mrs. h. at large

Cow Magnets and Harry Potter

2012-01-27T08:09:00.000-06:00

I've been keeping my eye out for new Mad Science possibilities for Vacation Bible School. A few weeks ago I saw some magnets on the clearance shelf at Hobby Lobby, so I picked up the 2 packages they had on hand. Then I stashed them and forgot about them.

Yesterday I found them and pulled 2 out. These are small bar magnets, about 2" x 1/2", and are labeled N and S on the ends. The back of the package says that they are alnico magnets. Then the package mentions cow magnets and the prevention of Hardware Disease.

Cow magnets? Curious minds want to know!

Apparently cows do not have discriminating lips and will swallow whatever gets into their mouths, including nails, staples, pieces of barbed-wire fencing ... You get the idea. Those little pieces of metal can do nasty things to cow insides. But if stopped before they get too far into the cow's gastro-intestinal system, the metal pieces are relatively harmless. Feed the magnets to the cows early in life and the magnets attract all that metallic debris and the cow lives longer and happier. Makes perfect sense.

And then, I found this sentence on the Wikipedia page:

While the resultant mass of iron remains in the cow's rumen as a pseudobezoar (an intentionally introduced bezoar), it does not cause the severe problems of hardware disease.

A bezoar? Like the one used by Harry Potter to save Ron's life after he drank the poisoned wine in Professor Slughorn's room?

Yes! Just like that one! (Well, it would be like that one if bezoars actually possessed the powers they were believed to have 1000 years ago, but that's beside the point.) Again, from Wikipedia:

Bezoars were sought because they were believed to have the power of a universal antidote against any poison. It was believed that a drinking glass which contained a bezoar would neutralize any poison poured into it. The word "bezoar" comes from the Persian pâdzahr (پادزهر), which literally means "antidote".

So the magnet becomes a pseudobezoar (pseudo- because it was artificially introduced instead of growing there naturally) which essentially neutralizes the potentially fatal effects of the sharp metal objects ingested by the cow.

Wow. You just never know what sort of informational journey a simple package of clearance magnets will take you on.

Socks

2012-01-19T07:08:00.000-06:00

I just folded a load of clothes that had 26 clean socks. That's not really unusual. The truly remarkable thing is that from those 26 socks, there were 13 matched pairs of socks. There was not a singleton (or I suppose from an even number of socks there would have to be at least 2 singletons) left over. That is almost unheard of at this house.

There is always the question of what to do with those singletons. Should they go in the sock drawer where they will always remain unused, passed over in the rush to get dressed in the morning? Should they be thrown away with the understanding that parted pairs are hardly ever reunited? In our house they are put in a little pile on top of the drier. At the present time, there are 13 singletons on top of the drier.

I know. That sounds like a lot of socks. But at least 4 or 5 of those are little bitty, no-show, mainly-just-covers-the-bottom-of-your-foot kind of socks, so they don't add much volume to the stack. And those are in a variety of colors, too: pink, black, and several shades of beige.

There is one black band sock. No one in our house wears black crew socks except Mr. H . . . unless it's marching season. Then 1 or possibly 2 of the girls have A pair that gets worn for a few hours on Friday nights. The one on top of the drier is too small to fit Mr. H, so it must be a band sock. And its mate probably made its escape on a bus trip. I'll end up purchasing a new pair when marching season starts up again.

Certain socks are delegated to the singleton pile and never move on. (I suspect the band sock is one of those.) Others move in for the time it takes to wash several loads and are then happily reunited with their mates. I try to look through them weekly to see if there are any pairs hiding among the singletons. I suspect some of those little bitty, no-shows have mates lurking at the back of my daughters' sock drawers or under their beds or even static-ly stuck to the inside of some garment that has fallen out of favor.

But until I am overcome with a fit of cleaning, the pile on the top of the drier is safe...but still lonely.

A Post about Nothing at All

2012-01-13T08:24:00.000-06:00

There are times that something happens and I think to myself, "Oh! I should write about that." And then I consider which of my daughters might take offense, and either decide it's worth the risk or it's not.

But sometimes, like now, when our family is in the middle of wedding planning (which seems to be all-consuming, in either thought or deed) that there needs to be a down-time, a time of doing nothing.

So, here it is.

At the grocery store this week, I spotted a box of loose tea. Nothing fancy: Lipton tea, not in bags. I smiled as I placed it in the buggy ("buggy" is for you, RK!) I knew at least one of my daughters would have the same smile when she saw it in the tea cabinet. (Yes, we have a tea cabinet in our kitchen.)

She found it last night and the box has now been replaced by 2 sealed jars of lovely loose tea.

At the present moment, a heaping spoonful of said lovely loose tea is steeping in a Chinese pot on my kitchen table. By the time I finish typing this, the tea should be perfect. Then I can drink a cup and do nothing while I enjoy it.

Christmas from my family

2011-12-25T20:00:00.000-06:00

I thought I might tell you about the gifts my family chose for me. Deep down, when we choose items for others, there's a lot of 'us' in them, too.

The gift from El, our youngest, will be the first one consumed. She got me a book: a specific book I requested. She is very literal. And she has recently developed an interest in reading. Her 2 older sisters consume books at an alarming rate. And not just once, but over and over for their favorites. They have been that way since they learned to read. El read something at school last year and wanted to read it again on her own time. Then she read the other 2 books in the series. I asked for the 2nd book in a different series and she jumped right on that suggestion. It was something she understood.

The ....hmmm .... I hate to use the word 'geekiest' gift, but I'm having trouble finding another word to convey the essence of a jigsaw puzzle depicting a painting in the style of Van Gogh used in the TV series 'Doctor Who.' I have always loved jigsaw puzzles and the Doctor. A few years ago when we learned that the series from my college days had been revived, we started watching. True to their heritage, at least 2 of my 3 girls have embraced the Doctor with open arms.

The gift from my beloved Mr. H reflects quite a bit about him, too. He presented me with a set of fabulous knives: German Henckels with Japanese -styled blades. He's a guy and guys like tools. Just the other day, I was complaining because my one and onlyHenckels knife had been missing long enough for me to conclude that it wasn't coming back. This set has 11 knives and a pair of kitchen scissors that are as sharp as the knives. Ooooo......

Then there is the gift from my eldest: a mug and cozy. But not just any cozy. It was knit by her own hands, hands that I taught how to knit. And not just a plain pattern, but a basketweave pattern that I did NOT teach her. She researched and experimented and learned it on her own. She knew what it would mean to me. And she was exactly right. It makes me smile and warms my heart. And it lets me know that she is an 'accomplished' lady (to borrow a line from her favorite book.)

All these gifts are special because they are from people I love. And each one represents specific qualities about those loved ones.

I am indeed a very blessed woman.

The Gift of the Shepherd

2011-12-22T10:46:00.000-06:00

The Gift of the Shepherd

The old shepherd made his way through the night to his quiet place. The stars above him burned brightly to light his way. Even though the dawn was many hours away, he had a special “thank you” to say. This night, in his little house just outside of town, his prayers had been answered: he had a son! Now he had to tell his God how thankful he was.

As the shepherd was praying, thanking God for his family, a bright light appeared before him. It was brilliant, like the sun, but so sudden he knew that it was not the sunrise. A gentle voice spoke from the light: “Do not be afraid. Your faith has been rewarded. Your son Joel will prepare a special gift for the Lamb of God.”
The shepherd was so surprised that he could not speak. The angel disappeared before he could ask about this Lamb of God. He ran back to the house to tell his wife of this wonderful promise.

The next day he returned to his quiet place, wondering of the angel and promise had been a dream. As he turned to leave, he felt something under his foot. It was a curious-looking seed, about the size of a small stone. As he picked it up, his doubts about the night before disappeared. He took his knife from his belt and dug a hole where he was standing. As he planted the seed, he asked God to help him and his son understand this puzzling promise.

As Joel grew, the old shepherd watched for signs of a special talent. A gift for the Lamb of God would certainly have to come from a talented craftsman. How would they recognize the Lamb of God? Would it look different from the other lambs? Would it be at the temple? So many questions. And yet the shepherd found no answers in his son. Joel was a good boy who loved to go with his father out into the fields. The sheep trusted him and followed him just as they followed his father.

“Will the Lamb of God need a shepherd?” wondered the old man.

As the boy grew, so did the tree that had sprung from the seed planted in the quiet place. It grew tall with spreading limbs that gave shade in the hot summers. Joel knew that this tree was connected with the night of his birth. He had heard the story of the appearance of the angel to his father and the promise of the gift for the Lamb of God. Sometimes, out in the fields under the starry sky, he would wonder what it meant. But his first duty was always tending his sheep.

As the years went by, Joel grew into a man. His father was too old to stay out in the fields with the sheep, so Joel took over the duty alone. He returned home every week to pick up supplies and to see his father, who had lived alone since the death of Joel’s mother. One of these trips home followed a fearful wind storm the night before. The old shepherd and the small house were unhurt, but the tree growing in the quiet place had been blown over by the winds. Joel and his father decided to use the wood from the tree to build a shelter for the sheep. Maybe God’s Lamb would need a home.

Joel was not trained as a carpenter, but he did know what sheep needed. The shelter was strong and the sheep felt safe inside. When the shelter was finished, there was a small stack of wood left over. Joel did not want to waste any part of the tree. From the last pieces of the tree, he built a manger for the sheep to eat from. It was not very big, but Joelwas pleased with the work. On one end of the manger, Joel carved a sign as a reminder of the promise.

Many more years passed. The little town grew until the house that was now Joel’s was crowded close to others. Joel’s flock of sheep had gotten bigger and bigger. He had to hire other men to help him care for them. The shelter he had built was not big enough to hold his sheep. He gave the shelter to his neighbor, who had built an inn next door. He and his men lived in the fields with the sheep. Joel had not forgotten the promise of the gift for the Lamb of God, but he had other sheep to care for until he found this mysterious Lamb.

One night as Joel and the other shepherds were settling down for the night, a sudden bright light appeared around them. The other shepherds were terrified, but Joel felt an odd excitement, as if he knew what was to come. Out of the brilliance a gentle voice spoke to them: “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today is the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly the shepherds were surrounded by angels saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

The sound of the angels filled Joel’s heart as well as his ears. He had been waiting for this moment since the day he was born. He knew that he must go into Bethlehem to see what the angel of the Lord had told them about.

As the band of shepherds came to the edge of town, Joel recognized the old shelter he had built from the fallen tree. He knew in his heart that this was the place that the angel had spoken of. He thought of the sign the angel had described: a baby in a manger.

A manger . . . his manger? Could it be?

Joel and the others approached the entrance to the shelter and looked in at a young family. The infant was wrapped in cloths, lying in a manger, just as the angel said. And there on the end of manger was the sign that Joel had carved so many years ago. Could this tiny baby be the Lamb of God of the promise? This night the angel had called him “Savior.” Joel was reminded of the Passover and how the lamb had saved his people so many generations ago in Egypt.

Instantly Joel knew that the promise made to his father by the angel had been honored. The Lamb of God had needed a shepherd and a shelter. Joel had made the manger that cradled the infant Savior.

Unaware of the shepherds at the entrance, the new mother was speaking to her husband. As well as being exhausted, she seemed to be puzzled.

“Joseph,” she sighed, “I just didn’t think it would be like this. What are we doing in this place? What is He doing in a stable? He should have the throne of David, like the angel said. Not this sheep pen.”

“Mary,” her husband replied, gently touching the baby’s face, “remember that David was a shepherd before he was a king.”

“But no one even knows that He is here!” she cried.

“We know,” smiled Joseph.

“And we know,” said Joel, coming forward with the other shepherds. He told them of the words of the angel and tried to explain the song of glory and peace and goodwill. Then he told them a story of another angel’s visit many years before. As they looked at the sign on the manger, the infant, God’s precious Lamb, stirred in His sleep.

When the young mother looked at her son, Joel saw her smile and nod. She thanked the shepherds for coming to welcome the Lamb of God. In her heart she thanked them for bringing her the news of the angels and their wondrous song.

Joel saw the joy on her still-tired face. He was reminded of more of the angel’s words. The good news of great joy was for all the people. But the angel had brought the news to only a few shepherds. How were all the people to hear the good news? He called the other shepherds to him. Soon they left to spread the word about all they had seen and heard that night.

And that is still the way that people hear the news about the Savior today: People who have heard the Good News spread the word to those who haven’t.

End of an Era

2011-12-08T10:37:00.000-06:00

Do you remember this guy? I never met the Maytag repairman in person because our Maytag drier never had any problems. We purchased it about 21 years ago, when our eldest was a toddler. (She turned 23 last month.) We were replacing the stacking, apartment-sized washer and drier that we'd had for several years. Our family had outgrown them and needed a larger capacity. We chose Maytag.

That washer/drier set saw us through a 2 year house rental in Ocean Springs, 4 years in a mobile home park in Gautier, then the move to George County which was 5 more years in the mobile home and then 10 in the house we built. About 2 years ago we had to replace the washer. Then one day last week, we noticed that the drier wasn't heating. It still tumbled and timer worked: it just wouldn't heat, so the clothes didn't dry.

We went to Lowe's yesterday to look at replacements. When we informed the salesman that we were replacing a 20 year old machine, he told us he wished he could promise that a new one would last just as long, but it probably wouldn't.

I'm hoping our drier history holds out, because I didn't purchase the extended warranty.

Frugality

2011-12-04T20:59:00.000-06:00

We try to be frugal at the H household. Some might even call us cheap. But I hope we're never stingy.

I think it's associated with the genes from Mr. H's side of the family. His sister is one of those people who can almost always find something on sale, and if it's not on sale (or better yet: clearance!) has the willpower to simply walk away. My eldest daughter is very much like her aunt. She can find a deal on every shopping trip. (side note: we are going on our first outing as wedding dress shoppers tomorrow. We'll see how well the genes prevail.)

This applies to utility expenses as well. Living in south Mississippi, you know your highest electric bills will be in the summer. When the temperature is in the upper 90s and the humidity is right there with it, the A/C just has to be on. Last summer, it seemed that the warm weather was slow to start. I think we made it until May before the A/C was turned on. Some years there are days in late February that test the resolve of those who refuse to give in before April. I can take the heat, but my family would rather not sweat.

Then there's that transition from summer to winter (there really is no fall in Mississippi.) There will be several times in November that the A/C will be on for part of the day and you'll be wrapped in a blanket that evening. We try not to turn the heat on until absolutely necessary. Socks, sweatshirts, couch-potato blankets . . . do whatever it takes to keep warm. Usually we have the fireplace to help out, but until the chimney sweep comes on Wednesday, I'm hesitant to light a fire. We've lived in this house since the winter of 2001-02 and never had the chimney cleaned. A few weeks ago, I started a fire and it tended to smoke and smell (yes, I DID remember to open the damper!) so I called to see if someone could come take care of it. Who knew that it would take 3 weeks before someone could come! And that was the 2nd place I called. The first said they couldn't have anyone in our area until the off-season! Wow! If I need a new profession, I'll look into that one. Seems like they need a bigger labor force.

Sunday, 12/4 8:58 p.m.
This particular post has rambled on for several days now. I started writing it Thursday. It's time to wrap it up. The eldest did find a dress she likes. Yes, it is on sale, but her sisters must see it first so we have an appointment Thursday afternoon for all the H womenfolk to make the final decision. There will be no pictures of it posted because a certain young gentleman might see it before he's supposed to.

And with that I'll say good-night because it's been a really long day.

She's Got a Pneumatic Sander and She's Not Afraid to Use It

2011-10-28T21:10:00.000-05:00

After looking at lots of replacement car possibilities, our eldest has made an incredibly wise choice: paint the current (paid-for!) Civic!!

Her dad has some experience with the process, having once painted a freezer, a BMW 535 and a Bronco 2.

We worked all day to remove the dark blue paint. . .

. . . from the car . . .

. . . and ended up wearing it ourselves : )

My beautiful daughter had blue paint dust in her hair, in her eyes, in her ears, and yes, even in her belly button!

When we called it a day (after a day filled with power tools), we used one last one:

We created 2 small blue dust clouds by blowing each other off with the leaf blower.

It was a good day.

Moonlace

2011-10-21T11:52:00.000-05:00

Stars gleamed up above.

Moonlight pierced the dark branches

Casting down moonlace.
~~~~~

Sometimes when we take our early morning walk, we talk...

...and there is no limit to the subject matter: weddings, painting cars, birthday parties, traffic, family members...

...and sometimes we don't.

When we don't talk, I'm writing in my head. I'm playing with words to convey exactly what is surrounding me as we walk along. And since it's really dark at 5 a.m., the sky is very nearly all I can see.

When I first joined Mr. H and the Eldest on the morning walk, Orion was in the eastern sky as we left the house. Now he is slightly west of overhead.

I am very aware of the phase of the moon. A waxing moon will have already set before we start out. A waning moon will light our path, but lose a bit of its power every day until it fades completely for a while.

Last week the moonlace was conspicuous under our feet. Now it is dissolving with the moonlight.

Let Me Give You a Hand

2011-10-04T10:42:00.003-05:00

There are some people in the world who just know how you think.

A good friend of mine (M2) knows me.

When she needs a large blue hand, she knows who to call. And between the 2 of us (but mostly her!), we had everything we needed to make it happen.

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together!

Wide Highway or Narrow Road?

2011-09-29T11:41:00.001-05:00

Earlier this summer, Mr. H andI went on a trip to Birmingham. It wasmy first road trip riding my own bike instead of just riding behind him on hisbike. One of the first things I wantedwas a map. Yes, I was following Mr. H, butwhat if we got separated just before a critical turn? I wanted to know what road I needed to be onto get where I needed to go.

Because here’s the deal: If you don’t care where you end up, it doesn't matter what road you’re on. Butif you have a destination in mind, you need to be on a road that will get youto that place.

Matthew 7:13-14 “Youcan enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell isbroad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and theroad is difficult, and only a few ever find it.

Let’s look at a map.

You seeLucedale over on the Mississippi side and Mobile is at the bottom of the yellowline. Birmingham is in that knot ofyellow up at the top. Looking at thismap, you’d think the best way to get where I want to go is to get on I-65 andjust keep going until I get there. Or maybe over to I-59 and then I-20 over toBirmingham. But that’s about it.

Those big fat yellow lines lookso inviting. They go right where I wantto go, right? The fatter the line, themore lanes on the highway. Don’t have toworry about missing turns. The speedlimit is usually higher so you can go faster without breaking the law.

But what about reallife? I mean, it’s not really a big fatyellow line painted on the ground. It’sa highway.

It’s abroad highway!

Wow! Look how easy it is to get around.

Think about thespeed you’re traveling.

Could I take that exit if I needed to? How would I getover there?

Looks like I’m going rightwhere I need to be going! This isactually I-65. Several years ago we were headed northtoward Birmingham and saw this backup on the southboundside.

Remember verse 13: 'its gate is wide for the many who choose that way.' Looks like the entire world chose that way. And they are going nowhere fast!

The world is like that. People see everyone else on a big expensiveroad and think all those guys know where they’re going. But, really, they’re just following the guyin front of them, who’s following the guy in front of him. Some are just going around in circles anddon’t even know it.

Let’s go back and look closerat the map.

Theselittle roads didn’t even show up on that first map! We had to go looking for them.

You can miss so much when you don’t look closely. Yes, these roads are smaller, fewer lanes,but there are other advantages. What doyou get to see from the broad highway? Notmuch!!

The smaller roads seem winding, butsometimes they are avoiding obstacles.

Sometimes they are respecting otherpeople’s property lines.

There is usually something interesting tosee along the way.

Or a great place to stop and rest.

Or maybe just the view is breathtaking.

It’s the same way on the road to God’sKingdom.

There’s that broad highway that mostpeople think leads to where they want to go. It’s filled with people going around in circles and getting nowherefast. That is the road to Hell.

Then there’s that narrow road. It’s the road that Jesus blazed for us. Sometimes it seems winding – it’s leading usaround obstacles. It is respecting theboundaries of others. It leads us to thethings He wants us to see, to the people he wants us to meet, it causes us touse skills that He wants us to practice.

We would miss all those things on thatnoisy, wide highway to nowhere.

But there they are, on a narrow, roughroad that leads directly to Him.

So which road will you choose?

Odd Sky

2011-09-28T07:02:00.000-05:00

This morning when I stepped out onto the front porch, two things were immediately noticeable. The first was the warm humidity wrapping itself around my air-conditioned arms and legs. The second was the lightning that seemed to surround the sky. There was flashing to the south as well as to the northeast. I was surprised when I stepped off the porch to see that, overhead, the stars were visible from horizon to horizon. In the pre-dawn hours, clouds usually make their presence known simply by obscuring the stars. This morning, the clouds were below the horizon all around. They didn't cover the stars. They simply lit up the sky around the edges.

The Example

2011-09-15T06:38:00.000-05:00

Last night a family with 2 sons came into the Fellowship Hall for dinner. The oldest son spotted a friend, ran up to him and grabbed him in a big hug. The younger brother watched the exchange and waited. When his big brother moved away, the younger brother grabbed the friend and hugged, too.

Quite a few people commented on the 2nd hug.

If someone is praised for following your example, you are definitely doing the right thing.

Even if you're only 4 years old, there are people younger than you watching to see how you treat the world.

Monday Morning Walk

2011-08-29T06:08:00.014-05:00

I am up before the moon this morning. Or maybe she is in her dark phase and isn't going to let anyone see her at all today. The stars are very bright in her absence and the air is clear. This far in the deep south, the humidity of August is usually a visible entity.

The lane is dark. A few of our neighbors have security lights, but none illuminate the lane. They shine on sleeping cars and tool sheds. Orion is high in the sky behind us as we head out.

The lane runs north, so that's where we're headed. I have never noticed before that there aren't many bright stars low in the north. The sun is still below the horizon, so it is very dark.

At the end of the lane we turn left and start up the hill. The horses that sometimes trott up to the fence to greet us stay with their hay this morning. That means I am looking up when the meteor races into the west. A straggler from the Perseid shower? No one else says anything, so I suspect I was the only one who saw it.

At the top of the hill, we turn left again and start downhill. The incline isn't nearly as noticeable as it will be on the return trip! This part of our walk has the most traffic. There is usually a dump truck that we can hear backing up to start his morning commute: beep...beep...beep...beep. Then a minute or so later his lights appear at the intersection. Most days he heads straight through the intersection and we slide to the edge of the road to give him plenty of room. This morning he takes a left and we stay on the road. It is so quiet and so dark that there really isn't much chance of a vehicle sneaking up on us.

When the moon is out, there are lacy patterns of trees on the road. This morning it is just dark. When we come to an open space, I look east to see a lavender band beginning to form on the horizon. We pass a long section of white rail fence that always signals the domain of horses. Orion is high in front of us.

We've walked about a mile now, but we're not ready to turn around. We've come to my favorite part of the journey. There are only 2 more houses to pass. The first has no security light, just a warm front porch fixture that glows on the door and 2 friendly chairs. It is surrounded by trees. We walk through a deep darkness and come to the last house. Its security light is so bright that it illuminates the house, the old homestead on one side and part of the hay field on the other.

Just past the hay field, we pass under an oak that arches over the road. Tall pines rise on both sides and the road becomes a dark canyon. The scent of pine fills the air. The only thing visible is the sky like a river above us. There is a fork in that river of sky that we know is the turn-around point of our walk.

In the sky above the hay field, I can see that most of Orion's cosmic companions have faded. He is steadfast in his watch. As we come back to that last house, a rooster's hoarse crow announces our passing. The darkness is losing its hold on the night. We make our way back along the white rail fence and begin to climb. The gentle descent of the outbound trip has become an angle of attack on the way home.

At the crest of the hill, we turn right. The lavender wave in the east has crept up higher than the distant treeline. Just a bit farther and we're on our own lane. I look up and the only part of Orion that is still visible is the lower corner of his tunic. The sky is brightening in the east as we turn into our yard. Orion turns his watch over to the rising sun.

Interesting Phone Call of the Day

2011-07-12T13:57:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, you just never know what to expect when you answer the phone at church. Today provided an excellent example.

I answered the phone and the caller asked if I could look up a bible verse for him. Now, this isn't an unusual request. I have looked up verses for people on several occasions. Usually, they give me a topic or a few key words they know are in the specific verse they want and I find it.

This caller had the reference (Psalm 25:4), but wanted to know what that verse said. So going to trustworthy BibleGateway, I find the words to pass on. When I had done so, he filled me in on why he wanted to know. He was wearing an old VBS T-shirt that had that reference on it, and he wanted to be able to answer any question that might come up in conversation about the shirt. He, being a Gideon, usually has several bibles in his vehicle, but today was empty-handed. I asked him which VBS that shirt was from and he couldn't remember the theme (the big picture with the name was on his back, which he couldn't see). I asked him what color it was. "Black," he replied. I have shirts for VBS going back almost a decade. There has been only one black shirt in all that time: Ramblin' Road Trip, 2005. (It's amazing what church ladies remember and for the most absurd reasons!)

Notice the connection between the "ways" and "paths" from the verse and the "road" from the theme. The verse was very familiar to me for a much more recent reason. This year's VBS at Agricola Baptist was "Inside Out and Upside Down on Main Street." The memory verse for the week was Psalm 25:4-5.

Our shirts were red this year, by the way, which is a good thing. My youngest daughter El is currently attending a camp that assigned her to the red team. I don't know if you have noticed, but there is just not a lot of red clothing in stores this year. In fact, almost none at all that doesn't reference the 4th of July with fireworks or flags. And she wanted red clothes to wear this week. Yes, her VBS shirt is packed.

So now I have an absurd reason to remember that VBS 2011 had a red shirt...

...just in case anyone ever asks.

Getting a Handle on Your Wallet

2011-07-09T11:35:00.001-05:00

I saw a post a few weeks ago by a young friend of mine, recently graduated from college. In it, there was a link to a personal budget spreadsheet. Being the financial record keeper of my household as well my church, I have an interest in these things. I decided to check it out. It was a basic budget with income and basic expenses like rent and utilities.

It got me to thinking about when Mr. H and I were first starting out. I learned to tithe. I learned (the hard way) that some expenses come up only once a year, but that one time always comes as a surprise. It took a decade before I was comfortable with the flow of our finances!

One day all that changed. A friend and her husband were teaching a couple's Sunday night break-out group at church. They showed us a budget they had set up for their son, a young adult with his first real job. It was broken down by weeks: first week -pay rent and buy groceries; 2nd week -set aside $100 towards next week's car payment and buy groceries; 3rd week - use last week's $100 and this week's check to pay car payment and buy groceries.... you get the idea.

I took that idea to my checkbook register. I knew how much was coming in every week. I paid attention to the due dates on all our regular expenses. I assigned certain bills to specific pay checks: Mortgage to the last paycheck (in case the first paycheck of the month didn't come until the 6th or 7th day of the month!) Electric bill to the 3rd paycheck, car payment to the 2nd paycheck. I was stunned at the freedom I felt! I knew that if nothing unexpected came up, certain bills would always be covered by certain paychecks.

I've heard people say that they don't want the restrictions of living on a budget. I think they've got the wrong idea about what a budget is. It's not a set of rules. It's more like a map. And unless you have unlimited access to a vast pool of cash, you are on a budget: you're just ignoring the fact. Only so much comes in and therefore, only so much can go out. You're much better off knowing where it's going.

To help with getting a handle on all the comings and goings of your dollars, I'd like to offer a form to get you started. If you're familiar with spreadsheet programs, you can download it as an Excel or Open Office file and put your own numbers in (click File, Download as, and pick your format.) If your computer skills are limited to read-only, get yourself a notebook and a calculator and write it out by hand. Yes, it will take a while, but believe me, you'll feel better when you can see it all together!

Fireworks

2011-07-04T11:53:00.000-05:00

I think tonight is the first time I will have gone to see 4th of July fireworks since 2007. That year my mom came to spend some time with us and we all went up to Lucedale to see the big display.

What a difference a year makes...

The following year, we had just returned home from her funeral on the 4th and I was not in the mood for celebrating. The girls made plans to go without me. I was fine with that (or as fine as I was going to get for a while.) I'm not sure what I was doing on the 4th in 2009, but I'm pretty sure it didn't include the fireworks display.

Last year, all my girls went up to Starkville and spent the 4th with school friends of the eldest. Mr. H and I stayed home and enjoyed the time alone.

This year, I think I'm ready. But I can already feel the sorrow creeping up on me. I still remember that last Independence Day I shared with her. It's amazing how that feeling of loss will stab you sharply when you least expect it.

VBS Air Stuff

2011-06-28T11:36:00.000-05:00

I know it's taken a while, but I'm back from vacation and back from youth camp so I can pick up with posting some of our VBS Mad Science topics. Actually, I was reminded while I was at camp that I needed to do this.

My small vortex generator is a 16 oz. Styrofoam cup with a nickel-sized hole cut in one end and a membrane made from a sandwich bag rubber-banded to the other end.

While at camp, I was in the adult seminar and a gentleman walked in with one of these:

It's a good thing my daughters weren't there because at the end of the session, I chased the man down and asked if I could check it out!!

Back to VBS: We studied air on the day that we covered the parable of the Good Samaritan. Our lessons called it "The Roadside Rescue" and the 'Word on the Street' that day was COMPASSION. The wounded man felt invisible to the first couple of people who passed him by. Now they may have actually THOUGHT about helping him, but they didn't actually DO anything. We picked AIR as the science topic of the day because it's invisible itself, but it is visible by what it can do.

Above you see the picture of our small vortex generator. When you tap on the plastic membrane, it quickly compresses the air in the cup and it's forced out the hole in the other end. Just a gentle tap can move your hair around and even blow out a candle. (Try it on your next birthday cake!!) We made a larger vortex generator out of a 5 gallon bucket and a piece of shower curtain held in place with a bungee cord. The hole in the bottom of the bucket was about 3 inches in diameter. The larger one is good for knocking cups off the heads or out of the hands of your volunteers.

If you are truly ambitious, you can try it with a much larger garbage can. It needs to be round and you might have to add a shoulder strap for handling it.

Air and curved surfaces are a great combination. You can make a ping pong ball hover over your hair drier or a beach ball over a box fan. Balloons are a bit unstable, but if you drop a penny inside the balloon before you blow it up then place it over the fan, it will SOAR.

If you want to see a simple demonstration of lift (how curved airplane wings make the plane fly) do this: blow over a piece of paper held about chin level. The faster air moving over the top creates lift. To see the same principle in fast motion, use a roll of toilet paper and a leaf blower. Bro. Mark attached a paint roller to the end of his leaf blower with duct tape and put the roll on there, but you can just as effectively put the roll on a broomstick and have someone hold it out in front of the blower. We discovered that it took about 5 seconds for the entire roll to be dispersed!

Air, even though it's invisible, is capable of doing lots of stuff that we can see. Our compassion needs to be visible by what we DO with it, just like in "The Roadside Rescue."

What I Learned at Camp

2011-06-25T11:52:00.000-05:00

(Catchy title, huh!)

So much goes on at at youth camp that, quite often it's hard to boil it down into one concise thought. This year, however, is different for me. Several different moments pointed me in the same direction and I wanted to collect my thoughts here.

There are age-graded seminars (or minisaurs, as Will the Trill called them) at SuperWow. I went to the adult leader seminars. On Tuesday, we looked at this verse: Judges 3:31. Shamgar is mentioned in only 2 verses in the bible: this one and one a couple of chapters farther on (5:6) where it says that during his time, the highways were abandoned and travelers took to the back roads. So this guy Shamgar killed 600 Philistines with, essentially, a stick that was used to drive his oxen. The "Shamgar Principle" then is that you use what God has given you - to do what God has given you to do. The trick is to actually "see" what God has given you: to find your stick.

On Thursday night, we heard (saw actually, because it was done as a wordless drama) Drew Worsham's testimony. His stick, obviously, was magic. It was an ability he had been given and he decided to let the Lord use it.

At that moment, I decided to ask our youth pastor if I could lead our late night session. He told me I could. I started writing down for each person on our trip what I could see was a "stick" God had given them. Sometimes your stick might be an obvious talent, but sometimes it's something that others may see as a liability. Don't you know the Philistines laughed when they saw that all Shamgar had was a stick. Goliath laughed the same way when David showed up with just a sling and some rocks.

I didn't tell Bro. Dusty what I was planning to say, just that I wanted to say something. When we got back to our rooms, he told me he wanted to say something first, then I could take over. When he opened his mouth and started talking, I knew it was a God thing! We had been teasing him all week about his navigational skills, mostly the U-turns. In fact we had gotten a glass-marker and written on the back windows of his van: We may be lost. Watch for U-turns. At first he had felt bad, but then decided to use it as an illustration. He was the youth pastor. He was there to show kids how to make U-turns in their lives. Because when you are lost, it just might be that you are going in the wrong direction and need to make a U-turn.

When he said that, I almost fell off my stool. That was EXACTLY the message I was going to illustrate. The U-turn was Dusty's stick on this trip and he was using it!

I told the group about Shamgar and his stick. I told them we all had sticks and, like Dusty's, our sticks might just be things that people tease us about. But God made each of us with certain abilities, certain character traits, certain circumstances and experiences that make us unique. It's up to us to use what God has given us to get things done for His Kingdom. We can fight who we are OR we can use who we are. It's up to us.

VBS bubble stuff

2011-06-17T23:06:00.000-05:00

I told the kids that I'd post some of the VBS science experiments that we did. Since they were fascinated by the bubbles, I figured I'd start there.

To get started, you'll need:
* 1 cup of water
* 4 tablespoons of Dawn dishwashing liquid
* 1 tablespoon of glycerin (you can get this at Edwards Pharmacy and at WalMart close to where Calamine lotion is sold)
Distilled water may work better if your water comes from a well. Mix it together very gently so it doesn't foam. You can use a regular drinking straw as your bubble wand. Blow gently. Cardboard toilet paper centers work, too. Just about any closed shape will do. You can try cookie- or biscuit-cutters. Try bending some out of chenille stems that you get in craft supplies. (these work very well because the fuzzy stuff holds bubble solution) If you're having problems getting bubbles, add a bit more Dawn.

Dirt and oil are the enemies of bubbles. Your skin has both. Try bouncing the bubbles that you've created off your sleeve. Some gloves work well to catch bubbles, too. We found in the Mad Science Lab that fuzzy winter gloves work better over time than smooth cotton gloves. We think that's because the fuzzy ones don't absorb the dampness as much.

To create a big bubble maker, you'll need 2 wooden dowel rods and some yarn. Coat 3 to 4 inches of one end of a rod with glue and wrap yarn around the glue. Do the same with the other rod. Then take 2 lengths of yarn, one about 2 1/2 to 3 feet long and the other about 4 feet long. Now stretch the shorter piece between the wrapped ends of the dowels and tie to each dowel. Then tie the longer piece of yarn in the same place. When you pick it up there should be a shape like a side-ways capital D hanging between the sticks. DO THIS NEXT BIT OUTSIDE!! Dip the yarn-wrapped ends into the bubble solution and move it through the air or let the breeze do the work. I found instructions for another giant bubble wand since VBS.

We did this experiment on the day we talked about forgiveness. Forgiveness is all about letting go. For a bubble to be a real bubble, it has to let go, too.

To make the square bubble rig, I built a cube out of 12 4-inch pieces of drinking straw hot-glued at the corners. Then dip it into enough bubble solution to completely submerge it. (see bigger recipe below) When you've got all 6 walls filled with a film of bubble stuff, shake it a bit to make 2 walls stick together in the center. Now take a straw, dip it in bubble stuff, place it into the edge the connected wall and blow. Keep trying and you'll get a cube-shaped bubble in the center of your rig. Click here to see a square bubble demonstration .

If you need a lot of bubble solution, here you go:
* 2 cups Dawn
* 12 cups water
* 1/2 cup glycerin
You can store this in a gallon jug.

Covered in Prayer

2011-06-17T07:32:00.000-05:00

On our recent road trip, I did a lot of praying. There was no way I could talk to Mr. H since we don't have bike-to-bike communication yet, so I talked to God.

Before we started out, I prayed for general safety. I really didn't know specifically what I needed. On the road, I began to see those specifics.

Thank you, Lord, for the trees on the side of the road that are keeping us in the shade.

And for the light being green, so I didn't have to stop on that incline.

And for that nice man at the top of Alabama who asked if we needed any help (and for giving me a husband who was already all the help I needed!)

And for letting us see the rain start while we were on a very straight stretch of road with a very wide bridge, just right for pulling over and putting on rain gear.

And for letting that rain be in the morning before it would have made the day unbearably steamy.

I don't remember everything that I prayed about, but all were thanksgiving prayers. I read something this week asking what would you do if all you had was what you had thanked God for today. That really is something to think about.

Road Trip on the Fizzer

2011-06-16T16:10:00.000-05:00

Tuesday morning when I woke up, I was ready to do something that I've never done before: ride my own bike on a long distance road trip. When something big is on the horizon, I usually don't sleep well the night before. I've learned that I can completely ignore the upcoming event and manage to catch some Zzzz.

Here are the bikes as we're loading them up.

Notice that my bike has MY STUFF packed on it. I don't have any side bags so all my clothes were in a nifty dry sack that Mr. H got at Bass Pro several months back. The cargo net is a wonderful thing.

We got started about 8:30, a full half hour earlier than Mr. H's planned departure :)

Since it was my first REAL outing, we planned for no interstate highways between George County and Birmingham. I wasn't ready for I-65!! We traveled up US 43 until as few miles north of Thomasville, AL. Then turned right onto what I think is now one of my favorite roads: Alabama Highway 5. It's a great road for new riders: not much twisty stuff, nice scenery, trees close enough to the roadway to make shade, not much traffic. . . just about perfect.

At some point Hwy 5 joins with AL Hwy 25 and then 25 splits off. We followed 25 all the way up to Leeds, which is east of Birmingham. Yes, it was out of the way, but it kept me off interstates and introduced me to some twisty roads, too.

From Leeds, we took Hwy 78 to Hwy 280 and that's where we stayed. There's a Joe's Crab Shack just next door to the hotel and an IHOP across the highway. We were hot and tired, but we got there safely and that's the main thing.

The next morning, we set off for the Skyway Motorway in the Talladega National Forest. It runs by the Cheaha State Park. We stopped at the first overlook and Mr. H took this photo.

We rode to the end and then came back and went into the state park. Inside the park, you can have access to the highest point in Alabama. I will never forget it!

Making the left turn into the driveway, I thought I was going wide and stopped. That was a mistake as the driveway was on a steep uphill grade. After stalling the motor 4 times in an attempt to get going uphill, on the 5th try, the bike assumed it natural posture (horizontal on its side!) On its way over, the last inch of the clutch lever snapped off as well as the entire foot peg on that side. I was not happy with myself for several reasons, but the most maddening of all was that I couldn't stand my bike up without assistance from Mr. H. He came back down the hill and we got her upright again. Then he rode up to the lookout tower without a foot peg on the shifter side.

Let me just say right now that I am married to a most amazing man. He is my hero, my knight in shining armor, my genius roadside engineer/mechanic. He didn't fuss at me or laugh at me as some men might do. He touched the pillion foot peg (the one for the passenger) and calculated that it would probably be transplantable. There is a small bag of tools under the seat of my bike from which he pulled a pair of pliers and set to work. (Soon that pair of pliers will be replaced with a better pair, but it got the job done!)

We sat in the breezy shade at the top of Alabama and I waited for myself to calm down a bit. I wasn't scared, but I was angry with myself on several counts. After a bit, we went up in the lookout tower and enjoyed the view. The picture below is of the repaired Fizzer, waiting to be ridden back down from the top of Alabama!

I am so thankful that I didn't do more damage than I did. The foot peg is easily replaceable (as the spot fix that Mr. H so ably performed shows) as is the clutch lever. I think everything can be remedied for less than $50.

Now I need to plug 2 pieces of gear that made the trip much more enjoyable. One is called a Cramp Buster. It's a piece of plastic that wraps around the throttle and allows you to relax your grip while still keeping the throttle twisted. It's not really a cruise control device because you don't set it and remove your hand. You are still completely in control of the throttle, just more with your wrist instead of your fingers.

The next is something called Frogg Toggs. I own the pink set. It is very light and packs compactly, but is easy to put on when the rain starts (like it did this morning). Mr. H has something called the Bull Frogg signature suit in bright yellow which is a bit more waterproof and is made for biking. When it stopped raining, we pulled off into a parking lot, rolled and stowed the rain gear, and were back on the road in no time.

And that's just about it for my first road trip!

Humming Birds and Phone Calls

2011-05-20T17:50:00.000-05:00

Today I noticed that the humming bird feeder was empty. Well, actually I noticed earlier it in the week, but today is the first time I've done something about it.

I put the water in the microwave to boil. I'm not sure that this step is necessary, but it does help the sugar dissolve really quickly, so I do it anyway.

As I measured out the sugar, I thought of my mom. Every time she wanted to make humming bird food, she called me for the recipe. I repeat, every time. I even wrote it out for her and stuck it on the side of her microwave. She still called. "Two cups of water and 1/2 cup of sugar, Mom."

I don't think it ever occurred to me at the time that the hummer food recipe was just an excuse to call and talk to me. I'd love to be able to pick up the phone and call her and say, "Hi, Mom. Have you fed your hummingbirds lately? Let me tell you how to make it."

Wrist Warmers (as promised)

2011-05-20T08:26:00.001-05:00

I have been holding back on using any of the alpaca wool Mr. H brought me from Peru.

I didn't want to waste it on something that I wasn't up to the challenge of doing well.
Now, I have used some of the darker gold alpaca to make some wrist warmers.

Even though I wasn't following a tested pattern, I was pretty sure that what I was doing would work out. And I was pleasantly surprised!

If you've never knitted in the round on double pointed needles, there are lots of videos on the web. Here's one from a site that has lots of helpful info.

Here's the materials list:

No. 8 (5.0mm) double pointed needles
1 bundle of Medium yarn (I used alpaca that didn't exactly tell me the weight - Peruvian yarn isn't labeled the same way as yarns sold in the U.S.)
a stitch marker
a tapestry needle for weaving in loose ends

Cast on 28 stitches. I used the "knitting on" method because I read somewhere that it's stretchy.
Divide the stitches between 3 needles (8+8+12), then join to begin knitting in the round. Lots of patterns call for putting a stitch marker where the round is joined, but the tail is always right there on mine so I just use the tail as the marker.
Work in K2P2 ribbing until work measures 1 inch.
Next round and following, knit every stitch until stockinette portion measures 2 inches (3 inches including ribbing.) Stop at your maker. Now you will begin to leave the open gap for your thumb.
Instead of joining to the next needle, turn your work and purl this row across all 3 needles until you reach your marker.
Turn your work and knit this row across all 3 needles until you reach your marker (the gap.)
Repeat the previous 2 rows until the gap is about 1 inch high. (about 6 rows)
When the gap is tall enough, on a knit row (not a purl one), rejoin across the gap. This is just like the initial joining in line 2 above.
Keep knitting every row for at least 2 inches above the top of the thumb gap. It depends on how much of your fingers you want to be covered.
Bind off loosely. (You can use a needle a few sizes larger for binding off to make sure the edge isn't too tight.) Using tapestry needle, weave in yarn.
For a different look you can switch back to the ribbing for the last inch at the top or skip the ribbing at the bottom and have uniform stockinette all the way from wrist to fingers.

Learning Lessons

2011-05-19T20:21:00.005-05:00

Warning: This post is about knitting!! If you aren't interested, now is the time to abandon ship. Don't say I didn't warn you....

Recently, I've become addicted to knitting. Just ask my family. I've made scarves, neck-warmers, and what I call a couch potato blanket. These are all basically rectangles. I learned to make button-holes for the neck-warmer. But in the end, they all called for simply the basic ability to knit or purl back and forth. I wanted something more challenging . . . . more creative.

Then I discovered double pointed needles, which give one the ability to knit seamless tubes (like socks and hats). I've made a couple of socks (not a pair, mind you, just 2 different socks out of yarn left over from other projects!) I think I've got the hang of the heel-turning technique.

This weekend, I was reminded of how double pointed needles came to my attention in the first place. There was a review of a pattern that I saw on-line for a pair of open-toed socks. The pattern called for the socks to be knit flat and then seamed at the back to make the tube shape. The commenter said that she liked the pattern, but she had made hers on double pointed needles to eliminate the seam. I had no idea what that meant, but it sounded good to me. I found that I could order a set online and get them delivered in my mailbox quicker than if I waited until the next time I was in Mobile. (See my first project)

Now that I know how DPNs work, I decided I'd try to convert a flat, seamed pattern to one knitted in the round. I didn't want to try the socks, but I remembered some wrist warmers constructed the same way so I decided to give them a try. I learned some lessons in the process that I thought I'd collect and pass along here. And the first 2 are for those of you non-knitters who, despite the "Knitters Only" warning, have persevered this far:

(just a generalization to start off with) Google is a wonderful thing! For just about anything that you want to learn how to do, there is a video or forum on-line that will give you more information than you thought possible. People love to show you what they know how to do.
(another generalization) Don't be afraid to try something new, just because you've never done it before. If it doesn't work, see if you can figure out why. Begin by expecting a learning curve. Start small. Start with a trial sample. Start by using what you already have. This applies to so many things in life. (knitting, sourdough baking, and driving a standard transmission come most immediately to mind)
(now for some knitting specific stuff) When I first started knitting and had to lay the work down, I wasn't sure which direction to go when I picked it back up. I've learned that after the 1st stitch, the working yarn always comes from the right needle. At least in the Continental style that I use. The best way to tell is to work some stitches and pay attention to which side the working yarn is coming from. Remember what you see and know that it will always be that way in a regular row.
Knitting in the round instructions always say to distribute the cast-on stitches evenly on the (usually 3) needles. In the beginning, I thought that meant divide by 3 and come as close as you can. I have learned that it is best to divide the stitches in a way that works with your pattern. In the wrist warmers I made, I cast on 28 stitches and the first several rows were worked in a K2-P2 ribbing. That's a 4 stitch pattern. Instead of distributing the stitches mathematically evenly (9+9+10), I did it "pattern-wise" evenly (8+8+12) in multiples of 4. That way, I always start a new needle with the beginning of the pattern. No more "did I just K1 or K2 or P2?" (ex: Your pattern says to cast on 30, and calls for a K2P1 ribbing. You would need to divide the stitches in multiples of 3. Not the obvious 10+10+10, but rather 9+9+12)
The wrist warmers needed a hole for my thumb. I had ignored this for as long as possible, but there came a point that I had to address it. If I had been using the pattern as written, I would have simply left a gap in the seam. Now, however they were seamless, but still needed a gap. I remembered from my sock-making that when making the heel, there was back and forth knitting using the regular method. After thinking it through, I decided that if I could knit all around using 3 needles, I should also be able to stop and reverse (i.e.turn and purl around using those same 3 needles.) So that's what I did. I turned the work and purled back to the marker, then turned again and knitted to the marker, then turned and ...You get the picture. When the gap was about an inch or so high, and I was on a knit (rather than a purl) row, I stitched across the gap to close up the top of the thumb hole and was back to knitting in the round again.

I warned you that this was really a knitter's only post!!
And I realized that I started this several days ago and had never quite finished it. It's time to get it out there and I'll follow it with the actual pattern I came up with for the wrist warmers and a picture of them.

Becoming Something Else

2011-05-13T14:25:00.000-05:00

Recently, a friend gave me a bread starter. It was a Herman starter. I made several loaves from this recipe and even made some cinnamon rolls. I liked it, but I wanted something else.
When I think of sourdough, I don't think "sweet." And Herman is definitely a Sweetie.

So I did some research and discovered that you can convert one starter to a different type of starter simply by changing its diet.

Now for those of you who aren't up on sourdough care and feeding, you probably aren't aware that "care and feeding" are even necessary steps to certain types of bread-making. Sourdough starters are alive: they eat and they breathe.

So, I am attempting to convert Herman into something not so sweet .... something more .... what?

This called for a trip to the thesaurus.

And there, I found that the antonyms for sweet were not what I was looking for: acid, bitter, salty, sour, mean, unfriendly, unpleasant, (it gets worse), malodorous, stinking, stinky, cacophonous, discordant, ugly. I think I just go with "savory."

Anyway, instead of feeding Herman sugar and spud flakes, he got a half cup of "highly fermentable" (according to The Bread Bakers Forum) rye flour with his drink of warm water. We shall see what becomes of Herman.

This made me start thinking: Aren't we all defined by what we consume? If you live on junk food, your body starts to look and act and feel like junk. And that goes for your spirit, too. Are you feeding your spirit what it needs to thrive? Living Water and the Bread of Life are great spiritual health foods.

Oh, back to Herman. He may need a new name to go with his new identity.

How about Harrye?

Car Trick

2011-05-09T20:57:00.001-05:00

This is so WEIRD!!

We are big Top Gear fans at our house.

Not too long ago we watched an episode with this segment in it:

Something about the way they filmed it made me think it was a trick.

Tonight we watched another episode filmed after the one above. People were writing in with possible explanations for the bizarre phenomenon.

That did it. We had to go outside and try it.

Mr. H got the remote for the Speed 3 and the entire family went out into the yard. He found the distance where the signal was apparently out of range. Several tries and nothing. He held it to his head and it worked! Then he moved about half that distance again away and held it to his head: it STILL worked! He took off to the edge of the road, which was about twice the initial out-of-range distance, held the remote to his head and IT STILL WORKED!!

Now.....

I dare you....

Things That Make Me Smile

2011-05-04T11:55:00.000-05:00

I was walking over to the Education Building to put some GA material in the room they use. That room got me to thinking: there have been several things that made me smile this morning.

1) There is a room at our church that is officially known as the "Zebra Room." (I just looked for a picture and I don't have one.)

2) The smell of living in George County: flowers, grass, hay, dirt, even the cows. (you can tell that no one has fertilized a field lately!)

3) As I was looking through family pictures for one of my mom, I came across this instead:

4) Working with a bunch of folks who love the Lord and enjoy and take pride in their work: Dr. T, Mark, Dusty, Nick, Mrs. Mac, the Maintenance Guru and the Housekeeper Extraordinaire.

5) a family that enjoys being together (I hope we're always like that)

P.S. If El's face and posture in the picture above don't make you smile, too, then you need to lighten up.

Wx Challenge National Championship Team

2011-04-29T15:56:00.000-05:00

Today in the Palmeiro Center at MSU, there was a recognition party for the Wx Challenge National Championship Team. For the 3rd year in a row, MSU has won this challenge. Go Dawgs!!

That's my eldest on the far left side.

After we left the party, we had to run by the bookstore to pick up her cap and gown. There was a photo shoot set-up nearby. You could have your graduation portrait taken while holding the Egg Bowl trophy or the Gator Bowl Trophy.

For a background you could choose the Stadium or the Chapel of Memories (or I suppose a standard gray background.)

Now why would my girl want her picture taken with a football trophy?

Here she is with the National Championship trophy that she helped secure!

Hmmmm.... I wonder if I can work on removing that background clutter and add in a bolt of lightning or a small funnel cloud....

Fizzer Is Lowered!!

2011-04-27T13:08:00.000-05:00

Monday afternoon, I heard a familiar voice in the hallway at work. It was our neighborhood UPS man walking through to unlock the door at the other end of the building. After holding the door for him to unload Sunday School literature, I asked him to see if he had a package headed to my house. Sure enough, there it was: the lowering block and shorter side stand for my new bike.

I called Mr. H, who had the day off, and let him know. He had everything ready for the transformation by the time the parts arrived in his hands. But I had an IMPORTANT mission to accomplish for some friends before the task was finished and didn't get to ride it that evening.

Yesterday evening was El's Middle School band concert, and I still didn't get to ride. Tonight is church night and things were not looking up for me to get on the bike before I turned 51 years old!

However . . . I am married to the most wonderful man in the world!

He is working from home today and suggested that he could ride the bike to me at lunchtime and let me take it for a spin! Oooo . . . great idea!

I was wondering if the weather was going to hold out. I've heard about tornadoes all morning in various parts of the state, but so far, so good.

He arrived and gave me a warning about vicious winds and suggested the road across from the church (which I am grateful has been renamed in recent years to Harmon Pope Road rather than Cemetery Road. Wouldn't that have been horrible to have an incident on my first time out on Cemetery Road?)

Anyway, I took off down Harmon Pope and, for the first time, shifted it up above 3rd gear! This bike is really smooth and quiet. Very nice!

That's when I saw the serpent lying across the road . . . in my lane!

Yes, I squealed.

No, I didn't run over it. I have such a fear of snakes that I believe they have the ability to do incredible things. . . like fold in half when my tire rolls over them, enabling them to reach back and inject me with their venomous fangs. No thanks!

Well, on with my ride, having avoided certain death at the hands (or fangs) of a serpent.

I rode almost to the end of the road, but wasn't sure that I could turn around in the width of the pavement. Most of the driveways down there are gravel and I knew I wasn't attempting that. I saw a cleared patch of hard red dirt on the right side and decided to pull off there and aim myself back toward the church. My intention was to do a three point turn - back up, using my feet to reverse, then pull forward in the other direction. I learned something: I don't have enough foot traction to reverse in the dirt! So v--e--r--y slowly I inched around, with my feet on the ground, because I really DID NOT want to have to walk back up the road and get the guys that had been watching me ride off to come help me pick that bike back up.

And besides there was that serpent in the road back there.

I am happy to report that there was no bike dropping for me today.

I am also happy to report that the maintenance guru checked on the serpent situation and it has been dispatched.

All in all, a good day!

I Have a Fizzer

2011-04-23T08:12:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday, Mr. H and I made a trip to Ocean Springs to pick up my new bike. It's a 2009 FZ6R (we'll call it the Fizzer.)

It's a tad too tall for me at present, but a lowering block is on it's way via UPS.

Yesterday afternoon, after delivering my previous bike to my friend, Old Bopper, Mr. H and I decided to take the Fizzer for a spin.

I'm used to riding with him on the back of his Honda ST1300. Big seat for me and a sissy bar (back rest). Do you see anything like that in the above picture? I haven't held on to him that tightly in quite a while.

We went up to Lucedale to the old WalMart parking lot and I actually rode my bike for the first time. The height of the bike is really only an issue when getting it up from the side stand. One really does need 2 feet on the ground for that. Being very careful, I managed to stand it up. I took off under my own power!

The first thing I noticed was that I couldn't find the foot pegs!! My Rebel was rather cruiser-ish, with the pegs out front (think of a straight-line down from elbows with arms in riding position). This bike is more sporty, with the pegs much farther back (almost straight down from my hips.) Once I located the pegs, and correspondingly, the shifter, I was off to the races (so to speak).

The next thing I noticed was how easy it was to change gears. I struggled with changing gears on the Rebel. I thought maybe my foot just wasn't strong enough to raise that shifter lever. Not so with the Fizzer! It just took a slight flick of the toes and there you are in 2nd and then 3rd. I could feel the large smile on my face spreading!

I made several trips around the empty part of the lot, avoiding the gravely bits and the occasional pothole. When I came back up to Mr. H and stopped, I didn't even realize that I had just put my left foot down flat and kept the right on the peg with the brake. I thought that was something I was going to have to work at!

When he saw that I wasn't having much difficulty, Mr. H offered to head back to the house and get his Honda, so we could ride the roads a bit. My next pass around the parking lot led us to re-think that idea! I came around in a wide circle and decided to do a quick stop in front of Mr. H. I made the stop, but apparently didn't have something under control and the bike went slowly over. The only thing you can do is let it go. I rolled out of the way and picked myself up laughing.

I do need to work on being able to pick it back up when it happens again. It may not happen soon, but it will happen. And if that lady in the link can pick up a Harley, I should be able to manage the lighter Fizzer.

Well, that's about it for the first day's adventures. I'll keep you posted.

Hard vs. Easy

2011-04-16T09:32:00.001-05:00

I'm learning something new again: sock knitting.

I don't think I ever appreciated the structure of a sock until I tried to create one!

I've got a book of instructions. I've got all the necessary supplies: needles, yarn, row markers.

What I don't have is experience.

I do have a little bit of knowledge to build on. I have some basic skills.

And until I attempt this, I will never achieve it.

Yes, I'll face disappointment. (actually, already have - I ripped out the entire 6 inches of my first attempt and started over.)

But from those setbacks, I'll learn valuable lessons. (ex: I learned that dividing 44 into 3 equal sections works better as 14+16+14 rather than 14+15+15)

I learned that if you fix something early, you won't have to live with an error forever and you won't waste your resources.

The message in my fortune cookie last night sums it up: Everything is hard before it's easy.

If nothing was ever hard, we wouldn't know what easy was. And we probably never learn anything new.

Recognizing What You Need

2011-04-12T10:33:00.000-05:00

Today, I read the account of David's anointing and Saul's decline. 1 Samuel 15:27-16:23

Saul was so disobedient that God just couldn't stand it any longer. He had His prophet Samuel go to Bethlehem to anoint another as king. As soon as David was anointed, God's Spirit came on him. And at the same time, that Spirit left Saul.

Verse 16:14 says that an evil spirit from the Lord tormented Saul. I'm not sure what to make of that. Maybe the Lord didn't intervene when the evil spirit came, therefore allowing it to remain.

Maybe the evil spirit's name was "Emptiness." Saul knew what the presence of God's Spirit felt like. What did His departure feel like? I don't ever want to know!

On the other hand, when the Spirit is with someone, other people notice. One of Saul's servants had seen David and knew that something was different about him. When David played his lyre for Saul, relief would come to Saul. I can't help but believe that he could sense in David's music the very Presence that was missing in his own life. He may not even have been aware of it. If he had recognized it, he would have probably tried to kill David right then. Yet Saul was comforted by David being there.

Is there a Spirit in you that brings comfort to those who don't know Him? The world should be able to sense that Presence in those who call themselves Christ-Followers.

Distance

2011-04-11T21:37:00.001-05:00

Mr. H is in Peru this week. Right now he is in Canta, which is 107 km (a bit more than 66 miles) northeast of Lima, which happens to be where his luggage is. But Delta says he should have clean clothes tomorrow.

I saw Facebook posts by him last night and this afternoon, but we haven't been able to connect since Sunday morning (during Sunday School, while I was manning the Children's reception desk, but I WAS chatting with a missionary on the field, now, wasn't I?)

With technology, distance is skewed. Even though we were using the written word to communicate Sunday morning, it was a real conversation. Many long years ago, the summers when we were in college, we exchanged letters (which I still have by the way!) but they weren't really conversations. They were narratives. I told him what I was doing, how I was feeling, how much I missed him..... He told me about his job, trips he was planning, how much he missed me....

A conversation flows back and forth quickly. I ask: he answers. He says something funny: I respond appropriately. That immediacy makes you forget the distance, which I was going to tell you after I looked it up on google maps, but apparently you can't get there from here, because this is what I got for directions: We could not calculate directions between Lucedale, MS and Lima, Peru. I figure somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000 miles.

Hmmm.....Where was I?
I think I got lost somewhere between here and there.

There was a point to all this, but what it was escapes me now. Maybe that is the point. With him so far away, I feel . . . That's just it. . . I don't know exactly what it is that I'm feeling or thinking. It's as if the North Pole has disappeared, and my compass is just drifting around.

note: it just proves how drifting I was when I wrote this that I let the phrase "I have saw" appear in public. Thankfully, I saw it today (4/12) and fixed it. *shudder*

Feeding My Addiction

2011-04-09T06:41:00.001-05:00

My name is Mrs. H and I'm a yarnaholic.

I had to take Mr. H to the airport yesterday and Hobby Lobby is just 2 blocks farther down Airport Blvd.

I couldn't help myself. I bought a book with 40 sock/ slipper/ legwarmer patterns in it. There is even a pattern for the cutest little ladybug baby booties that I intend to make for a friend's expected granddaughter! I can't wait to see how they turn out.

But first of course, I'll have to attempt some basic tube socks before I try something more complicated.

See, any excuse works! And what did I ask Mr. H to bring me back from Peru? You got it: local yarn.

I hadn't really acknowledged the addiction until our Spring Break get-away last week. I had planned on doing free hair wraps as part of our beach ministry. Well the rain, 20 mph winds and 50 degree temperatures put the nix on that. We (I) decided that we'd take the mission to the outlet mall in Foley. After all, when you can't go to the beach in Gulf Shores, shopping is the next best thing.

So we made salvation bracelets to hand out to shoppers. I had the necessary supplies packed with the craft stuff intended for our beach mission. I showed the kids how to put them together and we made them until we ran out of the leather cord. I even got to do a few hair wraps on the girls that were on the trip (and for one of the guys, but that's a different story!)

That night, after the trip to the mall, I was talking to one of the other mom's. We started talking about things we just couldn't pass up when we saw them in a store. I admitted that I couldn't go down the yarn aisle in Hobby Lobby without buying something. And I had now been 3 days without touching knitting needles.

She started laughing! She pointed out that the hair wraps for the girls and the bracelet making for the mall had all been ways of feeding my addiction. And she was right!

I'm so glad my Creator gave me the desire to make things. And I'm glad that He lets me use that desire to spread His love.

The Long Journey

2011-04-08T08:51:00.000-05:00

For the last few days, I've been talking about journeys that we take in life.

Some are short trips that we take everyday: to school, to work, to the mall. The Lord knows we make those journeys and He has a plan for them. He knows the people we will see and talk to. He is there with us. He wants us to include Him in every aspect of our lives.

Today, let's look at a different kind of journey from the station. Sometimes you get on the train and you know you're not coming back, at least not to the station you started from.

I have some friends who have made that kind of journey. They started at Vacation Bible School and ended up in Lima, Peru. Quite a journey, don't you think!! You can check out their blog here. They have learned a new language and new customs. They have made a life in a new place.

And there is yet another type of journey: a journey that leads you to a place where there are no stations. That's what Mr. H is doing this week. He is going to Peru to see those missionary friends. But they are going farther than Lima. They are headed up into the mountains to places where there are no churches. They are building relationships with the people who live there, to tell them the Good News. Eventually there will be churches there, and they will act as train stations, sending out travelers on short journeys and maybe even some long ones.

Journeys from the Station

2011-04-06T17:10:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I posted about comparing the church to a train station. The important thing is not going to the station; the important thing is the journey you take from the station.

There are all kinds of trips. In Europe, some people travel by train every day. They ride into the city to do all sorts of things: to work, to shop, to visit friends. Short trips and then home. Things we use cars for around here.

Paul wrote to the Ephesians about those short trips. The Message puts it like this:

I want you to get out there and walk- better yet, run!-on the road God called you to travel. I don't want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don't want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. Ephesians 4:1 (The Message)

So while we're on those short trips down the road that God has called us to travel, what are we supposed to do? Paul talked about that, too. Just a bit farther on in the 4th chapter of Ephesians, he talks about the gifts we all have. Things we're good at. Things we like to do. Things we know how to do. He gave us all different gifts and He expects us all to use the ones we were given. We need to use them on every trip we take. On the trip to school, to work, to WalMart, to the beach.

And He wants us to use ALL the gifts He has given us, not just the fun, exciting gifts, either. He wants us to use our talents, but also our muscles and our money. Our voices, but our feet and hands, too. He wants us to be just like Jesus. He wants us to love.

Paul talks about that, too. Ephesians 5:1-2 Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that. (The Msg)

Essentially, that's what the real church is here to do: to spread love around. That's the main message: that God loves every single person that you see today. Ask Him to let you see them as He sees them.

It's Not About Going to the Station

2011-04-05T17:06:00.000-05:00

I was sitting in my office a few weeks ago, listening to a discussion. All the pastors at ABC were in the big Fellowship Room, which is just outside my doorway. They were talking about what "church" means. It's not the building or the services. The real biblical church is the congregation, the people. We don't GO to church: we ARE the church. It is wherever WE are.

I decided then that our spring break would still be a mission trip. Even though Mexico hadn't worked out, we were still going 'on a mission.'

That made me start thinking about journeys in general, and led me to this analogy:

Think about a train station. It's a place to go to begin a journey. Yes, I know, there are other ways to get on a train, but the safest, most orderly way is to go to a train station. They can be large or small, but they are all buildings where people come and go. Things happen on schedule. There are people to help you, point you in the right direction. There are people all over the place.

Why are those people there? ...to meet friends? ...to soak up the atmosphere? ...to be seen - wearing that new Easter dress of pair of shoes - or with that new boyfriend or girlfriend?

NO! They are there to catch a train that is going somewhere. What would be the point in building a train station that no train left from? What would be the point of going to the train station, but never intending to get on any train?

Now look at it in the light of Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago. (NLT)

Does going to a building count as one of those "good things He planned for us" to do? Not hardly! And yet that's all the "good work" some people have to show for their lives. Just Sunday School or Worship Service attendance. Period. Nothing that ever spread the Good News of the Savior.

If you went to a train station, you would purchase a ticket, then you would use that ticket to get on a train and go somewhere. The church building is not the end destination: it's the very beginning of the trip. It's where you can find opportunities and inspiration for your journey.

But you have to go on the journey...

Spring at Home

2011-03-18T16:17:00.000-05:00

There are lots of things with flowers in our yard right now. The pink ones above are from a peach tree.

The white ones below will give way to pears this summer.

This is our red bud tree. My mom always liked red bud trees.

I'm not entirely sure what this white and pink beauty is, but the tree is loaded with blossoms.

As of now, just about the only bare trees are the pecans and the hawthorns.

And the hawthorn is just plain prickly when naked.

Something New

2011-02-25T13:29:00.001-06:00

I decided to order some double-pointed knitting needles last weekend. They arrived on Tuesday and I got busy.

Double pointed needles are used to knit tubes, like socks, when you don't want a seam.

I always try new stuff with leftover yarn, so I found what was left of what I used for a Christmas stocking last year.

This picture is about 4 or 5 rows into it. I had just about gotten the hang of managing all those needles.

I decided that this would make a good cover for the handle of my Calphalon tea kettle. It gets a bit too hot to hold on to.

Here's a closer look at the cover.

Now, to work up the courage to start on those socks. . .

An Unexpected Moment of Peace

2011-02-19T16:31:00.000-06:00

Have you ever had an unexpected moment of perfect contentment?

A moment, however fleeting, when all was right with your world...

I experienced that today in a most unexpected place: a skating rink!

I was there with about 60 kids, aged 12 to 18, 2 preschoolers, and a dozen or so adults. I wasn't skating, but just sitting, watching the kids go by.

There went El,surrounded by her 3 buddies, flashing me a big smile.

Then came Em, being pushed by a friend.

And then the eldest, sailing by with her young gentleman.

It was as if the Lord spoke to me: 'You are so incredibly blessed . All your children are here, with their church family, and there is no where else that they'd rather be.'

The feeling was so powerful that I almost cried.

It was such an unlikely place for the Lord to whisper in my ear.
And considering the volume level of the music in that place, I'm amazed that I could hear Him

Mom - Sandra Coy

2011-02-12T09:09:00.000-06:00

Today would have been my mom's 73rd birthday. She shares the date with Abraham Lincoln. I remember her being teased by my dad that she and Abe were the same age. Considering that she never looked as old as she actually was, she always took the joke with a smile.

My mom was a funny combination of traits. Her job for several decades was maintaining the file room for Mississippi Valley Title Insurance Company. This was back when everything was on paper, which was placed in a manila folder, and then filed according to some numerical scheme in a forest of metal shelves. And my mother was in charge of being able to retrieve any given document.

What I find amazing is that my mother, who could never keep up with her coffee cup, car keys or glasses, could locate anything you wanted in that file room. Even now, if I take my cup of coffee with me and leave it somewhere in the house, whoever finds it will bring it to me and call me "Sandra."

Mom was a dancer when she was a child.

Here she is as Uncle Sam, probably between 1949 and 1951, when she was around 12 years old. This is one of my favorites of her.

In addition to dancing, Mom could also play the ukulele. I think I only ever heard her play 2 songs, though: The Bed Bugs and Mosquitoes Song, and Five Foot Two. I've learned the Bed Bug Song. I guess now I need to learn Five Foot Two.

Oh! And she had another unique talent. She is one of the few people that I know who could actually do what a paddle ball was intended for. With the string at its full length, Mom could keep that ball bouncing for as long as you cared to stand there watching. How many people can do that?

These are some of my other favorite pictures of her. They seem to capture the Real her!

Happy Birthday, Mom...

Knitted Neck Warmer

2011-02-08T17:49:00.002-06:00

I learned to knit not too long ago. I really love it.
But I wanted to learn to do more than just the basic stockinette or garter stitch fabric.
I've done scarves for the girls but they seem to take a long time. And face it, what do you need with all that hanging-down part, anyway?

I discovered the answer: a neck warmer! Mr. H calls it a turtleneck without the sweater.
Not too long after that, I received an e-mail from Lion Brand Yarns with a link to a sampler afghan. It gave instructions for several different stitch patterns. Now I had all the ammunition I needed!

I used a basket weave stitch to make this neck warmer.

The buttons in the top picture are too small and keep coming unfastened, so I looked in the can of buttons that used to belong to my Grandmother Nell and came up with 2 possibilities:

(I'm leaning towards the white.)

Here are the details if you want to try it:

(Note: If you've never made a button hole before DON'T PANIC! Click on the link in the instructions below and practice on some leftover yarn before you start this project. If you still don't get it, skip the holes and simply attach some loops to the bound off edge.)

Basket Weave Neck Warmer

1 skein Caron Spa (A silky Soft Bamboo Blend) it's a light weight acrylic/bamboo blend
note added 2/9/11: (oops, when I originally posted this, I forgot to mention that I used a double strand of this yarn: that's 2 strands held and knitted together as if it were all one strand. You can pull one end from the center of the ball and the other from the outside. That way you don't have to buy 2.)
#8 (5mm) knitting needles

(If you are using a bulkier yarn, you may want to reduce the # of stitches cast on. Just remember basket weave requires multiples of 6. Basket weave is also a reversible fabric. Either side can be the right side)

cast on 24 stitches
Rows 1-4: *K3, p3; repeat from * to end of row.
Rows 5-8: *P3, k3; repeat from * to end of row.
Repeat rows 1-8 for Basket Weave pattern.
Keep working in pattern until work is long enough to fit around your neck comfortably.
Mine is 16 1/4 inches long, but it fits pretty snugly. You may want to make yours a bit longer, maybe 17 inches or more if you need to.

When it will fit around your neck, now it's time to decide how big your button holes will be. The button holes will stretch a bit so the button needs to be slightly bigger, not the same size as the hole.
Click here to see the site I used to learn how to make button holes.

For mine, I knitted (or purled) in pattern for the first 3 stitches, then made a 3-stitch button hole. Then I continued the pattern until I was 6 stitches from the edge and made another 3-stitch button hole and finished the end of the row in pattern. Work 3 more rows of your basket weave pattern and then bind off.

Find some buttons that fit snugly through your button holes and sew them on. I used the same thread/yarn to attach the buttons that I used to knit it.

The Good Stuff

2011-01-20T07:57:00.000-06:00

We have started serving Wednesday Night suppers at our church. It's a great time to see and talk to friends that we just don't have time to on Sunday morning.

Last night, as I was sitting with Mr. H and another couple, I looked across the fellowship hall toward my office door and noticed a small child standing there. He wanted in my office. He tried the door knob. No luck. Maybe it was just stuck. He tried harder. He dug in with his legs and put all he had into the effort to open that door. After several minutes, I saw him turn away and head down the hallway towards the children's library. I figured he had given up and joined some other children in there to color or look at books.

Wrong!!!

He came back out within seconds armed with a bright yellow chair! Granted, it was a small chair: lightweight and not very sturdy; but still, a chair! He carried the chair back up the hallway and began to beat the door with it. I looked over at the child's dad to see if he was watching. He was! We both saw the hilarity of the situation and burst out laughing! Then the child, still toting the chair, approached his father with a request: Open that door for me, please.

That child wanted something. He knew exactly what he wanted and he knew where it was. It was good stuff. It was worth the effort it took to try to get it.

How much effort are you willing to exert to get (or keep) the good stuff in your life? Is your marriage worth the effort? Is your relationship with your children worth the effort? How about the respect of your co-workers and neighbors?

You know what the good stuff is. I bet you know where the tools are to get it, too. Are you willing to go for it?

The Youngest

2010-12-18T08:59:00.000-06:00

Last night El had the chance to babysit.

She is my baby - eight and one half years younger than her eldest sister; two and one half years younger than her closest sister.

She's the baby. And I think we've done her a disservice by treating her like the baby. We didn't encourage her to do for herself as we did the other two. We tied her shoes and cleaned up behind her because it was easier and faster than taking the time to let her do it herself.

Last night she showed me that she isn't scarred by this pampering.

She is very good with little children. She sat for hours playing blocks with a 3 year old. She knew that I was here for emergencies, but that the job was hers.

I am a proud mom.

And while this little guy reminds me of Frank Lloyd Wright:

this one was more like Godzilla when it came to the construction and design process.

The Mother of Invention

2010-12-14T17:23:00.000-06:00

The girls are playing one of their favorite games. We've had it a long time. Can you tell what game it is?

Here's a close-up of the board:

That's right! It's Clue. We've had it so long that we've lost several of the playing pieces.

So they have scrounged around the house to find substitutes. I believe this sword (that is standing in for the knife) once belonged to an action figure of Aragorn, son of Arathorn. Looks like it's being wielded by Mrs. White in the dining room.

Standing in for Colonel Mustard and Professor Plum in the Lounge are yellow and purple erasers. Mr. Green is also represented by an eraser somewhere else on the board.

When you don't have what you need, sometimes you use what you have...

Spanish Art

2010-12-02T19:40:00.000-06:00

Today we spent much of the day at Castillo de St. Marcos in St. Augustine. It was built by the Spanish from 1672 to 1695.

The Spanish turn everything into a work of art.

This sword hilt is beautiful.

The towers in the corners of the bastions are so graceful to look at. (Mr. H isn't bad, either, but he's not Spanish.)

Look at the detail on this mortar.

You wonder about putting this much creativity on something built for destruction.

They even have names engraved on them.

In an otherwise uniform curtain wall, the entrance to the Chapel of St. Mark is very distinctive.

What a beautiful piece of history.

Just imagine if we put the same attention to detail into everything we did. What if we tried to make everything we created a thing of beauty? Something to strive for, isn't it?

Gear Is Good

2010-12-02T07:17:00.000-06:00

Mr. H and I started off on our anniversary (31 years ago, we went on our first date) trip yesterday morning after we dropped the girls off at school. After the, at times, torrential rains of Monday and Tuesday, the weather was gorgeous, but cold. If you know me at all, you know that I really do not like being cold. There is a heater under my desk, a spare shawl in my office, and I'm the only one comfortable if the A/C goes out.

Nevertheless, I was game for the trip. Last winter Mr. H got me a HiVis yellow riding jacket that has a thermal liner. My riding pants have 2 liners: one is quilted, the other is water/wind proof. So I layered-up: an undershirt, a long-sleeved T-shirt, a turtleneck sweater, and a microfleece jacket under the riding jacket, then leggings and fleece pajama pants under the riding pants.

Yes, I looked and felt like Ralphie's little brother. Mr. H made a comment while I was getting dressed about how much he loved me because "a lot of women wouldn't wear all that stuff because they would be afraid it would make them look fat." I smiled. That's why I have him and they don't!

The temperature was in the 40's as we started off. (Mr. H's bike has a thermometer on the dash). It stayed around 47 for QUITE some time. I had started off wearing a pair of Harley Davidson thermal liner gloves (my only Harley appearal) under my winter riding gloves. They are rather like sweaters for your fingers. When we made our first stop, I couldn't get my helmet off because my fingers were so cold. They did seem to warm up as soon as I took my gloves off. For the next leg of the trip, I left off the liners. The winter gloves are really too big for me so I was able, occasionally to pull my fingers out of the fingers and make a fist in the palm part of the glove to warm them up, then slip them back into the finger spots. I can't wear these gloves when I ride my own bike. Loose gloves can be dangerous when operating the controls. But they were fine with me riding pillion.

The highlight of my day came late in the day, about a half hour west of Jacksonville. We pulled into a rest area so Mr. H could un-cramp his wrist before we got into rush hour traffic. We nodded to a policeman walking back to his car and pulled into a parking place about 4 spaces from the police car. I waited for Mr. H to shut off the engine, then unplugged the com cord. I stood up on the pegs and swung my leg over....well, that was my intention anyway. My foot caught on the back rest and I knew I was going down.

Two thoughts passed through my head almost at the same time. 1. Catching that curb with the middle of my back is going to HURT! and 2. I hope I don't drag Mr. H AND the bike down on top of me, because that would hurt even more.

Then I hit the pavement.

But I was wearing so much gear that I didn't even feel it! I started laughing and Mr. H just looked at me wondering what was wrong. I managed to open the visor so he could see my face and know I was okay. However, remember I looked like Ralphie's little brother? Do you remember the line from the movie? "Randy lay there like a slug!" I know exactly how Randy felt. He couldn't move because he couldn't bend any limbs. Mr. H had to give me a hand up. And remember the policeman we saw on the way in? He came over to see if all was well. I know he must have thought I was intoxicated! He inquired as to my wellbeing and then asked where we were headed. Mr. H was quick to give him an answer and then asked the best way to get there, road conditions, traffic, that kind of stuff. The officer was very helpful, telling us which lanes tend to back up and what to watch for. Pretty soon we were back on the road and shortly arrived at our destination.

Today is a walking day, so I won't need any riding gear, but boy! am I glad I have it.

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-27T08:22:00.000-06:00

This year, Thanksgiving was very low stress for me. We went to eat at Mr. H's Mom's house and she did most of the cooking. In fact, if we had brought absolutely nothing, there would have still been too much food. Our 2 oldest girls each made a pie to take: the eldest made apple and Em made pecan, even though she doesn't LIKE pecan pie, she didn't want her older sister to get all the pie-making glory.

It was a beautiful warm day. The camellia bushes were loaded with buds, but only 2 had opened.

We sat out on the back porch after lunch.

This little guy came over to see what we were doing.

We watched football and ate snacks later. Can you tell what color skittles no one likes in our family?

New Toy

2010-11-25T10:29:00.000-06:00

I got a new toy!!

Actually, I should say "we" got a new toy, because it's a joint, early Christmas present for Mr. H and I.
It's a Canon Rebel T1i.
And I've been experimenting...

Mrs. Jones

Grisabella

I know, I know... I have lots of pictures of cats, but they are always available models.

Mr. H is always a good model, too.

I love this view from my backyard. I probably have quite a few pictures very similar to this.

For some reason, I find this very appealing.

My mom gave me this for my birthday a few years ago. It's hanging on my front porch.

I was experimenting with motion settings here.

These 2 sit on top of my monitor at work.

I like the effect of the sun through the tree.

I know, more cats: real and wooden.

One of my favorite spots on the planet.

Up close and personal with moss on the tree.

Yes, another cat picture.

Yes, I like taking pictures of trees, too.

Well, that's a small (very small!) sample of our experiments so far. Stay tuned....

End of Day . . . Homeward Bound

2010-11-21T18:24:00.000-06:00

Behind me, the full moon has risen. There is a high, thin layer of clouds that has captured her reflected light and transformed itself into a pale, bright veil around her.

Ahead of me, the sky still bears the afterglow of sunset: crimson fading up through gold and lavender into deep indigo. Trees on the distant horizon are like black lace stretched at the bottom of the sky.

Closer to the dark road, light glows from the windows of otherwise invisible homes.

Soon ...
very soon ...
there will be light shining from my own windows.

Warm Memory

2010-11-07T08:29:00.000-06:00

This morning I was taking a pan of muffins out of the oven. I set them on top of the stove and started to close the oven door. I changed my mind and just left it open for a bit, letting the oven pour its heat out into the kitchen. I backed up to the open door and let the heat rise up my back. I would be hard pressed to find anything else that feels that good!

It reminded me of winters when I was growing up. We had a floor furnace in our house. Don't feel bad if you have no idea what that is. I just explained it to El. In the hallway of the bedroom end of the house, there was a metal grate in the floor. Below that grate was a big heater. And the grate got hot when the furnace was going. I remember winter nights (and mornings) standing above the furnace (careful not to stand ON the furnace) in a long night gown. The warm air would billow up the gown, ballooning it out, surrounding me with warmth. On cold nights, it gave me a head start on warming up the bed.

When our eldest was young, we lived in a mobile home with floor vents. I taught her the joy of standing over the vent in a long gown, too.
I can understand why floor furnaces were replaced with other heat sources. The little boy who lived across the street from me all those years ago had a grid-pattern scar on this chest and stomach from a fall onto the hot metal. I never thought about how dangerous my position above the furnace was until I saw what could happen if one got careless.

His Presence

2010-10-29T06:40:00.000-05:00

This morning, I read Psalm 26, where I found this in verse 8: I love your sanctuary, Lord, the place where Your glorious presence dwells.

It reminds me that "the sanctuary" or the temple is no longer a fixed point of architecture. Today that sanctuary is where ever the believer is. WE are the sanctuary. WE are where the Spirit of the Lord dwells.

A few weeks ago, a team from our church went to Peru. On that Wednesday night, the team in Peru and the church in Agricola had a Skype conversation. We were able to see and hear each other and ask questions and get a feel for what they were doing. I remember Mark saying that the place felt cold, not from the temperature, but from the spiritual darkness. The message of Christ had never been there.

Last weekend was Praise in the Park in Lucedale. Mr. H and I took our beach chairs and found a place on the hill. As I looked out on the crowd, I recalled what Mark had said and realized that this was just the opposite. These thousands had come with one purpose and that was to Praise the Lord. The presence of His Spirit was tangible. It made you look around, expecting to catch a glimpse of His back.

That's what happens when people who love the Lord come together. Our churches should feel the same way. There should be that expectation of' something wonderful is going to happen!' It's up to us as the sanctuary to lead the way.

Pre-Dawn Coffee

2010-10-22T06:21:00.000-05:00

This morning before light, I took my coffee out on the front porch. I haven't done that in a while. It was not too cool for just a long sleeve T-shirt. I sat on the swing and looked out over the yard. The moon was exceptionally bright in the back yard, casting a very distinct shadow of the house into the front yard. It was pretty low in the sky because the shadows were pretty long.

There are not a great number of trees within our neighborhood. At one time it was a 100 acre pasture. This morning the yards of our neighbors all had a thin layer of fog hovering just above the ground. I wonder if I had been on one of their porches, if I would have seen the same in my yard.

It's always amazed me how noisy it is outside in the dark before the sun comes up. I counted at least 7 individual rooster voices. There may have been more, but loud sounds tend to echo around here and these guys are loud. They provide a non-stop soundtrack for the pre-dawn hour. And somewhere in the vicinity is a large pack of dogs. I've always wondered if all that barking in the dark was actual communication (like that scene in 101 Dalmations when the dogs are putting out the alert for the missing puppies) or just the irrisistable urge to make noise.

Amid all that screeching and barking, there was a much mellower sound: an owl. I have no idea where this bird was located, but its "Hoo-hoo-hoo Hooooo" was a nice change from the frantic emanations of the canine and fowl variety.

The sun will be up soon. Already, I can see a lacy pattern beginning to form through the leaves of the pecan tree outside our front door. The sun is brightening the sky behind it. The dogs and roosters and that owl will be drowned out by the light.

Treasure Chest

2010-10-01T17:06:00.000-05:00

We were looking for furnishings for the eldest to take back to school for her new house. I missed out on a great buy at a yard sale, but it did make me think about coffee tables. At one time in our early married life we used a foot locker made by Mr. H's dad many, many years ago.

Yes, we still have it, and yes, our eldest wants to use it.

So we found it out in the storage shed and brought it in.

And it was full of treasure!

There is a copy of The Reflector dated November 3, 1980, just after MSU defeated Alabama. The little football on top is from Homecoming that same year. Right there together, you have the Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat. USM beat us at homecoming 42 - 14 that year. (The Maroon Band, however, was AWESOME at halftime!) That was the last game MSU lost that season. We went on to beat the Bear 6 - 3 in one of the most amazing football games I have ever witnessed.

The other 2 objects are evidence of how the world has changed in the past 30 years. When we registered for classes, we looked through the catalog, picked our classes and signed up accordingly. I'm not sure that there is such a publication any longer.

And the real prize is the Radio Shack pong game! You could play tennis, hockey, or squash. The angle, ball speed and bat size each had 2 options. The 2 sliders moved the paddles up and down. That was it: no sideways, no diagonal. But ground-breaking for its time.

Definitely a treasure box.

Is It Wrong to Lie to the Printer? (or How to Print a 6 3/4 Envelope)

2010-09-25T11:01:00.001-05:00

Technology is a fickle thing.

When it works the way you expect, it's wonderful.

When it refuses, there are few things as frustrating.

That's where I was on Thursday: frustrated.

For the past several years, we have had a Building Fund Pledge drive at our church. We have printed envelopes with places to record what's actually in the envelope and any additional pledge for the upcoming 12 months. We have used #10 envelopes for that. (definition from officeguide: A #10 envelope is 4-1/8" x 9-1/2". It is the most common business envelope size and is commonly used for standard 8-1/2" x 11" sheets of paper.) I have set up all the information on a Publisher file and just run them through my hp printer. Not a big deal and no need to pay a printer. The problem with them is that they are so much bigger than our regular giving envelopes. They just don't fit into the filing system that I use. I decided this year to make a change.

A 6 3/4 envelope is smaller: 3 5/8 X 6 1/2 inches. (Why it's called a 6 3/4, I don't know) It fits into my office better. So, I went in to the Publisher file and adjusted the document size and scaled down the text boxes, made sure everything that needed to be there was still there and was ready to print. I didn't want to waste any of the envelopes themselves, so I cut some used paper the correct size, drew a flap on the back so I'd know how to load the real things, and ran them through the printer.

What I got was the center of my text box printed across the narrow end of the sheet. There was no way to change the orientation and I discovered that the 6 3/4 envelope is NOT supported by my driver. RATS!!

I decided to research the problem and discovered that this envelope size, while fairly common, is not listed on many printers. One forum gave me a hint, though. Don't try to force it to use this envelope. Start with something it will use and then position your information so that even though the screen doesn't look like your end product, the actual end product is what you want.

I tried it. I told it I was using a larger envelope size it recognized and moved the text box all the way to the right edge. Almost perfect. I flipped the box upside down and reoriented the paper that was standing in for the envelopes to flaps on the right. Perfect!!!

So now, as a church lady, I am faced with a dilemma: I can tell lies to my printer to get exactly what I want or I can go back to the larger envelopes. Is it wrong to lie to the printer?

Happenings

2010-09-18T21:53:00.000-05:00

It seems lately that I've been consumed by several things.

But those things are just about done.

I've been making Spanish skirts for some of the girls in the pit to wear for the "Images of Spain" halftime show. The skirts are all done, with the exception of the elastic being permanently adjusted. I can't seem to catch up with those 2. I had some fabric left over from each skirt, so I started thinking about what to do with it. (I hate stuff going to waste.) Realizing that I neglected to put pockets in the skirts, I felt that providing something to carry a wallet, phone and keys in might be helpful. Here's my solution:

They are backpack bags made to match each skirt. Since the girls will be wearing black shirts, I made the straps out of black ribbon. They'll still have free hands to get all their equipment into the stadium, and won't have to worry about dropping anything. I made the yellow, blue and green skirts. The grandmother of sisters made the orange and red skirts. I got them to bring me their leftovers!

Em had a friend come home with her after the band yard sale today. They made cupcakes for their Sunday School class. They saw this idea and went with it. The eyes are miniature chocolate chips and the mouth is made with the same canned icing that the cupcakes are iced with. We added red food coloring and, since it was too runny to stay in a shape, we added powdered sugar. We put the ingredients in a sandwich bag, squished it up and cut a tiny whole in one corner. Then, all you have to do is squeeze it out into whatever design you want.

The goofy face was an accident. Once they realized that perfection wasn't required, they got creative!

Em made the vampire.

It's been a long week, with our revival most of the week and opening the new building for Sunday School tomorrow. This evening was fun and I finished up several projects.

Pictures from the New Building

2010-09-10T16:27:00.002-05:00

Here are pictures from the new building. This first one is of the children's reception area looking through 2 windows out onto Main Street.

These next pictures are from some of the classrooms. This one with yellow/orange walls will be the home of our 6th graders. There are 10 of those bean bag chairs in this room.

Then there's this wild zebra, purple and green room. Actually, an adult class will be meeting here on Sunday mornings, but on Wednesday nights, the GA's will LOVE this place!!!

The preschoolers have some awesome spaces to hang out in, too. Every wall in the preschool area has cool stuff to do and cool stuff to look at.

This room is where I'll be on Sunday mornings. It is going to be the class called Agricola Kids. It is here especially for kids with special needs. As far as I know, we'll be the first class of this kind in George County.

Below is a shot looking out from the stage in the children's worship theater. It is currently set up for revival mid-day services next week. Tables and chairs on the hard floor in the back and just rows of chairs up front on the carpet.

Here's part of the stage set-up in the worship theater.

To the left of the tall table and stools...

...is this great red couch.

I can't wait to see the first FX (Family eXperience) Production!

Tylenol Packaging

2010-08-28T16:10:00.000-05:00

This afternoon, I opened a new package of Tylenol. After opening the glued ends of the box, I unwrapped the clear shrink-wrap around the neck of the bottle and the lid. Then I opened the cap of the bottle and removed the seal over the opening. Three layers of tamper resistance.........

It made me think about the reason for all those barriers between me and the pain reliever inside.

If you are younger than, say 35 years of age, you've probably never seen any kind of medication or even food items without at least one of those tamper-proof lines of defense. Ketchup and mustard have the clear wrap to keep you from opening the bottle in the store, and then when you get it home and take that off, you still have to unscrew the cap to remove the seal under the cap.

It hasn't always been that way.

In 1982, the way we think about the products we ingest changed forever.

The Tylenol Tampering Murders is a link to a lengthy accounting of the events surrounding the Tylenol case, complete with the stories of the victims, police investigation, and Johnson & Johnson reaction.

I remember the way the Johnson and Johnson Company handled it. Not the details, of course, but the big picture. They didn't wait to see what they would be required to do. They did the right thing. They recalled EVERYTHING and stopped production to see what could have happened on their end. That had never been done before. If you haven't looked at the above link yet, you can read a brief synopsis of the company's actions here. The fact that you can still buy Tylenol (and trust its safety) almost 30 years later is a testament to the decisions made in a horrifying time of crisis. Their response was based on the company's credo, written in 1943, way before mission statements became popular. Here's the first sentence:

We believe our first responsibility is to the doctors, nurses and patients, to mothers and fathers and all others who use our products and services.

Isn't this the way we would want to be remembered in a crisis? Not that we obeyed the letter of law, but that we responded in a way that was the most beneficial to those who were at risk. That our first responsibility is to those that trust us.

There is a lesson here. Let's not forget it.

After School Snack

2010-08-27T09:32:00.000-05:00

It's 9:00 a.m. and I'm starting an after school snack for the girls.

They are both bringing home a friend from school today. Em and her friend are both in the band, so they have to be at school shortly after 5 to load the bus and trailer and do whatever it is that bands do to get ready. (It's a trade secret: you have to be in the band to know that kind of stuff!) El and her friend are in the Middle School band, but tonight are just spectators for the High School game. Both friends are coming with us specifically for the youth group bowling after the game. (I love church activities that attract friends!)

But since we will be leaving the house before a chance for supper, there will be a substantial snack consumed beforehand. Band kids typically get the 3rd quarter off, but when the game doesn't start until 7:30, 3rd quarter can be WA-A-AY past a normal supper-time.

So here we are at the after school snack preparation. (You thought I forgot where I was going, didn't you!)

Home-made bread!

After a long hiatus, last week I made my first attempt in quite some time. It was acceptable. That's about all I can say.
However ........... I assessed the results and made a few changes: less flour, different rising schedule, more my intuition and less specifically following directions.

I've made notes in my cookbook, too. Makes me feel rather like the "Half-Blood Prince." For those of you unfamiliar with the world of Harry Potter, here's a VERY BRIEF explanation from wikipedia:

Harry discovers that the previous owner of his Potions textbook, the "Half-Blood Prince", has annotated the book with refinements that allow Harry to excel in class.

We'll see how much excelling is going on in an hour or so...

The Sound of Summer

2010-08-26T12:23:00.000-05:00

There is a sound that I associate with growing up in Mississippi.

It's the throbbing buzz of unseen cicadas.

I have loved this sound for as long as I can remember.

I walked out to put mail in the box this morning at church. Standing at the mailbox looking across the road, the view is what you see above.

Resonating from the shade of these trees is a chorus of cicadas. I really didn't want to come back inside

Morning Wind-Up

2010-08-24T21:12:00.002-05:00

Every morning, I turn left out of our lane. Just up the hill is a driveway. Lounging in this driveway and spilling out into the road are 3 dogs. Two of these dogs appear to be siblings. Apart from their coloring (one has darker fur on its back and sides than the other) they look remarkably alike. They also look remarkably like Luci. Luci was given to our eldest daughter for her first birthday by a very old friend of Mr. H's. From the time she was about 2 years old, Luci was a constant bedtime companion. Luci went to camp several times, but a head lice outbreak forced Luci (and every other article brought by every single girl in attendance that week) to take a spin through a commercial washing machine. Luci stayed safely home on the bed for subsequent camps.

Hmmmm....where was I? Oh, yes. Two of the dogs look like live versions of Luci. The 3rd dog looks like a white shepherd. It's the 3rd dog that performs a trick that amuses me. This dog is usually in the road when it sees a car coming. It takes a few steps back up the driveway, then it turns back to face the road. Here's the amusing part: now that it is facing the road, it reverses several more steps up the driveway, then launches itself towards the road. It reminds me of one of those little wind-up cars that you pull backwards to wind up, then let go to zoom across the floor.

This dog must not wind up enough, because it doesn't zoom very far. Or maybe he zooms just far enough ... just to the end of the driveway. I guess this is a smart wind-up dog.

Thoughts While Mowing the Grass

2010-08-20T14:37:00.000-05:00

I listen to my mp3 player while mowing the grass.

I usually put it on shuffle and just let come what may. I discovered several things today:

~When an accompaniment track comes on (that I have put on there to practice while I'm in the car) I am really happy that no one can hear me over the noise of the lawnmower. I wear ear protection over the ear buds because I want to preserve my hearing. That also means that I can't hear what's coming out of my mouth so it's probably WA-AAY-YY off-key!

~There are some songs that I simply cannot listen to while on the lawn mower because the key they are in clashes mightily with the resonant tone produced by the mower itself. Even with the ear protection on, I can hear that tone. "The Butterfly" on the Celtic Odyssey CD is one of those songs.

~On the other hand, there are some songs that blend beautifully with the drone of the Deere: "Answer My Prayer" on Acappella's Sweet Fellowship CD works.

I got a bit over half our grass cut today. Now to re-charge the Zune's battery, so I'll be ready for tomorrow.

Guidelines

2010-08-06T17:03:00.000-05:00

I find it odd that a copy of the classroom guidelines for a class at the middle school requires my signature. I am not the one required to enter the room quietly, or sharpen my pencils and throw away my trash before the tardy bell. I will not be turning in papers to the appropriate area (or any area). I will probably never see the class activities posted on the front board.

Why does this list require the parent's signature? Will the teacher complain to me if my child doesn't go quietly and immediately to her appropriate seat or if she talks with people in other work groups? I would much rather the matter be discussed with my child, the student. Are there really parents out there who do not expect their children to be polite and co-operative members of society in general? Do they really have to have it spelled out for them how people are expected to act while in public?

My word!!

today's blessings

2010-08-05T18:20:00.002-05:00

Someone called the church for help today.

Not the kind of help usually asked for, either.

This person didn't need financial help.

Not the kind of spiritual help usually sought here, either.

This person wanted literature help.

This individual wanted information on how church literature that would help his church grow.
Not so much to grow in numbers, but in knowledge of the Lord. Something that helped them dig into the scriptures, that helped open up God's Word.

This person impressed me. This person "gets" what Sunday School is designed to accomplish. It's a discipleship thing. It's to deepen a person's relationship with the Lord. This person loves his church: not the building, but the people. And not just the people who think the way he thinks: all the people of every age and mind-set. He doesn't want to do anything that will hurt their fellowship, but he longs for them to all grow in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

I pray his church understands how blessed they are to have this gentleman in the congregation.

Oh, I almost forgot the other blessing of the day!!

My eldest daughter graciously agreed to take her younger sister to the high school this evening for band pictures. That may not sound like much to you, but to me, today, it is HUGE. I have had somewhere to go every night for the past 4 nights in a row. When I heard that Em had to be back at school at 6:15 this evening, I almost cried. But, once again, I have been rescued by my eldest. Thank you, Dear.

My Smile for the Day

2010-08-03T15:39:00.000-05:00

After Christmas this year I used some of the money I received to purchase a desk calendar. I love Origami, so I got "An Origami a Day" calendar. Each day's sheet has instructions to fold something on one side and a color (sometimes solid, sometimes a print) on the other. As you remove yesterday's page to reveal today, you fold today's project using the pretty side of yesterday's page.

Today's project is a frog. The back side of yesterday's instructions is an alligator skin sort of print.

Look at the note to the side of the finished project on the instructions below. My day started off with a chuckle!

A Very Full Day

2010-08-02T22:55:00.001-05:00

Some days are just like this: Monday's especially. And today was more Monday than most!

Monday's are by far my busiest day at work. It's payday and sort the offering day and staff meeting day. It's usually my grocery shopping day, too. Tonight we previewed the Christmas musical that our choir will be doing this year: God Coming Down. (highly recommend!!) Then Mr. H and I did the grocery shopping together. We used to do that all the time, but eventually, his work schedule got in the way and I went by myself after bringing the girls home from school.

After putting all the groceries away, I decided to just sit for a bit and work on a new knitting stitch. I had been playing around with something called seed stitch, which is knit 1, purl 1 repeated for an even number of stitches, then purl the knit stitches and knit the purl stitches on the next row. It takes a certain amount of concentration to keep up with where you are. My motion seems very erratic since I'm trying a new way of holding the yarn (which should speed things up once I master it.)

There is a website I use for reference when I'm stumped. It has text, photos, and video, all of which are helpful. I know that there are 2 general methods of knitting: German and English. One holds the working yarn in the left hand and the other, in the right hand. Then I stumbled upon the Norwegian purling method (scroll down to the nest to last example on the linked page above). From the text description, it sounded a bit easier. Then I looked at the video. It took me 5 times watching the video to figure out what she was doing, then 5 more times trying to follow along before I got the first Norwegian purl stitch completed! Talk about convoluted!!! I tried 3 or 4 more and they were so sloppy and stretched that they were hard to recognize. I'm guessing I have no Norwegian roots in my family tree!

Well, now I guess I've wound down enough from the day to actually go to sleep. If the knitting itself doesn't do it, writing about knitting certainly does. Good night.

Help at the Funeral Home

2010-07-29T14:51:00.000-05:00

I was in town on a few errands for the church this morning. I decided to be bold and do the running around on the Rebel.

First, a stop at the workplace of someone whose signature I needed. Not a problem: in and out quickly.

Next, to deliver something to the funeral home.

As I pulled into the parking lot, I was relieved to note that it was empty of cars. I had not wanted to walk in to the midst of someone's wake or funeral, a stranger carrying a helmet. Luckily, one of the directors was actually standing outside, looking in a flower bed. Then the owner walked out the door, just as I was pulling into a parking space. The look they gave me was priceless, by the way. I raised my face shield to say I was bringing something from the church. As I took my helmet off, Mr. Coco Sigler walked toward me saying, "I knew I recognized that bike! Tommy told me he had sold it to you." He and Dr. T know each other very well. This past fall, Mr. Sigler joined Mr. H and several others from our church on bike trip to the mountains.

My intention, especially since they were already outside, was to simply make my delivery and be on my way. They, however, invited me into the office and we ended up talking about bikes for more than just a few minutes. When I went back outside, I realized that I had left the key in my bike. Not only IN the bike, but in the ON position. For those of you that don't understand the implication of that, here's the deal: when the key is on, the headlight is on!

Now you get it! And you're correct: the battery was dead. RRRrrrrrr....click, click, click.

Rats!!

I probably could have waited a few minutes with it turned off and it might have started, but it was HOT out there. So I walked back in and asked for help.

I knew that cars with standard transmissions could be pushed started by popping the clutch. I figured that bikes could, too, but I'd never done it. The funeral director hopped on the bike, aimed it down-slope in the parking lot, walked it forward and popped the clutch and that was all it took!

This particular bike is very difficult to get into neutral while the engine is running (I thought it was just me, but Mr. Sigler couldn't get it out of gear, either.) So he shut if off, and I got on, ready to try a new skill. The bike had a different idea, though, and cranked right up. I was prepared to try it at my next stop, too, but it cranked after that one. (And YES, I remembered to turn the key off and take it with me this time.)

I learned several lessons today: 1) don't leave the key in the bike, ON or OFF. 2) I know the Rebel can be push started. 3) Funeral directors can be of great assistance in your time of need!

Work Chair

2010-07-28T09:12:00.000-05:00

My eldest and I were having a discussion recently about her father. The man can do just about anything. The Creator's Spirit is definitely alive in him.

He does woodwork. There are several pieces of furniture in our house that were designed and constructed by him. The mantle over our fireplace and the built-in that houses our music and movies were all made by him. We have a canoe that he built, too.

His father thought we needed a welding machine, so he learned to do that, too.

His most recent project has been to replace the home-office chair he uses on his work-from-home days. The old one was uncomfortable and made lots of noise. He had an idea to use one of the seats from a car that he had over in the shop (just the seats, not the whole car.) We're not exactly sure what kind of car they came from. Mr. H thinks his friend said they came from a Ford Probe. Anyway, the pair of bucket seats has been over in the shop for several years now. Don't ask me why: I have no idea.

So he cut the old chair off the casters, whose wheels he had replaced last year. Then he welded supports on the underside of the seat to weld onto the caster base. Pretty good looking office chair, huh?

Then he welded the arm rests from the old chair back onto this one and painted the metal parts on the bottom.

This man amazes me.

I Love this Lady

2010-07-27T07:54:00.001-05:00

There are some things that I take for granted.

This lady has a way of reminding me that not everyone has that luxury.

I am thankful for her humor.

I hope Ace is, too

Today

2010-07-26T19:47:00.000-05:00

Observations from today:

1. You never know when YOU could be the answer to someone's prayer. Keep your eyes and ears open.

2. (I know there was another one because I wouldn't have started numbering if there had been only one.)

2.a. Now I remember: There are 2 sides to every story, and sometimes you get to hear both.

3. The friendly attitude of the cashier at the grocery store can make your day. What is your attitude doing to someone's day?

Just Peachy!!

2010-07-25T07:08:00.002-05:00

Mr. H's dad could grow anything. He brought some peach trees to George County when we moved up here.

As I was mowing grass this week, I noticed that the trees were bending under the weight of their fruitfulness.Most of the peaches aren't quite ripe yet, but they are at the stage where we need to check them every day.

We found a few that were ripe (about 20) and decided that peach cobbler was on the menu for the evening. Once they were peeled and quartered, I had exactly 4 cups, just what the recipe called for.

I've never seen a cobbler recipe that called for baking the peaches for a bit before the batter goes in, but this one did.

The final product was yummy and not bad looking, either.

Next week: peach preserves!

It's the Small Things

2010-07-22T17:00:00.000-05:00

This afternoon, as I was on my way home and stopped at a stop sign, I sneezed several times. There was no one behind me and a truck was approaching from my left. I was in no hurry, so I just waited until I was sure the sneezing was done. The truck that was coming ended up turning right beside me, so our windows were side by side. Since I was driving Emma's car, which has no A/C, my window was down. His was, too. He didn't immediately accelerate on his way. He leaned my way and said, "Bless you."

It seems like such a small thing. But on a day like today, when so many people are hurting for so many different reasons, it goes a long way. I imagine there are people all around you who need to be blessed, too. Give it a try.

What Makes Church?

2010-06-25T16:40:00.000-05:00

This week I heard a message about Church: What Makes Church? It was presented by Ergun Caner at SuperWow in Ft. Walton.

It was based on Mark 2:1-12. This is the story of the paralyzed man who is let down through the roof by 4 friends who want Jesus to heal Him.

Here are the 4 things that make church:

1. Jesus was in the midst. He needs to be there. That is what makes church "church": The Presence of Christ!

2. He preached the Word to them. This is in verse 2. "and He preached the Word to them." We don't know exactly what He talked about. But it was a big crowd, hanging out the door.

3. People were bringing their friends. These friends were Warriors. And there are 2 things about warriors: a) a warrior NEVER takes credit - we don't know anymore about the 4 guys except that they were great friends to have. b) a warrior never takes "No" for an answer - they didn't let a huge crowd stand in their way. (I bet they fixed the roof before they left, too!)

4. Someone will complain. I know: this isn't very uplifting. But it just goes to show that where ever Jesus is, the father of lies is hard at work. It's nothing new. But it didn't stop Jesus. He went right on doing what he was doing. And the people were amazed!!

The BIG Thing

2010-06-23T01:10:00.000-05:00

Our challenge at camp this year is to find one big thing that grabs us.

I think I heard my Big Thing tonight. And I am surprised that it seemed to be an unplanned statement from the lead singer in the band. He was talking about the staff at his church and that the men held each other accountable. Then he mentioned that they were reading a book called "Jim and Casper Go to Church" and discussing it. Briefly, it's about a preacher (Jim Henderson) and an atheist (Matt Casper) who visit churches together and exchange impressions. At some point in the book, the atheist makes the observation that this Jesus that they talk about is a man of action, not just talk. He's always DOING something.

That grabbed me. We, as Christians, are supposed to be DOING things, not just waiting for God to do something. And certainly not waiting for someone else to do something for us. We have the Gift, the Good News. And we have the Holy Spirit with us always. What are we waiting for? What else do we need? We're waiting to see God's will?

But we already know what his will is, don't we. It's to go and make disciples. We are to be warriors like those 4 men who dug a hole in the roof to let their paralyzed friend have access to Jesus. We are to be stretcher bearers, bringing broken ones the ONE who can make them whole. That's it. That's all we really need to know to get started. He'll give us the rest on a need to know basis.

Reflections from the Journey

2010-06-19T07:16:00.000-05:00

I had not actually been looking forward to my first road trip on my own bike. I wasn't dreading it, I was simply ignoring it. I knew that if I thought about it, I would scare myself. So I put it out of mind until it was upon me.

I had several concerns about being on the road: 1. Would I be able to maintain a cruising speed on that little bike? 2. Would I remember to check mirrors for surrounding traffic as often as needed?

As it turns out, I needn't have worried. Yes, the speed thing took some concentration, but that's because Hwy 98 has lots of hills and you have to actively 'speed up' to get up a hill and remember to 'slow down' as you're coming down the other side. I was able to keep it between 65 and 70 without much trouble. It was mainly the novelty of maintaining speed with my wrist/palm/fingers rather than my foot. And I wasn't surprised by any vehicles moving past me on the road. Well, once I looked in the mirror and didn't see Mr. H behind me, but a split second later I caught him out of the corner of my eye, moving to take the lead into Laurel.

It's difficult to explain exactly what it's like to be out on the road like that. I tried to think of other things than the ride itself, but couldn't do it! Not that I really WANTED to think of anything else, just to see if I could. There is so much to experience.

You know when you pass through a grove of mimosa trees.

You are certain there is honeysuckle growing on that fence.

You don't need to see any buzzards to know something dead is in that ditch!

We got off 98 onto 15 and went through Richton up to Laurel. We went through town in Laurel rather than take the interstate around it. I'm not quite ready for interstate travel. Mr. H wanted to try Hwy 501 and it was a beautiful ride. We were looking for 481 that we discovered last weekend. At one point we got to an intersection on Marathon-Morton Road and I pulled up beside Mr. H. He lifted his visor and said, "I have no idea where we are." I just laughed. If he didn't, I CERTAINLY didn't. But generally a road with two place names in it will take you to those places. And that was the case this time, too.

As I was riding along, it hit me suddenly what I was doing. Have you ever had one of those moments that seemed to surprise you by your being there? I remember having this feeling several times in my life. The first time was the moment I realized I could read music. I remember the exact moment the light bulb came on and all those dots became a language I could read. (It was the introduction to "The Stars and Stripes Forever" and I was in the 7th grade.) Another time it happened was when I was on the field in a halftime show with the Maroon Band. I was standing in my place and the announcer was announcing something and the crowd was cheering and the thought ran through my head, "Wow! How did I manage to get HERE?!"

It happened on this trip, that feeling of "Wow! Look at me! I NEVER thought I'd be here doing this!" That thought was immediately followed by a prayer of thanksgiving for the man who seems to have such incredible expectations for my abilities. In fact, I was in the middle of talking to my Lord, when Mr. H suddenly made a right turn onto another road that I wasn't expecting.

"Heavenly Father, thank You so much for this man who loves me so much and wants me to do so many......Oh,Man!Hejustturnedoffrightthereandexpectsmetobeabletofollowwithoutanypreparation.......

And I was able to do that, too!

It occurred to me on this trip how much joy we steal from those we love by not letting them do things and call it "protecting" them. If someone is prepared for an undertaking, has been trained what to expect, what to look out for, will have supervision (at least in the initial stages), don't deny them the joy of the adventure.

Scenes from the Inside

2010-06-17T15:13:00.000-05:00

There's only so much you can tell from the outside of the new building anymore. It pretty much looks done from there. Right now the real excitement is on the inside.

There is color on the walls of the east side rooms.

Here's a view of the green room. You can see the overhead lighting is in, too.

And here's a blue room, complete with matching wheelbarrow!

This is a double green room. It will have a retractable wall

(you can see the track on the ceiling just left of the bump out of the wall.)

And the orange room.

This is one side of the kitchen.....

.....and this is the other side with the pass through window.

It is impossible to give you an idea of the scale of this room. It is enormous!

The children will use this room for large group worship on Sunday mornings,

and it's the new home of KidStuf.

This is just getting started. It's the upstairs for the youth and recently-no-longer youth.

Looks rather dark and scary now....

but it won't be long before it's the home away from home for a bunch of people.

These guys have done a tremendous job.....and can walk on stilts, too!

Overwhelmed by Praise

2010-06-10T07:14:00.000-05:00

Have you ever been overwhelmed by praise?

It happened to me last night.Our VBS Family Night packed the sanctuary: over 200 children and probably that many adults and youth. We sang quite a few songs, but the one that stands out in my mind is called "Rise and Sing".

Our God is risen and reigning

and we're elevating

the glory of our God and King

Everybody rise and sing

Then we saw the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal acted out on stage. When God's fire consumed Elijah's offering, the crowd erupted with cheers. That didn't happen the first time we saw the skit. But it did last night.

Then, after the VBS festivities, we had choir practice.

That sounds so ho-him and normal, doesn't it?

For me, it was anything but.....

We sang a song called "Praise To the Lord, the Almighty." It's a hymn you probably know if you are Baptist and over 30. This particular arrangement has a repeating tag at the end of several verses:

Praise the Lord

There was something about those words last night that made them different, made them ......

....... true.........

...................... alive................

......................................real.......................

It was an amazing evening for me.

And now that I've tasted it, I want more.

Open Door Policy

2010-06-03T14:35:00.000-05:00

This turtle showed up at the church this afternoon.

She parked right next to Mark's car.

Here's a close up of the shell. The maintenance guru says this is a gopher tortoise (gopherus polyphemus). I believe this is a female because when he turned her over to count segments on the underside of the shell, it looked pretty flat, whereas males have a concave plastron. There is a lot of dried red dirt on her top shell.

I think she wanted in because when Mark opened the door, she headed that way.

Stallion on the Road

2010-06-01T19:17:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, we were headed to Mobile. I caught sight of something odd in the side mirror and got one of the girls to take a picture.

It looks like a trike, but the wheels didn't seem right.

And I didn't see any bars and thought the driver's hand position looked a little odd.

No wonder!! The thing has a steering wheel and a shifter like an automatic car.

It even has a trunk!!

This is the only Stallion I've ever seen on the road.

Super Heroes VBS

2010-05-31T21:31:00.000-05:00

This week is a messy week at ABC.

Vacation Bible School starts next Monday.

Today, the transformation began.

Our rural locale is beginning to look like Metropolis or Gotham City.

Things will be different this year at ABC. We'll have 2 Worship Rallies: one, first thing in the morning and the 2nd one will be the last thing before dismissal.

In years past, I've lead the Music Rotation. This year, there is no Music Rotation. I'm helping with the Worship Rallies and then with whatever else needs doing. One of the daily crafts involves origami, so I'll be helping there. There is also a Mad Science Lab, which I am really looking forward to. : )

I've usually come up with different costumes to go along with the theme. (One of my favorites was the kilt. And the didgeridoo from last year is still in my office.)

This year, being the year of the Super Hero, I have made myself a Super Supplier costume. I have a cape and a utility belt.

Here's a close up of my utility belt. It's loaded with things you might need that I can supply you with: pony tail doos (can you tell I have girls with long hair?), a magnifying glass, zip ties, a wrench, a sharpie, paper clips, a clothes pin, chewing gum,and a mouse trap. On the other side that you can't see are a bottle of Germ-X, band aids, post-its, and some other stuff I can't remember. I plan on adding a roll of duct tape and probably some other items, as well.

It's going to be a fun week!!

Flower Boxes

2010-05-21T08:30:00.000-05:00

My Mom and I didn't have very similar tastes on many things. And after having been married with a house of my own for almost 28 years, I don't have the need nor the space for much of what's in Mom's house.

There is a notable exception, however.

I have always loved these concrete flower boxes. I seem to remember seeing them at my Grandmother Louise's house, but I'm not certain. I don't think they are something Mom would have bought herself, but she had a hard time letting go of her mother's things.

My mom did not have a green thumb, by the way. I can't remember anything specific she ever planted in these boxes. But I've always liked them.

When we built our house, we used a lot of concrete. Our floors are stained concrete. Our counter tops in the kitchen and bathrooms are concrete (mixed in a wheel barrow in the front yard and toted inside in 5 gallon buckets to be poured into the mold Mr. H built). When the girls asked what we were going to do for a fireplace surround, their dad said, "Concrete, of course." He meant it as a joke, but we actually did make it from concrete, too!

So the concrete flower boxes are right at home here. All the flowers I planted in them are doing well (so far!) The plantain lily even has a flower bud waiting to bloom. I'm excited to see it. I'll post pictures when it opens.

I Found the Camera!!

2010-05-20T16:57:00.000-05:00

I found my camera this morning: in the glove box of my car!! I have absolutely no memory of putting it there. Not even taking it to the car.

Oh, well. I'm 50. What can I say?

I did remember what I was going to take pictures of, though!

Since Mr. H got a new laptop, I inherited his mostly new one. It has a back-lit keyboard, which is great for low light surfing. Most of my computer time is spent at the kitchen table, which is made of concrete. I really don't like anything cold to touch me, so I made an armrest. It's rather like a long narrow place mat and keeps my skin from contacting the cold surface of the table. I like it!

These are some washcloths I've been making. The yellow one and the smaller multi-colored one have been used and gone through the wash several times. I didn't realize they had shrunk until I put them next to a brand new one! The yellow one is slightly bigger because I wasn't paying attention to how many rows I had done and went 2 beyond the instructions.

I get e-mails from a yarn company that include free patterns each week. In the winter, there are hats, scarves, sweaters, socks, and all manner of other warm stuff. This summer there is a wash cloth of the week. Some are knitted and some are crocheted. It's a great way to use up leftovers from other projects.

Unofficial Cheese Street

2010-05-19T07:38:00.003-05:00

This past Saturday, Mr. H and I went on a bike ride around George and Greene Counties. It always amazes me how many beautiful places there are, right here close to home.

And many strange, unexplained things, too......

On Brushy Creek Road, close to Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church, I saw a green street name sign that read "Unofficial Cheese St."

I really did!

I have a friend who is a member of that church, so I asked her about it. She had never seen it, so she went looking.

She found it. She asked the lady who lives across the street from the odd sign about its origin.

No answers.

Now she's curious, too.

I would love to have a picture to add to this post, but alas, I have misplaced my camera in the last several days and have seen more things that need photographing than I ever see when that camera is safely in my purse.

A New Look

2010-05-17T20:43:00.002-05:00

I don't think I've changed the way this blog looked since I first started.

I decided that in honor of my jubilee year, I would try a face lift.

Green is my favorite color (after gray, of course), so I'm trying this one on.

If I'd gone with gray again, you might not have noticed a change!

(And to be authentic, I decided to announce the jubilee year with a ram's horn.)

Nap Time

2010-05-13T12:25:00.004-05:00

Yesterday afternoon, I did something I haven't done in a long time: I took a nap in the front porch swing. I didn't really intend to go to sleep out there, but the opportunity presented itself and I couldn't help myself.

The air was perfect: just warm enough and just humid enough to feel like a gentle embrace. The wind was blowing in the trees and the wind chimes were singing. The swing moved slightly in the breeze and rocked me to sleep.

Resistance was futile.......

Ice Cream in a Bag

2010-05-03T14:18:00.002-05:00

This idea is just too good not to share. Mark told me about it after they tried it with our children's Sunday School classes yesterday.

1 or 2 pint size zip lock bags
1/2 cup milk
1 Tablespoon sugar
a few drops vanilla flavoring
1 quart size zip lock bag
ice cubes
rock salt

put the milk, sugar and vanilla into the pint bag.
seal well (you can place it into another sealed pint bag for good measure)
place the sealed pint bag into the quart bag along with ice and rock salt
squish the bag 5 minutes or longer if desired.
soft serve ice cream!!

You can experiment with your favorite additions, too.

This is so easy, preschoolers can handle the squishing part.

Comfortable in Your Armor

2010-04-07T15:42:00.000-05:00

Have you ever worn armor? I don't really mean something like a medieval suit of metal. If you've ever played on a football or hockey team, you've worn armor. If you are a cautious motorcycle rider, you've probably worn armor, too.

A few weekends ago, Mr. H and I rode his bike to Birmingham. That was the first time I've worn my new riding jack for an extended period. It was a bit chilly when we left the house, so I had the thermal liners in both the pants and the jacket. I also had on the winter gloves instead of my favorite new summer gloves. I had on the new boots, too. My helmet was the only piece of equipment that I was comfortable with.

It seemed like I was fighting all that gear all day. With both the thermal and wind-proof liners in the pants, I felt like the Michelin Man when I walked. And I had to fight my way out of the jacket every time we stopped. We walked around the Barber Motorsport Museum for several hours, and my legs were sore from the tall boots. The winter gloves are too thick to be able to feel anything while wearing them. When we finally arrived at the hotel, every bit of that gear came off, and quickly. I couldn't stand wearing it any longer. But I knew better to leave any of it off while we were riding. Every piece of it serves a specific purpose.

My helmet, I've had for several years. I have a liner cap that I put on first. I know just how to put the helmet on so that my ears don't fold over and the cap doesn't slide over my eyes. I'm familiar with the way it feels and how it buckles. I don't think about it when I have it on.

But I know I need ALL of this protection ... this armor. The helmet is probably the most obvious. It's the only one that's ever required by law. I have a full face helmet and here's the reasoning behind that choice: I only have one face and I'd like to keep it in the condition that it was given to me.

I wear gloves to ride even though I would prefer to be able to feel the controls with my bare hands. When it's chilly out, my hands are usually cold. If those hands are moving at 60 miles per hour, they are REALLY cold: insulated gloves for cold weather. If I didn't wear them, my hands wouldn't be able to feel the controls for long anyway. Even in warm weather, I wear full fingered riding gloves. If for some reason I should come off the bike unintentionally, what would be my first instinct? To break my fall with my hands. Asphalt does nasty things to skin!

I have a high visibility yellow riding jacket. It does several things to protect me. The color grabs your eye. One of the reasons bikes are involved in accidents is because the person driving the car didn't notice the bike was there. The jacket also has armored shoulders, elbows and back. The fabric is also abrasion resistant. If you should happen to slide, you won't be sliding on your skin.

The pants are also armored at the knees and hips. I guess all your "corners" have pads. The jacket and the pants have cold weather liners that zip in. Yes, it makes me look like Ralphie's little brother in "A Christmas Story", but ask anyone who really knows me and they will tell you how I feel about being cold. 'Absolute misery' pretty much describes it!

I didn't realize how important the boots were until I started riding myself. When I rode with Mr. H, I just wore my hiking boots. They were the sturdiest, tallest (up to my ankle) footwear I owned. I never realized they were so soft on top until I tried shifting gears with my left foot. I was getting a blister on the top of my foot. I now have some service boots that come higher up my leg and have a stiff upper. They aren't really comfortable to walk in yet, because I'm not used to the way they feel.

And that's really the point I'm try to make here. God's armor is like that. We are all used to the way WE do things, the strengths WE have, OUR comfort zones. God asks us to put those aside and put on HIS armor, to depend on HIS strength, to rely on HIS provision. It may be uncomfortable at first, but the more you wear it, the more familiar you are with the way it feels. You come to understand the purpose and protection provided by each piece. At some point, it just feels wrong NOT to have it on.

Take the Scenic Route

2010-04-02T18:51:00.003-05:00

What a great day today is!! By tonight, all my children will be home. The eldest made it about 2:00 this afternoon. The traveling missionaries will be later, probably around 9 or 10. When the eldest arrived at the house, however, Mr. H and I weren't there. We were at marker E on the map below. (if you'd rather be able to see lots of detail about the roads, click this link)

That's where Penn's Catfish in Petal is located.

Today I took my first road trip on my own bike. Mr. H and I headed out on a scenic trip to Hattiesburg. We actually didn't have any reason for that particular destination other than the distance it was from our house. Usually when headed to Hattiesburg from George County, you just get on Hwy 98 and go 'til you get there. I wasn't too sure about traveling that road today. Surely it would be busy with Easter travelers. So Mr. H mapped out a road less traveled for us.

From Hwy 63, we went west on Sally Parker Road and several others. We eventually ended up on Hwy 29. What a beautiful road! It leads to New Augusta, which is on Hwy 98. All I had to do was cross over 98 without actually having to travel along it.

Just across 98, we didn't stay on 29 for very long. Old River Road runs west just north of New Augusta. It's a great road, too. It leads to Petal. From there we went on Hwy 11 to Hattiesburg. Hattiesburg Cycle is just south of the junction of Hwy 11 and US Hwy 49 (on the frontage road, so I didn't have to drive on 49, either)

We really didn't need anything from Hattiesburg Cycle. It does have a lot of bikes and helmets, so we mainly just looked around. It was more of a leg stretching stop than any thing else. We were hungry by that time, so we headed out to get some lunch.

If there really was a "destination" for this trip, it was our next stop: Penn's. They have some of the best catfish there. Since it was after 2 when we arrived, it wasn't crowded at all.

After a great lunch, we got back on the bikes and headed east on Hwy 42. We followed 42 to Richton and from there to Hwy 63. I travel parts of 63 every week, but hadn't been on that part. It runs down through Sand Hill and Leakesville, where I have been before.

The weather today was just gorgeous. It is such a nice change from the endlessly cold weather we've had this winter. I think everything has bloomed in the last week. Wisteria is everywhere in south Mississippi.

Ownership

2010-04-01T17:33:00.004-05:00

Today I did something that I never in my wildest dreams thought I would do: put MY license plate on MY motorcycle.

It's mine. My name will be on the title when it comes.

What an odd thought: I will one day be a biker. I know better than to think I am now. Not enough miles or hours spent in the saddle. There are stickers and T-shirts that say "$15,000 and a weekend don't make you a biker." There is a lot of truth to that statement.

You've got to get to the point where some things are automatic and require no thought. I'm not there, yet. I'm thinking about EVERYTHING: how far from that stop sign should I start breaking and downshifting? ... what gear should be in to go around this corner? ... I need to remember to cancel my turn signal a bit sooner after the turn.

It surprises me that things I don't think about in my car (which is a 6 speed) require so much thought on the bike. You even think about the road itself: is that a pot hole or just a dark patch? ... is that sand on the outside of that turn? ... watch out for that dead armadillo on this side of the yellow line. The thought process is incredible.

But I really, really like it.

And don't they look nice together?

Humorous note: when we called to add my Honda to Mr. H's Geico policy, they asked if I would be riding his Honda. He laughed and said there was no way, since I couldn't stand that bike up nor touch the ground while sitting on it. True! That's why I have my own.

Trip to Birmingham

2010-03-29T21:11:00.000-05:00

We dropped the girls off at church early Saturday morning for their mission trip. Then Mr. H and I were off on a trip of our own.

We left the house about 7 a.m. and headed north. The trip up I-65 was mostly uneventful. There were 2 moments that stand out. As we were passing through Prattville, Mr. H thinks he saw one of his heros: BamaRider. The man we saw was not on a bike, but the face through the driver's side window looked a lot like Mr. Boutin. There are some tasks that require even the most avid rider to take alternate transportation.

The 2nd stand-out event was memorable for different reasons. We were solid traffic somewhere between Jemison and Calera, I think. Mr. H was in the left lane because we were coming up on some slower moving cars. A red car came up on the right side behind the slower car and acted like he was going to pull in front of us. He wasn't quite quick enough and lost his opportunity. We moved on past the car at the back of the line and the next thing you know, that red car is passing us on the left WITH 2 WHEELS IN THE GRASS AND THE OTHER 2 IN OUR LANE!!! WHAT AN IDIOT!!! I couldn't believe what he was doing. Someone with less experience (translate that 'me', if I'd been riding my bike) might have lost control and been seriously, if not fatally, injured! It still makes my blood boil. What was he thinking?!Well, it took a bit for my blood pressure to go back down, but eventually I calmed down. We made it to Birmingham without further incident or celebrity sighting and headed to the BMW dealership. Bog art's Motorsports sells BMW, Ducati, Triumph, and KTM motorcycles as well as Vespa scooters. They had 2 BMW bikes with the lowered seat position and lowered suspension: a 2010 F650GS and a 2009 G650GS, both of which allowed me to put both feet on the ground (just toes, however.) The salesman tried really hard to get us to take one home that day, but I KNOW I'm not ready for that yet. Our objective was to see if it fit, and both of those did. My objective now is to get ready for the day I CAN take one of those (or something similar) home.

After a quick lunch, we headed to the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum. What a cool place! The approach to the museum itself is a twisty driveway about 3/4 of a mile long. As we drove in, we passed 3 red Corvettes, as well as one black one, going out. There was a Corvette club meeting there that day. As it turned out, they had the 5th floor reserved for a banquet, so we didn't get to look at the displays up there. But the other 4 floors were enough to keep us occupied for the rest of the afternoon.

I found a bike I absolutely love. It's a 1969 BMW R60 U.S. Beautiful...
Hey! If we'd been outfitted like the bike below, the guy in the red car would have thought twice before trying to cut us off in traffic!

My favorite display was the 'round world bike record set by Jim Rogers (Investment Biker) and Tabitha Estabrook. This is Tabitha's bike. You can see the headlight and windscreen of Jim's right behind hers.This case has a copy of Jim's book, "Investment Biker", their international driver's licenses and a post card with a map of the route.

As I was looking, Mr. H came up beside me and said, "You know, it's crazy, but if I asked you to do something like that with me, I believe you'd do it." He's right.

Bikes and the Deer Slayer

2010-03-13T22:16:00.002-06:00

We had to go to Mobile today to get the Deer Slayer. She was finally ready.

She was supposed to be ready a few days ago but when the guy at the body shop opened the box of the replacement headlight, he said it looked like someone had dropped the box. It was in worse shape than the one being replaced. So they ordered another one and it took a while for it to come in. And we didn't want her out until all the paint was dry!

Mr. H needed to get some fluids for his bike so we went by A&B Cycle in Mobile. That's where he got his ST1300. While we were there I spotted this bike:

It's a Honda CRF230M, and it looked like it wasn't too tall. Then I did something that would have been unthinkable a few short months ago: I grabbed the bar, threw my leg over and stood it up. I was right. It wasn't too tall! But it wasn't too comfortable, either. It's essentially a dirt bike with street tires, but it's something that fits me.

I think that encouraged Mr. H. We still had an hour and a half before the body shop closed, so we stopped by Halls Motorsports. That's where Mr. H got filters and such for his Suzuki. They carry Yamaha bikes, too. I saw this bike first:

The Suzuki TU250 fits me very nicely, too. It's very close to the Honda Rebel that I'm considering now. The most noticeable difference to me was foot position. The Rebel has the foot pegs farther to the front, like a cruiser. The TU250 has the pegs more directly underneath you. (Remember standing up on your bike pedals when you were a kid? If you go over a rough patch of road, standing on the pegs keeps your spine from absorbing all that jarring. That's not possible when the pegs are out front. However, on a bike, it's best to avoid all those rough patches in the first place!)

Then I saw this bike:

A Suzuki GS500F....Ooooooo! I had no idea that a bike like this would come in a size that fit me. I was wearing flip flops and was able to get this bike up from the side stand unassisted. (that's my criteria for if a bike is too tall) This is billed as a beginner bike and Mr. H seems to agree. Very nice.

Then, parked right next to the GS500F, was this one:

This bike is a Yamaha FZ6R. It is definitely the heaviest bike I sat on today. When Mr. H sat on it, I noticed the pink and gray decorations on the tank. "Hey, this is bike is too girlie for you!" I told him. The salesman at Hall's told us that the previous owner was indeed female and had lowered the seat to fit her stature. Mr. H also informed me that this bike was off limits to me until I had been on the road on some other bike for at least a year! Something to dream about, I guess.

By the time we had looked at all these bikes, it was getting time to go get my car. I'd been calling the body shop every day since Tuesday. She would have been ready Tuesday or Wednesday but the shop discovered that a headlamp had cracked and ordered a replacement. When the replacement arrived and the box was opened, it looked like the box had been dropped. The new lamp was in worse shape than the one to be replaced. It took until Friday for the job to be finished and then the paint needed to dry. Saturday morning, she was ready to go. And I was more than ready to get her back.

Creativity

2010-03-10T07:59:00.004-06:00

There is such a sense of satisfaction that comes from creating something. And the degree of satisfaction is proportional to the involvement in the creative process.

I finished a scarf this week. It's not the first thing I've knitted, but it's definitely the best. I like the color, which I found on a clearance table (added bonus!) I like the feel of it. But mostly I like it because I designed it. I picked the needles to make it the size I wanted. I made it exactly as long and as wide as I wanted.

And when I was finished with the knitting part and it still needed a little 'something extra', I searched the web for a crocheted edging I liked. I had to figure out how to space the crochet stitches with the knitted rows. It took thought and planning, but I stuck with it. Am I pleased with the result? You bet! Even though it was not cold yesterday, I wore it anyway. I picked out something to wear that would go with it.

When the Father created us, He made us in His image. First and foremost, He is the Creator. We all have some of that. It's not always manifested in forming something with our hands. Sometimes it's creating something to hear from dots on a page. Sometimes it's creating pictures in the minds of others using words. It might be creating order out of chaos using computer code.

Find your creativity. It's there. Then you'll have an idea of how the Creator feels about you. He made you. He picked the color of your skin, your eyes, your hair. He made you the size He wanted. And He wants to show you off as His. He wants you to wear His tag: God's Child.

Grillin' on the Road

2010-03-07T13:13:00.008-06:00

There are some things that you just don't see very often....

In fact, there are some things that you just don't expect to see, ever.

On our way home from church this morning, we saw one of the latter.

We had some around the big curve on Will Howell Road and could see a wagon up ahead. Now, it's not unusual in George County to see wagons on the road, pulled by a single mule or a team of mules. (Our wagons aren't square like the Amish ones though. They are more like the Conestoga wagons you see in western movies. ) In fact there are official road signs warning when you enter areas they frequently travel (along the same lines as deer crossing and children playing signs.)

What you don't expect to see is a smoking charcoal grill mounted to the rear and one of the passengers turning steaks and burgers.

Dr. T, I don't think this qualifies as rurban: it is rural all the way around!

Note: we passed the same wagon on the way back to church that afternoon and took a picture. Here's the link.

Today's Ride

2010-03-06T21:48:00.004-06:00

It was a gorgeous day today. I spent the majority of it with just Mr. H. He needed some cables and other stuff for his EWI connection at church, so we headed to Guitar Center in Mobile. We got there at 9 and discovered they don't open until 10. So we decided to kill some time at Academy Sports. As we were looking around I discovered some boots that I thought would make good riding boots. The price was right, so I got them.

We got the stuff Mr. H needed when Guitar Center opened and then headed to Lowe's for something else he was looking for. After we go home, we decided to go riding. I'm so glad I got the boots this morning. I have been using my hiking boots for riding because they are the heavist, tallest footwear I have. I thought they were sturdy on top (for shifting gears), but boy, was I wrong. These new boots are great. It's much easier to shift when wearing shoes with a stiff upper.

View Larger Map

I had to put all those markers on the map to show the exact route. Google Maps kept wanting to show a different way to get from where we started to where we ended up!

if the map doesn't show above, here's the link to the route of our trip.

I really had no idea where I wanted to go once we got on the road. After a loop around Shipman Firetower Road, Mr. H had a suggestion. "How about I show you the best biking road in George County?" So off we went. (if you don't want the exact route, feel free to skip the next 3 paragraphs!)

We headed to the church and turned on Barton Agricola Road. The road he had in mind was across Hwy 63 from Barton Agricola: Grain Elevator Road to River Road. What a beautiful ride! The sun was shining. It was warmer than it has been for a LONG time. There were almost no other vehicles on the road. We road to where River Road ends on Hwy 26. He suggested a road that he had told me about a few weeks ago, so he took the lead and I followed. We traveled out 26 to Hwy 57. This road follows the edge of the Pascagoula River Wildlife Management Area. It was a blast. Then we turned on to a part of Old River Road that I had never been on. From there we went east on Wade-Vancleave Road. This has to be one of the prettiest places I know. It's all wilderness, river and swamp.

We crossed Hwy 63 onto Hwy 614, but didn't stay on it long. We took a back road that put us on the back side of East Central Elementary School. Somewhere along this back route, we encountered a Sand Hill crane. (we had a close encounter with one a few weeks ago) This time Mr. H was in the lead! It headed away from him, then circled around and flew across the road between the 2 bikes. Those birds are big!

We stayed on back roads the rest of the way home: Ellis Hamilton to Gavin Hamilton Road, then Ramie Farm Road. When we got back to the intersection of 612 and Walt Tanner, we found the Sheriff's Department had 612 blocked going east. There was a big fire down that way. Luckily, we weren't going that way!

Our bike trip was about 90 miles today. That's the longest I've ever ridden. One thing about being on a bike is that you notice things. You know when there are cows nearby. You can tell which fields have been recently fertilized with chicken manure. The changes in elevation in the road are very apparent, at least on a small bike. You really have to crank up the throttle when the road heads uphill.

Today was the first time I really didn't have to consciously THINK about every little thing I did. Some of them just came naturally. I was relieved to know that it would happen. Until now, I felt like I was holding my breath every time I rode. Today I was a lot more relaxed. Now, if I could just remember to always turn the blinker off after a turn...

Connections

2010-03-05T12:29:00.003-06:00

The Gulf Coast Choir Festival took place last night at First Baptist Church, Long Beach, Mississippi.

The day after Katrina, this is what that place looked like. They have several pages of pictures devoted to before and after August 29, 2005. The Preschool building picture is the scariest.

But that's not what last night was about. It was about the opportunity to praise God from Whom all blessings flow. They did not believe that the church was the building. They knew that they, the people, were the church. And they kept on being the church. And because they did, we had such a wonderful time singing His praises last night.

Sitting in the crowd last night, I started thinking about all the connections I saw. First of all, there was the church itself. Our pastor, Dr. T, was a member of that church when he lived in Long Beach. Through our Kentucky connections, we were able to help them get their offices re-established immediately after Katrina. Computers and other office equipment helped them organize.

Churches from all over the Gulf Coast were there. I saw someone we knew when we went to FBC Gautier. This couple moved to Ocean Springs and now sings with the FBC Ocean Springs choir. The youth pastor of church was very nearly called to Agricola 6 or 7 years ago. He and some of his students were singing with the adult choir. I remember at the time being disappointed that his call to Agricola didn't happen. But if it had, we wouldn't have met Mark and his family, who are simply incredible people!

Bel-Aire Baptist Church was there, too. Two years ago they lost their pastor, Lowry Anderson, very suddenly to cancer. He and his wife Kandi were great friends of our pastor and his wife. Both Bro. Lowry and Kandi have spoken at our church. Dr. T preached the funeral.

Another choir present was FBC Pascagoula. Twenty years ago, I rang with their handbells. Gary Anglin was the music minister then, and he's back there now. I recognized so many familiar faces.

I think the biggest connection was with LeMoyne Boulevard Baptist Church. And I don't know a single person at that church or in that choir. But that's where our Minister of Music, Nick Wolfe, was until Christmas.

And they loved him.

And they still do.

The scheduling of the choirs had LeMoyne Blvd following just after Agricola. And because each director lead a congregational hymn while his choir exited the loft and the next choir filed in, Bro. Nick was there in front of his other choir. At one point he turned to face them, like he does frequently, and my heart went out to all of them, including him. Their faces told such a story. Until they have a new full time worship leader, they will still feel like they are Nick's choir. I understand. I've had that same feeling toward pastors and other worship leaders in my lifetime. I pray that the Lord is preparing them (and the one He has chosen to lead them) for more than they can ask or imagine.

Thank you, Lord, for connecting us as Your children.

Sigr's New Name

2010-02-21T21:27:00.004-06:00

My car has a new nickname: the Deer Slayer!

On our way to church Saturday night for the DiscipleNow gathering, we were hit by a deer. She came out of nowhere and slammed into the driver's side of the car. Thankfully, we are fine, the car still drives wonderfully, and the guys behind us (the students staying at our house) were able to merely witness and not take an active part in the encounter.

The front quarter panel and both doors have damage, but none affecting performance or drivability.

As soon as we arrived at the church, Em was in the parking lot asking if we were okay. It took me a minute to realize how she knew before we even got there. I had forgotten for a moment how connected" her generation is. The guys behind us were friends of hers. They either called or sent a text to her within seconds of the impact. She essentially knew about it the very moment we did! The world is getting smaller every day.

A Name

2010-02-15T06:22:00.003-06:00

Last night in church, I did something I don't usually do. I sat in the congregation with my husband for the entire service. Even if I'm not singing in a service, he us usually on the platform as part of the praise band. Since we spent the afternoon with his mom in Ocean Springs, we got to the church right at 6 p.m. and missed the rehearsal.

The funniest part of the afternoon was when Em noticed the time at 3:45 and realized that she was going to miss Bible Drills. She proceeded to ask every 10 minutes if we could leave, and when the answer was "No", gave us dirty looks designed to intimidate us into yielding to her will. Whereas most grandmothers would be disappointed to hear that their granddaughters were in such a hurry to leave, this particular grandmother was pleased to note that this granddaughter was so anxious to get to church. I'm not sure if was the service or the fellowship that was so attractive, but it does show me that the closest friends of my daughter also are her brothers and sisters.

The message was centered around Ephesians 5:15-16. At one point in the service, Dr. T pointed out that within 50 years (or certainly in 75 years) there won't be anyone living who really remembers us. He said something to the effect that .... 'the only One Who has changed the world in a lasting way is......' and the congregation replied "Jesus." I have heard that Name spoken many times, in church and out, by individuals and by crowds. But there was something about that Name last night that caught me off guard. Maybe it was the mix of voices, maybe it was because it was unrehearsed and not coerced. It just came out. I could feel it lingering in the air. I think that was the first time I ever had a glimpse of the power of simply .... the Name.

Interesting So Far

2010-02-11T08:13:00.006-06:00

I went outside while Mr. H was warming up his bike this morning. The sky was an interesting combination of pink and purple.

I was hoping it would spread over the entire sky, but this was about as far as it went.
By the time we got in the car to head to school & work, the sky was different shades of gray. The weather experts say that it's supposed to start snowing at midnight tonight and continue until around 3 tomorrow afternoon. It hasn't snowed here in the past 12 years. El has seen snow on the ground on vacations, but never falling on her. Tomorrow should be fun. Remind me to bring fire wood to the porch when I get home this afternoon.

On a completely different train of thought, a package was delivered for me yesterday after I left work. I went out to put it in the back of the car this morning so I wouldn't forget it. When I opened the hatchback, this is what I saw:

It looks like an American Express commercial, doesn't it?

The close-up doesn't look very clear, but you get a good look at it. It's the handle to a gray suede purse Em borrowed from a friend. The purse is on the shelf behind the back seat. When you open the hatch, the shelf swings up, opening a space just wide enough for this handle to slide through.

It's been an interesting day so far and it's not even 9:00 yet!

Another Saturday, Another Ride

2010-02-06T16:18:00.004-06:00

It's the weekend and it's not raining. That means we go riding.

Yesterday, I went to Hattiesburg and picked up my new jacket, so I was all set to go. We got El to take our picture in our (almost) matching jackets.

I am really pleased with my new jacket. The temperature was in the upper 40's today, but I didn't get cold. And that was without the thermal liner! I was wearing a sweatshirt and flannel shirt layered underneath and was very comfortable. It was too cool to wear my new gloves: they're not insulated at all.

We drove down to the Advance Auto Parts in Hurley, looking for an LED tail light. They didn't have anything that Mr. H was satisfied with, so he'll keep looking. The tail light assembly on Dr. T's bike has a problem, so Mr. H is going to solve it!

After leaving Advance, we went down the road to an empty parking lot and did figure 8's for a bit, then headed home by way of State Line Road. That is a beautiful road to ride on. There are places that must have been flooded yesterday. At one spot, both sides of the road looked like large ponds. Just past that, I got a big surprise: a sand hill crane took off from the side of the road and cut right in front of me! Those are really BIG birds! Boy, I'm glad we didn't collide!

Today's ride was great. We took some back roads that I'd never been on and spent a little time on Hwy 613 and Hwy 614. I stopped at stop signs without stalling out - a good thing! I turned from the highway onto side roads without stopping or otherwise impeding traffic behind me - another good thing. The best thing was that I was feeling more confident than I did last time out.

One of these days, I'll get to ride when the sun is shining and the wind isn't howling!