7 Quick Takes, 5/27/11

1.

Wow - it's been a busy week around here (!), beginning with Ria's 18th birthday last weekend! I was recovering from Strep, so I couldn't do much of anything. Ria and friends and siblings did most of the planning and I did some quickly grocery shopping (we had hot dogs, ice cream, watermelon and misc. potluck items). We also had a lovely may procession and crowning around the yard and under the beautifully blossoming trees before having the crowning in the house.

2.

Monday morning we learned that good friends of ours in Joplin lost their home in the Tornado. Fortunately they are all well, though they had some worries at first as their older son was at the movies with friends when the Tornado hit. We are praying for all those who have died and for all those who are suffering in this terrible tragedy. Seems to hit a little closer to home as we just drove through Joplin at the end of our big road trip earlier this month.

3.

Last night was our homeschool group's high school graduation. We had a whopping SIXTEEN graduates! I was in shock that they were old enough to graduate. SO many of them are ones we've known for years and shared classes and performances with over the years. Had a nephew in the crowd who is following his older brother to Christendom in the fall. Very exciting!

4.

Yesterday morning we had big news in Milwaukee! The beloved rector of our local seminary, Fr. Don Hying, was named auxiliary bishop of Milwaukee. It seems like everyone is bouncing off the walls with joy. We have many friends who are close to him and our pastor was one of his teachers in the seminary. Happy day!

5.

In bummer news, one of our family's favorite athletes, Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants, had a season-ending injury in a dramatic home-plate collision on Wednesday night. Buster is the reigning Rookie of the Year and a significant part of the heart and soul of his team, playing a big role in their World Series win last fall. A little extra bummer because we have tickets for a Brewers-Giants game this weekend here in Milwaukee and were hoping to see him play.

6.

Now that Ria has been accepted to the college of her choice (although there is a short waiting list) it seemed a reasonable time to start getting rid of school paperwork that she didn't need to save for sentimental reasons. So often, on a day to day basis, I don't feel like we've accomplished that much in the way of education. So I was a little surprised to see how much evidence there was of education going on around here. She picked out a smallish pile of things she'd like to keep (including many delightfully funny drawings and a page with two or three paragraphs on it labeled "A Novel".

7.

I'm really behind on writing notes about movies I've watched and books I've read. Here are a few quick lists I hope to spend more time with in the near future:

Movies I've seen lately:

127 Hours (I think my expectations were too high - didn't like it very much).

Finding Fatima: An interesting documentary which uses some footage from the movie The 13th Day (which I haven't seen).

The Shroud of Turin: 3 Movie Collector's Edition - Three interesting documentaries on one DVD. Silent Witness, produced in 1978, is one that made a big impression on me as a child. It's a little spooky for the younger set, but quite interesting (though sadly faded - doesn't look like they digitally remastered this one). The second film was produced by the BBC in 2008 and focuses on beginning to address the carbon dating process that seemed to prove the Shroud a Medieval fake. The third movie is the official movie for the exposition of the Shroud in Turin in 2010 and is quite lovely.

Books I've read lately:

How to Eat a Small Country - (Slightly rough around the edges, but loved it on the whole. The story of a Food Network chef who quits her job and moves with her family to France in order to try to save her marriage)

The World is Bigger Now - (a journal/memoir about two female American journalists who were captured by the North Koreans and held hostage for 5 months back in 2009). The book is a very personal account of the ordeal written by Euna Lee, one of the two journalists. It was a quite a good read, and very moving at times - especially in recounting her relationship with her husband and young daughter. An unexpected spiritual theme runs through the book, including the journalist's decision to admit her belief in Christianity, even though she knew it was a dangerous thing to say.

The King's Speech - A rather thorough double-biography of Lionel Logue and King George VI. Fascinating and a great follow-up to the movie. We listened to this on audio during our road trip.

Schooled - I've been curious about this title for quite a while and finally picked up a copy at a rummage sale. A light young-adult novel. A homeschooled and socially isolated teenage boy (homeschooled by his hippie grandmother, with lots of hippie values, minus the drugs and free love) is sent to a public school he definitely doesn't fit in, but has some interesting and humorous adventures anyway. An interesting theme to play with, and the author uses it largely to shed some light on social problems common in today's schools.

As I Am - by Patricia Neal - A harrowing but very spiritual autobiography of the famous movie actress who converted to Catholicism on her deathbed a few years ago.

Books I've Started Reading Recently:

Shadows on the Rock by Willa Cather

The Penderwicks at Point Mouet by Jeanne Birdsall

It's All Too Much by Peter Walsh

The Happiness Project by Gretchin Rubin

Sweet Victory!

Originally posted to Chez VH, February 6, 2011 -

We had a fun little Packers party here tonight - about 20 people in all to watch the Superbowl. The kids made homemade green and yellow decorations (most prominently a huge green and gold paper chain that hung across the room behind the TV). Everyone brought food and goodies.

Frank had the idea to make a bunch of paper airplanes and hand them out to everyone to throw in the air at each touchdown. It was quite a nice touch!

We started the tradition at the Championship Game of handing out sweets at every Packers' touchdown - we call them "victory sweets". Since there were plenty of desserts at our potluck, we handed one out at each touchdown (and one was left to celebrate the end of the game).

We cheered ourselves hoarse and tried to coax the Packers into rallies when things were looking tough - and I guess it worked. :)

One funny thing happened to me. We decided to start cutting up the second dessert in preparation for the next touchdown. I announced this to the crowd and then looked at the TV and realized that the other team had the ball. Oops! But no, right then, we got an interception AND a touchdown. Best "bad" prediction I've ever made. ;)

My husband, a former DJ in college, has a little "game" he likes to play at half-time. He turned off the audio on the TV and piped in music from the computer. We started with a little Gaelic Storm (Beggarman), while the Black-Eyed Peas and their backup dancers were gyrating all over. It was hysterical! Then he switched over to the Bangles' Walk Like an Egyptian, which was somehow exquisitely timed. We laughed ourselves silly.

So if anyone is curious what we had food-wise, here's a partial list:

Chili with fixin's

Hot Buffalo Chicken Dip

Hot Bean Dip

Chips and Veggie Platter with three more kinds of dip

Deviled Eggs

Cheese and Summer Sausage Tray (with crackers)

Homemade pickles

Rice Krispie Treats

Brownies

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Apple Crisp

Olympic Math

I love how my children are trying to figure out how old they'll be at future Olympics. "After two summer Olympics I'll be eighteen!" and things like that are being heard a lot around here... and probably in many homes. It makes me smile to think of these traditions being both handed on from parent to child and being shared by many all over the place at one time.

And yet, I'm also ready to get my evenings and reasonable bed-times back.

Gymnastics Excitement

Well, all of the kids used a late-night to stay up for last night's men's gymnastics team final. I'm quite certain that it was my Olympic sight thus far to see how hard they each worked, how they cheered each other on, how well the final U.S. gymnast (sorry, can't remember his name, but I remember that he's the son of Russian Olympic gymnast) did on the pommel horse despite enormous pressure and how happily and cheerfully they celebrated their bronze medal. They were awesome and they really did us proud, even without everyone's favorite Wisconsin-grown twin gymnasts.

Olympic Connections

We love watching the Olympics, but we do try to keep the viewing time reasonable so that we don't have cranky kids who haven't gotten enough sleep. We've set up a deal with the kids that they can stay up late (until 10 pm) for only a certain number of nights (which varies according to age - it's a good thing to have privileges for those who are older and have more responsibilities). We also have some little bonuses that they can earn on top of that (up to an extra half hour each night).

Tonight was the first night of our plan (though we did something similar four years ago). Eight-year-old Bernie decided to stay up because she loves watching the swimming. It's a good thing she earned that extra half-hour too, because she really wanted to see Michael Phelps swim, and it was going to be half hour past her allotted late night time.

She wasn't disappointed.

She just went to bed with a huge smile on her face after enjoying the U.S. surprise victory in the men's 4 x 100 freestyle relay. Wooooohoooo!!!!

I think I'm gonna really enjoy having this special time with one or two kids at a shot.

Football Funnies

Well, of course we're watching the football game right now (though I have that flu that's been going around the family, so I'll probably head to bed before it's over).

Anyway, after Frank's "conversion" to being a Packer's fan during that game a few weeks back that we'd rather not remember, he's peppering his Superbowl viewing with random yells of "Go Packers!"

:)

Arggghhh! It's a Nail Biter

Tied with 2:15 left and the Giants just got possession of the ball.

Aw shucks. It's all over. What can I say, we had fun. :)

A little football at Half-time

A little football at Half-time
Originally uploaded by Chez VH

We decided to have a more authentic experience by throwing the ball around outside a little during halftime of the big championship game.

Zero degrees - I'd say that's pretty authentic. :)

I May Have Been Complaining About the Weather Today...

but I'm getting a huge kick out of the football talking heads lined up at Lambeau Field and showing off their frozen-solid drinking water and their crazy cold weather headgear.

And the game hasn't started yet. :)

Go Packers!

Baby It's Cold Outside...

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -- Baby, it's cold outside.

Forecasts are calling for thermometer readings around 3 degrees for the 5:30 p.m. CST kickoff; yep, a night game in January on the Green Bay tundra. If the wind kicks up, temperatures certainly will dive below zero, and head toward the NFL records.

That's cold! We've been having the kind of weather latley that makes this California girl a little homesick at times, but mostly just caught up in little things like walking across the parking lot to church and realizing that I REALLY should have worn my thick socks and another whole layer of clothes. Brrrr!

Go Packers!

hat-tip Danielle who was referencing the AFC game.

The Public Has Spoken...

and it's an asterisk.

*

It looks like I will soon be able to enjoy watching my favorite baseball team once again.

And in case you haven't heard, you can vote on where you think Barry Bonds' "record-breaking" baseball ought to be sent for posterity.

Some real Giants:

Willie Mays

Dave Dravecky

Bill Walsh, Thanks for the Memories!

What??? A sports post on Studeo? Inconceivable!

Who could have ever wished for a better time to be growing up in relation to a local pro football team? Let me tell you, the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1980s was an exciting place to be! A lot of the details have faded but a number of names still stick with me. Joe Montana (of course), Dwight Clark and especially Jerry Rice. Man, he made those receptions look like magic.

I was 11 at the time of Superbowl XVI (January 1982) when Bill Walsh and the Niners achieved their first big victory. I was babysitting for children whose parents were off at a Superbowl party. I wasn't terribly interested, but thought I'd check into things when the kids were in a convenient location and I was hooked! Niners beat the Cincinnati Bengals 26-21.

I was 14 at the time of Superbowl XIX. The funny thing here is that the Superbowl was local to the Niners as it was held at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto. Our family was participating in a 32 mile (2-day) pro-life walk from Menlo Park to San Francisco. I distinctly remember seeing numerous limos driving along the freeway headed toward the Superbowl. After our walk, which ended about noon that second day, we headed to my sister's apartment in SF where we all enjoyed watching the Superbowl. This one was a total blowout. Niners beat the Miami Dolphins 38-16.

I was a Freshman at TAC when Bill Walsh brought his Niners to the Superbowl for the final time. Superbowl XXIII in January 1989. The president of TAC at the time, Dr. McArthur, was a big 49er fan and hosted a Superbowl party at his home on campus. That was a lot of fun and, though the details fade from memory, I seem to remember that that game had a particularly exciting and nail-biting second half. Funny that the president who followed Dr. McArthur is also a 49er fan! :) Niners beat the Cincinnati Bengals 20-16.

Bill Walsh 1931-2007 (49ers head coach 1979-1988), Rest in Peace

note: click on photo for source