Lament of sorts...

I'm letting Finley watch Sesame Street while I poke around on the net. (Spare me the criticism, o ye anti-tv-ists. Sometimes a mom needs a break.)

Anyway, Sesame Street had Maya Angelou on as a guest. She has one of those great, deep voices, and carries herself with such grace and strength, it can give you chills, even if she is playing patty-cake with Elmo.

She performed in Nashville sometime last week, and I didn't go.
I should have.

The Finished Playset (for now)

Our wonderful neighbor has some grandkids that could use something to play on while at 'Papa Joe's,' so he decided to pitch in some funds to help finish the playset. He is also very happy that he doesn't have to mow and weed eat around the thing.

































We finally finished Saturday evening, and have spent the rest of the holiday weekend watching lots of kids test it out. I am now sporting a fairly good (farmer's) tan.

You Think You Know A Person...

Well, in this case it isn't a person. It is a plant.



When I was a kid, we used to go visit an older couple that lived in rural Nebraska named Joe and Dorothy Bowman. I loved to visit them. Not only were they wonderful, kind folks, but their little ranch was a fun place to be. They raised birds. Not little birds, but peacocks and other crazy-feathered birds. Joe always gave us a tour, telling us about the birds and helping us gather up feathers. They also had cattle, and during my cow-obsession phase, I was allowed to wander into one of their fields and snap some photos of a calf. They had a sun porch that was loaded with cactus and other plants.



I don't know if it was the Bowman place that got me interested in cactii, but during one visit, Dorothy loaded me up with cuttings from her plants. One of these she said was a peanut cactus, but her pots looked like massive heads of dreadlocks that grew to the floor. I was excited to get a start of it.



Fifteen years later, I still have a couple of pots of peanut cactii, though mine are not nearly as glorious as hers. Not having an all-season, sunny room to keep them in, the abuse from moving them twice a year keeps them from growing so long. Yesterday, I walked out onto our back porch and caught a glimpse of a rich red-orange. To my utter amazement, these plants that have been just a bunch of little fuzzy-green fingers for years on end had put out several beautiful blossoms!



I guess sometimes, God prepares the most wonderful things to be reavealed in the most unexpected of places.

Progress

Joe has had a faucet for a nose the past few days, so we skipped church.
Instead, we let the snot crust all over his face while we continued work on the tower.

We managed to build the roof and not lose track of either Joe or Finley. Don't ask me how.

Now all we need are some railings, a ladder, and slide to finish off the tower part...

All in a Saturday's Work

Friday, I started to take down the old, sickly apple tree that stood in the way of our kids' future playset. Chris took a pile of legally acquired copper wire to remelt and came home with over $200 to start our project. Saturday, the rest of the tree came down, and we started building.

The word 'playset' doesn't seem to do justice to our vision of what we want to build. Maybe 'fort with swings and other accoutrements.'

Chris shoveled cement to hold it in place... as if it will ever move.

Decking of the tower complete.

Joe is a little upset that we don't have it finished.
Maybe if we get the roof on tomorrow, he'll be happier.

Cedric

Whatever...

Belated Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there reading my blog. Hope it was swell. Since it seems as if I can't quite get caught up on my sleep, I was cranky and tired all day. Instead of wanting to bask in the adoring attention of my children and husband, all I wanted to do was to isolate myself and read a good book or watch some mindless television. I did get a few minutes to read while the kids napped (though Chris had a hard time leaving me alone), and after they went to bed, I got to watch the second half of an old Star Trek episode.

My mother has been toying with the idea of a secondary residence in Nashville to spend a few months of the year here. It seems a little cruel to me to get my hopes up. My sister-in-law Jenny did remind me, however, that the last time my mother got such a wild hair, my folks ended up moving from Omaha to Montana in the matter of a few months. We'll see.

I finished reading Inside Delta Force this weekend, and I must say, I enjoyed it a little more than the Mother Teresa biography. It was a whole lot less spiritually convicting (like, not at all), but it was very fascinating. There is a part of my make up that would want to be an ultra skilled commando, shooting up in a matter of seconds a slough of bad guys without harming a hair of the innocent hostages... Maybe why that is why the ultra-love state of being seems like such an impossible thing to me. It takes all kinds to make the world go 'round.

Which reminds me of something I heard once: "The body of Christ is made up of different parts. Somebody has to be the [arse]."

And for those of you who like to watch my kids do random things, here is a link to a video of: Joe Eating a Banana.

Another Bear Story

Back by popular demand...

Book Review

I finished reading the Mother Teresa biography (written by Kathryn Spink)I borrowed from the library. I have to admit, I almost cried at the end when she died.

In the process, I also found some criticism of her and the Missionaries of Charity on the web. I suppose I shouldn't have been shocked by the fact that any existed.

Regardless, I have to share what most impressed me about MT...

She lived in intimacy with Jesus.

Because of that intimacy, she was able to have an unwaivering faith. She was able to trust that the Lord would provide for whatever it was he had asked her to do. There were countless stories of how things were provided and ways paved for her in miraculous ways. God's hand was even in how she obtained the approval from the Vatican to start the Missionaries of Charity.

Because of her intimacy with Jesus, she wasn't interested in what the world thought. She knew what God had asked her to do and how to do it, so any criticism outside the authority of the church fell on a deaf ear. [A speech she gave at the invitation of then-president Clinton was largely against abortion. The head table didn't applaud her. I don't think she knew the term 'politically correct.']

She was able to love without reservation or bias because she believed she was loving Jesus by loving the unwanted and unloved.

Anyway, it was humbling. And motivating.

So today at the library I picked up a new book to read:

Inside Delta Force: The Story of America's Elite Counterterrorist Unit

Storytime With Finley

This is a [very] short version of one of Finley's stories.



In case it is hard to understand:
'Once upon a time there was a big, big bear. And he decided to get all my clothes out and all my jammies out. The end.'