Art and the Bible
I stumbled across this website this afternoon as I've been doing some research on the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan River. It links to a ton of artistic renderings of the Baptism of Jesus. I liked this one a lot. Here's the link to the art index.

Unicorns in the Bible?
I got really freaked out when on Maundy Thursday I heard this quoted from Psalm 22:

20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.

21 Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.

Unicorns in the Bible? I read up on it, and found out that it likely is referring to wild oxen, and that is shown in other translations. I thought I was losing my mind because for the last 5 or 6 Maundy Thursdays, I had chanted this entire Psalm with another woman from our church in Pittsburgh, and I never remembered anything about unicorns. I missed chanting that with Mary Ellen, by the way. It was one of our traditions.

That is not to say that the Holy Week traditions at Redeemer were anything but wonderful. Because they are wonderful.

But I miss the daffodil cross, the overwhelming scent of Easter lillies at Concordia and I missed the tenebrae, the Easter breakfast cooked by the Flores family, putting out the Easter baskets made by Virginia. Much love to you all at Concordia! I miss you!

Holy Saturday
If you haven't ever been to an Easter vigil on the night before Easter, I suggest you find a church that has this lovely service. I'm looking forward to going tonight to Redeemer.

We're right now listening to Bach's St. John Passion. I love the soprano aria that is placed right after Peter cuts off Malchus' ear in the Garden of Gethsemane. This is not a great translation, but here is the text.

I follow Thee also with joy to be near Thee
in trouble and strife
Thou light of my life
Ah speed Thou my way:
and say me not "nay";
but let me be near Thee to solace and cheer Thee.

I think Bach is genius to place this here because the text is so meaningful at this point in the passion story. It could be a prayer of Christ, but also of His followers. It's also a light, lovely aria that I wish I could sing although I'm fairly sure I wouldn't be able to pull it off.

What I love about Holy Saturday is the reassurance that Christ has gone to the grave ahead of me. On Holy Saturday, He is resting in the tomb and we await the resurrection.

The Perfect Tragedy
I re-watched The Perfect Storm on Saturday and was surprised how sad it was. I had forgotten that all the fishermen die, plus a coast guard rescuer. As I've thought about the movie over the weekend, I realized that this story reallyl is a morality tale. The problem came down to hubris--pride.

The basic story is that these six sword fishermen from New England get this huge load of swordfish that will make them all a killing. But then their ice machine breaks. With a broken ice machine, they can't wait out the storm in a safe place. So they decide to chance it, going straight into the worst storm of the century. Greed wins the day as they head into the storm. Sadly, they all die, their boat is sunk, and several coast guard rescuers put their lives on the line to try to save them.

It reminds me of Icarus flying too close to the sun--that thoguht that we are so tough, so great, so god-like that we can do anything. This Wikipedia link shows some interesting literary and artistic renderings of Icarus and his famous (or infamous) fall.

I just saw a wall hanging in advertised in a Kohl's flyer which said:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take,
but the number of times your breath is taken away.

That, I thought, was a pretty odd saying. I mean, there are some not so nice things in life that take my breath away--jogging for one. Don't like that. Gasping in horror at one of my animals throwing up. That's not so nice. The fact that Sanjaya is still on American Idol. That is not so great either.

I know, I know. I guess this is referring to all those euphoric fabulous moments when something unexpectedly wonderful happens. Like when my husband proposed to me. Or when my son took his first steps. Or I got news that my book would be published.

But still, I think it's an odd saying. Don't you?

Eeeewwwwww!
So far all my fans who would like me to write something featuring zombies as the main character(s), I think I now have an inspiration.

Yesterday I took the dog for a walk, and we found a dead fox near the Luther statue. Lucy (the dog), of course, wanted to go lick, sniff, eat, whatever she would do with a dead fox. It is a good thing she was on the leash.

Anyhoo, that was sad that the cute little foxy was dead, but I actually was glad to get a good look at him since they are nocturnal, and I've never seen one (being diurnal myself). I just finished trying to find info on which species of foxes live in Indiana, and I'm coming up with only Red Fox, Gray Fox, and some other type that only lives in Brazil. It wasn't any of those. I know this was not an opposum or racoon. It was about the size of a large house cat. It was tan and gray, with a bushy tail and black beady eyes. I'll have to look up a book of Indiana wildlife at the library, I guess.

So today as I was heading to the gym, I saw a turkey vulture eating the fox. Not pretty, but hey, even turkey vultures gotta eat, right?

That is my zombie inspiration for the day. I'm not quite sure how a zombie story will result from those unsavory sites, but I gotta start somewhere.

Deal or No Deal Game
Oh, this is dangerously addictive. Go here to play.

Back Home
Phew! I've tried to post something all day, and keep getting waylaid. We are back home in Indiana. It was so nice seeing such different scenery, enjoying the wide blue skies and warm weather while we were in the southwest. But being back in the midwest yesterday was kind of like putting on a favorite flannel shirt. It's comfortable and homey. It's good to be back.

Sandia Peak Tramway
Yesterday afternoon, while Scott was busy with recruiting, Jacob and I went up the Sandia Peak Tramway in Albuquerque, which was quite fun. Jacob and I had previously been up the Aspen Mountain tram/gondola thing (in Aspen, Colo.) and it was a little scary. There was one point in the Aspen tram when the thing stopped suddenly, and we were swinging on this little cable in the wind, 500 feet over the canyon below. It didn't start up again for at least 5 minutes. That definitely brought out my acrophobia.

But the Sandia Peak Tram was a very smooth ride over rugged, rocky, steep terrain. Some people like to hike that. I wouldn't. It looks way too hard. But it was fun to get up to 10,000 feet and see the view of Albuquerque below.

The guide on the tram said that sometimes people go hang-gliding off the top of the mountain. He said one guy got all the way to Oklahoma after jumping off the top of Sandia Peak. He said that was over 300 miles. I'm not sure I quite believe that. But apparently, the wind sheers off the mountain are pretty intense.

At the top, Jacob and I saw SNOW which we hadn't seen for a week. There were some people playing in the snow for whom, we were convinced, snow was not a regular part of their lives.

Today we are worshipping at Grace Lutheran in Albuquerque. Scott is assisting with the service and then teaching Bible class. Then we are heading to Santa Fe for the afternoon. Tomorrow we go back to the Midwest.

In New Mexico Today
Today we drove from Arizona into Las Cruces, NM. It's amazing to me to think of what life must be like out here where you can wear shorts pretty much every month of the year. The pastor in Yuma told us that he gets kind of excited when it rains. I can't exactly imagine getting excited when it rains in Ft. Wayne. The weather is beautiful here. Sunny, clear skies. Last night, we walked around the hotel in the Arizona desert and the stars twinkled in the deep blue night. It was mild and lovely.

On the road, I'm reading to the guys about desert wildlife, flowers, cactus, etc.

This guy is a kangaroo rat. He can jump up to 10 feet in a single bound. Cool, eh? I think this is the guy who never drinks water. He gets his water from whatever food he eats.



This is a desert coyote. We heard these guys howling last night when we went on our walk. They like to eat prickly pear cacti.

There are lots of other animals we've learned about. I'm working on a story which I think will be called Coyote Canyon, Coyote Moon, or something like that.

The Sunny Southwest
Well, here we are in warm and dry Yuma, AZ. This is not a tremendously gorgeous city, but it is warm--even on March 6.

We drove near the Sonoran desert today, where Saguaro cacti are prevalent. Saguaro is pronounced Saw-WAH-roh, and when you think of the typical cactus you drew in the second grade, it's a saguaro.

I picked up small book on them today and we read about them in the car on the drive from Phoenix to Yuma today. They can live to be 200 years old. They are very slow growing. In the first four-five years they only grow to be about an inch tall. Their structure helps not only to preserve the precious little water that falls in this desert region, but the strong cylindrical shape also becomes a haven for many types of birds, including some flickers and owls. This photo shows a saguaro with nest holes.

So here are things we saw today: dustdevils, tumbleweed, saguaros, and places with great names like Jackrabbit Trail. I feel a story brewing about the desert.

Tomorrow we head to Tucson. No, Judy, no rattlesnake recipes yet!! But it did taste interesting. :)

Aunt Susie's Cake

From The Body in the Snowdrift by Katherine Hall Page

Cake:

1 box good-quality yellow cake mix

4 large eggs

¾ cup canola oil

1 11-oz. can mandarin oranges packed in juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the cake mix, eggs, and oil in a bowl. Mix according to the directions on the box. Fold in the oranges, including juice, and mix well. Pour into 3 greased round cake pans. Be sure the orange pieces are evenly distributed. Bake for approximately 25 minutes. Remove cakes from the pans and cool on racks while you make the frosting.

Frosting:

1 small package instant vanilla pudding

1 20-oz. can crushed pineapple packed in juice

1 large container Cool Whip or other whipped topping

Drain the pineapple, reserving the juice. Mix together the juice and the instant pudding. Add the Cool Whip and drained pineapple, then mix. Spread some of the frosting between the layers and use the rest on top and sides of cake.

A couple of notes from Julie:

- Divide up the cake batter evenly between the pans. This may seem obvious to most people, but because I only have two round cake pans, it was hard to eye-ball it because I had to bake the layers in two batches.

- I only had a regular sized Cool Whip (actually generic brand), and there was more than enough frosting.

- I made this the day ahead, so I refrigerated it overnight. I don't know if that's necessary, but with the cool whip and fruit, I figured it might not hold together if it was room temperature. That, or maybe it would start to ferment.

- This is from a series of "light" or "homespun" mystery novels by Katherine Hall Page. I actually liked the first couple much better than the more recent ones. This one was so-so. The Body in the Attic was pretty good.

FUDGE!!!!!
Someone in Pittsburgh really loves us because we just got a pan of fudge in the mail. It is so yummy. The sad part is that it was to "Pastor and Julie" but Scott is out of town until Thursday night. So...hmmm...I will try my best not to scarf down the whole pan. It is yummy, Judy! I was reminiscing with Jacob about how fun your wedding reception was with all those yummy desserts and the chocolate fountain.

Anyway, happy 1st anniversary, Jeff and Judy!!

A Photo Essay of the Seminary
Thanks to Cyberstones for linking to this Fort Wayne website which shows off the beauty of the seminary's campus. Here's the direct link to the website which showcases the sem.

In the last week, I've had two different fortune cookies. Here are my fortunes:

"You have the ability to sense and know higher truth."

"Genius does what it must and talent does what it can."

The first one is just weird. Is there "higher" truth apart from "lower" truth?

I have no idea what the second one even means. I understand if it would have been talent only takes you half way to your goal. The other half is hard work. But this? I don't get it, which means I'm neither a genius or talented, apparently.

What's the deal with fortune cookies these days?

Clearly, I'm avoiding anything that could be called work, which is why I'm posting about inane things.

Oh the states I've Seen, Part 2
Well, my mom helped me remember all the states where I've been, and I missed a few.


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A Poem for a Friday on Psalm 46:10.


Still
I visit the night,
see my breath hang silent
against the darkness.
Ice in the pond has frozen
into its shores.
Branches of the oak have softened
under starlight.
Snow has settled
between blades of grass.
I close my eyes
under heaven
and I am also
still.

Bethany and the Home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus

I've been doing a little reading about the village of Bethany to find a cultural connection to the story in Luke 10 about Mary and Martha and the "one thing needful" -- to listen to Jesus.

I found some interesting websites (here's another) that show an ancient home (which might have been Mary and Martha's) in addition to photos of this beautiful church called the Franciscan Church of St. Lazarus.

The interesting thing about the account in Luke 10 of Martha being worried about many things and Mary listening at Jesus' feet is what comes before and after the narrative.

Before it is the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), and after it is the giving of the Lord's Prayer (Luke 11:1-12). God's Word - the "one thing needful" that Mary discovers - is highlighted even more by these beloved and important sections in Scripture.

"Psalms of David" CD, Part 2
I was out and about this afternoon and in the car I listened to track 15 of this CD which I wrote about yesterday. If you can listen to it on the website, or get the CD, you really must listen to this track at least. It is "O Praise God in His Holiness." The Psalm goes through a list of instruments--praise God with a trumpet, praise God with the cymbals, and then ends with this magnificent "Let everything praise the Lord." Ethereal, exquisite, celestial, heavenly, angelic--all those words work. It is fine choral music.

Laundry Frustration!!!! (which calls for multiple exclamation points)
So I tried all of your suggestions to get the blue paint out of my son's shirt, and nothing is working!! The amount of water I have spent washing those two shirts is getting ridiculous. I tried every spot cleaner known to man (okay, maybe not every one, but a lot). I also tried to Rit dye products--a whitener and a color remover. Neither one did much good. So I'm frustrated.

I'm ready to have two new dust rags. Grrr...

Oh, The States I've Seen
Here's my map of the states I've been to. I think I may have been to a couple more, which my mom can remind me of. I'm not sure about Nevada or Idaho. I could've been in Kentucky when I was young too. There are a few places I know we passed through on family vacations when I was young, and I don't remember all of them. Anyway, I've been to quite a few states. I had no idea!



Thanks to: Jane and Melynda.

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All Things British
The last couple of hours I've been listening to a CD which I love called "The Psalms of David" sung by the Kings Choir of King's Chapel in Cambridge (notice that you can scroll down on this link from Amazon and listen to portions of each of the tracks). Listening to a CD of church music sung by a boys' chapel choir makes me think of a PBS miniseries from awhile back called "The Choir." I also keep thinking of Susan Howatch books which are often set in cathedrals. (Her books are only okay, in my opinion. I mean, the plots are engaging and the characters are interesting. But I guess I just got tired of reading about clergy who are devoid of any redeeming quality.) Listening to the CD also makes me think of my favorite Agatha Christie book, "Murder in the Vicarage." Of course, I also have in the back of my mind lots of other beloved authors from the UK. There are some days when I wish I had a little English cottage and could be a member of the Cambridge singers, and drink English tea at teatime. But most days, I'm a very happy American.

The best part, of course, about the CD are the lovely settings of the Psalms, which are always so comforting and reassuring. "The Lord of hosts is with us!" "The Lord is my shepherd." "I was glad when they said unto me, 'let us go unto the house of the Lord.'"

The Shape of Trees
Awhile back, when Jacob was still young enough to be home most of the day, I would frequently take him and my dog on walks in a park in Pittsburgh called the Arboretum. It was really just a small tract of land left to go wild in the middle of a neighborhood. I liked it because, as the name suggests, it was mostly wooded. Around that time, I found a little guide book which showed the shape of trees in the winter. It was a neat little book that I can't find right now (grrr...moving sometimes makes me cranky). It shows how every tree has a distinctive shape and character--the width and height, the openness of the branches, etc. Here is kind of a cool website that describes this further.

On a beautifully sunny day like today, I tend to notice the shape of trees against the blue sky or against the white backdrop of the snow. Some of the tree trunks are straight and narrow, others more gnarled and curvy. I like to look at the lines of the branches with birds flying overhead. It's one of my favorite things about winter.

Songs in My Head
In addition to the BeeGees, I often have a variety of other songs that slip in and out of my head during the day. Neil Diamond songs, folk songs, hymns, The Wheels on the Bus, Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Etc.

Five minutes ago, this song, "What'll We Do with a Drunken Sailor?" came unbidden. Why? Why? My mom used to sing this. My favorite song she ever sang in her programs was "Hush Little Baby."

Childhood Memories
Since I write for children, I often think about childhood and how children think, partly from my own recollections and partly from observing children as an adult. I'm working on a series of stories right now that feature a toddler and some of the first things he goes through, like a first sled ride, a first hair cut, etc. A lot of what I am writing is based on what I have observed as a mom, but I also find it helpful to think back to my own childhood to try to capture what it felt like to experience things.

The earliest thing I can remember from childhood is sitting in the grass in my yard with my friend and next-door neighbor, watching the garbage truck come up our street and pick up trash. I was probably 3 or 4 years old. That seems like a weird thing to remember, but in a way, I think it characterizes childhood. What seem like non-events to adults are often new and different for children. Children work hard at trying to figure out the world, understanding routine and why things happen.

If I think about it for very long, I can remember that feeling of being completely happy-go-lucky, having that whatever-comes-next-is-fine attitude, glad that I get to play kick the can with my friends on my street or stay home and play by myself. I remember getting hurt and running home to my parents for help--that vulnerability of crying and running home, but also the comfort of being taken care of.

I remember little things like my dad bringing me a new book home on days when I was sick. And things I couldn't explain, like the time my brother and I heard this huge crash upstairs when we were home alone. When we went to investigate, we found the glass shower door had shattered inexplicably. I remember lying in front of the Christmas tree staring at the bubble lights, using my dog as a pillow, just lying there enjoying the tree. I remember all the best places in the neighborhood to hide when we played green ghost or hide and seek and the way I would stop to let roly poly bugs cross the sidewalk in front of me as I walked to school. I remember making weird drink combinations, like Dr. Pepper and orange juice or grape juice and milk (which we called a purple cow). I loved tater tots, hated salmon loaf, and loved fruit cocktail--mostly the cherries.

Anyway, if you care to comment, I'd love to hear about some of your childhood memories are.

On Being a Famous Author
Thank you, Judy, for sending me this hilarious article by Dave Barry on his recent book tour.
I laughed so hard that my dog looked at me like I was a total weirdo.

Could it be?
Seriously. We lived in Pittsburgh during last year's Super Bowl. We live near Indianapolis this Super Bowl. Are you telling me there is no coincidence?? The Stiegemeyer effect is going strong, John Scaer.

Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker
Yesterday, my dear husband indulged me and took me to lunch at the Saigon Restaurant and then to the new library downtown. We had yummy Vietnamese coffee for lunch (as well as food) and then I found two bird books at the library (in addition to a couple of novels).

Well, I think I identified the bird that has been coming to my feeder in the last week, and it's...the yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Isn't that hilarious? There actually is a bird with that name, and he likes the suet I put out. It's a kind of woodpecker, and the woodpeckers love the suet.

A little while ago, my dog Lucy was going crazy at the back window because a squirrel kept coming right up to the glass (within about a foot of Lucy) and eating the bird seed that I spilled as I was filling the bird feeder earlier this week. Lucy cries and scratches at the rug by the window. The squirrel is wary, but also hungry.

Cleaning
After finishing my big writing assignment and sending it off yesterday, I am now cleaning my office, which has become a pig sty over the last weeks since all my attention has been devoted to Old Testament lessons. I don't enjoy cleaning, but the finished product, the blank slate, the dusted desk is a wonderful relief. Clutter stresses me out. I can't think straight. Some people do just fine ignoring the piles of old magazines gathering in the corner of the room. But I can think better when clutter is--at least--at a minimum.

I came home cranky from church last night--not because anything that happened at church. It was actually quite a wonderful sermon. But I was just tired of my week, tired of being awake, tired of helping my son make sure he had his spelling words down, tired of doing dishes, just tired. An hour of reading a decent book did me a lot of good. My brain gets tired of thinking so much sometimes.

But today the sun is shining off the snow, the geese are honking as they fly above my house, and my dog is sitting at the back window, watching the birds gather at my bird feeder. Morning is a gift.

Laundry Question
I'm wondering if any of you can help me with a laundry question. Jacob got blue paint on two of his white uniform shirts. Why blue on two of them? This is a mystery I cannot understand. Why does he wear white on art days? Another impenetrable mystery. The weirdest thing about it is that the stains are almost exactly the same: blue, splotchy, roughly the same size. It's like he created a stamp and stamped the stain on each shirt. Of course, he admits to no such thing.

I have tried soaking the shirts in bleach twice. Still blue.

Any other ideas? Could I use Rit dye and dye them white again?

Would love any suggestions you could send my way.

Two Memoirs
This is an addendum to the post I wrote at the beginning of January about my favorite books of 2006. I mentioned Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, but then--even though it was right there on my list in my journal--I forgot to mention another book that I loved of 2006, which was also a memoir. It is called, A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel.

The interesting thing about having these two memoirs on my list of favorites is that they are very different.

Frank McCourt begins:

"When I look back on my childhood, I wonder how I survived at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than any ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood."

First of all, I have to say that I read his dedication and opening page about fifteen times in a row, to try to internalize how wonderfully put it was.

But he says that "the happy childhood is hardly worth your while." That is where I disagree--because A Girl Named Zippy is all about a normal girl growing up in midwest America. Of course, there are the odd events that happen which keep the story moving and the reader turning pages. But overall, it's not overly dramatic.

So, my thought for the day is: let a gifted storyteller tell any story--miserable or not--and it is definitely worth your while.

The Perfect Cup of Cocoa
I just got back from taking my dog for a walk. It was a bit chilly, but now I'm having the perfect cup of cocoa, so all is well.

Most times, I just use hot chocolate mix (even a generic brand) for our hot chocolate. But when you really want to have the good stuff, here's what you do:

(And please note, none of these measurements are exact. My favorite way of cooking is to throw stuff together because I don't want to take the time to measure it out.)

I have a large-ish glass measuring bowl, which I fill about half-way up with milk. I usually use whole milk, but 2% or skim is fine too.

>Then throw in cocoa powder, maybe 2-3 tablespoonfuls and some sugar (1/2 cup?). Then in one-minute intervals heat mixture in the microwave and stir after each minute. Taste it and see how it's coming along. I heat it about 4-5 minutes total, and it's fine. Just stir after each minute.

Now, are you ready for the secret ingredient? The secret ingredient is Extra Fancy Vietnamese Cassia Cinnamon made by Penzey's Spice Company. Yes, you really need to get this. Buy the .8 oz. jar to start with. It is by far the best cinnamon I've ever tasted. And it's the perfect addition to hot chocolate. I only use about 1/2 teaspoon or so.

Yum!

Weirdness in My World
What in the world is going on??? In the past couple of days, as I've been flipping around radio stations in the car, I keep hearing BeeGee's songs. AAAACCCCKKKK!!! I'm not talking about just one BeeGee's song every three weeks. On Saturday, I heard two different songs on different stations. And then the next day, I heard another song. Yipes! What is happening in my world--or with Fort Wayne radio stations!!?? (And yes, multiple question and/or exclamation points are definitely necessary in this instance.)

The Bee Gees bring very odd childhood memories to mind, which lead me to thoughts of the Village People and spending time listening to records (yes, records) with Heather Gregg, one of my childhood friends.

So please, all I ask is if you are around me in the next few days or weeks, DO NOT sing any Bee Gees songs. It is becoming, in Jacob's words, a little disturbing.

This is kind of cool (thank you Shirley)

See If You Can Figure Out What These Words Have In Common...

Banana
Dresser
Grammar
Potato
Revive
Uneven
Voodoo
Assess









Answer: In all of the words listed, if you take the first letter, place it at the end of the word, and then spell the word backwards, it will be the same word.

A Funny for Your Day
Sven and Olaf worked together in a factory and both were laid off. So...dey went to the Unemployment Office togedder. Asked his occupation, Olaf said, "Panty Stitcher. I sew da elastic on to ladies cotton panties."

The clerk looked up Panty Stitcher. Finding it classified as unskilled labor, she gave Olaf $300 a week in unemployment pay.

Sven was asked his occupation he replied, "Diesel Fitter". Since Diesel Fitter was a skilled job, the clerk gave Sven $600 a week.

When Olaf found this out, he was furious! He stormed back ino the office to find out why his friend and coworker was collecting double his benefits.

The clerk explained, "Panty Stitchers are unskilled, and Diesel Fitters are skilled labor."

"What skill?"yelled Olaf. "I sew da elastic on da panties. Sven puts dem over his head and says, "Yah, ------------- DIESEL FITTER."

(Thanks Shirley!)

Knowing What To Say
When I visited my friend Carol last fall in Pittsburgh, I noticed for the first time a typewriter in her front sitting room on a table with lots of other fun trinkets and some antiques. It was an old typewriter, and in it was a page with some great quotes. One of the quotes was:

"How can I know what I think until I see what I say?" - E.M. Forster

As a writer, I have this exact experience all the time. I am not a super articulate speaker (although I like to talk as much as the next girl), but it is when I write that I can really say what I want to say. So, here's a little poem on my angst about never being as articulate as I wish I was:

She speaks haltingly
in stops and starts,
with pauses--
line breaks
in surprising
places.

Gathering thoughts,
raking them into a pile
like swirling autumn leaves
on the damp green grass,
heaping them up
and--finally--
inviting the listener
to dive
in.

'Remaindered'...a bad word
I got a notice shortly before Christmas that one of my books, Baby in a Manger is going out of print. I'm actually very thankful that this is my first book that has ever gone out of print, considering my first is 10 years old this year. But still, it is a little sad.

I have heard some people say they didn't care for the art in this book, but I always liked it. It's got a folk-art flair that I like.

Apparently, there are still plenty of copies, but Concordia Publishing House is not planning on printing more. Anyway, if you care to learn more about it, you can look here.

The Joys of Vacuuming
My son tells me I blog about boring things. Well, that's fine. I guess blogging about sports movies and Lucy (my dog) dipping herself in raccoon crap isn't exciting, but that's as good as it gets around here.

Today I am going to blog about vacuuming. Live with it.

I bought a new vacuum back in September because my old one of 16 years finally bit the dust (ha). I'm afraid we do put our vacuums through the mill because our dog sheds about 5,000 hairs every time she wags her tail. But we love her anyway. In recent weeks, my beloved new vacuum has been sort of pushing the fur and dirt around and not really picking it up. I tried to clean out the hoses, pick the wads of fur out of the thing, etc. But nothing seemed to help.

So this morning I called Eureka and got directed to a vacuum shop here in Fort Wayne where they deal with warranty issues. I called the vacuum dude and he was no help. So I started cleaning out all the tubes and hoses in the vacuum again. I am now a vacuum wonder woman. After my excellent effort at cleaning out all the Lucy fur from the vacuum, it works perfectly again. That's my excellent adventure for the day.

Now we're going to the library.

Favorite Books of 2006
Here's the list of my favorite books from 06 in various categories.

Classic Fiction:
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (I try to re-read at least one Austen book every year)

Contemporary Fiction:
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt - wow, the writing is phenomonal! The voice is fantastic. It's a poignant memoir that I can't believe I've never read before. Have 'Tis on hold at the library to read next.

The Hard Way by Lee Child - fun escape reading

Biography-type Books:
Confession of St. Patrick, translated by John Skinner
Awakened by the Moon: Margaret Wise Brown by Leonard S. Marcus

Sports Movies
Jacob and I saw We Are Marshall today. It was awesome. The thing I keep thinking about is how perfectly cast it was. Every person was absolutely perfect for each part. Matthew McConaughey (which I almost spelled correctly without looking--and that's not easy) creates the perfect aura that brings the actors in this movie together. Here's a good review of the film. I definitely give it a thumbs up.

So then Jacob and I got to talking about other sports movies over burgers at Steak and Shake (our favorite heart-attack-inducing joint). Here are the results:

Basketball - Hoosiers and Glory Road
Baseball - Gotta be The Rookie
Hockey - Miracle
More football - I like Rudy, although as I recall, the father is pretty abusive to Rudy and that makes it tough to watch and not so family friendly

From there the pickings get slim. I'm not a huge fan of Field of Dreams or the romantic comedies that are sports-ish (like Fever Pitch). I like the movies that are about the sports and team. Oh, and Jacob tells me I have to put in Bad News Bears--although when I saw the old version of this (and the new version ain't any better), I was shocked at the bad language and the drunk coach who is not exactly a good role model.

Then we were pondering why some sports haven't been made into movies:

Softball
Lacrosse
Ultimate Frisbee
Dodgeball (oh yeah, there was that dumb one)
Kickball
Wrestling
Track (besides Chariots of Fire)


Why not
Hang-gliding?
Bowling?
Fishing?
Golfing? (okay, there are a couple of those...)

We did think of Cool Runnings, which is that funky movie about the Jamaican bobsled team that went to the Olympics

Anyway, those are my sports movies thoughts tonight.

Favorite Movies of 2006
Some years we add our favorites of the year to our Christmas letter, but this year we didn't quite get around to that. So here are my movie favorites (just in case you're interested). I'll do the books (which are much harder to choose from) tomorrow:

New Release Movies I liked (not in any particular order):
Walk the Line
Pride and Prejudice
Akeelah and the Bee
Lady in the Water
The Navity Story
The Great Raid
Cinderella Man

Older Movies I liked:
Apollo 13
Saving Private Ryan
To Kill a Mockingbird

Biggest disappointments:
Harry Potter: The Goblet of Fire (all I can say after seeing that is yuck)
Eight Below (way too sad; just can't handle doggie movies)
Dukes of Hazzard (I'm embarrassed that I even watched it)

Bats in Your Belfry?
Today I have more fun bat facts for you. But first, let's consider a little more about bats in general. I am kind of creeped out by bats, and here's why:

This is my cute cat Penny:



This is not so cute:

This is my cute dog Lucy:

Not so cute:


Now this one could ALMOST be considered cute:


But not really when you compare it to:


So I guess you could say that some mammals are simply cuter than others. And bats do not rank up there too high for me. Nevertheless, they do serve their purpose. They eat bugs, which is good. I like bugs less than I like bats. They also pollenate plants. I also generally like nocturnal animals.

But what if you have bats in your belfry that you want to get rid of? Well, my husband jokingly says to confirm them because if they're anything like youth, once they get confirmed, you never see them again.

But seriously, here is how you get rid of bats in your house, belfry, or other unwanted place.

Step 1 - Find out where your bats are entering the building. You might need a friend to help you figure this out. Bats go out to eat around dusk, so wait until it's almost dark (but only during the warm months when they are not hibernating) and look for bats flying around.

Step 2 - Once you have found the spot where the bats enter and exit, place a bat house close to the opening.

Step 3 - Wait a few days and make sure the bats are taking residence in the bat house.

Step 4 - After the bats are used to the bat house, wait until dusk one night. After the bats have left the building and/or bat house for their evening meal, place a covering like wire netting over the opening to the building.

Voila! No more bats.

Fun Bat Facts
So, one of my Christmas gifts was a bat house. Yes, a bat house. What, you ask, is a bat house? Well, it is a house where bats live. And why, you ask, would I want a bat house? Why, to bring bats into the back yard to eat mosquitoes of course. (This looks like an interesting website about bat houses.)

Plus, I do love nocturnal animals--well, I should say the thought of nocturnal animals since I rarely see them, being diurnal myself. I did see a raccoon last night, though. So, anyway, along with my bat house, I got a booklet about bats, and here are some fun facts.

- Bats hibernate from April to Oct. They have to find a place where they will be undisturbed. They usually wake up 3-4 times per winter to change position. But if they are disturbed more than those 3 or 4 times, they use up too much energy and may starve. That's why they like caves and mines for hibernation.

- Bats do not carry rabies more than any other mammal.

- Bats use echolocation to move around. They can sense the soundwaves bouncing off something as small as a piece of hair and move around it. That's how they can eat find and eat so many bugs.

- They eat as much as they weigh every day.

That's as much as I can remember tonight. It was actually a pretty interesting booklet. I've been trying to think of the right verb to describe how bats move. Flitter flutter seems to work, I think. Any other ideas?

Pencils so sharp they could impale someone!
My mom and dad gave me an electric pencil sharpener for Christmas, and man, is it awesome. I recently realized how much I like the old-fashioned wooden type pencils, but they have to be super sharp. So, I added a pencil sharpener to my Christmas list, and my parents very kindly got me a wonderful sharpener. If any of you live in Fort Wayne and you need a really sharp pencil, you may come over to use my pencil sharpener any day, but we will all try to refrain from impaling.

My New Favorite Kind of Tea
Just in case you were wondering...my new favorite is decaf mandarin orange green tea made by Celestial Seasonings. I toured Celestial Seasonings with my mom and Jacob a few years ago. The factory is in Boulder, Colo. It was delicious to go into a room filled with bags of mint tea leaves.

I have come to love coffee, but tea is always my afternoon and evening favorite. In 1999, Scott and I went to England when he was considering a call to a church in London. We were exhausted, overwhelmed by the possibility of moving overseas, and I distinctly remember two cups of tea. One was made by the ladies after church. Wow, that was awesome. The other was at the Jensens' house. They were hosting us for the weekend, and we came into their very typical London house (like a rowhouse), warmed up by their fireplace to fight off the damp chill, and had a lovely cup of tea. Lovely is the only word for it. . Milky sweet tea is a great comfort. The Brits definitely got that right.

Debating with myself
So, I've lately been debating with myself about whether or not to post poems I have written. On the one hand, forcing myself to have an audience for my poetry might be helpful. But on the other hand, I am resisting making public something which is not ready to be seen.

This makes me think about the writing process. I have learned, slowly but surely, that I need to protect my fledgling ideas. I am way too susceptible to a lukewarm reaction if I mention something specific. I don't mean talking generally about "someday" projects. But when I have a specific idea in mind, and it is starting to take shape, I try to keep it unseen and untold until I have proceeded through a certain number of drafts of the manuscript. It's the way I seem to work best. But that said, fairly early in the process, I show my manuscripts to people I trust who help guide me through the revision process.

But in spite of myself, I have decided to post this poem I wrote last night. I've taken liberties with details, but the essence of the sentiment is intact. Also, it's actually an epiphany poem, but looks back to Christmas. In our family, we celebrate all twelve days of Christmas, leaving up our decorations until Jan. 6, Epiphany.

Untitled

I clear away the wreckage of boxes and wrapping paper,
fold new sweaters, shelving them in closets,
coil strands of sparkly lights, tucking them away,
vacuum pine needles from the carpet.

In the thick darkness of midwinter,
I am left
with the echo of a D-major chord ringing in the nave,
the whiff of frankincense,
words lingering in my ears
all was still and it was midnight
they were sore afraid
the great wonder she carried
The Word Became Flesh

I am left
with treasures rich as the magi's
as I step into Epiphany

On the Nativity of Our Lord
"How unobtrusively and simply do those events take place on earth that are so heralded in heaven! On earth it happened in this wise: There was a poor young wife, Mary of Nazareth, among the meanest dwellers of the town, so little esteemed that none noticed the great wonder that she carried. She was silent, did not vaunt herself, but served her husband, who had no man or maid. They simply left the house. Perhaps they had a donkey for Mary to ride upon, though the Gospels say nothing about it and we may well believe that she went on foot. Think how she was treated in the inns on the way, she who might well have been taken in a golden carriage, with gorgeous equipage! How many great ladies and their daughters there were at that time, living in luxury, while the mother of God, on foot, in midwinter trudged her weight across the fields! How unequal it all was!

"Let us, then, meditate upon the Nativity just as we see it happening in our own babies. I would not have you contemplate the deity of Christ, the majesty of Christ, but rather his flesh. Look upon the baby Jesus. Divinity may terrify man. Inexpressible majesty will crush him. That is why Christ took on our humanity, save for sin, that he should not terrify us but rather that with love and favor he should console and confirm.

"Now is overcome the power of sin, death, hell, conscience, and guilt, if you come to judge this gurgling Babe and believe that he is come, not to judge you, but to save."

- From Martin Luther's Christmas Book, edited by Roland Bainton, pp. 30-32.

One reason why I keep coming back to this book every Advent/Christmas is because I love Luther's writing. I wish I could read his works in German, but I'll have to trust the English translation. He has these wonderfully poetic turns of phrase that help to illuminate the Word of God and make it understandable.

Blessed Christmastide to you all!

Merry Christmas
I'm feeling a bit nostalgic this afternoon, realizing we are creating all new traditions this year post-move to Fort Wayne. I am looking forward to the Christmas Eve services tonight. Jacob is singing in the "children's" service at St. Paul's, and then later, I'm singing in the choir at Redeemer Lutheran. We're doing some pretty ambitious pieces for a church choir, but there are excellent singers in the choir.

I'm also listening to Mindy Smith, who I can never get enough of. She has a new album, which isn't quite as strong as her first. But I still like it.

I'm reading Martin Luther's Christmas Book edited by Roland Bainton, Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, and Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon by Leonard S. Marcus (yes, I regularly read multiple books at the same time--not literally of course).

Here's a link to my husband's blog, which shows Concordia Luth. in Pittsburgh all decked out for Christmas. We miss you all!

Last, I just want to say a thank you to everyone who has kept in touch with us from Pittsburgh over the last few months. We miss all of you so much! I'm sorry our Christmas cards are so late. You all should be getting them soon. Much love to all of our friends and family scattered all over the country. Thank you also to all our new friends here in Fort Wayne who have embraced us and made us feel so welcome. Merry Christmas all!

Two really dumb links that I absolutely adore

We like the moon song
I guess you sort of have to have a Napoleon Dynamite sense of humor to like this. But I can't ever stop laughing at it when I see it.

Penguin game. Thank you to Schnigglefritz for this one. My high score is 303. Jacob's is 317. Todd Peperkorn's high score is 321.

Boy, I'm getting a lot done today.

A Sad Thing and Ponderings on Favorites
Here's the sad thing: Jacob was so sick this past Sunday that he (and I) had to miss the Christmas Pageant at our new church, Redeemer Lutheran. I was so bummed that Jacob even said told me that I could go if I wanted and he'd be fine on his own. He had a fever, felt dizzy whenever he stood up, had a terrible cough, etc. The good news is that he's feeling better now, and that his asthma medicines really did the trick so he missed only one day of school. The bad news is that we had to miss the Christmas pageant, which really stunk.

Now, onto ponderings on favorites. Yesterday, I realized (yes, I know this is going to sound strange) that my new favorite color is pink. I don't know why. I always used to like blue. But now I like pink.

I also realized recently that I am totally in love with grapefruits. Again, I don't know why, but I could eat grapefruits all day long. Why is it that we like certain things and not others--particularly when it really seems to make no difference in the grand scheme of things? I mean, who cares that I prefer pink. Does it impact the world in any way? Does it make my life better? Does it end world hunger?

I thought about this in a related topic when I was trying to decide on a one-syllable girl's name for a story I have been working on this fall. As I came up with all sorts of different names: Ann, Lynn, Kay, Kate, etc., each one had a different "flavor." I realized a lot of that was wrapped up in who I knew in my life with those names. I'll always love the name Fiona, not only because it's a beautiful word, but also because I had a great friend in high school named Fiona. But I am not in love with other names because I have some bad memory associated with them.

I read this review of a children's book yesterday on Amazon, and the reader actually criticized the author of the book very strongly for using the name Madison instead of Madeline. It was the dumbest thing I'd ever seen. Why not use a classic name that will last instead of a trendy name like Madison, the reader said. It befuddled me. Can't the author choose whatever stinkin' name she wants to? Apparently not.

So, why do you think we like certain things and not others? Why do I like grapefruit but can barely tolerate bananas? Why has pink become my favorite color? Why did I settle on the name Grace for my character?

Pre-Christmas Shopping
Here's the interesting thing about living in Fort Wayne vs. a bigger city like Pittsburgh. Granted, Pittsburgh is no L.A. or New York, but still...the pre-Christmas shopping crowds were so much worse in Pittsburgh than here. Yesterday, I actually went shopping and stopped in several stores. It was December 19, and it wasn't even all that crowded. Whoa! That was weird. In Pittsburgh, I swore off mall and/or Wal-mart shopping for at least the entire month of December just because it was so crowded and I ALWAYS stood in line for at least 20 minutes. Here, it's definitely different.

So, that's my random observation for the morning.

Now What I Am Doing
-Baking 6 loaves of Banana Nut Bread
-Finishing up my Christmas letter
-Ignoring the messy house
-Trying to take baby steps (check out Flylady if you've never heard of her) with cleaning up my messy house
-Thinking about what Emmanuel -- "God with us" means (with help from Pr. Beisel)

What I Should Be Doing
Christmas shopping
Wrapping presents
Baking cookies
Taking my dog for a walk
Cleaning the house
Writing Sunday school lessons
Addressing Christmas cards

What I'm Doing Instead
None of that
Too tired

Quotes from the Weekend

Quote #1: "Tracing paper has changed my life."
This was spoken by Jacob after we tracked down tracing paper at Hobby Lobby on Saturday. He has been really interested in drawing cars lately, and finally realized that tracing paper would help him get the shape of the cars right. We also made major progress and found the light box which I borrowed from my mom about a million years ago. We couldn't remember where we'd shoved that after the move. Ah, the joys of moving...

Quote #2: "The only reason you're still conscious is so I don't have to carry you."
This is classic Jack Bauer. We rented season 5 of 24 this weekend. We are in 24 la-la land.

Quote #3: "......"
These were the non-spoken utterances of Scott as he was still recuperating from the plague which he's had for the last 3 weeks. Thankfully, he's feeling better now.

Quote #4: "Oh no, not again."
This was a quote from me yesterday when I saw my grinning, goofy dog covered in mud and some sort of stinky mud-type stuff (which we all know was not really mud). That led to me donning a shower cap and bathing suit to give Lucy a bath. Seriously. She smelled really gross. But now she smells like a fresh spring morning.

Books and Such
I got a box of author copies of my newest book, Things I See at Baptism yesterday. The "church book" series has been so much fun for me, and hopefully a help to parents and teachers. I wrote the first, Things I See in Church when my son Jacob was two years old. He is now 11, which seems impossible, but true. I knew that even as a two-year old, he'd be able to understand the church service better if I could "translate" what was happening for him. So, that's what I attempted to do. Now there are several titles in the board book series, and it's been great fun and a great blessing.

I talked to a fourth-year student here at the seminary, Charles Lehmann this morning who told me his new book called God Made It for You is now out too. So, congrats, Charles! I look forward to reading this one. The artwork on the cover looks fantastic. I hope it does well!

God Made It for You
By Charles Lehmann

Concordia Publishing House continues to publish wonderful resources for children, and I'm thankful for that!

It's Saint Nicholas Day!
I almost forgot to post about today, December 6, being Saint Nicholas Day. So happy St. Nicholas Day to you all! Last night, we had Jacob put his shoes out for "St. Nicholas" to fill with goodies, which came in the form of a new basketball and football this year. Normally, I remember to get gold coins to celebrate the day, but with a sick husband, a big workload and a recent move, I'm afraid we'll be chocolate-coin-less this year. (But we do have M&M's which always work in a pinch.)

Anyway, here is the link to my website with the info about my St. Nicholas book. I heard from Jacob's teacher today that they read the book in class, which was such a nice idea. Thank you, Mrs. Muehl!

And while I'm at the shameless self-promotion, here's a link to my first-ever article in Lutheran Witness (p. 14), which appears in the Dec. 06 edition.

Here's a nice website with lots of info on Saint Nicholas.

Pilates and On My Thyme
Yesterday I went to my Pilates class at the Y, and dang, was that hard. I feel like a contortionist when I'm in class, and I'm sure I look like a total weirdo. Pilates is all about strengthening the core muscles of the body. We do a lot of things that force us to balance, using those post-baby tummy muscles. It's awesome, but really hard. There is one woman in the class who is so flexible that when she bends over to touch her toes, she can actually put the knuckles of her hands on the floor. Something about that just isn't right.

Then, last night, I was invited to join some new and very sweet friends at On My Thyme, where I prepared 12 meals in a snap. It is awesome. The concept is to go to one of these meal prep centers, and they give you all the ingredients chopped up and ready to go. We rolled up burritos, assembled pork dishes, etc., with their (mostly healthy) ingredients. Then we packed the entrees in tins to freeze. So, I am set for awhile for dinner as far as meal preparation goes, through the rest of the month, with the occasional frozen pizza and/or grilled cheese thrown in.

So, all in all, it was an awesome day. (But now I need to get back to my writing projects.)

Another Fun Link (Thank you Carol!)
When Jacob and I were in Pittsburgh, we stayed with my dear friend Carol, and to entertain him, she showed him the diet Coke and mentos video as well as this one, which shows a really cool juggling act. Check it out!

A Crisp, Clear Night
The moon is nearly full, and I stepped outside just now to look at it. It's uncommon to have such a beautiful clear sky here in Indiana, but we have that tonight. I wish I knew more constellations. I can pick out Orion's Belt, I can sometimes find the seven sisters, Big Dipper, Little Dipper, etc. There is something about the leafless trees silhouetted in the velvet sky that makes me love nighttime in the winter.

Most Popular Blog Post EVER!!
Yes, I am now revealing the long-awaited secret.

My most popular blog post is not some fabulous poem I wrote or some shameless self-promotion of one of my books. It's not even the funny stories I tell about my dog. No. The most popular blog post ever was a link to a silly game.

So, here it is for all of those who have requested it. Enjoy!

Does Anyone...
have a guess what the most popular post on my blog has been?
(I'm really milking this for all it's worth, aren't I?)

A Great Collaboration
It is so wonderful to have such a great partnership and friendship with Carol Baicker-McKee, the wonderful illustrator of Cheep! Cheep! Just this morning, we muddled our way together through all the intricacies of the future, conditional, modal tenses of the verbs will, would, can, and could--and all of that for a 400 word children's picture book about a kitten. So, don't be fooled that writers for children pay no heed to usage, grammar, and the Chicago Manual of Style, cuz we do.

Don't Think I've Forgotten...
My most popular blog post ever is coming tomorrow (or maybe Saturday)!

Question of the Day
Why is it that police tires do not have hubcaps? I have always wondered that.

The Kitchen and I are not getting along
So I had this idea that I'd post about the lovely white chili I made this week with turkey leftovers, but the men in my life weren't too excited about white chili.

Instead, today I made everything for tacos. In the process, I set off the smoke alarm twice. I think that's a world's record even for me--to set the smoke alarm off twice while making dinner. That is pretty pathetic. Thankfully, no one was injured. Sigh...

Coming Soon!
At the end of the week, I will unveil my most popular blog post EVER! And so many of you who have requested it will be very happy.

You know you're in Indiana when...
you pass a sign along the road on the way to your son's basketball game which reads:

FREE
HORSE
MANURE.

The Cool Thing about Diet Coke and Mentos
Okay, so do you all know about how mentos candy make diet Coke bottles erupt? It's really cool. I learned this about a year ago, and I tried it. It really works. You just buy some mentos and some diet Coke and then open up the bottle and plop the mentos in. I think if you put many mentos in at once, there is a bigger eruption. But just last week, when Jacob and I tried this in the backyard with a two-liter bottle of diet Coke and only one or two mentos, it "erupted" almost the entire bottle of diet Coke.

So, check out this video for diet Coke and mentos fun!

Why I Love Books
When I was a teenager, I discovered the joy of reading. Many of my writer-friends were voracious readers as children, but it wasn't until high school and even my college years that I began to truly love literature. My husband and I were talking at dinner tonight about people who have a hard time reading fiction because it's not true. But I find much truth about the human condition in a work of fiction. As a teen, I went through the normal teenage angst of wanting to fit in, trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, etc. And somehow I found I learned more about myself and the people around me by reading works of fiction.

Take for example Hamlet. Hamlet's indecisiveness gets him into heaps of trouble. This is not good. It leads to murder, chaos and a pretty stinky situation by the end of the play. (I love, by the way, the Kenneth Branaugh version of the movie.) Shakespeare shows in this work of fiction that indecisiveness has disastrous results.

The thing I remember about reading when I was younger is that I found people who were like me in books. A teenager's worst fear is being the weirdo, and I found that I wasn't the weirdo simply by reading because there were others like me who had the same thoughts, the same motivations, whatever.

I am now reading Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon by Leonard S. Marcus. (Thanks to mom for recommending it.) Margaret Wise Brown wrote Goodnight Moon and Runaway Bunny and many other children's classics. In some respects, she invented the children's picture book. Her writing is poetic and sparce and lyrical and she totally understands children. That's why I love her books. She was able to speak to children and understand their fears, needs, and desires. She helps the child reader know that someone understands them.

Leonard Marcus points out: "In The Little Fir Tree, a Christmas story, Margaret gave comforting substance to the fearfully intangible feelings of loneliness that all small children know: 'Always the little fir tree looked over at the big fir trees in the great dark forest. He wished he were part of the forest of part of something, instead of growing all alone out there, a little fir tree in a big empty world'" (20).

I think it's one of those small miracles when a writer can capture in words those vague feelings we all have. And somehow it makes me feel better that someone else understood enough to bother putting it into words.

And that's--at least in part--why I love books.

I Am Wishing for a Fireplace and a Big Leather Chair
...and hot chocolate and a good book. This rainy damp gloomy weather is the pits. Oh, I know, I know I should look on the bright side (what bright side when it's only cloudy all the time?): the grass is green, we are not in a drought, blah blah blah. But I'm having trouble getting focused this afternoon on my writing when all I want to do is curl up and read a good book.

On an unrelated note, last Saturday I learned how to make a coil basket. Basically, it's just winding yarn around a bigger piece of cord or jute and coiling the whole thing up. It's kind of cool and extremely easy. I couldn't find a very good picture of it online, but here is one that's okay. I haven't done any needlework for a long time, but it's been fun to work on this project in my spare time. Thanks to Sarah Nordling for teaching the class. It was fun.

Escape Reading
My mom told me about an author I've enjoyed over the last few months. His name is Lee Child. He writes thriller-type mystery books. The main character is Jack Reacher, who is this former military cop who has no home, no ties to anyone, just rambles all around the country helping people who get in these impossible situations. Making him have no ties and no relationships other than with the immediate characters in each story is a great writing device. He doesn't have to be an "armchair detective" because he doesn't have a life he goes back to after solving his mysteries and getting rid of bad guys. He simply vanishes. So the author can create new scenarios each time, in completely different settings.

But it makes me think about society and people living in community and what a family is and does for its members. Could someone really live like this? With no personal ties? No consideration for how his mother is doing? No wondering about his wife's birthday? The only thing he carries with him is a toothbrush. He buys new clothes every couple of days and ditches the old ones. Of course, there is the question of money. How does he support himself? I don't know. The author has never made that clear.

But the stories are intriguing and a fun escapist-type read. Right now, I'm reading Echo Burning.

Some exciting news!
I heard yesterday from our lovely editor, Melanie Cecka, at Bloomsbury USA, that Cheep! Cheep! has been nominated for a Kate Greenaway Award. This is a British award, similar to the Caldecott in America, which is awarded to a children's picture book for illustrations. I am so pleased and so proud of Carol Baicker-McKee, the illustrator of Cheep! Cheep!, and my dear friend. Her little chicks are so incredibly adorable. She completely deserves many awards for her three-dimensional fabric art.

We also found out yesterday (as if that weren't enough great news) that Cheep! Cheep! has been named one of Parenting magazine's best books of the year, which is just so darn exciting. Here's a link to last year's best books. The '06 best books will be in the new Parenting magazine by mid-November.

The place you call 'home'
Last weekend my son and I made the drive back to the rolling green hills of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where we stayed for the weekend.

Yet again, I sensed the change in the scenery as we left the flatlands of Indiana with its pockets of trees here and there to the endless tree-covered hills of Pennsylvania. Our coming back showed me that while much stays the same, things also have changed. We moved at the height of summer; but the leaves have fallen off the trees in my absence. Little things have changed--a new yellow line painted on the street, a business now closed. So where do we call "home"? Is home only the place where you lay your head on your pillow? Where you "hang your hat"? What defines home?

I've also been thinking about the physical space we call our own. We live in these four walls. Here my family eats together, prays together, reads together. This is where we are a family. And yet the family endures beyond these four walls.

That's why I love having the wonderful simple house blessing whenever we move. It's not to chase out the ghosties so much as praying for the inhabitants of this place to love one another, to help each other, to welcome visitors, etc.

Anyway, those are just my random ramblings this afternoon.

Well, that was fun
I am now sitting down to recover after giving my Golden Retriever, Lucy, a bath, or actually, a shower. Let's just say it didn't go very well. After she was clean enough, I was also dripping wet from head to toe because, of course, the shower is really not big enough for my gi-normous beheamoth dog. So, she hung out of the shower part way, getting the floor completely soaked. And then whenever I'd go to wash the part of her that actually fit in the shower, I would, of course, be leaning into the shower stream, so I'm a little damp too.

Normally, I let the groomer take care of our beloved pooch. But today it was an emergency. We had just gotten back from this lovely walk in the woods, and I was sitting to have a lovely cup of coffee while writing in my lovely journal.

Suddenly, I hear snuffling and snorting in the weeds behind the house. And there is Lucy, panting with that silly grin on her face saying, "look at the neat raccoon crap I just rubbed all over my head!"

So, 4 giant-sized towels later, our dog is mostly clean. At least smell-able.

The irony is that I had the shower stall in mind for bathing her instead of the bathtub because our son's allergist said we needed to wash the cats and dog frequently to cut down on the dander in the house. Okay, fine. So, he said, just walk your dog into the shower and spray her down. He made it sound oh-so easy.

We won't even talk about bathing the cats. That's not going to happen.

Scott and I were talking about the busy squirrels in the backyard last weekend, and how they rush and run around burying their acorns for the winter. Lucy gets really agitated whenever they enter her "domain." She walks in circles around the dining room table, whines, and generally makes sure one of us are looking at this terrible thing: a squirrel is trespassing. Scott said, Hey Lucy, leave the squirrel alone. At least he's working.

It really is true that she doesn't do too much work around the house, alhtough I thought of a couple of her various jobs, like eating the occasional bug so I don't have to flush it. And lately, she's become pretty adept at breaking up cat fights. I mean literal cat fights between our two cats. Other than that, she really is pretty lazy. Okay, she's also good at rubbing her head in raccoon crap (or whatever that nasty stuff was).

A Lutheran Question
This is something I've been wondering this week. Why did Martin Luther expand on the meaning of the Apostles' Creed instead of the Nicene Creed in the Small Catechism?

Poetry and Such
Cyberstones got me thinking more about poetry this morning. I say "more" about poetry because it's really always on my mind.

Lately, I've been working on a new children's book manuscript, and have been pondering all the things that rhyme with "-ing." Now you might say: Julie, there are a million words that rhyme with "-ing": following, saying, thinking, writing, flying, etc. And those are all gerunds; think of all the millions of others. And what about all the nouns? Anything, everything, nothing, etc.

But here's the problem, and this is why the poetry post over at Cyberstones got me thinking. The challenge of writing good verse (poetry that rhymes) is that the meter has to be perfect. So, say I want to rhyme the word "sting" with "anything." Well, if "sting" is an endrhyme, then it gets the emphasis, being a one-syllable word. But with almost any gerund, the stress is not on the "ing" but on the first syllable of the word, so then the meter gets thrown off.

The other consideration to keep in mind constantly is the number of syllables per line. For the piece I'm working on right now, I'm using a 4-line stanza with 7, 5, 7, 5 syllables per line. In order to make the rhyme work, make the meter work, and stay within the number of syllables per line, everything has to align perfectly.

That's why, as one who attempts to write poetry, I am always so in awe of Shakespeare or any of the great poets. The complexity of a sonnet, for example, is incredible. Complicated rhymes, very fussy meter, all sorts of crazy limits to syllables, etc. I mean it's like these poets like to see how many hoops they can force the English langugae through in order to get their thought out.

And that's what makes poetry great. And really, really hard to write well.

Birdies, Part Two
One problem with putting out birdseed in the yard is the fact that "extra" critters that are attracted to the seed other than birds, like rats (yuck), squirrels (cute), or raccoons.

After we moved here, I filled up our old bird feeder with seed and hung it out on a regular shepherd's hook in the backyard. The next morning, not only was every bit of bird seed gone, but the bird feeder was broken on the ground.

So I went to Wild Birds Unlimited to get some advice. They said my problem was definitely raccoons. We had lots of squirrels who liked our bird seed in Pittsburgh, but it always took them at least a few days to get through all the seed in the feeder, and in the meantime, birds got to snack too. But to have all the seed gone in one night? That wasn't going to work.

They recommended I get the pole system. Here's a link. I admit that it was a little pricey to get started. But what I got was a pole which I screwed into the ground. Then I added a raccoon baffle. This is a cylindrical type thing which goes around the pole which the raccoons (or squirrels for that matter) can't get around. Then, I got a new feeder to put at the top of the pole. It took awhile to attract the birds to the feeder, but now that they've learned I have some good cooking, we get all sorts.

It's funny to look at our pole now. There are all these muddy footprints under the raccoon baffle, but only birds can get past the baffle. So, it definitely works. The cool thing about the pole system, too, is that you can add extra hooks or "arms" to the pole, and have several feeders hanging from the one pole.

The photo above isn't incredibly great, but you can see my bird feeder on the top of the pole with the one arm and two other feeders. One is a suet feeder (which the woodpeckers like) and the other is the hummingbird feeder (which I should take down because the hummingbirds are all gone now). And of course, that's Lucy our dog on the porch. It looks like she's eating a stick or getting into some other kind of mischief.

Birdies, Birdies Everywhere!
I really like birds. Well, I should qualify that. I like birds when they're outdoors. Indoor birds freak me out. But outdoor birds I like. That's why I recently got a pole set-up thing from Wild Birds Unlimited. We now have a regular bird feeder, two hummingbird feeders, a suet feeder, and a finch feeder. Two of these were gifts from my dear friend Shirley Ubinger.

When we first moved, I set out the feeder with my sunflower seed and it took FOREVER for the birds to show up. Finally, about six weeks later, the first birds came to visit. I would almost hyperventilate with excitement when they came to my feeder.

We have so far identified these birds: the Tufted Titmouse, the Downy Woodpecker (he likes the suet), sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, Grackles, Mourning Dove, Black-capped Chickadee, and of course robins and crows. I REALLY almost hyperventilated when hummingbirds came to my kitchen window to drink from my hummingbird feeder. They are so fast and skittish that I couldn't move whenever they showed up. But I haven't seen any the last couple of weeks, so they're probably somewhere warmer by now.

Here's kind of a cool site on identifying birds.

I think partly I like birds a lot because they remind me of Jesus' comments about birds in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6. They truly do not store or set things by, but the heavenly Father cares for them. Every meal is provided. Here is a cool sermon by Pr. Petersen on that topic.