Marshall.....the snake whisperer!!

Shortly after sunrise (7:30 am) Marshall and I began our least favorite lawn project....raking leaves from along the chain link fence on the east side of the house. Every year we mutter "why didn't we mow/mulch one more time last fall."

Carefully we scooped up assembled piles of brittle leaves, dumping them into heavy duty brown paper leaf bags.....until I noticed something wriggling and writhing at my feet!! I squealed! Sudden exposure to the 55 degree morning air had roused a resident baby garter snake. Disturbed from his hidey space, he coiled himself and began his threatening "strike gestures." Our angry reptile could sense where we were and aimed his wide open pink mouth in our direction.

Wondering what to do we decided to put a purple plastic flower pot close to him as a signal to ourselves to walk a wide path. Neither of us wanted to relocate Mr. Snake via rake and risk him slithering up the handle toward us. Such "nervous Nellies!"

Marshall monitored the snake's location.....all the while chatting with it......"the sun will come out...it will warm up." After a while Marshall (the naturalist) decided to use a long stick to move this chilled harbinger of summer to a spot close to a fence post. Periodically he checked on the snake while offering further words of encouragement......the Snake Whisperer.....probably not for hire!

It's Snowing today in Overland Park!!

White silky petals float aimlessy to curbs and driveways like a fine dusting of snow...the Bradford pears are shedding their lovely lacey flowers; green leaves tentatively unfurl. It is snowing flowers in Overland Park!!

Spring has sprung ...the wonderful ornamental shrubs and trees are putting on a show! Gray rainy days provide a backdrop for brilliant yellow forsythia, soothing purple redbuds, lush pink flowering crabs, and graceful whitebud blossoms. My lone columbine has emerged....I will have to fence it with chicken wire to keep bunnies away...they do seem to love this plant. My jonquils are fading but the tulips are stepping up to take their place. Daily the thin reedy iris shoot up another inch....flower stems will follow....I can hardly wait to see these colorful flags.

Ah....joyous spring....renewal!! Enjoy!

ellen

KC Weekends......

Whew....when you cannot remember your blog password things get a little tricky...but now I have written it down....thank you Katie!!

Marshall and I have also been entertained quite nicely this past weekend. Friday night we ushered at the KC Rep for a premier production of The Great Immensity presented at the Copaken Theater in downtown KC, MO. This drama/musical presents scientific info on climate change, rain forests, the gulf stream and saving polar bears via creative, lively lyrics. Saving a species is easier when a large furry white mammal is at risk...less interesting when an insect becomes extinct. Environmentally conscious Student Ambassadors representing many nations board (illegally) The Great Immensity, a Chinese container vessel. In a bid to call attention to the extinction of humans......the Ambassadors vanish (almost) without a trace.
The world's attention is suddenly focused on their disappearance....at the play's end we are left to ponder out fate as a species if we choose to continue to corrupt the planet. Lots of material; lots of questions.

Saturday night we ushered again for The Rep. The Plaza location presented The Whipping Man...another premier. A gravely wounded Confedrate soldier returns to his battered home to find two of his former slaves barely surviving in post Civil War North Carolina. Early in the first act the soldier's gangrenous leg must be cut off...on stage; pretty grisly/realistic. Slaves and former master must redifine their relationship.... secrets revealed are intense
and even more horrifying than the amputation scene. Very well acted drama.

Sunday Andy and I attended the opera Nixon in China at the Kauffman Center. Amazingly well done with exellent female voices, staging, and lighting. I was really amazed by the whole production. The version I saw on PBS television performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York looked like a Saturday Night Live parody by comparison. KC knows how to opera!!!

Anyway....this weekend we have the tax man to look forward to....yikes!!

Wichita Happenings

Spring break has arrived, and I'm getting caught up on various tasks at work and at home, including posting on the blog.  Woohoo!

Like Honor, I am taking advantage of some of the cool things to do in my new city.  This past weekend, and friend and I went to the opera at WSU, and we saw a performance of Il Viaggio a Rheims by Rossini.  It was fabulous!  Funny, visually and mentally stimulating, wonderful acting and singing.  The English translation of the Italian lyrics was projected onto a screen above the performers.  I think I like the opera, and I definitely need to make a point of attending at least one event on campus each semester.  Last year, I attended an a cappella choir performance (fabulous!), and this past summer Trent and I attended an outdoor bluegrass concert at the Ulrich Museum. 

Yesterday, a friend introduced me to the Nifty Nuthouse in downtown Wichita, and I definitely plan to go back.  I got some Chicago-style popcorn (cheddar and carmel--yummy!), ultimate malt balls, and some butter toffee pecans.  So, so good.

And, last but not least, I'm actually involved in an upcoming performance that I'm both excited and nervous about.  My church choir (College Hill United Methodist Church) is performing John Rutter's Requiem on Palm Sunday (April 1).  A lot of it is in Latin, and it's one of the hardest selections of music that I've ever encountered; even the experienced musicians in the choir agree that it's difficult.  It definitely challenges my brain and my ego, as I fumble over the pronunciations and the notes.

Here's a selection from the Requiem.  It starts getting good at about 2:15:

My folks will be down in Wichita that weekend to see the performance with Trent.  Anyone else is welcome to come too.  We can have brunch at our house afterward.

Hope to see you all in Emporia on April 7 for some Easter Egg hunting.  Perhaps Jacob, Isaiah, Mya, and Hudson will receive more instructions from the Easter Bunny (The Easter Bunny says "Dance!").

Walk Forward

I recently attended a wonderful concert in Beach Hall on ESU's campus. The Japanese Association Sakura Choir performed there Sunday night. The choir is comprised of Japanese college students. It was formed, as part of ESU's music department, in order to entertain guests at the University's International Food Festival in March of last year. That was the only goal. Then the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan and the students decided to raise money for those afflicted in the homeland by performing for the public.


The performance we enjoyed Sunday night, on the anniversary of the earthquake, was very professional and moving. The music was beautiful. The ability of the performers was amazing. The songs chosen are popular in Japan. They are songs the Japanese people learn as part of their education while growing up. The words of the songs were printed in our program. The students sang them in Japanese. One song, Walk Forward, was also the name of the program. I thought my family would enjoy reading the English translation of that song. I wish my family could have joined me to hear these gifted students perform.

MAE-E
WALK FORWARD
by Kentaro Sato

I remember
Your warm hand.
I remember
Your kind voice.

I remember
Your honest eyes and quiet prayer.

When I close my eyes
I recall the time we spent together,
And the time we sang together

The end of music is not farewell.
As music lives again,
So you will live again and again in my memory.

I remember
A dream you cherished.

I remember
A smile you beamed at tomorrow.

With memories of you in my heart,
One step at a time, I walk forward.
Embracing every day's happiness and sadness,
One step at a time, I walk forward.

One step at a time, I walk forward.

Poem

I found a poem by the poet, Rumi, which is new to me. It is titled Tending Two Shops. I found it in a book called The Essential Rumi. I will not post the entire poem because it is too long. Here are some of my favorite lines:








Tending Two Shops





Don't run around this world


looking for a hole to hide in.





There are wild beasts in every cave!


If you live with mice,


the cat claws will find you.





The only rest comes


when you're alone with God.





I hope these lines brought new insight. These words strengthened and enlightened me. It makes me happy to share them.

The End of 2011

Well the end of another year is fast approaching and it has seen some major changes for members of our family. We saw moves, a new arrival, a new dog, a retirement, a knee replacement and an engagement. In many ways we were a family of movers and shakers; so to speak. So come on Fiddler Kin and share the year in your life on the blog!

John and I started the year with a trip to Hawaii---wooohoooo! I highly recommend Hawaii in the winter. I must say there is nothing quite like sitting on a beach chair in the ocean while talking to your sister back in Kansas and hearing about the snow that is falling. A partly cloudy day in Hawaii still beats a snowy day in Kansas.

The year flew by and as usual John and I led pretty boring lives---eat, sleep and work was our MO for the most part. In May we started the never ending home improvement jobs or as I like to think of it "the feeding of the money pit beast". The first little project was a new and improved toilet for the upstairs guest bath. It is powerful flusher. You don't really appreciate a good toilet until you have one that has to be flushed twice. We also tiled the upstairs bathroom. In October the beast was fed again. We started with the atrium. We finally replaced that leaking all glass roof with a real roof. It only took us 8 years. John and his new worker bee Gary did the work themselves. John added lighting and a ceiling fan. We are replacing the outside doors this week and getting rid of the glass on the north side. Next year we will hopefully be able to replace windows in the atrium. "The Beast's stomach will be growling by then. We also replaced a great deal of the deck. I didn't realize it but our deck is over 600 square feet. We were just going to replace some of the boards, but wouldn't you know it the joints were bad so we had to replace the entire upper deck and the stairs. The lower deck will hopefully be next fall along with the ballisters(sp?). Have to feed the beast next year too. We also made another gate for the lower deck. That board we had nailed up was a bit tacky, but it kept the dogs on the deck. Maybe next year we will finally work on the kitchen, or not. We also installed a new fireplace liner. The wood burning fireplace insert we have downstairs weighs about 600 pounds, so you can imagine the fun John and Gary had removing it and putting it back. Just for fun John dug up two 20 foot redbud trees and transplanted them in the puppy yard to offer shade to the atrium in the summer ----if they survive that is. They did get several inches of rain after the planting so that was a good thing. We still have dozens of projects that will take us into 2012 and beyond. Well I hope 2012 brings good health to all, new jobs to those who seek and an abundance of laughter. Happy New Year Everyone!

Tis the Season

I have not posted for awhile. Hope everyone who reads this is well. Today is sunny and beautiful, although cold. We are grateful for the rain we received yesterday, but we love to see the sun when we get up in the morning.

I was moving pretty slow this morning. Normally, I jump out of bed and get ready for church. I usually go to the 8:00 service, but today I could not make myself get dressed and leave the apartment. Instead, I drank coffee and watched early morning tv. There was a heavy frost on my car windows and I did not feel like scraping them. I ate breakfast, and after awhile I did take a shower and go to church. I guess I am getting old.

Yesterday we unpacked our Christmas decorations and decorated the apartment. We have a wreath on our door. Our nativity scene is lit by a few white Christmas lights. It sits on the file cabinet by the window. That nativity set is about 30 years old. Doug bought it at Sears the day after Christmas for around ten dollars. We lived in Broken Arrow at the time. It has survived several moves with all the figurines intact. We have two snowmen and one Santa Clause standing by the a pot of artificial pointsettas. We also have a Santa sitting on top of our clock. He is preparing to go down a chimney. A bowl of Betty's homemade ornaments sits on top of a bookcase. We look like we are ready for Christmas.

On Friday Doug presented an advent calendar to Beth. He made it for Jacob. Beth and Jacob glued Hershey Kisses in each day slot from the first to the 25th of December. Beth remembers that someone sent a Christmas calendar to her and Tom when we lived in Oklahoma. That person also provided Hershey Kisses for Beth and Tom to enjoy on the days leading up to Christmas Day. This is a special memory which Beth wants to share with her children.

Beth and I went to Walmart to look at toys yesterday. I hoped to see a special doll that would melt my heart. There were a lot of dolls at Walmart, but they were not very appealing. Remember when we were kids and we would pour over the Sears and JC Penney's catalogues just looking at the toys. The dolls then were pretty or cute or both. My favorite doll of all time was the Tiny Tears doll I received one Christmas when I was 8 or 9 years old. I was overjoyed to receive her. That Christmas is one of my favorites.

I just finished reading two books with a Christmas theme. One is the christmas train by David Baldacci. The story is about a man, Tom, who is traveling across the country on a train a few days before Christmas. Tom is writing an article about train travel and wants first hand experience. Tom meets a lot of quircky people and eventually all of them become snowbound on the train. The book is entertaining, unpredictable, and educational. I would like to travel by train someday.

The other book is by Dave Barry, the humorist, who shares his childhood memories of Christmas. They include the yearly Christmas pagaent at church, and the family dog Frank. Frank is a huge friendly dog who is more like a family member than a pet. One Christmas Eve Frank dies. The events that follow are touching, amazing and hilarious. The name of the book is The Shepherd, The Angel, and Walter, The Christmas Miracle Dog. This is an easy book to read and should not take over an hour to finish, if that long.

I have not sent out Christmas cards yet. I have bought greeting cards. So far I have lacked the discipline to actually sign, address and stamp them. It is early days yet, so there is hope.

Speaking of hope, I hope the week ahead is a great one for everybody. I am living a quiet life in Emporia, Kansas. I don't have a lot of news to share, but I am glad I have family to share it with. Take care Fiddler kin.

NY Times article

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/17/us/in-kansas-city-sermons-avoid-mention-of-abuse-scandal.html?_r=2&hp

I find it interesting that while the church members keep their faith in God, they aren't able to vocalize their anger, frustration and distrust in the church and its leaders. Is the reason because they fear god or the church? Or do they feel that if they ignore it then it will either go away or maybe if they ignore it then it doesn't really exist. does the philosophical question, if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there does it make a sound, apply here?

The ending line by the priest "I wish I could make it all go away"----yes I bet he would.

Just thought I would share the NY Times perspective. Just trying to stimulate conversation. Thoughts anyone?

Carmel Corn---Childhood Calling

Fall has arrived. The walnut trees are dropping their yellow leaves and walnuts(go squirrels). The pin oaks are dropping acorns and the deer are making their annual return to our Downing Road backyard and driveway to feast on them. It is an Indian Summer with warm days and cool nights. Halloween is just around the corner. Coyotes are yipping. I guess the sights and smells of early fall triggered a yearning for some good ole fashion carmel corn---the easy stuff that Mom used to make on the stove. So one evening I got out a pan, heated up some olive oil and popped me a big ole bowl of popcorn. Then I cooked some brown sugar, butter, salt(optional) and water in the same pan(after I dumped said popcorn into the bowl of course). I stirred the concoction until it stared to bubble a little and slightly thicken then I drizzled it over my popcorn for a light coating, just enough sweet but not too much as to make the popcorn soggy or to be overwhelming. John came down stairs and grabbed a handful not realizing it was carmel corn(Yuk, said his facial expression) and while he obviously does not really like carmel corn, he did say it was the best he ever had. I guess it was the best carmel corn he ever disliked.

Anyway I ate nearly the whole bowl, probably thousands of calories, but it tasted so good!
So if you ever get a hankering for something on the sweet side and you have some popcorn, brown sugar and butter available there you go.

Mom used to make this once in a while when I was a kid, so I like to think that maybe Mom was sharing that bowl with me----unfortunately probably not the calories.

Alabama Immigration Law

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44793726/ns/us_news-life/

This article is about the new immigration law in Alabama. It is one of the toughest in the country. The overview follows

The law allows police to detain people indefinitely if they are suspected of being in the country illegally and requires schools to check the status of new students when they enroll. Those elements make it perhaps the toughest law in nation.

"The law targets employers by forbidding drivers from stopping along a road to hire temporary workers. It also bars businesses from taking tax deductions for wages paid to illegal workers and makes it a crime for an illegal immigrant to solicit work. A federal judge has temporarily blocked those sections of the law so she can study them more.

Right now the fall out is that " legal americans" are not rushing to take over these back breaking jobs. Farmers are not finding enough field hands to harvest crops. People are not flocking to be roofers or rough in construction workers. It is hard work and does not come with benefits. "

John has found this to be true, even in this economy with so many out of work people it is hard to get someone to want the labor jobs. He recently posted signs at various places looking for a farm hand, being a rural area this wouldn't seem like a big deal, anyway he was paying $12.00 an hour and you would supply your own chain saw as he wanted some trees cleared in the fields that he is having converted to switch grass. It was going to be about 2 weeks worth the work. He did not get one inquiry. He finally did get a young guy who was unemployed, but he was referred to John by someone. We wanted some things done around the house. The big one is putting a roof on the atrium. We had someone come out and give us an estimate and said he would be available in about 2 weeks. He never showed up and never returned John's three phone calls. John is doing the work himself with the help of a young strong guy to help him. This is a physical job, for those of you who remember the atrium the roof was all glass. These panes of glass are 8 or 10 feet long and very heavy. They were able to remove the panes without breaking any. They are now roughing it in. We are lucky, since John has done so much home remodeling from back in his college days and his engineering background he is able to really oversee the work and because he couldn't really find anyone willing to work, help with it. The young guy who is helping is between jobs, likes physical work and is very strong, but he is not able to really "think through a problem" So John has to pretty much be hands on. The point is that even with high unemployment there is a lack of workers to do labor unless it is for $20.00-$40.00 an hour, now you can argue that it is worth that kind of money, probably true, but then you have to be willing to pay for it all the way down the line and down the line is at the grocery store, any tangible items and so forth. May I say that most women have been accepting these kinds of wages and lower for generations, even when the economy is strong. So what do you all think? would you take $12.00 an hour if you were unemployed or if you needed to supplement your regular job or would you find it degrading and not worthy of you? If I could find a 40 hour a week regular job for $12.00 an hour that included health insurance I would be thrilled. I wouldn't have anything left over at the end of the day, but I don't know, so what the heck.

As farmers Rebecca and Tom could not afford to be full time farmers if not for the fact that they did not have to purchase land, as they are using the family farm. The members work a few hours a season and that helps with labor. They have two interns as well. They offer the interns a small salary a week, free housing and all the produce they can eat. They in turn learn about organic farming. They work 10 hours a day in temperatures that range in the upper 30's or 40's in early spring and late fall to 100 degree temperatures in the summer. I would not want to do it and I am grateful there are people who do. They could not afford to pay workers $20.00 an hour to harvest crops and that is true of most small farms. That is part of the problem, so many family farms are being developed for homes and also sold to agrifarms which use pesticides other unhealthy growing systems.

I don't think we have the right to exploit migrant workers or any worker for that matter, but our style of living, as well as our entitlement belief has gotten out of hand.

OK the floor is open for comments.

Church Home

I think I have found the perfect church for me. A few weeks ago at a Saturday afternoon masters swim practice, I was doing a kick set with one of my teammates, and he mentioned his church. Since I was still looking for a church home in Wichita, I asked him about it, and the first thing he said (sort of nervously) was, “Well, we’re kind of progressive.”


My ears perked right up. “Tell me more.”

And so he did. He told me about the new, inspiring pastor at College Hill United Methodist Church. He told me that the church supports a woman’s right to choose.

“What about non-believers?”

“Everyone’s welcome.”

“Good. I don’t want people judging me when Trent doesn’t come to church with me … what about gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people?” I asked.

“Everyone is welcome and valued,” he replied. “My brother was gay, and I can’t abide churches that disparage people based on sexual orientation.”

“Was?” I asked.

“He died of AIDS.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, he was a great guy.”

So after swim practice, I got on the church’s website (http://collegehillumc.org/), and I was thrilled with what I found. Parishioners are encouraged to read Scripture with “patience, openness, humility, knowledge, critical thinking, skepticism at times, and a willingness to wrestle with complexity and contradictions” (College Hill Convenant). Yes! And the church is very focused on social justice and taking action within the community to raise awareness about injustice and take steps to right it.

In a couple of weeks, for example, the church is facilitating a three-day series on human trafficking. Did you know that Wichita is among the top five origination cities in the United States for exploited children? Traffickers come to Wichita, kidnap children, and take them to other cities and states to exploit them, usually sexually. Local experts estimate that 400-500 children and sexually exploited in Wichita each year. That’s horrifying. Now I want to figure out what I can do about it.

So I have been attending College Hill United Methodist Church for about 4-5 weeks now. I’ve joined the choir, and I attend practice on Wednesday nights with them. They are really good too. Most of them have musical backgrounds. Several are music teachers, and several are paid soloists at the church. But even with all this talent, they are extremely welcoming toward me and my non-professional voice. I know they don’t actually need me to sound good (heck, sometimes I’m just lip-synching because I’ve forgotten the notes), but every week every single person in the choir and the choir director welcomes me to practice, welcomes me to church, and thanks me for joining them. And today, I received a compliment on my voice from one of the soloists who teaches music at a local middle school.

“Surely, you must have been listening to someone else,” I replied.

“No, I was right behind you, and you sounded great.”

Totally made my day.

I love this church. I’m home.