While Libya and Egypt apparently spiral down from bad to worse, and Japan continues to generate news and need, Ivory Coast is barely a blip on the screen. Its so interesting and horrible to review geography week after week (right now we’re studying the whole continent of Africa) and put your pencil on a whole country quickly before the next name is called out, and have a whole array of actual places flash quickly through the mind’s eye. And of... Read more
I always wanted to say that after seeing the Far Side cartoon about the anthropologists. This congregation is So diverse in denominational backgrounds that it seems like many people have no idea what this is all about. And I’m finding an appalling lack of vocabulary to be able to talk about it. My conversation with our wonderful church secretary went something like this. Me: There are so many changes for the service next week perhaps I should just putting everything in order... Read more
As a palliative to the horror of having to read Treasure Island (never before has anything entirely killed off my small desire to take to the sea in ships) I’m rereading Sense and Sensibility at the same time. I am convinced, again as I am every time I read it, that in this book more than any other, Jane Austin had very particular people in mind rather than just types of people. There is too much blended together in Mr.... Read more
This baby has the most grating, life shattering cry I think I’ve ever come across. And she can go from basic happiness to full throated hysteria in about 24 seconds. This is the result, apparently, of giving birth to a huge healthy baby with a great pair of lungs. We’re so used to tiny delicate squeaky little babies who gently cry and coo. We continue, day by day, to be in shock of this cry. Nevertheless, the size of this... Read more
Sitting here watching horrendous coverage of the earthquake in Japan today, or rather yesterday for them. On the one hand filled with horror at the devastation, and on the other actually suppressing a great overwhelming desire to laugh at the ridiculous wall sized touch screen monitors that every male news anchor seems to have whereon he can circle the names of cities and draw little arrows and generally give no particularly relevant information about what’s going on other than that Not Enough People Have... Read more
One–pictures from the hospital This baby is so big that she fits the baby bunny already. It took several–many many many–weeks for Marigold to fit it. Here she is all ready to go home from the hospital. Amazing. Marigold was VERY SURPRISED by her visit to the hospital and not terribly delighted. She’s been tantruming pretty regularly the last two weeks and by regularly, I mean several times a day. Never had a baby seriously fling herself down in anger... Read more
I was persuaded to stay home from school for another day, ostensibly to get some rest, but in reality so that I can seriously clean the boys room without interference from them. Alouicious and Elphine, both, are already developing into pack rats–sequestering little bits of cardboard out of the recycling into strange nooks, and gathering broken bits of whatever they can find to “save for later”. I am deeply against this habit. The more stuff you save and hang onto,... Read more
I hope you’ll congratulate me on the birth of our new baby…girl who looks just like Mr. Churchill, scowl and all. We have a real name but not a blog name yet. Some of the contenders are Ermentrude and Hyacinth (because she was born on the same day as the actor who plays Mrs. Bucket’s poor husband). She weighed, at birth 8 lbs 13 oz (one ounce off of the last ultrasound in spite of being consoled over and over by the doctor, all the... Read more
I hope you’ll congratulate me on the birth of our new baby…girl who looks just like Mr. Churchill, scowl and all. We have a real name but not a blog name yet. Some of the contenders are Ermentrude and Hyacinth (because she was born on the same day as the actor who plays Mrs. Bucket’s poor husband). She weighed, at birth 8 lbs 13 oz (one ounce off of the last ultrasound in spite of being consoled over and over by the doctor, all the... Read more
The baby is quietly waddling around the house undoing things–taking all the bottles out of the bottle basket, all the gray square mats out of the workout corner, all the toilet paper off the roll, all the clothes out of the laundry basket, all the kitchen towels out of the drawer, all the parts of the kitchen aid out of the cupboard, all the low lying ornaments off the tree. Yes, we still have the Christmas tree up. I hate... Read more
Preventing Grace
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