Laptop

April 11, 2012

When I first got my laptop computer 4 1/2 years ago, I had no idea I would become so attached to it/dependent upon it so quickly.  It is my biggest entertainment and communication tool (most of you who have known me for long know that I have an incredible reluctance to call people on the phone) - email and Facebook.  Most of my Creative Memories business is done here - contacting customers and placing orders.  Pictures are scanned or downloaded onto my computer, edited as needed, and stored here.  I do some of my scrapbooking here with Storybook Creator Plus.   Research and shopping are so much easier, faster, and more convenient this way.
Those of you who are my age or older remember when none of this was possible - most of us never even dreamed of it (thank goodness someone did!). Here are some things you will probably remember and appreciate:   spending entire days in the library doing research for papers and projects, writing letters and then waiting weeks for a reply, and registering for college classes by going from professor to professor to get a "punch card" and then sitting in line waiting for it to be your turn to have your cards fed into the computer to get your schedule (and then the inevitable delays when a card didn't feed through correctly and got stuck).
I love this new world!

Share???

April 10, 2012

I will confess to being a chocolate fanatic.  This has been true for my entire life.  For my birthdays my request was always for chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (lots of frosting) and chocolate ice cream.  While I like all different types of chocolate, my very favorite is just plain Hershey's Milk Chocolate - pure, simple, sweet.  Recently Wayne and I were having a conversation about chocolate Easter bunnies and I made the comment that it was always disappointing to me (keeping in mind the confession that started this post) when I bit into my chocolate bunny and found that it was hollow.  So, he made sure the Easter Bunny knew that this year I was really hoping there would be a solid bunny in my basket (bag)!  In fact, there were two!  One of them is named "Snapsy" because it is a Snap-Apart chocolate bunny, making it easier to break off particular pieces in order to consume them.  Hmmmm...is it really as satisfying to "snap" off the ears rather than biting them off??  I'm not convinced.  The part I find most entertaining about this bunny, though, is the statement on the box that says, "Easy to snap and share".  What?  Share?  My CHOCOLATE??  Are they serious??

Bring on The BJBs

April 9, 2012

As Easter nears (and for a week or so afterwards) I scour the candy aisles looking for bags of black jelly beans. It's funny that when jelly beans apprear in the stores, there are bags of mixed flavors/colors and bags of black ones, but not bags of any other single color.  I find that people either love them or hate them.  In this household, we are all big fans of this particular treat and go through bag after bag of them in a short period of time.  And then, we wait for the next year...

He Is Risen...Alleluia

April 8, 2012

The Easter celebration today at St. George's was glorious!  There were flowers everywhere and they were breathtaking.  We had more people in the pews than had been there in quite a long time, everyone dressed to the nines.  Our choir was the biggest we've had in many, many months.  We had a baptism (the 20-year-old great-granddaughter of one of our most beloved parishioners).  In addition to more children than usual and extended family members of many of our parishioners, we had an abundance of visitors.  And why?  Because, "Jesus Christ is Risen today; Alleluia!"

Good for the Soul

April 7, 2012

An evening at the beach was just what I needed today.  I needed the chance to breath the fresh air, walk on the sand with Wayne, and enjoy some down time.  My two favorite times at the beach are sunrise and sunset (depending on which coast I happen to be on at the time), and tonight was pretty much perfect.  It was warm but not stifling hot and there was enough cloud cover to add beauty to the sunset.  The seagulls were particularly entertaining tonight -  very vocal and social (at one point I wondered aloud if perhaps it's mating season as there seemed to be a ritual going on).
Any time I'm at the beach, seeing the spectacular sunset, and hearing the power of the waves I stand in awe of what God has created.  Thank you, Lord, for another beautiful day in your creation.

Good Friday

April 6, 2012

Good Friday...the day we commemorate the gift of sacrifice.  Good Friday is the day Jesus was crucified to save ME (and you) from my sins. I have been attending Good Friday services in the Episcopal Church for 30 or so years now.  For the past few years I have merely endured this service as something I was "supposed" to do, rather impatiently I must admit.  This year was different.  I went to the services today because I wanted to go; because it was meaningful to me.  The service was beautiful in its simplicity, and spoke to me.  For the first time ever, the veneration of the cross was something I felt comfortable enough in which to take part.
Over the years there have been many, many Good Friday services that have been meaningful, beautiful, odd, funny, or uncomfortable.  Following are some of the highlights (lowlights?).
Although I don't remember it, Good Friday of 1964 is quite memorable to my parents.  We lived on Kodiak Island, Alaska (where Daddy was stationed at the Navy Base).  On that day, Alaska was hit by a 9.2 earthquake that was followed by a Tsunami.  We evacuated to higher ground and were fine, as was our house. Others were not so lucky.  There were more than 10,000 aftershocks associated with that earthquake.
In 1984 we were at Nashotah House for Good Friday.  Holy Week activities were quite extensive and I found much of it to be intimidating as I was a relatively new Episcopalian - intimidating but beautiful and meaningful and quite a learning experience.
During the years we lived in Bainbridge, Georgia there were several standout Good Fridays.  One year our choir was to sing "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord" at an ecumenical service.  The plan was for us to sing it in unison.  However, one of the choir members (Cathy?) suggested to the rest of us that we practice the harmony and, unbeknownst to Steve, sing it on one of the verses as a surprise to him.  We did and he was surprised!  Another year, and this is still one of my favorites, the weather was beautiful so we had the doors and windows open during the service.  A dog from the neighborhood decided to visit us - he ran in, up the aisle to the top of the steps, and lay down with his head on his paws looking out at the congregation.  This was pretty comical, but then we started to read Psalm 22, in which dogs are mentioned twice.  At that point, the entire congregation lost control to the point that most of us could no longer speak.  It took quite a while for us to regain our composure!  In 1992 or 1993, Catherine (who was normally very well-behaved in church) was off her rocker - she refused to sit with me and several times ran away from me and up to the altar to talk to Steve who sent her back to sit with me.  I finally had to take her out of the church for a Mother-Daughter Stand Off - it wasn't pretty!
When Catherine was 4 or 5 she took the message of Good Friday to heart.  During bedtime prayers after the service she had a complete meltdown because Jesus had died and she didn't want this to be the case!  It took almost an hour and a lot of fancy footwork from her Dad to get her calmed down.
Good Friday...the day Jesus died for our sins.  Three days later...

Poet...Not

April 5, 2012

In honor of National Poetry Month I am dedicating today's blog post to poetry.  In December when we were going through boxes in the garage I found this book.  In it are poems I wrote as a teenager.   Most of them are truly awful!  A few of them are decent.  None of them are good.  But, they are mine and they came from my heart.
I'm not really a fan of poetry as I find most of difficult to comprehend.  If, when I am reading something, my brain keeps saying, "WHAT?", then I find it a waste of my time and energy.  Having said that, there is some poetry I enjoy...many of the Psalms, songs, Dr. Seuss.
Ten years or so ago I spent two years teaching 8th Grade US History.  When I was first assigned to teach it I was not at all pleased, nor was I sure it was a good subject for me to teach.  Although my first choice is always to teach 7th grade Math/PreAlgebra I found myself enjoying teaching stories from our country's past and connecting them to who we are as a people today, and created several research projects for my students to complete.  One of those projects was to research songs (poetry) that were written as a result of any wars/conflicts in which the USA had taken part, and then to write a poem/song about the current War on Terrorism. As any good teaching project should, this one taught me as much as it taught the students.  I was amazed and humbled by what my students produced; the poems ranged from light and funny to deep and full of pain.   Some made me laugh, some made me think, some brought tears to my eyes.  The discussions that came from sharing the poems were some of the best discussions we had the entire year - full of raw emotion and honesty.