I DID IT!!! 30 Posts in 30 Days!!!

I did it. I posted 30 posts in 30 days, and there was only a couple days I wondered what I was going to post...but it all worked out.

It was very enjoyable, and I hope to keep it up this next month in December. My plan is to go "Christmas crazy" in December, since it is one of my favorite times of the year. I hope to post something to do with Christmas each day, with the hope of spreading "Good Tidings of Great Joy".

I Am So Blessed

I have been blessed with such a wonderful family. Some of this family gathered together for the last few days for Thanksgiving, and we have had such a wonderful time sharing meals, playing games, visiting, shopping, and relaxing. We have had lots of laughs as well.


Here is my brother-in-law JEJ and my mom Grandma Mary.

Here is sister Inland Empire Girl bringing in the salmon just off the BBQ for Thanksgiving dinner.

Here is brother Raymond Pert and my wonderful honey PKR.

And here are my beautiful daughters Kiki Aru, The Princess and Z2, cheering before they dig in to their Thanksgiving feast.

8 And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. 9 As the Scriptures say,
“They share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever.”
10 For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.
11 Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God.


2 Corinthians 9:8-11

Don't Bother Me

I'm a little tired today. This says it all!!!

Thanksgiving--Martin Creek Style

Today, my siblings and I are sharing our version of Thanksgiving, since we are all here together...the first time we have been together for Thanksgiving since The Princess was a baby. That is this week's sibling assignment. IEG's will be here, and RP's will be here.

We have gathered together to ask the Lord's blessing here at Inland Empire Girl's home, overlooking beautiful Lake Roosevelt in Eastern Washington.

Yesterday, PKR, The Princess, Z2, Kiki Aru, myself, Grandma Mary, Peaches and Sadie all loaded up in the Envoy and headed to Spokane Airport to pick up Raymond Pert at the airport. Yes, we were a bit crammed into our vehicle. It felt a little bit like "The Beverly Hillbillies"!!! We almost tied "Granny Mary" to the hood of the vehicle in a rocking chair.

We arrived last night at Martin Creek, and were greeted by IEG and JEJ, and IEG had homemade Moose Vegetable Soup ready to share. It was delicious!!!

Today started out pretty laid back.

Kiki Aru sleeping soundly.

Sister Z2 also catching some z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z's.The Princess decided it was too loud in the living room to keep sleeping, so she headed to our room to sleep.Raymond Pert relaxes while reading the morning paper.Sadie and Peaches check out what is going on in the kitchen.

Will this warm cup of coffee help my sinuses feel better?

Okay Mom, put your camera away!!!Z2 is tired of the paparazzi doggin her this Thanksgiving season!! Grandma Mary enjoying the comics this morning.

Oh, the picture taking is just beginning....heh...heh..heh!!!!

Hey, has anyone seen The Princess???
Oh, there she is...imagine that???

Grandma Mary working on the appetizers.


Yum...hot out of the oven!!! Crab and cranberry cups.


IEG going over her detailed list, and giving JEJ last minute instructions. Z2 assembling the Autumn Red Greens salad, with pomegranate vinaigrette dressing and a garnish of fresh goat cheese and julienned beets. It was delicious.

Gosh, it is almost time for dinner....does anyone know where The Princess is???????

Uh Princess.....you better get up. Thanksgiving is almost over!!!

Instead of the traditional Turkey Dinner, IEG decided to have us prepare a Native American Feast instead. It was a delicious meal of the crab and cranberry appetizers,

the Autumn Red Greens Salad

Roasted Vegetables

Hazelnut Butter and Honey Squash

Here is the whole plate full of Barbecued Salmon, Roasted Vegetables, Squash, Cranberry Chutney, and Fry Bread.

Great Idaho History Blog Find

It is amazing to me what I come across while going through Google Images. As I was searching images about The Silver Valley, Kellogg, and Burke, I came across the following blog.

It is called:

Idaho Meanderings: Steunenberg, Trial of the Century, Labor, Legal, Political History

On this blog I am posting writings, mementos & pictures related to Idaho history from the late 1800's to early 1900's. Much of it pertains to the assassination of my great grandfather Governor Steunenberg in 1905, the assassin Harry Orchard, mining and labor, the trial of Bill Haywood in 1907 and the various 100 year historical projects and events that took place in Idaho. Your comments, items of interest & viewpoints are welcomed. John T. Richards Jr. Email to: john.t.richards@sbcglobal.net

I'm looking forward to having the next few days off and reading and exploring this new blog. If you are interested in Idaho and Silver Valley history, it looks like a great find!!

Homonym Fun

Kiki Aru came home asking help on a brain teaser question in her English Class.

KA: Mom, you know what homonyms are, don't you?





Me: Yes, I know what homonyms are. A homonym is one of a group of words that share the same pronunciation but have different meanings, and are usually spelled the same.





KA: Well, I need to find out what "A Golden Society" would be.





Me: Let's see.......Hm-m-m-m-m.............What could it be?....Boy, this is kind of tough......No, you don't have to wait until you dad gets home, I'll get it!!!...Oh, I know....A Gild Guild.

Wait, maybe if we add another part to it, you can get additional extra points...How about this?

A Golden Fish Society

A Gild Gilled Guild!!!

This is a true story. It just happened moments ago here in the living room.

I've Got The Godspell Blues

Coming to the end of a great show that had a great run can be somewhat of a letdown.

That is the case with Godspell.

We had such a wonderful time doing this show. The cast was so wonderful, and we all got along great, and we were like family.

It is strange when you spend almost every night for almost three months with a group of people, and all of a sudden you hardly see them anymore.

But that is the life of community theater.

This was my 10th show I have been involved with at the Sixth Street Theater, and it was one of my favorites. Oh, they have all been pretty great, but this just had a very special feel to the cast. We loved each other. We cared about each other. We did build a community with each other, not only on stage, but backstage as well. (Believe me, this isn't always the case. I have been in some shows where there was more drama going on backstage than there was going on the stage!!!)

It is a true gift to work with a group of talented, caring individuals who are willing to give up their time to put on a great show. And this show had such a wonderful message.

At some point over the weekend, I realized we had the opportunity to share God's Word with close to 800 people over the past three weekends. My prayer is the positive message of these scriptures touched each and every person in the audience, and shed a bit of light on their lives.

I thanked God each day that I was able to put on this show to people in my community.

There is a scripture in Isaiah 55:11 that says:

11So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return to Me void [without producing any effect, useless], but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

I pray as God's Word was shared at each performance, that it somehow touched people in a special way, and also gave them something to think about.

Thank you to Scott H., Scott P., Paul R., Ken B., Bode C., Rose Mary P., Joy P., Kenzie S., Sue F., Susan J., Jenny F., and Shelley H. for making this such a wonderful experience.

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!

Eruption Alert!!!..Will It Be Dad or the Mountain?

It didn't surprise me that IEG have the following assignment, because most of the disasters that happened at our childhood home mysteriously had a common thread...

IEG.

I think she could actually be in the Guiness Book of World's Records for being a part of the most disasters in our home in the last 50 years or so.


Here was this week's sibling assignment:

Finish this sentence." I will never forget the time _______happened at 516 W. Cameron. Remember? It was a huge disaster."

You can read about IEG's coffee disaster here, and RP's TV cable disaster here.


During the spring of 1980, my family was involved in the planning of IEG's first wedding. The reception was going to be in our backyard.




Then May 18, 1980, Mt. St. Helens, a volcano in the southwestern corner of the state of Washington blew volcanic ash all over the Pacific Northwest.



Kellogg was inundated with about a foot of the stuff.



But as summer came, the ash problem was well under control, the cedar deck had been built in the backyard, and plans were moving forward for the big day.



Then, about a week before the wedding, a news report came on one of the Spokane News stations that there was a possiblity Mt. St. Helens was going to blow again.



Panic hit 516 W. Cameron. My Grandma was called in Spokane, and it was decided she and her daughter (our Aunt Ruth) and her husband needed to climb into their motor home and come over early, so they wouldn't be hit with another wave of ash falling.

So Dad headed for the front porch, drink in hand, and did a great imitation of Mount St. Helens about ready to blow.

Grandma, Aunt Ruth and her husband arrived in Kellogg safe and sound.

Mount St. Helens never exploded that summer.

I'm not so sure about Dad.


The wedding Mount St. Helens disaster was averted.


Figures it was IEG's wedding.

Here, There, Everywhere

I was here, there and everywhere today.

I headed out with Kiki Aru this morning to watch her AAU basketball game in Post Falls.

I dropped off KA at the school at 10:30 a.m., thinking they were getting team pictures, but that didn't happen. I headed off to get some money to The Princess so she could go buy a dress that she would be wearing in her friend's wedding next month.

I also treated myself to a visit to Starbucks, purchasing a Twisted Peppermint Mocha and a Cranberry Orange Scone.

Then back to Ponderosa Elementary to watch the basketball game. (They won, 44-20)!!

KA headed off with her team to get pictures taken, then to the Shilo Inn to a birthday party of one of her teammates.

I headed off to Capone's in Coeur d'Alene to have my annual Christmas lunch with my friends from Kellogg High School. We have met every year for 7 years to get caught up, and exchange Christmas gifts. What a blessing these yearly lunches are, and I love these friends dearly.

After lunch, I drove up to Lakeland High School in Rathdrum to get PKR, who had spent the day there at District Drama competition with is drama students. He was very pleased to have three, possibly four of his drama students qualify for State Drama competition.

We got in the car and drove to Wallace, to perform one of our final two Godspell performances. Our final performance is tommorow afternoon.

It was a great performance, even though I almost had a coughing fit and lost my voice at one point in the production. But the show went on, and I survived!!

Now I am home, in bed, and ready to sleep.

To be there and everywhere...

Here, there and everywhere.....

Pam's First Novel..."Little Lost River"

I was reading through my University of Idaho Here We Have Idaho alumni magazine, and flipped to the back to read through the Class Notes section, and found out one of my Tri Delta sorority sister published a book this year.

Her name is Pamela Johnston, and her book is titled Little Lost River. It is a coming of age novel set in Boise, Idaho in the early 1980's.

According to the Class Notes, Pamela grew up in Boise, graduated from the University of Idaho, and has an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and a doctoral degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She currently is an associate professor of English at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, Texas.

I remember having a Literary Analysis class with Pam, and our instructor's name was Mason Tung. He was a wonderful teacher. In fact, that class changed the way I looked at literature, and writing.

Here you can see Pam's book at amazon.com.

I hope to get the book soon, and read it. From the description, it sounds like a very good book.

Kids Serving The Community

My job as Gear Up Site Coordinator consists of working with seventh, eighth and ninth grade students, using early intervention strategies for students and families, to help prepare them for life after high school. One of the things I provide for the ninth graders this year is a service learning opportunity, a way to volunteer in the community and help others. Above is my freshmen crew and I after they earned some service learning time today. What a great group of kids, and they did a great job.

Today I took six freshman from KHS to the Shoshone County Mining and Smelting Museum (more commonly known as the Staff House Museum), and they raked and bagged leaves that covered the museum lawn. Here TC and AS take a break in a pile of leaves.

I am on the board at this museum, and the majority of the board members are retired, and have a hard time doing yard work these days. This is a way for these students to help the museum board members, as well as beautifying the town's only museum. Here CM and JL bag up the leaves they just raked up.Board President Bob Dunsmore helps DH bag up a pile of leaves. The weather couldn't have been better for this project. This morning the wind was blowing really hard, so I was a bit worried. But the weather was perfect for raking leaves, and it didn't start raining until we returned back to KHS.

VN is raking up some leaves near the entrance to the museum. To find out more about this museum, go here. It is closed for the season, but will be opening again in May. It is a wonderful way to learn about the history of Kellogg, and the mines in the area.

David E. Kelley, You Really Make Me Think

In my experience, most of the things you can watch on television are really bad.

That is one of the reasons we don't pay for cable television at our house. It just isn't a good investment of our time or money.

But my mother is good at taping a few shows we do enjoy watching, and we watch them at our leisure throughout the week.

I usually enjoy most of these selected shows, and every once in a while I get to the end of one of these shows, and I say WOW!!

That is what happened the other night when I watched an episode of "Boston Legal". The episode was called "Roe" and was aired on November 10th. The description of the episode says:

Jerry Espenson insists on defending himself in court when he's accused of aggravated assault after a run-in with a bully. Meanwhile, Alan Shore and Shirley Schmidt try to help an underaged pregnant girl obtain a judicial by-pass for an abortion.

The Jerry Espenson storyline was okay. But it was how the show's creator David E. Kelley handled the abortion issue that left me at the end of the episode saying, WOW!!

The writers of this series took this very complicated, complex issue and, in an hour long episode, explored many of the nuances of this issue, and really made me think about what a fraction of some of the issues and feelings are for people in this country.

It was interesting going to the message board at abc.com regarding this episode, and the reaction from some people. It got Pro Life and Pro Choice people upset. Personally, I thought it explored both sides, and really didn't push one thing down your throat, but showed how it can affect people in different ways.

I thought is was very well written, and thought provoking, and I'm glad I was able to watch such a controversial topic handled this way.

Happy Birthday, PKR!!

Happy 49th Birthday, PKR.

Today my sweetie turned 49 years old.

We drove to Coeur d'Alene and picked up The Princess and her boyfriend at NIC and had dinner at Moontime. Check out a great review from Orange TV at Get Out North Idaho.

My mom also joined us for dinner. So PKR and I enjoyed a wonderful meal with mom, The Princess and Boyfriend, Z2 and Kiki Aru.

I enjoyed one of the specials, Chicken Pot Pie, with a Spinach and Pear salad.

Mom enjoyed a steak sandwich.

PKR and Z2 enjoyed the Shrimp and Roasted Tomato Linguine. PKR also enjoyed a cup of gumbo.

Kiki Aru also got a special, the Italian Tortellini.

The Princess had Raviolli, and Boyfriend had the famous Moon Burger.

It was fun being all together, and enjoying a wonderful meal.

One of life's simple pleasures.

War Stories

Because this week's we observed Veteran's Day, and we would be honoring our veterans who had fought for our country, I posed this assignment to my siblings this week:

As our thoughts are centered on the men who fought for and defended our country this week, write a post with the focus on War.

I have no first hand experience of any kind of war.

The way I have experienced any kind of war is through stories.

And these stories have been told to me through a variety of ways, including books, movies, television shows, news accounts, and conversations with veterans.

Probably my first exposure to war was the television show, "Hogans Heroes", a half hour comedy show about some POW's in a German camp in World War II. I remember laughing with my dad as reruns came on after I got home from school. What an interesting concept for a tv show, showing how crafty the POW's were, and how utterly incompetant the German's at the camp were. Here is a little taste of "Hogan's Heroes".



My next exposure was probably M*A*S*H*, another tv show about a medical unit in the Korean War. The thing I loved about this show, is how it could be both funny and serious and take you through a range of emotions in one episode. This show ran for 11 seasons, and I grew up with Hawkeye, Trapper John, B.J., Radar, Klinger, Father Mulcahy, Charles, Colonel Blake, Colonel Potter, Frank Burns, Hotlips and others who drifted in and out of Korea during those years. I know this show had an impact on my view of war today.

I was in college when the last episode, "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" aired, and the "smoker" as our TV room at the TriDelt house was referred to, was packed full of girls that evening to watch the final episode. There wasn't a dry eye in the room as we said goodbye to this show. I can still watch that episode, and tear up. Here are a few highlights on this video. This even made me cry!!

Too Tired.....

It has been a busy weekend.

With four performances of "Godspell" under my belt, I can't do much more than sit in bed and nod off to sleep.

I'm suppose to have a sibling assignment done today, but it isn't going to happen.

My head is in a fog, my throat hurts, and I need some sleep.

So, I'll get back to my sibling assignment tomorrow.

For tonight, here is a little video for all you combination Star Trek/Holy Grail fans. Enjoy.

Z2 Photo Images of Godspell

The Sheep
The Pharisees

The Last Supper

The Goats

The Betrayal

The Rich Man in Hades Being Tormented

The Tax Gatherer

Some Seed Fell Among The Rock

O Bless The Lord My Soul

Lazarus

Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemene

Bring Your Gift To The Altar