Chas slept in this morning.
He didn’t wake up and go back to sleep. He woke up, looked at the clock and it was 7:15.
I stayed up watching all the talk about the debate. Don’t know why, nothing important was happening. I just did.
Elvera went to bed early. I said, “I’ll be in later”.
After a while, she came in saying, ‘There’s a light on the trees outside. Do we have any lights on in the basement?” I said, “no, none of our lights.” She insisted that there was a light shining on the trees.
So, just to satisfy her. I turned off all the lights in the house and went out on the deck to see the light shining on the trees.
There was a light shining on the trees.
I came back in and said to Elvera:
“Dearie, promise me that I’m not going to have to go out the check every time we have a full moon shining on the trees.’ I teased her.
She was embarrassed.
I didn’t think anymore about it until this morning. In 14 years, that’s the first time that happened. Usually, the moon is up and shining on the deck by bedtime. .
😦 Chas. It hurts my heart for you. I have watched this happen several times to people I have loved. I suspect it was starting to happen to my father before he died.
The photos: Did any of you (or your children) grow up reading the Sugar Creek Gang series by Paul Hutchens? The fictional Sugar Creek Gang was a bunch of boys who were friends (Christian boys from good families), Circus, Poetry, etc., and they loved adventure. Then a boy joins them whose father is an atheist and the town drunk. Anyway, the “original” Sugar Creek Gang was the author and his brothers, who indeed grew up alongside the Sugar Creek in Indiana. My brothers read the books, so they were in the house when I was growing up (and my brothers had moved out) and I read them too.
Though the body of water in these photos seems more like a river, it is the Sugar Creek, though a few miles away from where Hutchens grew up. This is Turkey Run State Park, and the first time we went there, two years ago, I was struck by how much I could imagine the boys running up and down those rocks and finding adventure among all the caves. The photo right beneath the first eagle photo, that rock face is taller than you might think (my six-foot-plus husband stood at the base our first year, and I couldn’t easily see him in the photo). But a lot of the rocks look just like that, and yes, they’re riddled with caves. Some of the trails in the park are quite rugged, but my husband and I choose the easiest ones.
The reflection in the first photo: the sun gets up pretty late this time of year, and the time stamp on the photo was 9:32 a.m. on our anniversary. We chose to be down at the creek when the sun rose. I think this exact spot is the prettiest spot in Indiana (at least among the ones I’ve seen, and I’ve visited maybe eight state parks and a lot of lesser places). This and a couple of the following ones were taken from the park’s suspension bridge.
The two bottom photos of scenery, one was also taken at sunrise, a closer shot of the trees that were in bright sunlight, but the one just above the bottom eagle was taken at the same spot at 2:18 p.m. the day before. I think it is just as lovely as the sunrise one, but the colors and the shadows are completely different with the sun higher in the sky.
And the eagle? I have been trying in vain for years to get a photo of a pileated woodpecker. We have seen one several times, usually flying from one tree to another that’s far enough into the woods that we can’t see the bird anymore. He’s landed teasingly close for just a second or two (not long enough for a photo) a couple of times. We saw one (and heard two) down by the suspension bridge that morning, but again it was teasing quick glimpses. Well, we were walking along the river (toward the suspension bridge) but with trees between our trail and the water, and I saw a big bird flying along the water. I looked toward it, thinking maybe it was a pileated woodpecker and I could tell my husband, but no, it was something grander still, a bald eagle! He was walking a few feet ahead of me, and I called, “Honey, bald eagle!” but by that time the bird was out of sight. But the park was more crowded by far than we have ever seen it, and it occurred to him that when the eagle got down toward the suspension bridge and saw people on the bridge, people on the sandbar beneath it, basically people everywhere, it would probably turn around and fly back the way it had come, and so it did, and both of us saw it that time. Well, when we got down to the waterfront a few minutes later, I scanned the trees on the other side of the water, and sure enough the eagle was perched in one. In the second photo it is grooming itself. It sat there for several minutes, and every person or group that passed us on the trail, we showed them the eagle, and most of them stood there watching too. After a few minutes it flew off, but the zoom on my camera is acting up, and I made the mistake of trying to zoom in, which lost me the chance to take a photo of it flying.
You can click on any photo to make them bigger. You can see all these photos and more from our trip at http://www.picaboo.com/?share=2149cd2862adacf98d12a51d50630668&version=659532&siteID=ViaPreview If you go there, wait a minute while it says “loading” but don’t wait for it to stop saying that; after a while you can just start hitting the right arrow and it will move you through. There are eagle shots, autumn color, a page of covered bridges, another of Indiana barns, some goofy ones of my husband, a series of action shots of a squirrel leaping across the parking lot, and some bird photos–even some flowers and two species of butterflies.
The header photo is gorgeous! I don’t know where it was taken but I want to be there right now!
Mr. P and I went to dinner last night. I had the wild caught Atlantic salmon over horseradish mashed potatoes with a balsamic beurre blanc sauce. I will be having the other half of it for lunch today. He had the sea scallops wrapped in bacon over rice.
He told me he was planning to go to Pensacola today to spend the day with his Baby Boy. He is taking Lulabelle to the dog beach over there. I saw my opportunity!
I sent Guy a text that I am working from home today. So far I slept until 7 am, got dressed, cleared the clutter off the breakfast room table, started a load of clothes.
I also have an interview at 10:30 this morning. Say a little prayer. It is a salary plus benefits. It is with the same company that had to cancel last week.
I’m not as old as Elvera but I did something equal to that yesterday. I won’t bore you with the details, as it involved showing hubby something weird I thought Excel did when it was really just me looking at it wrong. I felt stupid all day.
Greetings from the back side of the Grand Tetons. I’ll spend the day with a 1 and 4 year old–baking cookies and teaching one to read. My husband will be savoring his role as business advisor.
Last night I had freshly killed and sautéed deer heart as an appetizer.
One more item to check off the bucket list . . . Followed by elk tenderloin with morel mushrooms with fried Idaho potatoes for dinner Both new to my list as well!
Cheryl, about 13 years ago we attended the NAWEOA conference in Columbus, Indiana and there was a day trip to Turkey Run State Park for the spouses and kids. I always regretted not going (it was on a bus and I worried that if I got a migraine, it would be horrible). We should have taken a side trip before we headed for home – it’s beautiful!
I didn’t read the Sugar Creek Gang books until after I was married and husband pulled them out for our kids. Fun stories!
The phrase “bucket list” must be new.
The first time I heard it was the time Mel couldn’t go to the Lions.
I told him later that he missed a chance to make his own sandwich with cheese and lunch meat.
He said, “Jwwww, and that was on my bucket list.”
I had never heard that before.
Well, at least there weren’t pictures of the deer heart appetizer on FB 😉 Unless I missed it … ?
The moon has been remarkable the last few nights here, big and full. Halloween is Saturday & we also turn the clock back an hour, don’t forget. Ah, an extra hour of sleep.
Here’s something on ‘bucket list’ (the term) from Slate:
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A quick search through Google Books suggests that though the phrase was popularized by the 2007 film, it was indeed used occasionally before Jack and Morgan hit the road. Its first application seems to have been in computer programming: e.g., “Guava compiler knows statically that there are no references from buckets inside of one bucket list to objects inside another.”
In 1993, the phrase showed up in a different context: a National Labor Relations Board report indicating agenda items that must be postponed (getting warmer): “The conferees were told that if comments or questions came up concerning bargainable issues or items that required more information, these matters should be placed in a ‘bucket list’ to indicate that they could not be considered at the conference.”
In 2004, the term was used—perhaps for the first time?—in the context of things to do before one kicks the bucket (a phrase in use since at least 1785) in the book Unfair & Unbalanced: The Lunatic Magniloquence of Henry E. Panky, by Patrick M. Carlisle. That work includes the sentences, “So, anyway, a Great Man, in his querulous twilight years, who doesn’t want to go gently into that blacky black night. He wants to cut loose, dance on the razor’s edge, pry the lid off his bucket list!” …
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I despise this time change. It will be dark when I get home. I will be locked away all day in an office with no sunshine. I go into a deep depression that is only lifted by decorating for the Holidays.
I wish one year they would just change the time by 30 minutes and never change it again.
I got to bed late last night after reading a while — a car pulled up across the street with rap music playing loudly. Then it seemed like the people never got out of the car, which sort of made me uneasy but I fell asleep anyway. 🙂
It was windy all night here and still this morning — wind chimes are playing a clanky tune.
I’m off to work early today, have a 9 a.m. (prompt!) interview by phone with the port director who’s hard to catch for even a few minutes.
Beautiful fall photos, cheryl, looks like a gorgeous spot.
Cheryl – (from your comment last night, about not looking at the wife’s face) – I got the impression from what he wrote (something like “concentrate on the physical”) that the purpose was to not distract the man from getting his physical pleasure. Elsewhere he did say that he does not advocate forcing her, or any kind of physical abuse, but the way he wrote that particular article sure sounded like he did.
There was another article about ways for a husband to discipline his wife. Nothing physical, thankfully. Things like…If she watches too much TV, cancel the cable. If she’s online too much, put a password on the computer. If she spends too much, take away her credit cards & don’t give her any money.
Sound pretty “passive-aggressive” to me. How about actually talking to the wife & helping her deal with those things?
Kim, re the fall time change, I got spoiled by living my first 22 years in Arizona where we didn’t engage in such nonsense. Nevertheless, in my days in Chicago when I had to be at work at 8 a.m. (earlier than my body prefers to be alert and present anywhere), I found the fall change a lifesaver, because I would find it harder and harder to get up in the morning when it was still dark outside, and then one day I’d remember, “Hey, the time change is this weekend!” and I’d count down the days. I hated the dark evenings, but I just figure that’s part of this time of year I have to endure, and there’s a lot this time of year I have to endure.
There is a lot I love, too–the header photos show some examples, getting away with my honey for some extraordinary beauty–but as I sit inside today with fierce winds blowing off many of the last of the dead leaves, and I’m told it’s in the thirties out there, and last night my husband and I went to some church event at 7:30 and it was fully dark . . . overall I see November to January as months to endure, February as a month that’s over quickly and so it doesn’t really bother me, and in the Midwest March and April, and usually May and sometimes June, as also being months to count down. The long hours of darkness are a big part of it, and that’s part of the reason I’m OK with February, because it’s finally visibly heading in the right direction with more sunshine.
More wind for us tonight. Good thing my dogs weigh 50 pounds each
LOS ANGELES — Strong gusty winds are blowing across the Southland, which will be hit tonight by what the National Weather Service calls the “first significant Santa Ana wind event” of the season — a development that raises the danger of wildfire and could make driving difficult.
We have a ‘time’ change when we go south for a few weeks. It is light about an hour earlier in the morning and the darkness comes that much earlier in the evening. It takes some getting used to. For example: My SIL was concerned about going out golfing so ‘late in the day’ with my husband. He was sure they would not have light long enough to finish the game. He would not have had it where he lived in TN, but they had enough here in northern MN. As with many things, one size does not fit all.
I’m with Kim, only for a different reason. I drive East in the morning. The sun is finally coming up late enough that I turn away from it before it blinds me. Now, it will be in my eyes again until December.
Re Sugar Creek Gang- My children used to listen to the radio dramas based on the stories which Moody radio used to broadcast. Then we got all the books so they could read them. Good, clean children’s stories, they were.
Karen and Cheryl I am coming late to your discussion and am not quite sure what you are talking about but if ANYONE put a password on my computer or canceled my credit cards or limited my money supply in ANY way I would inform them which highways ran east and west and which ones ran north and south and invite them to get on it any time they wished.
Now as far as cable? I would cancel it this afternoon but my husband enjoys it and what makes him happy makes me happy.
Michelle, I asked my mom once if I was one of those kids who teaches themselves to read, since I don’t remember ever not knowing how. I remember school teachers reading books to the class, and I remember my mom reading to my little brother, but I have no memory of being read to when I was too young to read myself, and no memory of learning. (I do remember learning to write letters.) She said no, I learned to read in kindergarten.
I don’t remember ever being read to. It just wasn’t something my parents did. There were books in the house that were age appropriate. There were encyclopedias and National Geographic to look at and I was always handed a book, but I didn’t learn to read until first grade with Mrs. Miller. I don’t know how it clicked but it did and from there on I was reading several grade levels ahead.
I read constantly to BG. She had me convinced in 1st grade that she didn’t know how to read. Her teacher told me she was one of the best readers. Today she isn’t much of a reader unless it is for getting information. She doesn’t read for pleasure.
I still consume books.
Kim, I believe the Bible teaches that a man is the head of his household and his wife should submit to him. But you’ve probably heard of a somewhat fringe, extreme version of that, self-labeled patriarchy, that would say, among other things:
(1) No woman should ever work outside her home with a man other than her husband (or, if unmarried, her father) as her boss. That would, by the way, allow a woman to have a home-based business, to work with her husband as her boss, or even to work with a woman as her boss. But they prefer that men have home-based businesses, as well.
(2) No woman should ever live independently. A girl stays home until married, and if her parents die, then she should move in with the closest male relative and be under his authority. A widow apparently has different standards (she doesn’t have to move back home with Daddy), but she still should not be working outside the home under a man’s authority, and I think she is also supposed to live with her children, with her sons as her authority once they are of age. (I’m sure beliefs vary from one community to another.) Some (like Gothard) would also say that an unmarried man is still under parental authority.
(3) Unmarried daughters should live at home and serve their fathers. Who exactly serves their mother is unclear, since presumably the sons also serve (or at least work with) their father.
(4) A lot of them (most? all?) also believe that Old Testament law should be the pattern for laws today, and any law that doesn’t have at its root Old Testament law is unjust, and some would feel free to disregard it. For example, a speed limit is a just law, since it has safety at its base; a law forbidding underage children from pumping gas into the family vehicle can be disregarded since it undermines parental authority (though it too is a safety law, it seems to me).
(5) There are rumors of some of them going far enough to grant the husband permission to spank his wife if he believes she deserves it. This is something that carefully is not put into writing, so I have been unable to confirm it, but the rumors are fairly convincing and it fits other patterns.
(6) Some of these people have some respect for the strong structure of Islam (men completely in charge, women completely covered, homosexuals killed, etc.).
Now, there apparently is a group, considering themselves Christians but with no hint of it, and whether or not they use the term patriarchy I do not know, but who advocates man really being in charge and leaving no question who is boss. It has been a few weeks since I looked at a site or two and I don’t remember details, but it seems to me that at least one of them said that if a father and a young man are in agreement that a young woman should marry the young man, her consent isn’t really important. I might be remembering wrong, but it definitely had the feeling of “me cave man, you just woman, you my woman.”
Kim, I don’t remember being read to, either, but since I have some memory of my mom reading to my little brother, I think it’s safe to assume she read to me, too. But I probably was devouring books on my own, maybe with little interest in having anyone else read, and anyway by the time I was 38 months old I had two younger siblings.
But from first grade on there was no stopping me, except for “Cheryl, put the book down; you need to ______________.” In second grade (or possibly in first) I discovered that the school library had two sections in it, one of early reader books and one that had books in chapters. I checked out books all year long (and the public library, too), but when I was in third grade we got a new librarian. She saw me in that section, asked what grade I was in, and told me it was only for children fourth grade and up. She took me back to the early reader section, pulled some fairy tale picture book off the shelf, and had me read her the first page. I assumed she was testing my reading skills, and I was of course a fluent reader, so I read it. Then she said, “See? Isn’t that a nice book? You can check that one out.” So I dutifully checked it out, returned it a day or two later (probably unread), and stayed out of the library until fourth grade.
I’d been reading Heidi periodically since first grade, was undoubtedly already reading Sugar Creek Gang and probably Hardy Boys at home, and in general confining me to picture books was silly. What’s interesting now, though, is to remember that I had the same teacher for both second and third grades, and undoubtedly she would have gone to bat for me with the librarian had I told her, and my mom might have too. But I just stayed out of the library and bided my time until fourth grade when I’d be allowed to return.
Actually I came on here to post this: China rescinds one-child policy (replacing it with a two-child policy, though, not exactly granting freedom . . . but apparently there’s question of whether it will actually change the birthrate much):
No body ever read to me.
They thought I was wasting my time reading.
I failed the first grade because I couldn’t read.
I taught myself phonics and could read anything the second time around.
I may not have known what some of the words meant, but I could say them.
Chuck started out with phonics.
I learned to read in first grade, and since I began in Sept. at age five, and turned six in December, I was either five or six. We used those Dick, Jane, and Spot books. We learned by sight reading, not phonics, the best I can recall. I remember working a lot with rhyming words.I enjoyed reading on my own, but I dreaded having to read aloud in class. I always loved going to the school library, and in high school I volunteered in the library.
I don’t recall the school library very much, but loved the public library with its musty smell, stone walls, cool cement slide that wore out my pants when I slid down it.
Cheryl thank you for posting what you did about the Gaither type teachings.
My father spanked me as a child, then one day told me I was too old for a paddling there would be other discipline and then went on to punish me. Of course he would wither me with a look.
George told me when we were dating that abused women didn’t have the right brother to put the abuser in his place.
Mr. P is one of the most gentle men I have ever been around.
I was raised to believe/know/think that the first time a man laid a hand on me would be the last. Period, end of story.
We had been reading Chicken Little when, late one night when there was a big storm and my mom and I were asleep in the same bed, the plaster began to fall off the ceiling at my grandfather’s old house in Iowa where we were staying on a visit.
The falling chunks of plaster falling onto the bed had me wailing and in tears, but my mom soon was cracking up. Because …
Well I have been home alone most of the day. Yippee. I have been on a job interview. I don’t think I am the right person for the job they have, but perhaps they will have something different later and will remember me.
I went to lunch with BG.
My house is less cluttered in the main living areas, furniture is polished, carpets vacuumed, hard wood floors swept and tile is mopped.
Life ain’t bad.
If anyone has a bit of time to listen, the former Fire Chief of Atlanta who got fired did the chapel program at SWBTS this morning and it is wonderful. He tells about how poor his family was and how they survived. The story of how he and wife got together is amazing. He speaks of suffering. You will not feel like you wasted time by listening. The link is for the whole chapel service but you can probably figure out how to get to his part on You Tube.
My folk’s had a picture of my dad reading to two or three of us. He was sitting in a chair which had very wide arms. Two of us were perched on the arms on each side of my dad and one was in the chair with him. I do not remember it, however.
I was very impatient to learn to read. I thought we would never get off Dick and Jane and onto something better. I think it was not until second grade that there was any ‘real’ reading. Kindergarten was not for any academics in those days.
I do remember walking several miles with my little brother to go to the library. I assume it was the summer before second grade, however, since that was when we moved from the house. I cannot imagine my children doing that. My mom was upset when we finally made it home and told us to never do that again. I remember coming home with an armful of books, so I must have had my own card. Nor did any librarians think it strange. It was a far different time than today.
I also remember being extremely jealous of the Dr. Seuss and similar books that my cousins had right in their own home. Books were one of the first things I bought for my children and I still buy them for the grandchildren.
Cheryl (and Karen), on your ongoing discussion from yesterday about the Biblical Gender Roles site, I went to the site and was creeped out. The subtitle to the site was something like ‘you will only find peace by being what God created you to be’. What a minute. Only Christ gives us peace. The author believes that woman was not created directly in the image of God, but rather in the image of man who was created in the image of God. Also apparently, women and men are solely defined by their role in marriage – it reminded me of Islamic culture, where a woman has to be married in order to have a husband to pray for her. Not a good site – and not only the writer, but also the commenters seemed obsessed by the aspect of sexual relations within marriage.
Oh, by the way Cheryl, there are patriarchy websites that talk about wife spanking. Carl Trueman, Todd Pruitt and Aimee Bird did a podcast about some of the worrying trends: http://www.mortificationofspin.org/mos/podcast/23344
QoD: I was about five when I learned to read. My mother taught me out of an old Canadian primary reader from the late 50s/early 60s era (judging by the illustrations), and I learned within a week. Both parents read to us, my father reading us longer works in the evening while we did the dishes. He read a lot of classics in his younger days and he passed the love of them onto us. Even now, I hear his voice every time I read The Prince and the Pauper which is by far my favorite work by Twain. We also listened to a weekly radio program called ‘Stories and Music for Children’ where we heard a lot of really excellent performances, including the inimitable Sir Peter Ustinov reading James Thurber’s Many Moons. Now I read to my parents, and to Little Niece, and I try to apply my early lessons in how to read in an interesting style.
I think I learned to read in first grade. I quickly became an avid reader. It seems like that is something all of us Wanderers have in common, with many also having writing talent.
For many years, from middle school through high school, I thought I wanted to be a writer, & was encouraged in my writing by various English teachers. But after graduating, I never really knew what to do with my writing. I realized that short stories were hard to sell, & I didn’t think I had a novel in me.
It seems my method of writing is in the long emails I exchange with a few friends. When we were taking care of my MIL, who had Alzheimer’s Disease, I kept & printed out the various emails I wrote that charted our journey with her.
Donna – Lee saw that, or something like it. He has been using headlamps for several years now, as he would leave the house in the dark. I think he also used it while loading his truck. They came in handy for reading during those five days without power four years ago.
Kim – The beginning of my discussion with Cheryl was last evening, when I wrote about an article I saw that seems to advocate for the husband forcing his wife to have relations with him. The writer said that a man should not tolerate refusal.
After reading a bit here & there on the man’s website, I read that he says he does not advocate forcing a wife or any other abuse, but it sure seems like he advocates for something very close to that.
Long day at work…my legs hurt!
I was never read to as a child but, back in the day we had record albums that had the story book attached to the album cover. I would listen to the story and “read” along….over and over and over again! First grade was when I fell in love with reading books…Dick, Jane, Sally, Spot and Puff…that book is in my bookcase in the study. Mrs. Goos was my first grade teacher….she recognized my love for reading and was the teacher who encouraged and inspired me (and conspired with me to sneak books home in a brown paper bag!) Reading good books has been a lifelong blessing for me 🙂
And to Elveras credit…I,too, thought a light was on last night! That moon was shining as bright as the sun I tell you…I went upstairs and down to the basement to see it someone left the lights on it was so bright! It truly is a beautiful sight to see the shadows on the forest floor at midnight!
Karen, I’ve thought of the “head” lights for dog walking since I go out at night — I usually take a small flashlight that hooks onto my jeans (it’s especially handy for *seeing* the poop I need to pick up!).
But I learned in first grade with Dick and Jane. Interestingly, now I pass through the small village of Coatsburg, IL, which is the birthplace of the guy who wrote the Dick and Jane books.
BTW- I wasn’t much of a reader until after high school. I only read when I had to for school. I hated it because we had to turn in a book report every week or two.
But in 2nd grade, we had to read to our parents so many minutes per week. I think that is what helped me the most when they would correct any words I didn’t get.
Donna, I was going to comment on Megan’s hair on R&R when it came up tomorrow..
I especially don’t like the “over the eye” look. I keep wanting to push her hair back.
I really liked it better long.
Great scenery to wake up to on the blog! Lovely locale, Cheryl. Glad you shared youradventuring with us.
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Morning all. Time for some sleep in this time zone. Good Night
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Good Morning all….that photo is stunningly beautiful! Hope ya’ll have a most blessed day ( and good nights rest for you Jo!)
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Chas slept in this morning.
He didn’t wake up and go back to sleep. He woke up, looked at the clock and it was 7:15.
I stayed up watching all the talk about the debate. Don’t know why, nothing important was happening. I just did.
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Elvera went to bed early. I said, “I’ll be in later”.
After a while, she came in saying, ‘There’s a light on the trees outside. Do we have any lights on in the basement?” I said, “no, none of our lights.” She insisted that there was a light shining on the trees.
So, just to satisfy her. I turned off all the lights in the house and went out on the deck to see the light shining on the trees.
There was a light shining on the trees.
I came back in and said to Elvera:
“Dearie, promise me that I’m not going to have to go out the check every time we have a full moon shining on the trees.’ I teased her.
She was embarrassed.
I didn’t think anymore about it until this morning. In 14 years, that’s the first time that happened. Usually, the moon is up and shining on the deck by bedtime. .
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😦 Chas. It hurts my heart for you. I have watched this happen several times to people I have loved. I suspect it was starting to happen to my father before he died.
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The photos: Did any of you (or your children) grow up reading the Sugar Creek Gang series by Paul Hutchens? The fictional Sugar Creek Gang was a bunch of boys who were friends (Christian boys from good families), Circus, Poetry, etc., and they loved adventure. Then a boy joins them whose father is an atheist and the town drunk. Anyway, the “original” Sugar Creek Gang was the author and his brothers, who indeed grew up alongside the Sugar Creek in Indiana. My brothers read the books, so they were in the house when I was growing up (and my brothers had moved out) and I read them too.
Though the body of water in these photos seems more like a river, it is the Sugar Creek, though a few miles away from where Hutchens grew up. This is Turkey Run State Park, and the first time we went there, two years ago, I was struck by how much I could imagine the boys running up and down those rocks and finding adventure among all the caves. The photo right beneath the first eagle photo, that rock face is taller than you might think (my six-foot-plus husband stood at the base our first year, and I couldn’t easily see him in the photo). But a lot of the rocks look just like that, and yes, they’re riddled with caves. Some of the trails in the park are quite rugged, but my husband and I choose the easiest ones.
The reflection in the first photo: the sun gets up pretty late this time of year, and the time stamp on the photo was 9:32 a.m. on our anniversary. We chose to be down at the creek when the sun rose. I think this exact spot is the prettiest spot in Indiana (at least among the ones I’ve seen, and I’ve visited maybe eight state parks and a lot of lesser places). This and a couple of the following ones were taken from the park’s suspension bridge.
The two bottom photos of scenery, one was also taken at sunrise, a closer shot of the trees that were in bright sunlight, but the one just above the bottom eagle was taken at the same spot at 2:18 p.m. the day before. I think it is just as lovely as the sunrise one, but the colors and the shadows are completely different with the sun higher in the sky.
And the eagle? I have been trying in vain for years to get a photo of a pileated woodpecker. We have seen one several times, usually flying from one tree to another that’s far enough into the woods that we can’t see the bird anymore. He’s landed teasingly close for just a second or two (not long enough for a photo) a couple of times. We saw one (and heard two) down by the suspension bridge that morning, but again it was teasing quick glimpses. Well, we were walking along the river (toward the suspension bridge) but with trees between our trail and the water, and I saw a big bird flying along the water. I looked toward it, thinking maybe it was a pileated woodpecker and I could tell my husband, but no, it was something grander still, a bald eagle! He was walking a few feet ahead of me, and I called, “Honey, bald eagle!” but by that time the bird was out of sight. But the park was more crowded by far than we have ever seen it, and it occurred to him that when the eagle got down toward the suspension bridge and saw people on the bridge, people on the sandbar beneath it, basically people everywhere, it would probably turn around and fly back the way it had come, and so it did, and both of us saw it that time. Well, when we got down to the waterfront a few minutes later, I scanned the trees on the other side of the water, and sure enough the eagle was perched in one. In the second photo it is grooming itself. It sat there for several minutes, and every person or group that passed us on the trail, we showed them the eagle, and most of them stood there watching too. After a few minutes it flew off, but the zoom on my camera is acting up, and I made the mistake of trying to zoom in, which lost me the chance to take a photo of it flying.
You can click on any photo to make them bigger. You can see all these photos and more from our trip at http://www.picaboo.com/?share=2149cd2862adacf98d12a51d50630668&version=659532&siteID=ViaPreview If you go there, wait a minute while it says “loading” but don’t wait for it to stop saying that; after a while you can just start hitting the right arrow and it will move you through. There are eagle shots, autumn color, a page of covered bridges, another of Indiana barns, some goofy ones of my husband, a series of action shots of a squirrel leaping across the parking lot, and some bird photos–even some flowers and two species of butterflies.
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The header photo is gorgeous! I don’t know where it was taken but I want to be there right now!
Mr. P and I went to dinner last night. I had the wild caught Atlantic salmon over horseradish mashed potatoes with a balsamic beurre blanc sauce. I will be having the other half of it for lunch today. He had the sea scallops wrapped in bacon over rice.
He told me he was planning to go to Pensacola today to spend the day with his Baby Boy. He is taking Lulabelle to the dog beach over there. I saw my opportunity!
I sent Guy a text that I am working from home today. So far I slept until 7 am, got dressed, cleared the clutter off the breakfast room table, started a load of clothes.
I also have an interview at 10:30 this morning. Say a little prayer. It is a salary plus benefits. It is with the same company that had to cancel last week.
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I’m not as old as Elvera but I did something equal to that yesterday. I won’t bore you with the details, as it involved showing hubby something weird I thought Excel did when it was really just me looking at it wrong. I felt stupid all day.
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Greetings from the back side of the Grand Tetons. I’ll spend the day with a 1 and 4 year old–baking cookies and teaching one to read. My husband will be savoring his role as business advisor.
Last night I had freshly killed and sautéed deer heart as an appetizer.
One more item to check off the bucket list . . . Followed by elk tenderloin with morel mushrooms with fried Idaho potatoes for dinner Both new to my list as well!
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Cheryl, about 13 years ago we attended the NAWEOA conference in Columbus, Indiana and there was a day trip to Turkey Run State Park for the spouses and kids. I always regretted not going (it was on a bus and I worried that if I got a migraine, it would be horrible). We should have taken a side trip before we headed for home – it’s beautiful!
I didn’t read the Sugar Creek Gang books until after I was married and husband pulled them out for our kids. Fun stories!
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Heart of any animal is supposed to be a delicacy and loaded with nutrients…but yuck.
In most cultures the organ meats were saved for the children and the elderly as they had more nutrients in them. Yes I am a food geek
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The phrase “bucket list” must be new.
The first time I heard it was the time Mel couldn’t go to the Lions.
I told him later that he missed a chance to make his own sandwich with cheese and lunch meat.
He said, “Jwwww, and that was on my bucket list.”
I had never heard that before.
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Did the phrase originate with the movie (2007)? Or was it around before that?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bucket_List
Well, at least there weren’t pictures of the deer heart appetizer on FB 😉 Unless I missed it … ?
The moon has been remarkable the last few nights here, big and full. Halloween is Saturday & we also turn the clock back an hour, don’t forget. Ah, an extra hour of sleep.
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Here’s something on ‘bucket list’ (the term) from Slate:
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A quick search through Google Books suggests that though the phrase was popularized by the 2007 film, it was indeed used occasionally before Jack and Morgan hit the road. Its first application seems to have been in computer programming: e.g., “Guava compiler knows statically that there are no references from buckets inside of one bucket list to objects inside another.”
In 1993, the phrase showed up in a different context: a National Labor Relations Board report indicating agenda items that must be postponed (getting warmer): “The conferees were told that if comments or questions came up concerning bargainable issues or items that required more information, these matters should be placed in a ‘bucket list’ to indicate that they could not be considered at the conference.”
In 2004, the term was used—perhaps for the first time?—in the context of things to do before one kicks the bucket (a phrase in use since at least 1785) in the book Unfair & Unbalanced: The Lunatic Magniloquence of Henry E. Panky, by Patrick M. Carlisle. That work includes the sentences, “So, anyway, a Great Man, in his querulous twilight years, who doesn’t want to go gently into that blacky black night. He wants to cut loose, dance on the razor’s edge, pry the lid off his bucket list!” …
___________________________________________________
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2011/11/09/bucket_list_what_s_the_origin_of_the_term_.html
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I despise this time change. It will be dark when I get home. I will be locked away all day in an office with no sunshine. I go into a deep depression that is only lifted by decorating for the Holidays.
I wish one year they would just change the time by 30 minutes and never change it again.
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I got to bed late last night after reading a while — a car pulled up across the street with rap music playing loudly. Then it seemed like the people never got out of the car, which sort of made me uneasy but I fell asleep anyway. 🙂
It was windy all night here and still this morning — wind chimes are playing a clanky tune.
I’m off to work early today, have a 9 a.m. (prompt!) interview by phone with the port director who’s hard to catch for even a few minutes.
Beautiful fall photos, cheryl, looks like a gorgeous spot.
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Kim, it’s pretty much always dark when I get home anyway so that part doesn’t affect me particularly.
On the plus side, it will be lighter in the mornings (and thus easier to get up!).
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Theoretically, anyway 🙄
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Cheryl – (from your comment last night, about not looking at the wife’s face) – I got the impression from what he wrote (something like “concentrate on the physical”) that the purpose was to not distract the man from getting his physical pleasure. Elsewhere he did say that he does not advocate forcing her, or any kind of physical abuse, but the way he wrote that particular article sure sounded like he did.
There was another article about ways for a husband to discipline his wife. Nothing physical, thankfully. Things like…If she watches too much TV, cancel the cable. If she’s online too much, put a password on the computer. If she spends too much, take away her credit cards & don’t give her any money.
Sound pretty “passive-aggressive” to me. How about actually talking to the wife & helping her deal with those things?
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Donna, did you notice the name, Henry E. Panky . . . that is, Hank E Panky?
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Kim, re the fall time change, I got spoiled by living my first 22 years in Arizona where we didn’t engage in such nonsense. Nevertheless, in my days in Chicago when I had to be at work at 8 a.m. (earlier than my body prefers to be alert and present anywhere), I found the fall change a lifesaver, because I would find it harder and harder to get up in the morning when it was still dark outside, and then one day I’d remember, “Hey, the time change is this weekend!” and I’d count down the days. I hated the dark evenings, but I just figure that’s part of this time of year I have to endure, and there’s a lot this time of year I have to endure.
There is a lot I love, too–the header photos show some examples, getting away with my honey for some extraordinary beauty–but as I sit inside today with fierce winds blowing off many of the last of the dead leaves, and I’m told it’s in the thirties out there, and last night my husband and I went to some church event at 7:30 and it was fully dark . . . overall I see November to January as months to endure, February as a month that’s over quickly and so it doesn’t really bother me, and in the Midwest March and April, and usually May and sometimes June, as also being months to count down. The long hours of darkness are a big part of it, and that’s part of the reason I’m OK with February, because it’s finally visibly heading in the right direction with more sunshine.
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More wind for us tonight. Good thing my dogs weigh 50 pounds each
LOS ANGELES — Strong gusty winds are blowing across the Southland, which will be hit tonight by what the National Weather Service calls the “first significant Santa Ana wind event” of the season — a development that raises the danger of wildfire and could make driving difficult.
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Beautiful photos.
We have a ‘time’ change when we go south for a few weeks. It is light about an hour earlier in the morning and the darkness comes that much earlier in the evening. It takes some getting used to. For example: My SIL was concerned about going out golfing so ‘late in the day’ with my husband. He was sure they would not have light long enough to finish the game. He would not have had it where he lived in TN, but they had enough here in northern MN. As with many things, one size does not fit all.
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I’m with Kim, only for a different reason. I drive East in the morning. The sun is finally coming up late enough that I turn away from it before it blinds me. Now, it will be in my eyes again until December.
Re Sugar Creek Gang- My children used to listen to the radio dramas based on the stories which Moody radio used to broadcast. Then we got all the books so they could read them. Good, clean children’s stories, they were.
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Here’s a QOD: how old were you when you learned to read and how did you learn?
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Peter, I had that same issue in Chicago. Coming and going, sun in my eyes a good part of the year, and the time change restarted it.
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Karen and Cheryl I am coming late to your discussion and am not quite sure what you are talking about but if ANYONE put a password on my computer or canceled my credit cards or limited my money supply in ANY way I would inform them which highways ran east and west and which ones ran north and south and invite them to get on it any time they wished.
Now as far as cable? I would cancel it this afternoon but my husband enjoys it and what makes him happy makes me happy.
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Michelle, I asked my mom once if I was one of those kids who teaches themselves to read, since I don’t remember ever not knowing how. I remember school teachers reading books to the class, and I remember my mom reading to my little brother, but I have no memory of being read to when I was too young to read myself, and no memory of learning. (I do remember learning to write letters.) She said no, I learned to read in kindergarten.
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I don’t remember ever being read to. It just wasn’t something my parents did. There were books in the house that were age appropriate. There were encyclopedias and National Geographic to look at and I was always handed a book, but I didn’t learn to read until first grade with Mrs. Miller. I don’t know how it clicked but it did and from there on I was reading several grade levels ahead.
I read constantly to BG. She had me convinced in 1st grade that she didn’t know how to read. Her teacher told me she was one of the best readers. Today she isn’t much of a reader unless it is for getting information. She doesn’t read for pleasure.
I still consume books.
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Kim, I believe the Bible teaches that a man is the head of his household and his wife should submit to him. But you’ve probably heard of a somewhat fringe, extreme version of that, self-labeled patriarchy, that would say, among other things:
(1) No woman should ever work outside her home with a man other than her husband (or, if unmarried, her father) as her boss. That would, by the way, allow a woman to have a home-based business, to work with her husband as her boss, or even to work with a woman as her boss. But they prefer that men have home-based businesses, as well.
(2) No woman should ever live independently. A girl stays home until married, and if her parents die, then she should move in with the closest male relative and be under his authority. A widow apparently has different standards (she doesn’t have to move back home with Daddy), but she still should not be working outside the home under a man’s authority, and I think she is also supposed to live with her children, with her sons as her authority once they are of age. (I’m sure beliefs vary from one community to another.) Some (like Gothard) would also say that an unmarried man is still under parental authority.
(3) Unmarried daughters should live at home and serve their fathers. Who exactly serves their mother is unclear, since presumably the sons also serve (or at least work with) their father.
(4) A lot of them (most? all?) also believe that Old Testament law should be the pattern for laws today, and any law that doesn’t have at its root Old Testament law is unjust, and some would feel free to disregard it. For example, a speed limit is a just law, since it has safety at its base; a law forbidding underage children from pumping gas into the family vehicle can be disregarded since it undermines parental authority (though it too is a safety law, it seems to me).
(5) There are rumors of some of them going far enough to grant the husband permission to spank his wife if he believes she deserves it. This is something that carefully is not put into writing, so I have been unable to confirm it, but the rumors are fairly convincing and it fits other patterns.
(6) Some of these people have some respect for the strong structure of Islam (men completely in charge, women completely covered, homosexuals killed, etc.).
Now, there apparently is a group, considering themselves Christians but with no hint of it, and whether or not they use the term patriarchy I do not know, but who advocates man really being in charge and leaving no question who is boss. It has been a few weeks since I looked at a site or two and I don’t remember details, but it seems to me that at least one of them said that if a father and a young man are in agreement that a young woman should marry the young man, her consent isn’t really important. I might be remembering wrong, but it definitely had the feeling of “me cave man, you just woman, you my woman.”
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Kim, I don’t remember being read to, either, but since I have some memory of my mom reading to my little brother, I think it’s safe to assume she read to me, too. But I probably was devouring books on my own, maybe with little interest in having anyone else read, and anyway by the time I was 38 months old I had two younger siblings.
But from first grade on there was no stopping me, except for “Cheryl, put the book down; you need to ______________.” In second grade (or possibly in first) I discovered that the school library had two sections in it, one of early reader books and one that had books in chapters. I checked out books all year long (and the public library, too), but when I was in third grade we got a new librarian. She saw me in that section, asked what grade I was in, and told me it was only for children fourth grade and up. She took me back to the early reader section, pulled some fairy tale picture book off the shelf, and had me read her the first page. I assumed she was testing my reading skills, and I was of course a fluent reader, so I read it. Then she said, “See? Isn’t that a nice book? You can check that one out.” So I dutifully checked it out, returned it a day or two later (probably unread), and stayed out of the library until fourth grade.
I’d been reading Heidi periodically since first grade, was undoubtedly already reading Sugar Creek Gang and probably Hardy Boys at home, and in general confining me to picture books was silly. What’s interesting now, though, is to remember that I had the same teacher for both second and third grades, and undoubtedly she would have gone to bat for me with the librarian had I told her, and my mom might have too. But I just stayed out of the library and bided my time until fourth grade when I’d be allowed to return.
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Actually I came on here to post this: China rescinds one-child policy (replacing it with a two-child policy, though, not exactly granting freedom . . . but apparently there’s question of whether it will actually change the birthrate much):
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/10/29/china-decides-to-end-remaining-1-child-policy-allowing-all-couples-to-have-2/?intcmp=hplnws
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No body ever read to me.
They thought I was wasting my time reading.
I failed the first grade because I couldn’t read.
I taught myself phonics and could read anything the second time around.
I may not have known what some of the words meant, but I could say them.
Chuck started out with phonics.
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I learned to read in first grade, and since I began in Sept. at age five, and turned six in December, I was either five or six. We used those Dick, Jane, and Spot books. We learned by sight reading, not phonics, the best I can recall. I remember working a lot with rhyming words.I enjoyed reading on my own, but I dreaded having to read aloud in class. I always loved going to the school library, and in high school I volunteered in the library.
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My mom read to me. I probably learned how in school. Dick and Jane and phonics. Spent many a summer hour up a tree with a book.
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I don’t recall the school library very much, but loved the public library with its musty smell, stone walls, cool cement slide that wore out my pants when I slid down it.
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Cheryl thank you for posting what you did about the Gaither type teachings.
My father spanked me as a child, then one day told me I was too old for a paddling there would be other discipline and then went on to punish me. Of course he would wither me with a look.
George told me when we were dating that abused women didn’t have the right brother to put the abuser in his place.
Mr. P is one of the most gentle men I have ever been around.
I was raised to believe/know/think that the first time a man laid a hand on me would be the last. Period, end of story.
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My mom read to me.
We had been reading Chicken Little when, late one night when there was a big storm and my mom and I were asleep in the same bed, the plaster began to fall off the ceiling at my grandfather’s old house in Iowa where we were staying on a visit.
The falling chunks of plaster falling onto the bed had me wailing and in tears, but my mom soon was cracking up. Because …
“THE SKY IS FALLING” I reportedly screamed.
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Well I have been home alone most of the day. Yippee. I have been on a job interview. I don’t think I am the right person for the job they have, but perhaps they will have something different later and will remember me.
I went to lunch with BG.
My house is less cluttered in the main living areas, furniture is polished, carpets vacuumed, hard wood floors swept and tile is mopped.
Life ain’t bad.
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If anyone has a bit of time to listen, the former Fire Chief of Atlanta who got fired did the chapel program at SWBTS this morning and it is wonderful. He tells about how poor his family was and how they survived. The story of how he and wife got together is amazing. He speaks of suffering. You will not feel like you wasted time by listening. The link is for the whole chapel service but you can probably figure out how to get to his part on You Tube.
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My folk’s had a picture of my dad reading to two or three of us. He was sitting in a chair which had very wide arms. Two of us were perched on the arms on each side of my dad and one was in the chair with him. I do not remember it, however.
I was very impatient to learn to read. I thought we would never get off Dick and Jane and onto something better. I think it was not until second grade that there was any ‘real’ reading. Kindergarten was not for any academics in those days.
I do remember walking several miles with my little brother to go to the library. I assume it was the summer before second grade, however, since that was when we moved from the house. I cannot imagine my children doing that. My mom was upset when we finally made it home and told us to never do that again. I remember coming home with an armful of books, so I must have had my own card. Nor did any librarians think it strange. It was a far different time than today.
I also remember being extremely jealous of the Dr. Seuss and similar books that my cousins had right in their own home. Books were one of the first things I bought for my children and I still buy them for the grandchildren.
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Cheryl (and Karen), on your ongoing discussion from yesterday about the Biblical Gender Roles site, I went to the site and was creeped out. The subtitle to the site was something like ‘you will only find peace by being what God created you to be’. What a minute. Only Christ gives us peace. The author believes that woman was not created directly in the image of God, but rather in the image of man who was created in the image of God. Also apparently, women and men are solely defined by their role in marriage – it reminded me of Islamic culture, where a woman has to be married in order to have a husband to pray for her. Not a good site – and not only the writer, but also the commenters seemed obsessed by the aspect of sexual relations within marriage.
Oh, by the way Cheryl, there are patriarchy websites that talk about wife spanking. Carl Trueman, Todd Pruitt and Aimee Bird did a podcast about some of the worrying trends: http://www.mortificationofspin.org/mos/podcast/23344
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Here’s a nice winter cap & headlight
http://www.mobstub.com/d/Led-Wool-Cap/
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QoD: I was about five when I learned to read. My mother taught me out of an old Canadian primary reader from the late 50s/early 60s era (judging by the illustrations), and I learned within a week. Both parents read to us, my father reading us longer works in the evening while we did the dishes. He read a lot of classics in his younger days and he passed the love of them onto us. Even now, I hear his voice every time I read The Prince and the Pauper which is by far my favorite work by Twain. We also listened to a weekly radio program called ‘Stories and Music for Children’ where we heard a lot of really excellent performances, including the inimitable Sir Peter Ustinov reading James Thurber’s Many Moons. Now I read to my parents, and to Little Niece, and I try to apply my early lessons in how to read in an interesting style.
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I think I learned to read in first grade. I quickly became an avid reader. It seems like that is something all of us Wanderers have in common, with many also having writing talent.
For many years, from middle school through high school, I thought I wanted to be a writer, & was encouraged in my writing by various English teachers. But after graduating, I never really knew what to do with my writing. I realized that short stories were hard to sell, & I didn’t think I had a novel in me.
It seems my method of writing is in the long emails I exchange with a few friends. When we were taking care of my MIL, who had Alzheimer’s Disease, I kept & printed out the various emails I wrote that charted our journey with her.
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Donna – Lee saw that, or something like it. He has been using headlamps for several years now, as he would leave the house in the dark. I think he also used it while loading his truck. They came in handy for reading during those five days without power four years ago.
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Kim – The beginning of my discussion with Cheryl was last evening, when I wrote about an article I saw that seems to advocate for the husband forcing his wife to have relations with him. The writer said that a man should not tolerate refusal.
After reading a bit here & there on the man’s website, I read that he says he does not advocate forcing a wife or any other abuse, but it sure seems like he advocates for something very close to that.
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I’ve never heard of Mobstub before. Is it a good place for bargains?
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Long day at work…my legs hurt!
I was never read to as a child but, back in the day we had record albums that had the story book attached to the album cover. I would listen to the story and “read” along….over and over and over again! First grade was when I fell in love with reading books…Dick, Jane, Sally, Spot and Puff…that book is in my bookcase in the study. Mrs. Goos was my first grade teacher….she recognized my love for reading and was the teacher who encouraged and inspired me (and conspired with me to sneak books home in a brown paper bag!) Reading good books has been a lifelong blessing for me 🙂
And to Elveras credit…I,too, thought a light was on last night! That moon was shining as bright as the sun I tell you…I went upstairs and down to the basement to see it someone left the lights on it was so bright! It truly is a beautiful sight to see the shadows on the forest floor at midnight!
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Miss Hanky was my first grade teacher. It’s funny that Cheryl mentioned that name this morning.
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Karen, I’ve thought of the “head” lights for dog walking since I go out at night — I usually take a small flashlight that hooks onto my jeans (it’s especially handy for *seeing* the poop I need to pick up!).
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Cheryl – I picked up on the “Hank E. Panky”, too. 🙂
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Donna – Tell your dogs to go poop before they take a walk, like we tell Forrest to go pee before we go out. 🙂
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I don’t remember my parents reading to us as children.
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But I learned in first grade with Dick and Jane. Interestingly, now I pass through the small village of Coatsburg, IL, which is the birthplace of the guy who wrote the Dick and Jane books.
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And this is #57!!!
BTW- I wasn’t much of a reader until after high school. I only read when I had to for school. I hated it because we had to turn in a book report every week or two.
But in 2nd grade, we had to read to our parents so many minutes per week. I think that is what helped me the most when they would correct any words I didn’t get.
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I learned to read in grade one. Dick and Jane 🙂
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What was funny about chicken little, was that my mom had spent SO much time reassuring my anxious little self that, no, the sky really won’t fall.
When the ceiling began to tumble onto us, I was like, WHAT? SEE?? The sky IS falling!! I knew it!!!!!
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So Chas, what do you think of Megan’s new very short haircut?
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Thanks for sharing your photos, Cheryl. They are a treasure.
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Donna, I was going to comment on Megan’s hair on R&R when it came up tomorrow..
I especially don’t like the “over the eye” look. I keep wanting to push her hair back.
I really liked it better long.
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