They describe themselves as the magazine on faith, culture and intentional living.
I follow this magazine on Facebook and Twitter.
I don't think I have ever read an article I didn't enjoy reading.
I have also heard some great new artists in "The Drop".
This month one of the articles is about a Pastor in Seattle named Judah Smith who I remember seeing at a Youth Conference Paul, Molly and I attended in Portland about 10 years ago. If you want to read that article you can go here.
I just kind of wanted to give a "shout out" to this magazine, because I really enjoy it.
Click on the link above, and see if you like it as well.
When we lost our dog Peaches last fall, eventually the conversation turned to wondering what kind of dog we would like to get next.
My choice is a Pug.
When I revealed my choice, I had mixed reviews. It seems like people either love them, or not too fond of them.
I often get asked "Why a Pug?"
I have Frank to blame.
Frank, the pug from the Men in Black movies. For some reason, this character made me want to have a Pug.
If you aren't familiar with Frank, or would like to see him again....watch this video.
As I have thought about getting another dog, I realize that I have never had a dog to call my own. Peaches was really Paul's dog. Sadie, one of our Pomeranians is Molly's dog, and Juliet, our other Pom is Zoe's dog....even though I feed them, give them water, and make sure they are happy and healthy. They are not "my dogs".
I want a dog that is "my dog". And I think this adorable Pug is just the breed to call my own.
I found a video on Pugs that tell all about them. Basically, if I keep their wrinkles clean and don't choke them so their eyes pop out, I'm good to go!!
It is funny. It is as if a campaign has started on my Facebook account. Friends now let me know if there is a Pug out there in need of adoption.
If I do get one this year, it won't be until closer to summer, so I have more time to train it.
And I probably will be looking for a female, not a male dog like Frank.
And I bet this Pug will win over all you Pug naysayers!!
Tonight I was a little chilled, so I asked Paul if he could make a fire in the fireplace.
What a special treat that is.....to sit by the fire.
We are fortunate to have two fireplaces in our home. One is in the basement. It doesn't get used too much. But the one on the main floor has been used quite a bit this winter.
There is just something about relaxing and getting warmed by a wood fire.
This evening Cozomo joined me for a while as I ate my hummus and pita bread. Having a cat snuggle with you while sitting by the fire is an added bonus!!
I closed my eyes and listened to the fire. Crack...pop....sizzle.
I felt the warmth as it took away the chill in my body.
I smelled the faint aroma of smoke.
The room was filled with a golden glow as the fire burned.
Back Row: Claudette Gilmore, Loren Knoll, Tom Fike, Mike Callahan, Scott Rumpel, Bob Hickey, Don Teller, Roy Lamb, Todd Goodson, Mickey Reasoner, Eric Benson, LaDonna Lamb.
Front Row: Tina Curry, Carol Woolum, Brenda Edwards, Brenda Groves, Pam Margason, Shelly Vergobbi, Paula Haux, Karla Wirta, Mary Ann Eggart, Cathy Hamblin.
This is a photograph from my kindergarten class. I went to kindergarten at the old Kellogg Junior High School building in the school year 1968-1969. It was the only year my brother, sister and I were all in the same school building at the same time, because my brother was in 9th grade, my sister was in 8th grader, and I spent half a day, in the morning, at this school for kindergarten. This school was located where Main Street and Division Street come together in uptown Kellogg.
Our teacher was Mrs. Dorothy Clark. Mrs. Clark is still a friend of my mom's and they occasionally get together for lunch.
I think because when I turned five, I experienced so many different things, is why I remember so much from my kindergarten year.
Here are a few examples:
I remember having red snow boots with black fur trim.
I remember standing in line to get a drink, and BE and BG being mean to me.
I remember going outside to catch snow flakes on a black piece of paper.
I remember doing a program at the end of the year based on the different holidays. I think I had to memorize something about a toy at Christmas. Yes, it was a poem about a top.
I don't remember being able to read in kindergarten, but I have been told I could read, but would refuse to read out loud to others. But Mrs. Clark knew I could read because she would give papers to me to hand out, and I could read the student's names.
I remember going to Tina Curry's house each morning, because her mom babysat me that year. We would carpool to kindergarten with Roy and LaDonna Lamb, who were twins, and live close to Tina on Caledonia Street in Kellogg.
Tina just shared one of her kindergarten memories. She said everyone hated us because we had pixie haircuts. I don't have that particular memory about kindergarten. I'm not saying it didn't happen...I'm just saying I don't remember that happening.
When I was five, it was the one year I took dance lessons from Betty Damiano. I remember learning a dance to "Here Comes Suzy Snowflake". In the spring, the big end of the year dance recital had a Noah's Ark theme. My dance class were "Love Bugs" and "Fireflies". When we did our dance as Love Bugs, we sang the song "Give Me A Little Kiss". (I can still sing that song word for word.)
The great thing about living in a small town because later my daughter Molly took dance and voice lessons from Betty Damiano's daughter Joni Bartel. One time I went to Molly's rehearsal and Miss Betty was there playing the piano for the rehearsal. Once she realized who I was, she remembered that I had taken dance when I was five, and she could list off every students who had been in the class. She is an amazing woman!!
As I look at the photograph of my kindergarten class, I am amazed at how many of the people I have fairly regular contact. And most of the people in the photograph still have family living here in the Kellogg area, even though they have moved away.
Of the 22 children in this photograph, 15 of us graduated the same year (1981) from Kellogg High School.
Two of these children have died, Cathy Hamblin and Mary Ann Eggart.
Tina Curry and Brenda Edwards are part of a group of friends that get together each Christmas for a gathering. But I usually see them more than once a year.
Four of us in the photograph live in the Kellogg area. Quite a few more would be added to that list if we included the Coeur d'Alene/Spokane area.
There are only three people in this photograph that I have had no contact with since I think grade school.
I like the fact that I can look at this picture, and 45 years later I could name all 22 people in the photograph except one. And that one, I knew the first name, and was close on the second. I just had to get the last name verified.
My daughter Coco has a bit of similar experience with a group of students she attended pre-school with when she was four years old. There is a large majority of students in her preschool class that will graduate with her this year from Kellogg High School.
I like that continuity. I like that there are families here in Kellogg that stick around.
I have been told I have a very noticeable laugh. Often it happens when I am in the grocery store. I will be visiting with someone, and laughing with them, and I run into someone a few minutes later who says, "Oh yes, I knew you were here. I could hear your laugh across the store."
I have also been told I have a very infectious laugh, that people appreciate it. (Thanks Angie Colburn!!) That always makes me feel good.
Often I am surprised by comments by people who are around me for a while, and say things like, oh, it is so nice to hear someone laugh....I don't hear people laugh that often.
Really?
I find that a bit sad. I am very fortunate. I have a life filled with laughter. Our family laughs a lot. And it isn't mean laughter at other people's expense. It is laughter coming from enjoying one another's company, and the enjoyment of each other's humor.
Some of the best laughs I have are with my friends I have know almost my whole life. When I am with these people, we can say one word, and it can bring us to tears because we are laughing so hard, remembering some funny moment from our childhood.
Oh, I imagine there are some people who are annoyed by my laughter. Oh well, I think more people like it than don't.
This post makes me think of the song, "I Love To Laugh" from the movie "Mary Poppins". I was reminded of this song when I recently went and saw the movie "Saving Mr. Banks".
Now watch this video, and see if you can keep a straight face!!
In fact tonight, I'm looking up on the TV cabinet where three houseplants sit, an asparagus fern, a Christmas cactus and a coleus.
The fern and the cactus don't look too bad.
The coleus is wilting. So I grabbed my water bottle and gave it a dose of water.
Some of my plants are located in places where they get more water, because they are easier to get to since they are close to the kitchen....an easy source of water.
But others I just forget to water.
Now, when summer comes, my houseplants are moved out onto the patio, and they thrive!! They get watered almost every day, and love being outdoors.
Then I have to bring them back inside once the weather starts getting cold.
It is almost as if I hear them sigh as they are moved indoors.
I don't mean to neglect them.
I don't mean to dehydrate them.
But it happens.
Hey houseplants, only four more months until June, then you'll get to go outside.
I never was really too fond of them, but a few incidents while living in Glendive, Montana sealed the deal that bats creep me out.
The summer Paul and I were married, I left Glendive at the beginning of July. I was living in an apartment that was the top floor of a former house. Above my apartment was an attic where our landlords stored items. Paul and I were married on July 19th of that summer, then we returned at the end of the month.
At that time, the drive from Kellogg to Glendive was about 12 hours. And it was a pretty long, and rather hot drive all the way across the state of Montana. So when we arrived at the apartment, we were rather tired. We had some boxes that we brought with us, and we brought them in the put them on the bottom landing. We headed down and got some food at a local fast food restaurant. When we arrived back to the apartment, we saw a dried up bat on the floor of the landing. We thought maybe it had been on one of the boxes we had brought in, so thought nothing of it.
We ate, and then got ready for bed. All the lights were off in the apartment except the lights in our bedroom. As we laid in bed, all of a sudden we saw a winged creature fly down the dark hallway outside of the bedroom.
A bat!!
Well, Paul found out right away that, as the husband, it was his job to take care of the bat. He donned his big cowboy hat and a flip flop, and went after the creature. He determined it was in the other bedroom, in the folds of the curtain.
At this point, we decided to call our landlords, who happened to be our next door neighbors. The wife was home, and seemed to think there wasn't a whole lot she could do to help. Fortunately, when her husband arrived home, she sent him over. Jim brought a bucket, and Paul and Jim eventually got the bat outside by trapping it in the bucket.
Jim confessed that while we were gone in July, he had been up in the attic and heard some bats in the eaves, and filled the eaves with mothballs. This drove the bats out of the attic and into our apartment.
Before we went to bed for the second time, Paul decided to check under our bed. Sure enough, he found a dead bat.
In the next few weeks, I think we found about 7 or 8 dead bats in our apartment.
Another time, I think it was the following summer, we were sleeping in the living room, because it was really hot in the apartment, and the air conditioner was in the apartment. I got up and was heading to work. When I reached the bottom landing, a small bloody bat started flying toward me, or rather veering, because I believe it was injured. One of our cats could have caught it at some point. I let out a blood curdling scream, and down came Paul to the rescue once again. This time he got his own bucket and newspaper, and let the bat outside.
Later, while still living in Glendive, we moved into a rental house, a bat visited us there, too. Again, it was flying in circles around our bed. There had been a warning about rabid bats in the area, so we decided we needed to call the police. A police officer showed up, and said if you sprayed pepper spray on the bat's wings, it would break down the membranes on the wings. Well, that didn't work all that well. But eventually the bat left the house.
So, needless to say, to this day, bats are not my favorite of God's creatures.
(I chose this photograph to add to my post today because it has a Pug in it.)
I like to rearrange the furniture in the living room.*
I like to rearrange my bedroom.
I recently moved two living spaces in our house. The dining room became the T.V. room, and the area where the T.V. was, became the dining area.
Why do I like to rearrange?
I like change in my house.
Also, it helps to clean a room when you move the furniture around and move it to another place.
I like looking at things from different angles.
I like my house to look different.
I recently rearranged the living room.
Soon, my bedroom will have a new look. And will get a really good cleaning.
Too bad you can't rearrange appliances in the kitchen.
They kind of have to stay where they are in that part of the house.
But the rest of the house is fair game!!
*Apparently "Rearrange the furniture" has some hidden meanings I was not aware and this blog post in no way represents anything other than what it seems.....I am really talking about furniture here people!!
The other day I was visiting with a co-worker in the faculty lounge at school. She had decided to read the Bible this year, and was struggling through the book of Leviticus.
This lead to some other discussions about our faith, and she asked me an interesting question.
"Carol, do you ever think you won't make it to Heaven....that you won't good enough?"
It didn't take me long to answer, because I don't think getting to Heaven is about if I'm good enough or not, so I said, "No, I don't think about that. There is a Heaven, and I will be going there."
Then we talked about Heaven and Hell, and what they might be like.
But I don't think anyone can imagine with their earthly mind what Heaven is going to be like.
But God does give us a clue. It is found in the Book of Revelation, Chapter 4.
I think it is one of the most beautiful passages of scripture. And this is what I hope Heaven is like. I hope that all we are doing is what the four living creatures are doing in verse 8. If all I do for Eternity is worship God by saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." That sounds good to me.
The visual picture I get from this chapter in Revelation, to me, is absolutely breathtaking. Occasionally I feel like I get a small glimpse of this while worshipping in church.
Revelation 4
The Throne of Heaven
4After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads.5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits[a] of God.6 Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back.7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle.8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever,10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”
I have sung as part of the Worship Team at various churches we have attended, and when we sing the song called "Revelation Song", and we get to the part where they sing, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty, Who was, and is, and is to come," I get a glimpse of Heaven.
Here is that song if you have never heard it before, and want to possibly experience a little taste of Heaven.
Last night I gathered with some of my lifelong friends, and we were sharing about what we feel makes us sophisticated or successful.
A few people talked about how they wanted to be well informed and know what was going on in the world in regards to current events and "the news". One friend in particular felt like she should read or watch the news more and be aware more of what is going on in the world.
This lead to a discussion about "the news", and how we wonder how much actual true accounts of current events we receive while watching televised broadcast news.
What is the best way, as a consumer of current events, to find out what is going on, and if what is being reported is the best way to receive this information?
Often now what we get is, what I feel, is a type of news media entertainment. Because of our need for instant everything, we wants to know what is happening fast, even if it is not completely true.
When I was studying journalism in college, we took a class on Media Ethics. We were taught things like making sure the sources were true, making sure you didn't slant the information, and getting facts from all sides of a situation. This was good reporting.
I'm not sure we see that as much anymore, especially in the nightly television news or the constant 24 hour news cycle.
I received the first season of a television show called "The Newsroom". The show is set in a CNN-like television studio where they produce the nightly news. And in the first season, they want to make the news and journalism something great again. Here is an exchange between two of the main characters. Will McAvoy, who is the anchor, and his producer Mackenzie McHale.
Will: What does winning look like to you? Mac: Reclaiming the fourth estate. Reclaiming journalism as an honorable profession. A nightly newscast that informs a debate worthy of a great nation. Civility, respect, and a return to what’s important; the death of bitchiness; the death of gossip and voyeurism; speaking truth to stupid. No demographic sweet spot; a place where we all come together.— Will McAvoy & MacKenzie McHale,Episode 101 We Just Decided To Is this a pipedream? Is this unreachable in our current culture? As we were discussing the ability to get news last night, one of my friends suggested that the only way to receive a true representation of what is happening in the United States is to read and listen to the BBC, the British Broadcasting Corporation, because they don't have a certain political bent, they don't look at the news with a conservative or a liberal view. I have had several friends in the past suggest this to me, to be informed better by reading and listening to the BBC.
And maybe this is part of being a media consumer. It is like eating the right food. We need to look at the labels and analyze the information, and then choose what is the right things to consume to keep us healthy. To make us a healthy news media consumer we need to do the same thing.
Maybe because we didn't travel much as I was growing up.
When I was in fifth grade, I accompanied Mom to a meeting she had in Boise, and got to visit the State Capital Building, and the Idaho History Museum. I also got to spend some time with my cousins who lived in Boise. I still remember visiting my cousin Angie's school, and going to see "Where The Red Fern Grows" in the movie theater with her class from school.
Once I got to high school, it was fun traveling to basketball tournaments and drama and speech competitions. I was also in Rainbow Girls, and we would travel to Grand Assembly in the summer, which would be at various places around the state of Washington.
One big family trip we took while I was in high school was to Seattle. Dad and some of his friends got tickets to see the All Star Baseball Game that summer. This was the first time I got to really be a tourist in a big city. It was a fabulous experience!!
While in college, I got to live in California during the summer of 1984. I loved living and working in Southern California, and visiting many of the sights of the Los Angeles area. We also got to attend the Summer Olympics being held in Los Angeles that summer.
I still enjoy traveling to different places. Seattle is still a fun destination. I also enjoy visiting Portland, Oregon. Our family took a trip to Southern California during the summer of 2006, and enjoyed many of the highlights the LA area has to offer.
I have been to Washington D.C. three times.
I have been to New York City twice.
I visited Houston, Texas on February for a conference. Was not a big fan of this city.
I've been all over the state of Montana, seen a lot of North Dakota, and visited the Black Hills of South Dakota, and Mount Rushmore.
I have been to the Minneapolis/St. Paul area in Minnesota. I have driven through Salt Lake City, but never actually stopped.
We stopped in Las Vegas on our way to Southern California. Vegas is not my kind of town.
Paul and I visited the Denver, Colorado area last November. It wasn't what I expected. The Mile High City was much more desert-like than I anticipated.
So I have had the pleasure of visiting quite a few places in this great country of ours, as well as a few places in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada.
So what is on my list of places I would like to visit in the future?
1. Chicago
2. San Francisco
3. Pineville, Kentucky and the area where my Woolum/Wilson roots come from.
4. Harrison, Arkansas where Paul's Roberts' family roots come from.
5. Boston, Mass.
Outside the United States, I would like to visit:
1. England, and look for my Walker family roots.
2. Jerusalem. I want to visit the Holy Land, as well as go on a mission trip to Jerusalem.
3. Scotland, Ireland, Wales
4. France
5. Spain
These are the top ten I'm looking at to visit in the near future.
I love to travel and experience new cultures and places.
My favorite time of the day is early in the morning, when everyone is still sleeping, and I get to sit and be in the quiet of the morning.
The world is hushed at that time of day. Not a whole lot moves outside or inside the house.
It is a good time to think.
It is a good time to pray.
It is a good time to read the Bible.
It is a good time to write in my journal.
It is a good time to think about the day ahead.
In the summers, I enjoy it when the window is open, and often you hear birds chirping early in the morning.
In the winter, if it is snowy, like it is today, the snow tends to make outside even more "hushed", because the snow muffles the sounds.
If I don't get my time of quiet in the morning, I feel rushed. I feel a bit unsettled. That time in the morning seems to start my day off on a good note.
It was always interesting growing up in Kellogg, and looking at a ski hill out the front window of our house, but not being a skier.
I would travel around the state, and Kellogg was known for the skiing. I would always get asked if I skied, and people were often surprised to hear me say "no". I always told them my parents thought I would break something. (I'm not sure if that was true or not. It probably had more to do with the cost of skiing than the injury factor. I guess I need to ask Mom about this.)
There were a couple times when I was about 9-years-old when a family friend took me to both area ski hills. At the time, the Kellogg Ski Area was called Jackass Ski Bowl. There was also a ski area outside of Mullan, called Lookout. I got a shot at both hills. I remember being really scared of skiing at Jackass. (And I never really got any lessons. I put on some boots and skis, had some poles, and was told to go ski.) What I remember about Jackass is skiing down the hill by the lodge, and thinking I would go over the edge if I didn't stop. Lookout Ski Area I think was a little more beginner friendly. I think I spent most of the day on the "bunny hill" and the tow rope.
My next exposure to skiing wasn't me skiing, just watching others. A friend and I rode the free ski bus on a Saturday up to Lookout to watch the skiers ski. I'm not sure it was all that fun for me. I think I was in junior high when this happened.
Fast forward to my senior year in high school. For some reason the KHS band members sold an incredible amount of something for a fund-raiser and had enough extra money to pay for band members to do night skiing at Lookout. All I remember about that outing was it was really icy and the skiing was not that fun.
So, since I had all these rather negative experiences with downhill skiing, it is rather amazing that I decided to do some downhill skiing after we moved back to Kellogg, returning to the hill that I had gazed at out our living room window growing up. Yes, I was returning to Jackass Ski Bowl, but it was now known as Silver Mountain Resort.
But once I took a few lessons, I could actually make my way down the hill, and I enjoyed it. Back when Molly was in elementary school, Silver Mountain used to have a ski day for elementary age kids. So I went up to chaperone, and survived and enjoyed it. Throughout the years I skied off and on, and one year all of us in the family got a season pass to Silver Mountain.
Part of the reason I enjoyed skiing more as an adult was learning to cross country ski. That made downhill skiing not quite as frightening.
I'm not sure I'll ever go downhill skiing again. I think activity has come and gone.
But I think I will go back to cross country skiing.
Well....maybe I will, once the girls are gone and Paul and I will have some time to actually do it.
(Yes, Molly, Zoe and Coco....that comment was for you. Ha! Ha!)
I like to write a variety of things, and have tried my hand at poetry here and there.
This is one of the last poems I wrote, and I really like how it turned out.
The inspiration was a photograph of some windows. I thought it was the windows on the garages near where we used to live on McKinley Avenue, next door to the old Bunker Hill office building. I imagined these windows were "eyes", and this is what I imagined these eyes saw as they gazed upon my hometown.
Keeping My Eyes on Kellogg By Carol Woolum Roberts
Hard hat, silver lunch pail, Thermos.
Booted feet shuffling by on the way to the dry.
Cigarette snuffed out on the pavement.
Raised hands in greeting.
Keeping my eyes on Kellogg.
Brown hills, scrubby brush, rust-colored soil.
Smoky haze lingering on top of mountain peak.
Hills aglow with fiery lava.
New formations created each night.
Keeping my eyes on Kellogg.
Lead, arsenic, cadmium.
Milky white creek runs through center of town.
No one dares explore the banks.
Full of poisons from years gone by.
Keeping my eyes on Kellogg.
Neon signs, swinging doors, music blaring.
No parking places uptown on a Friday night.
Payday and everyone’s pockets are full.
Raising glasses and swinging fists.
Keeping my eyes on Kellogg.
For as long as I can remember, 5 has been my favorite number.
I don't remember choosing this number, but I don't remember not ever having five as my favorite number.
My friend April always had a favorite number, too. Hers is 7.
We grew up together having favorite numbers.
I think I like the number 5, because I like the way it looks.
Also, 5 was always easy to multiply.
It was also easy to remember.
I actually found a website online where you can submit what your favorite number is, and why you like that number. It is here: http://www.favouritenumber.net/
I'm not much into numerology, but I found it interesting to see what the number 5 means:
I am into believing what the Bible says, so I had to look up to see if there were anything significant about the number 5 in the Bible.
Here are a few things I found:
The number five represents God's grace seen throughout the structure of the tabernacle in the wilderness.
The pillars were five cubits apart and five cubits high.
The brazen altar was five cubits by five cubits.
There were five pillars at the end of the Holy Place.
The sides of the tabernacle were reinforced by five bars on each side (Exodus 26:26-27).
The inner covering of the tabernacle was composed of five curtains which were attached to five other curtains for a total of ten curtains (Exodus 26:3). Notice the double five pattern.
There were five original priests: Aaron and his four sons (Exodus 28:1)
Five is a number of preparation as the followings:
First five books of the Bible prepare you for Israel's story throughout the rest of the Bible.
The five wise virgins were prepared.
David, in preparing for Goliath, took up five smooth stones.
To prepare and perfect the saints for ministry, some are called to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors or teachers (Ephesians 4:11-12). Through these five outlets goes forth the gospel of Jesus Christ. Surely, you are prepared to fit into one of these five because of God's grace.
I don't know how many of us have favorite numbers, and how many don't. Because I never remember not having a favorite number, I find it odd to find out there are people who don't have a favorite number.
Anyone out there want to share with me what their favorite number is, and a reason why it is your favorite number? You can also share that information at http://www.favouritenumber.net/
"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow. It's what sunflowers do." by Helen Keller
How can you be anything but happy when looking at Sunflowers?
This is a field of sunflowers outside of Spokane, Washington that I travel past on my way to visit my sister. Last summer I stopped and took some photographs of this field and some sunflowers up close.
For some reason I have been unable to grow these happy flowers in my yard since I have moved in the house I live in now. So this is the summer I hope to get some of these flowers growing somewhere in my yard.
I remember when I was younger and Mom grew some big sunflowers in the backyard. I took the seeds from the flower and roasted my own sunflower seeds to eat.
Mary Oliver does a good job of capturing a field of sunflowers in the following poem.
The Sunflowers
By Mary Oliver
Come with me into the field of sunflowers Their faces are burnished disks, their dry spines
creak like ship masts their green leaves, so heavy and many, fill all day with the sticky
sugars of the sun. Come with me to visit the sunflowers, they are shy but want to be friends; they have wonderful stories of when they were young — the important weather,
the wandering crows. Don’t be afraid to ask them questions! Their bright faces,
which follow the sun, will listen, and all those rows of seeds — each one a new life! — hope for a deeper acquaintance; each of them, though it stands in a crowd of many, like a separate universe,
is lonely, the long work of turning their lives into a celebration is not easy. Come
and let us talk with those modest faces, the simple garments of leaves, the coarse roots of the earth so uprightly burning.
Around the time I visited New York City for the first time in the first part of 2012, I noticed my niece Adrienne was following a photographer on Facebook called Humans of New York.
Once I discovered this photographer, I started following his work, too.
This is how he describes his work on his website here.
My name is Brandon and I began Humans of New York in the summer of 2010. HONY resulted from an idea that I had to construct a photographic census of New York City. I thought it would be really cool to create an exhaustive catalogue of the city’s inhabitants, so I set out to photograph 10,000 New Yorkers and plot their photos on a map. I worked for several months with this goal in mind. But somewhere along the way, HONY began to take on a much different character. I started collecting quotes and short stories from the people I met, and began including these snippets alongside the photographs. Taken together, these portraits and captions became the subject of a vibrant blog, which over the past two years has gained a large daily following. With nearly one million collective followers on Facebook and Tumblr, HONY now provides a worldwide audience with glimpses into the lives of strangers in New York City.
Since 2010, Stanton has created his own community of followers on Facebook, his blog and Tumblr.
Once he had a variety of his photographs for sale that you could purchase, that would be one of a kind photographs. I purchased two of these and they now hang on my living room wall.
In 2012 Hurricane Sandy struck New York City. Stanton teamed up with Tumblr to raise money for Hurricane Sandy relief. They used the website Indigogo. Depending on the amount of money you donated, you received a certain item. I received another HONY photo through this fund-raising endeavor.
The HONY community continued to grow, and before you know it, Stanton was getting a book published. I was fortunate enough to receive a copy of the book from my brother Bill for my 50th birthday.
If you enjoy and have fallen in love with New York City as I and millions of others have, following HONY either on Facebook or Tumblr or the website is a great way to get a daily fix of the sites, people and stories of New York City.
One of my only regrets from our trip to NYC last summer was that we didn't run into Brandon Stanton and have him take our photo and tell our story. That would have been a pretty awesome addition to my 50th birthday celebration.
Well, I guess I'll have to let him know next time we show up!!
Tonight Paul made the comment that he would be reading and correcting essays tonight that his students wrote as part of their semester tests in his class.
It got me thinking about essay writing in high school and college, and the teacher I had in English 104 in college at the University of Idaho who made essay writing something relevant for me.
I'm not sure I really learned to write an essay in high school. I remember taking a "Basic Composition" class, and an "Advanced Composition" class. I believe these where the classes that were suppose to teach us to write an essay.
Then I got to college, and my first semester I took English 103. Again, a class to teach that illusive form of writing, the essay. In fact, I'm not sure we got past the introductory paragraph and the first two or three paragraphs in English 103.
Then second semester of my English 104 class we learned to write a whole essay. But something even greater happened to me in that class. The instructor gave the essay form of writing relevance.
He did this by using a Rolling Stone magazine.
He brought a current copy of this magazine, and showed us an article someone wrote. Well, it wasn't really an article....it was an ESSAY.
What? People write essays for the fun of it? People write essays outside the realm of a high school or college English class?
I'm not sure anyone had ever explained to me that an essay was an actual form of writing, like a novel or a short story.
Until I saw this piece in Rolling Stone magazine.
And Rolling Stone continues to publish essays. For example, here is an essay Laurie Anderson recently wrote, as she reflects on her 21-year relationship with Lou Reed and his final moments.
If you look up the definition for essay, it says: A short literary composition on a single subject, usually presenting the personal view of the author.
Somehow this meaning got lost in translation as a high school student. To me, an essay was an introductory paragraph with a topic sentence, a body with three paragraphs explaining the topic sentence, and a conclusion. It was a writing exercise, not a literary composition.
I have actually read and enjoyed books of essays. A couple of my favorites are Kim Stafford's "Having Everything Right: Essays of Place", and Barbara Kingsolver's "High Tide in Tucson: Essays from Now or Never."
Here is a description of Stafford's book:
A collection of essays first published to critical acclaim in 1986, Having Everything Right revolves around the history, folklore, and physical beauty of the Pacific Northwest. Kim Stafford writes poetic and evocative prose as he reflects on such subjects as Indian place names, bears, and local eccentrics. An essay titled "Pine, Fir, Cedar, Yew," begins with Stafford describing his workbench, which he fashioned from scavenged boards, and slowly turns into a beautifully rendered meditation on wood. "Any table of virgin fir, any maple chair, any oak floor is a bundle of stories," Stafford writes, artfully pointing out what most of us would never take time to notice.
And remark's on High Tide in Tuscon:
Novelist Kingsolver (Pigs in Heaven) is not one to let her miscellany stagnate; she has revised or expanded many of the 25 essays included here, most of which have previously been published, and yes, there are thematic links in her view of family, writing, politics and places. The strongest link is Kingsolver's wise and spirited voice, animated by poetic and precise language.
I wish I knew that Teaching Assistant's name who taught English 104 back in the spring of 1982 at the University of Idaho, so I could write him a letter and thank him for showing me how essay writing can be a very beautiful and meaningful thing to read and write.
Hello, my name is Carol, and I suffer from Trichotillomania.
You know people often say they are so mad or stressed they "want to pull their hair out".
Well, I don't have to be stressed or mad. I just pull my hair out.
But it isn't all the time. Just when my hair reaches a certain length.
Once it reaches this "magic" length, I start playing with it, and pull it out. Usually it is just a strand at a time. But after you do it a while, it can have consequences.
Once I get my hair cut short again, I stop. If my hair doesn't reach that "magic" length, I don't pull out my hair.
The term for this is Trichotillomania.
I think I first noticed doing this back in college. I think it started when I stayed up for three or four days in a row to get a project done for a Public Relations group project I was working on.
After college, it would come and go, but there are times when I would really have quite a bare patch on the crown of my head. Ask my hairdresser. She'll tell you. I think she is very relieved that I get my hair cut in time now, and don't wait until the bare patch returns.
It really drives some of my family members crazy when I start playing with my hair.
But I've learned to manage it. I am fortunate. All I have to do is get my hair cut, and it goes away.
That is why my hair never gets very long anymore.
I have to keep it short to keep the hair pulling at bay.
