Busy Week

It's been a week for the books. Seems like last weekend was only 2 days ago!

This has been a birthday week. Last Sunday we became parents of a 28 year-old. You gotta wonder how that happens. After all, I don't feel a day over 40! And I sure didn't give birth at 12!

This



was the aftermath. But a good time was had by all.

Two days later, his daughter, Cindy Lou Who, had a birthday. Jannah turned 9. She opened presents,



sometimes having to search for them.



A week of partying takes its toll. But these kinds of parties are a blessing. They remind us of the gifts God gives us to enjoy during our lives. Children and grandchildren are among the very best of them, and we are very grateful.

A Bit of a Rant

An e-mail list I belong to has been percolating this week. One of the women posted about something that was done at her church. It involved music, in fact, music that some of the others didn't like, and they told her so. Her feelings were understandably hurt. We've continued to discuss, and that discussion has broken off into a couple of tangents.

One tangent involved the role of music in society. One of the women commented that, back in the day, families would gather in their homes to play and sing music together. She laments the loss of that kind of musical literacy. I ranted back that some of that literacy is lost to my family because of the attitude of some of my kids' music instructors, who let us all believe that we weren't really cut out to be musicians.

I've been simmering about that for about an hour, and I want to continue my rant a bit. I've come to the epiphany/revelation that we, as a society, worry too much about being perfect. About "making the grade." About success. It isn't enough to learn about something; we have to master it, compete with others to display our excellence in the area, and, most especially, make gobs and gobs of money utilizing the skill.

One of my kids wanted to compose music, but was told that a 7-8 year gap in his musical education spelled the end of his musical career. Another loves to ride, but will never gain the respect of some of her peers (note I did not say friends) because we're just not in a position, financially or geographically, to provide her the advanced training she would need. Yet another cannot prove his excellence because he can't work using that skill because he hasn't proven his excellence.

What happened to the enjoyment of plunking at the piano or tootling with a horn? What happened to a girl and her dog heading out to hike? Now she gets asked, "Will you be showing her?" Why can't we just have interests and hobbies, and just enjoy them?

And don't get me started about being over 50 and having interests that society doesn't think you "should have at your age..."

Friday Fun, Haiku Edition

I have decided that what separates the good bloggers from the truly great ones is the use of haiku. This is merely an observation: do not take it as gospel.

In an effort to attain greatness, I offer the following.

The mud has begun.
Coming Spring is often gross.
Melting manure here.

And:

Jip, you are trouble.
Without probiotic, vile.
We must buy some more.

See a trend here? March is that way. Very...earthy. (Bwahahahaha! I kill me!)

OK. Try again.

Mary's birthday vase.
Slimy, odoriferous.
Buy some new flowers.

Yeah. I'll keep working on it.

Wordless Wednesday, Rambo Edition

Saturday Farm Report

Winter plods along into March. I think March is my least favorite month of the year, despite the fact that my oldest child and my second grandchild were both born in March. The mud and the grey skies....-sigh-

But, then again, March is when spring starts. I don't just mean that the spring equinox comes then. March 1 I will cover my first two garden beds with tarps, so they can gather heat, thaw out, and be ready for planting at the first of April with the broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage I'll start this week. The first week of March, I will pull down all the greenery I had up for winter, and replace it with silk pansies. The snowmen will come off of the kitchen shelves, and bunnies and chickens will take their place. I'll change out the framed winter pictures for framed spring pictures. Days will get longer, and not just artificially, because of CDT, but because the Northern Hemisphere will continue to slowly, slowly, "point" more toward the sun. I always find it funny that that ends on the summer solstice. I mean, isn't summer all about long, hot days? Ah, well, let's not jump the gun.

So, all in all, March, despite it's mud and raw weather, is a good thing. I'll enjoy these last two days of February, but I'm looking forward to changing the calendar come Tuesday!!

The Eagle

We had a very relaxed weekend, with only a couple of obligations. Miss Mary competed in the county Hippology competition; she placed fifth. I can't remember if there were 6 or 7 kids, so it wasn't a stellar finish. But, considering that this was only her second year, and that she competes with her age group, most of whom have been competing for at least 6 years, I'm pretty proud of her.

We had a small birthday party for her with a couple of friends on Saturday night. We planned to take the kids to see I Am Number Four, which Michael Medved had said he planned to rate "Number Two," but actually liked. But one of the party goers reminded us of The Eagle, and we changed our mind.

Back in junior high/high school, I read a raft of historical novels by British writer Rosemary Sutcliff. Many of her books are set in Bronze Age or Roman Era Britain; one memorable one for me was a retelling of the Arthurian legend. My kids read her retellings of The Iliad and The Odyssey.

The Eagle is based on her novel, The Eagle of the Ninth. Marcus Aquila is a young Roman officer of a Gallic legion posted to Britain. His own father served there some 20 years before, in command of the 9th Spanish Legion, which marched north and never returned. The consensus is that they fled to the other side, joining the British tribes and dishonoring the Empire. In the process, the Eagle standard of the 9th was lost. (The Legio IX Hispania/9th Spanish Legion actually existed; look it up.) Aquila is severely injured in a dramatic rescue of some of his troops, and, although honored by Rome, is discharged from the army due to his injuries. Having been disgraced in his eyes, and living under the stigma of his father's supposed actions, he decides to undertake a quest into the north of England/Scotland to retrieve the Eagle, which reports say is being worshiped by a very nasty tribe.

He takes along his British slave, Esca. Wacky hijinks, as my son would say, ensue, and both learn much about honor, friendship and themselves. I highly recommend this film, especially for young teens. It has all the action and adventure of films like Gladiator, with less of the gore and none of the sexuality or innuendo. The teens I saw it with enjoyed it, and, between them, they've seen tons of movies.

By the way, I am posting this from my new laptop. It is an inexpensive Gateway, but it was inexpensive and does what I need it to do. And, if I stupidly leave it on the Milan-Venice train in THREE MONTHS!!! no harm done!

Excuse me.

I am not posting today because I am very, very tired.

I suppose that's a post.

Never mind.