Gathering Graces 2/9/2018

*What a fun day of being out and about, visiting people, and having a great time.

*The morning started off at The Bean having coffee with Christy and enjoying catching up on the things of the world.  I now have my “usual” at The Bean...the London Fog.  And I want to thank whatever Facebook friend of mine went in and ordered one after I posted about it last week.  I hope you enjoyed your London Fog as much as I do.  It was also fun visiting with April Muhs (also known as April #3 in my life), who talked to us about participating in the Radio Brewery trivia night on Wednesdays, and how their team needs someone who knows about Pop Culture.

*After coffee I stopped at Yokes for a few things, and headed home to make a bowl of Coleslaw to take to my book group today.  I had a lovely surprise when my friend Kellee stopped by the house with her friends Lea and Diane, and I got to meet them and visit for a few minutes.  They were so fun, and it almost made me want to jump in the car with them and join them for their annual girl’s weekend in Montana.

*The Huckleberry Book Club all gathered in Pinehurst to discuss Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate.  We all agreed it was a fascinating, yet somewhat horrific story of children being taken from their parents in Tennessee and sold to wealth families.  Nancy prepared a delicious crab casserole, and we also had sweet potato salad, coleslaw, muffins, French bread, raspberry cobbler and lemon bars. 

*I got home and rested for a bit.  Christy said if she tackled her basement her reward would be dinner out tonight, and she invited Paul, Bill and I to join her and Everett at The Hilltop for dinner.

*Before dinner, Paul and I stopped over at the Fairbridge Inn to watch our friend and former student  Brandon Church in action as he trained a former student, Jenna Garland, to be a front desk worker.  Brandon got a new job as a dispatcher for Mineral County in Montana, and will be moving to Superior next week.  It was fun watching them both work, and visiting with them briefly before we headed to dinner.

*We left the hotel and swung by and picked up Christy and Everett.  Bill chose to drive himself.  We headed out to Kingston, and out to the newly renovated Hilltop Inn.  Paul and I have only been to The Hilltop once, about six or seven years ago for a graduation party.  The Hilltop now has new owners and they have renovated the inside, so I was glad this is where Christy chose to eat, because I have been wanting to try it.  It was fun sitting in the corner booth, and being a part of a bustling business.  Two or three people kept checking on us, making sure we were getting our drinks, getting our orders in, etc.  Paul, Christy, Everett and I all ordered and enjoyed grilled oysters.  Bill had an appetizer of popcorn shrimp and sidewinder fries. 

*Somehow we got taking about jobs, and how Paul had worked for Kellogg Transfer a couple of summers in college, and then at the Lucky Friday mine.  That led to Bill talking about working in the Cell Room at the Bunker Hill, and how Dad also worked in the Cell Room, then became a Maintenance Mechanic for the Zinc Plant, then was promoted to a supervisor position in the Mechanics Department.  After a few years, Dad realized he really hated being a supervisor, and quit that position, and worked for the “Bull Gang”.  His last couple of years at the Bunker Hill was working in the Warehouse.  We also had a fun visit with Craig Lewis.  He is a classmate of Pauls, and he and Paul visited about playing footbal together, the Kellogg sewer project, our tagged vehicles in front of our house that needed to be moved, and how retirement is coming soon.  Paul said once they both retire, they should go do some fishing together.

*When we arrived home, Paul started a fire, and I finished knitting the dishcloth I had been working on, and I listened to another podcast Bill had recommended called A Way With Words, about language and linguistics.  Clark enjoyed stretching out on Paul’s legs and the warmth of the fire.

*What a full and wonderful day I had being out and about in the Silver Valley.

Gathering Graces 2/8/2018

*In my search for another podcast to listen to, I found the Relevant Magazine podcast.  I have subscribed to this magazine for a couple of years now, and follow their posts online, but forgot they also had a podcast.  I listened to a couple of episodes and enjoyed the banter of the four hosts and also the guests who talked.  The magazine brands itself as a magazine that focuses on Faith, Culture and Intentional Living.  I like their articles.  I look forward to exploring this podcast more.  If you want to check it out their website, which also gets you to their podcast, you can go here.

*Today I solved the FAFSA problem with a couple of students.  I was working with two different students, and  they would get to a certain page on their FAFSA application, and it would not let them move forward to the next page so they could sign and submit their FAFSA.  It was driving us all crazy.  Then it hit me.  The problem may be the Chrome browser.  Occasionally I will be on certain websites, usually if I am trying to order something, and something goes a little wonky in the process.  If I switch to Internet Explorer, the website works.  So I went into Internet Explorer yesterday with the FAFSA, and guess what?  No glitches, no problems, the FAFSA was signed and submitted, and I had a senior with one less thing to stress about! Woo Hoo!!  I shared the information with the other senior, and she got hers submitted tonight as well.

*I don’t know about you, but often prayer overwhelms me.  There are times when so many people in my life are hurting, and prayer overwhelms me.  There are times when I have hurt in my life, and prayer overwhelms me.  But I pray anyway.  Because prayer is a gift.  I believe in a loving, merciful Creator.  And I get to communicate with this loving, merciful Creator.  And I believe He wants me to talk to Him.  So I do.  Even though at times it is hard.  Even though at times it is overwhelming.  I pray.  I I believe praying is a good thing.   Prayer is a part of who I am.

Gathering Graces 2/7/2018

*Today was all about talking to seniors in English classes, and making sure they are keeping on track, and doing what they need to do to go to college.  It was a great day, and they had a lot of questions, and are working hard to get through the college application and college acceptance process, as well as figuring out all the financial aid as well. 

*Paul and I received a really nice surprise from a co-worker who gave us some really delicious rolls that I served with our roast beef dinner tonight.  We also had baked potatoes topped with mushrooms sauteed in butter and bleu cheese and roasted broccoli.  I am really becoming a fan of roasted broccoli.  To make this recipe, you cut up the broccoli and then melt coconut oil, and mix it with salt, pepper and minced garlic, and toss it all with the broccoli.  Then roast for about 8 minutes, toss in the pan and add red pepper flakes if you want, then roast an additional 7 minutes.  So, so yummy!

*We had our P.E.O. meeting at Sandy’s house, and she did the program after the meeting, and shared about the time she lived in Indonesia, and what it was like living there in the early 1970’s as a military wife, and some of her different experiences, and how she loved living in that country.  It was fascinating hearing about her Indonesian adventures!!  She also shared about Bali and how beautiful that was, and told us all to put it on our Bucket List.

Gathering Graces 2/6/2018

*For 45 minutes each Monday and Tuesday afternoon I get to experience Magic.  Theater magic.  Performing magic.  It is a magical time working with my group  of students who have chosen theater.  I love their imaginations.  I love their courage.  These students are first through fifth graders.  Monday I said they could come to the group on Tuesday and stand up in front of the group and sing a song on their own.  Almost every one of them got up and sang part of a song.  We are working on a group number, Do Re Mi from  The Sound of Music.  I played a You Tube clip of the song to the students, and they sat there watching it, and were so engaged.  I just love working with these students!!

*I listened to the final episode of Slow Burn last night. I thoroughly enjoyed this podcast.  Maybe I am so intrigued with Watergate, because I have these memories of having the Watergate hearings on the television all day, and nothing else was on at our house.  I am sure I thought, as a nine going on ten-year-old that summer that those hearings needed to stop so we could get back to regularly scheduled programming!!

*Inspired by my brother’s bean preparation in the Crock-pot a few weeks ago, I got a ham bone  out of the freezer and let it thaw, and put it in the Crock-pot with some celery and onions, salt and pepper, and some navy beans.  I did this Monday night before I went to bed.  By lunch today the beans were cooked and it tasted delicious.  I removed the bone, and sliced off some of the remaining ham that was on the bone.  I took out the chunks of onion and celery from the beans.  And by lunchtime today the beans were ready and delicious.  I had some for lunch, and a bowl for dinner.  And it was very easy to put together.  It went great with the left over spoon bread from Sunday night’s dinner.

*This has been the week to have former classmates brought to my attention.  Yesterday it was Cecil McNutt. Today I asked the drama kids if they had ever been to a live concert, and one of the boys named a band, called “The Rub”, and he said, “Do you know Cary Beare?”  I said, “Yes, I went to school with Cary Beare”.  Carey was a sophomore my senior year, and is a part of a few different bands, and lives some of the time in Cataldo I believe, and may even have his own recording studio out there.  I have run into him a few times since moving back to the Silver Valley.

Gathering Graces 2/5/2018

*I have always been a bit of a Watergate junkie.  I remember on my first trip to Washington D.C., seeing the Watergate Hotel, and thinking, “Oh, the stories those walls could tell.”  I have  read books, and have quite a collection of books about Watergate, and have read All The President’s Men at least five times.  Recently I have jumped on the podcast bandwagon, finding it something nice to have playing as I am knitting.  Imagine my excitement when I came across a podcast called Slow Burn: A Podcast About Watergate.  This podcast is at slate.com, and started last fall, and is an eight episode series. This is how Leon Neyfakh, the  writer and producer of Slow Burn, describes the podcast:

Why are we revisiting Watergate now? The connections between the Nixon era and today are obvious enough. But to me, the similarity that’s most striking is not between Donald Trump and Richard Nixon (although they’re both paranoid, vengeful, and preoccupied with “loyalty”), or their alleged crimes (although they both involved cheating to win an election), or the legal issues in the two cases (although they both center on obstruction of justice).

Rather, it’s that people who lived through Watergate had no idea what was going to happen from one day to the next, or how it was all going to end. I recognize that feeling. The Trump administration has made many of us feel like the country is in an unfamiliar, precarious situation. Some days it seems like our democratic institutions won’t survive, or that permanent damage has already been done. Pretty much every day, we are buffeted by news stories that sound like they’ve been ripped out of highly stressful and very unrealistic novels.

The point of Slow Burn is to look back on the most recent time Americans went through this en masse, and to put ourselves in their shoes.

If this part of history intrigues you, I recommend you take some time and listen.  Just go to slate.com/slowburn to find the podcast.

*The next two weeks in the after school drama program, we are focusing on Musical Theater, one of my loves.  It is so fun to work with these students, and to have them get excited about coming tomorrow with a song to sing.  We are going to learn the song Do Re Mi from The Sound of Music, and film it next week.  These kids are so awesome!!

*Paul headed off to play practice, and I got a few projects done that had been weighing on me, some for months!!  Isn’t it funny how a small little project can be put off and put off, and then  when you finally do it, it ends up taking a total of about 15 minutes to complete?  It felt good to check two of those type of projects of my to do list tonight.

*I had an unexpected but fun little exchange with a former KHS classmate.  A few days a week, I have some seniors come to my office at the end of the day to hang out and talk, and one of them is the great niece of Cecil McNutt, who I graduated from high school with in 1981.  Cecil and Dezi were texting back and forth, and so I asked Dezi to ask him if he remembered me, told her to say hello, and then Dezi and I took a photo together to send to Cecil. It was a fun little exchange.  Cecil lives up in Alaska, and is retired from the Coast Guard, and now, if I have this right, works for the Coast Guard up in Alaska.

*February is a time of transition.  As I start looking at seed catalogs and gardening websites to plan what I want to do in my vegetable garden this summer, I am also looking at my life, and what I want to do with it, not only this summer, but beyond.  If you are a gardener, looking at seed catalogs is very exciting, and holds a promise of new things to come.  And that is what February holds for me....a time to reflect and research about new things to come.

Gathering Graces 2/4/2018

*Most of today was spent preparing family dinner for Christy, Everett, Bill and Paul. Debbie is out of town, so she was unable to join us.

Lost Recipes Cookbook

*I am not sure I will do it every month, but so far I have chosen a particular cookbook to prepare the whole meal from, and this month I chose the cookbook Lost Recipes: Meals To Share With Friends and Family by Marion Cunningham.  This was one of Mom’s cookbooks that Christy had given her as a gift.  I read through and created a menu of items that the author calls lost, primarily because people were no longer cooking in that same kind of home rhythm.   I think Marion Cunningham would be proud of me today, because I was definitely in a home rhythm.

Tomato Aspic

*The first item was Tomato Aspic.  If you are not familiar with this dish, it is kind of like a tomato jello.  I put celery in mine as well.  I used one of Mom’s copper molds, and created this unique recipe.

Meatloaf

*The main dish was meatloaf.  The meatloaf had a special ketchup sauce on top that you made yourself.

*Accompanying the meatloaf were Scalloped Potatoes, Broccoli in Cheese Custard and Spoon Bread. 

Scalloped Potatoes

*The Scalloped Potatoes were made a different way than I am used to preparing them.  I usually create a white sauce that I pour over the layers of potatoes.  This recipe had you layer the potatoes, and on top of each layer you put salt and pepper, flour and dots of butter.  After the final layer, you pour milk over the whole pan and then dot with butter and let it cook.  Then it creates it’s own sauce.

Broccoli in Cheese Custard

*The Broccoli in Cheese Custard was prepared by steaming chopped broccoli, and putting it in a buttered dish.  Then I sprinkled the broccoli with cheddar cheese.  Then a mixture of milk, eggs, salt and pepper was poured over the broccoli and cheese.  The pan was put in another pan of hot water, and baked.  It was a custard type of dish. 

Spoon Bread

*I don’t think I had ever tasted Spoon Bread.  The author describes Spoon Bread as a steaming-hot, feather-light dish of cornmeal mixed with butter, eggs, and milk, lifted by the heat of the oven to a souffle of airiness.  It was very tasty.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

*I got a bit nostalgic with dessert, and made a pineapple upside down cake.  This is the first cake I ever made from scratch, when I was about 10 years old.  This cake begins on the stove in a oven proof pan.  I used my cast iron dutch oven.  Butter and brown sugar and melted together, and then slices of pineapple are laid on the brown sugar mixture, and maraschino cherries are put inside the holes of the rings.  Then you make a batter and spread over the pineapple slices, and bake in the oven.  When it comes out, you let it cool about five minutes, then flip the cake onto a serving platter.  This was the hardest part.  But it was worth it, because it was very delicious.

*It is also the beginning of the week, so it is time for another poem as Christy and I share our 52 Cups of Poems.  You can find my second poem, A Visit to Spokane Grandma’s House, here.

52 Cups of Poems: Cup Two: A Visit To Spokane Grandma's House

I recently took a trip to Spokane, and it made me think of the countless times growing up we would go to Spokane to visit my Grandma Woolum.  This poem is inspired by the many visits I took to Grandma Woolum's house in Spokane, Washington, and the memories of traveling there.

A Visit To Spokane Grandma’s House

It was Saturday morning and I was climbing into the car, I knew we were going to Grandma’s house.

I sat in the back looking at highway signs and billboards, trying to make it from A to Z playing the alphabet game, I knew we were going to Grandma’s house.

As we drove past the Rose Lake exit, over the Fourth of July Pass, drove along Coeur d’ Alene Lake,  through Post Falls, and by State Line’s Slab Inn, I knew we were going to Grandma’s house.

 

I would see the water tower at the Argonne exit, I knew we were getting close to Grandma’s House.

As we drove past the campus of Spokane Community College, I knew we were getting close to Grandma’s house.

When I saw the dry cleaners on the corner of Nevada and Bridgeport, I knew we were getting close to Grandma’s house.

 

Pulling up to the curb, I saw the snowball tree in bloom, I knew we were at Grandma’s house.

The little black Chihuahua Chi-Chi was barking next door, I knew we were at Grandma’s house.

Mrs. Newman was working in her yard, I knew we were at Grandma’s house.

 

I turned the knob of the wooden front door with the mail slot in the middle, as I went inside Grandma’s house.

I saw the wooden coat rack and the folded up roll-a-way bed, as I went inside Grandma’s house.

I saw a picture of Jesus and His Apostles on the wall, as I went inside Grandma’s house.

 

“Come say hello” and “Give me some sugar”, were things I heard in Grandma’s house.

A pot of green beans boiling on the stovetop, were things I heard in Grandma’s house.

The furnace in the dining room kicking on and off, were things I heard in Grandma’s house.

 

Fresh baked banana bread coming out of the oven, were things I smelled at Grandma’s house.

Listerine and Double Mint Chewing Gum, were things I smelled at Grandma’s house.

Roses, peonies, irises and fresh picked apples, were things I smelled at Grandma’s house.

 

A sense of belonging and comfort, were things I felt at Grandma’s house.

I was someone special that day, were things I felt at Grandma’s house.

Wrapped in a blanket of love and warmth, were things I felt at Grandma’s house.

 

Gathering Graces 2/3/2018

*Ever since I saw the trailer for The Post, I have wanted to see it.  Today, Paul and I drove to Coeur d’Alene and enjoyed an early matinee showing of this movie.  As *we drove by the theater to park and as we were walking into the theater, Paul made an observation that this must be the time people our age and older attend movies at this theater, because he felt like we were the youngest couple entering the theater.  As I started looking at the people going in the theater, I think he was right!!  Ha! Ha! 

*The movie was everything I hoped it would be.  It is the story of the Washington Post publisher Katherine Graham, and how she came to the decision to publish The Pentagon Papers in the early 1970’s.  But it is also her story of being a woman in a male dominated field, and how she showed them she was serious about doing her job well.  And it was a story about the role of the newspaper in D.C., and how it was changing.  It was also a story of how the Washington Post went from being a small town newspaper to being a major publication. I have always been fascinated by the Watergate story, and have read many books on the subject.  The release of the Pentagon papers happened right before the Watergate scandal, and actually became a part of the whole Watergate story as well.

*I was a Journalism major and reporter in college, I taught Journalism for a couple of years at a community college, and I was a reporter for our local newspaper.  Maybe this is why I enjoy movies that are about how good newspaper reporting brings a subject to light, and brings about some change in society .  Some of the movies like this that I have enjoyed are All The President’s Men, Spotlight, The Year of Living Dangerously, and The Killing Fields.

*For weeks I have wanted to watch the movie Apollo 13.  We own a VHS copy of the movie, but not a copy on DVD.  I could have rented it on Amazon Prime, but I decided against that because I could probably watch in on our bedroom TV that does have a VCR.  I wanted to watch a movie last night, and started browsing the selections on Netflix, and what do you know....Apollo 13 is now one of the movies offered. Paul was interested in watching with me, so we enjoyed a Tom Hanks double feature, with The Post in the early afternoon, and Apollo 13 in the evening.  They were both very good movies.

*Zoe called this afternoon.  This was the first time she was flying solo doing her taxes, so she had a few questions.  Soon she had her Federal and State taxes e-filed, with a small refund coming back from both of them.  She was relieved.

Gathering Graces 2/2/2018

*Apparently the groundhog saw his shadow today, and there is suppose to be six more weeks of winter.  Today the weather was more early spring-like.  Rainy, not really cold, kind of dark, gray and drizzly.  My feeling is, if it is going to be winter, than give me snow...none of these dark,, gray, rainy gloomy days.  I’d take snowfall over this any day.

*Today was spent doing a little of this and a little of that around the house.  My coaster project was completed.  I started a dishcloth with a different pattern.  I listened to podcasts.  I listened to the Sting Pandora station.  I filled the dishwasher.  I did some laundry.  I made funny Snapchat videos to send my daughters and friends.  I planned the menu for Sunday’s family dinner I will be hosting.  I cuddled with dogs.  I cuddled with cats.  It was a good day.

*Halfway through the day I met Christy for coffee at The Bean.  We talked about her recent doctor’s appointment and things going on in her life, and things coming up in her life.  She has a lot going on, so it was nice to talk and see how she was doing.  I enjoyed my new favorite drink at The Bean...a London  Fog.  This is made by combining brewed Earl Grey Tea, a shot of espresso, steamed milk and a splash of vanilla syrup.  It is delicious!  Starbucks used to serve these a long time ago, and I kind of forgot about them until The Bean owner Sarah mentioned this drink one time when I was in there, so I decided to try it, and now I am hooked.  You can also have it make without the espresso shot, but I enjoy it with the coffee flavor.

*I received some information to mull over about a potential new job I may start that I can do on the side with my regular job.  I am going to continue thinking about it, and see if I want to start, and if so, when.

*Paul made a fire and as we warmed by the comforting glow, we had a good visit about the upcoming show he is directing at the Sixth Street Theater.  The original show that was scheduled had to be canceled, so he is going a reader’s theater of the play The Rivals*. It will be performed the first three weekends in March.  I am excited to see his vision for this show be performed on stage.

* The Rivals is a Comedy of Manners, and the play satirizes sentimentalism and sophisticated pretensions, without the typical eighteenth-century moralizing. The dialogue crackles with wit even today, over two hundred years after it was first penned. This play is the source of the term “malapropism,” named for Mrs. Malaprop, whose delightful “derangement of epitaphs” consists of using sophisticated-sounding words incorrectly.

Gathering Graces 2/1/2018

*Welcome February!!  I have great things planned for you this month.

*I had a wonderful lunch with my friend Kellee getting caught up since we saw one another last month.  We enjoyed our Chinese food at Wah Hing, and, when I arrived, Kellee was making a friend.

*Brother Bill had a colonoscopy this afternoon and needed a ride home from the hospital when he was done.  When I received the call, I left work, and picked him up, and got him safely home, so he could finally eat some solid food after his two day fast.

*I have been reading a book for my book club called Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate.  It is a novel based on the true story of children who were kidnapped and sold by a woman named Georgia Tann.   She was an American child trafficker who operated the Tennessee Children’s Home Society, an adoption agency in Memphis, Tennessee. Tann used the unlicensed home as a front for her  baby black market adoption scheme from the 1920s until a state investigation into numerous instances of adoption fraud being perpetrated by her closed the institution in 1950. It was a good read.  It really makes you realize that sometimes the people in your family tree may be different than you thought.  But should that really matter?

*One of the most wonderful things is getting into bed after you have just put on clean sheets.  It is such a small thing, but oh so wonderful.  I took time in the evening to put clean clothes away and change our bed and put on clean sheets.  While I was doing this, I listened to another episode from the Revisionist History podcast titled Hallelujah.  I encourage you to take a listen and see how Malcolm Gladwell combines the stories of Picasso, Cezanne, Elvis Costello and Leonard Cohen to talk about the role that time and iteration play in the production of genius.  It made me ask myself, do I create like Picasso or Cezanne?  Or does it depend on the project?

*Over the past week, schools in the Kellogg School District, to help increase the safety of our students and staff, have had a special device installed on their main entry doors to people now need to push a button, identify themselves, and then have someone push a button to have them gain entry into the school. It reminded me of article I read online about a school shooting at a Middle School in Los Angeles and a 12 year old girl was the one arrested for the crime.  This was disturbing.  But what was also disturbing was the final line of the article, that reported there have already been around a dozen school shooting already in 2018.  I maybe read about one other.  They aren’t big news any more.  That is sad and disturbing. And having a security device on the front of the school I work at so that people need to be screened before they enter is also sad and disturbing.  I realize the reasoning behind the  decision, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it.

* I came across this sentence describing the month of February. 

February is a month of transitions, as the cold weather and short days begin to give way to the nascent signs of spring, that season that is yet powerless to be born.

I also found this poem written by Michael Field. ‘Michael Field’ was actually not one poet, but two – neither of whom was male (or called Michael): the name was the pseudonym used by Katharine Harris Bradley (1846–1914) and her niece Edith Emma Cooper (1862–1913). (They intended to keep their identities secret, but it came out not long after they had told Robert Browning about it.)

I love the line of the poem “tingling secrets hidden everywhere”.  What tingling secrets that are hidden everywhere in my life be revealed this February?  I can’t wait to find out.

February

By Michael Field

Gay lucidity,
Not yet sunshine, in the air;
Tingling secrets hidden everywhere,
Each at watch for each;
Sap within the hillside beech,
Not a leaf to see.

Gathering Graces 1/31/2018

*January was a long and luxurious month for me.  I have made some decisions in my life so the pace of life has dramatically slowed down, and I am still getting used to it.  Ideas are germinating.  Green shoots of possibility are starting to break through the frozen ground. 

*One decision was taking a leave of absence from my involvement with the Sixth Street Theater board.  In December I will reevaluate where I am at in life, and see if I want to return, or if I want to remain off the board.  This decision has freed up quite a bit of time.  I love my involvement with the theater and the board, but I needed to take a break for a while to have time to sort things out in my life.

*I am also finding it easier to say “no”.  Right now I need to focus on what is going on in my future, and I need to spend time talking, brainstorming, researching, and dreaming about what comes next in my life.

*This is because my job at KHS ends in June.  The GEAR UP grant comes to an end at the end of this school year, and my job will be done.  If the state of Idaho receives another grant, and if the Kellogg School District receives another grant, the new GEAR UP position will not begin until August or September.  So after 10 wonderful years working with this awesome program, I am saying goodbye.  And looking to see what comes next.

*I think it only appropriate that January ended with a huge “moon event”, with the Super Moon. Blue Moon and Blood Moon all happening at once.  (Unfortunately the clouds were too thick to see the moon here in Kellogg.  I got in the car and drove out to see it around 5:15 a.m., and saw nothing.)  When I think of the moon, I think of the different phases it goes through in the sky, and I can relate to that in my own life.  I am aware that I am moving into a different phase of my life.  It is exciting and a bit scary to see what lies ahead.