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Our Daily Thread 4-21-15

Good Morning!

 Today’s header photo is from Janice. 

Here’s a close-up.

pink flower janice

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On this day in 1836 General Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto. The battle decided the independence of Texas.

In 1865 President Abraham Lincoln’s funeral train left Washington.

In 1918 German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, “The Red Baron,” was shot down and killed during World War I.

And in 1972 Apollo 16 astronauts John Young and Charles Duke explored the surface of the moon.

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Quote of the Day

“Power without a nation’s confidence is nothing.”

Catherine the Great

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 Today is Clara Ward’s birthday. This should wake you up. 🙂

And I just can’t pass up the opportunity…. 🙂

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Anyone have a QoD?

63 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 4-21-15”

  1. That flower surely looks lonesome.
    Maybe the only flower in Georgia. 😉

    Mary, Tom & the little one came from Greensboro to visit the Biltmore Estate in Asheville yesterday. They came over to Hendersonville and we went out for dinner and visited a while. 🙂

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  2. What a pretty flower!

    We’re (maybe) going to get some rain this week — if nothing else it should at least put a little damper on the brush fire dangers out here these days.

    Nice (although poignant) story in the LA Times today about our little paper winning a Pulitzer. It also manages to capture some of the sadness those of us feel as we try to survive in what has become a shrinking industry:

    http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-breeze-pulitzer-20150421-story.html

    _________________________________________________

    (The editor) pointed to the desks surrounding his.

    “Look at this, ” he said. “Vacant. Vacant. Vacant. Vacant. Vacant.”

    When he got to Kuznia’s desk, he paused.

    “Vacant.”

    The lead reporter on the winning story left journalism six months ago. He now works in public relations at USC.

    “Journalism was my thing,” he said. “I always felt lucky that I had found what I wanted to do in my 20s while others were still looking for it.”

    But at 39, the career he so loved barely paid his bills. Six months into his job at the Breeze, he had to take a pay cut. While friends his age were buying homes, he was still renting and driving his old Honda, built in 1989. …
    _________________________________________________

    Sigh.

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  4. Donna, that is an interesting story. I’ve never worked in a newsroom, but in college I worked yearbook for three years, two of them as the lead editor, and we shared space (divided by a low partition) with the campus newspaper for a couple of those years. That isn’t the same as a daily newspaper, but I have a little bit of an idea of that sort of space.

    It is pretty ironic, and sad, to win a Pulitzer after giving up on journalism.

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  5. cheryl, indeed.

    We’ve lost so many good people, some through layoffs and cutbacks, others who have managed to segue into something else. Our 20+ newsroom now has shrunk to seven of us trying to cover about a dozen cities on top of separate school districts and other news.

    And corruption isn’t all that rare among smaller cities (another of our beat reporters is exposing some more wrongdoing with recent stories). Without local newspapers keeping watch, though, these guys can (and will) get away with a scary amount of misbehaving.

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  6. While friends his age were buying homes, he was still renting and driving his old Honda, built in 1989.

    Sounds like a teacher. I drive an 8 year old minivan while some of the students derive new or near new cars. Other teachers drive newer/nicer cars, but they have two income families, or are just out of college and don’t have children. They’ll learn.

    Speaking of buying homes, we have someone who want to buy an older house and likes ours (built in 1890)! They also have another thy like, so it may yet be a while before a buyer comes along.

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  7. The week before last, I think it was, I mentioned that I would be giving some updates on some things going on with us. I have given a couple of those, but I forgot this big one.

    Forrest, who will turn five in October, will start kindergarten this fall (well, technically it will be in late August, which is still summer 🙂 ). I was quite surprised when Emily told me this a couple months ago. He seems too young to me to be going to school (& Stafford has all-day kindergarten, which I think is a bad idea). Previously she had talked about not sending him to school until he was five-going-on-six, & she’d even toyed with the thought of homeschooling him.

    On one hand, I wish she would delay a year, but on the other hand, it will be a break for me now that she is working at Claire’s, & I am hoping it will be good for him. With all the news reports we’ve seen of little kids getting suspended for pretending something is a gun, I joke that he’ll end up getting expelled. 🙂

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  8. Not every married couple can afford to buy a house. The McKs are in their late 50s & have never been able to buy one. Lee & I didn’t get this house until he was 45 & I was 39, & even then, it was only because we had the money from the sale of his mother’s house.

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  9. Peter, I don’t know what teachers make where you are, but teachers here in LA far, far outpace reporters — they make up to $70,000+ a year and just nailed a new contract that will give them another 10% raise over the next two years.

    Not saying they’re not worth it — they are, it’s a tough job & one I wouldn’t want to do. But public school teachers here are no longer underpaid, in my view.

    Those living on either of the two coasts also have to contend with very high costs of living.

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  10. I also thought about teachers. However, not about pay, but about the one who got the “Teacher of the Year” award and was laid off. It was a seniority thing.

    Beautiful bloom. What is it? I don’t think I have seen it before.

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  12. An interesting thing happened last night at the Monday night jam we attend. The group was playing and singing when in walked a woman who used to work with one of my daughters. Then her whole family walked in and requested a song. The first woman did not recognize me, so I mentioned our connection. We had actually met her last summer (not our first meeting) to get an item for my daughter and give her a plant start from me. The meeting was a quick one, since it was dark and pouring rain. Anyway—

    It turned out her father had just passed away. Her family was there to plan the funeral. They heard the music down the hall and had to come check it out. They were invited in, as anyone who peaks in, is. They requested a certain song and, though it is not a song the group normally does, they agreed to play it. One of the woman in the group was going to sing it with them.

    In the course of the conversation it was mentioned that the woman who was singing lived on our closest paved road. When the house was mentioned I provided a name of a former occupant that I knew. Turns out she was the woman’s daughter and had babysat for us years ago! She was married to the first woman’s brother.

    Her family has a video on Youtube. The Fiddle Rascals are a family group that does a cover of “Let it Go.” The woman with the mandolin is our former babysitter and her mom plays on the accordion. Other family members are also on the video.

    But I digress—the long and short of it, is that the group was asked to do play a couple of songs at the funeral. They happened to do one of the deceased man’s favorite numbers, when the family was there. Two members of the group happen to work for the funeral director and are church members. They would be there anyway. There are enough other members who agreed to go.

    The man’s daughter was blown away, by the whole turn of events. I was surprised, to say the least. Small world, indeed.

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  13. Arggh! I need my own personal editor. That would be ‘peeks’ in. I confess. I usually don’t know when someone is peaking. 😀

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  15. That flower is a near miracle. Several years ago I saw some clematis plants for sale at the Kroger near the office. They were too expensive, but I was told they’d go on sale at week’s end. I asked husband to get one if they still had any on Sat. He came home with the last two. I did not know what to do with two. They sat on the carport through two winters and I kept watering them. Finally I thought they were dead and was going to toss them, but saw a few green leaves. I planted them thinking I would later put up a trellis. I did not realize I planted them on top of tiger lily bulbs, lol. So the plants are vying for space. I figure the vines can climb up the tall lily plants for a really different twist on a trellis. The other evening I went to take the trash out at dusk and was very surprised to see this beautiful blossom. God is good to trade trash for beauty!

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  16. Donna- Our highest paid teacher gets less than that $70k. Of course, housing sis much lower here. One can get a nice 3 bedroom 1500 sq ft home on a large lot for $100-120K.

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  17. Karen, I know you probably don’t have any say, but yeah, a child who won’t turn five till October isn’t ready for kindergarten, especially all-day kindergarten, and especially a boy. My birthday is in June, and I was always one of the few who wasn’t yet whatever age by the end of the school year. (In other words, I wouldn’t turn six till after kindergarten was over for the summer, which made me one of the younger ones in my class.) My father-in-law was a principal in his career (retired now) and he strongly recommends that boys wait a year if they are anywhere near the line. He had many parents come back to him years later either to tell him they were glad they took his advice or that they wish they had. Having a boy be the smallest and least mature in his class can be a huge disadvantage, in academics, in sports, and in social skills.

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  18. That is a lovely flower. I know I’ve seen them somewhere, but I’m not sure if it was an an in-law’s house or at the store. (My mother-in-law and sister-in-law both keep very nice gardens. So far, here, my older daughter does the gardening, but once she moves out it will be time for me to figure it out. I have some ideas of things I would like to plant, but for now I am letting it be her thing. Maybe this fall I’ll take her to a plant store and find some new things together. I’d like to plant some more bulbs and a butterfly bush.)

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  19. Mumsee,

    Sorry I didn’t respond sooner, but I’m just catching up.

    I read the other day that Mike had been denied by SS. This is all part of how it’s played nowdays. Nearly everyone is denied. He should file an appeal right away. He should also find a local attorney to take his case. The attorney won’t charge unless he wins his appeal. If he wins, they’ll take a percentage set by SS of any back funds due to Mike. They’ll owe back to when he first filed. This is sadly the way it’s done. Pretty much everybody is denied at first, but about 70% are successful in their appeal. Don’t give up, that’s what they want. But be prepared for a looooong wait. All told, it takes about 2 years from your original application date. 😦

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  20. The clematis is beautiful. I have tried to grow them several times, but it is too dry and windy here. I think they need humidity above 10%.

    KarenO, Emily might want to read the book ‘Better late than early’. I can’t recall the author right now. If I were home, I could just pull it off the shelf
    .

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  21. Karen, the book RKessler mentions is by Raymond Moore and Dorothy Moore. A good read.

    Two of my husband’s brothers were born in June, and my MIL says she regrets not having waited an extra year to send them to school. My hubby, born in February, and especially his youngest brother, born in October when the cut-off date was in September, did well in school.

    (My brother, also born in October, did very well, too. He finished in the Top 10 of his class of 600 students.)

    It is so much better for boys to be among the older children in the class rather than the younger.

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  22. The real, thanks, I will let him know.

    Emily probably is looking for free babysitting more than anything at this point. Which does make a certain amount of sense. That is why most folk put their little folk in school. Hoping they will also get educated and have a good social life.

    Sixteen year old is enjoying the thrill of dirt biking. He has, over the years, blacked out about four times. He did it yesterday as he was taking off for a jump. Not a good thing. He is fine. A twisted ankle, some serious abrasions and burns, but he should be fine. We told him he probably needs to find out why he is blacking out and maybe not drive at all. One ought not to drive if one is randomly blacking out. We suspect dehydration as they were all after hard work with no hydrating. But a heart defect, blood pressure problem, epilepsy, etc are all possible.

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  23. Emily is well aware that it is better for boys to start school a little later, which is why that was her original plan. But she also has R pushing her to put Forrest in school. By acquiescing to this, she gets a little more leverage for other matters. It’s almost like playing a game with him, & needing to have the right strategy. Unfortunately, Forrest is the pawn in the game. Not that Emily wants it that way. She does all she can to protect him from his father, & to give him a stable, loving life, as much as possible in the current circumstances.

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  24. I let our son do two years of kindergarten because of his July birthday. The first year of kindergarten was a church half day program and the second one was at a different church full day program. It was a wise decision for us. I was the youngest in my class, at the cutoff in Dec being 31st and my birthday on the 12th. I would have done much better to have had an extra year of something besides school with all the children older than I.

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  25. Almost nine year old is still in kindergarten, year after year after year. But that is for ABC’s and 123’s. Other things he is in fourth or fifth or third or whatever works. Each child is unique. They have found that early school does not help in the long run. Which makes me wonder why they wanted him in head start when he was four.

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  26. There’s an idea, can he do kindergarten twice? We have a program like that in our schools–a sort of pre-kindergarten with the understanding they’ll attend again.

    I put a gifted November birthday boy into kindergarten before he turned five on the advice of the preschool. Seven years later, I had him repeat 7th grade when we moved to Hawai’i. That was done in part to get him into an elite school and he didn’t like the idea but as a good kid went along.

    The boy cut off for Punahou was a June 30 birthday; December 31 for girls, so by making him repeat seventh grade, he was in with his peers. He thanks us now–it was the right call–but that was a tough time. What’s the birthday cut off in CT?

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  27. I am staying out of the discussion because the cut off here is September 1. BG is one of the oldest in her class. In second grade she was right on the border to be in the gifted program. Third grade was a really bad year, with a bad teacher, fourth grade was terrific. Look where we are now.

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  28. If someone is far-sighted in considering schools then the possibility of getting college scholarships is probably better for those who are the more mature rather than least mature in their classes.

    I was told by one director to send son on to 1st solely because of intellect. But others said boys do better with an extra year. It was a difficult thing to do since some people might wrongly assume the child is inferior in some way for being “held back.” That is the other person’s problem that thinks like that. People need to do what is best in considering the whole picture of the child’s life. Some young boys may get a bad start because they are in trouble because they are antsy and can’t sit still and cause trouble for a big classroom. Medication may be required. People have to consider if they can deal with that. I really agonized over making the right decisions about early and all schooling.

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  31. I have to agree that children are all so very different. So are teachers and schools. So are home situations. Fortunately, one decision doesn’t mean life and death. I am sorry I didn’t wait a year for my youngest, who had a summer birthday. Still, she did fine. No parent will make all the ‘right’ decisions.

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  32. I put my son in Kinder at 6 1/2 and he had a February birthday. But, he walked at 16 months and little sister walked at 10 months. Each child has their own pace. My second born girl had an October birthday and could have gone at almost five, but I waited a year. She was much more interested in climbing trees and exploring and was not asking when she could go to school. Her husband was born the same month, in Kansas and they were the same year in school.
    Now it is such a blessing to be able to tell others that I put two of my children in school later. I have recommended this for several others in Ukarumpa. I agree that it helps boys to have more time. And missionary children go back and forth from culture to culture and school to school, so it is so nice to be more mature. Also when they graduate, they are off on their own and not near their parents.

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  35. If Forrest needs to do K twice, you will need to make him aware in a good way that he will not be going forward with his friends, and also consider that some schools do a graduation from K. That is probably just at church preschool and K programs though.

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  36. My son and my friend’s daughter both had summer birthdays and were in the same two kindergartens together so it was not like they were the only one not going forward. That worked out well. She is the daughter of my friends who got the three kittens.

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  37. As I’ve said, with a late June birthday I was one of the youngest in my class. (I did have a classmate–a poor student–who was younger, with an October birthday, and probably a couple of others.) My younger sister had an October birthday, and since we were just a bit more than a year apart, she was in the year after me, and she was the youngest in her class and she struggled a bit in school. Me, I knew all my older brothers had skipped a grade, and that grade skipping wasn’t still being done when I was in school, and it bothered me that it wasn’t, because I probably could have skipped a grade and I would have been less bored (more challenged). Socially I wouldn’t have fallen behind, and might possibly have gotten ahead, by skipping a grade, since I interacted better with people older than me–and basically I wouldn’t have been worse off, since I didn’t have friends in my grade anyway.

    So it really depends on the child. Which is part of the appeal of more customized homeschooling.

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  38. I love having the freedom to customize our homeschool. We have so much variety in our children’s skills, abilities and challenges — and even any one child can change a lot from one age to another.

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  39. One of my seventeen year olds just told me he went to kindergarten, preschool, and then kindergarten two more times. That makes sense, based on his education and his sister and brother.

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  40. Today I practiced at the performance venue for Sunday’s piano show. It was so wonderful to sit at that Steinway grand again. I haven’t played it in over a year. The instrument is 100 years old this year, and it’s got a magnificent sound.

    Took me a good half hour, though, to get accustomed to its touch again. Very different than my upright.

    I practiced my piece for an hour today, and the second half of that time things felt much more natural.

    Thursday I go back and practice on it with my duet partner. She’s never played there, or even heard a performance at that site, so she will be in for quite a treat. 🙂

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  41. The lilacs are in bloom here! I love the fragrance almost as much as a gardenia.

    Mrs L’s favorite uncle died this morning. They think his heart stopped, but he had been having some health issues for several months now. I’m not sure of his age, but it is older than Chas.

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  42. First Arrow went to a 4-year-old preschool.
    Then home for a gap year, due to immaturity.
    Then back to school for 1st grade. (Neither the teacher nor my husband and I thought son needed Kindergarten at that point, as he was already reading at a 3rd-grade level.)
    Then school for 2nd grade.
    Then homeschool:
    Grade 3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10
    11
    12
    12 again.
    Then he graduated when he was 19.

    It all worked out fine. He got a good job right about the time he finished school, and is still working there.

    He is going to school now for IT, and will finish in August. Today he had an interview for a job in that field.

    Things are going well for him.

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  44. I forgot to mention in my looooooooonnnnnnnggg story, that the family, who had lived in that home, had moved years ago. They now live in Texas. Yet, our former babysitter is married to my daughter’s former co-worker’s brother. My daughter had no idea there was a connection either.

    My nephew was in the same kindergarten class with my daughter. He did have to repeat. He is extremely intelligent and has done very well in life. He just needed to gain the maturity. Still, I know his mom was dismayed and he probably felt bad, as well. We humans are so silly in so many ways.

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  47. The Real, you made my husband’s day with that Snoopy and the Red Baron selection! He said he had a 78 back in the day and played it over and over and over. 🙂

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  48. Kare, I was thinking of you with the allergies. I took Mumsee’s advice and have been taking turmeric. I have taking it since January and then when the allergies got bad a couple of weeks ago, I double the dosage and took two capsules. I can hardly tell that it is Spring. So nice

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  50. Is it ever, Kathaleena. And the acoustics in the performance hall are beautiful, too.

    Tonight I played my piece (on my own piano) for my piano student and her dad and brother, who were here during her lesson. Tomorrow I will do the same for my other student and any family members who come along with him.

    Then I’m not going to play my piano again until after the show, so I don’t have to keep switching back and forth between instruments! It’s the grand only, after tomorrow.

    I can go back to my instrument next week then, and look forward to future performances on the old Steinway. 🙂

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  54. As you all know, I don’t reveal many specifics online about my name or location, or those of my family, friends, etc.

    However, I don’t mind sharing that information privately with any of the regulars on here, and I have done so with several of you.

    The reason I mention this is because there is a video on YouTube (of that Steinway I’ll be playing on) that shows how it was delivered to its current location — pretty amazing footage — and the young lady playing the piano is one of my former students. 🙂

    Her name and the name of the building where it is now, along with the city and state, is shown on the screen at the end of the video.

    It’s a 2 1/2 minute video, and if any of you are interested in seeing it, I can email you a link if you request it and I already know your email. Or I could send the link to AJ or someone else, if that’s OK, to be forwarded to any of the regulars on here who would like to see the piano.

    Or hear it. 🙂

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  55. Very sorry, Peter.

    So 6 arrows I guess your doctor gave you the go-ahead to play the piano to your heart’s content. 🙂 Sounds like you’re having great fun.

    I’m feeling down, just sort of a blah day at work today (the let-down from our Pulitzer day yesterday, I suppose!). Today it was back to the usual grind, digging up stories to feed the editor (who also had slipped back into his usual cranky self.) 🙂 Gotta love him.

    I also didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, so I know I was just feeling tired and dragging by the end of the day. And Carol wants me to come by on Saturday. I just feel like she sometimes is so demanding, I know she doesn’t mean to be, but … Saturdays are really my only day to catch up around here (and to chill a bit, which I need by then).

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  56. Yep, Donna. I think it helped that his daughter was a concert pianist — it’s hard to stop a performer when the big day is just around the corner. 🙂

    Interestingly, my arm didn’t hurt at all today. I think my positioning at the grand piano was better than it is at home. Having an adjustable-height bench (with the grand) helps, though I didn’t change it from the position it was in when I found it. It felt a little lower than my home bench, and that may have helped me play with more comfort.

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  57. In the video, the piano is shown being raised up on the outside of the building and brought through an open third-floor window. The camera at one point shows a bunch of people standing down on the lawn. If you don’t like heights, you might want to skip that part!

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  60. Sent, Cheryl. 😉 Enjoy!

    Forgot I had laundry going yet in the dryer, but now I hear it’s finished. My work for the day is done. Good night, everyone!

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