sewbuttons

parenting

2012-02-11T16:14:00.006+01:00

Despite the annoyingly-catch-your-eye-title, this article was good:

"Why French Parents Are Superior" from the WSJ

I'd recommend reading it, and watching the video in the middle of it that expands on the ideas, if you're into that sort of thing.....

En bref: it's written by an American mom living in France, who noticed that French children did not act like American children. She began to study the differences, find that other such studies had been done, and she wrote a book. I think it'd be an interesting read.

I'll highlight the differences. The French parents view themselves as authorities. {Crazy concept, no? Apparently American parents do not.} They see their role as establishing a frame with firm boundaries where their children have freedom within. French parents place a higher value [than American parents] on
- teaching delayed gratification (learning to wait, patience, etc...)
- independent play (connected to...)
- adult time
- trying all kinds of food
I'm sure the book has more. She wrote nicely, and I think it would be an éclairante et agréable read.

The ideas aren't revolutionary, and I think they follow biblical values. But perhaps the majority of American parents won't accept these values on the basis of them being "Christian", but would be willing to try them as "French"? Hmmm.

best of Christmas break - PA

2012-01-24T14:48:00.000+01:00

Best buds

Ruth knit a lot of strawberry hats

Family of 4

Cousins!

Photogenic Aunt & Niece

Going on a walk

The whole group

Hanging out with Grandpa

best of Christmas break - MA

2012-01-24T14:39:00.001+01:00

Aunt Caren & Uncle Drew

Napping with Beppe

Meeting 2nd cousin Abigail

Birthdays

Auntie Laura

Beautiful photos by Caren

Julie's day

2012-01-24T14:19:00.002+01:00

Propped up, watching Mommy fold & hang laundry

Taking a letter to the post office

Studying herself in the mirror

parenting

2012-01-22T08:35:00.001+01:00

I want to continue to expound on thoughts from the PS of my last blog post.

"Being a mom to a baby is hard. It's hard physically. Being a mom to teens and adults is hard emotionally."

First, I really appreciated how my friend made her comment. She wasn't trying to belittle my current situation. She was sharing where she was, without trying to say "oh, my difficulties are so much worse than yours."

But it's continuing to make me think. So here's what I think.

First, being a new mom is hard physically. Especially for the first 3 weeks. Wow. That part isn't so bad now, at 3 months. To me (aside from lifting heavy strollers up stairs) the physical difficulty is being tired: being up late in the evening her wide awake when we're all ready for bed; getting up for her early morning feeding.

But it is hard emotionally too. I am learning to love a brand new person in a way I've never loved someone before. I'm learning to deal with a new level or worry that plagues me at an hour of the day or night. I'm learning to relate to my husband again, now as a mother and he a father. I'm learning to relate to other moms in a new --and wonderful-- way. And I've got to learn to re-relate to women who aren't moms. My identity is changing in becoming a mom more than any other life experience, and I'm still muddling through that. Not that I don't love it -- but it's hard!
But here's the hardest part: being a mom to a new baby is so hard because I'm learning in a whole new way what it means to serve and to put others first. I had not realized how much I had the opportunity to be selfish before. Getting married challenges it a little bit a first; having a child brings it to a whole new level.

And this dying-to-self is hard. It's not that I don't love Julie and love taking care of her. It's that I love myself a lot, and Jesus is working on me.

You see, the feeding, diapering, laundry, etc. isn't the hardest part -- the hardest part is not getting to do what I want. I love sitting andnursing my baby - love it ever so much. But I also love sitting in a clean house, and daily I have to sacrifice my wants over her present needs.

So what I'm saying is that for me what's hard is not getting to clean the house, bake cookies, write work emails... What I'm substituting my time for is completely wonderful and worth it. But I'm sinful, and so not getting to do what I want to do at any given moment is hard. And oh so good for me.

I just read this fabulous blog post: "To the Mother With Only One Child" by Simcha Fisher. She hit the nail on the head, and I needed to hear this so much. I strongly recommend following the link.

feeding

2012-01-20T11:22:00.003+01:00

This blog is about whatever is going on in my life and on my mind. And lately, it's been nursing.

The first thing I must get out is that I had NO idea how feeding a newborn is all-consuming. It's so frequent, and takes so much time, that my life revolved completely around it for nearly 3 months, and still does to a degree.
It's like this. A newborn feeds every two hours, and sometimes more frequently. Now, in text it doesn't actually sound that overwhelming, but look at it this way. Julie's feeding took at least 40 minutes. Sometimes it'd take a hour, because she'd fall asleep, and I'd re-awaken her, and take some time for burping, and I didn't know if she was done, so I'd let her eat for a whole hour. Now you do the math: if we eat every 2 hours and she takes 1 hour to eat, I have 1 hour before it's time to eat again! {Plus that means half of my day is feeding.}

Basically, our day went like this:

breakfast
second breakfast
elevensies
lunch
tea
supper
dinner
late night snack

Usually that was about right. Sometimes there were 9 feedings...
When you consider that the hour between feedings, every other hour, has to include my meals, getting dressed (on a good day, showering), laundry, dishes, etc., it's a wonder a new mom could ever get to the grocery store. And if she did, think how well-timed & fast it has to be: in the hour before feeding, I'd need to make sure I was showered, dressed, packed, list made, etc. Directly after feeding, I'd have to diaper Babes and get her dressed and in the stroller. If that takes (optimistically) 10 minutes, and it takes only 15 minutes to get wherever I'm going, I have a whopping 20 minutes in the store! And I better not dream of popping in another store on my way home, or I'll be in danger of having a screaming, hungry baby on my hands.

I write this because I wish I could have read this in September...I hadno idea what it would actually be like to be at home alone all day with a newborn. [And I'm sure it's not everyone's experience. Some babies must be faster eaters; those bottle feeding can share the duty, etc. etc.] But just as I wish I could have read that and known I was not alone, I also needed to be told that -that particular difficult aspect of parenting*- does NOT last long. It doesn't feel like it could be true while you're in the middle of it, but now (at 3.5 mo) I see it was over in the blink of an eye. Since Christmas, we've usually had three hours between feedings, and it's like the day has been handed back to me. I'm not constantly wary of the clock, ticking toward feeding time. The sun is a bit shinier, my eyes a little less glazed, and here I have a moment, while Julie naps, to write about the thoughts swirling in my brain.
But I ought to close with this, lest I dwell on what's negative and seem complaining...I said it before, but it ought to be said again...This is the hardest job I've had, but it is the most wonderful.

* PS: I've recently been told about how parenting is hard. Sometimes, when they ask me how I am, and I tell them like it is, I get a condescending (or perhaps I imagine it), "It gets harder. When they're older, the troubles are bigger." And that isn't really all that kind or helpful. Perhaps they are right, or perhaps it is because the difficulties that are so present to me are faded in their memories. Either way, when I hear that I feel "shushed" or slighted.

This weekend, a dear friend said to me (in a thoughtful, carefully spoken way): "Being a mom to a baby is hard. It's hard physically. Being a mom to teens and adults is hard emotionally." That was so helpful: being affirmed that what I feel is hard really is hard, while getting to hear her older perspective.

salt dough ornaments

2012-01-19T10:14:00.001+01:00

I got this idea here (yet another pinterest inspiration! and you can find the recipe at that link) and I made them with my friend Eliza, who has a 1 year old, just before Christmas break. Julie's footprint is so darn cute, and I thought her grandparents might like it.

We stamped feet and then cut around them with cookie cutters. I used a toothpick to write in her name & year.

But after they left, I had so much dough left, so I did a google-image search for other ways to decorate salt dough ornaments, and I saw this.

Out came all the cookie cutters and my stamp collection. This was so fast and easy: very rewarding.

After they baked in the oven, I sprayed both sides with a polyurethane, so they should last.

I topped them off with red ribbon so they can hang on the tree.

more crafting

2012-01-18T21:57:00.001+01:00

Over Christmas break I had the opportunity to try another craft inspired by pinterest.

A few days after arriving in the US, I visited a couple craft stores, and ooooh, that is a nice thing about America. I got fun supplies, was inspired by lots of creative things to buy, and started a project. Julie Anna was happily hanging out with grandparents, and I got to delve into a creative project; everyone is happy!

I made my mother a birthday board, inspired by this. It includes the names & dates for the birthdays and anniversaries of children & grandchildren. Each name & date is written on a little circle that has a hook & eye so it can hang under the correct month. On the back of the circle I put the year of the birthday or wedding. And I made more circles so more additions to the family (already one coming in June!] can be added.

Home Depot sells little bottles of paint for $1 each - samples of colors. I dug through the big dusty bin to find a fun assortment. Best of all, they come with a little brush in them, like rubber cement. I painted each circle, drilled little holes of the hook & eyes. I used alphabet stickers for the lettering, and pretty ribbon to decorate the board. Sharpie has a "paint pen" - this was new to me. It was a perfect way for me to write in the names, since I don't have a very steady hand. Plus, I included the pen in the gift so my mom can write in more dates.

Here's the final product!

laughing

2012-01-06T12:46:00.001+01:00

She has giggled, she has smiled, she has cooed. And we've enjoyed it, and even called it laughing for several months now.

But last night, for the first time, Julie Anna really laughed. The kind you could write as "haha". Her daddy was blowing raspberries in her face. [We were reading together about what she might be able to do by now, being 3 months old, and what we might expect in the next month. Making buzzing sounds is one of them.]

Her laugh was such a really laugh it made us laugh out load. So contagious. So delightful.

The first three months are super hard. Some of the hardest of my life. But they have been the most rewarding.

This morning, Julie seems pretty miserable. We've all got colds, and she's had it too, but today seems worse somehow. It feels that all she's done is whine, eat or sleep, and that is not like her! But then suddenly she gives me a smile, and sucks contentedly on a few fingers and thumb. And when she smiles, it makes my spit-up-y self who really wants a shower completely happy.

tummy time

2011-12-21T15:42:00.002+01:00

Since most people don't put their babies to sleep on their bellies anymore, babies have to have tummy time to strengthen their neck muscles. At least, that's what most websites say, and my pediatrician says to too.

But I found tummy time to be very tricky when Julie was newborn - particularly for the first six weeks or so.

First of all, there is just not that much time in the day with a newborn! Between eating and crying and sleeping, there is only so much happy play time. Maybe 15 minutes between each of the feedings. Often none if her tummy is bothering her. And if I have to go out, and she spends it in the stroller, or if I have needs [showering? eating? getting out of pajamas? or other such minor necessities that suddenly become luxuries with a newborn] then I miss the happy window for tummy time.

She didn't like tummy time, so I didn't want to put her down on her belly when she was already crying. And of course if she wasn't crying, I wanted to enjoy it, and I didn't want to move her from what she was happy to do.

I also found it very tricky to get her onto her tummy when she didn't have any head or arm control. And it's even more awkward to pick her up off of the floor from her belly.

When I did put her down, she often just turned her head to the side and sucked on her first, or on the blanket.

So this is why in six weeks she got maybe 6 minutes of tummy time...

But here's what I've learned so maybe I could do it better next time.

Tummy time after the bath is good. In a warm bathroom while having a massage -- if she's still happy after I've done her front, I roll her onto her back, and sometimes she is content for a few minutes while I'm rubbing her back.

Lay her down with her chest on a pillow and her arms sticking out. You can put a toy, like a mirror, under her. This way she can't just lick the blanket.

Put your feet up on the coffee table, creating a sort of angled table with your shins. Lay her tummy on your lower legs with her head just up above your knee. Then she can look up to see your face.

camiband

2011-12-09T15:23:00.001+01:00

I'd really like one of these. It's like a Bellaband, only not for maternity.

The product suggests you can wear them to lengthen a t-shirt, or over your chest when your shirt's neckline is too low. They are pretty and lacy, and they would multiply your wardrobe.

It's a great idea. I always feel like camisoles that I can find in stores are worthless: either they aren't long enough to actually help cover your midriff when you wear a short shirt. Or they don't have a neck high enough to do the job. Sometimes they help with neither; I don't think I've ever met one to do both. Plus, they're an extra layer, which is miserable in the summer.

But here's what I want to know: Why, when these are such a great idea, aren't more people making them? Because I would really appreciate if we could drive the price down. Why should they cost more than a shirt when they are less material.....

I have two bellabands from my pregnancy. I had been planning to put them up in storage, but I think I'll keep them around...

2011-12-08T17:28:00.001+01:00

pizza night

2011-12-06T19:20:00.001+01:00

I have a favorite new recipe. I was directed to this by Elizabeth, the best cook in Prague (after my 'umble 'usband, of course).

It's from the "Good Housekeeping Cookbook." [Am I allowed to share their recipes online? If I credit them?]

You need to be able to start this several hours before you want to eat. But it's worth the extra time, and rushing the process won't work.

Stir together in large bowl:
1 and 1/4 cup warm water
1 packet dry yeast (or I do 1/2 of a box of wet yeast in CZ)
1 teaspoon sugar.
After it's dissolved, let it sit for 5 minutes till foamy.

Add & Stir together with wooden spoon:
2 T olive oil
2 t salt
1 1/2 cups flour

Stir until smooth. Then add:
2 cups flour
and stir until the dough comes away from the side of the bowl.

Knead on lightly floured surface for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Slowly work in about 1/2 a cup more of flour while kneading so the dough doesn't get sticky.
Shape dough into a ball and place in greased bowl, rolling dough to get oil all over it.
Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 1 hour (until doubled; supposed to be warm place, but I rarely have one)

Punch dough down; cut into 2 halves. Cover and let rest 15 minutes. (Or you can refrigerate for 24 hrs)
Roll each dough out with floured rolling pin.
You're supposed to roll them out onto a cookie sheet that has been sprinkled with cornmeal.
I've rolled it out on the counter, spread it more with my hands, and then tossed it on the cornmeal-covered cookie sheet.
Bake at 425 for about 15-20 minutes.

We use tomato sauce (like for pasta) for the topping. If we have some of G's BBQ sauce in the fridge, a little bit of that adds nice flavor. Then Garrett sprinkles on spices: oregano & garlic powder, or whatever you like.

To do it P-Style, top with mozzarella cheese, sliced avocado, sundried tomatoes, and GourmeT Gařřett chicken. Yum.

Our daughter

2011-12-03T12:44:00.001+01:00

Julie Anna

A series of photos showing her growing...

Born!

with Daddy in the hospital, Oct 4

1 week old

First bath at home, Oct 7

2 weeks old

With Grandpa, Oct 17

3 weeks old

Laying on Daddy's chest, Oct 23

4 weeks old

Enjoying one of her first smiles, Nov 1

5 weeks old

One of her last baths in the sink, Nov 7

6 weeks old

Nov 14

7 weeks old

Chilling on a quilt, Nov 20

8 weeks old

napping & showing her eyelashes which have grown tremendously since birth, Nov 28

She'll be 9 weeks tomorrow. And I'm sure there'll be many more photos to come.

the labor tale

2011-12-02T16:38:00.003+01:00

I only had to wait 11 more days from that post. It feels like a lifetime ago.

Here I am on Friday, September 30.

On Saturday, October 1, I woke up before 4am with labor pains. I had been SO curious how it would start, and how I would know it was real. And when it started, I just knew.

The contractions weren't anything like the braxton hicks I had been feeling all summer. They were like cramps, lasting for maybe 10 seconds, maybe every 10 minutes. After trying to sleep through them for an hour, I just sat up in bed, played on the computer, and recorded their frequency. Garrett saw me awake, and in a half-awake daze said jokingly, "How come you aren't in labor yet?" - a teasing phrase I'd heard that week, as we were so eagerly waiting her arrival. I said, "I am." I'm not sure if it shocked him, but he didn't go back to sleep, and we actually watched some tv show at 5am. Later, I drifted back to sleep and we didn't get out of bed until 10am. I was still having only slightly painful contractions, and I had a list of things I wanted to do while they were still mild.

We took our final Saturday morning photo (week 40!), showered, cleaned the house, and finished packing the suitcase. But as I got active, the contractions became far more infrequent. A walk didn't help it continue. I worried that it would go away and not come back for who-knows-how-many days. This is what has happened to my sisters. The afternoon was calm, with only some increased activity when I lay down again...the reverse of what "they" say works to bring on labor.

That evening we were scheduled to go to Jake's for a party. I really hesitated about going. Jake lives out from the city center, about a 45 minute trip by metro and bus. I could tell Garrett really wanted to go. I was thinking all day we probably wouldn't be able to go -- indeed earlier that week when Jake invited us, I half-jokingly said I hoped we wouldn't be able to come -- I hoped I'd be having or have had this baby!! But as the contractions slowed down, we didn't call to cancel. By 4pm I was feeling blue. Part of me thought it would be reasonable for us to stay home, pop in a movie, and hope labor would progress. But I knew if we did that, and labor didn't progress, I'd be very disappointed and discouraged. We'd still be waiting for her arrival, and we'd have missed the party to boot.

It felt a bit like an umbrella situation: if you bring it, you won't need it. But surely as you leave it at home, it will rain. I had a feeling that if we went all that way, I'd end up in labor. But the way I saw it, that would be just fine! I desperately didn't want to wait any longer to see my baby. If going to the party brought labor on, perfect! If it didn't, well, at least we'd have the party as a consolation prize.

We left at 5pm, promising ourselves we wouldn't stay late, no matter what. Even if the labor didn't progress, I needed rest and sleep for whatever lay ahead. As we walked to the metro, the pains began a bit more. It occurred to us we could turn around, but I didn't want to jinx it. At Dejvicka, I had to sit on a bench through several contractions. We met up with a friend waiting for the bus, and I tried to look normal through contractions - though I imagine I had this constipated look on my face.

You see, for the past several weeks, when my baby would be technically "on time" after 38 weeks, I had been telling people she could come any day.... And you should see the look people give when they hear that. Like I might spew a baby in their faces within the minute. Sheesh! I think people are seriously afraid of a woman in labor, like it would be terrifying. I had a feeling it wasn't going to be terrifying right at the start. And I don't think I was terrifying at that party. But I didn't want people to know that I was in labor, because I thought they'd freak out. They'd tell me to rush to the hospital (as if the hospital would even admit me that early). So, I tried to play it cool. As best I remember it, I could still mostly talk through the contractions on the way out to the party. I could still walk through them. When we got there, things simmered down, and I only remember one really painful one.

We left saying, "pray she comes tomorrow!" but I don't think most anyone realized we really meant it would happen.

Again, things picked up on the way home. By about 9pm, walking home from the metro, I had a cramp that I couldn't walk through. (Aside: If that's when you start counting hours of labor, I had over 12. But I can't figure out when to start counting. For some reason when people ask, they seem to want your answer to be short: "How many hours were you in labor? It was short?" Why do they make that question leading? I feel like I'm supposed to be chipper about my answer. No, I don't think it was quick. But time was a blur. I don't know; it doesn't matter.)

At about 10pm Garrett called home. We told his mom I was in labor, we thought it'd be soon. I was laying in bed, trying to rest, but I didn't like going through it alone, so I got up to talk to them. At one point, in front of the skype camera, I had a bad one that I didn't handle so well. Nancy saw me and gave me some advice which really carried me through the night. (I didn't take any labor classes, so I really needed this.) She told me to choose something to focus on, to think of something positive. This really helped. All those labor tips sound really cheesy and stupid. They're not.

By midnight I was really miserable. I just wanted it to come fast. I felt like going to the hospital would help - it would at least be a step towards having the baby. At this point contractions were lasting about 45 seconds; not quite long enough to warrant the hospital, but I was tired of waiting. I think I managed to hold out till about 12:30am when I told Garrett to call my sister.

As we were driving along the river, Elizabeth said how amazing this was: she could remember the day I was born, and here she was, driving me to the hospital to have my baby. Pretty cool. I heard this, and have a vivid memory of it, but at the time I couldn't respond.

At the hospital, we went up into the receiving room. I had been there on Thursday; I thought perhaps my water was leaking. I wasn't received warmly, and I wasn't too excited about pushing the call button again. My fears were justified; the woman came out, and when I shook my head and said I didn't speak Czech, she told me rudely, that this is the Czech Republic. I should speak Czech. [How is this helpful at 1:15am, while I'm in labor?] I didn't bother use any energy to respond or even get annoyed; I just turned around to Garrett and sat down.

Garrett had to wait outside while I went in, sat with the monitor, and got checked. The doctor suggested I was not necessarily in labor (how?! when I'm in more pain than ever in my life?). He said I could stay, but they wouldn't admit me into a delivery room. Garrett couldn't come with me into the 2-person room they gave me; he took a taxi home. They said they'd check in 2 hours to see if progress was being made.

Once in the maternity ward, I had only good experiences. The nurse with long blond dreadlocks was kind and supportive. She told me to take a 30-minute shower. It felt amazing. But after it, I felt so bad, moaning in pain while my roommate who evidently wasn't in labor, was trying to sleep. The pain increased, and I lay there, curled up and alone, and felt like there was NO way I could make it to the end without pain relief.

By 3:30, when I was checked again, the cheerful nurse in dreadlocks told me I was doing fine -- without a hint of scorn the admission doctor had given me. Garrett, who had only just got home and hadn't been able to sleep at all, turned around and came back.

During those two hours by myself, I really felt hopeless about handling the pain on my own. When he met me, I told Garrett I didn't think I could make it: if it was supposed to get only more painful, I couldn't handle it. He said, "You can do it." And like a light switch, I decided I could. I did. But it was the most painful and difficult thing I've ever done.

I suppose I got to this room sometime at after 4am. I was sorry Garrett had to go back and forth and get no sleep. But I was glad they didn't put me in this room to begin with; that delivery chair was SO uncomfortable, and there was no bed in the room. At least for those two hours I had a more comfortable bed to rest in.

[In retrospect, I clearly should have stayed home as long as possible, which is what I had told myself I would do; in the pain, I changed my mind. Garrett could have slept, or at least rested. I would have been on our comfortable bed. And maybe the mean nurse and rude doctor would have believed I was in labor and been nicer.]

Garrett had to pay 1000kc to be in the delivery room with me...I know stupid, especially when the hospital encourages dads to be there, and certainly he's a help to the midwife. We joked that these shoe-socks cost 1000kc, because surely that's all the hospital did for him.

By the way, the labor room did seem offensively bright as in these photos, but shortly after these photos were taken, we turned off the overhead light and it was much better.

Last pregnant photo:

The midwife was very nice. I don't really remember the first one I had, but I remember thinking at 7am I was sorry to see her go and hoped the next one would be nice. And she was. She was great -- kind, encouraging, supportive, and not pushy.

I was having back labor, and the contractions I felt back there were far worse than the ones on my front. For some reason my midwife wanted me to lie on my side and it felt like the pain hurt a lot more that way. I'm really not sure why I didn't move myself, but I just did what she told me to: it was easier not to think about things, and certainly I didn't have energy for walking or much moving.

Mostly, in the last few hours, I remember flailing my arm out toward Garrett every time a contraction came and squeezing his hand with all the force I could. I'm quite sure I slept between the contractions. I have no concept of the time.

At 8cm, the midwife asked if I wanted them to break my water. I didn't. I really wanted it to happen naturally. Garrett says it was about 15 to 20 minutes later when it happened naturally. It was rather thrilling: even Garrett could hear the pop. That was probably about 8am.

Not long after that, the midwife told me it was time to push. I didn't have any drugs, but my exhaustion and sleepiness made it such that I was quite out of it. I didn't feel any different; I couldn't sense that I needed to push; I just did it. I guess I pushed for over an hour -- maybe close to an hour and a half. It was SO much more painful than anything before. I pushed and pushed, and her head finally crowned. The sweet midwife was excited, and told me I was doing great, and put my hand to feel her head.

But that was just the beginning. It took a long time -- with sleeps between contractions. Both Garrett and the midwife (and a doctor too, but I don't even think I consciously looked at her) were very encouraging. But sometimes I just shook my head and said I couldn't push through that contraction. I'd close my eyes for rest and the next thing I knew it was time again.

It was taking so long that the midwife wanted to give me IV of oxytocin to lengthen my contractions so I could get more out of them. At this point I was willing for anything that might help, and happy to not care and just take advice.

By the time the oxytocin was flowing, it was just minutes more. The midwife said I barely needed any. So whether my body was just finally ready for the final push, or the hormone helped, who knows. I just know that I got a sense of resolve and then, just when I thought I was getting the hang of it, I heard one of them say, "It's a girl." I opened my eyes and was amazed to see a baby, suspended between my legs. I wonderingly felt my flat belly. The doctor held her while the midwife clamped her umbilical cord and asked Garrett if he wanted to cut it. He stood up eagerly. And I just sat back and smiled.

Within moments she was on my chest, and I was meeting my daughter. The feeling is beyond compare.

The rush of adrenaline continued for those first two beautiful hours of her life while Garrett and I got to be the first to welcome Julie Anna into this world. The Czech hospital does this best: a baby is most alert for those two hours, before becoming the sleepy little newborn everyone else meets. They put the baby on the mama's chest immediately, for the physical touch and eye contact that is so important. The midwife helped us start nursing half an hour after delivery, just like all the books recommend. The new parents get to enjoy her in peace -- she was only taken by the midwife to be wiped off, weighed, measured, and bundled, all in the delivery room.

Garrett holding his daughter for the first time.

At 11:30, a nurse took Julie to be bathed and then put in an incubator to rest until her body temperature was self-sustaining. I was wheeled to the recovery room where I'd stay with Julie for 4 more nights. And Garrett went home to sleep. He'd return at 3pm, with a host of visitors (every day).

Julie Anna

Born 9:24am on October 2

7lbs, 2oz 19.6in

pinning projects

2011-12-01T14:35:00.015+01:00

I've started "pinning." The addictive website pinterest is growing in popularity, and I've become rather hooked on browsing while nursing, since it's a one-handed activity.

My favorite categories are craft ideas and "diy" do-it-yourself projects around the home. But I don't like to pin projects that are unrealistic for me to do, and I really want to be more active in my creativity than a passive pinner.....

So I'm proud to present a series of products resulting from pinterest that I actually did.

1) birdies (modeled after this)

This is so far the best reproduction of a pinterest item, and the most fun, so I'll start here.

Friday afternoon after Thanksgiving I had some friends over for crafting, specifically to make these, but there was other pinterest-inspired projects going on as well...

We made a few changes from the "directions" and I'm really pleased with how they turned out.

Kristie picked up an old Czech novel for 5kc -- already "distressed," and I love that the birds'll always remind me of Prague.

Twine would be cute, but we didn't have any, so we went with festive red and white ribbon.

I found that rubber cement works best for gluing them. I could quickly slab glue between the three birdies, position the papers as I liked, and then slide both the stick feet and the

ribbon hanger between them, avoiding the birds having a front & back side.

Rubber cement also is a nice coat on top if you want to sprinkle a layer of glitter on them. We used elmer's glue write shapes and words in glitter too. [And Julie got her first hand-made ornament!]

I hung them on our windows, in lieu of a Christmas tree this year.

2) the belly & baby photos (like this)

This didn't come out all that great, but I did take the photo before and after, like I wanted to. I just don't feel that the before shot emphasizes how HUmongus the belly was. Oh well. I'm glad she's on the outside now. =)

3) homemade baby wipes (from here)

I was very excited to see this last summer, anticipating Julie's arrival, since I know wipes are expensive. And I've started making them this fall! The directions were easy to follow, but I'd change it a bit: Half the ingredients. Maybe they meant to say it's for both halves of the paper towels and it was unclear. At least for my paper towels, 1 cup of boiling water + 1 tbsp of each baby oil & baby shampoo was sufficient. Pour it in slowly, circling round the roll. It still won't appear to be enough liquid at first, but in time the water will seep through, saturating it all nicely.

Next I'd like to try the solution with wash cloths to save on paper towels...=)

4) scarf hangers

Here was a simple diy organization project that I could do without buying a thing! (isn't that the idea of re-purposing? it killed me when one comment to a re-purposed craft blog said, "any particular place where I can find fruit boxes?" really?!) Of course, I adjusted it as I felt would be best. The scarf storage has been an issue, and though I have so many, I wear the same few because the rest get lost under the pile. This is much better.

5) hat storage

This is not from pinterest. But now it could go on pinterest. And its in the same spirit of making this apartment nicer. Kudos to Elizabeth; I saw it hanging in her place. Now I can display all of Julie's cute hats, plus they are where I can see all of them, hopefully avoiding the sad "oh, she never wore that hat and now it's too small for her" fate.

2011-09-21T21:48:00.006+02:00

It's hard for me to believe that each day brings me closer to meeting this little one. But it is true. I remind myself this often, so as to make me believe it more.

For the past several weeks, I have had so many conversations about labor and delivery. I feel like I know at least one birthing story from every mother in my community.

And really I've been enjoying learning lots, and since this whole pregnancy and becoming a mom thing is rather consuming, I'm glad to talk about it with others. I've certainly gotten a lot of advice and opinions, and while I haven't cared for all of it, I've really loved some people's perspectives, so I'll take the occasional bad egg with the good.

But the truth is, I feel like I can't take this much longer. I just this evening realized I have this feeling that everyone is waiting for me. Waiting for me to go into labor. Expecting me to do something. I don't like feeling that people expect something of me. Or feeling that I'm disappointing them, as if I had any control over its timing. I don't. They know I don't. But still I feel that people are waiting for me to do something.

I realize they are expecting the inevitable. And I know that I will have this baby. I realize that I will be heading to Podoli with the expectation of coming home with our little one, on one of these days...within the next four weeks. But I realize it in the way that I realize that Jesus could return on any day. I mean to say, I can imagine it happening, I believe it will happen. But the truth is, I can't wrap my head around it actually happening. And since the timing is so uncertain, it's hard to really believe it will finally happen.

Which is why I remind myself often that each day is bringing me closer. So hopefully soon I'll believe; and then, it will happen.

baby coming

2011-09-20T21:00:00.004+02:00

This past weekend marked week 38, and ladies at my school threw a shower for me. It was a ton of fun.

(might this be the last photo of its kind? i only wish. we've observed this Saturday morning ritual every other week since week 12)

Sheila asked me questions she had asked Garrett to see if we could come up with the same answers about his childhood and babies.

I got to open up a bunch of adorable, precious, tiny baby clothes and hats and toys. We played a "shower game" where if you say cute you lose a clothes pin. I did pretty well until I opened up the presents....

It was fun to show it all over again at home to Garrett. Then I gathered all the baby clothes we have so far and did my first load of baby laundry. They were just irresistibly cute, hanging on the drying rack.

Kate and Miriam gave us a blue dress with these leggings...they kill me.

Check out the size differential here: Her Daddy's sweatpants; her pants!

pottery shopping

2011-09-07T17:50:00.004+02:00

For my birthday, Garrett invited me to go shopping in Poland for pottery. Polish pottery is quite lovely. It's not too expensive, if bought from the factory in Boleslawiec, especially from the reduced priced shelves. It's durable, microwaveable, oven-able, and dishwasher-able. Plus, it's beautiful, and there are so many patterns to choose from.

The plan was to make a day of it ourselves, but when I suggested we could save on gas by inviting others, a new plan emerged. There's always a high demand for spots in a car going to Poland, and I quickly had a van-full of ladies ready for a shopping trip,. Garrett graciously......ok, eagerly.......bowed out and let us go on our own.

Here we all are, in early August, near the end of our day's shopping.

The whole town of Boleslawiec seems to be centered around pottery. There must be at least 10 major stores in the center, and maybe 20 if you count all the little ones and the stores slightly further off. There are huge ceramic tea cups and pitchers in all the roundabouts. And there must be a bunch of factories where many of the townspeople work.

It's an understatement to say you are overwhelmed when you enter the first shop. There are so many patterns, so many styles and shapes and sizes of pottery pieces. Almost anything you can imagine that could be made into pottery is. There is so much to look at. On top of this, the currency is different, so it takes a while to get a feel of what something actually costs. Plus, you know you've got a day ahead of you of different stores with more options!!

One of several basketfuls of teapots in one shop.

It's a lot of fun to see all the beautiful pottery and always exciting to find a good deals on reduced items. But the task of shopping for a particular list of items can be daunting. I would like to suggest a few points of strateg-ery (a favorite word of G's, coined by GWB) for those who may be planning a pottery trip to Poland.

Write down the exchange rate between Polish zloty and the currency of your bank account before going. I found it most useful to write it various proportions, and with the zloty being the round number, rather than the USD. Usually exchange rates would tell you $1=xPLN, but since you'll be looking at price tags in PLN, it makes more sense to make an equation the other way around. I carried with me a little slip of paper that said 10 zloty=$x; 25 zloty=$x; 100... and so forth, so I could easily look at a price tag, refer to my paper, and know what something cost without too much calculation in my head. Being a math teacher, I should have been sufficient with just the 10 or 100....but pregnancy brain is a real thing. I'd rather not trust the grey matter, especially in the middle of summer.
Bring a digital camera. I had a few photos of pottery on it that I already own, so I would have no doubt about matching it, should I be looking for a match. Then when in a store, I took photos of a series of bowls that I really liked, but wasn't sure if I wanted to buy. This way, if I found more in another shop, I could refer to my camera and decide between then. I also took a photo of my shopping basket of what I actually bought. It might sound ridiculous, but with so many stores, and so many purchasing decisions, it is easy to forget what was finally bought, and once the cashier wraps it up in paper and it's in the back of the van, it's a pain to get to.

Here are some bowls that I contemplating buying, and had the store clerk save for me. In the end, I bought different ones.

Bring a tape measure. I didn't do this, and wish I had. I was trying to buy a set of bowls, and I wanted them to match size/shape, but not pattern. There were so many sizes and various curves of the bowls, that there was no way I could find matching shapes in different stores. If I had just brought a tape measure, I could have bought several bowls in one store, and then still looked for more of the same size in another store. If we go back to buy plates, I will definitely do this, so that all my plates are the same size, but can be patterns from different stores.
This last piece of advice is credit to Sue. It's either what she did on her last trip to Poland, or what she learned she should have done on her last trip. Bring a permanent marker and label everyone's boxes and bags when you come out of each store. With a van-ful of women and bags of wrapped fragile items, it'd be a pain to figure out what's what once back in Prague at the end of the day. Especially when the day ended as ours did...

All in all, the day was a blast, with a highlight being a delicious meal of pierogis as a break in the middle of the day. Had a good time fellowshipping with women who were in town for the summer, but whom I don't usually spend a lot of time with. And we are thankful we made it back to Prague safely.....though sadly my sister's van broke down just as we reached the city limits.

jam

2011-07-24T16:39:00.003+02:00

This June I went strawberry picking with my sister and nieces and nephews. There is a farm within Prague not too far away. We went on the last day for picking, and the berries were small and many were going bad. I brought home a whole bunch of them, and Garrett helped me lop off their stems and we froze them for smoothies. But a kilo of them I saved to make strawberry jam. I was very excited about this effort, as I've never done it before.

Unfortunately, it was not successful. My sister said that last year their jam was too runny -- more like a sauce. Being careful to avoid this, I overcooked the strawberries. It turned out a bit more like a jar of a gummy bear. We attempted to eat it for a while, finding it was spreadable when heated in the microwave. But, it just didn't taste that great, and I just tossed it. Maybe next year will be better.

photo shoot

2011-07-13T20:26:00.003+02:00

A few weeks ago a fellow teacher at our school offered to take photos of us, as she is practicing to be the photographer at a wedding this summer. I thought it would be fun to have some photos of our pre-family before she left town.

They are a bit more artsy than I am used to, but I am liking them. Here are two.

The first is with Prague Castle behind us. The second is in the castle moat, the "deer moat" which neither of us had ever been it. It's very pretty.

You can see more here.

Jack

2011-07-10T21:17:00.000+02:00

On June 19, 2011, my grandpa died, at the age of 93. Several people have scanned and uploaded some precious old family photos that I'm enjoying. Above is my grandpa & my dad, probably about 1946. I've never seen this photo before. I think it's spectacular.

This is early spring, 1982. I'm on the way. It looks like NJ, but I can't tell quite where we are. A pretty cute family photo, with my Grandpa in the back center.

2011-07-09T17:05:00.004+02:00

On July 1st, I celebrated Anna's 8+1/2 birthday with her. We spent the afternoon together.

Part of our time was spent stamping and card making. Then we went for ice cream at Cream & Dream. It was a fun afternoon, but I ended it exhausted; partly because we had to spend the morning going to & from the foreign police on a long bus ride that nearly made me sick, and partly because I guess I'm entering the third-trimester tiredness.

entering the third trimester

2011-07-09T16:56:00.004+02:00

This is Week 28, marking the start of the third trimester. In less than 10 weeks, our little girl would be considered "on time," but I'm trying to mentally prepare for more like 12-13 more weeks.

So far, my pregnancy has been "by the book" and just about everything that most women experience, I've been experiencing. Weird dreams. Leg cramps. Restless leg syndrome, mildly. Don't like picking things off the floor. Don't like standing up from the floor. And I believe I have also entered the less-energy phase again. I don't feel that good in the evenings, when I'm full from dinner and all my organs seem to be squashed.

But I love feeling her move around, and my favorite is getting to feel a part of her when I poke on my belly. I'm not so sure I can distinguish between head and rear, but still it's thrilling to be feeling something that is her. Sometimes a leg or arm goes slipping by my hand, or I can watch it slide with a bump across my belly. Garrett says it feels slimy. Weird, but it kind of does.

In about a week we'll have our last ultrasound, and hopefully there will be confirmation that she is, in fact, a she. Or I shall have some un-doing to do in my mental preparation.

quilt

2011-07-06T18:01:00.003+02:00

This week my friend Laura came to visit us in Prague. She brought a beautiful quilt she made for our baby. It's got triangles and squares of red and blue, and the back is a beautiful print with birds.

Here we are together, sitting on it on our park with Prague in the background. The baby bump is growing.

coffee

2011-06-29T21:54:00.002+02:00

This morning I had a cup of coffee, my first in over 20 weeks.

At about week 7 or so, I started getting morning sickness, and coffee was no longer interesting to me. In addition, I understood that I should cut back my caffeine intake, so I started having a cup of tea. I've been very happy with this cup of tea for months.

During morning sickness, I had several aversions. Some foods made me feel a bit queasy to smell or think about. Others, I just wasn't interested in, and coffee was one of them.

I remember my sister Ruth having a cup of tea in the morning when she was pregnant, saying she didn't drink coffee anymore, and I thought I could never do that. But somehow, I've found I'm much more content giving something up for the good of my baby than I used to think I would be.

For the past month or so, the smell of coffee has been more intriguing. And this morning, I woke up, and decided it was what I wanted. I'm having half-n-half caf, so it's about the same amount as a cup of tea. So, I don't feel bad about it, and I'm glad to be enjoying coffee again.

nesting

2011-06-27T19:00:00.000+02:00

They say pregnant women have a extra strong "nesting" instinct, involving serious cleaning and organizing of various parts of their home. It is supposed to be strongest just before you giving birth - perhaps a sign that it is close.

I read this in Vicki Iovine's The Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy:

A couple of days before you go into labor, you may feel an irresistible urge to clean your hosue or defrost your refrigerator or put all your CDs in alphabetical order or some other such anal task. I am not talking about the normal panicky cleaning fits some of us fall into when our mother calls and says she is stopping by unexpectedly, or the way you finally get around to putting the broken toilet paper dispenser back on the wall because your brother and his new wife and coming to stay for the weekend. No, I am talking about the kind of feverish cleaning where you use your husband's toothbrush to scour the pipe that goes from the back of your toilet into the wall. I'm talking about taking every switchplate cover in the house and soaking them all in Pine Sol. This is the time when otherwise rational women truly believe that they cannot sleep for one more night in a house where the baseboards have not been freshly painted. This is nature's way of making sure you will be ready for the new baby, and it is called "nesting."

A week after her due date...my Girlfriend Mindy was discovered by her mother tottering at the top of her six-foot ladder, feverishly sponging down the shelves at the top of her closets. To indicate how out of character this was, I have to tell you that Mindy's "baby" is now seven years old, and that those shelves have never seen a sponge since....

My Girlfriend Sondra starting cooking as she neared her delivery date. She calmly and rationally explained that she just wanted to have a few meals frozen so that her husband could microwave them when she was in the hospital and when she first got home. It made sense, until I saw Sondra's car in the grocery store parking lot at 7:00am waiting for it to open. She made so many casseroles that she filled her own freezer and soon spread out to her Girlfriend's across the street.....

I'm not close to my due date, and I don't think I'm close to the irrationality in the above stories, but I had a spurt of organizational projects this last week. I have always enjoyed deep cleaning and re-organizing. I love making things look nice. I can remember as a small child taking great delight in ordering my dad's screws into the correct coffee cans.

I was thinking about that on Friday as I sorted the tool box at school.

This is the third re-organization project I took on last, as the end-of-school-term craziness has quieted down.

I started out asking a question about a field trip, and ended up taking on the task of organizing old field trip information and brochures into beautiful binders.

But in order to do that project, I needed plastic sheet protectors. I couldn't readily find them in the cabinet, and as I was shifting through the supplies, I realized it needed an overhaul. I don't know how many times it's been re-organized by very competent, organized people who piled and labeled until they were blue in the face. But all the slippery office supplies come sliding together, and staff in a hurry don't always put things back where they belong. It needed a serious overhaul, a brand new scheme. The empty mailboxes spoke to me: these trays would be just the thing.

Several hours later, with the help of Jarka, I had it beautiful.

Friday afternoon I came home, emptied the dishwasher, and tried to stuff the darn tupperware into the darn tupperware drawer. Too full. I promptly sat down and re-arranged until it all fit in this beautiful fashion.

Naturally if you could have seen the state of disorder these things were in to begin with, you might better appreciate all these photos. Alas, I don't have a "before" shot. But still, hopefully this captures the essence of my excitement in these projects.

summer reading

2011-06-24T19:23:00.002+02:00

I've taken to a flurry of pregnancy reading.

I started out reading online about weekly developments of our baby on various websites. I particularly like:

http://www.babycenter.com/ which has many articles on all sorts of questions I might have as well as videos of baby development, delivery, etc.
http://www.birth.com.au/ offers even more detail on the baby's development in their weekly emails.

When Carol came to visit, she brought a few books from Ruth.

Vicki Iovine's The Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy. This is an entertaining read written from the perspective of your girlfriend. It's not a doctor's guide, and it's not full of so many statistics. But it explains all sorts of unusual feelings and behavior of pregnant women, and warns the reader about lesser-known side effects and things to be prepared for. It's got laugh-out-loud passages and lots of good advice.
The Little Big Book of Pregnancy, which is one of those coffee table books with quotes and short stories and photos to inspire and encourage pregnant women...

Garrett's mother sent us a care package with a book that was my sister-in-law's favorite:

Tracy Hogg's The Secrets of the Baby Whisperer. This book was written by a British woman in the 90s who was a ...and lactation specialist. She was a bit opinionated, but I liked her philosophy a lot and will probably try to adopt it. She included lots of good guides that I am sure I will reference when our little one is born.

An English library in Prague had a used book sale recently, and I picked up a whole bunch of other books:

The New Mother's Guide to Breastfeeding: I just finished this last night. It rather smacks of propaganda from the American Academy of Pediatrics, but specific instructions were helpful, and I'm glad I got it.
Babywise: I haven't started it yet, but it appears to be about training your child to sleep through the night.
Babywise, Book Two: Parenting Your Pretoddler, Five to Fifteen Months
Burton White's The New First Three Years of Life

And finally, my sister Elizabeth just lent me:

What to Expect the First Year

24

2011-06-21T19:10:00.003+02:00

Here I am at 24 weeks, on June 11. In a little more than 2 weeks from now I will be entering the third trimester.

baby girl

2011-06-19T23:12:00.003+02:00

We think our little squirmier is a girl. I am conscientiously saying "we think" because I understand these things are never 100% until delivery. And I don't want to forget that, since I know already it would be a bit of a shock and an emotional shift if we found out we were wrong.

The ultrasound technician said she thinks we're having a girl. From my untrained eye, I agreed. I also understand from Kristie that the heartbeat can suggest if a baby is a boy or girl: girls have higher heartbeats. I asked my doctor about this, and she said she had done a study: babies' heartbeats range from 110 to 160. (They beat extra fast in order to get all the oxygen they need.) A heartbeat of 150 has a 90% chance of being a girl; a heartbeat of 160 has a 95% chance of being a girl. Our little one has a heartbeat of 150. So, we think she's a she!

We have a name picked out for our girl. We are keeping this a secret. The reasons for this are obvious to me: 1) we'd like something to announce when she arrives 2) we don't care for any input on our decision 3) we don't need any criticism about what we've decided; people won't say anything bad about the name of a born baby, but they will give their opinion about your hypothetical name. Two things baffle me: 1) adults who don't understand these reasons and are so irritated about us being "all secretive about it." 2) kids who think that if they beg us we will cave and tell the name.

Being pregnant is an interesting experience. Mostly, I'm excited and I'm loving it. I love reading about it and learning about my baby. I love talking about it and I love hearing other women's stories. I love just thinking about it, and I can amuse myself for countless minutes just looking at my belly and feeling her kicks. But every once in a while I'm hit with the startling fact that I'm pregnant, and I'm overwhelmed: it's not stopping; I keep growing; there is a little person inside of me; my life will never be the same; something that I've wanted to happen to me & wondered if it would happen to me nearly my whole life is happening to me.

Being pregnant and starting a family is way more intense than being engaged and getting married. I was told this before, but now I know why it is true. When I was engaged, I knew the man I was going to marry. I knew the date we'd be married, and we went through it together completely. My identity did change a bit, and I had to work out being a wife and how that affected being a girl friend and a daughter. Of course there were things I didn't know, but mostly I felt in control of the situation.

When pregnant, there are about a zillion more unknowns. I'm going through this with Garrett, but in many ways, he can't experience it as I do: for one, he doesn't experience the hormonal emotions (ok, sort of he does, but not for himself)...for two, he doesn't have the physical reminder constantly before him. We don't know this person is who is joining our family. (This is largely why I wanted to know if we're having a boy or girl: there are already plenty of unknowns.) I know she is from us, but I don't know who she'll take after, or what little personality is developing in there. I don't know if she'll be difficult or easy, timid or outgoing. There are so many more things to worry about. She may not be healthy, she may come before she is due. I don't know what kind of life God has in store for her, if it will be long or short and if He'll draw her to Him at a young age or old.

When I was in my first trimester, I worried a lot about losing her. Even though I barely knew her, I was attached. I thought that worry would be gone when we passed into the second trimester. I was dead wrong: instead I had only grown more in love with her and knew that losing her would hurt even more. I realized that the fears will never end--they'll just grow as she grows. I had to give them up or go crazy. I think a mother must have to keep letting go of her fears, day after day.

baby

2011-06-15T21:35:00.003+02:00

For most things, I can sate my curiosity by opening a book or doing a google search. And I've learned a lot about a baby's growth in the womb, and expectations for how my body may handle it, and why weird things are happening to me. I've learned about how much weight I'll gain, and why I pee all the time, and what other women's experiences have been.

But nothing can sate my curiosity for how painful labor will be for me, or what it will feel like when I get to hold my daughter in my arms and lay my eyes on her for the first time. I just have to wait to find out how tired I'll be in the third trimester, and how far out my belly can grow, and when her birthday will be. And I'm so darn curious.

our wedding, part 8: contradancing

2011-06-11T12:41:00.010+02:00

Here's a short video of contradancing photos.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

There are so many lovely photos that bring back such fun memories and make me think of people I love. So, several are there for a 1/2 second glance.

Here are a few more:

The contradancing was absolutely the best. I never would have thought to have it at my wedding; I generally don't care for wedding dancing. But Craig encouraged it, and made it sound fun. It's the kind of dancing that anyone can do - you don't have to know how; you just have to be happy and enjoy the music. A caller tells us what to do, and quickly we learn the basic terms that tell us how to move. Nearly everyone at the wedding danced, and it was the best way to celebrate with everyone all at once. We didn't want to leave at all. It was such fun being with dear friends and family who we rarely get to see. And just being a bride, and in the lovely gown was so wonderful, I never wanted to the evening to end.

our wedding, part 7: reception

2010-11-27T15:06:00.000+01:00

Our reception hall - Bluewater Lodge

and the lake beside it

The room was decorated for us while we were off getting ready. I was completely floored when I saw it after the wedding. It was lovely.

This photo didn't turn out with the light behind it, so I adjusted it to b&w.

Riley and Courtney, our dear friends and attendants.

JT came up to me during the reception at least three times saying his phrase of the month, "Aunt Tate, wanna pway? wanna pwaaaaay?" I told him we were playing - we were at a party having fun.

Here he looks down on the activity from the loft.

Cutting the cake

And here are some guests watching the contradancing....

one last wedding post to come.

treasure

2010-11-20T11:56:00.003+01:00

This is delightful:

When I was six or seven years old, growing up in Pittsburgh, I used to take a precious penny of my own and hide it for someone else to find. It was a curious compulsion; sadly, I've never been seized by it since. For some reason I always "hid" the penny along the same stretch of sidewalk up the street. I would cradle it at the roots of a sycamore, say, or in a hole left by a chipped-off piece of sidewalk. Then I would take a piece of chalk, and, starting at either end of the block, draw huge arrows leading up to the penny from both directions. After I learned to write I labeled the arrows: SURPRISE AHEAD or MONEY THIS WAY. I was greatly excited, during all this arrow-drawing, at the thought of the first lucky passer-by who would receive in this way, regardless of merit, a free gift from the universe. But I never lurked about. I would go straight home and not give the matter another thought, until, some months later, I would be gripped again by the impulse to hide another penny.

- Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, chapter 2

And then she goes on about nature and seeing, linking it back to this story in metaphorical tones. I want everything she writes to be true.

I hope it is.

pie

2010-11-14T20:31:00.002+01:00

I made pies to enjoy with our Norwegian friends tomorrow.

This one used most of the marshmallows my mother gave me back in August. It's easy, but incredibly decadent. Hence the name:

Decadent Truffle Bottom Chocolate Cream Pie

Graham Cracker crust
2 cups miniature marshmallows or 20 large marshmallows
1/2 cup milk
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) Chocolate Chips
1 cup (1/2 pt.) heavy whipping cream
Sweetened whipped cream or whipped topping(optional)
Chocolate curls(optional)

1. Prepare and bake pie crust in 9-inch pie plate as directed on package for unfilled 1-crust pie.

2. Place marshmallows and milk in large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at MEDIUM (50%) 1 minute; stir. If necessary, microwave at MEDIUM an additional 30 seconds at a time, stirring after each heating, until marshmallows are melted and mixture is smooth when stirred. Add chocolate chips; stir until melted and mixture is smooth. If necessary, microwave at MEDIUM an additional 15 seconds at a time, stirring after each heating, just until chips are melted when stirred. Spread 1 cup chocolate mixture over bottom of crust; refrigerate. Cool remaining mixture to room temperature.
3. Beat whipping cream until stiff; gradually blend into chocolate mixture, combining thoroughly. Spread over chocolate layer in pastry crust. Cover; refrigerate 4 to 6 hours or until well chilled. Garnish with sweetened whipped cream and chocolate curls, if desired. Cover; refrigerate leftover pie.

Graham Cracker (or BeBe Cracker) Pie Crust

1 1/2 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs (use bebe crumbs here)
1/3 cup white sugar (I skipped because I think the crackers are sweet enough)
6 tablespoons butter, melted

Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar, melted butter or margarine, and cinnamon until well blended . Press mixture into an 8 or 9 inch pie plate.

Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 7 minutes. Cool. If recipe calls for unbaked pie shell, just chill for about 1 hour.

And I made two apple pies.

I used the family recipe for pie crust:

4 cups flour
2 teas. salt
1 T sugar

Blend in 1.5 cups of margarine (room temperature)

Mix together:
1 beaten egg
1 T vinegar
1/2 cup water

Pour into flour/butter while stirring with a fork. Mix until it's all combined, and shape into a ball. Divide it into 5 pieces. It freezes well.

and Apple Pie

Peel, core and slice 6-8 firm apples for each pie

Add this mixture:
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg

Bake at 215C until apples are tender.

Here are two goofy kids, eating pie.

And here's one cute baby. You can catch a glimpse of her teeth here.

rainy November

2010-11-13T14:02:00.003+01:00

This is the perfect recipe for a rainy November evening:

Cheesy Noodle Bake

from Alissa, a CISP staff member from last year

Cook until browned:

1 lb of ground beef

1/2 an onion

Add and simmer low for 15-20 minutes:

garlic powder to taste

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

dash of pepper

Meanwhile, cook and then drain:

1/2lb of noodles (250g)

Mix together:

1 package of cream cheese (or in CZ I use 2 little packages of Lučina)

1 cupt of sour cream (zakysana smetana)

Fill a casserole dish (smaller than 9by13 is fine) alternating layers of noodles, cheeses, and meat sause. Repeat.

Top with 1/2 cup grated cheese (eidam is OK)

Bake at 350F / 190C for 15-30 minutes

Garrett

2010-11-07T09:00:00.000+01:00

Garret Augustus Hobart was the name of the 24th American Vice-President.

Interestingly enough, he hails from New Jersey, but his roots come from Massachusetts. Also, his wife was born on the 21st of July.

Too bad he spelled his name wrong.

Anyone know the name of his president off the top of their head?

Garrett Augustus Morgan, however, did spell it properly. He invented the traffic signal, the gas mask, and hair straighteners.

Garrett P.I. is a series of novels about a man name Garrett, who was a P.I., believe it or not.

Garrett is also a machine that was used in the middle ages to hurl large spears. And now Garrett means brave with a spear. Also, a garret is an attic.

Garrett is the name of my husband, and his five-year-old nephew. It's a good name. I don't think I ever heard of it before I met him.

saturday mornings

2010-11-06T11:22:00.004+01:00

...are good for buttermilk pancakes.

This is the family recipe:

1 1/2 cups flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 T melted butter or oil
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and whisk till blended.
Cook on a hot griddle.

Enjoy with raspberry jam or syrup or nutella or peanut butter.

acadia np

2010-11-03T21:01:00.006+01:00

[Here's an unfinished post that I'll finish, just because I'd like to finish things I start, even if it was 2 years ago since I wrote it, and over 3 since I went.]

It's been over a year since I left Acadia National Park, but I'll try to remember some stories to attach to pictures of the beautiful place.

I really enjoyed my time there, especially our first day when we took a long and grueling bike ride.

We arrived late late at night at the park and did not have a reservation for camping. I don't think I realized what a potential problem this might be (peak season for the park and all that) but it's just as well we didn't worry, for God worked it all out so beautifully. We pulled in to the campsite just before the ranger left duty which was also just in time to get the unclaimed campsites for the night. So we had a place to sleep that night after a word from the ranger that we'd have to line up before 8am tomorrow to see if we could reserve the place again for the next night (but he was NOT going to make any promises, as he reiterated loudly multiple times).

Whatever, there was no problem getting the site either the next night or the next, and we had a wonderful two full days in Acadia.

Day 1:

We took a spectacular bike ride through the park. We biked more miles than I ever had at once, and there were a lot of hills. We biked down to the coast, and then up to a beautiful garden, and then up to a high viewpoint of the water. We were entirely wiped out the rest of the day, and the following one too.

Day 2:

We were still quite worn out from yesterday's travels. We took at hike along the shore. As I recall, I enjoyed hopping the shore rocks more than Courtney. I had no idea how much she didn't like it until the next day.

That afternoon we drove up to the top of Cadillac Mountain and took in the view. We saw a sometimes island down in the distance and rushed down so we could walk to it before the tide took it away. I've wanted to go to a sometimes island since I was a kid and read that book. Do you remember it, Mother?

For tea time, we went to Jackson Pond where there was a tea house. Then we climbed up Bubble Rock which had both cool views and neat rocks. A seagull amused us.

Day 3:

Actually, at this point, three years later, I can't remember the day breaks. But for effect...
Just before leaving we drove out to the southern part of the island to see a light house.

This is where I learned that Courtney REALLY doesn't like rocks. I don't know how I missed this in our travels out west.

We get to the light house, but our view from up top is rather lame. I want to see the building against the rough coast. There are some rocks off the land from where I think we could have a nice picnic. I scamper down. Courtney is not willing. She makes it close, but won't make the final leap onto my rock. I am mean: I'm carrying the sandwiches. I hope this will coax her over.

It doesn't. It only means that we are creating an amusing spectacle for all the old folk behind us. They see me cajoling her. They see her refusing to take the last step to my rock with the ultimate view. And they are actually chuckling.

You can see by the last photo that I did hand her a sandwich, and she is smiling, so she'd forgiven me for pushing her and attention I had brought on us.

I thought Maine was beautiful.

scattered wits

2010-11-03T09:29:00.005+01:00

Have you ever wondered about how all the people of the world got their varied genes from two people? I wonder what Adam and Eve looked like.

I think my sister suggested that perhaps they had a very large gene pool themselves. Somehow, God gave their DNA all the capacity for skin types and hair color and eye shapes one could have.

I imagine this to make sense; I got bad grades in Biology. I picture their fifth child coming out with a head of red hair, and they exclaiming, "Oh, look, humans can have red hair too!"

And then, when Eve was pregnant again, "I wonder if this one might have blue hair?"

I doubt either of them asked, like Mark, "Will the baby be human?" Though I do wonder how Eve had any idea what was happening to her. I guess God did a lot of talking with them in the Garden before the Fall.

I hope we get to meet them in heaven.

Annie Dillard again

2010-10-31T14:59:00.001+01:00

Here is an excellent snippet from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek:

At the end of the island I noticed a small green frog. He was exactly half in and half out of the water, looking like a schematic diagram of an amphibian, and he didn't jump.

He didn't jump; I crept closer. At last I knelt on the island's winter killed grass, lost, dumbstruck, staring at the frog in the creek just four feet away. He was a very small frog with wide, dull eyes. And just as I looked at him, he slowly crumpled and began to sag. The spirit vanished from his eyes as if snuffed. His skin emptied and drooped; his very skull seemed to collapse and settle like a kicked tent. He was shrinking before my eyes like a deflating football. I watched the taut, glistening skin on his shoulders ruck, and rumple, and fall. Soon, part of his skin, formless as a pricked ballon, lay in floating folds like bright scum on top of the water: it was a monstrous and terrifying thing. I gaped bewildered, appalled. An oval shadow hung in the water behind the drained frog; then the shadow glided away. The frog sink started to sink.

I had read about the giant water bug, but never seen one. "Giant water bug" is really the name of the creature, which is an enormous, heavy-bodied brown bug.. It eats insects, tadpoles, fish, and frogs. Its grasping forelegs are mighty and hooked inward. It seizes a victim with these legs, hugs it tight, and paralyzes it with enzymes injected during a vicious bite. That one bite is the only bite it ever takes. Through the puncture shoot the poisons that dissolve the victim's muscles and bones and organs - all but the skin - and through it the giant water bug sucks out the victim's body, reduced to a juice. This event is quite common in warm fresh water. The frog I saw was being sucked by a giant water bug. I had been kneeling on the island grass; when the unrecognizable flap of frog skin settled on the creek bottom, swaying, I stood up and brushed the knees of my pants. I couldn't catch my breath.

Firstly, the variety of animals on this planet never ceases to amaze me. Secondly, Annie Dillard is a wonderful writer.

baby Mark

2010-10-30T15:23:00.000+02:00

A throw back to Texas, 2006.

I think Anna singing in the background might be the best part of this video.

our wedding, part 6: portraits

2010-10-30T13:30:00.025+02:00

The Bride's Family

The Groom's Family

Riley & Garrett

Kate & Courtney

The Ushers

Outside the church; With our flower girl, Annica, and ringbearer, JT

On a New Hampshire covered bridge, between the church and the reception.

our wedding, part 5: after the ceremony

2010-10-26T22:13:00.010+02:00

Hanging around the church after the ceremony

Some photos, in no particular order...

The Sterns - who took lots of these photos for us!

This was when I was telling everyone how I had forgotten to take off my socks. I deliberately wore them from the parsonage to the church so I wouldn't get chilly -- I was so afraid that I'd be nervous, and when I'm cold and nervous I can't stop shaking. Well, I was fine. And the socks actually made me laugh when, at the front of the sanctuary, I realized I still was wearing them. And this calmed my nerves entirely. Afterwards, everyone got a kick out of it.

Laura couldn't be at our wedding, but she came on Nancy's necklace.

our wedding, part 4b

2010-10-26T21:58:00.007+02:00

Here are some more lovely photos of our wedding ceremony. A friend took these photos, and I had them on a cd, but didn't explore them till now. They are some of the best.

Riley bends down as JT searches for where he's supposed to bring the ring.

Dearest Courtney

A photo of our wedding kiss!

This is my new favorite.

wordle

2010-10-26T21:52:00.002+02:00

This is a pretty cool website.

A new teacher at our school showed it to me.

I made this wordle for Garrett's new fitness room:

pumpkins

2010-10-23T11:01:00.002+02:00

I love pumpkins. I love the bright orange and pleasant roundess. I love them sitting on my coffee table, and I love eating pumpkin dishes. Here are my favorites for fall.

Pumpkin Chip Bars
From Leslie
These are moist and tasty, and even Garrett loves them, though he doesn't care for pumpkin.

2 cups flour
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 cups pumpkin
1 cup chocolate chips

Mix above ingredients together and bake at 350° in a 12x15” pan for 25 minutes.*

Mix dry and wet ingredients separately.

Add some of the the choc chips after the batter is in the pan, since they tend to sink to the bottom if mixed in the bowl ahead of time.

There have been times where I have used a combo of ½ cup oil and ½ cup applesauce.

There have been times when I have used 1.5 cups honey, ½ cup more flour OR ½ cup less oil.

Absolute Best Pumpkin Seeds

From Elizabeth

1 cup dried pumpkin seeds (if fresh, heat oven to 250 and spread seeds on non stick surface and bake until dry, about 1 hour)
5 Tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
pinch cayenne pepper (optional)
1 1/2 Tbs. peanut oil

Combine 3 Tbs. sugar and spices in a bowl.

Heat peanut oil in large

non stick skillet over high heat.

Add seeds and 2 Tbs sugar.

Cook and stir until sugar melts and starts to caramelize, about one minute.

Pour seeds in bowl and coat with spice mixture.

Spread on paper towels to dry.

chocolate cake

2010-08-20T21:47:00.004+02:00

This is the easiest recipe possible for a chocolate cake. And it's tasty, springy, and moist.

Dump into a mixing bowl:
2 c. flour (256g)
1.5 c. suger (300g)
2/3 c cocoa powder
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt

mix it a bit

add
2/3 c veg. shortening
2 eggs
2/3 c milk
1/2 c water
1 t vanilla

beat for 3-4 minutes

bake in 2 greased & floured 9-in cake pans at 350 degrees for 25 minutes
it should spring back when touched
or today i made cupcakes, and they baked in 16 minutes.
Remove them from the pans 10 minutes after taking them from the oven.

At this point we ran out of cocoa powder, and I couldn't make chocolate frosting, so instead, we fudged and created our own concoction:

about...
3/4 c. butter/shortening
1.5 cups powdered sugar
1/2 t water
1/2 t vanilla
beat it for quite a while, until the butter makes it fluffy.
add a little more milk (1-2 T) until smooth
and then add 2 scoops of peanut butter! to taste.

it turned out delicious.

I made the cake earlier this summer for my Dad's birthday on June 20. I made it again today for a staff party hosted, welcoming all of us back to Prague. It was a good time, and we met lots of the new staff.

My Dad, 1947

2010-07-02T03:11:00.003+02:00

dylan in prague

2010-06-11T16:30:00.002+02:00

I'm missing this tonight.
But that's OK. It's just nice that, walking back from the end-of-the-year-school-picnic singing "I just lost all my picnic spirit...gunna have a picnic in my bathroom," I could remember that he's in the same city as me.

And I have good memories of an outdoor concert at Chastain Park, Atl.

electric storm

2010-05-09T22:22:00.001+02:00

We're having a thunderstorm.

i heart gmail.

i have the bus stop theme.

highly recommended.

for Carol

2010-04-20T15:40:00.000+02:00

Necessary Gardens

Libraries
Are
Necessary
Gardens
Unsurpassed
At
Growing
Excitement.

from Please Bury Me In The Library by J. Patrick Lewis

my friend, the squirrel

2010-04-10T19:17:00.002+02:00

this guy hung out on my desktop for the winter.

i kinda miss him now.

He's been photographed in Glacier National Park, and you can see 99 other splendid photos here.

in praise of winter

2010-03-14T16:02:00.005+01:00

This year we got lots of snow in Prague. Except for a year in Slovakia, I don't think I've had a winter where snow stuck around for so long. It was on the ground almost two months, and then it came a get for a bit. I'm excited for spring now, and am looking for the buds that are starting to show on a few branches.

We live near a hilly park, and this winter got to sled with the niece and nephews a bit.

Seven-month-pregnant Elizabeth stayed safely at the top of the hill.
Mark trudges up slowly. Daniel poses in front of the view.
There are a few more photos here.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

baby shower

2010-03-14T15:14:00.005+01:00

Yesterday I hosted a baby shower for my sister, Elizabeth. She's 9 months pregnant + counting. It was a fun time. We had a group of ladies talking around pink & blue cupcakes, fruit and cookies. We discussed baby names, and how you guess if it's a boy or girl, and had all those shower conversations. And I asked Elizabeth to share some funny quotes from her pregnancy. I was going to say "funny things your children have said about this baby," but it's more accurately a list of "funny things Mark has said." (Mark, her youngest, is four.)

When Mark first learned that Elizabeth was going to have a baby, he sat and thought hard, and then asked, "Will the baby be human?"
Elizabeth took Mark with her to the hospital when she went to register. They were filling out paperwork, and Mark asked for another copy. He asked, "Mommy, if we give them two papers will they give us two babies?"
After explaining to Mark the different ways people deliver babies, Mark said, "If I ever have a baby, I will have it in the normal way. I will sit on the toilet, and then pick the baby out of the toilet."
Apparently Mark has reminded Elizabeth multiple times throughout her pregnancy that she will need to take her pants off when the baby comes so that they baby won't get stuck....

Man, I want to be there to hear what he says when the baby comes.

It's pretty special getting to be here for all of this. I've got (will have) 8 nieces & nephews, but this is first time I've been living near a pregnant sister and will be near when the baby comes.

Anna, my 7 year-old-niece came to the shower too.

I played for Elizabeth my favorite "baby" song. I think it's so sweet. It's called "Welcome" by Lori Chaffer on her album 1beginning. With a little bit of research I learned that she wrote it for her friend's baby boy, but there after she had a baby boy herself.

Welcome to this dusty land
Where you will cry lots but we'll all understand
Things may not turn out sometimes like you plan
That's all right our little man

Welcome outside of your mother's womb
I know that it's frightening
But now there's more room
Just think of all the great things you'll do
Just by you being you

I don't care what the world
Says about all this struggling
All I know is that now you're here
It's all lovely lovely

I don't care about
All the things that have troubled me
Now that you're here I remember life
Can be so lovely

Welcome to us, oh our little song
You're one part your daddy
One part your mom
They're gonna help you grow up to be strong
But for now little guy
Sleep on

We're very excited to great this new little one into the world.

East of Eden

2010-03-08T21:30:00.003+01:00

I finished reading East of Eden. It's a powerful book, so beautifully written. Its story would leave a deep mark inbetween readings. I made it through, and went back to the folded corners of pages to blog about.

Steinbeck writes,

[in case I ever feel overwhelmed at my job]

"Olive Hamilton became a teacher. That meant that she left home at fifteen and went to live in Salinas, where she could go to secondary school. At seventeen she took county board examinations, which covered all the arts and sciences, and at eighteen she was teaching school at Peach Tree.

"In her school there were pupils older and bigger than she was. It required great tact to be a schoolteacher. To keep order among the big undisciplined boys without a pistol and bull whip was a difficult and dangerous business...

"Olive Hamilton had not only to teach everything, but to all ages. Very few youths went past the eighth grade in those days, and what with farm duties some of them took fourteen or fifteen years to do it. Olive also had to practice a rudimentary medicine, for there were constant accidents. She sewed up knife cuts after a fight in the school yard. When a barefooted boy was bitten by a rattlesnake, it was her duty to suck his toe to draw the poison out.

"She taught reading to the first grade and algebra to the eighth. She led the singing, acted as a critic of literature, wrote the social notes that went weekly to the Salinas Journal. In addition, the whole social life of the area was in her hands, not only graduation exercises, but dances, meetings, debates, chorals, Christmas and May Day festivals, patriotic exudations on Decoration Day and the Fourth of Judy. She was on the election board and headed and held together all charities. It was far from an easy job.... The work was so hard and the proposals so constant that they married within a very short time."

I also like this quote: "A family could indeed walk proudly if the son married a schoolteacher."

"The Hamiltons were strange, high-strung people, and some of them were tuned too high and they snapped. This happens often in the world."

2010-01-28T21:14:00.000+01:00

One of those days

2010-01-28T14:12:00.001+01:00

This morning we whizzed through the sixth grade math lesson, and we ended with 10 minutes for them to do their homework. They had all finished at 11:10 when it was time for class to be over.... We waited 15 minutes for the next teacher to come, at which point I realized that math class was supposed to end at 11:25, and the next teacher wasn't, in fact, late.

In my justification, this is our second day of a new schedule with the spring semester.

Then I proceeded to plan for 7th grade math using the 6th grade textbook. I read the lesson, wrote out the objectives, my plan, and picked homework problems. Math class starts and I begin teaching...until one student says to me, "We don't know where you are."

In my justification, the 6th and 7th grade math texts look exactly alike, except for a color difference, and we know Kate has trouble remembering by color. In addition, both grades are doing lesson 6-9 next, AND lesson 6-9 in BOTH texts is titled "solving problems with equations"!

I think my brain is foggy with a bit of a cold. I'm anxiously waiting what will happen in 8th grade math.

Mark comments

2010-01-16T17:49:00.005+01:00

Last week, when we came into their house after sledding:
"Would you like something to drink?" Mark asks.
"Oh, yes, thank you. I'd like water," say I.
Mark replies kindly, "The faucet is right there."

After lunch, Elizabeth was taking Daniel and Anna to a friend's house and I started cleaning up the dishes. Mark helped. He picked out 4 pieces of tupperware and spent about 10 minutes lining them up on the kitchen floor and finding their matching lids. Then he brought in the pot of pasta, and sitting on the floor with the pot about 1 foot from the row of tupperware, he scooped the leftovers into the containers. By the time I turned around and saw what he was doing, he had 10 pieces of pasta on the floor. I suggested we'd have to throw the spills away, but he assured me the floor was clean, and ate them with his fingers.

Today at our apartment when Garrett was playing with Photobooth on his new mac:
"You laugh like a čarodějnice!" ...which means witch!

oh, to remember all the funny things he says. I know there were half a dozen more, but this is all I've got now.

contradancing!

2010-01-16T17:24:00.002+01:00

And I made this one just today! How cool is this?
Go here to make your own free videos.

from our wedding

2010-01-16T17:20:00.002+01:00

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Garrett made this video on Animoto a few weeks after we go married.
Oooh Aaaah

more on settlers

2010-01-15T18:45:00.003+01:00

I didn't make this... But it's pretty awesome, huh?

This is for Liz and Dan and Liza and Carol and Jimmy and the Corpuses and Jill and Courtney and the many others of you who we've enjoyed a game of settlers with this past year.

New Year's in Prague

2010-01-04T22:06:00.005+01:00

I've never cared much for New Year's celebrations, but the fireworks in Prague were pretty spectacular.

On New Year's Eve we had a few people over for games, and at quarter till midnight, we went out to the park for the fireworks. Our park has a view of Prague - on a clear day you can see Museum, Petrin Hill, the castle, and peaks of Old Town. We thought we'd see the fireworks going off in the distance, but there was fog and smoke hung in the air, blocking most of our view. The show we saw was taking off from our own hill. Pražany* buy big fireworks and let them off all over the place - big colorful fireworks that only firemen do in the US. It was fantastic! Some people let off these beautiful, enchanting lanterns. I had never seen anything like it before. They are like big paper balloons with a flame in the middle, so they fill up with hot air and float away. The whole crowd got into it, swelling with "ooooo" when it drifted toward a tree, and cheering for it when it safely made it up into the sky. And then they looked like little fireflies, getting smaller and smaller into the sky.

*Back in the day, we used to joke about calling my brother-in-law Praguish, as if we had no idea of the correct term for his nationality. But then in Czech class a few weeks ago I learned there is a word for someone from Prague: Pražan.

Wow! Isn't that fabulous? That is NOT what we saw: we wouldn't have been quite so close, and certainly it was not so clear. Maybe next year...

life of pi 2

2010-01-02T12:08:00.002+01:00

I've been having large animals in my dreams ever since I finished reading Life of Pi a week ago. Last night it was a large dog and a black bear, attacking each other. Very ferocious.

It's a good book. The next time I picked up the book since last posting, the plot picked up and I couldn't stop reading. I read for 3 or 4 nights in a row until 2am until I finished it. [I love Christmas break.] I don't really wish to give a synopsis, and I'd recommend not reading the back cover.

Read it.

beach days

2010-01-02T11:35:00.001+01:00

grandpa-pants!!!

2010-01-01T16:35:00.002+01:00

Well, would you look at that? Garrett, 1982.
We might need to resurrect this look.

a bit of an explanation...
My grandpa wears these kinds of pants quite often. My dad always wore his red-and-green plaid pants on Christmas day, and as kids, we called them grandpa-pants. They are pretty much awesome (in the language of my 7th graders).

zurich, nov 09

2009-12-29T11:24:00.003+01:00

We travelled by an overnight bus to Zurich, Switzerland during our Thanksgiving break. We got to visit with out friends Barry and Sarah, and their son George, and they took us around the city.

We had a nice time: they showed us their new city, and we showed them an American Thanksgiving meal with sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie...

More pics of Zurich here.

zoos

2009-12-22T11:42:00.004+01:00

I'm reading Life of Pi. I find the writing compelling. The narrator talks on an on about topics in such fascinating ways. The plot hasn't really started, making it a slow read, but I'm enjoying it none-the-less.

Several chapters near the start of the book put forth an argument for zoos. The narrator, son of a zookeeper, discusses extensively the virtues of zoos, and I, for one, am convinced. I already love zoos and think the wonder of getting to see God's beautiful and varied creation is--hands down--the best argument for zoos that could trump any cons. Martel spends 14 pages of argument for zoos, and I don't know if any of it is true, but I believe it.

This bit on lion taming gives you a snippet of his writing style, and the part at the end is laugh-out-loud funny.

As an aside, that is why a circus trainer must always enter the lion ring first, and in full sight of the lions. In doing so, he establishes that the ring is his territory, not theirs, a notion that he reinforces by shouting, by stomping about, by snapping his whip. The lions are impressed. Their disadvantage weighs heavily on them. Notice how they come in: mighty predators though they are, "king of beasts", they crawl in with their tails low and they keep to the edges of the ring, which is always round so they have nowhere to hide. They are in the presence of a strong dominant male, a super-alpha male, and they must submit to his dominance rituals. So they open their jaws wide, they sit up, they jump through paper-covered hoops, they crawl through tubes, they walk backwards, they roll over. "He's a queer one," they think dimly. "Never seen a top lion like him. But he runs a good pride. The larder's always full and--let's be honest, mates--his antics keep us busy. Napping all the time does get a bit boring. At least we're not riding bicycles like the brown bears or catching flying plates like the chimps."

settlers with the stines

2009-11-01T12:52:00.003+01:00

A few Sundays ago we had our friends Dan and Eliza over for pancakes and settlers. They brought their new version: Cities and Knights and taught it to me. Much fun!

Rothenburg

2009-10-04T17:23:00.004+02:00

We popped in on our return trip from Neuschwanstein, for a brief visit of running around the streets, photographing before it got too dark. Rothenburg is a walled, medieval town with cobbled streets and narrow, tall houses with pointed roofs, each painted a different color. The shop windows are full of beautiful things and the cafes have tempting pastries. It's like a city-sized Golden Lane, but maybe even cuter.

home saunas?

2009-09-28T10:09:00.000+02:00

You have to see it to believe it.

croatia

2009-09-23T22:15:00.001+02:00

This past August Garrett and I took our first vacation together in Croatia.

Elizabeth and Milan lent us their car: they just bought and old Renault which, after a summer of driving, they decided could probably make the trip. We drove through Brno, Vienna, Slovenia, and then into Croatia. Our first rest stop in Croatia was rather eventful. I had just driven a long stretch, and we stopped at a gas station. When Garrett tried to start the car, nothing happened. We were in a foreign country where we didn't speak a word of the language. We didn't have any currency yet, and we were 8 hrs from home in a car that wasn't ours... Garrett kept saying, what do you think we should do. And I just sat for a minute soaking up the details of it, soaking in how much of a scrape we could be in --- but convinced that it had to be okay. We called Milan, and turns out, he had the same problem: a little jiggle of the car battery cables solved the problem. What a relief.

Evening dinner: peanut butter and nutella in the front seat.

Our first stop was Plitvice National Park. The land is full of limestone there, and the lake water is full of calcium, which it deposits as it moves -- so as the water falls, it builds up dams which create lakes, and then it continues to spill into new waterfalls, which also dam, and the whole process has led to a series of lakes and waterfalls across a hillside. The water is so blue, and clear too. We could see fish. We walked up through the lakes, through waterfall, gaining ground and coming to new lakes. The area is a sanctuary for many wildlife, but we didn't see anything interesting besides a few dragonflies.

After our walk through Plitvice we got back in the car for a 8+ hour drive south. The scenery changed quickly and dramatically.
We arrived in Dubrovnik, an old, walled city that is sticking out on a peninsula. It's been completely walled in for hundreds of years. The first time the walls we're actually used for defense was in 1991 during the war.

The city was quite lovely. It's full of small passageways of stone - so hard and polished with walking for centuries it looked like marble. We ate at a cafe, strolled around, and then - as it was getting so hot - walked through the wall of the city onto some rocks where we laid out and jumped into the Adriatic. When we were bored of that we walked back into the city and found lunch -- smoothies and pizza slices. Then we walked the city walls for some amazing views. Then we went to a second swimming spot outside the walls.

Each Croatian town we visited had resident cats. This amused me.

Dubruvnik was nice, but we were ready to see the next place, so we packed our tent and spent the evening driving up the Peljesac peninsula. We arrived in time for a ferry across the sea to Korcula, and just as we pulled off the ferry we saw the campground. We spent Sunday in the town of Korcula, similiar to how we spent our Saturday in Dubrovnik. Korcula is a minature Dubrovnik. It's quite cute, but so little you could circumnavigate it in about 10 minutes. The city walls have long since been knocked down, to improve ventilation in the city streets. We found a swimming spot further up shore, and spent several hours there.
That afternoon we drove across the island to the town where we'd catch a ferry early the next morning. We found a campsite about 6km out of town practically in the middle of nowhere. It was surrouned by beautiful spots to swim, and I wish we could have spent several days there, trying out all the beaches. But we had to wake up before 5 to get in line for the ferry to Split.
After the three hour ferry, we walked around Diocletian's Palace in Split. It was cool to see such old Roman ruins.
Then we drove to Zadar. Our main purpose in stopping there was to see the sea organ that has been built into the sea wall. We meant to stop for 10 minutes: we parked along the sea wall, walked around to the organ, listened to the enchanting sound, and walked back to our car...only to find that we were blocked in by cars trailing boats waiting to get on a ferry. We were starving, and no one paid attention to the fact that we were returning to a blocked-in car. So we found pizza and a coke, and then a grocery store where we could buy some wine. (Croatia is famous for its wine.) After nearly an hour, we returned to find our car still blocked in, but this time the people were kind and concerned for us. The ferry wasn't returning for over an hour. Garrett bravely drove the car along the edge of the sea wall and into an empty parking spot where a car was able to move and let us out onto the road.

We still had a long way to drive: all the way to the north of Slovenia, Lake Bled.

At the end of the trip we drove back through Slovenia and stayed on Lake Bled, which is absolutely beautiful - tucked in the mountains with a castle on a cliff and a cute island with a church. It was raining, and we only had the morning, so Bled is tops on our list of places to return to.

Driving back through Slovenia we saw one of these interesting racks for drying the hay in the rainy climate. When driving through Europe, you get to keep your eyes peeled for castle ruins.

We drove on to Salzburg to pick up Garrett's sister and brother-in-law, Caren and Drew....

with Caren and Drew

2009-09-23T21:07:00.009+02:00

We crammed Drew and Caren and their big backpacks into the Polak Renault, and headed for Česky Krumlov. We walked around the town, photographed the bears at the castle, and ate dinner.

Then we drove home. The next two days we showed them our city. On Day One we walked from our apartment through New Town, Old Town, and Charles Bridge.
Then we met Elizabeth and Mark and Anna and rode up the funicular and walked to the castle.

Along the way, Dietrich (seen above with Garrett) was photographed extensively. He likes to fly through the air so he can be in a photo of a tourist site. And then we all have to look at the picture.

[This has to be the greatest picture of all time. Yes. You should click on it to blow it up to full size for optimal enjoyment.]

Anna really got into the bear-in-the-picture idea. She got kind of excited.

Caren and Garrett smile while Drew helps Anna get Dietrich into a tree for a photograph.

Mark looks for the roof of our apartment in the distance:

Near the castle we came across the filming of a music video...or perhaps something for Bollywood.

We sat on the steps outside the Cathedral for a moment of rest.

On Day Two we visited the Jewish Quarter, and then met the Polaks at Vysehrad where we joined Milan at a beer garden where he was meeting some co-workers. We left in time to see Golden Lane when it was free, but still light out.

On the walk back we had the clearest views of Prague I've ever enjoyed.

Our visit was also interspersed with good meals (at Mani, our Indian restuarant, Club Arkitektura, and the Parker-House kitchen) and games of Settlers. Good times.

Here we are awaiting our meal at our favorite restaurant, Club Arkitektura.
And we hope Drew and Caren decide it's a good idea to move here next year. =)

sand glass art

2009-09-21T20:53:00.004+02:00

This is pretty amazing. I've never seen anything like it, and it's incredible how quickly this woman can unfold a picture before your eyes that is moving and emotion-filled.

It's from the Ukrainian version of "Britain's got talent." The woman uses sand to tell the story of a World War II couple.

It's 9 minutes, and if you start, you'll probably be riveted. You'll want sound too.

autumn

2009-09-21T19:40:00.003+02:00

Kate is trying to think of good things about the end of summer...

candlelight
pumpkins
the smell of autumn
Thanksgiving and Christmas
fun socks
scarves
soups

hmmm...please help!

mark's antics

2009-09-20T21:17:00.002+02:00

My sister Elizabeth is having another baby! This will be her fourth. We're all pretty excited. Mark, aged 4, is most funny about it all. I believe his comments should be preserved for posterity. and for you all to read and enjoy right now.

Elizabeth was at the hospital, registering to have a baby and filling out forms. Mark watched her fill it out, and then asked if he could have another form. Elizabeth gave him one, and then he asked, "Mommy, if we give the hospital two forms, will they give us two babies?"

Another time he asked, "Will the baby be human?"

Elizabeth was explaining to Anna that if there were any problems, the doctors could cut her open and take the baby out, and so there is little risk of death in childbirth. Anna asked, "But you want to do it the natural way, right?" and said, "If I have a baby, I want to have it the natural way." Mark said, "If I have a baby, I will just go to the bathroom, and then pull the baby out of the toilet."

Apparently recently he's been reminding Elizabeth that she'll need to take off her pants when it's time for the baby to be born.

ahh, he's hysterical. has us all in fits all the time. how can someone be so funny?

carcassonne

2009-08-24T20:54:00.006+02:00

Garrett and I just got into a new game. We played it with some friends last weekend, and this past weekend some other friends bought it for us as a wedding present! It's called Carcassonne, and like Settlers, it's a winner of the German game award.

It's initially got the basic idea of dominos--you pick up an overturned square and have to fit it adjacent to other tiles already on the boards. Then you add little men to roads, cities, farms, and monestaries to rack up points.
And the board that forms is very cute. The dragon is from an extension we don't have. We have an extension that uses pigs. But we haven't figured out how to play it yet, because of course our directions are in Czech. We're not quite that fluent yet...

lunchbox

2009-08-17T21:30:00.000+02:00

When I was little, we had two tin lunchboxes in the basement that I could use to take to school. My big sisters were old enough to take their lunches in brown paper bags, but I was supposed to have a lunch box. They were tin, and I was the only student in my class who still used an old tin lunchbox. After recess, all the other kids would throw their lunchboxes down the parking lot and kick them all the way to the door where we lined up. But if I threw mine, it would pop open and make an awful racket.

Of the two lunchboxes we had, one was girly: strawberry short cake or something like that. The other was themed from this movie, and to me it was icky. It looked boy-ish and harsh, and I decided I hated it. I had no idea what the image was from, and only just now, finding this image-link on google, did I learn. It's funny because a few years later I became infatuated with the West, and would have loved it, if I had ever realized what it was.

Those lunch boxes would probably sell for $40 in some artsy store today. Too bad I banged it up on the concrete at Washington Elementary.

crocheting, etc.

2009-08-16T20:01:00.006+02:00

I've taken up a few new hobbies. Perhaps I should add blogging to the list again. Actually, "the inspiration" comes just because I happen to have more time on my hands for a few weeks. We've returned from summer travels, and are back at work, but the school building closes at 3pm, and of course there's no grading or planning to take home, so the evenings have been long.

Last week on Tuesday, I was already bored at 5pm and didn't relish a long evening of nothing-ness. So Garrett and I looked up Indian recipes and headed out with a list. We found a little Indian spice store just 5 blocks from our house that we had heard of, and got most of what we needed. We made chicken makhana, and it tasted quite good. We were rather impressed with ourselves!
We also made up chipatis from Mark's How to Cook Everything book. They came out fairly well, despite the mis-purchase of what we hoped would be whole wheat flour.

A few weeks ago I pulled out some yarn and crochet hooks from a give-away pile, and decided I would learn. I've perused several "how to" videos on youtube and tried numerous times to simply make a regular pattern, as you would start a scarf. I consistently got stuck on starting the second row, and it always looked hideous. This afternoon I took it up again, and this time followed her videos on making the "granny square." She gives the best detailed instructions out there for someone who is just beginning, and I completed my first project!

I suppose it is a hot pad for our dinning room table. I'm just going to stop there and let it be that: the next one will be better, I trust.

words-ing this Saturday morning.

2009-05-16T10:42:00.005+02:00

Chortle is a fabulous word.

Lewis Carroll created it when he combined the words chuckle and snort. He is a genious. He called his creation a portmonteau, which is a French word for a briefcase with two compartments.

I began reading the introduction of a book I had bought last summer: The Right Word, by Jan Venolia. It's been sitting on my bookshelves here in Prague, and I finally dived into it. I recommend it. I think Carol would like it, and I think Courtney would too. I think it would make an excellent addition to any classroom library. The meat of the book is a dictionary of oft-confused words, misused words, and incorrect words. I'm thinking of creating a spelling curriculum out of it for my 7th and 8th graders. From this book, we can explore:

origins of words
evolution of meanings
homophones
mixed up words
meanings of words
words for informal writing v. words for formal, academic writing
word play

I think it could be a lot of fun. I was toying with the idea of getting Rebecca Sitton for our school, but I think I won't. She has a lot of great theory, but it's a bit too cutesy for middle schoolers, and it does not tailor itself well enough to students with varying spelling abilities, which of course we have in our international classrooms with many ELL students.

In browsing through through the dictionary, I found her entry on paradigm, which only yesterday I was explaining to my eighth graders. She defines it as "an exhaustive model, example, or pattern." Then she goes on to quote Peter Bowler:

"Never use this word yourself, but be prepared, when it is used by another, to lean forward intently, narrow your eyes and say, 'Just a moment--do you really mean paradigm in that context?' When somewhat bemused, he avers that he does, you merely raise your eyebrows and remain silent. With any luck at all, he will now have forgotten what he was going to say. Apply the same technique when confronted with parameter, infrastructure, structure, and matrix."

This is the sort of advice I believe must be in the training for college professors.

our wedding, part 4: the ceremony

2009-05-13T21:16:00.026+02:00

February 28, 2009

3:00 pm
Wilmot Flat

Garrett, his dad and Riley, his best man

Annica, Garrett's niece, our flowergirl

John Thomas, my nephew, came carrying our rings on a little pillow.

He looks a little unsure as he walks down the aisle. He wavered a bit, and Riley bent down and motioned for him to bring the rings to him.

Then came me.

I like this picture a lot. I wonder what Annica is giggling about.

We sang "How Great Thou Art" before my father gave me away.

Our fathers officiated the ceremony.

Little G looks a little bit bored.

Exchanging vows

And then exchanging rings

Mr. and Mrs. Garrett Park*r

reading

2009-04-25T11:21:00.007+02:00

I'm reading two books for the first time right now, for my seventh and eighth grade English classes, and enjoying them thoroughly. They're classics, but in case you never read them either, add them to your summer reading list. Around the World in Eighty Days is a blast. I can't believe I've never read Verne before. The characters are funny, and the plot suspenseful. (O-kay, I read the last few chapters [which is NOT a typical habit] so I'd know what to expect and could properly steer class discussion while we're reading it...but it's still been exciting seeing how it all pans out.)

If you don't know, Phileas Fogg is an methodical, home-loving Englishman from 1872 who takes on a home-loving butler Passepartout, only to tell him he's just taken a bet that he can get around the world in eighty days. The world having just been made that much smaller by the steamboat and train, he sets out to prove this to his whist-playing friends of his Club. So you follow him as he goes -primarily by boat and train- eastward around the world, being chased by a detective, and thoroughly convinced he'll have no trouble winning his two-thousand-pound bet.

It'll be a great cap-off-the-year read with the seventh graders who've been studying geography all year, to plot his journey round the earth.

The Bronze Bow is one of those books I recall my mother telling me several times to read, but I wasn't drawn in by the cover or time period, and I guess a bit stubborn on taking reading suggestions (which I realize is stupid, but I was 13). I've not gotten very far yet, but it's quite engaging.

The setting is Judea during the time of the Romans. The main character Daniel is a zealot, who's living in exile from his home town, hoping he's part of a growing army to throw off the Romans. He knows Simon the Zealot who begins to follow Jesus and tries to show Daniel Him.

We're starting our unit on the Romans in eighth grade next week...

I'm pedalling back and forth between them - getting sucked into one, and then realizing I need to keep up with my English class in the other. So far I've gotten Phileas Fogg into India, but it's really time to turn back to Daniel in Capernaum.

our wedding, part 3: getting ready before the ceremony

2009-04-22T18:50:00.016+02:00

February 28th

Kailin did makeup for Courtney and me.

My sisters getting ready

My lovely gown, made by Jana

Explaining to Courtney how the corset laced up

Admiring the beautiful beadwork on the neckline

our wedding, part 2: rehearsal

2009-04-19T20:59:00.009+02:00

Friday evening, February 27
Wilmot Baptist Church

Riley, Garrett and Courtney in the doorwary

Practicing the processional -
Ruth and JT, our ringbearer
Annica, our flowergirl
Courtney, my bridesmaid
and me and my daddy

The best part about the rehearsal was the reunion with the friends from Atlanta, who had all arrived in time to meet us at the church!

We had dinner at the lodge, and then a sweet time of sharing followed by a slideshow of us put together by Craig.

our wedding, part 1: days before

2009-04-19T18:42:00.020+02:00

On Thursday, February 26 we visited the Bluewater Farm where our rehearsal dinner and reception would be. Courtney and I went down to the nearby town for my haircut, and then we drove down to visit the lodge. Garrett and Craig met up with us, and Craig took some photos of us.

Thursday night we celebrated Courtney's birthday, and had a fun dinner at the Park*r's, my family having just driven up from NJ. (I wish I had photos.) Carol arrived late from the airport that night, and on Friday morning she, Garrett and I drove down for breakfast to where the rest of the fam stayed.

(he's kinda goofy...)

We spent Friday afternoon decorating the lodge with twinkle lights.

Earlier that week back in NJ, Garrett crawled into the Target-bag that wrapped our new Kitchen Aide. It strickingly reminded me of another picture I had of myself; shocked at how suited we were for each other, I had to photograph the moment.
Mine is from several years ago, on Euclid Avenue: I bought a new sleeping bag...

Our apartment

2009-04-11T17:03:00.002+02:00

It's been a lazy Saturday afternoon. It's sunny, and the warm spring air is coming in our windows. We're resting here at home, after a full, fun week of traveling and sightseeing with Courtney. Now she's almost home, and we've tidied up the place, and I've taken some pictures to show you what it's like.

Our windows face the park to the west of us, and the afternoon sun is starting to creep in.

Here's the full view of our living room/dining room, standing in the doorway to our kitchen.

This is the other side of the living room, with the doorway into our bedroom.

Our clothes are drying in the bedroom window.

From our bedroom into the kitchen. The door leads out of our apartment. The bathroom and water closet are on the right side of that wall.

20 volumes of the OED

2009-03-26T16:21:00.002+01:00

Petrichor is the scent that rises from pavement after rain has begun to fall. I love that smell. Where did it get a word?

Read this article. Brilliant.

This guy read the entire OED, and then wrote a book about it.

"I have to say, it was absolutely delightful," Shea said. "It was such a moving experience. It felt so similar to reading a great work of literature."
As Shea wrote in Reading the OED, "All of the human emotions and experiences are right there in this dictionary, just as they would be in any fine work of literature. They just happen to be alphabetized."
Part of that appreciation, Shea said, came when words seemed to arrange themselves into strings of poetry or prose.

thanks, carol. i probably stole your thunder. but i couldn't resist posting it myself.

wedded in New Hampshire!

2009-03-24T21:49:00.008+01:00

with more to come...

Reddy

2009-03-24T21:33:00.005+01:00

This morning I met a little red squirrel in the park. He was adorable, and we stopped to chat.

He has pointy ears, and a fire-red tail. And he's quite spunky.

He lives in the park by Our apartment.

2009-02-02T20:56:00.005+01:00

Over Christmas break, with my family, we took the train to Karlštejn and walked up the hill to the castle.We took a tour of the inside, which was cold, and bare, and where we weren't allowed to take any pictures...

And then we walked on through the woods to a town further up the tracks where we could catch the train. The trail was bumpy with a stroller. And it was cold and long for little hungry kids. And at a few points we weren't quite sure which way to go. But we arrived at the next town just as it was getting dark, and had a hot supper at an inn by the train station.

green

2009-02-01T15:25:00.003+01:00

fun shoes to wear on my wedding day!

tagged: 8 things

2008-12-16T14:42:00.002+01:00

fun times, Courtney...

8 Books I like to reread: (edited from TV shows, because even when living in the states, I couldn't answer)
1. Jane Eyre
2. Pride and Prejudice
3. To Kill a Mockingbird
4. Walk Two Moons
5. The Little Prince
6. The Hiding Place
7. The Adventures of Huck Finn
8. Make Way for Ducklings

8 Favorite Foods: (since I can maybe think of 8 restaurants I've been to in Prague)
1. chocolate
2. bread (especially that braided kind)
3. pasta
4. black olives
5. pesto
6. box brownies
7. pancakes
8. hot dogs

8 Things that Happened Today:
1. had to sub for a Bible class
2. sent a student to the principal
3. organized the NF 500s books
4. looked for train tickets to Trnava, SK for this weekend
5. read Courtney's blog
6. delivered Christmas cookies to coworkers
7. babysat my nephews
8. watched a 50kc ($2.2) movie in the theatre
(ok,I haven't done #7-8 yet, but I plan to...)

8 Things I Look Forward To:
1. getting married
2. presents on Christmas day
3. seeing Courtney in Prague for Spring Break
4. visiting with family coming to town for Christmas
5. the end of the week (& Christmas break!)
6. no more tears and frustration in heaven
7. visiting Banff NP
8. tea time

8 Things on My Wish List:
1. a wedding dress
2. tall black boots
3. burts bees chapstick
4. a USB stick
5. music
6. Nabob tea
7. perfect eyesight
8. the gift of playing the piano

8 People I'm tagging: no pressure
1. Carol
2. Jim & Jul
3. Katie
4. Hannah
5. Ruth
6. Jonathan
7. Laura
8. you

engaged

2008-12-10T21:04:00.001+01:00

On November 30, Garrett asked me to marry him!

It was his birthday, and we went up to Vyšehrad to spend the day. It's a beautiful old fortress from a millenium ago, up on a hill overlooking the Vltava River. It's a lovely park: my favorite spot in Prague.

My roommates, Leah and Sheila, were hiding out with cameras, and they caught these wonderful photos. The fact is, I had seen Leah. The timing did not work out just how Garrett was hoping, and we were hanging out on that wall for a while, and I suggested I was cold and we could go walk around. Garrett obliged, but insisted we return to the spot to catch the sunset. And on our way back I suddenly recognized my roommate. I was a bit startled, but Garrett acted like it was nothing and kept walking, so I just followed him. As soon as we reach the overlook, he proposed.

And I accepted. Afterwards, Garrett signaled for Leah and Sheila to come take photos, and this is me turning around, seeing them there. The surprised look on my face cracks me up: I was dazed, taking everything in; startled and excited to see Leah and Sheila, and only then realizing that they were there to take pictures for us.

So they took some happy photos, and then left us with my camera.

Later we went up to Charles Bridge. Here we are, smiling a lot, with the bridge in the background.

Here we are on the bridge, still getting used to the sound of the word engaged.

Then we went to Cafe Slavia, a famous cafe where artists and intellectuals were known to hang out over the years. A pianist plays on the grand piano, and sometimes you can manage to get a seat by the window to see the river.

We stopped in at my sister's apartment for to share the news with her family. Then we headed back to my flat, where I had a little birthday dessert planned for Garrett. And we celebrated our engagement too.

what I like best

2008-12-10T17:50:00.000+01:00

"What I like best in the whole world is Me and Piglet going to see You, and You saying 'What about a little something?' and Me saying, 'Well, I shouldn't mind a little something, should you, Piglet,' and it being a hummy sort of day outside, and birds singing."

-Winnie the Pooh
The House at Pooh Corner

busing to church

2008-12-07T16:56:00.008+01:00

This morning Garrett and I had a funny experience riding the bus to church. It was the sort of experience that could have been so frustrating if I was running late, or irritable. But this morning, being in a good mood, and having had enough rest the night before, I was able to see the comic side of it.

We were standing in the back of a full bus, with a man with a German Shepherd and several other people going to church with us.

At the first stop, the bus driver opened the swinging doors to relieve the bus of a few passengers. When a bus driver is about to close the doors, a buzzing noise goes off. But this time the noise didn't stop. The door closed, and then reopened. Again, and again. The man with the German Shepherd was trying to stand out of the way, probably thinking his coat was blocking the doorway. But it didn't stop, and then Garrett realized that the other bus doors were opening as ours was closing. The bus driver kept opening and closing the doors, trying to get them in sync. Meanwhile, the buzzing of the doors never stopped, because one set of doors was always trying to close.

The hilarity of it all hit me as I watched one set of doors open as the other swung closed. We sat at that bus stop as the bus driver opened and closed the doors probably thirty times.

Finally we pulled off from the stop with the back door open, about 8 minutes behind schedule. The man with the dog held on tight, and no one fell off.

At each of the following stops, the man and dog popped off to make room for exiting passengers. But as soon as they got to the door, the driver opened the other doors to let out passengers, and the passengers trying to exit from the back got locked in!

As we pulled up to our stop, Garrett and I jumped off just as it was pulling to a stop so we wouldn't have to wait for the doors to be re-opened. I was still chuckling over it as we walked up the steps into church.

those little things

2008-12-04T13:59:00.003+01:00

So, let's just say, hypothetically, you were wondering what random little gifts I'd like in a package?

Here are some ideas for you:

no. 2 coffee filters (the small ones)
act mouthwash
those little clear sticky notes for marking books
emergenC packets of Vitamin C
Sudafed-type med.
Precise V5 extra fine pens, dark blue
Burts Bees chapstick
Olay Complete face lotion (oops...)

...i'm just saying...