April is almost over

April is almost over, so I thought I'd better put this poster up now. I found this and many other images pertaining to books and reading at the digital image project site of the Library of Congress. I found 10,000 images when I searched on the words book(s) or library(ies). So far I've looked at about 6,000 of them. See what you can do when you have a wi-fi connection at your daughter's gym and you're stuck there for a good four or five hours at a stretch.

A Fanning Fan Moment

This is a scan of the Dakota Fanning autograph that Aimee got at the American Girl Place this past weekend. In case you can't make it out it says, "Love, Dakota Fanning, Age 12".

This weekend was the grand opening of the American Girl Place in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles "Place" joins two other American Girl places, one in New York and the other in Chicago. Besides having all the dolls and their accessories on display for sale, you can get your doll's hair done, eat or have tea in the American Girl cafe or watch one of the performances of American Girl theatre.

I had promised Aimee that I would take her to visit as soon as it opened so we went to "scope it out" on Saturday after her gymnastics class. Chuck and I had both gone to watch Aimee's gymnastics class so Chuck was with us when we went to the American Girl place. Of course, Chuck wasn't so thrilled about going into such a "girlie" place but I convinced him to come in.

We were upstairs in the "Bitty Baby Room" when Chuck spotted Dakota Fanning with her little sister and her Mom. Chuck always manages to spot stars. I'm just not that observant, I guess. Anyway, it was a thrill for Aimee to meet her; and she was very nice and signed the American Girl brochure for Aimee. I wouldn't have asked for the autograph but she seemed to be enjoying meeting the little girls and interacting with them.

So we had a fun time at the American Girl place and got to meet the star of one of Aimee's favorite movies, Uptown Girls. Next time we go I promised Aimee we could eat at the cafe.

Then and Now: A Tale of a Rabbit and a Bear

Once upon a time, many years ago, there was a bear with dog ears named Teddy. Teddy had a rabbit friend appropriately named, Rabbit. Many days they would share an adventure together on a boat adrift in a sea of hot lava. They would help each other to not fall into the sea of hot lava and also enjoy some time playing together at their "houses" on the boat.

That was then. Now Teddy is just a discarded plaything, no longer precious to his, "oh so over that boy of fourteen". Rabbit was a mother's day gift to me. She was chosen for me by my two or three year old son so I would have a stuffed animal to play with. She is still very precious to me. I recently rescued Teddy from the bottom of a pile of old stuffed animals collecting dust in a "practically ancient" crib in our guest room.

Teddy no longer sports his spiffy green bow tie. He is somewhat discolored by years of being dragged from place to place. But if you look closely you can still see the marks of ownership on his foot, Eric M., placed there in permanent marker so he wouldn't be misplaced when he was taken to daycare or even to kindergarten.

Teddy and Rabbit sitting on the bed as they are in the picture bring back memories of many pleasant mornings, when Eric and I would play "hot lava" together on the bed that was a safe haven of a boat. We kept Teddy and Rabbit from the dangers of touching the floor of "hot lava".

Well that was then and this is now. And fourteen year old boys no longer have "Teddys". But Teddy and Rabbit will always be special for me; bringing back those special memories of cuddling together; reveling in the wonder of being a Mom to a wonderful little boy who wanted me to use my imagination to play with him. Teddy and Rabbit are always welcome on my bed.

Too Close to Home

I got a voice mail from a friend last night that started with, "I have some really bad news". Then she told me how she had seen on the news that an neighbor of ours from a previous neighborhood had been killed and his wife had been arrested for his murder.

This was the kind of information that is almost impossible for my brain to process. These were the parents of my son's first "best friend". We haven't seen them since we moved from the neighborhood seven years ago, but my heart is so grieved for them, especially for the two children, a boy, aged 14 and a girl, 13.

It just seems like there's so much bad news that we hear about all the time that it's easy to get desensitized to it. It doesn't really sink in that these are "real" people that these terrible things are happening to. Or it does sink in but I don't know how to process the information. You know, sometimes we'll be watching a TV show like "Lost" with the family. It's a time to relax and "escape reality". Then the news comes on and "reality" bombards.

But these are people I know. And I want to do something. I know that I can pray for them and I am. Maybe I should have made more of an effort to stay in touch with them. I'm looking for a way we can help the kids by letting them know that we care about them and want to help. I'm praying for an open door to contact them.

He is Risen

Here's a picture of a pretty flower from our backyard. Chuck took it today.


Happy Easter!

I was thinking about some resurrection-themed hymns that we used to sing when I was a teenager. I can't remember all the words, but here are some of them:

He arose! He Arose! Hallelujah Christ Arose!
He arose a victor from the dark domain
and He lives forever with His saints to reign.

(I can't remember any more of the words, but here's another one.)

He Lives

I serve a risen saviour, He's in the world today
I know that He is risen whatever men may say
I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer,
and just the time I need Him, He's always near.

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today.

(that's all I can must of that one too.)
Sometimes Chuck and I will have a contest to see who can remember the most words to some of the old hymns we used to sing. I'll have to see if he remembers any more of them.

Easter Bunny

Here's a picture of the cute Easter bunny boxes that Grandma Rose sent the family for Easter. Each box is full of chocolate Easter candy. Thanks Grandma! Hope you had a Happy Birthday!

She's Only Seven?

As I wrote earlier today, it's been a rainy, cozy kind of stay inside day. The homeschool Easter egg hunt park-day was rained out and I was enjoying reading and relaxing on the couch. The only problem was that Aimee was supposed to be at gymnastics from 4:30 to 7:30.

The gym is a good two hour drive away on a rainy Friday. It's about forty miles away from our house, but Fridays are always bad traffic days and when it rains, forget it. So I called Aimee to come upstairs so she can start getting ready for gym at about 2:00 pm. Here's the dialogue:

Me: "How would you like to skip gym tonight and go see a movie?"

Aimee: "Really?" ...long pause as she thinks about this "Can't we go tomorrow after gym?"

Me: "Sure"

She loves gymnastics so much that she'd rather sit in the car for two hours in the freeway in the rain, go work out hard for four hours and then drive back home in the rain, get home at 9:30 or so, and get up in the morning to be back there at 10:30 in the morning.

She's committed.

Good Friday

It's a really Good Friday. It's a great day to sit on the couch and enjoy some reading and surfing (the net that is). It's been cloudy and rainy all morning, and I've barely moved from the couch since about 6:45 this morning. Here's the view from my couch! I don't want to move.

Why is this Night Different?

Tonight at sundown marks the beginning of the Biblical feast of Passover. Our family celebrates this feast which commemorates the Jewish people's escape from slavery in Egypt with a (somewhat) traditional Passover seder meal. Jesus celebrated a Passover meal with his disciples on the night he was betrayed by Judas.

On a side note, have you read about the "newly discovered" Gospel of Judas? I love the timing of the discovery, coincidentally to coincide with Easter. Marketing ploys aside, it is a very interesting piece of history, even though it mostly illustrates the beliefs of a sect known as the Gnostics from the 2nd or 3rd century after Christ. I love the drama and intrigue of ancient manuscripts. Read about it at: ...National Geographic

It just goes to show that there are lots more discoveries out there waiting to be found. It makes me want to be an adventurous archaeologist like Indiana Jones. Of course real-life archaeology involves a lot less adventure and a lot more tedious work. But the real life stories of archaeological discoveries are often as interesting as or more interesting than fiction.

I love reading biographies of adventurers such as Howard Carter, the discoverer of King Tut; or Heinrich Schliemann who defied the conventionally held beliefs of his day to discover the real city of Troy; Or Sir Austen Henry Layard who rediscovered the lost Assyrian Empire and the ancient city of Nineveh. I love these guys.

And the discoveries go on today. Have you heard about the recent discovery in Egypt in the Valley of the Tombs? It's the first new tomb uncovered in the Valley of the Kings since King Tut was discovered in 1922. The National Geographic link

Okay, I'd better get back to Passover dinner preparations. I still have to go to the store...

Who is Everyman?

This morning I sat down to start reading a book I checked out from the library. Actually, I have about 10 books that I'm in various stages of reading, but since this one has already been renewed once and must be returned soon, I wanted to start on it. It's The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell. I've read that it's the best biography ever written. (Have to see about that.) I opened the book and on the page next to the title page is this quote, not pertaining to Boswell or Johnson but to edition of the book: Everyman's Library.

The quote goes like this:
"Everyman, I will go with thee, and be thy guide, in thy most need to go by thy side."

The quote has no attribution, so I didn't know where it was from or who said it. Because I'm all into Google (the best thing since sliced bread, to my mind.) I had to stop and find out where the quote came from; and my friend Google did not disappoint me. "Inquiring minds want to know."


From: The Medieval Sourcebook
"Everyman is late-15th-century English morality play. Called by Death, Everyman can persuade none of his friends - Beauty, Kindred, Worldly Goods - to go with him, except Good Deeds."

It's written by that very prolific author, Anonymous. These words are spoken by the character in the play named Knowledge, who agrees to accompany Everyman to the judgment seat where he has been summoned and guide him along the way. Okay, so now I can get back to Boswell and Johnson, now accompanied by my good friend, Knowledge.

Except that I now have spent my reading time on Googling and Blogging, oh well.

A Panegyric to Cotton

From the Oxford English Dictionary:
Panegyric: A public speech or published text in praise of a person or thing; a laudatory discourse; a eulogy, an encomium. Freq. with of, on, to, upon.

Before I wax eloquent on the virtues of cotton, I wanted to mention that the Oxford English Dictionary is available online to users of the Los Angeles Public Library. You can go to .www.lapl.com and click on databases. If you enter your library card number and zip code you can access to the OED online. I think that's pretty cool.

Okay, so here is my panegyric:

The last time I went to Costco I bought a white undershirt for around $12.00. I like to wear white undershirts under my long sleeved shirts. I even bought the shirt in a larger size because I wanted it to fit loosely. Okay, so the next day I put the shirt on in the morning and as the day wore on I got crankier and crankier. The shirt was uncomfortable. It was tight but not too tight, but I was still uncomfortable. After wearing the shirt for a couple of hours I had to go and change. When I looked at the label I noticed what I had suspected all along: it was 37% polyester. I hate polyester! It makes me cranky.

When I think of things that I'm thankful for, cotton is right up there on my list. I don't like to wear anything else. My sheets are 100% cotton; even socks are uncomfortable unless they are 100% cotton. I have to remember to always check labels; little white shirts that look like they're made of cotton aren't always what they seem. And now I'm out $12.00.

If you think this is a rather lame panegyric wait until you hear my encomium of coffee

The Great Conversation

I came across an online reading group that interested me, so I joined it. The purpose of the group is to follow a ten year reading plan that covers all 52 volumes of the Encyclopedia Brittanica's Great Books collection. It sounded like just the accountability that I needed to get through reading or re-reading the great foundational classics of our civilization. It fits right in with my goals of being a life-long learner.

The Yahoo group started in January 2005. I just joined in March 2006, so I missed the first year's reading but, since it's a ten-year plan I figured I could catch up eventually. The reading for March was from Herodotus' The Histories.
The Great Books Reading Group





The Histories


The reading for April includes selections from Plato, Aristotle, and Nichomachus (who?). I'm not sure who he is either, but I'll let you know after I read what he has to say about Ethics.

Here is part of my post to the group on Herodotus:

First of all, I loved reading Herodotus. I am so impressed that after approximately two and a half millennia his personality still comes through. I would compare him to a present day travel blogger. He seems to be a very likeable person. I also have to say that I enjoyed him much more after I switched editions (about half-way through the reading) from the Great Book translation to the Penguin version that I had from college.

I want to mention one topic that most interested me from the many that I noted. This is the racial make-up of the ancient Egyptians. I had the privilege of viewing the King Tut exhibit this past Fall in Los Angeles. There was a rather large controversy over the computer reconstructed busts of King Tut displayed at the exhibit, especially regarding the pigment of his skin.

The images portrayed King Tut as white. It was interesting that Herodotus mentions twice in his remarks about Egypt that they were black.

The first mention is:
“As to the bird being black, they merely signify by this that the woman was an Egyptian.”

“…but it is undoubtably a fact that the Colchians are of Egyptian descent. I noticed this myself before I heard anyone else mention it…
The Egyptians did, however, say that they thought the original Colchians were men from Sesostris’ army. My own idea on the subject was based first on the fact that they have black skins and woolly hair (not that that amounts to much, as other nations have the same),