Yesterday was December 9 and if my dad were still alive, he would have been 83 years old. I often wonder why my dad didn't live any longer than he did. He would love watching his great grandchildren. He would have such pride in his 3 grandsons and their wives. He was a good man, a loving father and faithful husband to my mother. He was extremely committed to the little church in Port Neches which now does not even exist anymore. He would leave in the middle of the night to go help a widow that was in need. He never tired of work or doing for others.
Well, Daddy, I just want you to know I thought about your birthday as usual. I miss you and wish you were here to celebrate Christmas with us. I still see you laughing at the boys funny antics. You would enjoy watching your two great grandchildren in the same way. They are so cute.
You were always my best cheerleader. You helped me to read, tie my shoelaces and even how to drive a nail into a board. You played in the backyard with me and played guitars and sang with me. You even took me driving when I was 15 years old and Mama was too afraid to do ride with me.
You got tears in your eyes the evening I went on my first date and you cried the night I got married. My favorite wedding photo is of you and mom kissing my cheeks, one on each side.
When your mind began to go, you told me with the same zeal in your voice, about a news article where scientist had found a dinosaur bone...3 times. You walked beside me after Mom's funeral, put your arm around my shoulders and told me that you loved me like a real daughter. Who knows who you thought I was.
I like to see you in my mind the way you are in a photograph taken at my house the first Christmas without mom. You are laughing as Cynthia jokingly put a red Christmas bow on your head. You always loved a good laugh and when you and Cynthia teamed up, you were both hilarious. I hope you and Cynthia are enjoying each other in Heaven.
Keep laughing Daddy. I love you.
Your daughter,
Mary Lou
December 10, 2005
December 3, 2005
Holidays
Holidays sure have changed over the past 15 years. Kim and I have gone from buying gifts for a lot of people to buying for just a couple of people. I know a lot of people that would be asking, "Are you complaining?" Well, yes I am. I like a Christmas tree with lots of presents around the bottom. I love the joy of watching everyone tear into a brightly wrapped package with an expectant look of delight. It's fun!
I will say, however, that the best part of Christmas is catching that look of excitment in my grandchild, Aidan's, face. And this year we will get to watch Regan go for all the red and green bows to play with. No matter what you get for an 8 month old, there is nothing better than a bow. Go figure. :-?
Anyway, I'm going to try to make my own Christmas. I want to dress up the house and light some candles and I just might buy more presents this year.
'Tis the season. :-)
Merry Christmas!
I will say, however, that the best part of Christmas is catching that look of excitment in my grandchild, Aidan's, face. And this year we will get to watch Regan go for all the red and green bows to play with. No matter what you get for an 8 month old, there is nothing better than a bow. Go figure. :-?
Anyway, I'm going to try to make my own Christmas. I want to dress up the house and light some candles and I just might buy more presents this year.
'Tis the season. :-)
Merry Christmas!
November 26, 2005
Mama Lou's Adventure
November 25, 2005
Lansing, Michigan and the snow is falling in soft, white, feathery flakes. This Thanksgiving holiday has been different in many ways this year. For the first time in 3 years we are spending Thanksgiving with our oldest son, Jason and his family. I was so excited to have the opportunity to fly up here in this northern state to visit with Jason and Kari. I am especially excited to get to know our two grandchildren, Aidan and Regan.
Aidan will tell you if asked, that he is two and a half years old. He has a very good vocabulary for his age. He announces with enthusiasm, "I don’t drink beer anymore". Something his mom wishes he would not say, but he always gets a good laugh out of it. He picked it up one day from his daddy. The first time he repeated the amusing beer phrase, his parents laughed. Now it is Aidan’s favorite joke. It just proves that you never know when little ears will listen and pick up what is heard. Of course, we try not to encourage it even though it is very cute. Besides we ARE glad he's "kicked the habit". ;-0
Regan is 7 months old and learning to crawl. She has the biggest brown eyes that laugh with her big one-tooth grin from behind a pink pacifier. Her biggest ambition right now is to become proficient at crawling well enough to get to her big brother’s Thomas train before he catches her. It has been a real treat to observe her and experience all that is "Regan".
Aidan is taking a nap right now. Something I was not patient enough to perfect in his daddy and uncles. He likes to hear a story or two while sucking his middle two fingers on one hand and rubbing his own hair with the other hand. I was reading a few stories to him the other night. One of the pictures was of a bear with an astronaut suit on. Aidan calmly professed that he wanted to be an astronaut one day. Pretty big dream for a 2 1/2 year old.
Well I hear Regan waking up from her nap. She is being broadcast from her bedroom on the baby monitor downstairs in the room where we are sitting. She makes quiet sounds as she wakes up and is probably sitting up in bed looking around her pretty room.
The snowflakes are coming down faster and fluffier now. I’m sure that when Aidan wakes up he will want to go outside to build a snowman. Something every little Michigan boy and girl know a lot about.
Time to play "grandma".
Lansing, Michigan and the snow is falling in soft, white, feathery flakes. This Thanksgiving holiday has been different in many ways this year. For the first time in 3 years we are spending Thanksgiving with our oldest son, Jason and his family. I was so excited to have the opportunity to fly up here in this northern state to visit with Jason and Kari. I am especially excited to get to know our two grandchildren, Aidan and Regan.
Aidan will tell you if asked, that he is two and a half years old. He has a very good vocabulary for his age. He announces with enthusiasm, "I don’t drink beer anymore". Something his mom wishes he would not say, but he always gets a good laugh out of it. He picked it up one day from his daddy. The first time he repeated the amusing beer phrase, his parents laughed. Now it is Aidan’s favorite joke. It just proves that you never know when little ears will listen and pick up what is heard. Of course, we try not to encourage it even though it is very cute. Besides we ARE glad he's "kicked the habit". ;-0
Regan is 7 months old and learning to crawl. She has the biggest brown eyes that laugh with her big one-tooth grin from behind a pink pacifier. Her biggest ambition right now is to become proficient at crawling well enough to get to her big brother’s Thomas train before he catches her. It has been a real treat to observe her and experience all that is "Regan".
Aidan is taking a nap right now. Something I was not patient enough to perfect in his daddy and uncles. He likes to hear a story or two while sucking his middle two fingers on one hand and rubbing his own hair with the other hand. I was reading a few stories to him the other night. One of the pictures was of a bear with an astronaut suit on. Aidan calmly professed that he wanted to be an astronaut one day. Pretty big dream for a 2 1/2 year old.
Well I hear Regan waking up from her nap. She is being broadcast from her bedroom on the baby monitor downstairs in the room where we are sitting. She makes quiet sounds as she wakes up and is probably sitting up in bed looking around her pretty room.
The snowflakes are coming down faster and fluffier now. I’m sure that when Aidan wakes up he will want to go outside to build a snowman. Something every little Michigan boy and girl know a lot about.
Time to play "grandma".
November 12, 2005
Ride a Bike
Forget the political issues of the day. Forget the work that stares forever in your face. Forget that you have any problems at all. Ride a bike.
Today is a beautiful day. Sunshine and just the right temperature for going outdoors without a jacket and feeling very cool at the same time. As I drove down our street, I passed a young blonde-headed boy riding his bicycle. All by himself, he was braking in the gravel, causing his bike to swerve to the side. He was feeling no pressure of any kind. It was just the day, his bike and no worries.
As I watched him play on his bicycle I was all of a sudden back in Port Neches. I was around 8 years old with braids bouncing on my back as I rode my blue bicycle around my neighborhood. I remembered the carefree feeling of independence as I rode anywhere I wanted. Sometimes I just rode around the block numerous times. On other days I'd ride up to the high school or a couple of blocks uptown to buy a soda from the drug store. I recalled the excitement as I rounded the corner near my house, because that was where the black and white boston terrier lived. His name was "Bullger" and he would always chase me on my bicycle. I didn't like it and was afraid of the dog, yet I was pushed to beat him and outride his approaches. I still recall my heart pumping fast as I would outride him and see him go back into his yard. Victory!
Still, the thing I thought of most as I watched the young boy ride his bike this morning was the freedom he felt to just simply ride. Ah, the joys of childhood. For a moment I was blessed to glimpse back into a simpler time.
Today is a beautiful day. Sunshine and just the right temperature for going outdoors without a jacket and feeling very cool at the same time. As I drove down our street, I passed a young blonde-headed boy riding his bicycle. All by himself, he was braking in the gravel, causing his bike to swerve to the side. He was feeling no pressure of any kind. It was just the day, his bike and no worries.
As I watched him play on his bicycle I was all of a sudden back in Port Neches. I was around 8 years old with braids bouncing on my back as I rode my blue bicycle around my neighborhood. I remembered the carefree feeling of independence as I rode anywhere I wanted. Sometimes I just rode around the block numerous times. On other days I'd ride up to the high school or a couple of blocks uptown to buy a soda from the drug store. I recalled the excitement as I rounded the corner near my house, because that was where the black and white boston terrier lived. His name was "Bullger" and he would always chase me on my bicycle. I didn't like it and was afraid of the dog, yet I was pushed to beat him and outride his approaches. I still recall my heart pumping fast as I would outride him and see him go back into his yard. Victory!
Still, the thing I thought of most as I watched the young boy ride his bike this morning was the freedom he felt to just simply ride. Ah, the joys of childhood. For a moment I was blessed to glimpse back into a simpler time.
October 30, 2005
TRS and Me
I've recently thought I would contact TRS (Teacher Retirement System) to see what I'd need to do about retiring. It would be just great if I could retire in the next year or so. I wanted to check my teaching record online and to do that I have to get a password. I suppose it has a high security because I couldn't apply for a password online. I had to download a form to fill out, put in the "snail-mail" and then wait for the return response with my "secret" password. Sounds like a lot of trouble, but if it'll get me the information I need to quit teaching school...I'll do it.
My classes this year are not too bad really. The three third grade classes of reading that I teach each have 22 students. Most of them are a little too immature and don't really want to do schoolwork over playing. But I don't blame them because I'd rather play too. Unfortunately, I don't think we'd get away with it. The principal would be sure to find out and we'd all be busted.
Playing instead of being at the school really does sound better to me. Every Monday evening I have the same strong desire to get up in the morning and just drive away and forget about that school and my job. I know that would be very irresponcible, not to mention that people would think I was crazy.
I have managed to get my school principal to let another teacher and myself have a day in Houston attending a workshop on improving TAKS scores. No, it doesn't sound too interesting, but we aren't at school. I'm not complaining. We get to eat lunch with the business crowd and listen to a speaker give us tips on helping the helpless in TAKS. I even get my gasoline paid for plus the cost of the registration. Not a bad deal.
When I retire, I realize that I'll have to get some sort of job to help supplement my paycheck from the state. But this time I'm going to work at something that I enjoy. I want to be able to leave it at work and not bring home work. I would like to be able to sleep later than 6:00 a.m. and not be at work until 8:30 or 9:00 a.m. I do not want to have to substitute teach. Been there, done that. I'm thinking Barnes and Noble might like to hire an ex-teacher. Or better yet, Half-Price Books.
Well I haven't retired yet and I have papers to grade and a few lesson plans to write. It never ends. ;-/
My classes this year are not too bad really. The three third grade classes of reading that I teach each have 22 students. Most of them are a little too immature and don't really want to do schoolwork over playing. But I don't blame them because I'd rather play too. Unfortunately, I don't think we'd get away with it. The principal would be sure to find out and we'd all be busted.
Playing instead of being at the school really does sound better to me. Every Monday evening I have the same strong desire to get up in the morning and just drive away and forget about that school and my job. I know that would be very irresponcible, not to mention that people would think I was crazy.
I have managed to get my school principal to let another teacher and myself have a day in Houston attending a workshop on improving TAKS scores. No, it doesn't sound too interesting, but we aren't at school. I'm not complaining. We get to eat lunch with the business crowd and listen to a speaker give us tips on helping the helpless in TAKS. I even get my gasoline paid for plus the cost of the registration. Not a bad deal.
When I retire, I realize that I'll have to get some sort of job to help supplement my paycheck from the state. But this time I'm going to work at something that I enjoy. I want to be able to leave it at work and not bring home work. I would like to be able to sleep later than 6:00 a.m. and not be at work until 8:30 or 9:00 a.m. I do not want to have to substitute teach. Been there, done that. I'm thinking Barnes and Noble might like to hire an ex-teacher. Or better yet, Half-Price Books.
Well I haven't retired yet and I have papers to grade and a few lesson plans to write. It never ends. ;-/
October 22, 2005
The Animals We Are
During a Science Review the word "animal" was used in reference to humans. My third graders were insulted to be called animals. I assured them it was true that all creatures, even human mammals, were considered animals. They still took offense and could not accept that they were indeed "animals".
However, as I stop and picture human beings scurry around each day trying to earn a living, gather food, and race through this maze of daily happenings...we truly are of the animal kingdom. For sure, we are the more influencial, high-order thinker of the species, but "animals" none the less.
We are always on the move like an army of ants. "Done in the ground, to get out of the rain..." says the preschool song. Human animals rise up each day to new expectations. Oh, of course, there are some of us that are not going to a paying job. Theirs is to sit somewhere, to observe life passing, to listen to other people talk or watch them walk past in a hurry to their next event. Or theirs may be to volunteer their time, service and devotion to other human animals. But somewhere in there all humans eat, think, and sleep just like any other animal. It is the thinking that makes human beings superior though. However, I do believe I observe our cats thinking as they peer around the corner of the door poised to leap out at the other passing cat or person that walks by them. They use their minds to think as they pace around my feet and meow their requests for food or affection. Cats, dogs, even pigs can think, but humans have the complex ability to think, contemplate,reason and feel emotion about their daily decisions.
Pondering the thought that we are humans on this round planet, it seems that we are no different than any other animal living here. The earth spins from day to night and day again. We wake, eat, work, live and do it all over again every 24 hours. Have we been programed by a "superhuman"? Are we going anywhere in this world? The difference between human animals and any other creature on earth is that we can pursue a purpose in life. We can seek and act on a reason to exist. What is that purpose? If my answer to that question is simply to survive my time in this physical life on earth, I should quit my job, stop worrying about my health and let happen what will. No, I have to say that my purpose here is to be a learner. I am learning something new everyday. I'm not a terribly intelligent person, but surrounded by both simple and complex people, the minute-to-minute situations I encounter teach me so much about purpose in life. God placed me on this planet to learn His lessons about the life I will live after I have graduated from this world.
We are the ultimate animal and our degree will be Life with God in Heaven.
However, as I stop and picture human beings scurry around each day trying to earn a living, gather food, and race through this maze of daily happenings...we truly are of the animal kingdom. For sure, we are the more influencial, high-order thinker of the species, but "animals" none the less.
We are always on the move like an army of ants. "Done in the ground, to get out of the rain..." says the preschool song. Human animals rise up each day to new expectations. Oh, of course, there are some of us that are not going to a paying job. Theirs is to sit somewhere, to observe life passing, to listen to other people talk or watch them walk past in a hurry to their next event. Or theirs may be to volunteer their time, service and devotion to other human animals. But somewhere in there all humans eat, think, and sleep just like any other animal. It is the thinking that makes human beings superior though. However, I do believe I observe our cats thinking as they peer around the corner of the door poised to leap out at the other passing cat or person that walks by them. They use their minds to think as they pace around my feet and meow their requests for food or affection. Cats, dogs, even pigs can think, but humans have the complex ability to think, contemplate,reason and feel emotion about their daily decisions.
Pondering the thought that we are humans on this round planet, it seems that we are no different than any other animal living here. The earth spins from day to night and day again. We wake, eat, work, live and do it all over again every 24 hours. Have we been programed by a "superhuman"? Are we going anywhere in this world? The difference between human animals and any other creature on earth is that we can pursue a purpose in life. We can seek and act on a reason to exist. What is that purpose? If my answer to that question is simply to survive my time in this physical life on earth, I should quit my job, stop worrying about my health and let happen what will. No, I have to say that my purpose here is to be a learner. I am learning something new everyday. I'm not a terribly intelligent person, but surrounded by both simple and complex people, the minute-to-minute situations I encounter teach me so much about purpose in life. God placed me on this planet to learn His lessons about the life I will live after I have graduated from this world.
We are the ultimate animal and our degree will be Life with God in Heaven.
October 20, 2005
Top 100 Songs of 1970
On my son, Kyle's blog. (see my list) He listed the top 100 songs from his graduating class of 1997. He got this idea from a friend, Deanna, (see my list) who said to go to musicoutfitters.com and type in your graduating year in the search box. From there it will navigate to a search page and your graduating year will be the first hit. Click on it and there it is. The songs of your graduation year.
Then: 1. Bold the songs you like
2. Italicize the ones you hate
3. Underline your favorites
4. Ignore the ones you don't remember/don't care about.
Unfortunately, my computer doesn't show the tools to underline, bold or italicize. So I'm going to use the following:
1. "" around the ones I like.
2.[ ] the ones I hate (there aren't many)
3. * my favorites
4. Ignore the ones I don't remember. (yeah, there might be a few, did you see the grad year?)
Well too bad Kyle wasn't really impressed by his classes' song list. He needs to check out my list from 1970. Now that was music!
1. *Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon and Garfunkel
2. "(They Long To Be) Close To You", Carpenters
3. *American Woman / No Sugar Tonight, The Guess Who
4. "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head", B.J. Thomas
5. *War, Edwin Starr
6. *Ain't No Mountain High Enough, Diana Ross
7. "I'll Be There", Jackson 5
8. "Get Ready", Rare Earth
9. *Let It Be, The Beatles
10. Band Of Gold, Freda Payne
11. *Mama Told Me (Not To Come), Three Dog Night
12. [Everything Is Beautiful[, Ray Stevens
13. *Make It With You, Bread
14. Hitchin' A Ride, Vanity Fair
15. [ABC], Jackson 5
16. The Love You Save / I Found That Girl, Jackson 5
17. *Cracklin' Rose, Neil Diamond
18. Candida, Dawn
19. "Thank You (Fallettin Me Be Mice Elf Again) / Everybody Is A Star", Sly and The Family Stone
20. Spill The Wine, Eric Burdon and War
21. O-o-h Child / Dear Prudence, Five Stairsteps and Cubie
22. *Spirit In The Sky, Norman Greenbaum
23. Lay Down (Candles In The Rain), Melanie and The Edwin Hawkins Singers
24. Ball Of Confusion (That's What The World Is Today), Temptations
25. Love On A Two Way Street, Moments
27. Which Way You Goin' Billy?, Poppy Family
28. All Right Now, Free
29. Julie, Do Ya Love Me, Bobby Sherman
30. *Green-eyed Lady, Sugarloaf
31. *Signed Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours), Stevie Wonder
32. "Ride Captain Ride", Blues Image
33. *Venus, Shocking Blue
34. Instant Karma (We All Shine On), John Ono Lennon
35. [Patches], Clarence Carter
36. Lookin' Out My Back Door / Long As I Can See The Light, Creedence Clearwater Revival
37. *Rainy Night In Georgia, Brook Benton
38. *Something's Burning, Kenny Rogers and The First Edition
39. "Give Me Just A Little More Time", Chairmen Of The Board
40. "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)", Edison Lighthouse
41. *The Long And Winding Road / For You Blue, The Beatles
42. "Snowbird", Anne Murray
43. Reflections Of My Life, Marmalade
44. "Hey There Lonely Girl", Eddie Holman
45. *The Rapper, Jaggerz
46. *He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother, Hollies
47. Tighter, Tighter, Alive and Kicking
48. Come And Get It, Badfinger
49. *Cecelia, Simon and Garfunkel
50. Love Land, Charles Wright and The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band
51. Turn Back The Hands Of Time, Tyrone Davis
52. Lola, Kinks
53. *In The Summertime, Mungo Jerry
54. [Indiana Wants Me], R. Dean Taylor
55. (I Know) I'm Losing You, Rare Earth
56. [Easy Come, Easy Go], Bobby Sherman
57. Express Yourself, Charles Wright and The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band
58. Still Water (Love), Four Tops
59. *Make Me Smile, Chicago
60. *House Of The Rising Sun , Frijid Pink
61. *25 Or 6 To 4, Chicago
62. "My Baby Loves Lovin'", White Plains
63. Love Or Let Me Be Lonely, Friends Of Distinction
64. *United We Stand, Brotherhood Of Man
65. "We've Only Just Begun", Carpenters
66. Arizona, Mark Lindsay
67. *Fire And Rain, James Taylor
68. Groovy Situation, Gene Chandler
69. "Evil Ways", Santana
70. "No Time", The Guess Who
71. Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time), Delfonics
72. The Wonder Of You / Mama Liked The Roses, Elvis Presley
73. *Up Around The Bend / Run Through The Jungle, Creedence Clearwater Revival
74. (If You Let Me Make Love To You Then) Why Can't I Touch You, Ronnie Dyson
75. *I Just Can't Help Believing, B.J. Thomas
76. It's A Shame, Spinners
77. For The Love Of Him, Bobbi Martin
78. Mississippi Queen, Mountain
79. "I Want To Take You Higher", Ike and Tina Turner
80. The Letter, Joe Cocker
81. "Ma Belle Amie", Tee Set
82. The Bells, Originals
83. Yellow River, Christie
84. Somebody's Been Sleeping, 100 Proof and Aged In Soul
85. Vehicle, Ides Of March
86. [Gimme Dat Ding], Pipkins
87. "Lay A Little Lovin' On Me", Robin Mcnamara
88. Up The Ladder To The Roof, Supremes
89. *Travelin' Band / Who'll Stop The Rain, Creedence Clearwater Revival
90. *Come Saturday Morning, Sandpipers
91. Psychedelic Shack, Temptations
92. Without Love (There Is Nothing), Tom Jones
93. Are You Ready?, Pacific Gas and Electric
94. *Woodstock, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
95. I'll Never Fall In Love Again, Dionne Warwick
96. Look What They've Done To My Song Ma, New Seekers
97. Walk A Mile In My Shoes, Joe South
98. *The Thrill Is Gone, B.B. King
99. It's Only Make Believe, Glen Campbell
100. *Call Me, Aretha Franklin
Then: 1. Bold the songs you like
2. Italicize the ones you hate
3. Underline your favorites
4. Ignore the ones you don't remember/don't care about.
Unfortunately, my computer doesn't show the tools to underline, bold or italicize. So I'm going to use the following:
1. "" around the ones I like.
2.[ ] the ones I hate (there aren't many)
3. * my favorites
4. Ignore the ones I don't remember. (yeah, there might be a few, did you see the grad year?)
Well too bad Kyle wasn't really impressed by his classes' song list. He needs to check out my list from 1970. Now that was music!
1. *Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon and Garfunkel
2. "(They Long To Be) Close To You", Carpenters
3. *American Woman / No Sugar Tonight, The Guess Who
4. "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head", B.J. Thomas
5. *War, Edwin Starr
6. *Ain't No Mountain High Enough, Diana Ross
7. "I'll Be There", Jackson 5
8. "Get Ready", Rare Earth
9. *Let It Be, The Beatles
10. Band Of Gold, Freda Payne
11. *Mama Told Me (Not To Come), Three Dog Night
12. [Everything Is Beautiful[, Ray Stevens
13. *Make It With You, Bread
14. Hitchin' A Ride, Vanity Fair
15. [ABC], Jackson 5
16. The Love You Save / I Found That Girl, Jackson 5
17. *Cracklin' Rose, Neil Diamond
18. Candida, Dawn
19. "Thank You (Fallettin Me Be Mice Elf Again) / Everybody Is A Star", Sly and The Family Stone
20. Spill The Wine, Eric Burdon and War
21. O-o-h Child / Dear Prudence, Five Stairsteps and Cubie
22. *Spirit In The Sky, Norman Greenbaum
23. Lay Down (Candles In The Rain), Melanie and The Edwin Hawkins Singers
24. Ball Of Confusion (That's What The World Is Today), Temptations
25. Love On A Two Way Street, Moments
27. Which Way You Goin' Billy?, Poppy Family
28. All Right Now, Free
29. Julie, Do Ya Love Me, Bobby Sherman
30. *Green-eyed Lady, Sugarloaf
31. *Signed Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours), Stevie Wonder
32. "Ride Captain Ride", Blues Image
33. *Venus, Shocking Blue
34. Instant Karma (We All Shine On), John Ono Lennon
35. [Patches], Clarence Carter
36. Lookin' Out My Back Door / Long As I Can See The Light, Creedence Clearwater Revival
37. *Rainy Night In Georgia, Brook Benton
38. *Something's Burning, Kenny Rogers and The First Edition
39. "Give Me Just A Little More Time", Chairmen Of The Board
40. "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)", Edison Lighthouse
41. *The Long And Winding Road / For You Blue, The Beatles
42. "Snowbird", Anne Murray
43. Reflections Of My Life, Marmalade
44. "Hey There Lonely Girl", Eddie Holman
45. *The Rapper, Jaggerz
46. *He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother, Hollies
47. Tighter, Tighter, Alive and Kicking
48. Come And Get It, Badfinger
49. *Cecelia, Simon and Garfunkel
50. Love Land, Charles Wright and The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band
51. Turn Back The Hands Of Time, Tyrone Davis
52. Lola, Kinks
53. *In The Summertime, Mungo Jerry
54. [Indiana Wants Me], R. Dean Taylor
55. (I Know) I'm Losing You, Rare Earth
56. [Easy Come, Easy Go], Bobby Sherman
57. Express Yourself, Charles Wright and The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band
58. Still Water (Love), Four Tops
59. *Make Me Smile, Chicago
60. *House Of The Rising Sun , Frijid Pink
61. *25 Or 6 To 4, Chicago
62. "My Baby Loves Lovin'", White Plains
63. Love Or Let Me Be Lonely, Friends Of Distinction
64. *United We Stand, Brotherhood Of Man
65. "We've Only Just Begun", Carpenters
66. Arizona, Mark Lindsay
67. *Fire And Rain, James Taylor
68. Groovy Situation, Gene Chandler
69. "Evil Ways", Santana
70. "No Time", The Guess Who
71. Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time), Delfonics
72. The Wonder Of You / Mama Liked The Roses, Elvis Presley
73. *Up Around The Bend / Run Through The Jungle, Creedence Clearwater Revival
74. (If You Let Me Make Love To You Then) Why Can't I Touch You, Ronnie Dyson
75. *I Just Can't Help Believing, B.J. Thomas
76. It's A Shame, Spinners
77. For The Love Of Him, Bobbi Martin
78. Mississippi Queen, Mountain
79. "I Want To Take You Higher", Ike and Tina Turner
80. The Letter, Joe Cocker
81. "Ma Belle Amie", Tee Set
82. The Bells, Originals
83. Yellow River, Christie
84. Somebody's Been Sleeping, 100 Proof and Aged In Soul
85. Vehicle, Ides Of March
86. [Gimme Dat Ding], Pipkins
87. "Lay A Little Lovin' On Me", Robin Mcnamara
88. Up The Ladder To The Roof, Supremes
89. *Travelin' Band / Who'll Stop The Rain, Creedence Clearwater Revival
90. *Come Saturday Morning, Sandpipers
91. Psychedelic Shack, Temptations
92. Without Love (There Is Nothing), Tom Jones
93. Are You Ready?, Pacific Gas and Electric
94. *Woodstock, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
95. I'll Never Fall In Love Again, Dionne Warwick
96. Look What They've Done To My Song Ma, New Seekers
97. Walk A Mile In My Shoes, Joe South
98. *The Thrill Is Gone, B.B. King
99. It's Only Make Believe, Glen Campbell
100. *Call Me, Aretha Franklin
October 17, 2005
Living With Astro Fans
I'm standing in the living room minding my own business when all of a sudden my husband begins to jump up and down yelling. I wasn't expecting the sudden outburst and nearly jumped out of my skin. Then I realize the Astros, who my husband is watching on TV, have scored a run and they are just a little closer to winning the championship.
I should be accustomed to such outburst, but I'm not. It just seems so out of character for my usually quiet husband to all of a sudden be jumping up and down, cheering at the television in the middle of the living room floor at full voice. I got to admit though its sort of funny to watch and I do get a kick out of seeing him so jubilant.
Like I said, I should be used to all of that yelling at the players on the screen. Its not like I was raised without being exposed to baseball. On the contrary, as a little girl I remember my family watching baseball games every Sunday afternoon after the noon meal. The TV was tuned into Dizzy Dean calling the afternoon game. My mom would talk about "Dizzy" as if he was some long lost relative. Their sponsor was Falstaff beer. I don't even think they make that beer anymore. But that has nothing to do with this post...I was just saying. My brother, my dad and even my mom would all yell, clap and cheer at the baseball game on the tube when their team was winning. My brother could give you just about any stat on a National League player you'd want to hear. He probably had the baseball card to prove it too.
I could never quite get excited by the whole ballgame thing though. I went to my brother's baseball games as a kid. He was a catcher and one really exciting game he got hit in the stomach by a ball and passed out. He worked hard trying to make me a decent baseball player. Batting was hard and my catching was even worse. When I was tired of playing, it was all over. All I had to do to end a game of backyard baseball with my brother was to strike out. That used to make him so mad for me to "throw the game."
Then as a mom, I sat through all of my sons' baseball games and I thoroughly enjoyed watching my guys play. My husband even played some ball either with a church league or a seniors' league and I really liked watching him play too.
Don't get me wrong I think baseball is as good a sport to watch as any other. I even pretty much understand the game. I've had a great time at many Astro's baseball games whether it was in "The Dome", the blacklisted Enron Field or our current Minute Maid Park. However I'm sorry to say that all the hype of the game is lost on me because I just don't get too worked up about it. It's just a game to me. Although the night that Bagwell got to pinch hit after recovering from his shoulder surgery, and everyone stood and cheered, even me...well that sort of choked me up. So I suppose on some level I do get worked up...just a little.
The Astros didn't win tonight, but we really thought they would. I told my men watching the game not to get too discouraged, the Astros will get to try again. They have what it takes. I know they can do it. I just hope when they do, I'll be ready for the outburst of joy that will follow. For surely every Astros' baseball fan will be cheering very loudly at the top of their lungs...and some just might be in my own living room.
GO ASTROS!!
I should be accustomed to such outburst, but I'm not. It just seems so out of character for my usually quiet husband to all of a sudden be jumping up and down, cheering at the television in the middle of the living room floor at full voice. I got to admit though its sort of funny to watch and I do get a kick out of seeing him so jubilant.
Like I said, I should be used to all of that yelling at the players on the screen. Its not like I was raised without being exposed to baseball. On the contrary, as a little girl I remember my family watching baseball games every Sunday afternoon after the noon meal. The TV was tuned into Dizzy Dean calling the afternoon game. My mom would talk about "Dizzy" as if he was some long lost relative. Their sponsor was Falstaff beer. I don't even think they make that beer anymore. But that has nothing to do with this post...I was just saying. My brother, my dad and even my mom would all yell, clap and cheer at the baseball game on the tube when their team was winning. My brother could give you just about any stat on a National League player you'd want to hear. He probably had the baseball card to prove it too.
I could never quite get excited by the whole ballgame thing though. I went to my brother's baseball games as a kid. He was a catcher and one really exciting game he got hit in the stomach by a ball and passed out. He worked hard trying to make me a decent baseball player. Batting was hard and my catching was even worse. When I was tired of playing, it was all over. All I had to do to end a game of backyard baseball with my brother was to strike out. That used to make him so mad for me to "throw the game."
Then as a mom, I sat through all of my sons' baseball games and I thoroughly enjoyed watching my guys play. My husband even played some ball either with a church league or a seniors' league and I really liked watching him play too.
Don't get me wrong I think baseball is as good a sport to watch as any other. I even pretty much understand the game. I've had a great time at many Astro's baseball games whether it was in "The Dome", the blacklisted Enron Field or our current Minute Maid Park. However I'm sorry to say that all the hype of the game is lost on me because I just don't get too worked up about it. It's just a game to me. Although the night that Bagwell got to pinch hit after recovering from his shoulder surgery, and everyone stood and cheered, even me...well that sort of choked me up. So I suppose on some level I do get worked up...just a little.
The Astros didn't win tonight, but we really thought they would. I told my men watching the game not to get too discouraged, the Astros will get to try again. They have what it takes. I know they can do it. I just hope when they do, I'll be ready for the outburst of joy that will follow. For surely every Astros' baseball fan will be cheering very loudly at the top of their lungs...and some just might be in my own living room.
GO ASTROS!!
October 7, 2005
I Have a Job, I Need a Life
What has happened to my job? It isn't very much fun anymore. The people down there try their best to make more work for me to do while doing the job I was hired to do. All of the extra stuff that adds time to my day, that takes away from what I was paid to do, would have to be done after my work hours are over. But that is supposed to be my time with my life. It's not though. Well that isn't exactly true because some days I refuse to bring my work home. I say "no" to my work, walk out at 4:00 p.m. with empty hands. I go home and I have a life. Aahhh. :-)
Then, not to my surprise, the work I refused to take home is there at my job, waiting for me to pick it up right where I left it. The bigger problem now is the work that I left behind has now grown to larger portions. So I plan time during my day when I have 45 minutes of time (on paper) to work, and I will catch up on the paperwork for my job, during the day, while I am getting paid. Unfortunately, there is an interruption, a phone call, a boss who wants to speak to me, a lame meeting that couldn have waited until next week. My work for home sits, waiting for me to carry it back into my life. So I do. I take it home and it sits on my table mocking me. Glowing like the Devil as it taunts me to pick it up and do the work. I wash clothes, cook a meal, clean the dishes and finally a moment to sit down. Then I remember my beast of burden, my work, and I succome to the labor which is awaiting me. My homework from school.
I have a job. I am a teacher. I need a life.
Then, not to my surprise, the work I refused to take home is there at my job, waiting for me to pick it up right where I left it. The bigger problem now is the work that I left behind has now grown to larger portions. So I plan time during my day when I have 45 minutes of time (on paper) to work, and I will catch up on the paperwork for my job, during the day, while I am getting paid. Unfortunately, there is an interruption, a phone call, a boss who wants to speak to me, a lame meeting that couldn have waited until next week. My work for home sits, waiting for me to carry it back into my life. So I do. I take it home and it sits on my table mocking me. Glowing like the Devil as it taunts me to pick it up and do the work. I wash clothes, cook a meal, clean the dishes and finally a moment to sit down. Then I remember my beast of burden, my work, and I succome to the labor which is awaiting me. My homework from school.
I have a job. I am a teacher. I need a life.
October 1, 2005
7 Answers to 7 Questions
Deana tagged me and I must say this wasn't as easy as she made it seem. ML
7 answers to 7 questions
7 things I plan to do before I die:
* Watch my grandchildren graduate from high school and college
* Become a great-grandmother
* Write something worth sharing with others
* Organize my worldly goods
* Organize a family reunion of my parent's families
* Paint my living room and burn the curtains
* Love my husband until the day I die
7 things I can do:
* Play piano and guitar, not well
* Sing
* Type fast
* Use basic computer skills
* Sew a garment (though I don't like to)
* Bake Toll-House Chocolate Chip cookies
* Be a better person
7 things I cannot do:
* Bring my parents back
* Have anymore babies (thank you, Lord)
* Change my career
* Dance
* Build a house
* Fix plumbing of any kind
* Understand anything about insurance
7 things that attract me to another person:
* Their attraction to me
* Fun-loving
* Jokes and enjoys the simple things of life
* Tenderness of spirit
* Kind to others
* Has a love of music
* Gets that lyrics are more important than the tune
7 Celebrity Crushes:
* David McCollum (of Man from U.N.C.L.E.)
* The oldest son on the TV show "Flipper"
* Peter Tork (The Monkeys)
* Robert Redford
* Tom Hanks
* Matthew Perry
* Hugh Grant
7 things I say the most:
* I'm tired
* I want to retire
* I love you
* I don't want to go to work
* I'll quit
* "Stop talking." (to my classes)
* I'll do it tomorrow
7 bloggers I am tagging:
* Kyle
* Jason
* Nell
* David
* Debbie M.
* Kim (who doesn't blog but should)
* Tyler
7 answers to 7 questions
7 things I plan to do before I die:
* Watch my grandchildren graduate from high school and college
* Become a great-grandmother
* Write something worth sharing with others
* Organize my worldly goods
* Organize a family reunion of my parent's families
* Paint my living room and burn the curtains
* Love my husband until the day I die
7 things I can do:
* Play piano and guitar, not well
* Sing
* Type fast
* Use basic computer skills
* Sew a garment (though I don't like to)
* Bake Toll-House Chocolate Chip cookies
* Be a better person
7 things I cannot do:
* Bring my parents back
* Have anymore babies (thank you, Lord)
* Change my career
* Dance
* Build a house
* Fix plumbing of any kind
* Understand anything about insurance
7 things that attract me to another person:
* Their attraction to me
* Fun-loving
* Jokes and enjoys the simple things of life
* Tenderness of spirit
* Kind to others
* Has a love of music
* Gets that lyrics are more important than the tune
7 Celebrity Crushes:
* David McCollum (of Man from U.N.C.L.E.)
* The oldest son on the TV show "Flipper"
* Peter Tork (The Monkeys)
* Robert Redford
* Tom Hanks
* Matthew Perry
* Hugh Grant
7 things I say the most:
* I'm tired
* I want to retire
* I love you
* I don't want to go to work
* I'll quit
* "Stop talking." (to my classes)
* I'll do it tomorrow
7 bloggers I am tagging:
* Kyle
* Jason
* Nell
* David
* Debbie M.
* Kim (who doesn't blog but should)
* Tyler
September 29, 2005
Whose fault was the hurricane?
Well, as a recent evacuee of Hurricane Rita, I must say it was an extreme adventure to travel such a short distance in 13 hours on the road. And my story is very slight compared to my many friends that traveled 17 hours and as much as 47 hours just to get out of harm's way. Trapped on a highway crammed packed full of vehicles, I felt like we were about to embark on something of a very uncomfortable nature. It was hot, it was crowded, and no restrooms in sight. All I asked was for the "Porta-Potty" on highway 59 to be open. I mean, was that too much to ask??
My very brilliant husband, who by the way did not want to leave town, got us off of highway 59 and onto backroads leading to Crockett, TX with speeds up to 60 mph. Up to this point we had been traveling an average of 5 mph. From there we were in Lufkin, TX at our son's in-laws house in a matter of 35 minutes. Yes, Rita followed us there, but we survived and even without electricity, we were able to care for ourselves. So why didn't all of those people just spread out over the countryside to find their destination? I suppose because the news media was directing the million plus population of Harris, Galveston and surrounding counties to go up I-45 and hiway 59. What a gridlock of misery that was! But did they know the mind of Rita? She was all over the map and pushing through to her own path. It became a guessing game for the meterologists to predict her next move.
But now that Hurricane Rita has passed and some of us are all back in our places, I am listening to the CNN reports of "Who is to blame". What??? It was Hur-ri-cane. You know, an act of God. One of those things that us humans can't create or stop. So why all of this finger pointing?
It was overwhelming the number of human lives that had to be moved in such a short time. Of course, in the aftermath we know that too many people left one area in a narrow space of time and highways. But who knew it would be that way? I am so sad to see all of the polictical figures pointing fingers at others as if they could have somehow stopped those 150 mph winds and protected everyone in her path. Are they hallucinating?? Did they believe that another Noah would appear through FEMA and build an ark for all of those multitudes fleeing the rath of the winds? Did people really expect to see food, water, ice and electricty immediately after the winds ceased to blow? That is impractical and impossible.
There are too many power crazed, know-it-alls that can't stand the fact that they are NOT greater than GOD. They are just HUMANS. And as humans can not always protect everyone and provide them with everything they need. Death, starvation, homeless all because of hurricanes, typhoons, sunami and earthquakes...all acts of God that can not be stopped by man.
It is not a time to point fingers and try to find blame. It is a time to pull together. It is time to appreciate what has been done. FEMA paid people with credit cards to get things they needed. They are trying to do the best they can and now they are being blasted for not taking low bids on the purchases they made for those in need. Just today I heard that the Red Cross is under fire because they didn't get to a remote part of East Texas as quickly as they got to the Golden Triangle. The volunteer that responded to the accusations simply said they were trying to deliver supplies to another place and were trying to get to people as fast as they could. The Red Cross is run by volunteers. Vo-lun-teers!! Do you know what that means?? They-aren't-paid!! Give them a break! Too many people in need and not enough time and resources make people on the receiving end impatient. It is time to stop being selfish and mad. If you don't have what you need, stop just sitting there and leave. Forget your precious property and go somewhere else where agencies that are giving aide can find you.
I am sadden and terribly sorry for all of the people that lost homes and in some cases lives of loved ones. It is tragic that so many people have lost so much. However, when I am seeing black two-bladed helicopters traveling between Houston and destinations east of here, I know they are delivering supplies to the hurricane demolished areas. When I hear that FEMA is cutting 2000 dollar checks for those that are in need, I think that is great. When I watch the TV and see that the Red Cross has driven their trucks into a remote area and are passing out supplies, I say hooray. If it didn't come as quickly as the people wanted them, its a shame, but they came. Those people are finally getting help. Why not celebrate what they have? Why not pray for patience and healing?
Who is to blame for this tragic act of God? Maybe we are.
My very brilliant husband, who by the way did not want to leave town, got us off of highway 59 and onto backroads leading to Crockett, TX with speeds up to 60 mph. Up to this point we had been traveling an average of 5 mph. From there we were in Lufkin, TX at our son's in-laws house in a matter of 35 minutes. Yes, Rita followed us there, but we survived and even without electricity, we were able to care for ourselves. So why didn't all of those people just spread out over the countryside to find their destination? I suppose because the news media was directing the million plus population of Harris, Galveston and surrounding counties to go up I-45 and hiway 59. What a gridlock of misery that was! But did they know the mind of Rita? She was all over the map and pushing through to her own path. It became a guessing game for the meterologists to predict her next move.
But now that Hurricane Rita has passed and some of us are all back in our places, I am listening to the CNN reports of "Who is to blame". What??? It was Hur-ri-cane. You know, an act of God. One of those things that us humans can't create or stop. So why all of this finger pointing?
It was overwhelming the number of human lives that had to be moved in such a short time. Of course, in the aftermath we know that too many people left one area in a narrow space of time and highways. But who knew it would be that way? I am so sad to see all of the polictical figures pointing fingers at others as if they could have somehow stopped those 150 mph winds and protected everyone in her path. Are they hallucinating?? Did they believe that another Noah would appear through FEMA and build an ark for all of those multitudes fleeing the rath of the winds? Did people really expect to see food, water, ice and electricty immediately after the winds ceased to blow? That is impractical and impossible.
There are too many power crazed, know-it-alls that can't stand the fact that they are NOT greater than GOD. They are just HUMANS. And as humans can not always protect everyone and provide them with everything they need. Death, starvation, homeless all because of hurricanes, typhoons, sunami and earthquakes...all acts of God that can not be stopped by man.
It is not a time to point fingers and try to find blame. It is a time to pull together. It is time to appreciate what has been done. FEMA paid people with credit cards to get things they needed. They are trying to do the best they can and now they are being blasted for not taking low bids on the purchases they made for those in need. Just today I heard that the Red Cross is under fire because they didn't get to a remote part of East Texas as quickly as they got to the Golden Triangle. The volunteer that responded to the accusations simply said they were trying to deliver supplies to another place and were trying to get to people as fast as they could. The Red Cross is run by volunteers. Vo-lun-teers!! Do you know what that means?? They-aren't-paid!! Give them a break! Too many people in need and not enough time and resources make people on the receiving end impatient. It is time to stop being selfish and mad. If you don't have what you need, stop just sitting there and leave. Forget your precious property and go somewhere else where agencies that are giving aide can find you.
I am sadden and terribly sorry for all of the people that lost homes and in some cases lives of loved ones. It is tragic that so many people have lost so much. However, when I am seeing black two-bladed helicopters traveling between Houston and destinations east of here, I know they are delivering supplies to the hurricane demolished areas. When I hear that FEMA is cutting 2000 dollar checks for those that are in need, I think that is great. When I watch the TV and see that the Red Cross has driven their trucks into a remote area and are passing out supplies, I say hooray. If it didn't come as quickly as the people wanted them, its a shame, but they came. Those people are finally getting help. Why not celebrate what they have? Why not pray for patience and healing?
Who is to blame for this tragic act of God? Maybe we are.
September 14, 2005
Where's the Blog?
Like our brain, if we don't use a blog, we lose it. Such was the case with ETXgirl when I tried to connect to my link for ML's Musings recently. I had not posted since September 5. I discovered that I was not to be found in the blog world. ETX girl appeared to be deceased. But never fear, she's alive and well, typing to you now from her Mac.
Since my school year has started back up, I don't seem to have the time to sit and record my many ramblings. And I do mean "ramblings"! My brain is like a flea market of odds and ends with more being brought in everyday for storage. Retreiving the information takes a little longer to find these days.
Last summer (so sad to use the word last) I started a project to organize and file our family photographs. I suppose it was a bit too ambigious and I quit before it was completed. So a perfectly usable bed remains covered by shoeboxes filled with a photo library of the Martin's memories in various stages of completion. It was a neat idea I had gotten from HGTV to organize your photos in purchased photo boxes, the only difference being I saved and painted shoeboxes. My intention was to label each box with a person's name or event which would house the photos that fit the appropriate title. The trouble with the idea was I had more categories than boxes with even more photographs in each cardboard storage container that I opened. It was too much and I needed a better method to complete my project. So I quit and took a trip to Michigan.
The photo marathon took so much effort and remains incomplete to this day largely due to the opening of school for the 2005-2006 year. Preparing a classroom to teach an elementary grade level is like no other preparation you will ever do with the exception of getting ready for a new baby. Much like readying a nursery, the classroom must be decorated and organized for optimum efficiency. Fresh, clean reams of handwriting paper and manilla drawing paper fill the trays. Posters with cute animals showing strategies for decoding a word, adorn the large sand colored walls. New pencils are sharpen and crayons unpacked while the adult caregiver reads, and plans for the "big day". It is enough to boggle the sharpest of craniums let alone my feeble brain.
With the blessed event only two weeks old and the offspring from so many community families filling the hallowed halls of the school; one huge "Katrina" rampaged across the Gulf Coast. Many of us fortunate enough to be out of the hurricane's path felt her effects just the same. We felt the pain as we were forced to witness the 24/7 news coverage of the massive storm destruction. I spent one weekend volunteering in a shelter where I helped to distribute basic toiletry needs to those left with only the clothes on their backs. Lesson plans for school took a backseat to the images and thoughts that engulfed my awaken consciousness. My addiction to the aftermath news coverage was undaunted.
It is now the fifth week of school and many evacuees of Katrina are finding apartments. Even though their need of help will be a fact for many months, getting back to some form of normality is the goal. With the goal for them set, I am faced with a backlog of paperwork on my teacher's desk. My students haven't really suffered from my leave of absent-mindedness. They have gotten all of the lessons of routine and schedules, homework and discipline they need. I have stayed at school a couple of days after the dismissal bell rang to rearrange student desks and copy worksheets for the next week. More than one night found me sitting at my dinning room table grading papers or writing lesson plans long after my husband went to bed.
So here I am semi-caught up and writing a blog once again. I can't promise that I will write with any regularity. Life is uncertain and my routine is anything but established. Keep checking in on my blog though, and I'll try to post as I am able. That is unless I find a better way to organize those darn photographs.
Since my school year has started back up, I don't seem to have the time to sit and record my many ramblings. And I do mean "ramblings"! My brain is like a flea market of odds and ends with more being brought in everyday for storage. Retreiving the information takes a little longer to find these days.
Last summer (so sad to use the word last) I started a project to organize and file our family photographs. I suppose it was a bit too ambigious and I quit before it was completed. So a perfectly usable bed remains covered by shoeboxes filled with a photo library of the Martin's memories in various stages of completion. It was a neat idea I had gotten from HGTV to organize your photos in purchased photo boxes, the only difference being I saved and painted shoeboxes. My intention was to label each box with a person's name or event which would house the photos that fit the appropriate title. The trouble with the idea was I had more categories than boxes with even more photographs in each cardboard storage container that I opened. It was too much and I needed a better method to complete my project. So I quit and took a trip to Michigan.
The photo marathon took so much effort and remains incomplete to this day largely due to the opening of school for the 2005-2006 year. Preparing a classroom to teach an elementary grade level is like no other preparation you will ever do with the exception of getting ready for a new baby. Much like readying a nursery, the classroom must be decorated and organized for optimum efficiency. Fresh, clean reams of handwriting paper and manilla drawing paper fill the trays. Posters with cute animals showing strategies for decoding a word, adorn the large sand colored walls. New pencils are sharpen and crayons unpacked while the adult caregiver reads, and plans for the "big day". It is enough to boggle the sharpest of craniums let alone my feeble brain.
With the blessed event only two weeks old and the offspring from so many community families filling the hallowed halls of the school; one huge "Katrina" rampaged across the Gulf Coast. Many of us fortunate enough to be out of the hurricane's path felt her effects just the same. We felt the pain as we were forced to witness the 24/7 news coverage of the massive storm destruction. I spent one weekend volunteering in a shelter where I helped to distribute basic toiletry needs to those left with only the clothes on their backs. Lesson plans for school took a backseat to the images and thoughts that engulfed my awaken consciousness. My addiction to the aftermath news coverage was undaunted.
It is now the fifth week of school and many evacuees of Katrina are finding apartments. Even though their need of help will be a fact for many months, getting back to some form of normality is the goal. With the goal for them set, I am faced with a backlog of paperwork on my teacher's desk. My students haven't really suffered from my leave of absent-mindedness. They have gotten all of the lessons of routine and schedules, homework and discipline they need. I have stayed at school a couple of days after the dismissal bell rang to rearrange student desks and copy worksheets for the next week. More than one night found me sitting at my dinning room table grading papers or writing lesson plans long after my husband went to bed.
So here I am semi-caught up and writing a blog once again. I can't promise that I will write with any regularity. Life is uncertain and my routine is anything but established. Keep checking in on my blog though, and I'll try to post as I am able. That is unless I find a better way to organize those darn photographs.
September 5, 2005
Hurricanes and Blessings
Nerves are frayed and people are exhausted in the aftermath of Katrina as we realize the magnitude of the past week's events. When I see the news clips exploited by the media of anguished individuals trapped between their former lives and their uncertain futures, I wince.
Any amount of time spent waiting for relief from such a horrific experience is too long. Any time one is stuck in the middle of what is happening, efforts to help from the outside can't be seen. I believe that anyone trapped on a rooftop or lying exhausted and scared in a putrid shelter would be feeling lost. My heart went out to all of the Superdome victims.
However, in the wake of Katrina, I see tremendous outpouring from caring people to right the situation. We can point fingers and gripe and try to place blame on whoever didn't make decisions fast enough. It is unfortunate, but even with our modern technological machines of prediction and the intelligences of individual people, the fact remains that not since the Storm of 1900 in Galveston, the American Gulf Coast has never experienced a storm of this quality and it was a lot more that any prediction imagined.
I'm not writing this for a stream of debate. I DO NOT want responses to blast Bush or any New Orleans official and their presumed negligence in this situation. The point of this blog is simply to say this:
Appreciate the huge efforts being made now by so many. The National Guard is doing what they can to protect and aide individuals in NO. The American Red Cross has set up more cots and dished out more food in the past 6 days than ever before. Countless man hours are being spent by volunteers to collect donations, serve the evacuees, and channel monetary funds to various relief efforts.
It is heartbreaking to watch the TV coverage. It is heartwarming to see a family reunion of a displaced child or other family member. I'm blown away by the babies that were born during this storm and brought to tears at stories of those lost. Watching a New Orleans police officer cry as he boarded the last helicopter out of the Superdome was enough to bring me to sobbing tears.
Today I am counting my blessings and praying to God for the citizens of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama as they begin the monumental task of starting over. It won't be easy and it will take years to recover. But God is good and they were saved for a reason. As a Christian I have an opportunity to serve God, to minister to the victims of this hurricane and to rise above where I have been.
May God Bless all involved.
Any amount of time spent waiting for relief from such a horrific experience is too long. Any time one is stuck in the middle of what is happening, efforts to help from the outside can't be seen. I believe that anyone trapped on a rooftop or lying exhausted and scared in a putrid shelter would be feeling lost. My heart went out to all of the Superdome victims.
However, in the wake of Katrina, I see tremendous outpouring from caring people to right the situation. We can point fingers and gripe and try to place blame on whoever didn't make decisions fast enough. It is unfortunate, but even with our modern technological machines of prediction and the intelligences of individual people, the fact remains that not since the Storm of 1900 in Galveston, the American Gulf Coast has never experienced a storm of this quality and it was a lot more that any prediction imagined.
I'm not writing this for a stream of debate. I DO NOT want responses to blast Bush or any New Orleans official and their presumed negligence in this situation. The point of this blog is simply to say this:
Appreciate the huge efforts being made now by so many. The National Guard is doing what they can to protect and aide individuals in NO. The American Red Cross has set up more cots and dished out more food in the past 6 days than ever before. Countless man hours are being spent by volunteers to collect donations, serve the evacuees, and channel monetary funds to various relief efforts.
It is heartbreaking to watch the TV coverage. It is heartwarming to see a family reunion of a displaced child or other family member. I'm blown away by the babies that were born during this storm and brought to tears at stories of those lost. Watching a New Orleans police officer cry as he boarded the last helicopter out of the Superdome was enough to bring me to sobbing tears.
Today I am counting my blessings and praying to God for the citizens of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama as they begin the monumental task of starting over. It won't be easy and it will take years to recover. But God is good and they were saved for a reason. As a Christian I have an opportunity to serve God, to minister to the victims of this hurricane and to rise above where I have been.
May God Bless all involved.
August 30, 2005
Feel-Good Feelings
What makes you feel good?
A soft kitten purring in your arms?
A baby sleeping peacefully.
Playing with a child and listening to their play talk.
Perhaps doing a good deed and seeing the affect it made in someone's life.
Does it make you glad you didn't pop off with a sarcastic remark to a friend today?
When you see your family and get/give them a hug, do you radiate with love?
Getting a kiss and a smile from your spouse.
Getting an unexpected gift just for being you.
Sending a card to an elderly widow or widower.
Or
Sitting and doing nothing worthwhile all day.
Lying about being sick and skipping work.
Watching TV for 8 hours a day.
Drinking a couple of beers or glasses of wine.
Kicking back with the buddies at a bar.
Talking about the boss or other colleague at work.
Winning a disagreement with your spouse.
Making another person feel small.
Griping to the worker that couldn't find the problem with your car.
Which list describes your feel-good feelings? The first one, the second one or a combination of both?
A soft kitten purring in your arms?
A baby sleeping peacefully.
Playing with a child and listening to their play talk.
Perhaps doing a good deed and seeing the affect it made in someone's life.
Does it make you glad you didn't pop off with a sarcastic remark to a friend today?
When you see your family and get/give them a hug, do you radiate with love?
Getting a kiss and a smile from your spouse.
Getting an unexpected gift just for being you.
Sending a card to an elderly widow or widower.
Or
Sitting and doing nothing worthwhile all day.
Lying about being sick and skipping work.
Watching TV for 8 hours a day.
Drinking a couple of beers or glasses of wine.
Kicking back with the buddies at a bar.
Talking about the boss or other colleague at work.
Winning a disagreement with your spouse.
Making another person feel small.
Griping to the worker that couldn't find the problem with your car.
Which list describes your feel-good feelings? The first one, the second one or a combination of both?
August 28, 2005
Blogging Block
Since school has started back, I can't seem to blog. It isn't so much that I'm too busy. I have started to blog several times. I had an entry in the draft stage for a week and tonight I finally deleted it. I attempted to start another one only to delete it too. Even now as I type this, I am constantly deleteing what I type.
The first blog I deleted was about Freedom. Last Sunday, for some reason, I was really moved by the songs, the prayers, the sermon. I was feeling so good last Sunday that I wanted to write a blog about realizing what freedom in Christ really meant. However, the words were too many and it just wasn't saying what I wanted to say about freedom.
So then I thought since it was raining and thundering outside that I would write about how I love to listen to rain storms. I recalled some of my more memorable rainstorms and being sheltered from the rain. That thought led to thinking about the homeless people who may not have a shelter from this storm. That thought led me to realize I was doing nothing to help their situation. I felt selfish for writing about my cozy shelter from the rain when I knew some people couldn't have that feeling.
Somehow though I think these subjects should be able to connect. Freedom-rainstorms-helping.
The first blog I deleted was about Freedom. Last Sunday, for some reason, I was really moved by the songs, the prayers, the sermon. I was feeling so good last Sunday that I wanted to write a blog about realizing what freedom in Christ really meant. However, the words were too many and it just wasn't saying what I wanted to say about freedom.
So then I thought since it was raining and thundering outside that I would write about how I love to listen to rain storms. I recalled some of my more memorable rainstorms and being sheltered from the rain. That thought led to thinking about the homeless people who may not have a shelter from this storm. That thought led me to realize I was doing nothing to help their situation. I felt selfish for writing about my cozy shelter from the rain when I knew some people couldn't have that feeling.
Somehow though I think these subjects should be able to connect. Freedom-rainstorms-helping.
August 14, 2005
It Is Officially Time For School
Tomorrow morning the gym in the elementary school where I teach will be brimming over with kids of pre-kindergarten age all the way up to 5th grade. Almost 900 children will be in attendance. They will most likely all be sporting new backpacks, new tennis shoes and maybe a new piece of clothing. Most of them will come in with happy smiles and excited to see old friends after the summer vacation. There will be others, usually the pre-k and primary kids that will shed a tear at having to come from their homes to such a different place that's so loud.
Teachers will also come into the gym. We will also perhaps wear a new outfit. The majority of us will be wearing a smile too. We will greet and welcome back students we knew from the previous year. We will attempt to ease the fears of the new students in our school. Some of us may too, shed a tear at having to leave the sanctuary of our summer vacation and come into this loud place.
By the time the dismissal bell rings in the afternoon to go home, all will be better in most cases. The new children usually having made a new friend or two and are feeling better about returning the next morning. Some of those little guys might take a whole week to warm up to this new school, but they will eventually come around. Yep, they will all find a classroom and a desk to sit in. They will all be marked "present" because no one is counted absent on the first day. They will probably write their name, perhaps color a bit and maybe even hear a good story read to them by a teacher or librarian. They will all have lunch. They will all find the restroom. Some of them will find the nurse's office. Finally, they will all go home. What more can we expect from the first day of school?
I'll let you know how it goes. Welcome Back to School, August, 15, 2005
Teachers will also come into the gym. We will also perhaps wear a new outfit. The majority of us will be wearing a smile too. We will greet and welcome back students we knew from the previous year. We will attempt to ease the fears of the new students in our school. Some of us may too, shed a tear at having to leave the sanctuary of our summer vacation and come into this loud place.
By the time the dismissal bell rings in the afternoon to go home, all will be better in most cases. The new children usually having made a new friend or two and are feeling better about returning the next morning. Some of those little guys might take a whole week to warm up to this new school, but they will eventually come around. Yep, they will all find a classroom and a desk to sit in. They will all be marked "present" because no one is counted absent on the first day. They will probably write their name, perhaps color a bit and maybe even hear a good story read to them by a teacher or librarian. They will all have lunch. They will all find the restroom. Some of them will find the nurse's office. Finally, they will all go home. What more can we expect from the first day of school?
I'll let you know how it goes. Welcome Back to School, August, 15, 2005
August 8, 2005
Welcome Back To School
It is the start of another new schoolyear. Even though it is sad to say goodbye to summer, there is something invigorating about starting school. It is as if I have been given another chance to get it right. As a teacher I can start over with a new class of children and correct the mistakes I made with the last group.
The students in my district still have another week left before they start laying out that special outfit to wear or packing their brand new notebook and pencils into their new backpacks. As teachers, however, we get that priviledge this evening. I even bought a new dress to wear to opening day. It isn't anything too unique, but it's new and that is what counts. I also bought a new calendar for my zip-up day planner. I'm looking forward to writing on the crisp new pages all the events that will happen this year.
Now don't get me wrong, I'll miss summer vacation very much. I had a very relaxed two months. Kim and I went to Michigan in June to visit with Jason, Kari, Aidan and Regan. I really enjoyed my visit with them and playing with my grandchildren. Part of that week, Kim and I went to another town in Michigan where we got to stay in a very nice hotel and attend the American Association of Community Theater festival and conference. We saw plays, went to workshops and had fun. Two weeks ago we rented a beach cabin and stayed for a week on the beach. That was really relaxing because there was the beach, the ocean, the cabin and us. Our children stayed with us one night and we went down to the beach, played games, and went over to Galveston for dinner. My kids are so much fun to be around. Then another evening Kim and I went back to Galveston for another dinner this time with friends from Baytown.
This summer I stayed in my pajamas practically all day when I didn't have to be anywhere special. All the housework I thought I would complete still sits in partial completion. It's okay because I have decided not to be in too big a hurry and do a little bit at a time. I think I can get it done by Christmas.
Kim has a new job and this time I believe it was made for him. He has gone back to teaching school after being out of it for 25 years. He will be great though because he will get to teach what he loves the most. Theater, what else? He has already started work and I love that he comes home everyday with excitment and happiness. I love that he wants to tell me about his day. I am enjoying listening to him talk to me.
I have really enjoyed having two of my sons and their wives in town. I have had them over some this summer for dinner or a movie. Like I said, I love being around my children. They make me happy.
So I am going back to school relaxed and ready. It has been many years since I have felt this good about starting back to school. I've already been to my classroom to decorate, change the furniture around and start planning my classes. I still like to teach and preparing my classroom is half the fun of the beginning of school. Let's hope I can keep this positive attitude all year.
The students in my district still have another week left before they start laying out that special outfit to wear or packing their brand new notebook and pencils into their new backpacks. As teachers, however, we get that priviledge this evening. I even bought a new dress to wear to opening day. It isn't anything too unique, but it's new and that is what counts. I also bought a new calendar for my zip-up day planner. I'm looking forward to writing on the crisp new pages all the events that will happen this year.
Now don't get me wrong, I'll miss summer vacation very much. I had a very relaxed two months. Kim and I went to Michigan in June to visit with Jason, Kari, Aidan and Regan. I really enjoyed my visit with them and playing with my grandchildren. Part of that week, Kim and I went to another town in Michigan where we got to stay in a very nice hotel and attend the American Association of Community Theater festival and conference. We saw plays, went to workshops and had fun. Two weeks ago we rented a beach cabin and stayed for a week on the beach. That was really relaxing because there was the beach, the ocean, the cabin and us. Our children stayed with us one night and we went down to the beach, played games, and went over to Galveston for dinner. My kids are so much fun to be around. Then another evening Kim and I went back to Galveston for another dinner this time with friends from Baytown.
This summer I stayed in my pajamas practically all day when I didn't have to be anywhere special. All the housework I thought I would complete still sits in partial completion. It's okay because I have decided not to be in too big a hurry and do a little bit at a time. I think I can get it done by Christmas.
Kim has a new job and this time I believe it was made for him. He has gone back to teaching school after being out of it for 25 years. He will be great though because he will get to teach what he loves the most. Theater, what else? He has already started work and I love that he comes home everyday with excitment and happiness. I love that he wants to tell me about his day. I am enjoying listening to him talk to me.
I have really enjoyed having two of my sons and their wives in town. I have had them over some this summer for dinner or a movie. Like I said, I love being around my children. They make me happy.
So I am going back to school relaxed and ready. It has been many years since I have felt this good about starting back to school. I've already been to my classroom to decorate, change the furniture around and start planning my classes. I still like to teach and preparing my classroom is half the fun of the beginning of school. Let's hope I can keep this positive attitude all year.
July 24, 2005
Talk to Strangers
Hebrews 13:2
"Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it."
I don't know about you, but I was always instructed NOT to talk to strangers, let alone invite them into my house. This verse has a lot of wonder connected to it. First of all I should not FORGET to entertain strangers. As if this is something on my list of "to do" things. Thanks for the reminder, because I might absent-mindedly skip inviting strangers into my home while attending my daily chores. Then, the author casually tosses out the reason we might want to talk to strangers. Oh yeah, they might be ANGELS. ANGELS!? How do we know that they are angels? Do they act any differently than regular people? Are they believers in Jesus Christ their brother? Do I set out the good china for them or offer them a glass of wine? So many questions and so little to go on for answers.
Now before you leave comments, I got the Bible verse from Heartlight's Today's Verse that I receive everyday. Love it as I do, the devotional did not give me a lot of answers. In fact it was the same old, "Greet the visitors that come to your church" speech. Yes, of course I agree with that, but I don't say hello because I'm looking for celestial wings. I do that to be friendly. Still, I don't automatically invite them to my house. If only they could give me some angelic clue. A slight sparkle to their smiling eyes or perhaps a hint of angel dust still resting on their shoulders would help to clue me in as to their heavenly identity.
Well, apparently I have not seen any angels because none of the strangers I've met lately have given off any heavenly vibes. Except maybe a few of those guys in that inner-city church we visited last Sunday. They weren't very cleaned up, but they sure liked the food our church brought to them. Then, there are those people downtown that don't have a home and sleep on the sidewalks. You know the ones that we pass on our walk to the baseball park? There was that one guy though. He was sitting near the place where we parked our car for one of the games. He was certainly homeless and he spoke real friendly as he advised us that our car might get hit if we didn't pull in a bit more. I wonder about him. He had nothing to gain by talking to us. He asked for nothing in return and he even assured us that he would be there all evening to watch over our car. Now even though he was gone by the end of the game, our car was sitting untouched right where we had left it. Maybe the people like that man and the people we fed are the strangers. Come to think about it, the guy that "watched" our car really did have a sparkle in his voice. I wonder?
"Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it."
I don't know about you, but I was always instructed NOT to talk to strangers, let alone invite them into my house. This verse has a lot of wonder connected to it. First of all I should not FORGET to entertain strangers. As if this is something on my list of "to do" things. Thanks for the reminder, because I might absent-mindedly skip inviting strangers into my home while attending my daily chores. Then, the author casually tosses out the reason we might want to talk to strangers. Oh yeah, they might be ANGELS. ANGELS!? How do we know that they are angels? Do they act any differently than regular people? Are they believers in Jesus Christ their brother? Do I set out the good china for them or offer them a glass of wine? So many questions and so little to go on for answers.
Now before you leave comments, I got the Bible verse from Heartlight's Today's Verse that I receive everyday. Love it as I do, the devotional did not give me a lot of answers. In fact it was the same old, "Greet the visitors that come to your church" speech. Yes, of course I agree with that, but I don't say hello because I'm looking for celestial wings. I do that to be friendly. Still, I don't automatically invite them to my house. If only they could give me some angelic clue. A slight sparkle to their smiling eyes or perhaps a hint of angel dust still resting on their shoulders would help to clue me in as to their heavenly identity.
Well, apparently I have not seen any angels because none of the strangers I've met lately have given off any heavenly vibes. Except maybe a few of those guys in that inner-city church we visited last Sunday. They weren't very cleaned up, but they sure liked the food our church brought to them. Then, there are those people downtown that don't have a home and sleep on the sidewalks. You know the ones that we pass on our walk to the baseball park? There was that one guy though. He was sitting near the place where we parked our car for one of the games. He was certainly homeless and he spoke real friendly as he advised us that our car might get hit if we didn't pull in a bit more. I wonder about him. He had nothing to gain by talking to us. He asked for nothing in return and he even assured us that he would be there all evening to watch over our car. Now even though he was gone by the end of the game, our car was sitting untouched right where we had left it. Maybe the people like that man and the people we fed are the strangers. Come to think about it, the guy that "watched" our car really did have a sparkle in his voice. I wonder?
July 22, 2005
"On A Clear Day"
Words are bumping around in my brain this morning like balls in a pinball machine. Too much is happening in the world, with friends, with my family, at church, I could go on and on until my eyes glow, "TILT". So, what to post today? The recent bombings, explosions, and terrorist suspects in London? Do I talk about how a friend of mine who is going through such hard trials with her family? Do I talk about the privileged society we have become in this age of technology when we can text message our son in NYC while he is on an intermission break at a Broadway show? Or how we are learning that if we enter ICE on our saved cell phone numbers with the name and number of our emergency contact, that police will be able to use our cell phones to quickly call our "In Case of Emergency" number if we are in an accident and unconscious? Or I could write about how it seems that more and more people are calling for prayer? Or should I write about how I still struggle with the issue of drinking alcohol and what is healthy and what is not? I could write about the very long Defensive Driving course I finally completed online because yes, I got a speeding ticket. Or do I want to write about farmer's markets and food we should be eating that do not have pesticides? Or the fact that all the processed foods that American's eat are making us a fat nation? Maybe I should just write about my husband's 5th job this year and how it is going to be the best career change he has ever made. Although, I could just write a "feel-good" piece about my two adorable, forgiving cats that seem to love me no matter how badly I behave.
No, that's all too much for my brain to process today. I'm still sitting among boxes I've mentioned in past posts and I still have a garage full of "treasures" to sift through. No, I won't write about any of those subjects. I'll just leave a scripture for you and I to ponder over today.
"This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24
No, that's all too much for my brain to process today. I'm still sitting among boxes I've mentioned in past posts and I still have a garage full of "treasures" to sift through. No, I won't write about any of those subjects. I'll just leave a scripture for you and I to ponder over today.
"This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24
July 20, 2005
The Older Woman
I have become the older woman. No longer do I sleep blissfully through a whole night. I wake up two, maybe three times in the night before I give in and get out of bed. My legs, hip joints and bunions begin to hurt when stationary for too long. My husband, bless his heart, is the older man next to me snoring and snorting all through the night. Now why doesn't that wake him up? It is so irritating that he is comfortably sleeping while I'm tossing and turning right next to him.
Another reason for my sleepless nights are those flashes of heat we older woman get to experience. Without warning these hot flashes come at any time of day but especially during the night when we are trying to sleep. #*??!! I realize that God was mad at Eve for the whole eating the fruit in the garden thing, but I ask you...is this fair? Wasn't it enough that women were sentenced to "pain in childbirth"? Where does it say, "Thou shalt have great flashes of heat in your older years."? In the middle of the night I kick my covers off letting our ceiling fan do its job of cooling. Then, with a sudden chill the heat is gone and I'm covering up again. Meanwhile, there is that noise beside me, my joints ache and now I have to go to the bathroom! AAhhhhh! "Calgon take me away."
Excuse me now while I adjust my thermostat and take a few pain killers.
Another reason for my sleepless nights are those flashes of heat we older woman get to experience. Without warning these hot flashes come at any time of day but especially during the night when we are trying to sleep. #*??!! I realize that God was mad at Eve for the whole eating the fruit in the garden thing, but I ask you...is this fair? Wasn't it enough that women were sentenced to "pain in childbirth"? Where does it say, "Thou shalt have great flashes of heat in your older years."? In the middle of the night I kick my covers off letting our ceiling fan do its job of cooling. Then, with a sudden chill the heat is gone and I'm covering up again. Meanwhile, there is that noise beside me, my joints ache and now I have to go to the bathroom! AAhhhhh! "Calgon take me away."
Excuse me now while I adjust my thermostat and take a few pain killers.
July 18, 2005
"Book Tag"
1. How many books have I owned?
My own personal books...about 100 maybe less.
2. What was the last book you bought?
An embarrassing little book I have dubbed "the bathroom book". It is a collection of very short writings called, "Guilty Pleasures". It is by a group of 7 or 8 ladies who had formed a writing group in St. Louis. Before that I bought "French Women Don't Get Fat".
3. What was the last book you read?
"French Women Don't Get Fat"--It made me want to go to France.
4. What are FIVE books that have meant a lot to you? (These are in order of when read - not favorite order)
Well these will have to be in the order that I remember them, who knows when I read them? Except the first one. I read it on a ski trip that I took to Colorado with my church group about 13 years ago.
These books I have read as an adult because that is when I truly became a "reader".
#1. NO WONDER THEY CALL HIM SAVIOR by Lucado --What an eye-opener that book was for me! It seemed to not only validate this "faith" I was supposed to have, it revealed who Jesus was.
#2. THE SINGER TRILOGY by Calvin Miller --The Mythic retelling of the story of the New Testament. It is pretty powerful. Stick with it to the end. You'll be glad you did.
#3. THE WONDERFUL SPIRIT FILLED LIFE by Charles Stanley --I'm sure this book has won no particular awards and it is not the big seller that Lucado books are. But it taught me lessons about the Holy Spirit that I had never before heard.
#4. & #5. THE SCARLET PIMPERNELL and THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO --Both of these books were read back to back and were the first classic stories I'd ever read. I read them about 5 years ago.
#6. THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES by Susan Monk Kidd--one of the few adult books I truly read for fun and enjoyment. I read it last summer.
----------------------------------------------
Now that I have participated in my son's game of "Book Tag", I'd like to talk a little bit about some of my experiences as a "reader".
The family I married into is a group of avid readers. Teachers and college professors, this group of people could set up camp in a public library and be in "collegiate heaven". My husband's parents and grandparents were college graduates. They were also educators that put a lot of stock into the printed word. My husband reads constantly and he even took books to read on our honeymoon. I was insulted thinking the books would get more attention than I would. I was/am intimidated by their knowledge and love of books. The fact that they gave books as Christmas gifts and would even read them first was a brand new concept in gift giving to me. The conversations at my in-law's dinner table often included discussions about books that my husband and his family had read. Those were conversations I listened to with no connection to what they were talking about. Quite often I felt left out and bored.
At my parent's house there was talk about what was in the daily newspaper, the baseball scores or a new recipe my mom had gotten from one of my aunts. Mother was a housewife the majority of my life until I reached the tenth grade. She read recipes, pattern instructions for sewing, "Better Homes and Garden" and "McCall's" magazines. Daddy was a refinery worker. He taught an adult Sunday school class and I remember seeing him read not only the Bible, but also commentaries and other books as he prepared his lessons each week. My mother went to work outside of our home to help send my brother and me to Abilene Christian College. She worked in a local clothing department store where she became one of their most valued employees. Both of my parents were intelligent people. They were married during World War II. I suppose they liked to read, but they read for information and not pleasure like my husband's family often do.
I did not like to read as a child and even now it is not my favorite pastime. Reading put me to sleep and as a child, I thought it was extremely boring. My second grade teacher gave me a most boring book called, "Desert Animals". I cried as my dad sat beside me on the floor of our dining room and prompted me to read along with him. Reading caused me much pain and anguish throughout most of my elementary years. I felt like I was wasting my time with this mental torture. I owned a very few books as a child. My oldest brother was ten years older than I was and he loved reading. Once when he was in high school, he bought me a "Little Golden Book" named CINDERELLA. All I recall about having that book was how pretty Cinderella was in the pictures. I was the "baby" of my family and since my mom was a housewife, I had never stayed with a babysitter except for my grandparents. School was a traumatic experience for me. I started school a week after my sixth birthday and I didn't want to be there.
Learning to read isn't easy for a lot of children. I was one of those children. I almost didn't make it out of first grade. For that matter, I pretty much sweated passing every year in elementary school. At the start of first grade, my teacher gave the 6 or so children in my "group 3" reading group, a little set of alphabet flash cards. We were to take them home to practice letter recognition, a skill that most 4 and 5 year olds master before the first grade. When I gave the cards to my daddy to "test" me, I took out the ones that I didn't know. It surprised me when he knew some of the letters were missing.
My son and my husband have both admitted to not reading all the required reading in high school. I never read the required reading. Most of the time I read "Cliff's Notes". Not a very helpful tool when you haven't read the book. Somehow I got out of high school, and went on to graduate from Abilene Christian College with a Bachelor of Science in Education degree. Nine years ago to my utter astonishment, I earned a Master of Science in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Houston- Clear Lake. When I enrolled in graduate school I was put on probation because my college transcript from 14 years before revealed a barely passing GPA. I found that going back to school at age 40 was a lot easier than at any other time in my school career. I cared about learning and worked harder in my classes even though it was still challenging. Now I have been an elementary school teacher for 26 years and surprisingly, I have taught Reading most of those years.
I'm not sure why I thought I needed to write a bit of my personal history with reading. Except I wanted all of the avid readers that cut their teeth on Dr. Suess and are now reading all of the Harry Potter books and many other novels, to have patience with children that don't appear to like reading. It is NOT an easy skill for everyone to learn. Not everyone that learns to read will enjoy reading. Some children get put in the bottom reading group and struggle to put sounds and letters together to form words and meaning. I will say again, "It isn't easy." Don't take for granted that perhaps this enjoyable bit of recreation that was easy for you should be easy for everyone. Don't assume that a child is lazy or stubbornly disobedient just because they refuse to do their homework. How many tasks do you enjoy that are difficult for you to accomplish? Be patient and understanding with that child who finds it tedious to read. Encourage and praise their efforts and some day they will read because they want to and not because a teacher made them. Then perhaps when they are 52 years old, they will realize that through the years, they have read some pretty good books and actually enjoyed what they read.
My own personal books...about 100 maybe less.
2. What was the last book you bought?
An embarrassing little book I have dubbed "the bathroom book". It is a collection of very short writings called, "Guilty Pleasures". It is by a group of 7 or 8 ladies who had formed a writing group in St. Louis. Before that I bought "French Women Don't Get Fat".
3. What was the last book you read?
"French Women Don't Get Fat"--It made me want to go to France.
4. What are FIVE books that have meant a lot to you? (These are in order of when read - not favorite order)
Well these will have to be in the order that I remember them, who knows when I read them? Except the first one. I read it on a ski trip that I took to Colorado with my church group about 13 years ago.
These books I have read as an adult because that is when I truly became a "reader".
#1. NO WONDER THEY CALL HIM SAVIOR by Lucado --What an eye-opener that book was for me! It seemed to not only validate this "faith" I was supposed to have, it revealed who Jesus was.
#2. THE SINGER TRILOGY by Calvin Miller --The Mythic retelling of the story of the New Testament. It is pretty powerful. Stick with it to the end. You'll be glad you did.
#3. THE WONDERFUL SPIRIT FILLED LIFE by Charles Stanley --I'm sure this book has won no particular awards and it is not the big seller that Lucado books are. But it taught me lessons about the Holy Spirit that I had never before heard.
#4. & #5. THE SCARLET PIMPERNELL and THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO --Both of these books were read back to back and were the first classic stories I'd ever read. I read them about 5 years ago.
#6. THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES by Susan Monk Kidd--one of the few adult books I truly read for fun and enjoyment. I read it last summer.
----------------------------------------------
Now that I have participated in my son's game of "Book Tag", I'd like to talk a little bit about some of my experiences as a "reader".
The family I married into is a group of avid readers. Teachers and college professors, this group of people could set up camp in a public library and be in "collegiate heaven". My husband's parents and grandparents were college graduates. They were also educators that put a lot of stock into the printed word. My husband reads constantly and he even took books to read on our honeymoon. I was insulted thinking the books would get more attention than I would. I was/am intimidated by their knowledge and love of books. The fact that they gave books as Christmas gifts and would even read them first was a brand new concept in gift giving to me. The conversations at my in-law's dinner table often included discussions about books that my husband and his family had read. Those were conversations I listened to with no connection to what they were talking about. Quite often I felt left out and bored.
At my parent's house there was talk about what was in the daily newspaper, the baseball scores or a new recipe my mom had gotten from one of my aunts. Mother was a housewife the majority of my life until I reached the tenth grade. She read recipes, pattern instructions for sewing, "Better Homes and Garden" and "McCall's" magazines. Daddy was a refinery worker. He taught an adult Sunday school class and I remember seeing him read not only the Bible, but also commentaries and other books as he prepared his lessons each week. My mother went to work outside of our home to help send my brother and me to Abilene Christian College. She worked in a local clothing department store where she became one of their most valued employees. Both of my parents were intelligent people. They were married during World War II. I suppose they liked to read, but they read for information and not pleasure like my husband's family often do.
I did not like to read as a child and even now it is not my favorite pastime. Reading put me to sleep and as a child, I thought it was extremely boring. My second grade teacher gave me a most boring book called, "Desert Animals". I cried as my dad sat beside me on the floor of our dining room and prompted me to read along with him. Reading caused me much pain and anguish throughout most of my elementary years. I felt like I was wasting my time with this mental torture. I owned a very few books as a child. My oldest brother was ten years older than I was and he loved reading. Once when he was in high school, he bought me a "Little Golden Book" named CINDERELLA. All I recall about having that book was how pretty Cinderella was in the pictures. I was the "baby" of my family and since my mom was a housewife, I had never stayed with a babysitter except for my grandparents. School was a traumatic experience for me. I started school a week after my sixth birthday and I didn't want to be there.
Learning to read isn't easy for a lot of children. I was one of those children. I almost didn't make it out of first grade. For that matter, I pretty much sweated passing every year in elementary school. At the start of first grade, my teacher gave the 6 or so children in my "group 3" reading group, a little set of alphabet flash cards. We were to take them home to practice letter recognition, a skill that most 4 and 5 year olds master before the first grade. When I gave the cards to my daddy to "test" me, I took out the ones that I didn't know. It surprised me when he knew some of the letters were missing.
My son and my husband have both admitted to not reading all the required reading in high school. I never read the required reading. Most of the time I read "Cliff's Notes". Not a very helpful tool when you haven't read the book. Somehow I got out of high school, and went on to graduate from Abilene Christian College with a Bachelor of Science in Education degree. Nine years ago to my utter astonishment, I earned a Master of Science in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Houston- Clear Lake. When I enrolled in graduate school I was put on probation because my college transcript from 14 years before revealed a barely passing GPA. I found that going back to school at age 40 was a lot easier than at any other time in my school career. I cared about learning and worked harder in my classes even though it was still challenging. Now I have been an elementary school teacher for 26 years and surprisingly, I have taught Reading most of those years.
I'm not sure why I thought I needed to write a bit of my personal history with reading. Except I wanted all of the avid readers that cut their teeth on Dr. Suess and are now reading all of the Harry Potter books and many other novels, to have patience with children that don't appear to like reading. It is NOT an easy skill for everyone to learn. Not everyone that learns to read will enjoy reading. Some children get put in the bottom reading group and struggle to put sounds and letters together to form words and meaning. I will say again, "It isn't easy." Don't take for granted that perhaps this enjoyable bit of recreation that was easy for you should be easy for everyone. Don't assume that a child is lazy or stubbornly disobedient just because they refuse to do their homework. How many tasks do you enjoy that are difficult for you to accomplish? Be patient and understanding with that child who finds it tedious to read. Encourage and praise their efforts and some day they will read because they want to and not because a teacher made them. Then perhaps when they are 52 years old, they will realize that through the years, they have read some pretty good books and actually enjoyed what they read.
July 14, 2005
Our Seasons of Discontent
April 27, 2001
"Our Seasons of Discontent
By Mary Lou Martin
Our spiritual lives can be compared to seasons rotating through its cycles of growth and change. In the spring of our Christian walk, we feel happy, free and fresh with God's love and Spirit. Gathering in His memory we, the Christian sinners of this earth, are keenly aware of the sacrifice that Christ our Savior made for us. God speaks to us each day from His word adding depth to our faith. Our awaken souls long to embrace with gentle kindness, every grieving child we see or struggling mother. We yearn to reach out and touch the lives of the lost in a meaningful, soul-fulfilling way. Our faith is a budding flower nourished by the Holy Spirit. Our roots are watered with the blood of Jesus Christ.
Then, as the days grow longer, we work harder to please God. We work in the sun-filled summer warmth of the church. Our church families, also wanting to please the Master, are comrades in a heated battle against Satan's army. Adults work feverishly to afford teenagers the opportunities to experience helping people in need while accepting each other as brothers and sisters. We fellowship each other at times of worship, social gatherings and on weekend retreats. Our personal time becomes consumed with the striving to be all the Christian we know we can be. The days are hot and long; the fresh, relaxing spirit we once had begins to feel strained under the weight of our growth.
The autumn of this spiritual cycle has begun to sap our divine energy and our Christian attitudes wilt. A crisp, chilly breeze fills our souls as we notice our holy countenance portraying colors of stress. Children are returning to school, and their extra curricular activities consume our time. Of course, we continue to schedule church involvement because we know that for the children and us, our spiritual development is so important. Although, the more we keep going to church added to all of the activities, the cooler our attitudes get toward church. We must persevere, though, because it is expected of us. Soon we aren't reading the Bible for lack of time. Our minds become filled with questions covering our faith with a blanket of shaded doubts. "Is God really in control of my life?" "Why does God allow us to fall again and again into sin?" "Where is the freedom we have been promised." "What if we just quit for a while? Can we do that?" "What Would Jesus Do?" Our secret desire is to shed the leaves of religious commitment.
Winter can be very cold without the warmth of the Son shining on our souls. A depressed faith begins to search for something by which to light the flame again. A faith once on fire for the Lord is dying into ash. We go to church to worship God, but instead find our minds aching for an escape. We crave freedom from our gray existence. As we drift away from the Son's warmth, we're tempted to drink life's enticements. The Lord reaches out to us, but instead we pull away toward a false freedom. Satan has an enticing charm that makes us believe we are free when we are really slaves to our own desires. Peppering our language with words never uttered before, we laugh, drink, and gamble on our faith. It's exciting for a season, but soon we begin to feel the winter chill that comes with guilt.
Then, we notice a small ember of faith buried under the snow-covered doubt begin to glow. God is offering us a way to return to Him. We can break free from the Deceiver's soul-freezing trance by drawing closer to the Son.
Finally, completing the cycle, spring returns and tears fall like rain on a contrite heart and we are rejuvenated. Our dormant faith is once again awakened, just as Jesus' dead body was awakened from death. No matter how many times our faith may cycle through its seasons, God will always welcome us back. Seasons will come and go, but the Lord will remain the same today, yesterday and always.
"'I the Lord do not change. … Return to me, and I will return to you,' says the Lord Almighty." (Malachi 3:6)
"Our Seasons of Discontent
By Mary Lou Martin
Our spiritual lives can be compared to seasons rotating through its cycles of growth and change. In the spring of our Christian walk, we feel happy, free and fresh with God's love and Spirit. Gathering in His memory we, the Christian sinners of this earth, are keenly aware of the sacrifice that Christ our Savior made for us. God speaks to us each day from His word adding depth to our faith. Our awaken souls long to embrace with gentle kindness, every grieving child we see or struggling mother. We yearn to reach out and touch the lives of the lost in a meaningful, soul-fulfilling way. Our faith is a budding flower nourished by the Holy Spirit. Our roots are watered with the blood of Jesus Christ.
Then, as the days grow longer, we work harder to please God. We work in the sun-filled summer warmth of the church. Our church families, also wanting to please the Master, are comrades in a heated battle against Satan's army. Adults work feverishly to afford teenagers the opportunities to experience helping people in need while accepting each other as brothers and sisters. We fellowship each other at times of worship, social gatherings and on weekend retreats. Our personal time becomes consumed with the striving to be all the Christian we know we can be. The days are hot and long; the fresh, relaxing spirit we once had begins to feel strained under the weight of our growth.
The autumn of this spiritual cycle has begun to sap our divine energy and our Christian attitudes wilt. A crisp, chilly breeze fills our souls as we notice our holy countenance portraying colors of stress. Children are returning to school, and their extra curricular activities consume our time. Of course, we continue to schedule church involvement because we know that for the children and us, our spiritual development is so important. Although, the more we keep going to church added to all of the activities, the cooler our attitudes get toward church. We must persevere, though, because it is expected of us. Soon we aren't reading the Bible for lack of time. Our minds become filled with questions covering our faith with a blanket of shaded doubts. "Is God really in control of my life?" "Why does God allow us to fall again and again into sin?" "Where is the freedom we have been promised." "What if we just quit for a while? Can we do that?" "What Would Jesus Do?" Our secret desire is to shed the leaves of religious commitment.
Winter can be very cold without the warmth of the Son shining on our souls. A depressed faith begins to search for something by which to light the flame again. A faith once on fire for the Lord is dying into ash. We go to church to worship God, but instead find our minds aching for an escape. We crave freedom from our gray existence. As we drift away from the Son's warmth, we're tempted to drink life's enticements. The Lord reaches out to us, but instead we pull away toward a false freedom. Satan has an enticing charm that makes us believe we are free when we are really slaves to our own desires. Peppering our language with words never uttered before, we laugh, drink, and gamble on our faith. It's exciting for a season, but soon we begin to feel the winter chill that comes with guilt.
Then, we notice a small ember of faith buried under the snow-covered doubt begin to glow. God is offering us a way to return to Him. We can break free from the Deceiver's soul-freezing trance by drawing closer to the Son.
Finally, completing the cycle, spring returns and tears fall like rain on a contrite heart and we are rejuvenated. Our dormant faith is once again awakened, just as Jesus' dead body was awakened from death. No matter how many times our faith may cycle through its seasons, God will always welcome us back. Seasons will come and go, but the Lord will remain the same today, yesterday and always.
"'I the Lord do not change. … Return to me, and I will return to you,' says the Lord Almighty." (Malachi 3:6)
July 7, 2005
Words of the Day
Explosions, terrorist, mass destruction, attacks, security, orange alert.
We woke up this morning to news of bombings to the London transit system. The "tube" as the Britains call it, was bombed three times and then a fourth bombing to a double-decker bus. Memories of where I was and how I felt on September 11 as terrorist flew jumbo jets into the World Trade Twin Towers in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and a remote place in Pennsylvania where an additional airplane, taken over by terrorist, crashed as brave people prevented an attack to another government building, has been rerunning through my mind.
As I type this I am listening to CNN report a confirmed dead of 37 people and 700 injured in London. They expect the numbers to go higher. Our nation is under "orange" alert. The U. S. is taking extra precautions because of the bombings in England. Even though at this time, there are no threats to New York, police are on alert. In fact every large transit system in the nation is taking the same precautions.
Before I began this post I scrolled through various blogs of other Blogspot members. Many posts written in other languages such as Mexican, French, German, were also blogging this morning about the tragedy in London. There is something about seeing posts from other countries discussing the same tragedy and listening to national leaders on television voice their support for London and their sympathies for the fallen families, that makes me realize all humanity is related. A common event effecting all nations pulls people together to fight against the evil and support the victims of those acts of evil. My mind is boggled at this notion of so many in the world in effect relating and talking about the same terrible event. The news media is even talking about this outpouring of support from other countries for Great Britain.
President Bush said we will spread an ideology of hope and compassion and overwhelm the attacker's passion of hate. Prime Minister Tony Blair concluded his remarks with "We shall prevail and they shall not."
Proverbs 24:19-20 "Do not fret because of evil or be envious of the wicked, for the evil man has no future hope, and the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out."
As Christians we know that in the end, God will rule supreme.
Revelations 19:1-2 "...Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are his judgments."
We woke up this morning to news of bombings to the London transit system. The "tube" as the Britains call it, was bombed three times and then a fourth bombing to a double-decker bus. Memories of where I was and how I felt on September 11 as terrorist flew jumbo jets into the World Trade Twin Towers in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and a remote place in Pennsylvania where an additional airplane, taken over by terrorist, crashed as brave people prevented an attack to another government building, has been rerunning through my mind.
As I type this I am listening to CNN report a confirmed dead of 37 people and 700 injured in London. They expect the numbers to go higher. Our nation is under "orange" alert. The U. S. is taking extra precautions because of the bombings in England. Even though at this time, there are no threats to New York, police are on alert. In fact every large transit system in the nation is taking the same precautions.
Before I began this post I scrolled through various blogs of other Blogspot members. Many posts written in other languages such as Mexican, French, German, were also blogging this morning about the tragedy in London. There is something about seeing posts from other countries discussing the same tragedy and listening to national leaders on television voice their support for London and their sympathies for the fallen families, that makes me realize all humanity is related. A common event effecting all nations pulls people together to fight against the evil and support the victims of those acts of evil. My mind is boggled at this notion of so many in the world in effect relating and talking about the same terrible event. The news media is even talking about this outpouring of support from other countries for Great Britain.
President Bush said we will spread an ideology of hope and compassion and overwhelm the attacker's passion of hate. Prime Minister Tony Blair concluded his remarks with "We shall prevail and they shall not."
Proverbs 24:19-20 "Do not fret because of evil or be envious of the wicked, for the evil man has no future hope, and the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out."
As Christians we know that in the end, God will rule supreme.
Revelations 19:1-2 "...Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are his judgments."
July 2, 2005
To My Brother in Christ
Early this morning a friend, that I rarely saw anymore, died. He had cancer that was terminal from the first detection this past spring. Patrick was a unique person and one that I enjoyed knowing. The first time I met him was in the church auditorium where I attend. It wasn't a regular service time, but our preacher asked us to join him there to witness the baptism of Patrick. He was so happy to be a Christian and showed it by getting involved. I don't mean involved in church programs. I mean involved in people's lives for the sake of the Lord. There aren't many people that show their enthusiasm for being a Christian quite like Patrick did.
Patrick and his wife Denise lived in my neighborhood and on several occasions we found ourselves in each others' homes. Kim used to lead a Bible study at our house once a week. Patrick was always there and on a few occasions was the only other person there besides us. I remember one time in our study that I took issue with referring to myself as a saint because clearly I was a sinner. I don't remember what scripture we read, but Ephesian 6:18 comes to mine. Patrick explained to me that yes while we were sinners, Christ died for us and made us saints because we are God's children. I remember being very taken back by that which I had never before considered. I never knew that I was one of the saints.
I was sad when Patrick and his family stopped attending church with us. I never saw as much of them anymore. I never knew exactly why they decided to leave and go somewhere else, but we were still friends and I would occasionally see Patrick or Denise around town. It saddens me now that I won't see him again. He was a man working to straighten out his life and help others along the way. He helped me more than once.
Patrick leaves his wife Denise and a young daughter who will surely miss him dearly. My heart and sympathies go out to them.
In my mind I see Patrick sitting on a cloud swinging his legs, grinning from ear to ear, and patting his open Bible on his lap. He's doing this with anticipation because in usual Patrick fashion, he has a scripture that he wants to discuss with The Maker and he can hardly wait. I'll miss the chance meeting that I might have with Patrick as we go about our daily lives in this town. That is okay because Patrick is right where he always dreamed he'd be, with the Lord.
Goodbye to my brother in Christ.
Patrick left this world July 2, 2005 at 6:00 a.m.
Patrick and his wife Denise lived in my neighborhood and on several occasions we found ourselves in each others' homes. Kim used to lead a Bible study at our house once a week. Patrick was always there and on a few occasions was the only other person there besides us. I remember one time in our study that I took issue with referring to myself as a saint because clearly I was a sinner. I don't remember what scripture we read, but Ephesian 6:18 comes to mine. Patrick explained to me that yes while we were sinners, Christ died for us and made us saints because we are God's children. I remember being very taken back by that which I had never before considered. I never knew that I was one of the saints.
I was sad when Patrick and his family stopped attending church with us. I never saw as much of them anymore. I never knew exactly why they decided to leave and go somewhere else, but we were still friends and I would occasionally see Patrick or Denise around town. It saddens me now that I won't see him again. He was a man working to straighten out his life and help others along the way. He helped me more than once.
Patrick leaves his wife Denise and a young daughter who will surely miss him dearly. My heart and sympathies go out to them.
In my mind I see Patrick sitting on a cloud swinging his legs, grinning from ear to ear, and patting his open Bible on his lap. He's doing this with anticipation because in usual Patrick fashion, he has a scripture that he wants to discuss with The Maker and he can hardly wait. I'll miss the chance meeting that I might have with Patrick as we go about our daily lives in this town. That is okay because Patrick is right where he always dreamed he'd be, with the Lord.
Goodbye to my brother in Christ.
Patrick left this world July 2, 2005 at 6:00 a.m.
June 29, 2005
Two Acts of Kindness
Lately I have been blessed with acts of kindness shown to ME. Me of all people! I don't know why because I am not near as thoughtful to other's as they are to me. And still I have had acts of kindness shown to me lately that has really touched my heart.
Yesterday my dear friend took me shoe shopping. Not an easy chore because I have horrible feet to try to fit. However, she assured me that this special store was up to the task. Well true to her word, this was the best shoe store I'd ever been to and they indeed were up to the task. There were lots and lots of shoes the expert salesman brought out for me to try on. It was so much fun. Then my friend surprised me so much when she announced that she was going to buy a pair of shoes for me. I couldn't believe it and was so moved by this act of kindness shown to me. It felt so good.
The day before an older lady from my church called my house to tell me she had something for me. This lady and her husband was in our small group at church last year. When we got together, she gave my husband and I a beautiful appliqued quilt hanging for the wall. She had made it herself. Her card to us said that she was happy that we had welcomed she and her husband into our church group. I was so surprised by this kind act.
I forget how nice people can be. I don't expect a lot from people and so when they do such nice things for me, I am overwhelmed.
My two friends referred to in this story are wonderfully thoughtful people. Thank you, Margaret and Bette.
Yesterday my dear friend took me shoe shopping. Not an easy chore because I have horrible feet to try to fit. However, she assured me that this special store was up to the task. Well true to her word, this was the best shoe store I'd ever been to and they indeed were up to the task. There were lots and lots of shoes the expert salesman brought out for me to try on. It was so much fun. Then my friend surprised me so much when she announced that she was going to buy a pair of shoes for me. I couldn't believe it and was so moved by this act of kindness shown to me. It felt so good.
The day before an older lady from my church called my house to tell me she had something for me. This lady and her husband was in our small group at church last year. When we got together, she gave my husband and I a beautiful appliqued quilt hanging for the wall. She had made it herself. Her card to us said that she was happy that we had welcomed she and her husband into our church group. I was so surprised by this kind act.
I forget how nice people can be. I don't expect a lot from people and so when they do such nice things for me, I am overwhelmed.
My two friends referred to in this story are wonderfully thoughtful people. Thank you, Margaret and Bette.
June 27, 2005
Highly Distracted
At the rate I'm going, I should have all the boxes left from our move 2 years ago, emptied in 3 more summers. I am so easily swayed and give into the temptation to read a magazine article, watch TV, or get on my computer. After all, I have to read blogs and check email. But the real time waster has got to be watching my cats and the birds in my backyard.
Today I heard a mockingbird outside my bedroom window. He was carrying on so loudly that I knew for sure that he would be staring back at me when I opened the window blinds. He was almost that close as he perched on top of the patio umbrella. He sat up there and chirped his little heart out to whatever. Then I spied another mockingbird flying in with a bug in her mouth. I assumed it was a female bringing food to her babies.
Yesterday afternoon I let Homer, our male cat, go outside in the backyard. He just loves to prowl in the tall grasses like he is a tiger. I went back in the house to resume my work. I left the patio door slightly ajar because Baby, our female cat, likes to stay close and check back in to assure herself that she is safe. Anyway, after a while, I heard my mockingbird friend sounding very agitated. Then I can only assume that he must have told his fowl buddies that cats were in the yard, because those birds began the biggest commotion of chirping I'd ever heard outside of a zoo. When I didn't immediately see Homer, all I had to do to find him was to follow the sound of the chirping birds. I couldn't see him at first. Homer's fur makes great camouflage. Soon I saw him crouched down in the tall grass beneath the trees which inhabited the noisy birds.
Later, Homer decided to venture back out into the open yard where he became a clear target. A mockingbird swooped down on him like a kamikaze pilot bombing Pearl Harbor. Homer ducked then kept walking with little concern for the angry bird. I finally had to bring Homer and Baby back into the house just to shut the birds up.
Now, what was I talking about? Oh, yeah, my distractions. I'm just saying, it doesn't take much to divert my attention from those pesky boxes to anything that isn't a box to unload. Well back to my work.
Today I heard a mockingbird outside my bedroom window. He was carrying on so loudly that I knew for sure that he would be staring back at me when I opened the window blinds. He was almost that close as he perched on top of the patio umbrella. He sat up there and chirped his little heart out to whatever. Then I spied another mockingbird flying in with a bug in her mouth. I assumed it was a female bringing food to her babies.
Yesterday afternoon I let Homer, our male cat, go outside in the backyard. He just loves to prowl in the tall grasses like he is a tiger. I went back in the house to resume my work. I left the patio door slightly ajar because Baby, our female cat, likes to stay close and check back in to assure herself that she is safe. Anyway, after a while, I heard my mockingbird friend sounding very agitated. Then I can only assume that he must have told his fowl buddies that cats were in the yard, because those birds began the biggest commotion of chirping I'd ever heard outside of a zoo. When I didn't immediately see Homer, all I had to do to find him was to follow the sound of the chirping birds. I couldn't see him at first. Homer's fur makes great camouflage. Soon I saw him crouched down in the tall grass beneath the trees which inhabited the noisy birds.
Later, Homer decided to venture back out into the open yard where he became a clear target. A mockingbird swooped down on him like a kamikaze pilot bombing Pearl Harbor. Homer ducked then kept walking with little concern for the angry bird. I finally had to bring Homer and Baby back into the house just to shut the birds up.
Now, what was I talking about? Oh, yeah, my distractions. I'm just saying, it doesn't take much to divert my attention from those pesky boxes to anything that isn't a box to unload. Well back to my work.
June 25, 2005
Summer Baseball in Houston
Last night Kim and I went to Minute Maid Park in downtown Houston to watch the Astros play the Texas Rangers. It so happened that the Astros club was celebrating the 25th anniversary of their first World Championship won back in 1980. Many of the players from that 1980 team were also there to honor the occasion. Larry Dierker was on deck to M.C. the proceedings and introduce people like Nolan Ryan, Terry Puhl and Jose Cruz. Nolan Ryan even pitched the opening game ball, but I missed it.
I missed Nolan Ryan's pitch because I sat next to an enthisiastic woman around 40 years old, clad in Astro t-shirt and cap, who was there with her husband wearing his matching 'Stro t-shirt. They were big fans of the Astros, especially the woman who fast became my "best friend". Ask me anything you want to know about this lady and I'll bet I know it because she talked non-stop the entire game. I politely nodded as I listened and tried to follow the game at the same time. She apparently doesn't go to many games, but had been a big Astro's fan for many years. She was also very excited that after the game there was to be a fireworks display for which she reminded me numerous times throughout the course of the evening.
I must admit that in the beginning this woman greatly annoyed me and when Kim asked if I wanted to go with him to the consessions for food, I gladly accompanied him. I needed a break from her banter and lame jokes that she found to be so funny. As we walked to the food court, I commented to Kim that the only thing worse than sitting by a woman talking non-stop during a baseball game, was sitting by a woman talking non-stop at a baseball game ABOUT baseball. It was amazing how many Astros baseball facts she knew or at least THOUGHT she knew.
Later as the game continued, and BTW the Astros were beating the Texas Rangers, it occurred to me that this woman acted compulsive. I began to think of her as having some clinical mental disorder that she could not control. I also noticed how happy she was and with a 12 year old boyish excitement for baseball, she was having the time of her life. How could I fault her for that?
You know once I began looking at that talkative woman in a different light, she did become my friend. It didn't annoy me near as much when I realized she was honestly talking about her passion. I never heard her name, she never once asked me a question. She seemed to be so caught up in just being at the stadium and seeing the Astros, both past and present, that it was clearly all about the moment.
Well it turned out to be a great game. The Astros won over the Rangers, 5-2. We got to see a spectacular open-air fireworks display with the Houston city lights in the background. We even saw some old Astros players from years past. Most of all, I met a genuine person. A person that wasn't shy about sharing her passion of Astros baseball with tidbits about herself as added flavor. I even found out that she once wanted to be a standup comedian. Although I'm not sure the world of standup comedians would be ready for the likes of her.
As I left the game, I was happy and satisfied that I had come. Even though it would have been nice if by seat partner had let up a bit or let me respond, it made me think about my passions. What are they? Do I even share them with others? Am I too shy to talk to strangers as if they were some long lost best friend? She gave me something to consider and I believe I learned a lesson in patience and acceptance of others.
Go Astros!
I missed Nolan Ryan's pitch because I sat next to an enthisiastic woman around 40 years old, clad in Astro t-shirt and cap, who was there with her husband wearing his matching 'Stro t-shirt. They were big fans of the Astros, especially the woman who fast became my "best friend". Ask me anything you want to know about this lady and I'll bet I know it because she talked non-stop the entire game. I politely nodded as I listened and tried to follow the game at the same time. She apparently doesn't go to many games, but had been a big Astro's fan for many years. She was also very excited that after the game there was to be a fireworks display for which she reminded me numerous times throughout the course of the evening.
I must admit that in the beginning this woman greatly annoyed me and when Kim asked if I wanted to go with him to the consessions for food, I gladly accompanied him. I needed a break from her banter and lame jokes that she found to be so funny. As we walked to the food court, I commented to Kim that the only thing worse than sitting by a woman talking non-stop during a baseball game, was sitting by a woman talking non-stop at a baseball game ABOUT baseball. It was amazing how many Astros baseball facts she knew or at least THOUGHT she knew.
Later as the game continued, and BTW the Astros were beating the Texas Rangers, it occurred to me that this woman acted compulsive. I began to think of her as having some clinical mental disorder that she could not control. I also noticed how happy she was and with a 12 year old boyish excitement for baseball, she was having the time of her life. How could I fault her for that?
You know once I began looking at that talkative woman in a different light, she did become my friend. It didn't annoy me near as much when I realized she was honestly talking about her passion. I never heard her name, she never once asked me a question. She seemed to be so caught up in just being at the stadium and seeing the Astros, both past and present, that it was clearly all about the moment.
Well it turned out to be a great game. The Astros won over the Rangers, 5-2. We got to see a spectacular open-air fireworks display with the Houston city lights in the background. We even saw some old Astros players from years past. Most of all, I met a genuine person. A person that wasn't shy about sharing her passion of Astros baseball with tidbits about herself as added flavor. I even found out that she once wanted to be a standup comedian. Although I'm not sure the world of standup comedians would be ready for the likes of her.
As I left the game, I was happy and satisfied that I had come. Even though it would have been nice if by seat partner had let up a bit or let me respond, it made me think about my passions. What are they? Do I even share them with others? Am I too shy to talk to strangers as if they were some long lost best friend? She gave me something to consider and I believe I learned a lesson in patience and acceptance of others.
Go Astros!
June 23, 2005
I Want My BTV
No that isn't a typo. I want my Bedroom TV not MTV. About 10:30 every night I get tired watching TV in the den. So I go off to my bedroom, put on my pj's, and sit up in bed to watch TV before I go to sleep. Then, one night a couple of weeks ago, my bedroom TV sadly stopped working. It fizzled without warning, giving me no picture or decent reception. I couldn't imagine what was wrong. Kim thought it might be the cable so I hauled if off to another bedroom to see if it would work off of another jack. It began with the clearest of pictures and I felt hopeful. Then after about 5 minutes it flipped out again to the black and white static dots that invaded my set before.
I thought it would be okay because I still had my television in the den . Now that wasn't too bad when Kim was gone almost every evening to play practice or one of the other many meetings he attends. But since the plays have ended, I have him home most evenings. TV hasn't been the same. Can you spell d-o-c-u-m-e-n-t-a-l bore?? He wants BTV too. That would be Boring TV. Okay I'm not being completely fair. I don't mind a little Astro action on the tube as long as I can flash back and forth between real TV and the game. At least he watches Seinfeld reruns.
But see, I wouldn't have to watch Kim's TV shows if the set in my bedroom had not died. Besides there is just nothing like snuggling down under my comforter, propped up on my back pillow, watching Debbie Travis on "The Painted House" while glancing at my home decorating magazines. Now if you aren't an HGTV fan, you probably don't know Debbie and her team of paint experts. Debbie is great to watch just before drifting off to sleep. I can dream of all the home improvement I'll do with Debbie someday. Others like Will and Grace, Dharma and Greg, or Chandler, Rachel and the Friends can produce the same sandman effect on me, with different dreams of course. The point being that it is very comforting to lay my back pillow aside, click the remote control and put my head down for the night after a bedtime story from my buddies. It just doesn't have the same effect if I have to get out of my recliner in the den, walk back down the hallway, get into bed and try to go to sleep. By the time I do all of that, I'm not sleepy anymore.
So I really hope to replace the dead TV soon. Kim has been thinking that a bigger TV in the den would be nice. Then, maybe the DTV will become my new BTV. Keep your fingers crossed. :-)
I thought it would be okay because I still had my television in the den . Now that wasn't too bad when Kim was gone almost every evening to play practice or one of the other many meetings he attends. But since the plays have ended, I have him home most evenings. TV hasn't been the same. Can you spell d-o-c-u-m-e-n-t-a-l bore?? He wants BTV too. That would be Boring TV. Okay I'm not being completely fair. I don't mind a little Astro action on the tube as long as I can flash back and forth between real TV and the game. At least he watches Seinfeld reruns.
But see, I wouldn't have to watch Kim's TV shows if the set in my bedroom had not died. Besides there is just nothing like snuggling down under my comforter, propped up on my back pillow, watching Debbie Travis on "The Painted House" while glancing at my home decorating magazines. Now if you aren't an HGTV fan, you probably don't know Debbie and her team of paint experts. Debbie is great to watch just before drifting off to sleep. I can dream of all the home improvement I'll do with Debbie someday. Others like Will and Grace, Dharma and Greg, or Chandler, Rachel and the Friends can produce the same sandman effect on me, with different dreams of course. The point being that it is very comforting to lay my back pillow aside, click the remote control and put my head down for the night after a bedtime story from my buddies. It just doesn't have the same effect if I have to get out of my recliner in the den, walk back down the hallway, get into bed and try to go to sleep. By the time I do all of that, I'm not sleepy anymore.
So I really hope to replace the dead TV soon. Kim has been thinking that a bigger TV in the den would be nice. Then, maybe the DTV will become my new BTV. Keep your fingers crossed. :-)
June 22, 2005
Impressions of a theater community
"From Here to Kalamazoo"
Impressions of AACTFest 2005
by Mary Lou Martin
"There Really Is a Kalamazoo" was the city's slogan I read on t-shirts, coffee mugs, magnets and other such souvenirs at the recent AACTFest 2005 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. As I read those words I remembered, as a teen, hearing my mother say phrases like, "Your clothes are strode from here to Kalamazoo. Clean this up!" Now having been all the way to Kalamazoo from here, I understand just what my mom meant. It was a long way up there and my clothes must have covered a lot of territory in my bedroom.
My official AACT approved festival program stated; "AACT offers a wide range of opportunities to share experiences, problems, successes and love of theatre." What I observed among the 450+ community theater participants was exactly what was offered in the above statement. It is in essence a statement about community. In a community of any sort, people share experiences, live, play, and work together for a common interest. In this case the common interest is of course, live on-stage theatre.
I had the opportunity to participate in two classes having to do with musical theater performance. When I arrived alone in the small rehearsal hall, I felt somewhat alien to the other members of the group. However, within 10 minutes into the class, I was laughing and joining in with the presenter and the other participants seated next to me. We were becoming a community within ourselves. It is my belief that during the course of the four-day festival, similar scenarios were being played out within other workshops as well. We were different people with different occupations coming together to share a common interest.
Not only were the festival participants a community in Kalamazoo, but there exist a sense of community among theater people wherever one may travel. Take for example a story I heard at the Awards Gala and Dinner Dance the last evening of the festival. One of the festival chairmen related an event that happened last summer while he and his family were traveling on vacation through Colorado. The camping vehicle he was driving broke down in what he described as, "the middle of nowhere." Having no acquaintances within driving distance, he decided to call upon the local Community Theater for help. After phoning the theater and explaining his family's predicament, someone from the theater quickly came to his aide. That person helped him to find a place to fix his vehicle and stayed with his family offering food and a place to wait, until they could be on their way. Now that, my fellow thespians, is Community Theater at its best.
It was my impression from that man's story that even though we may be strangers in a strange land, so to speak, our Baytown Little Theater is really a community functioning within a larger community. As I watched the brilliant performances of actors from eleven community theaters across the U. S. and parts of Europe practice their craft, I felt a definite place in this community. Strangers to each other, people from all walks of life had something to discuss. Their love of theater had brought them together. Conversations were jovial, intellectual and captivating as peers discussed their art.
So when you speak of Community Theater, remember it spans much wider than our own Little Theater in Baytown. Our theater community goes from here to Kalamazoo and places beyond.
Impressions of AACTFest 2005
by Mary Lou Martin
"There Really Is a Kalamazoo" was the city's slogan I read on t-shirts, coffee mugs, magnets and other such souvenirs at the recent AACTFest 2005 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. As I read those words I remembered, as a teen, hearing my mother say phrases like, "Your clothes are strode from here to Kalamazoo. Clean this up!" Now having been all the way to Kalamazoo from here, I understand just what my mom meant. It was a long way up there and my clothes must have covered a lot of territory in my bedroom.
My official AACT approved festival program stated; "AACT offers a wide range of opportunities to share experiences, problems, successes and love of theatre." What I observed among the 450+ community theater participants was exactly what was offered in the above statement. It is in essence a statement about community. In a community of any sort, people share experiences, live, play, and work together for a common interest. In this case the common interest is of course, live on-stage theatre.
I had the opportunity to participate in two classes having to do with musical theater performance. When I arrived alone in the small rehearsal hall, I felt somewhat alien to the other members of the group. However, within 10 minutes into the class, I was laughing and joining in with the presenter and the other participants seated next to me. We were becoming a community within ourselves. It is my belief that during the course of the four-day festival, similar scenarios were being played out within other workshops as well. We were different people with different occupations coming together to share a common interest.
Not only were the festival participants a community in Kalamazoo, but there exist a sense of community among theater people wherever one may travel. Take for example a story I heard at the Awards Gala and Dinner Dance the last evening of the festival. One of the festival chairmen related an event that happened last summer while he and his family were traveling on vacation through Colorado. The camping vehicle he was driving broke down in what he described as, "the middle of nowhere." Having no acquaintances within driving distance, he decided to call upon the local Community Theater for help. After phoning the theater and explaining his family's predicament, someone from the theater quickly came to his aide. That person helped him to find a place to fix his vehicle and stayed with his family offering food and a place to wait, until they could be on their way. Now that, my fellow thespians, is Community Theater at its best.
It was my impression from that man's story that even though we may be strangers in a strange land, so to speak, our Baytown Little Theater is really a community functioning within a larger community. As I watched the brilliant performances of actors from eleven community theaters across the U. S. and parts of Europe practice their craft, I felt a definite place in this community. Strangers to each other, people from all walks of life had something to discuss. Their love of theater had brought them together. Conversations were jovial, intellectual and captivating as peers discussed their art.
So when you speak of Community Theater, remember it spans much wider than our own Little Theater in Baytown. Our theater community goes from here to Kalamazoo and places beyond.
June 20, 2005
Communities in a Larger Society
COMMUNITY: Webster writes that community is "...a unified body of individuals: as a group of people with a common characteristic or interest living together within a larger society." The simple definition in my third grade students' social studies books is a place where people live, work and play together.
I recently returned home from a trip to Michigan where I was fortunate enough to spend some time with my son's family. My two young grandchildren are learning to live within the friendly community of East Lansing. My son and I took his two year old son and 2 month old daughter to a park in town. Aidan, my grandson and veteran of this park, knew his way around and felt comfortable playing among the other children and their parents. Regan, our beautiful granddaughter, pretty much slept in her stroller during the park visit. However, that didn't keep several little female toddlers from trustingly requesting to look at "the baby." They trusted that I was a friendly stranger because, like their mommys, I was here with children playing in the park. The children and I had a common interest and therefore were part of this little park community. They felt comfortable talking to me even though I was a stranger.
It was also my experience on this trip to attend a theater conference in another MIchigan town. The fact that the attendees to this conference were from community theaters all over the United States and even one from Germany; contributes to my thoughts here in this blog about community. Even though most of the theater companys were strangers to each other, they shared a common interest in theater and would comfortably sit in conversation with each other. I have often thought that for many of our theater friends, our community theater functioned much like their "church". Everyone so different, but with this common interest in theater, they became a community at the conference.
I recognized that the common characteristics of community in those actors at the conference and the children and parents in the park were the same as the ones I share with my church family. We have a common interest. We want to help each other. We understand and make connections with each other. I also realized just how many communities I belong to. Christians, actors, parents, children, grandparents, teachers, neighbors,...whether for good or bad, are all in communities within the larger society.
I hear a lot of talk at church these days about this word "community". We are hearing that we should be more like a community. But what occurs to me is that we are already a community. We live among each other, we work, play and care about each other. We are already a community within the Church of God. What we should be working toward is being more in tune with the larger society. Live, work and play with other communities, not only church communities. Embrace the communities that form the larger society, and look for positives within that group . Encourage and lift up communities that are working to be on a path that helps each other whether it is a religious group or not. Reach out to communities that may not be contributing to our society in a positive way with the intent to help better their cause.
Community: Family: Caring: United in a common interest for the larger society--how do we connect to other communities? Christian groups ought to broaden their view of community and take a lesson from the little children and other groups outside of their religious families. Perhaps we would see answers to our questions about interacting with people outside of our church communities.
I wish I had better answers the question of connecting to other communities, but sadly I do not. I do believe our hesitance has a lot to do with our comfort zone. It is when we are forced to step out of our comfort zones and learn about other communities that we might have a chance to unify within a larger society.
I recently returned home from a trip to Michigan where I was fortunate enough to spend some time with my son's family. My two young grandchildren are learning to live within the friendly community of East Lansing. My son and I took his two year old son and 2 month old daughter to a park in town. Aidan, my grandson and veteran of this park, knew his way around and felt comfortable playing among the other children and their parents. Regan, our beautiful granddaughter, pretty much slept in her stroller during the park visit. However, that didn't keep several little female toddlers from trustingly requesting to look at "the baby." They trusted that I was a friendly stranger because, like their mommys, I was here with children playing in the park. The children and I had a common interest and therefore were part of this little park community. They felt comfortable talking to me even though I was a stranger.
It was also my experience on this trip to attend a theater conference in another MIchigan town. The fact that the attendees to this conference were from community theaters all over the United States and even one from Germany; contributes to my thoughts here in this blog about community. Even though most of the theater companys were strangers to each other, they shared a common interest in theater and would comfortably sit in conversation with each other. I have often thought that for many of our theater friends, our community theater functioned much like their "church". Everyone so different, but with this common interest in theater, they became a community at the conference.
I recognized that the common characteristics of community in those actors at the conference and the children and parents in the park were the same as the ones I share with my church family. We have a common interest. We want to help each other. We understand and make connections with each other. I also realized just how many communities I belong to. Christians, actors, parents, children, grandparents, teachers, neighbors,...whether for good or bad, are all in communities within the larger society.
I hear a lot of talk at church these days about this word "community". We are hearing that we should be more like a community. But what occurs to me is that we are already a community. We live among each other, we work, play and care about each other. We are already a community within the Church of God. What we should be working toward is being more in tune with the larger society. Live, work and play with other communities, not only church communities. Embrace the communities that form the larger society, and look for positives within that group . Encourage and lift up communities that are working to be on a path that helps each other whether it is a religious group or not. Reach out to communities that may not be contributing to our society in a positive way with the intent to help better their cause.
Community: Family: Caring: United in a common interest for the larger society--how do we connect to other communities? Christian groups ought to broaden their view of community and take a lesson from the little children and other groups outside of their religious families. Perhaps we would see answers to our questions about interacting with people outside of our church communities.
I wish I had better answers the question of connecting to other communities, but sadly I do not. I do believe our hesitance has a lot to do with our comfort zone. It is when we are forced to step out of our comfort zones and learn about other communities that we might have a chance to unify within a larger society.
June 13, 2005
Long Hot Summer Days
I just read my friend Deana's blog. She is an extremely good writer and does it on a weekly basis for The Baytown Sun which is our hometown newspaper. The post was actually one she had written for The Sun. Her article was about how different her summer is now with two children. Her oldest child is 5 years old and the other is about 8 months old. Her description of her daily summer schedule compared to what it was when she was in high school was very humorous to us moms that have been there-done that.
As a school teacher I was always at home with my sons for summer vacation. I counted down those last days of school with the same excitement that they did. I was ready for a break. However, just as Deana has experienced, my summers with little kids was no break. The day started early and usually ended late. My husband always thought that we should try to keep the same hours that we had during school. I'm not sure what planet he was from, but here on earth summer vacation was meant for no schedules. Well at least not the same one we had for school.
The boys and I managed to stay very busy for the most part. I would always buy phonics and math workbooks on their ability levels and take them to the public library to check out books. Then we would practice school in the summer. It wasn't very strict, we just sat in the floor, colored and reviewed numbers and words and read books. Then I would try to get them to have a quiet time. I tried not to call it a nap because that was a bad 3-letter word to them. Sometimes we'd take lunch to the park and play or go swimming. Summers really were a lot of fun.
Now days I'm home alone except for my two cats. My husband is at work and my three sons are all married. I have to find things to do so I don't get bored with my day. I certainly have plenty to do since I don't do a lot of cleaning out and housework during the ten months of school. My problem is that I don't work well in a quiet house. I turn on the TV that distracts me, then I fall asleep and nothing gets done. So, I try to listen to the CD player instead. A lot of times I read a book. I'm not used to staying home all day by myself, so I generally make a trip to the grocery store or Wal-Mart whether I need something or not.
Yes, it is a lot calmer without 3 little boys running in and out of the house. Do I miss it? A little bit. Do I long to go back to those summers? Nope. I had more energy to keep up with them back then. I enjoyed my kids very much and I enjoy my grandchildren too. Right now, though, I'm working to become accustomed to summers with just me.
As a school teacher I was always at home with my sons for summer vacation. I counted down those last days of school with the same excitement that they did. I was ready for a break. However, just as Deana has experienced, my summers with little kids was no break. The day started early and usually ended late. My husband always thought that we should try to keep the same hours that we had during school. I'm not sure what planet he was from, but here on earth summer vacation was meant for no schedules. Well at least not the same one we had for school.
The boys and I managed to stay very busy for the most part. I would always buy phonics and math workbooks on their ability levels and take them to the public library to check out books. Then we would practice school in the summer. It wasn't very strict, we just sat in the floor, colored and reviewed numbers and words and read books. Then I would try to get them to have a quiet time. I tried not to call it a nap because that was a bad 3-letter word to them. Sometimes we'd take lunch to the park and play or go swimming. Summers really were a lot of fun.
Now days I'm home alone except for my two cats. My husband is at work and my three sons are all married. I have to find things to do so I don't get bored with my day. I certainly have plenty to do since I don't do a lot of cleaning out and housework during the ten months of school. My problem is that I don't work well in a quiet house. I turn on the TV that distracts me, then I fall asleep and nothing gets done. So, I try to listen to the CD player instead. A lot of times I read a book. I'm not used to staying home all day by myself, so I generally make a trip to the grocery store or Wal-Mart whether I need something or not.
Yes, it is a lot calmer without 3 little boys running in and out of the house. Do I miss it? A little bit. Do I long to go back to those summers? Nope. I had more energy to keep up with them back then. I enjoyed my kids very much and I enjoy my grandchildren too. Right now, though, I'm working to become accustomed to summers with just me.
June 11, 2005
Thoughts To Ponder
I STOOD UPON A HIGH PLACE by Stephen Crane
I stood upon a high place,
And saw, below, many devils
Running, leaping,
And carousing in sin.
One looked up, grinning,
And said, "Comrade! Brother!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Article (Leaven, Summer, 1998) "What is Freedom? Journey" by James W. Thompson, professor of New Testament at Abilene Christian University.
"...Freedom, as Paul tells the Galatians, can cancel itself out when it leads to a new kind of slavery--a slavery to the impulses and passions. Freedom is lost when we misunderstand it as the freedom to indulge ourselves in whatever way that we wish."
"Where do we go when we have discovered freedom? As much as we say that we don't want to go back, we are tempted."
"The fact is that God wants us to live as grown-up children in our Father's house. To enjoy our freedom--but freedom where the Father's will is our will."
--------------------------------------------------------------------
BOTH of these quotations speak to me. The poem puts to light the reality of being a sinner alongside the "devils". The other puts to light the reality of my freedom is only free if I choose to keep it.
What do you think?
I stood upon a high place,
And saw, below, many devils
Running, leaping,
And carousing in sin.
One looked up, grinning,
And said, "Comrade! Brother!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Article (Leaven, Summer, 1998) "What is Freedom? Journey" by James W. Thompson, professor of New Testament at Abilene Christian University.
"...Freedom, as Paul tells the Galatians, can cancel itself out when it leads to a new kind of slavery--a slavery to the impulses and passions. Freedom is lost when we misunderstand it as the freedom to indulge ourselves in whatever way that we wish."
"Where do we go when we have discovered freedom? As much as we say that we don't want to go back, we are tempted."
"The fact is that God wants us to live as grown-up children in our Father's house. To enjoy our freedom--but freedom where the Father's will is our will."
--------------------------------------------------------------------
BOTH of these quotations speak to me. The poem puts to light the reality of being a sinner alongside the "devils". The other puts to light the reality of my freedom is only free if I choose to keep it.
What do you think?
June 9, 2005
Watching Homer in the "Wild"
My male cat,
Homer
has discovered that he loves the outdoors. I was opposed to letting him experience the big world outside because so many of my previous animals didn't fare well outside. They always wound up beneath the big 4-wheeled monster I tried to warn them about.
However, it seems that Homer rather likes the confines of our backyard. It is enclosed with a lot of plants for him to investigate. I have come out here with a laptop to keep an eye on him....and it appears that I didn't do a good job. I just had to get up and call him back from the neighbor's yard. It always looks greener on the other side you know. I am thinking that the neighbors, who were out beside their pool, may have spooked him because now he is content to stay nearby on his own side of the fence.
Homer's curiosity keeps him looking for something exciting and fun. Once he experiences a new place that intrigues him, its hard to go back to the way it was before. He always knows what is over there. I wonder if he liked "the other side" or if it just scared him? He seems to still be intrigued by that area of the yard and I have to occasionally call to him to come back.
Homer reminds me of us humans. There have been times when my curiosity took me to "the other side". Other people were doing things that seemed to really be fun. I was intrigued and wanted to have some fun too. There were times that my ventures into the "unknown" spooked me a bit and I would have to come back home. However, I knew it was out there. I enjoyed it and wanted to experience it again.
Well a lawnmower has started up and Homer is totally freaked out. He has come running back to the safety of his home and master once again. I do the same thing when I get a little "freaked out" about where I've been. I run back home to the safety and comfort of my Master. Although, I am sure both Homer and I will one day want to venture out again to "the other side."
However, it seems that Homer rather likes the confines of our backyard. It is enclosed with a lot of plants for him to investigate. I have come out here with a laptop to keep an eye on him....and it appears that I didn't do a good job. I just had to get up and call him back from the neighbor's yard. It always looks greener on the other side you know. I am thinking that the neighbors, who were out beside their pool, may have spooked him because now he is content to stay nearby on his own side of the fence.
Homer's curiosity keeps him looking for something exciting and fun. Once he experiences a new place that intrigues him, its hard to go back to the way it was before. He always knows what is over there. I wonder if he liked "the other side" or if it just scared him? He seems to still be intrigued by that area of the yard and I have to occasionally call to him to come back.
Homer reminds me of us humans. There have been times when my curiosity took me to "the other side". Other people were doing things that seemed to really be fun. I was intrigued and wanted to have some fun too. There were times that my ventures into the "unknown" spooked me a bit and I would have to come back home. However, I knew it was out there. I enjoyed it and wanted to experience it again.
Well a lawnmower has started up and Homer is totally freaked out. He has come running back to the safety of his home and master once again. I do the same thing when I get a little "freaked out" about where I've been. I run back home to the safety and comfort of my Master. Although, I am sure both Homer and I will one day want to venture out again to "the other side."
June 7, 2005
Martin Acrostic
Martin Men
Actors
Rational
Tenacious
Influential
Noticeable
Kim
Knowledgeable
Initiator
Mellow
Jason
Jovial
Adviser
Scholarly
Opinionated
Nurturer
Kyle
Kindhearted
Youthful
Loveable
Energetic
Ryan
Reserved
Youngest
Audacious
Non-conformist
Aidan
Angel
Inquisitive
Darling
Alert
New brother
Martin Women
Artistic
Reliable
Tantalizing
Interesting
Notable
Mary Lou
Mother Loving
Adult Overindulgent
Religious Uncertain
Yielding
Kari
Kind
Achiever
Responsible
Innovative
Amanda
Amiable
Married
Affectionate
Nice
Devoted
Attractive
Amy
Attentive
Musical
Yoked
Regan
Ravishing
Engaging
Girl
Aidan's sister
Neophyte
Actors
Rational
Tenacious
Influential
Noticeable
Kim
Knowledgeable
Initiator
Mellow
Jason
Jovial
Adviser
Scholarly
Opinionated
Nurturer
Kyle
Kindhearted
Youthful
Loveable
Energetic
Ryan
Reserved
Youngest
Audacious
Non-conformist
Aidan
Angel
Inquisitive
Darling
Alert
New brother
Martin Women
Artistic
Reliable
Tantalizing
Interesting
Notable
Mary Lou
Mother Loving
Adult Overindulgent
Religious Uncertain
Yielding
Kari
Kind
Achiever
Responsible
Innovative
Amanda
Amiable
Married
Affectionate
Nice
Devoted
Attractive
Amy
Attentive
Musical
Yoked
Regan
Ravishing
Engaging
Girl
Aidan's sister
Neophyte
June 6, 2005
Home Again, Home Again Jiggidy Jig
Well I was going to spend a weekend at home all by myself. Then the evening before Kim was to leave for Arlington, I decided to go. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get motel a room, but Kim always works things out. It was the Texas Non-Profit Theatres' Youth Conference. This is probably the 6th year Kim has taken a group of preteens and teens to the conference from our local community theater. They performed a musical called "Honk! Jr." The junior indicates it is a shorter version of the real play. The play is the "Ugly Duckling" story. Our kids were just great!
Kim and I went up on the second day of the conference due to Kim having to work. (All play and no work, makes Kim a poor man.) Our group had traveled the day before with their chaperones so they had already been to a day and a half of activities when we walked into the auditorium at UTA Friday evening. Kim was so surprised when the kids all cheered to see him. Its a great thing to watch my husband work with the group. They really like and respect what he does.
I mostly hung with Kim which was the real reason I decided not to stay by myself at home. Even though we've been married for 30 years, I still miss him when he is gone for a couple of days. Besides I just thought alone in the house for the weekend would bore me out of my mind. However, I had to keep reminding myself why I was there. The motel room was not too great. It was clean but located far off the beaten path. No restaurants or stores were within walking distance. It was hot! We had to make a room change due to the broken air conditioner in our room. The plays were pretty good, but not that great. Some were just confusing, but one called "The Rimers of Eldritch" while confusing was done with a great deal of maturity on the kids' part. When viewing youth art, you have to look at it from a learning/growing point of view. They were all very brave and spunky to even get up there.
I know that Kim would really have liked for me to take a more active part in this activity. I've done things with theater for him in the past and I'm not saying I won't ever do it again. I'm just saying that I've been a little selfish with me lately. I want to do some things that I know I need to take care of.
Anyway, if I don't get up from this darn computer, I will be wasting that "me" time.
Kim and I went up on the second day of the conference due to Kim having to work. (All play and no work, makes Kim a poor man.) Our group had traveled the day before with their chaperones so they had already been to a day and a half of activities when we walked into the auditorium at UTA Friday evening. Kim was so surprised when the kids all cheered to see him. Its a great thing to watch my husband work with the group. They really like and respect what he does.
I mostly hung with Kim which was the real reason I decided not to stay by myself at home. Even though we've been married for 30 years, I still miss him when he is gone for a couple of days. Besides I just thought alone in the house for the weekend would bore me out of my mind. However, I had to keep reminding myself why I was there. The motel room was not too great. It was clean but located far off the beaten path. No restaurants or stores were within walking distance. It was hot! We had to make a room change due to the broken air conditioner in our room. The plays were pretty good, but not that great. Some were just confusing, but one called "The Rimers of Eldritch" while confusing was done with a great deal of maturity on the kids' part. When viewing youth art, you have to look at it from a learning/growing point of view. They were all very brave and spunky to even get up there.
I know that Kim would really have liked for me to take a more active part in this activity. I've done things with theater for him in the past and I'm not saying I won't ever do it again. I'm just saying that I've been a little selfish with me lately. I want to do some things that I know I need to take care of.
Anyway, if I don't get up from this darn computer, I will be wasting that "me" time.
June 3, 2005
Original Writing
"Poetry in Prose"
by Mary Lou Martin
June 2, 2005
I wanted to write this as a poem,
But the words were hard to form.
My heart knows what I want to say,
My brain knows not how to say it.
So I will just say what is on my mind.
It won't rhyme or be clever prose.
The words in my head will tumble and fall.,
Have patience as I explain my woes.
You see I struggle with right and wrong.
NO, I mean I struggle with good and evil.
NO, I mean I struggle to do what God wants.
What I mean is, I have sinned…again and again.
I didn't mean to, it just happened.
Well that's not exactly true.
It didn't just happen.
I LET it. I encouraged it.
So now I struggle with my sin.
We wrestle and go back and forth.
I know what I should do.
Walk away and leave it forever.
That word "forever" seems huge.
Can I really do without it forever?
It has become part of me,
A fact I know all too well.
Some mornings I wake up
And say to myself, "this is the day."
This is the day when I'll quit and then,
I find that I'm with it again.
Some people think "it" isn't a sin.
They consider it a social thing.
I do and I don't, I can't decide.
So I indulge…again and again.
by Mary Lou Martin
June 2, 2005
I wanted to write this as a poem,
But the words were hard to form.
My heart knows what I want to say,
My brain knows not how to say it.
So I will just say what is on my mind.
It won't rhyme or be clever prose.
The words in my head will tumble and fall.,
Have patience as I explain my woes.
You see I struggle with right and wrong.
NO, I mean I struggle with good and evil.
NO, I mean I struggle to do what God wants.
What I mean is, I have sinned…again and again.
I didn't mean to, it just happened.
Well that's not exactly true.
It didn't just happen.
I LET it. I encouraged it.
So now I struggle with my sin.
We wrestle and go back and forth.
I know what I should do.
Walk away and leave it forever.
That word "forever" seems huge.
Can I really do without it forever?
It has become part of me,
A fact I know all too well.
Some mornings I wake up
And say to myself, "this is the day."
This is the day when I'll quit and then,
I find that I'm with it again.
Some people think "it" isn't a sin.
They consider it a social thing.
I do and I don't, I can't decide.
So I indulge…again and again.
Homer&Baby
Homer is the younger gray cat and Baby is our 3 year old black cat.
They make such good friends.
They make such good friends.
June 2, 2005
Get the Message?
I read Today's Verse put out by Heartlight on the web. This is a very good website for religious articles, wallpaper for your computer desktop, ecards, power point graphics, Christian book reviews and more. I've read it for years. The Today's Verse is sent to my email address everyday and offers a verse of scripture, a thought and a prayer.
Many times these verses come to my inbox and I just knew that God was talking to me. Its like He is saying, "Mary Lou, you know you can't keep doing that." If I try to ignore those messages and click delete, another one will just show up in my box the next day. I've even caught myself saying aloud to my computer and God, "Okay, I get it!"
Today's Verse was such a message. The verse was Romans 6:1
"What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?"
The thought was the usual comment on that verse about grace and surrendering our lives to Christ. The author of the thought had some very good commentary on the verse and I read it nodding my head, "yes" all the way. Then came the line for me from God. He said, "...and sin is breaking our Father's heart to choose our own self-destructive path." It's the "self-destructive" part that hits me square between the eyes, because recently a person that was trying to help me with a problem used those same words.
I ponder now to consider if I should even send this out on my blog. Especially since I'm going to need to make some decisions about the path I'm following. Is it really self-destructive? Do I need to make those changes in my life to be right with God?
Even words in the prayer offered at the end were similar to my own prayers. "Please make my own sin abhorrent to me. Give me a passion for holiness and a deeper appreciation of what it cost you to make me holy."
Okay, God. I get it.
Many times these verses come to my inbox and I just knew that God was talking to me. Its like He is saying, "Mary Lou, you know you can't keep doing that." If I try to ignore those messages and click delete, another one will just show up in my box the next day. I've even caught myself saying aloud to my computer and God, "Okay, I get it!"
Today's Verse was such a message. The verse was Romans 6:1
"What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?"
The thought was the usual comment on that verse about grace and surrendering our lives to Christ. The author of the thought had some very good commentary on the verse and I read it nodding my head, "yes" all the way. Then came the line for me from God. He said, "...and sin is breaking our Father's heart to choose our own self-destructive path." It's the "self-destructive" part that hits me square between the eyes, because recently a person that was trying to help me with a problem used those same words.
I ponder now to consider if I should even send this out on my blog. Especially since I'm going to need to make some decisions about the path I'm following. Is it really self-destructive? Do I need to make those changes in my life to be right with God?
Even words in the prayer offered at the end were similar to my own prayers. "Please make my own sin abhorrent to me. Give me a passion for holiness and a deeper appreciation of what it cost you to make me holy."
Okay, God. I get it.
May 31, 2005
Retreat and Regroup
For many people January 1 is the day designated to start over. They make New Year's resolutions, wipe the slate clean, and try to improve themselves in some way.
Though many people buy into the January / New Year thing. I do not. My New Year begins the first day of my summer vacation from school. When I finish packing up my classroom and lock that door behind me, it is New Year's Eve.
My "New Year's Resolutions" are not usually written but simply noted in my mind and are in the form of plans. I have plans to clean out boxes and closets and maybe even that monster garage. The carpet needs cleaning and I plan to get a new vaccum to help with the job. My home decorating talents are lacking. So, with the help of HGTV, some decorating magazines and perhaps some buried creative juices, I can improve the decor of this house.
My list of books to read are taking on a different genre this summer. I've decided to check out an author name Harlen Coben and read a mystery novel. Then I'd like to try "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" because I saw that the next epic tale to come out at the movies will be "Narnia". As a child, reading was difficult for me. It was hard and I didn't like it. Now I realize that I just wasn't reading the right books for me. Unfortunately, I missed a lot of classics because of my reading problems. So, I want to use some of my summer vacation to read.
I really like June as a new start better than January. I have a couple of months to work on my "resolutions" without the distraction of school work. No deadlines or reports to turn in. Nothing that will cause a major upset if I don't have it done "on time".
Hopefully, I will be able to keep my summer "resolutions" better than the ones made in January. I'll keep you posted.
Though many people buy into the January / New Year thing. I do not. My New Year begins the first day of my summer vacation from school. When I finish packing up my classroom and lock that door behind me, it is New Year's Eve.
My "New Year's Resolutions" are not usually written but simply noted in my mind and are in the form of plans. I have plans to clean out boxes and closets and maybe even that monster garage. The carpet needs cleaning and I plan to get a new vaccum to help with the job. My home decorating talents are lacking. So, with the help of HGTV, some decorating magazines and perhaps some buried creative juices, I can improve the decor of this house.
My list of books to read are taking on a different genre this summer. I've decided to check out an author name Harlen Coben and read a mystery novel. Then I'd like to try "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" because I saw that the next epic tale to come out at the movies will be "Narnia". As a child, reading was difficult for me. It was hard and I didn't like it. Now I realize that I just wasn't reading the right books for me. Unfortunately, I missed a lot of classics because of my reading problems. So, I want to use some of my summer vacation to read.
I really like June as a new start better than January. I have a couple of months to work on my "resolutions" without the distraction of school work. No deadlines or reports to turn in. Nothing that will cause a major upset if I don't have it done "on time".
Hopefully, I will be able to keep my summer "resolutions" better than the ones made in January. I'll keep you posted.
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