got there, I did some online research to learn more about Plumpynut and set to work devising a recipe that could be duplicated after we were gone.

The children loved the stuff--even little Maria Suyapa (at least after the first few days when it was a struggle to get her starved little body to accept any formula that wasn't very diluted). The children are each given a small ball of it twice a day for a supplemental snack. They call it nutra maní which basically means "nourishing peanut".

Notice how much better Maria Suyapa looked already after a week or 10 days of formula supplemented with ever-larger tastes of nutra maní. (The baby on the right is 18 months old and was a new admission to the nutrition hospital.)

THIS is why we go to Honduras

2008-02-11T09:09:00.001-05:00

We go to help Pan American Health Service find and treat malnourished children like these:

Precious little Maria Suyapa is 15 months old yet weighed only 7 pounds upon admission to the nutrition rehabilitation hospital. Seven pounds is too small even for a 3 month old baby, let alone a 15 month old who should be an active toddler. After two weeks of treatment, she was beginning to have enough energy to move her little arms and legs around and to observe the other children at play. Her poor ignorant mother was feeding her on coffee and koolaid.

When 8 year old Wendy was first admitted she was too weak to do much more than rest in bed. Now she has strength enough to spend mornings attending school. Due to her malnutrition, her hair had turned blonde and broken off. Now, with treatment, her hair is starting to grow in again. Her edema was caused by protein deficiency and, with proper nutritional support, will eventually disappear.

Protein deficiency (Kwashiorkor) is shown by edema or puffiness, especially in the cheeks, as well as lightened hair. Marasmus is a wasting disease of starvation shown by painfully thin limbs. These precious little girls are being treated in the PAHS nutrition hospital.

It's lunchtime for the now healthy but abandoned children who are growing up on campus. Most meals are composed of rice, beans, corn tortillas and vegetables. Thanks to unselfish donors, these children now have hope and a future!

We FINALLY got the kayak off the garage floor

2007-11-19T22:24:00.000-05:00

Here's our budget approach to winter kayak storage:

Using heavy-duty bolts, the OC mounted a couple of Flip Up Tool Holders. We cut sections of an old pool noodle for padding to protect our shiny new kayak. The OC then installed four sturdy hooks so that we could use a couple of tie-downs to keep that kayak from suddenly tumbling off onto some poor unsuspecting person's head (mine!).

We were some relieved when our patched-together kayak hanging system actually worked!

"As I am" tombstone--just in time for Halloween

2007-10-21T21:20:00.001-04:00

As I am tombstone--just in time for Halloween, originally uploaded by LarryandJean.

Yes, this is a real tombstone-in Boston. The inscription reads:

Here lies buried the body

of Mr Thomas Williston

who exchanged this life

for a better August 31st

1775 Aged 75 years

Stop here, my friend & cast an Eye
As you are now so once was I
As I am now so you will be
Prepare for Death and follow Me

Gulp! Makes ya stop and think...

View from upstairs window

2007-10-21T08:27:00.001-04:00

another backyard picture

2007-10-21T08:26:00.001-04:00

another backyard picture, originally uploaded by LarryandJean.

I love seeing all the colors at once: red, orange, yellow and green.

Amusing Ourselves to Death

2007-10-18T22:10:00.000-04:00

On my "To Read" list is the book

Amusing Ourselves to Death
Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

by Neil Postman
Penguin Books, 1985, paper

For an overview of the concepts discussed, with a peek into why people don't seem to think anymore, check out some excerpts here.

Exploding into Autumn

2007-10-18T21:53:00.000-04:00

This is my current favorite of the latest batch of backyard fall foliage photos.

I LOVE fall in New England; lately I've been manufacturing reasons to get out and about just so I can soak in more of that eye-poppingly explosive color!

Fall Foliage in New England

2007-10-11T22:15:00.000-04:00

Here you go, Sunny (and Excursis and anyone else who might possibly be interested). Here at last are the promised Fall-in-New-England foliage photos.

This is what our backyard looks like these days. I hopped up onto the picnic table on the deck to take this--don't tell that to any kids you're trying to teach to keep their feet off the table.

The sky was the same gray we've had for the last several eons, er, days. Notice that there's still no construction where they clear-cut the woods. Not that I'm complaining one tiny bit about that, mind you.

The sun came out for a few glorious moments so I dashed out into the back yard to take some pictures...just in case you start missing fall in New England...and to remind me that there really is a sun up there somewhere.

I love it when the sun (finally) makes the fall leaves glow!

You can see why Gram loves walking beside this pond behind her assisted living center. I do, too!

NOW I wish I'd taken the camera along

2007-10-06T19:05:00.000-04:00

For months and months and months (if not years!) the OC has been wanting an Old Town "Loon" Tandem Kayak. Well, yesterday, thanks to a terrific sale at the nearest L L Bean outlet, we finally broke down and bought ourselves one for a joint birthday/anniversary/Christmas present to each other!

So, of course, we simply had to try it out this afternoon (on what may yet turn out to have been one of the last warm and dry days before winter sets in).

So began the learning curve...

Not the least part of which was getting that looong kayak hoisted up onto its new Thule kayak rack way, way, waaaay up on the roof of our minivan--no easy task for a couple of old codgers like us. Fortunately for not-so-tall me, we have a collapsable step-stool which gives me an extra foot or so of height and a fighting chance of actually carrying my end (literally!) of the project.

Part two was learning to actually make that baby go where we want it to--we spent the first 20 minutes going around in circles before we got the hang of making it go where we wanted it to! We probably looking unbelievably silly out there. Hee.

Why the camera in the title, you ask? I figured we'd have enough to deal with trying to learn to load and unload (and tie down!) and then to paddle the thing without also having to worry about keeping a pricey camera from going overboard, so we deliberately left the camera behind.

Naturally, with no camera, once we were out on the water, it being late afternoon and all, we saw a cormorant, a heron (up close!), a whole flock of mallard ducks, and a speedy little kingfisher. Oh, and some pretty just-starting-to-turn foliage, too.

'Tis plain to see that we need to do this kayaking business again...and again...and again...and next time, we'll take the camera along so we can take our own pictures!

A bird just flew into my window!

2007-08-01T07:39:00.000-04:00

I'm sitting here at the computer this morning when suddenly there was a crash against the picture window that looks out into the backyard. I looked up just in time to see a biggish black bird fluttering away. I didn't think that window was that clean! Well, it's certainly not anymore, now it has a smear of bird saliva drying on it. (blech)

There was a whole flock of cranky black birds flying around back there and oh, my, are they ever noisily upset about their bumped buddy!

Attention VeggieTales Fans

2007-07-30T08:29:00.000-04:00

Wah-hooo, I'm going To Boston In The Fall! (That's a concept only truly appreciated by VeggieTales fans...and perhaps their long-suffering parents, LOL)

Anyway, the OC is going on business and I get to tag along and play tourist while he's in meetings. Yippee, I can hardly wait!

This is one of those times when we get to appreciate how handy it is to have had our live-in house sitter move back home. (I'd insert a happy face here...if I knew how, LOL)

Sample of 2nd grade homeschool day

2007-07-25T12:09:00.000-04:00

I am SO not going to be able to rush through this sorting out job!

Here is a sample day (Oct. 5, 1989) from the record from A's (dd #3) homeschooled second grade back when she was only 8 years old:

Math (Addison Wesley): pages 70,71
Reading: Read Samantha Learns a Lesson

English: pages 29,30, practice ABC order to 2nd letter

Phonics (Modern Curriculum Press): page 96

Science: Body Systems--skeletal, digestive, circulatory, respiratory (I wish I'd written down what got us onto this topic!)

Social Studies: See Reading (America--1904)

PE: Swing

Clearing my empty nest? What clearing?

2007-07-25T11:41:00.001-04:00

So when I started this blog, I optimistically chose "clearing my empty nest" as the address. So much clearing out I was going to do once the OC and I had the place to ourselves. So what happened? Instead of clearing out, we seemed to find ourselves filling our way-too-big-for-just-two "nest" with more and more stuff. Then, with the return of an adult dd--complete with all the contents of her apartment--and...

Stop!

Finally, (and hopefully!) we're back on track at last with the clearing out and decluttering efforts. Our current project is the tiny bedroom turned guest room turned office/guest room turned office/guest room/clutter stashing space. Moving the guest bed out and into Gram's assisted living apartment has motivated us to get the clutter cleared and finally turn that space into a pleasant and efficient office.

So, why am I writing instead of sorting through 20 years of papers in my filing cabinet drawers (so we won't have to buy another one)? Um, procrastination strikes again? Yes, that, and that I just had to share the nostalgia brought on by tossing (and shredding) pages and pages of old homeschool documentation dating all the way back to 1986.

Okay, back to work...

Empty nest? What empty nest?

2007-07-25T07:58:00.000-04:00

or Life is Always Changing

Okay, so our actual "nest" isn't filling back up (at least, not at the moment), but we've apparently rather abruptly moved into a new stage of life--the caring-for-an-aging-parent stage. The OC's mother (our sole surviving parent) has just recently moved from out of state into a lovely assisted living center in our town. It was originally supposed to be only short-term but now this is starting to look more like a long-term arrangement. This, of course, means we (and especially "me") are suddenly much more involved in her care--furnishing and decorating her small apartment, going to visit nearly daily, observing what she needs (which includes lots and lots of cueing) and communicating her needs to the staff.

I did it! Without even trying!

2007-07-20T21:58:00.001-04:00

For the last month or two, I've been wearing a little pedometer to help track my exercise and today, finally, I looked down and discovered that not only had I made my daily goal of 10,000 steps but now at the end of the day, I'm over 12,400!!!

It helped that I had a lot of cleaning to do today and, after the OC came home, the sun finally came out so we went out for a walk together. Now, I prefer to walk to a destination whenever possible so we walked downtown to the library because I had a book to pick up. Then, later, he had a rehearsal in the other direction so I rode along and then walked myself home. Ahhh, I felt so strong walking briskly along in the soft evening air.

I met a delightful lady at Grammie's exercise class who is a very sharp 104 years old and, at least in part, credits her longevity to her life long-love of walking!

Note to self: reset pedometer tonight and do this again tomorrow...and tomorrow...and tomorrow...

The nest is well and truly empty

2007-07-11T15:35:00.000-04:00

or so one would think though nothing stays the same for long, but more later on our latest season of life.

For now, the sure sign of an empty nest is the gradual transformation of a backyard away from a kid play zone. Thanks to Freecycle, our once-busy pool has found a new home (with 8 children, this time!) and our backyard suddenly seems much larger.

At least for now, we plan to pitch the red gazebo tent on the old pool site...if it ever stops raining, that is. Precisely what the long-term future holds for that particular space remains to be discovered, however.

The neighborhood action now is in the wide driveway across the street where two young moms are currently supervising five preschoolers as they run, shout, pedal, laugh...and whine. While I, oh, so peacefully, sew on my very first quilt and watch their antics from afar.

The OC's Father's Day present

2007-06-25T23:08:00.000-04:00

The OC was probably the only man in the world who would be thrilled to receive a composter for Father's Day! But, hey, this is the Porsche of composters, after all. Plus, it doesn't hurt that I seem to be the one tending it the most. But it is kind of fun to give it a whirl whenever I pass it. And, no, that's not the OC in the photo. The OC is much better looking.

It took two years,

2007-06-24T07:30:00.000-04:00

but our Clematis finally bloomed...spectacularly!

Look what I got to test drive!

2007-06-17T13:44:00.001-04:00

Maximum speed on these cute little electric cars is 25 mph but oh, does it ever creep along quietly and what a head turner; I drove it through the supermarket parking lot and got a kick out of watching heads whip around and jaws drop!

"Don't tell ME I can't fly!"

2007-06-13T21:33:00.000-04:00

said the bumblebee.

Hummingbird enjoying our backyard apple tree

2007-06-13T17:46:00.000-04:00

Riding the Rails on Amtrak

2007-06-04T15:46:00.000-04:00

I've been home just a couple weeks after taking a one-way Amtrak trip from Atlanta to Boston. Here are observations from my adventure:

I found the coach seats on Amtrak trains to be waaaay more comfortable than Greyhound or coach class on many airlines. The Greyhound bus I rode from Chattanooga to Atlanta felt like it had tires out of balance, which made for three hours of constant shaking. The Amtrak trains just sway gently from side to side.

Amtrak seats also have much, much more leg room than planes or busses--I could extend my legs completely. The seats recline more than a plane seat and they also have rests that can be raised for the lower legs much like a recliner. The seats are wider, too, so I was able to kind of curl up on my side a bit without (I hope!) intruding on my seat partner's space.

The seats on the Crescent train that originated in New Orleans were probably a foot farther apart than those in this photo from the commuter-like Regional east coast line.

The overhead storage space, particularly on the long distance train, was quite roomy. I was glad for that because, in addition to my carry-on sized duffle with clothes and pillow, I took along a small padded cooler for boiled eggs, yogurt, carrot sticks, etc. I also had a backpack with room temperature foods such as cereal bars, apples and packages of peanut butter as well as a small DVD player and a collection of DVDs and CDs to play on it (don't forget the headphones!).

I'd thought I might eat in the dining car or snack bar but mostly ate only the food I'd brought along--I ended up eating much less than I'd anticipated...and saved a lot of money that way, too, as dining car and snack bar prices seemed rather high. I'd carried along several bottles of filtered water but they do provide a tap of drinkable water along with those cone shaped cups for each car.

At night, small pillows were handed out but I was very glad to have a full-sized pillow along as well. I took along a sheet to pull over me while I slept while my seatmate had brought a small blanket. Due to space considerations I'd decided to depend on my fleece jacket in case it got chilly at night though I didn't need it.

In the morning, I took a change of clothes into the fairly spacious handicapped restroom and washed up the important bits, dried 'em with paper towels, put on my clean clothes and was ready for another day.

It was nice getting to chat with my overnight seatmate and those around me in our assigned seats (cars are filled based on final destinations and they didn't allow us to sit in empty seats as those did fill at stops made throughout the night). Speaking of night, I was very glad I'd packed my silicone earplugs and black eyeshades as the lights were left on all night.

I think I got some of my best sleep during the hour or more we sat on a siding when the track ahead was closed apparently due to an accident involving a freight train. Why do people keep trying to beat trains through crossings... We arrived in DC an hour and a half late but I was still able to make my connection for the DC to Boston train.

The east coast train north from DC had much more of a feel of a commuter train than of the more leasurely approach of the long-distance Amtrak--passengers seemed more rushed and less talkative and there seemed a bigger push to stay on time (even though we still arrived late thanks to getting stuck behind a commuter train). Those coach seats were closer together and clearly not designed with sleeping in mind.

Deb dropped me off at the Chattanooga bus station shortly after lunch and the OC picked me up at the Portland bus station about 37 hours later so it was a pretty long journey.

But I'm so glad I got to go on this adventure--it made a nice change from plane travel and I've got some great memories of my journey through America's back yards!

Wheeee, I'm back

2007-04-06T14:45:00.000-04:00

Silly me, I switched to the new beta version then went away for over three weeks, and was so busy that by the time I got back home...I'd forgotten my new log-in information. (blush)

One of the benefits of an empty nest is being available to drop everything and fly away to the aid of loved ones. Which is precisely what this mamabird has been doing recently--caring for and loving on five precious (and lively!) little ones while their mama recuperated.

Anyway, this is what I wanted to sign in to tell you about--an amazingly awesome Easter video on YouTube. Wow!

Aaack, do I use "then" or "than"?

2007-01-30T08:37:00.000-05:00

As long as I can remember, I've mixed up when it is appropriate to use "then" and when "than" is correct. I looked them up just a bit ago and was writing the correct usages on a little sticky note on my monitor, when, if I'd been a cartoon character, the stereotypical light bulb would have appeared over my head.

Look carefully at the bold letters below for an easy way to remember which to use when:

Use "than" when you're doing comparisons.
Use "then" when you're referring to time or a sequence of events.

Cool, huh? It's certainly easier than trying to remember which is which each time like I used to do back then--before I had discovered the letter clues.

Shall I tell you about "lie" and "lay" next? They're on the sticky note, too...

Once when I looked the lie/lay usage up, I finally wrote them on that sticky note on my monitor:

Use "lay" with a direct object. (I lay it down.)
Use "lie" without a direct object. (I lie down.)

Imagine the following in a grid (I'm not sure if the formatting will remain):

Form Lie Lay

Present lie lay
Past lay laid
Participles lying laying

Examples (not on sticky note):
I lie down on the bed and lay my book on the table.
Yesterday, I lay on the bed after I laid my book on the floor.
Right now, I am lying down on the bed and laying my book on the bed beside me.

Foreign Words and Phrases

2007-01-29T14:46:00.000-05:00

You are 85% Try-Lingual!!

You are quite the Linguist! I suppose you wouldn't be trying to show off to your friends, would you. Splendid job. Time to put the quiz on a blog or email a link to your friends. Check out some of the good quizzes here, but be sure to avoid the bad ones. Auf Wiedersehen! Adieu.

Foreign Words and Phrases
Create MySpace Quizzes

Beth is batting 1000 with her potluck recipe!

2007-01-28T08:28:00.000-05:00

So, for the third week now, Beth's unbelievably easy to make potluck dish has been scraped clean even before everyone had been through the line. Okay, I'm impressed, Beth, that one is a winner!

What? You want her recipe?

All she does is cut purchased frozen bean and cheese burritos in half, tuck them in a single layer into a 9x12 casserole dish, annoint them with medium taco sauce and then generously top with mixed grated cheeses from a bag, cover it all with foil and stash in in the refrigerator. At the appointed time, it gets popped into the oven to heat and melt the cheese.

I'm not sure if it's her presentation in that lovely white (although space hogging) casserole dish with its sloping sides and wide lip or if whoever's manning the ovens and tables that week just wants to clear more space so puts it at the beginning of the table of food or if maybe it's just that lots of people think that looks like something they'd like! "I" like that I can swing by Walmart and pick up a bag of 10 frozen burritos (just enough to fill the dish) for what seems like not much more than a song.

Anyway, well done, Beth!

Speaking of Beth, I got to wondering, do I still consider myself an empty-nester with an adult daughter living in the same house? Technically speaking, probably not. Oops. Ah, well. That's a tag I don't mind giving up--she's pleasant to have around and it is nice to have more company in the house without all the responsibilities and worries that come with raising children. But I'm not changing my blogger page name--one never knows what the future will bring.

Speaking of blogger, I looked at my statcounter this morning and noticed that my blogger page had popped up on page one in response to someone's google search for "caribbean vacations for empty nesters". Whoo-eee, I dare say they got a surprise when, instead of photos of lovely Caribbean beaches they found sand art, a vanishing lake, and snow.

Snow pictures?

Be glad that you can't feel our below-zero temperatures and windchills coming off your computer, but you can imagine them with this photo of the OC's view out of his window at work.

I'm thinking the idea of a Caribbean beach vacation is sounding better and better with the dawn of every chilly New England winter morning!

Hi, I'm back...finally...and with some explanations

2007-01-22T13:24:00.000-05:00

Perhaps I should explain my longish absence from this page. After the big push to blog every, every, every day throughout the entire month of November, I began to feel like my life was becoming consumed by the internet. So, with the start of the new year, in addition to the New Year's Resolution made by Everyone-In-The-World to Get! More! Exercise! I decided to get back to reading more real books. Books with actual pages and ink and even covers. Which I have been doing lately (reading, that is) and it's been positively lovely. There's nothing like curling up on a cold winter day with an engrossing book!

Most recently, I've read some of Maine's John Gould, some of the excellent Staggerford novels by Minnesota's Jon Hassler, a bunch of books on planning for retirement, and currently I'm reading James Michener's Recessional and a couple of others but I'll talk more about them in a later post.

All that said, the biggest reason for (finally!) posting is because I want to share with you a book given to me as a Christmas present by my small group leader (who'd been so impressed with the copy that had been gifted to her so much that she ordered books for everyone in her groups). It's called 31 Days of Praise--Enjoying God Anew by Ruth Myers with Warren Myers.

The back cover says, "Every day a different Scripture-based devotion helps you cultivate the "heart habit" of praise and worship. You'll be gently inspired to appreciate and adore the Lord in all things, even in the midst of pain, heartache, or disappointment. A deeper intimacy with God--and a greater love for Him--is the sure result."

Here's an example of this powerful little book, from Day 20 (which I read on January 20):

"Father, I thank You for the people in my life who seem to bring more pain than joy, for I believe You have let our paths cross for important reasons. Thank You for the good things You want to do in my life through the things that bother me (their irritating habits? their moodiness? their unloving ways? their demands? their insisensitivity? their unrealistic expectations?). I'm grateful that You are with me, to meet my needs when others--even those close to me--fail to do so. I'm so glad that You are also within me, working to make me more like Jesus--more patient, more gentle, more loving--through the very things I dislike.

"Thank You too that You love these people, and that Your love is adequate to meet their deep needs and to transform their lives, however willful or unwise they may sometimes be. Thank You that You care for them deeply and that each of them has the potential of being a vast reservoir from which You could receive eternal pleasure. And so, though I may not feel grateful, I give thanks fo them by faith, trusting Your goodness, Your wisdom, Your power: and Your love for them as well as for me.

"And I praise You that I need not fret about these people, or be envious, or mull over angry thoughts to prove I'm right. Than You that by Your power I can receive them as You receive me: just as I am, warts and wrinkles and hang-ups and all...that I can choose not to judge them, but to forgive them...to cancel any debts I feel they owe me--any apologies, any obligations...that through Your grace, I can choose to wipe clean any slate of grievances I have within me, and to view these people withg a heart that says, "You no longer owe me a thing." Thank You for YOur Spirit who empowers me, so that I can do them good, delight in You, and commit my way to You, resting in You as You unfold Your good purposes in these relationships--in Your time."

So...how can one remain cross with another after thanking and praising God for them and for how they are helping one grow?

Oh, there are also scriptures to back everything up:

Paragraph 1: Romans 8:28-29; I Peter 1:6-7; James 1:2-4, Phillip; Psalm 27:10; Isaiah 49:14-16: Psalm 142:3-5; I Thessalonians 3:12; Philippians 1:9-11

Paragraph 2: Matthew 5:43-45; Hosea 3:1

Paragraph 3: I Peter 2:1; Romans 15:7; Ephisians 4:31-32; Matthew 7:1-3; 6:14-15; 18: 21-22; Psalm 37:1-7.

Whew! Okay, next post will include pictures and updates on the sand painting project. I promise!

Sand Art

2006-12-26T17:56:00.000-05:00

I had so much fun doing the Navajo sand painting project in the Senior College multicultural art class that I took last fall that I rashly promised to teach sand painting to three classrooms of children (about 50 altogether) in our church school during January.

So that's six bins of sand to mix with tempora paint and then stir and crush lumps as it (all-too-slowly) dries, 50 pieces of double thickness cardboard to cut, 200 L-shaped frame sides to cut from lengths of construction trim, (all to precise measurements), and lots and lots of sifting of sand through a piece of screen.

What was I thinking?!?!?!?!?!

At least I've got the glue, brushes and charcoal sticks bought, though I still need to pick up some more rubber bands so there'll be enough to hold the frames on all their works of art while the glue dries.

I just hope the youngsters enjoy making their pictures as much as my retired classmates and I enjoyed making ours!

winter sunset

2006-12-25T23:30:00.000-05:00

winter sunset
Originally uploaded by Larry13.

Here, in honor of of today's green Christmas, is a sunset from our one (and long-gone) snowfall so far this winter.

Of course, now that I've said that, we'll probably sink into weeks of deep and bitter cold accompanied by feet upon feet of snow.

MAC sent us a fruitcake!

2006-12-17T17:15:00.000-05:00

MAC's fruitcake
Originally uploaded by Larry13.

Margaret makes "real" fruitcake; it's nothing like the cheap store kind. Hers is filled with spices, nuts and real dried fruits, baked a month in advance and then stored away, wrapped in brandy-soaked flannel, while the flavors meld into pure deliciousness.

This year, we were thrilled to discover a box on our doorstep which, when opened, revealed one of Margaret's famous fruitcakes! Ahhhhh.

Here's her recipe, if you'd like to try making some yourself:

6 C flour
I heap the following spices:
4 teas cinnamon
1 teas nutmeg
1 teas gr allspice
1 teas cloves
I measure generously:
4C chopped dried apricots (sulfured have a much better color)
2 c raisins
2C dried cranberries
2C chopped dates
2C pecans
2C walnuts
2C dried chopped pineapple
2C dried tart cherries
If the eggs are pullet eggs, add an extra:
8 eggs
3 ½ C brown sugar
2 C orange juice
1 ½ C melted butter
1/2C honey
Mix spices and flour. Beat eggs ‘til foamy, add sugar, honey, juice and butter. Add flour if you have room in the beater bowl. If not, put the rest of the flour in with the fruit. I often throw a jar of last year’s jam to use it up, but don’t put in blackberry---makes it a yucky color! Mix the wet ingredients in with all the fruit. Grease pans and line with waxed paper. Makes 10 cakes. Cook the smaller ones for 1 ½ hours, the larger for 2 hours at 300 degrees. Peel the cakes while they are hot. Wrap them in heavy flannel soaked in brandy. Slop on more brandy as you wrap them up in foil. Make by Thanksgiving to age ‘til Christmas. If you have any left over, they will keep a year, periodically slop with more brandy.

What American Accent Do You Have?

2006-12-05T15:48:00.000-05:00

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The South
Philadelphia
The Inland North
The Northeast
The West
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

Interesting results, especially as I've never even lived in any of those places it thinks I'm from. Oh, oops, except for Florida...where I really didspend my first decade or so, but I'd hardly call that "the midland", LOL.

Looking for the silver lining in these clouds

2006-12-01T20:16:00.000-05:00

I'm looking for the silver lining in these clouds, all these clouds, all these rain-releasing clouds, all these rapidly blowing by in strong winds rain-releasing clouds. And, after some searching of dark and dusty corners, I've found it. The silver lining is that the temperature hasn't (yet) dropped below freezing (though it's heading down rapidly) so we have a blowing rain storm instead of having to deal with a full-fledged nor'easter...so far, that is...

I did it! I did it! I did it!

2006-11-30T14:57:00.000-05:00

AKA, Blogging the Lighted Sudoku.

Translation #1: As of today, I will have posted something to my blog every single day for the entire month of November. Hey, that wasn't as hard as I'd expected--I still have lots more ideas and pictures to write about (including the promised pictures and directions for several multicultural art projects).

Translation #2: In spite of entering the Christmas season feeling decidedly Scroogish, today's astonishingly warm weather (it got up to 55ºF today...in Maine, no less...and on the last day of November!) inspired me to search out the outdoor Christmas lights and get them up...before winter finally arrives. Maybe it will stay away this year. Maybe it will go to Florida. Or the Caribbean. Yeah, that's it, let's give winter a winter vacation and let us keep this lovely spring weather.

Translation #3: I'm always late to fads and this was no exception. But, yes, I have finally succumbed (in a severe bout of procrastination--see #2 above) to the Sudoku craze and managed (with only a few hints from Beth and peeks at the answer key) to successfully complete my very first Sudoku. Do I hear applause and cheers? No? Why am I not surprised. Surely it can't be because I'm the last person on the planet to try this. No promises to ever do another one. The newspaper's note that Sudoku does not require math but only logic is what gave me courage to begin. And if the paper ever runs a beginner level Sudoku (which this was most certainly not!), I may just break down and try this game again. Stay tuned.

By the way, did you know that the results of going through severe stress will show up in your body months later? Yup, with crossways ridges in your finger and/or thumb nails. So there's your trivia tidbit for the day.

Happy Birthday to the Sunniest of Sisters!

2006-11-29T13:56:00.000-05:00

Secrets whispered beneath the sheets after lights out.
Smothered giggles at the sound of fatherly footsteps.
Stories, smiles and sorrows shared over many years and miles.
Somehow there is simply no one in the world as special as a sister.

Friends come and go, but a sister is forever!

Happy birthday, Sunny, the world is richer because it contains you!

Christmas Music on the Internet

2006-11-28T16:57:00.000-05:00

There is a local radio station that is currently playing only Christmas music. I know it exists because Beth set up my van radio so that I can listen to it with the touch of a button. I love listening to it whenever I'm driving around. But, when I tried to tune that station in at home on my cheap little portable radio/CD/tape player, it was overpowered by a nearby stronger station. "You get what you pay for" my granddaddy used to say and, in the case of this little portable device, he was certainly right!

So I went to the internet and here, for your listening pleasure, is a list of internet-based web-radio Christmas stations playing a variety of styles of Christmas music. Enjoy!

'Tis the season for...

2006-11-27T20:05:00.000-05:00

I'd initially planned to write about today being one of the busiest internet shopping days of the year and then, for the benefit of USA readers, to segue into a mention of SalesCircular.com so they could get a heads-up on upcoming sales in their local areas. Because I'm very much into saving, not wasting, money.

But then, yesterday, the OC decreed it to be "we need to decide now where to distribute the extra donation money so I can do it and get it done" day. So, being a highly organized sort, he brought out a spreadsheet showing how much and to which extra (beyond our "usual") charities we had donated last year and so far over this year and how much had accumulated in the designated fund in the budget. And then we looked over the stack of fundraising materials that had escaped the trashman and had the "who gets how much and who do we add or cut this year" conversation.

Thanks to the OC's talents, our charitable contributions are carefully organized. We donate to our church regularly but also like to provide help to other worthy needs as well. We've both been through very, very poor times in our lives, times in which there really wasn't quite enough food to go around so, now that we have plenty (as do most people in developed countries!), most of our favorite charities are those that help to feed hungry people, particularly children.

"One little girl or boy dies of hunger-related diseases every five seconds in developing countries. That’s 12 children every minute, 720 children every hour, more than 17,000 a day." We can't feed them all, but for each one we can feed, our help literally means the difference between life or death so we donated to ADRA Matching Grants for Food Security! $1 = $7! Hey, how could I resist not only providing food for hungry children but making each dollar worth seven dollars? What a bargain!!

When I was around 9 or 10, Louisa May Alcott was my very favorite author. I read and cried over Little Women more times than I can count. I loved Little Men (and Jo's Boys) and aspired to have my very own orphanage one day. So far, at least, that shows no signs of ever happening, so I've contented myself with sponsoring orphans in third-world countries instead.

After the OC wrote the check last night, I had a question about one of "our" Rwandan children so this morning I called REACH International headquarters. I reached Jasmine, the president, who started the first REACH school with her husband when their hearts was touched by the starving children they saw while on a visit to India back in 1973. Now, with the aid of many caring sponsors, some 26,000 children in 25 countries are cared for, fed, educated and taught of the love of Jesus.

Jasmine told me, though, "I had a very unhappy Thanksgiving. I just came from Malawi where children are dying like rats from AIDS and from starvation. And here people are stuffing themselves." So now I'm trying to think what expenses I can cut so that we can find an extra $20 a month to sponsor a child from Malawi. We can't save them all but perhaps we can manage to save one more.

Another, and much more challenging, approach to caring for children, of course, is that of our niece who just brought her beautiful new daughter home from Central America.

The late lamented "lake"

2006-11-26T18:11:00.000-05:00

The late lamented "lake"
Originally uploaded by Larry13.

That developer's new drainage system seems to be working all too well. So much for our hoped-for neighborhood ice rink. Sigh.

Sunset on Sailor Dave's boat

2006-11-25T22:19:00.000-05:00

Sunset on Sailor Dave's boat
Originally uploaded by Larry13.

With winter starting to set in, I'll soon find myself curled up beside a cozy fire pondering over memories of this last summer and fall. One of my favorites was of the September sunset sail I enjoyed with new Grandpa Sailor Dave. Definitely a memory to savor!

Surviving the Great American Shopping Day

2006-11-24T21:38:00.000-05:00

With his new job, the OC now gets Black Friday, the Friday after American Thanksgiving, as a day off from work. So, of course, he was quite interested in becoming part of what is surely a uniquely American phenomenon--much of the population heading out before dawn just to go shopping. Shucks, not just before dawn, I know of at least one mall in a nearby city that hosted a "Rockin' Shoppin' Eve!" bash to keep the anticipated waiting crowds entertained until their stores opened at one in the morning with loss-leader bargains for the Early Birds.

We, however, stayed closer to home for our venture into Black Friday's orgy of consumerism. We were pretty low-key about it all as we initially planned to be away at Christmastime so have already given or mailed gifts to our family.

Shopping just for ourselves, now that's a new experience! We (the OC, Auntie Beth and I) looked over the mound of sale flyers that came with yesterday's paper, discarded the ones for non-local stores and then went through looking to see if there was anything we'd had on our personal wish/need lists. We found relatively inexpensive things to circle in the flyers of three stores in one mall (Staples, Radio Shack and a shoe store) and an LLBean outlet store and made plans to leave at 6am when the stores were scheduled to open.

We left at 6:30 and found a couple of things we'd considered buying at Staples already sold out! (No, we were not interested in buying a half-price LCD HDTV--good thing, too, as they were long gone before we ever arrived.) Tag-teaming (I waited in line at Staples while the OC and Beth collected what they wanted and then we zipped in and out of the other two stores even more quickly), we had collected our bargains and were on the way to the Bean outlet store in just 40 minutes.

We parked beside a car with a Nova Scotia license plate. Hmmm, guess the exchange rate must be pretty favorable to make driving all the way from Canada just to shop worthwhile. Of course, they may have been in the area to visit relatives, though the bargains we found at the outlet might have had something to do with their presence, too. With the additional early morning discount, we only paid 38% of original price for clothing and boots that were on our "watch for" lists!

With only buying for ourselves, shopping surely doesn't take long! What did we get? Winter boots, socks and snow pants. Dress pants. Two pairs of comfy shoes and a very comfy computer chair. DVD blanks, a flash drive, Turbo Tax software, a power strip and then the fun stuff: a hand-crank emergency radio, a rechargable spotlight, and Beth's favorite--TIVO so she can easily watch her favorite TV programs after she returns to work in a week or so.

With no pressure to choose the "right gift", spending only limited time in more crowded stores and the satisfaction of having saved money buying (mostly) needed items, this morning was a surprisingly enjoyable couple of hours--even for committed anti-shoppers of the "get in, grab it, get out" school!

Thanksgiving memories from four and a half decades ago

2006-11-23T22:31:00.000-05:00

Our local newspaper recently ran an article about how being a vegetarian has become a very "in" thing with teens. It took me back, way back to a long-ago Thanksgiving when I was about 12 years old.

Back in those olden days, we lived in the hills of eastern Tennessee which was (and likely still is) a national center for chicken raising and processing. Shortly before that fateful Thanksgiving, my nurse mother had recently taken advantage of an opportunity to tour one of the chicken processing plants. She came away absolutely appalled by the conditions--both the unsanitary, inhumane and unhealthful* way in which the chickens were "processed" and by the way in which the employees were treated.

Thanksgiving day rolled around and she dutifully baked our family's Thanksgiving Chicken (chickens were cheap, turkeys were expensive and we were poor) but then, when carving time came, announced that, while she'd cook it, she'd decided that she wasn't going to eat meat anymore (not that we could afford to have it very often, anyway). Well, I'd been listening to her tales of that eye-opening tour so I piped up with, "I'm not eating any more meat, either."

And that was that. No more meat for me. Well, no more meat except for a couple of lapses along the way (one on purpose a couple of years later because I thought I missed tuna and one very sill accidental one decades later because I simply didn't recognize a cold lamb chop).

A funny thing happens after going most of one's life without eating meat--the very idea of eating something dead becomes repugnant. It's probably kind of like most folks would probably feel about the idea of killing, cooking and eating their pet dog.

In a way, I kind of envy all the kids who are becoming vegetarians these days because not only are there lots of vegetarian meat alternatives in regular grocery stores but now there are even vegetarian fast food options. Plus, of course, they get to be "cool" instead of weird, which is always a major plus when you're a teenager. I certainly wish the very best for them all!

By the way, if you know a teen who's recently become a vegetarian, don't assume it's necessarily just a phase that they'll grow out of it. This may well be a life-long change! The OC stopped eating meat at about the same age as I did after his pet steer ended up on the dinner table, but that's his story to tell.

On the off chance that you were wondering, yes, we had a lovely Thanksgiving Dinner with all the usual trappings--a groaning table with an astonishing number of people crowded around it, cranberry sauce, stuffing, fluffy mashed potatoes, pecan-topped sweet potato souffle, rolls, squash, peas, a fresh vegetable platter complete with olives, cider, pumpkin and apple pie plus two other desserts including an absolutely delectable orange cranberry trifle. Oh, okay, yes, there was a mock chicken loaf, of course. It was made from things like cottage cheese and eggs and onions and seasonings and, while nothing like chicken in texture was still quite tasty and no animals were harmed in its filming, er, preparation.

*For example, cancerous chickens had the most obvious parts of their tumors quickly sliced out and then were processed along with the apparently healthy chickens.

How to Preserve a Husband

2006-11-22T21:54:00.000-05:00

Whilst searching through my recipe box today, I came upon a clipping I'd long ago glued to an index card and carefully filed away. Experience has shown it to be a recipe most certainly worth sharing.

With thanks to Ann Landers from whose column this was saved:

How to Preserve a Husband

First, use care in selection. Get one that is not too young, but tender and healthy. If you choose one recklessly, it may not keep.

Don't put in hot water. This makes them turn sour.

Sweeten with smiles, and spice with patience. All varieties will respond.

To ensure a wonderful consistency, stir gently over a low flame and don't leave unattended for long periods of time.

To add a delicious flavor, sprinkle generously with praise and appreciation. -- Tested by Yours Truly

Don't mess with the old lady

2006-11-21T14:54:00.000-05:00

Think just because you have an empty nest that you can no longer influence all those young whipper-snappers? Think just because you're getting older you are becoming weak and powerless?

Think again! (Hint--turn on your speakers.)

Oh, boo, hoo. Our lake is disappearing.

2006-11-20T22:14:00.000-05:00

After all the rain we've been having this month, one would think that "lake" out back would be overflowing its banks. But, instead, it seemed to be seeping away far more quickly than it did after the first big rains. So, once we got a chance to go walking while there was still light, we took the camera and went off to investigate.
Alas, and alack, someone has cleared a channel from "our" lake to the development's drainage system and dumped in some rocks to prevent erosion. All of which is very nice for their project, but not so nice for our view. As you can see, the lake is starting to give way to mud. Sigh.

Of course, soon enough it will all be covered with snow.

THUMP, bump, bump, bump, bumpity, bump.

2006-11-19T21:32:00.000-05:00

That was the sound of a huge burden falling off our backs and rolling away. Yes, boys and girls, we are happy to report that Auntie Beth's apartment is now not only completely empty but cleaner than it was when she moved in!

Whew, it's done! Well, we are done. Auntie Beth still has to sort through a very large pile of boxes out in the garage and decide what to throw away, what to give away and what to put away...and where to put it...and finish all the boxes before snow flies if she wants to park her car under cover during the winter. But that's her burden, not ours.

Rain, rain, go away... Wait. What is all that PINK?

2006-11-18T21:44:00.000-05:00

After almost a week (and five inches!) of rain, actual sunshine was a more than welcome sight this morning. We got a little foretaste of better things to come with last night's astoundingly pink sunset.

Needless to say, all that rain filled the lake again. I wish we had a kayak if for no other reason than to be able to float (and photograph) it out back. The water is too shallow for the canoe...I think...maybe we should try...stay tuned...

Yay, it's gone! Oops.

2006-11-17T21:27:00.000-05:00

It's not even Thanksgiving yet and, what a relief, as of 3:30 this afternoon, the Christmas box is in the mail. Ahhh, big sigh of contentment. A huge part of the last minute rush was getting the twins' dresses dyed (before they outgrow them, already!). Of course, once I got home from the post office, I realized that I'd forgotten to go to Walmart to buy a gold-colored metal ornaments for each child. Hmmm, perhaps this is the year to end that tradition before it gets too deeply entrenched, eh?

In other news, Auntie Beth is very happy that I've discovered that a once-stained shirt can be rescued by dyeing it using the crunch method. Can you find where the (small) stain used to be?

I am tempted to join the "Y" after spending a delightful hour and a half this afternoon swimming in their warm "therapy pool" as a guest of our friend Elizabeth. We had it all to ourselves for the last half hour as the church group that usually rents it during that time was having a Thanksgiving dinner instead. The place I'm planning to swim this winter is much closer (and cheaper!) but doesn't have such a nice warm pool. Sigh.

Art photo alert.

2006-11-16T11:24:00.000-05:00

If you find this comic funny, you may or may not enjoy the stories and photos from a senior college multicultural art class that will appear here in days to come.

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/cl/2006/cl061115.gif

More about the African watering hole webcam

2006-11-15T23:45:00.000-05:00

It seems that the best times to see animals are not precisely at dawn and dusk but rather within the hour or so after dawn and before dusk. We saw several zebra and impala this morning.

Antelope species in Africa is a great identification resource.

You can go here to learn more about the camera and see pictures of the tree on which it is mounted and of the lodge from which the controls are remotely operated.

Happy Feet

2006-11-14T23:02:00.000-05:00

The OC had today off work but still had to go in to get his flu shot so I went along and we made a day of it. He showed me around his old and new (as of tomorrow) workspaces and introduced me to some coworkers. We met up with Ally who was between classes and enjoyed a soup-and-sandwich lunch together at Panara Bread.

High on our "to-do" list for the day was to connect with a Certified Pedorthist and get me a new pair of walking shoes. We went to the shoe store right after lunch which turned out to be an excellent (read: not busy) time to go -- he spent over an hour fitting us. Ally has wonderfully comfortable new winter boots and I now have a pair of New Balance combination last (SL-2) running shoes -- they fit snugly around the heel yet have plenty of space in the toe box, even with my orthotcs. Ahhhh, such happy feet I have now. Tomorrow's walk will be such a pleasure that I'll very likely be up to more than than our usual two miles!

Take an Armchair Safari

2006-11-13T20:33:00.000-05:00

We've had a lot of fun watching this South African water hole webcam. Nkorho Pan is a natural water hole in the Sabi Sands Private Game Reserve in South Africa.

We've spotted groups of elands, zebraa, enus, monkeys, many small birds and a pair of some kind of large birds or ducks...and just heard lots of insects if we were trying at the wrong time of day.

In our experience, so far at least, the best time for animal spottings seems to be around dawn and dusk Africa time.

Of course, if you find yourself hankering for a real African safari, you can always travel to the Nkorho Bush Lodge and go stand in front of the webcam to wave at the rest of us homebodies.

My new toy

2006-11-12T19:54:00.000-05:00

Look out Tim the Tool Man, I've got a new toy, a new power toy, no less. I'm just back from a trip to Sears and am the proud owner of a very basic Miter Saw which will (probably tomorrow) be set up in the basement ready for me to gather my courage in hand and see how I do at turning out simple picture frames. Shhhh, don't tell but now I've started drooling over the scroll saws I saw there, reminding me of the one I made puzzles with years, nay, decades ago.

And in other news, last night the OC and I rescued a couple of used double-thickness cardboard appliance boxes that I'll cut up to become the "canvas" for Navajo sand paintings for ~40-50 children. Yup, I'm planning on sharing my new art discoveries.

Yes, yes, yes, I'll be sharing with you, too. :D

Making good times to remember

2006-11-11T18:21:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday afternoon, the OC and I took our Victorio Strainer over to our friend Elizabeth's house to help her turn a bushel or so of ripe apples into a couple dozen quarts of lovely pink apple sauce. Working together, we made (relatively) short work of the project finishing in time to walk down to the bay to watch the sun set over the bay. Ahhh, such a super day--sweet sauce, special friends and a spectacular sunset!

Would you call any of these "Misty Blue"?

2006-11-10T21:33:00.000-05:00

Way last spring when I was preparing an order of dyes and blanks (white ready-to-dye garments) for tie-dyeing, Deb added a pair of crushed-nylon slacks to the list. The challenge, however, was that she wanted them to be dyed a still-to-be-determined solid color.

She finally decided that she wanted "Misty Blue" pants. Whatever that means. I'll tell you what it means--it means that I have to learn to do "vat dyeing" (or "bucket dyeing" for those of us without a vat)...

I carefully weighed the pants, researched colors and formulas and calculated how much dye would be required. Mixing of powdered dyes must be done outdoors as the powder is highly allergenic. With the change of seasons I knew that my procrastination time was rapidly disappearing so on a beautiful fall day earlier this week I mixed up what I hoped would be the perfect amount of dye to turn that garment Misty Blue.

The next day I had time to do the deed. I used a long bamboo stick to stir a couple of cups of non-iodized salt into a bucket of warm water, added the liquid dye and then the pants. The next step is to stir pretty much constantly for 20 minutes (so the color will be evenly distributed).

Only, as I stir, I notice that those pants are turning a much darker blue than what I would call "misty". Oh, dear, I have too much dye! What to do? I dash upstairs to my sewing/project room (one of the advantages of an empty nest is getting to take over those abandoned bedrooms!) and grab a waiting-to-be-dyed tee-shirt.

Dash down stairs. Stir the pants. Man, that 20 minutes is taking a loooong time to pass. Add the tee-shirt to the bucket. Oops, now it's too full to stir properly. Mix up some more warm salt water. Add (slowly!) to the dye bucket. Stir. Stir. Look at the clock. Stir some more. Use the bamboo stick (a tomato stake in its former life) to lift the pants and the shirt out of the dye bath. STILL too dark. The pants are dark, the shirt looks less so. Actually, the shirt looks more like what I'd think Misty Blue should be. Oh, dear. What to do?

Run upstairs again. Grab a pair of white cotton child's shorts. Dash back down. Stir. Take a deep breath. Add the shorts to the bucket. Stir. Stir. Hey, those shorts are starting to look like the light blue color I'd expected for the tee-shirt. Stir. Stir. Ignore the fact that the bucket is now REALLY full, too full to stir properly.

DING. Yah, the 20 minutes are up at last. Spend the next 12 minutes (it's supposed to take 15, but I cheated) slowly adding sodium carbonate solutiion while, you guessed it, stirring and stirring and waiting for another ding.

Take a deep sigh of relief and let the bucket sit blessedly undisturbed for an hour. The bucket sits. I don't. I have too much to do...

Come back an hour later and pour off the dye water and begin the process of hand rinsing and rinsing and rinsing and rinsing, then run them through the washer a couple of times with a set of dark blue sheets to fill out the load. Dry.

Take the pants, shirt and shorts out to find that we have three different shades of blue, depending on how many dye molecules were available to bond with each garment.

So, here's the question: Which (if any) of these blues are closest to what you would call "Misty Blue"?

Would you call any of these "Misty Blue"?
Originally uploaded by Larry13.

Don't like the weather...

2006-11-09T20:57:00.000-05:00

Future ice rink?
Originally uploaded by Larry13.

Last week the temperature dropped overnight and our mud puddle, er, pond, er, LAKE, yeah, that's a lake, right? Anyway, there it was--covered in a thick layer of ice! Neighborhood skating rink, anyone?

Then we got another inch of rain which refilled it and today a lovely warm sun came out and the temperature went up to a balmy 60 degrees. In mid November, no less!

Hope we don't get snow next week...

The Lobster attends a "Council of All Beings"

2006-11-08T17:59:00.000-05:00

Today was the last gathering of my Senior College Exploring Nature class. Our teacher had assigned us each to choose to "speak for" one animal or plant in a "council of all beings". Which we spent the last half hour or so doing.

Using the voice of a deer and a clam, she'd written short presentations to be read by herself and for one who'd missed the last few classes. Another student told about snakes, another spoke for the Pink Lady's Slipper (wearing pink slippers which cracked us all up), while another spoke in the voice of the wild turkey.

Then it was my turn. I had chosen to "speak for" the lobster. Thanks to B's suggestion, I had printed off a photo of a happy lobster in the wild. I'd typed up an outline of the results of my research but presented it in the "voice" of the lobster. The other students (and the teacher!), came away quite affected by what they heard...questioning if they'd ever again be able to cook a lobster.

Here is my outline--read it as if the creature itself were talking to you:

Lobsters are Sentient Beings who feel Pain

Lobsters have an exquisite tactile sense and very sensitive pain receptors.

-“Smell” chemicals in the water with antennae
-“Taste” with sensory hairs along legs

Respond behaviorally as if they are in pain

-struggle, thrash and try to climb out of boiling pot
-response to electric shocks as adverse stimuli is used by researchers
-response to pain is similar to mammals’ response

Have biological structures for mediating pain

-Nervous systems produce opioids which mediate pain (as do mammals)
-Crabs’ defensive reaction to shocks is reduced by morphine (as do mammals)
-Unlike mammals, no autonomic nervous system so can’t go into shock if harmed

Demonstrate mental cognitive processes

Learning and Association

-high degree of associative learning
-can make distinctions about environment
-can learn to associate certain chemical signals
with punishment and chemical signals with rewards

Memory

-explore new environments but not familiar ones
-form stable social hierarchies
-can remember and recognize fighting opponents

Generalization

-can associate an individual odor with a mixture that contains it
(i.e. can discern that a combination is not the same as the sum of its parts)

“After all the abstract intellection, there remain the facts of the frantically clanking lid, the pathetic clinging to the edge of the pot. Standing at the stove, it is hard to deny in any meaningful way that this is a living creature experiencing pain and wishing to avoid/escape the painful experience.” David Foster Wallace
“Consider the Lobster” Gourmet August 2004

The incredible shrinking "lake"

2006-11-07T07:36:00.000-05:00

The incredible shrinking "lake"
Originally uploaded by Larry13.

Sunshine+wind+no rain=disappearing water.

Both lake and pumpkins have seen better days.

Sigh.