Her husband, Hugh, has been in England for work for the better part of the past year. Stephanie had to make a choice - stay at church, or go with him. They decided that she would stay at church, and Hugh's company would fly her over to see him once a month. The vestry decided that it would be a good idea to allow her to do this, rather than have her leave. It hasn't been easy for anyone, but it beat the alternative (for us, at least).
Hugh's time in England is up soon and he'll be returning to the states Stephanie announced today that he is coming home, but his company is not bringing him back to the local office. Instead they are assigning him to an office that is about 12 hours away. (She can't say where yet, until the official announcement is made.) She has decided that instead of trying to continue in a long-distance relationship, she will be leaving our church and going to be with him. Her last day will be the day of Pentecost (May 27).
Her announcement, at the end of the service, was like being punched in the gut. It took the wind out of everyone's sails, and there was a lot of crying and hugging (but nothing like it will be on the 27th). Stephanie couldn't make it through her announcement without breaking down. Everyone is very upset as she is most beloved by the congregation. But as Jerre said, "Well, we know she doesn't want to leave us."
I know we will be okay. It's just that first bit of news that catches you off guard. It's like the Kubler-Ross model of death acceptance. We're in the denial stage right now, but I'm sure we'll get to acceptance very soon. I think it will provide this church with the opportunity to really see what it is made of. It's a good bunch of people. As I said last fall, "Stephanie is the reason I started coming to this church, but she is not the reason I'm staying. It's the people."
While sad, I really am excited. For Stephanie it's the opportunity to be reunited with her husband. For the parish it's an opportunity to look toward the future. We can either meet it kicking and screaming, or with a sense of vision. I think I know which one we will choose!
So I gave my mom the address for this blog today. This got me thinking that maybe I should post a disclaimer for close family, and then that led into thoughts about why I blog in the first place. It's not that I have a lot to say that I think the world needs to hear, and it's not a therapeutic exercise (although there are elements of both).
When I was a senior in high school, I took a creative writing class in which we had the assignment to keep a journal and write in it 15 minutes per day. I really liked the exercise, and continued it into college. It was fun writing, reflecting, and posing questions to myself. It was even more fun years later to look back on that writing and reflect on how much has changed, how much has not, and what a rambling idiot I was (arguably still am)! So I guess in a nutshell that's why I blog - it's fun writing these things down and then more fun (potentially) looking back at them later. Technology has changed the format, but the rationale is the same.
Now the disclaimer. This is my life. These are my thoughts and reflections. While everything is family friendly right now, I make no guarantees. The f-bomb may come through occasionally, depending upon my mood when I'm writing. Don't be offended. Or do. I don't care. I'm writing for me, not for you. (But I'll try to keep the "kids" postings clean!!)
Our county arts council sponsored a "contest" recently. During the week of March 10, elementary school kids from around the county had the opportunity to pick up a disposable camera and spend a week taking pictures of "their life." The only cost was a $2 deposit when you got the camera that you then got back when you picked up the pictures.
So the kids spend a week taking all the shots on the camera and then turn the camera in. The Arts Council had all the pictures developed and then one shot from each student who turned in their camera was displayed (4x6) at the finale of the Arts Festival yesterday. Also, the best shot from the participants at each of the five camera pickup locations were judged, with the best two being selected, enlarged to 8x10, framed and put on display with the rest. It's a really cool program!!
When Beenie brought the flyer home in March he decided that it would be a fun thing to do, so we picked up the camera and set about taking photos during the week. Yesterday we went to the Arts Fest to pick up the pictures and see what everyone had done. When we walked up to the table to pick up Beenie's photos before we went to the display the lady said, "Oh, you won."
That's right - Beenie's photo was selected as one of the two best at our location!!! We were all very excited and proud of him. He will ultimately be sent the framed print, and he got another disposable camera for winning! His comment - "Now I really need a digital camera!!"
Sidenote - I hesitate to call the grocery store "local". It's not a locally owned store, but is part of a big regional chain - Giant Eagle if you must know. I call it local in that it is the grocery store we frequent.
Back to the post - So anyway, they have this new item. It's milk. Boy is it tasty! Just kidding! Actually the new item really is milk, but it is milk that comes from cows who haven't been injected with bovine growth hormone. The best part is that it is not relegated to the "health food" section where it would undoubtedly cost many dollars per gallon. They are carrying it right next to the "regular" milk and it only costs about 20 cents more. The true "best part" is the taste - it's delicious!!
I bought a gallon of 2% the other day, to compare with the 2% we usually drink. I didn't expect it to taste any different, and for all I know I might just be having a psychosomatic response to it, but I think it tastes like whole milk. When Ellen went shopping yesterday the store was out of 2%, which is a good thing - it means people are buying it! So she bought a couple of gallons of 1% and a gallon of skim. We haven't tried them yet, but expect them to be tasty, too!
It is good to know that we are giving ourselves, but more importantly our kids, a good, fresh, natural product, and not an excess of chemicals and other man-made items that are detrimental to good health. It's just one step on a long path to rid us of chemical pollutants, but it's a place to start.
It's a beautiful day. Mid 60's, sunny. It's been a while. We had a spell there where the temps got up into the 70's and then actually broke 80 once. Two days later the high was 30. It's been like that for about two weeks now - 30s/40s, overcast, snow, wind, you name it - all the things I don't like.
Today, however, I had to drop off a permission slip for Beenie. I piled Stewie and Munchkin in the car and headed off to drop off the form. The trip took a total of five minutes. Since it was such a nice day I decided to take the long way home, and while we were out I thought, "we should go to the park." I didn't say anything to the kids.
We pulled in to the park and Stewie said, "Look! A playground!" We were the only ones there and the kids had a great time!! After about 10 minutes a group of other kids showed up, and about 10 minutes after that we headed home for lunch. It was good to get out and the kids didn't want to leave. I figure now that the weather is getting nicer we can get the wagon cleaned up and walk over there a couple of times a week. At least that's the plan - make sure I've got my priorities straight!
How did Munchkin do, I hear you ask? She did great. Even though she's only 19 months old, she climbs all the equipment (some with a little help) and really loves going down the slide. She got to play on the playground equipment at another park last night when we all went for KeKe's soccer practice, so she was happy for the chance to play again.
I just wish I had thought to throw my camera in the car. Oh, well, next time.
Ellen and I had a great night out last night. With four kids and a lot of extra-curricular activities all around, we don't get to spend time alone out of the house. So the opportunity to go to a dinner at the bishop's house was too good to pass up!
Actually, it was the kick-off dinner for the Bishop's Annual Appeal, and since I am on the board of the foundation that administers half of those funds, I was kind of required to be there. I did this last year, too, and it is a blast! Last year I was a greeter at the front door, saying hello, and taking coats. This year I moved up to nametags. That was great because I got to put names to a lot of faces of people I've seen around. It still is a little intimidating, as the dinner is for people who gave $1,000 or more. Some of these people I've had the pleasure to work with on various committees and commissions, and they are some of the nicest people you would ever want to know.
So, anyway, Ellen came with me to the dinner, and helped out with the nametags. We had a delicious dinner, grown-up conversation, no kids, and we got to get dressed up. It was a really fun evening. We got to talk with Evelyn who we hadn't seen in a long time, and she told us about her sabbatical and her stained-glass work. We met Alan's father, who was visiting from San Diego, and discussed the differences in Mexican food between the east coast and the west coast. Ellen got to meet the man who was her father's band director in college.
It was a great time, and I hope it's not another year before we get to go out again!
Soccer practice has started. Both Beenie and KeKe are playing this spring. This is KeKe's first time playing and she is all kinds of excited. We went out and bought cleats, and cool pink tie-dye socks, today. Then we had to go out in the backyard and kick the ball around this afternoon. She did a great job at practice tonight. She's got a really strong leg and her accuracy is pretty good, too.
I'm Beenie's coach. Actually one of them. The last couple of years Beenie has played for Coach Dina. I helped out when I could, and kind of took on the role of official unofficial assistant. When Dina said she wasn't coaching this past fall, I stepped up and took over the coaching duties. This spring season we decided to co-coach, so we wouldn't have to coach against each other. We had our first practice tonight where we were both in charge, and it went pretty well. Iain did a great job. He seemed like he was really into it again. And Dina's son, who had a reputation in past years of being selfish on the field, was looking for opportunities to pass the ball. He also expressed his excitement at playing forward with Beenie. If they both keep it up as we start our games, we'll be all set. The rest of the team looks like a good solid group, too.
I was browsing through the "interesting" photos on flickr.com and I came across this one. The photographer titled it "The Best Sign Ever (in my humble opinion).
While many of the photos I see make me smile, or wonder, or have me very intrigued, this one just made me laugh out loud. The best sign ever (imho).
My wife is the best wife in the whole world. And I'm not just saying that because she's looking over my shoulder.
Today she came home from the store with one of those big honkin' Yankee Candles. While that is always a good thing (we encourage that kind of behavior), today she came home with a Sweet Honeysuckle flavor.
While I had never seen that flavor before, it reminded me that honeysuckle is one of my favorite scents. When I was growing up there was a honeysuckle bush out by the garage, and I have great memories of the bush blooming in the springtime and the scent wafting over the yard as I was out running around with my dog.
Later, when I had my apartment in Arlington, one of my bedroom windows faced a common yard area that was ringed with honeysuckle bushes. As the weather warmed up, I would open the windows and that smell would come flowing in and fill the apartment. I absolutely loved it.
The only problem was that the honeysuckle caused me some big time sinus problems. But that was a pain I was willing to endure.
The last dozen years or so I haven't had the pleasure of that particular scent nearby, and it had almost faded from my memory. Then Ellen brought the candle home. It's great!
Been thinking about this for a long time. Years, in fact. Just wanted to make sure I pick the right one for my first. Then I took this quiz. I guess it doesn't matter which one is first!
You Should Get An All Over Tattoo
Outrageous and funky Because you should never have to choose just one tattoo
I just found out that Thursday is the second annual CSS Naked Day. What you have to do is pledge to strip all the css formatting out of your website for an entire day. Why? To promote web standards. Ideally, your site shouldn't look like a bunch of garbage when you do this.
I'm not going to do this, for two reasons. First, all my "real" websites are church sites, and Thursday is Maundy Thursday. If it weren't Holy Week, I might consider it. The other reason is that I have the Webmaster Tools extension for Firefox, and one of its neat features allows you to turn off all styles. When I did that to the website for my church, I saw that it denigrates nicely. No, its not pretty, but the information is all there and logically organized. I am proud to say that I actually organized the html to do it that way, and let the css put it all in the "pretty places".
We are pretty lucky in this area, we have a public radio station that plays a great variety of music (in the last ten minutes I’ve heard Counting Crows, John Mellencamp, and Men Without Hats) with no commercials. It’s WAPS - 91.3 The Summit. I am able to listen over terrestrial radio. They also play "independently produced" shows most evenings, and on the weekends. I like "The Polka Explosion" Sundays at 6pm. Listen to their webcast.
When I’m sitting around in the evenings working on the computer I dial in WMVY’s internet simulcast. They are a great station out of Martha’s Vineyard. They play a lot of the same music as WAPS, but there is more of a “folkie” bent to it. Recently I heard the Grateful Dead, Patty Larkin, Dar Williams, Norah Jones, Neil Young...etc. It’s great for just “mellowing out” in the evenings.
Another suggestion for Monday evenings from 5-8 is WWPV, the college station of St. Michael’s College in Burlington, VT. I suggest those times because there is a killer blues show hosted by John “One Chord” Connors. It’s a great mix of traditional and acoustic blues, plus whatever “One Chord” feels like playing. It’s good dinnertime music around our house. And I’m not saying that just because “One Chord” is my brother-in-law.
I don’t know what else WWPV plays, but when I just went to their MySpace page, they were playing Modest Mouse. Cool.
I got really cheesed off on Friday. I have been listening to WARF in Akron for a long time. They call themselves “Radio Free Ohio” and feature such liberal talking heads as Stephanie Miller, Al Franken, Ed Schultz, and Randi Rhodes. I’m especially partial to Stephanie Miller (where else can you get: Senator - fart joke - Senator - fart joke - Congressman - fart joke - Cindy Sheehan - fart joke...you get the idea). On Friday, I dialed in the station as I always do, only to find a sports show. A quick check of their website revealed that they were changing formats Friday morning, back to all-sports. Bastards. More likely bowing to pressure from that vast right-wing conspiracy.
Of course, I could still listen to Mama on the internet, but the time that she’s on isn’t conducive to my schedule, and sorry, but I don’t want to subscribe to the podcast (only $4.95 a month if purchased a year in advance!). I suppose I’ll survive. I might even become more productive!?!
I'm not a big April Fool's Day fan. I knew a guy in college who refused to pull any pranks on April Fool's Day, because that was the day everyone expected him to do it. He would pull pranks on the other 364 days. I'm not like that. I don't like pulling pranks on people. I typically find it to be mean-spirited - taking pleasure in other people looking like idiots.
However...I do love a well thought-out prank. The craftiness, the ingenuity, the borderline believability. The smarter, the better. Of course, the internet provides lots of fodder in the borderline believability department - if it's on the internet, it must be true.
So, take a peek at the Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes, as compiled by the "Museum of Hoaxes". I especially like #28 - simple, yet with that touch of believability (with the added touch of being from a government agency). And I know someone who got fooled by #40 - not the internet cleaning part, but the telephone line cleaning part!
And, I don't know if it's on their podcast, but this morning on Weekend Edition Sunday on NPR, there was a sponsorship drop that said (as best I can remember it) "This portion of Weekend Edition Sunday is brought to you by the Soylent Corporation. Manufacturers of protein-rich supplements in a variety of colors. Soylent Green is people." Brilliant.
Just switch to 