What's Your Line?

I'm here to interview a few of Travelin Oma's friends! Please choose 5 of these questions and, in a few lines, tell us how you feel.

1. If you found out you had only 6 months to live, what 3 things would you want to do?

2. What are 5 compliments you remember receiving?

3. What is a talent you wish you had developed more fully?

4. What is a book that has influenced the way you think?

5. Who is a person that exemplifies courage to you, and why?

6. What kind of music sings to your soul? How?

7. What did you do this week that made you happy?

8. What experience have you had that scared you into changing a behavior?

9. What are 3 pieces of advice you would give a new bride?

10. Use 5 nouns, 5 verbs, and 5 adjectives to describe yourself.

You are a delightful person! Thank you so much for this interview. I know your responses will make others think, and I hope answering them has given you insight as well.

Answer in the comment section, or post on your own blog and let us know when. Then call for volunteers among your own readers, give them 5 questions to answer, and send us a line. The world will be a better place. Thanks.

Good night!

Four Square

I excelled at several 4th grade recess activities. As many of you know, I was the Hopscotch champion. I held the record for consecutive jumps in Double Dutch for 3 weeks, and I was better than most at Jacks. But my favorite game was 4 Square. It wasn't that I could play very well; I had another incentive altogether. The coolest boys played, and if I flirted appropriately, they would lift me out of line. I assumed they liked me. I look back and realize they didn't think I was cute: they just didn't want me to play!

When I was invited to play this game of 4 Square I felt vindicated! Thanks, Kelly!

4 Jobs:
Taught speed reading.
Cleaned my dad's office.
Put drops in people's eyes at Opthamologist's office.
Editor

4 Movies:
Gone With the Wind
Thomas Crown Affair (Steve McQueen version)
Dr. Zhivago
Rear Window

4 Places I've Lived:
SLC, UT
Salzburg, Austria
Provo, UT
York, England

4 TV Shows:
Law and Order (every variety)
Shark
CSI Miami
Frasier reruns

4 Places I've Gone:
Hawaii
Germany
Switzerland
Italy

4 Websites I Visit:
Hardblogger
As Time Goes By
Citizen Jim
Rick Steves

4 Favorite Foods:
Spinach Salad
Popcorn with real butter
Reuben Sandwiches
Half dill pickles

4 Places I'd Rather Be:
Actually, today I sat in a park in San Diego, watching a grandson's baseball game, with an ocean breeze blowing, palm trees swaying, a book in my lap, and a coke in my hand. Pretty much paradise! Give me another 4 days....

Don't Worry...the Ops are in Charge

Oma can't turn on the TV. McKay and Chase race to the rescue.

"Just find me a regular channel...at our house it's channel 2."
Lots of demonstrating and instructions go on, and then it's my turn.

McKay explains, "If you want to go fast through the channels press this. If you want to go slow press this."

I land on Extra and decide to practice. Extra seems to be featuring an episode on porn stars. There are topless girls (covered by their arms and strategic blurriness provided by the censors.)

"Yuck!" yells Chase! "Turn it!" screams McKay! I succeed in finding the volume, and in the rush of things, drop the remote. In a few seconds it's all over but the memory.

Chase is in the throws of a fake nausea attack. McKay glances over at Opa and they make eye contact. McKay smiles...

Quoting the Grandkids

(Uncle Brad had a bad bike accident.)
McKay (9): It's good Brad had his helmet on. He could have had a head injury.
Chase (7): Or death.


(On Hannah, who turned 5 yesterday)
McKay: Hannah's real sensitive about being called names.
Chase: Just younger people are sensitive. It ends when you're 5.
Hannah: I'm 5!
Chase: Oh...it ends when you're 6.


(Chase is getting ready for his baseball game.)
Oma: Chase! Do you have your uniform on yet?
Chase: Can McKay help me get my cup on?
McKay: Chase, you don't need it.
Chase, standing at the top of the stairs, wearing just the cup: Hey, is this right?

(Later, after the game.)
McKay: Chase, I'll race you.
Chase: I can't run. I've got my cup on.


Oma and Opa are tending, and laughing, in San Diego this week.

The Interview

Kenju, over at Imagine What I'm Leaving Out, was interviewed by a blogger buddy and then she asked her readers who wanted to be interviewed. I was all over it! So she sent me my questions today and I'm giving my short answers here. (The questions have been so fun to think about, that over the next few days I'll take them individually and create a unique post for each one.)

So...picture me on The Today Show, dressed and made up in killer style, answering each question with poise, wit and a lot of wisdom. Dream of the day you'll get your chance. It may be sooner than you think!

Lights, camera, ACTION!
(An immaculate, articulate Kenju takes the interviewer's seat.)

Q: If money were no object, TravelinOma, what's the first thing you'd buy?
A: I would lease 2 suites in the Meurice Hotel in the Tuileries Quarter of Paris, for a year. It is close to a Metro stop (great connections to everywhere, including train stations), an English bookstore, Angelinas Cafe Shop for the best in hot chocolate anywhere, the Louvre, Tuileries Gardens and awesome strolling and shopping. We would get train passes and travel for 2 weeks at a time to all the Austrian tyrol villages, the Italian lakes, the Swiss Engadine, Bruges, Normandy....everywhere. Then we would return to the suite, restore for a few weeks and be off again.

My extra suite would be in reserve for any family members who wanted to come and join us. They could come as couples, as families (BYONannie), or alone, and travel with us, or set off on their own adventure.

Q: How has your education had an impact on your life? Do you wish you'd studied something else?
A: My education taught me how to think, how to learn, and where to go to find things to study. For those skills it was invaluable. My German Major put me on a path to meet Dee, and that was all- important for the life I have chosen, so I don't regret it at all. It has done me no good in a practical, money making way.

I wish the University system was set up to allow students to design their own curriculum from a variety of subjects. I wasn't exposed to classes that I'd have enjoyed: journalism, advertising, public relations, art design, interior design, etc. There was a very set schedule of classes that were required by undergrads. The classes were huge, and the teachers taught these big classes in a very structured way. I didn't enjoy most of my classes.

Q: If you could have dinner with 2 people, who would you choose to invite? What would you ask them?
A: I would invite Bob Woodward and Dave Letterman. I think they would each have insight and experiences with the people and events I would like to know about. Between them they have probably talked to everyone, and commented on everything that's happened in my adulthood.

I'd ask them their opinions about improving the world, from what history and intelligent people have taught them about human nature.

Q: What one thing would you do differently in your life, if you had the chance to do it over?
A: I wish I had studied harder, and learned things to remember for life, rather than just for the test.

Q: What experience in your life has enriched you the most?
A: Motherhood.

I have gained skills of teaching, organization, psychology, human behavior, health, nursing, planning, cooking, interior design, furniture design, and others too numerous to mention. I have learned to be self-motivated, productive, scheduled and disciplined and still be spontaneous and fun. I can plan for the future and live in the moment at the same time. I have been a COO, a CEO and CFO of a large household, applying for loans, grants, mortgages, acted as bookkeeper and accountant. I can manage contractors, household repairmen, gardeners, and household help. I have learned what is important now, and what can be put off until later.

These are not just "feel good" titles for a woman who stays at home and changes diapers. I saw my role as a mother as a career choice, and I feel confident in these and many other aspects of running a happy, organized home, and raising balanced, productive and kind children.

I feel "I did it all." I just did it all at home, and with my family. I don't regret a minute of the 32 years I was a full-time mother, and I got more than a gold watch on retirement.

Lights dim....interviewer leaves.

Thanks for tuning in!! The special offer is that you, too, can be interviewed!
1. If you want to be interviewed, leave me a comment saying "Interview Me!"
2. I will respond by asking you 10 questions, and you choose to answer 5 of them. I pick the questions. I will email you when I post the questions on my blog.
3. You will leave the answers to your questions in my comments, or tell us to go to your blog where you may decide to post the questions and your answers.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others (1-5 participants) in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them 5 questions of your choosing, and the interviews go on....

Story Telling

One of my favorite daily reads is The Elderstorytelling Place, a blog featuring stories by Elder Bloggers (those of us over 50.) I'm flattered to be the author of the day!

Exercise Caution

I hate to admit I've sunk so low...I slept with Arthur Itis and Ben Gay. I wouldn't recommend these new guys. They did nothing for me, and I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, in a sticky mess. Plus they smell bad. It was all empty promises with them. I had hoped they could make my body feel those forgotten sensations of painless movement.

My rotator cuff injury (caused not by my wicked serve, but by wielding my mouse wickedly), and my bloggers stiff neck led me to consult my on-line doctor. WebMD recommended the ever popular cure: get more exercise.

So I went down to the pool and found that I was much more agile underwater. I did great leg lifts and knee bends with much more enthusiasm than earlier. Then I soaked close to the jets in the hot tub. That seemed to tighten me up rather than loosen me up. I hobbled home, took a handful of advil and got into bed. I can't tell if the cure is worse than the disease at this point. I also wonder why something so good for me (exercise) makes me feel so bad, and just laying around makes me feel so good. And what is the point? Is there a goal here other than long life? A long life of discomfort doesn't tempt me as much as a short life of ease.

So now I'm looking into a class they offer in our gym. Aging with Aerobics. I think these women were 30 when they started class. I can't wait.

Marathon Woman

Marathons seem to be big in my family. Several of my kids and in law kids have run them or are planning to. Heidi is in the final stages of preparation for a huge marathon.

She is having twins.

She has been in training for a few years.

Her first effort was pretty feeble. She was unknowingly dodging Jac. He was jogging after her, but she didn't seem to notice for a while. She actually invited another girl to go on her first date with Jac, not realizing it was a date. Another time she invited another guy to meet up with them on a date, not realizing it was a date. Then she broke up with another guy while she and Jac were on a date. Finally Jac told her they were dating and she immediately stopped running. Then it was a quick sprint to the finish line. She couldn't have received a better prize.


Heed moved into the fast lane when she had Lucy who is now 3 and 1/2. She then picked up even more speed with Chelsea who is turning 2.



Identical little girls will put her on a new track altogether. She's taking it in stride, but she's looking forward to a second wind! This marathon is a little different. The organizers plan to spring the date on Heidi, sometime between now and the end of May, and surprise her with a 20 yard dash to the starting line. She'll be panting before she even gets there. There might be some pushing and shoving as they jostle into position for their starting positions, and then with a cry of joy, the marathon begins!

Heidi is already a winner. She has been passionate about everything she's done. In 5th grade she was writing letters to the government for better treatment of cows that were raised for their meat. She wouldn't eat beef, and especially veal, in protest of the conditions they lived in prior to their demise. She became a freedom fighter for the separation of Czechoslovakia in the early '80's, writing letters as a 6th grader advocating the Velvet Revolution. She would have fought in it if she wasn't only 12. Her fight for women's rights took guts and skill. Right on the playground she took on The Green Gang, a group denying Heidi's friend the respect she deserved. "Are you friends with that fat girl?" they asked Heed, who stood up proudly, and took the mean 6th grade girls on with her fists. Then they practiced running....fast!

Later Heidi became a photographer and editor for her yearbook, rolling her own film, and developing her pictures in the darkroom. (She's still having a tough time accepting digital cameras as legitimate.) She wore her press pass proudly to every school function, covering sports, assemblies, clubs, classes, etc. while working with the publishers and writers to put it all together, with captions, indexes, and text to bring it all in on time. It was a race to the finish every year.

She had a job at a bakery where she made the bread. Every morning at 4 am she would be there grinding wheat into flour, preparing hundreds of pans, mixing, kneading, baking, and then later slicing, packaging and selling. The bread store was the hang out because they gave warm slices of your choice of bread, with fresh butter and honey, for free. The high school crowd worshipped Heidi because she was so generous. The store had hip music playing and the bakers were all modern day hippies, making their own food and sharing with the masses. After breathing in 3 years worth of flour dust, Heidi developed Baker's Asthma. Flour was coating the inside of her lungs and she was sick for several months until that was out of her system. Endurance and discipline were marathon skills learned there.

In the meantime she was an officer in a sorority. She incorporated her photography career into that, as well as her baking, and became famous for the muffins she brought to her 6am meetings all winter long. Running to and fro was incorporated into her training plan.

Heidi was an on-again-off-again college student, working for tuition a semester ahead, then going full time for a semester or two. She was able to plan and save enough to do a semester in Sienna, Italy and then travel for a few weeks afterward. She's traveled Europe 4 times, having gone to school in England for a year when she was little, as well as taking college classes in Italy. After she got married, both she and Jac finished college and graduated the same day. A fantastic accomplishment. They'd set a pace.

There is so much to Heidi, that she has a lot to offer. She loves music, nature, crafts, and people. She hikes, camps, reads, travels. She and Jac recently bought a fixer-upper house and have turned it into a place worthy of a magazine spread. She is compassionate, sensitive, funny, smart and beautiful. This is a marathon...keep going....

Heidi's a Political Science major and has worked on several local campaigns. She knows her stuff, and keeps up to date on issues both local and national. But there's more...

Even with 2 young kids she has taught guitar to neighbors, choir and music to kids, and she's been president of both the Young Women's and Children's organizations in church. She has been the girls camp leader for several summers, contributing her cooking, music, organizing and planning skills, and love for the girls. She's encircled by teenage girls who want to be like her.

I can picture a queue of little girls up in heaven saying "I want Heidi to be my mother..." Sensing the end of the line, a super enthused girl must have jumped on her friend's back and announced they'd come together. They're running at full speed, anxious to catch up with their older sisters.

There will be quite a support team watching this marathon. As long as Heed remembers we have a real stake in the race and our offers of help are sincere, she'll be able to keep her pace up, take necessary breaks, and the race will ultimately be hers. She'll finish with honors. She won't believe the worth of the prize.

There's a line in a song from Annie that applies to Heidi.

"Some women are dripping in diamonds, some women are dripping in pearls
"Lucky me, look at me, look at what I'm dripping in...little girls!"

I am psyched for this Marathon!

Beauty Secret

I was telling my little granddaughters that being beautiful is about more than makeup. I said when they are kind to each other, and show love to each other they are beautiful. Later I wanted them to tell their mothers about this important lesson. It had been totally forgotten by then. When I asked what makes a girl beautiful their answers were "Lipstick." and "Eyebrow pencil so you can see your eyebrow color."

One mom gave a hint. "Why is Oma beautiful, even though she doesn't have any make up on? Three-year-old J knowingly answered, "Because she's dressed modestly."

Tag

I'm it! I got tagged, and so I get to tell 5 things I love, and 5 things I hate. If you want to play, comment or tell us on your blog.

I love:
1. Blue and white dishes.
2. Book stalls in Paris.
3. Maps.
4. Cobblestones.
5. Old Cemeteries.

I hate:
1. Weather men who act like it's my fault it didn't rain.
2. Drivers who zoom up behind me and then ride my tail until I move over.
3. People having loud, long, private conversations on cell phones in public places.
4. Being on hold with obnoxious music, when I really have to talk to them.
5. Parents saying very rude, uncalled for things to their kids in public (or anywhere.)

You're it!

Sisters

In honor of Polly's birthday, I'm sharing some sister quotes. My mother would be proud that I've finally learned to share with Polly without crying, and she doesn't even have to suggest it, oversee it, force it, or calm down a disappointed sister while the bratty one gets her way. We've become what mom always hoped for: Friends.

1. How do people make it through life without a sister?

2. Sisters never quite forgive each other for what happened when they were five.

3. What's the good of news if you haven't a sister to share it with?

4. To the outside world we all grow old. But not to a sister. We know each other as we always were. We know each other's secrets. We share private jokes. We know how to push each other's buttons. We live outside the touch of time.

5. A sister is a friend who continues to be your friend when all your friends get married, move away, when parents die, and children grow up. They know what counts. They can dig through and find just the memory that will warm your heart.

Think of your own sister and remember special times. Anyone who doesn't know how it feels to want to wring her neck at the same moment you love her to pieces, did not have a sister.

Polly has had bad years (she started life bald) good years (she was queen of the parade) talented years (sang in a famous local youth choir) unknown years (singing You are my Sunshine to a baby at 2:am.) She's had her painting years, her leadership years, her caretaker years, supportive years and her grandmother years. Now she's in her challenge years. As always, she'll come out of them with a redecorated house, new hairdo, darling shoes, and a gorgeous garden. Every beautiful garden has to lay fallow for a season to bloom forth even more beautifully in the next season. So Polly, restore your roots until you're ready to bloom into the bouquet you're gathering. I love you, and hope you'll call when you need another load of "crap" piled on the garden of life. I'm full of that, and anxious to pass it on!

Happiness is your Birthday right! Claim it! Love, Marty

Thoughts

There are a lot of well-intentioned women who are very weird. I know some of them and they are out to get me.

My dad used to say, "Everyone is crazy except you and I, and lately I'm beginning to wonder about you." Was he right?

When you're the only normal person you know, are you really abnormal?

Why do people assume the world revolves around them (when it really revolves around me)?

Should I get a yellow dress?

These are some of the things I'm pondering tonight.

"My Last Farthing"

This little antique frame was a special present from Dee. It holds coins that equal a quarter of a penny...a farthing. As far back as Henry VIII this was a measurement of money, and these pieces are from Victorian times. It is a very sentimental gift with lots of meaning.

When we first met in Salzburg, we were both living on extremely tight budgets. Every schilling was counted and spent with thoughtfulness...not always wisely, but with good intentions. One night Dee offered to take me out to dinner, and pay. I protested, saying he couldn't afford it, and he said "I'd spend my last farthing on you."

There have been lots of last farthings since then.

Dee spent his last farthing on our first home, an 8' X 35' trailer which we lived in for a year before we bought a 12' X 48' for the next 3 years of college. (By the time we moved into a house we had 3 kids!)

While we were in school Dee worked teaching German at the old LTM, and at a golf course. During the winter we were living on farthings. He had a $50 a month income from the ROTC that sustained us until he became a research assistant. (You make tons of money as a research assistant, I can tell you.)

After graduation, with a real job, we had long stretches where we forgot about farthings. We were making big bucks by then, and our kids were little and didn't cost much. We could afford all the necessities and lots of luxuries. We saved for missions, college and retirement. Our kids even had trust funds. (There wasn't any actual money in the funds; we were planning ahead.) But things weren't all they were cracked up to be. It was time again for farthings.

In 1985 we decided to make some dreams come true. We sold everything of worth, rented out our house, and moved to York, England. All 7 kids and Dee went to school and we returned a year later with a lot of fabulous memories and a Master's Degree in Historic Preservation. We had spent our last farthing on this great adventure, and we started over with a new career.

The first year Dee was asked to sit on a committee for the Church Sesquicentennial in England. Everyone on the committee except Dee was seconded from university positions, so they all had salaries that came with them. Dee was a very honored and respected volunteer. We sold art work, cameras, guns, cars, and eventually our house to get a few farthings. It was a second year of education, and most of Dee's future projects grew out of the experience he gained, but it was pretty tight. By then the kids were expensive. All the mission, college and retirement savings accounts were emptied, and the trust funds became a memory.

It was worth every farthing.

Over the years, we have had many huge opportunities. People are willing to pay a lot of money for Dee's expertise and skills. Projects are numerous, but when they end in a blaze of glory and publication, suddenly he is unemployed until he arranges for something new. It always comes back to farthings. It's a precarious and adventurous way to live. He has invented a way to be paid for doing what he loves to do. He'd actually do it for free (and has done a few times), but it's better to make a few farthings and pay the rent.

Often when we are down to $300....$200...(once it was 37 cents,) we have seen miracles happen. Dee calls them "privileges of poverty." One Memorial Day we wanted to plan something fun and we decided to spend our last farthings on a family outing. The kids all gathered around the table with their donations and we came up with about $50. We got out a map and found some ghost towns within a few hundred miles. We went exploring for old roads, houses and train stations, and spent our money on Gyros at a tiny diner called The Greek Streak, in a little town down south. It was a great weekend!

Another time we were celebrating Heidi's birthday at a restaurant of her choosing. The promised checks were in the mail, but had not arrived the day before, and we didn't know how we'd pay for dinner for 12. Dee told me that he'd rather spend his last farthing than disappoint Heidi. That afternoon we recieved a letter from Micah who was in England. It had $100 bill in it! Someone had sent it to him, and he said that rather than exchange it for pounds, he thought he'd surprise us! What kid sends money HOME?? (The birthday dinner cost $96 with the tip.) When you live close to the edge, you experience a few thrills.

It never seemed strange in our family for the kids to contribute. We always knew we'd spend our last farthings on each other.

The Real Thing

I was in Barnes and Noble and I went to get a drink in the cafe. "Do you have coke?" I asked the 20-something guy behind the counter. He looked very surprised, and glanced around before he quietly said, "You mean, the real thing?"

Happy 50th Jo!

Aging gracefully is for quitters.

Birthday Cake for Jo

In honor of Jo's birthday I'm posting a special recipe. I first tasted this cake when I was 13 at my friend Sher's. It became a favorite for my family, and is the traditional birthday cake at our house. It always requires a trip to the store, (because who has 2 bottles of red food coloring on hand?) and it takes a little extra time but it is well worth the effort. It is absolutely the best cake in the world!

Red Velvet Cake

2 oz. red food coloring
1/2 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 T. cocoa
1 t. salt
1 t. vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
2 and 1/2 cups flour
1 T. vinegar
1 t. soda

Cream sugar, butter and eggs. Make paste of cocoa and food coloring and add to creamed mixture. Mix salt and vanilla with buttermilk and add alternately with flour to creamed mixture. Mix soda and vinegar, and fold gently into mixture. (Do not beat.)

Bake in 2 9" round pans, or a 9" x 13" pan. Grease pan, and sprinkle with granulated sugar (rather than flour) so the cake won't stick.

Bake 30 min at 350 degrees. Check it towards the end so it won't over bake. When it stops sizzling and is springy to the touch it's done. Don't let it get so done it pulls away from the sides, or it will be dry.

Cool. Frost.

Frosting

5 T. flour
1 cup milk
1 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla

Mix flour and a little of the milk in a saucepan. Blend in the rest of the milk with a whisk so it won't be lumpy. Cook over medium heat until it's thick. It will resemble play dough. Cool completely.

Cream butter, vanilla and sugar. Add the flour mixture and beat until it is the consistency of whipped cream. Spread on cake.

(A word of warning: the food coloring might scare you the next morning. You don't have colon cancer.)

Who, Me??

I won an award!

I'm a thinking blogger and proud of it. I was nominated by Stie and I think she compared it to the Nobel Prize or something. Her blog is one of the best, and I'm very flattered to be in such great company! (Cameras flash...)

So now I get to sport a cool little medallion on my blog, and I also get to bestow this coveted award on 5 other bloggers. Then they award it to 5 of their favorites, and pretty soon we'll all be thinking bloggers. It's kind of like an old fashioned snowball dance. The first couple dances until the music stops and then they each choose new partners, and when the music stops again, all four pick other partners and by the end of the song, everybody is dancing. Pretty fun! Put on your thinking caps and your dancing slippers and check out my choices. ("I'll take your questions later...")

My first award goes to Anna over at Inbetween the Lines. Her blog was the first one I ever read. I was absolutely bowled over by how quickly I got to know her heart by reading her words. I read every post, and then all her links. I learned about her dad's SS lesson, her sister's pregnancy, her brother's computer skills, and best of all Keith Albertson.

(I'm a little embarrassed by all these photographers!)

Marta writes the dear diary stories. Her blog is perfectly descriptive of her. I love all the extra touches, and innovative ideas, complete with photos and links. She is consistently awesome.

The Gab Blog is a very entertaining look at real life in the trenches with kids. She makes it all sound funny and fun. I have gotten to know her so well, I almost feel like she's my daughter.

The Secret of Nimmy is that she's an art historian and an artist herself. She puts together a creative collection of work that is so fun to look at. She has photos as well as illustrations and I love visiting her blog.

According to Kelly, she's a domesticated diva. I love her random ramblings, cute pictures and especially her recipes. I don't actually cook them, but I imagine how they taste. It's less work that way.

And now,
"I'd like to thank all my thinking readers, the great people at Blogger, my hair stylist Dena, my colorist Peggy, Roget's College Thesaurus in Dictionary Form, Apple Computers, my creative writing teachers Mrs. Landerman, Miss Ed and Enya, my type teacher Miss somebody.....oh, and Miggs who suggested a year ago that I should have a blog, B-Rad who taught me how to turn on a computer....oh, and..."(music swells, lights fade, a Mac walks her off the stage).

Well, I thought it was pretty cool....

Counting My Blessings

"When you're worried and you can't sleep
Just count your blessings instead of sheep,
And you'll fall asleep, counting your blessings."

I'm thankful for...Bless me with

A: Artists...Awareness

B: Babies...Balance

C: Creativity...Chic

D: Dee...Daffodils

E: Enthusiasm...Effectiveness

F: Faith...Faith

G: Grandparents...Generosity

H: Heroes...Help

I: Inspiration...Insight

J: Journeys...Joy

K: Kids...Knowledge

L: Laughter...Light

M: Music...Motivation

N: Night...Necessities

O: Organization...Order

P: Prayer...Peace

Q: Questions...Quality

R: Rain...Restraint

S: Scriptures...Sense

T: Teachers...Tact

U: Uniqueness...Understanding

V: Valentines...Vision

W: Washer...Wisdom

X: eXperience...eXpression

Y: Yesterdays...Yore

Z: Zeal...Zest

Amen.

Flipping the Bird

Our baby birds have turned into teenagers.

We've been gone for a couple of weeks, and we wondered if our baby pigeons would have flown the nest by the time we returned. I think we missed out on their childhood. We had looked forward to their first steps, their first brave attempts at trying their wings.

They seem to have flipped to the stage where they are gone all the time, but we can tell they still live here by the giant mess they've left! There's a lot of noise, too, with cooing and flapping of feathers that all stops when we try to communicate with them. They hide behind the chair and give us the silent treatment. Don't get me wrong. I love teenagers. I disagree with all the people who bad mouth them. We had 7 of them and they were very interesting and lots of fun. They just take a special kind of love, with a lot of patience.

We have a couple more now. I guess I have to go out and clean up their room.