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These incredible photographs show how New Zealand’s 7.8 magnitude earthquake lifted the seabed two metres – and exploded through the sand. Dramatic aerial pictures reveal the scale of the devastation caused on the coastline north of Kaikoura, on the country’s South Island. Scientists say the seabed lifted an estimated two metres on the foreshore and admit they have never seen anything like it. It comes as rain and strong winds battered central New Zealand on Thursday, threatening further damage – just days after the quake killed two people and sparked with huge landslides. More than 1,000 tourists and residents have since been evacuated from the small seaside town by a fleet of helicopters and a naval vessel since the 7.8 magnitude quake struck early on Monday. We encourage you to Share our Reports, Analyses, Breaking News and Videos. Simply Click your Favorite Social Media Button and Share.

I know...2 posts in one day??!! What can I say, I'm on a roll! I received my April MemoryWorks Express Kit yesterday and tore right into it! This layout was again combining a couple different challenges into one. It was a really fun one to create. Challenge #14- Foolin' Around: I just found this site by clicking around different blogs. I thought this challenge sounded really fun. The challenge this month is to create a layout with the word "fool" somewhere in the layout (title or journaling). The title "Don't be fooled" keep popping in my head. Finally this layout came to me! April Challenge #3- Write a Recipe: Another challenge from the MemoryWorks consultant message board. For this challenge we were to create a layout with the focus on journaling. I am not typically a big on journaling, so this was a stretch for me. Designer Call: Again, another challenge blog that I stumbled upon while browsing the net. They just happened to be doing a design call and thought I'd give it a whirl. This layout was based on the sketch for the DT call. Ok, what challenges can I combine for tomorrow???? I'm a sucker for a challenge......hey, at least it gets me thinking and scrappin'!

Looking out from the student center at U of Mary over the panoramic view after many years away. Up here with John on his continued job hunt... many prayers in the 6 hours in the car asking for the right door to open so he can continue in his service of Christ and His Church! It has possibly been 10 years since we came up here with John on a college visit. His two oldest sisters both attended here and as a result of this Catholic and farm and ranch education they had a wonderful step into the world and vocations of nursing, teaching and marriage! With the Gospel from today sounding a gong in my heart and mind and soul - "By their fruit you will know them." Nancy was making sounds like she would go out East to some big liberal college, so her dad and I encouraged her to come and visit the U of Mary and took a picture of Ruth and Nancy with this bell tower behind them. I placed it beside Nancy's bed and prayed! She then chose to come up and join her older sister here! Such a blessing for Nancy as she embraced her Catholic Faith more fully and completely here! A life-long choice that she now carries forth into her marriage and family and the times when she is able to serve young people as an amazing teacher! How she embraced promoting the protection and cherishing of LIFE, by interceding with girls thinking about abortion. Ringing loudly the Truth... "By their fruits you will know them... good fruits for all to see if we give our lives to Christ and His Bride, The Church!" All is quiet here as school is out for the summer... an oasis away from home. Soon we will go and visit some family for the night. The grandkids having fun chasing John last evening. "You have wonderful good kids Paul." John told his brother-in-law. The family farm continues to be a great place to raise kids and give them a lot of lessons about LIFE! A tender moment in the rough housing... How do we raise LIGHTS/good fruit for the world to see and nourish the world with goodness and Truth? We share our Faith with JOY in our homes and attend Church together as a family united in our love for Jesus and His Bride, The Church! Sharing the lives of the Saints was huge for our family as we gathered for night prayers. It strengthens our faith and ability to face all hardships to see how they persevered no matter what they faced. We also feel that we can pray to them to assist us as we go through our lives. Who are some of my go-to Saints? St Luke, my patron saint, St Therese, St John Paul II, just to name a few. How I love, love, love The Saints and foremost is the Queen of Heaven and Earth, Mary the Mother of God! Done with spraying... grandpa pushing the kids so high! I wanted each of the kids to consider the call the religious life as a most amazing option for them, so I made a point for them to see and spend time with nuns in habits. I now have one that is a nun, and John and I got a short visit with her on our way - she in Rome and we in the barren farm land between Bismarck and Fargo. Kind of crazy when you can talk on the phone like that. We asked her prayers, and she sounded like - "Of course, you always have my prayers with you each and every day." Just as I know of the prayers of my parents each day... we have Hallel's prayers always and without question! Also her special example of how powerful and great and bearing good wonderful fruit can be an answer of "yes" to the call of Jesus to be His own love/bride! Imagine it! So deeply does His LOVE reach out to you alone, if you sacrifice the human love of marriage for Jesus alone in a vow of chastity, poverty and obedience in religious life! A hot day at the zoo in Missouri as a celebration of the end of the homeschool year! Soon they will be on their way to Minnesota farm time and Michigan time! I know that my girls now as mothers to their children are exposing them to religious life as a very good option and having Aunt Little Sister Hallel in their lives adds to that wonderful option. Their first ever Krispy Krème doughnut to celebrate end of school! A rare treat makes it soooooo Special! Jesus, how this world needs good fruit so that the world can see You at work in our lives and hearts and minds and souls and spirits and families and domestic Churches and work and play and ups and downs and two steps forward and one step back and the dance of life and the Fruits of the Spirit and our ALL as we carry/drag our Most Cherished Cross and follow after you down the narrow path. May we be open to LIFE and raise LIGHTS to make a difference in this world of darkness. Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah So wonderful to have family times of pure peace on a beautiful summers evening! Bless-bless, Barbara Luke So true, and so important to me in my prayer life! So sad... can't they see how it is taking a life? Nancy's newest cross-stitch saints! Laura Daigle - Trust in you This spoke to us on our travels today powerfully! Keep Walking - Tobymac Danielle Rose - pursue me her discernment of religious life! If only this came more naturally for me! For mom and dad - a picture Julie just put on FB of the sand on the beach!

Yesterday my daughter requested a card for a girl's 3rd birthday tomorrow (ie now today), and I didn't have much time to do it in. So, here's my top tips for making a 'bespoke' card quickly: 1) Use an image from a company that you know suits your 'audience' . I know Jellypark make great 'little girl' digis, so I looked through my collection of their images. 2) Use a tried and tested technique. I love paper-piecing and so I went with that. I found this paper , which is a magazine freebie from years ago and the ladybirds gave me my theme. 3) Use a sketch. I used this one from House of Cards Challenge , and, although it changed a bit in the making, it was a great starting point. I'd like to enter: House of Cards Challenge Cute and Fun / sketch It's only a number Card for a child

I haven’t always been a Cubs fan. Growing up, I liked the St. Louis Cardinals. My mom, though, liked the Cubs, and once, when I was five or six years old, she told me I wouldn’t be able to live with her any longer if I continued cheering for Ozzie Smith’s team. Again, I was only five or so, and I truly believed I was going to get kicked out of the house, so I started wearing the Cubs T-shirts and hats she bought me. A few years later, though, I got wise to her scheme and realized my sweet old mom wasn’t going to kick me out of the house because I refused to sing the Jody Davis song along with her and Harry Caray. So I spent most of the rest of my youth cheering for the Cardinals and calling the Cubs the Scrubs—I wasn’t one of those kids who filled notebooks with stories, but I did play around with words all the time, and when I was seven or so I thought the Cubs/Scrubs pun was about the funniest thing in the world. It wasn’t until I was twenty-two and a wannabe writer working crappy jobs that I started cheering for the Cubs in earnest. You see, it wasn’t until I became an underdog in life that I started appreciating what it means to root for the Cubs. Now, however, I’m a little past the underdog phase, and I want to see the suckers win, especially after the enormous letdown that was 2003. And this year’s Cubs team, it’s a tough one to love. In fact, I have tickets for a night game next month, and I could not care less about going. Even the old Scrubs joke, I’m just not feeling it.

Hansel had heard that their parents wanted to leave them in the forest the next day. So he went outside the house and take some stones with him. He told everything to his sister Gretel. His plan was to route the way back home with these stones. They went to sleep. Hansel había escuchado que sus padres pretendian abandonarlos en el bosque el día siguiente. Así que fue fuera de la casa y cogió unas piedras. Después le contó todo a su hermana Gretel. Su plan consistía en marcar el camino de vuelta a casa con esas piedras. Así que se fueron a dormir.

I had an awesome opportunity this week to go on a family cruise on Kelson's ship for the day. I have never been under way with the ship before, and it was great! We started the trip with the tugs helping us pull out of Pearl Harbor, which was a pretty cool process to watch. The base historian joined us for the trip and narrated the transit through Pearl Harbor, telling us all about the historical events that have occurred there. Behind me you can see the USS Missouri and our lovely Ford Island home. We sailed out of Pearl Harbor, along the coast of Oahu past Waikiki and Diamond Head, and then over near the island of Molokai and then back. What a way to see the island! Kelson took me all over the ship, and I got to see up close what the damage control teams do. These are some of the guys that Kelson is in charge of. I walked through a passageway full of fake smoke. It was dark and scary and made me glad I don't work on a ship. I was actually pretty nervous in this picture. I was rather unsteady on the ship while it was moving, and then they handed me a very sharp, pointy axe. Don't worry, no one got hurt. The whole time we have lived in San Diego and Hawaii, I have been dying to see a dolphin. Kelson comes home and brags about all of the dolphins he sees all the time, and I am very jealous. We were in Kelson's room relaxing and watching a movie when they announced that there were dolphins near the ship. You wouldn't believe how fast I hopped up and hurried outside. There were three of them playing near the ship. Excuse my dorky voice in the video. I was so excited! Kelson's shipboard career is winding down, and this may have been his last day at sea. I am so glad that I got to spend a day with him and get a little glimpse of his Navy life. I was very nervous leaving Sarah with a friend for the whole day, but she did just fine. Thanks to the Benroth family for taking her so Kelson and I could have an adventure!

Sub value- Positive Perception There was a King who had  one eye and one leg. He asked all the painters to draw a beautiful portrait of him. But none of them could — how could they paint him beautifully with the defects in one eye and one leg. Eventually one of them agreed and drew a classic picture of the King. It was a fantastic picture and surprised everyone.. He painted the King AIMING for a HUNT. Targeting with ONE Eye Closed and One Leg Bent … Why cant we all paint pictures like this for others by hiding their weaknesses and highlighting their strength

Back to search results Customer Service Location:Montreal, QC, Canada (On-site) : 2 - 5 years Attributes that best describes Skills: As a third year honour’s student at the University of New Brunswick (UNB), I am in the Bachelor of Business Administration program, majoring in Human Resources Management. At UNB, I am the student president for the universities Human Resource Student Association as well as the student representative in the Human Resources Association of New Brunswick.Volunteering in those two associations has helped me expand my knowledge and networks in the HR field. As a result, I would consider myself a dedicated team-player focusing on collaboration and results that benefit everyone involved. Currently, I have over 5 years of customer service experience working as an office clerk, office assistant and seasonal sales associate. In these roles I have perfected my communication, problem solving, and multitasking skills. I always try to go above and beyond for my customers and pride myself as being highly organized and a persuasive communicator. Reviews

The Kendrick Fincher Hydration Foundation is in the running for $250,000 in funding through the Pepsi Refresh Project. You can vote online at the link listed above. Currently, the Foundation is ranked 142nd in the contest rankings. So get out and vote for a local foundation, NWA! Voting ends on April 30th. A little background information on the Kendrick Fincher Hydration Foundation for you: It was established in 1996 after 13-year-old Kendrick died from heat stroke. The Foundation provides educational presentations and resources to promote proper hydration and prevent heat illness. Here's a clip from Rhonda Fincher:

Hey y'all, how ya doin? I just realized, as I was typing up the title, that I'd had my left earbud in for about 20 minutes, and hadn't turned my music back on yet. Aaannnnd there's the sweet sound of the Violet Hour. Okay, on to my project. I've seen posts about how our vocabulary is slowly dwindling. Slowly, but surely, we are getting complacent with the words we're used to using. We should be adding words and sayings, not easing them out! Or, or, replacing them with words like swag and yolo. (I will admit, I say these words every now and then. It's like a guilty pleasu re. But you know what? YOLO) And so, I propose a project. A project of expanding vernacular. I'm not saying, just looking up SAT words and throwing them around willy-nilly. Ain't nobody got time for that shit. But we have alot of overused words, that might be excellent words, but they just aren't getting the point across like a different word might be able to. Like good. How are you? I'm good. How was it? It was good. Did you like it? It was good. Why was it good? What gives it it's goodness? Maybe we could use a different describing word, that would express the goodness, while also saying why we thought it was good. Words like, brilliant, gorgeous, amazing, amazeballs, precious, wonderful . Let's start a word revolution. Start mixing up what wordage is in your sentences. If we all do a bit here, and a bit there, it will grow on other people, and then they'll rub off on other people, and the idea will spread before the masses even realize what's happening. It'll be like a flashmob of vernacular. (Vernacular is a fun word. I learned it from Shawn Spencer, and it's made an impact in my life since. And it's fun to say.) Pick up time, what w haaaaatt

Dorset is a small Vermont's city, every year Good Point Recycling is involved in a found rising for the school and collect electronic waste from household. On the 19th of May 2012, from 6.00 A.M, Zack, Ryan, Patrick, Pete and me were on the road with two trucks to collect as much e-waste as possible. During few hours, with help from volunteers we have collected old TVs, PC's Units, vacuums... and also an electric scooter and two Ipods! This type of event lets people to have a free collection of their e-waste and also close to their house. Moreover, during the collection we can discuss with people and answer to them questions. People are so aware on Reuse and Recycling. We collected more 12 000 pounds of waste so more than 5 500 kg! Not too bad!!!

Curses and Smoke: A Novel of Pompeii Arthur A. Levine Books Where It Came From: eARC from publisher via NetGalley The Wordy Version: Guys. This book…I don’t even know what to say. For a book that I was feeling so solidly about throughout the entire reading to have that sort of effect on me at the very end… I wasn’t expecting tragedy! Which might sound dumb for a book about Pompeii, but…well, we’ll come back to that later. Lucia is the only child of a middle-class gladiator training school owner, and she wants more from life than marriage to an old, lecherous man in Rome for her father’s gain. She’s interested in science and nature, and has been noticing strange things happening around the city of late (naturally, no one pays any attention to her when she brings them up). She’s pretty in the middle as far as characters go—she’s not objectionable, but she’s not terribly interesting either. Our other protagonist, Tag, was sent away to Rome to train as a healer for a few years to eventually follow in his father’s footsteps at the training school, but upon his return to Pompeii he dreams instead of becoming a gladiator and winning his freedom. Again, not objectionable, but not a character I felt overly attached to. I did really like his Etruscan heritage, though—the fact that he was descended from a formerly powerful family from the time the Etruscans ruled the area added a new slant and extra fire to his rage at being a slave. So of course the two fall in love, FORBIDDEN love, and have to keep it secret from everyone around them. The daughter of a training school owner cannot love a slave, especially when she is already promised to a creepy old man! For some reason, Tag and Lucia both came across as younger than their 16 years for much of the book (at least until they start making out in the woods and Lucia debates love vs. lust with her married friend). Other characters are added to the mix—Lucia’s father, mostly portrayed as monstrous; Castor, a young slave boy who takes a shine to Tag; Quintus, a louche patrician dilettante who plays at gladiator training and develops an interest in Lucia; Lucia’s friend Cornelia, sassy and pregnant; and Cornelia’s husband, who sounds like a pretty awesome guy until we actually meet him. Cornelia is one of the more interesting characters, as she has some life and verve to her (although the fact that the word “waddle” is used to describe her every movement got a little irritating. Yes, alright, she’s hugely pregnant! We get it already!). My FAVORITE character, though, was Lucia’s dog Minos. So cute. I even wrote in my notes as I was reading that the most emotional reaction the book got out of me was when someone hit the dog. But…that was before I got to the end. So here I am, reading along, thinking I like the book only so-so, but MAN is that dog great! I’m composing the review in my head, and then BOOM—I was hoodwinked! Throughout the book, the chapters sometimes begin with a label like “One Month Before,” or “Two Weeks Before,” clearly counting down to something. But…they were not counting down to what I thought they were counting down to. And after Vesuvius finally erupted, I was so caught up in the chaos that I didn’t even notice it was still counting down until it was too late. Well played, author! As I said, I was not expecting tragedy. At least, not that sort of tragedy. (If you plan on ever reading this book, stop reading now, because I’m going to go spoiler-happy and am too lazy to tag it.) Despite meh characters and my general lack of investment in the story, the explosion of Vesuvius and the aftermath were well-written and engrossing. I actually started getting more involved and hoped Tag and Lucia would make it out of the city and have a chance at a life together with little Castor as their adopted son. They could reunite with Minos! And never have to worry about her father again! This eruption could potentially be the best thing that ever happened to them!!! But it wasn’t. Lucia’s death, when they were SO close to refuge in a nearby city, and NOT caused by the volcano, was surprising, and upsetting, and way more affecting than I would’ve expected. It just…things did not go down the way I expected them to. And I hadn’t even been consciously, strongly hoping for them to go a certain way! I was completely surprised that I had such a strong reaction to a book I’d been feeling eh… about throughout my entire reading. I was sobbing, and at the same time indignant that I was even crying at all. I felt kind of like that kid in The Princess Bride movie: I felt somehow a bit cheated—how can a book be both meh AND emotionally upsetting?? You know how some books are sad, but you feel in a way fuller afterward (like, say, Code Name Verity)? This one was sad, and left me feeling hollow and empty. Which isn’t to say it was bad…I was just shocked, and upset, and shocked that I was so upset. Does the tragic ending make it a better book than it would’ve been if everything had turned out happily ever after (or at least as close as can be expected after a volcanic eruption)? Hard to say. Beyond the mostly average characters, there were some other aspects of the writing that contributed to my overall so-so feelings about the book. Modern-sounding language disrupts the atmosphere at times (people saying “sure,” for example), and some of the slave characters have an accent or way of speaking written in that comes and goes (a huge pet peeve of mine). Additionally, though the author clearly did lots of research about Roman and Pompeiian culture and history, it unfortunately often manifests in awkward infodumps, or migrates to the other extreme and is dropped in haphazardly without explanation and without sufficient context for the reader to figure it out on their own. There were some other plot lines woven in, like a mystery involving the death of Lucia’s mother many years prior, and her father’s and Tag’s roles in it (this is also where the titular “curses” come in). The thread involving Quintus’ interest in Lucia (but as it turns out, actually Tag) is kind of meandering and confusing, and peters out with a whimper. Cornelia’s role seemed tangential at times, but made more sense after reading the author’s note at the end. This section was actually one of my favorite parts—it was cool to see some of the actual history that inspired certain characters and events in the book. Apparently in excavations of Pompeii the remains of a very pregnant upper class woman were found. The general conclusion is that she was in too delicate a condition to evacuate the city, and thus the character of Cornelia was born. The author also describes the discovery of the remains of a dog still chained in his yard—that inspired Minos, and she decided to rewrite history by having someone release him so he could escape (which I appreciated, because that totally sounds like something I would do if I were writing a book about Pompeii). Overall, neither astonishingly bad nor astonishingly awesome. It was quite readable (though I wasn’t super-invested), the romance was sweet (if not totally inspiring), and the ending was very sad. Not quite as good as I had hoped, but it sure packed a wallop for me in the final pages. As ever, much as we are grateful for the copy, our review is uninfluenced by its source.

Kali and I have been out of town for a couple days. Hotels are always fun for me. I have free time to draw with no interruptions. That makes me happy. On this trip I was able to complete 2 days in the One Zentangle a Day book. This was day four. We worked on shattuck, nipa, and jonqual. I had always drawn shattuck with curved lines before, so I really like the way the shattuck with the straight lines turned out. Above I used shattuck by itself in the upper left section. Then I blended shattuck with nipa in that lower left and upper right areas. Down the right side I mixed shattuck with a bit of static. Fun! I'm still working on Day Five, this is what I have so far. Our patterns were isochor and printemps. I had never tried isochor before, it subtly reminds me of striping. Sparkles were introduced. My tile above shows the new patterns and the sparkles, and I threw in some stipple shading. This is the real reason we were out of town. Disney's Beauty and the Beast was very good. Kali and I were a bit disappointed with the scenery/props. After being blown away by Mary Poppins a couple weeks ago, I was disappointed to see that they really didn't do much with the set other than curtains here and there. Oh well, I guess we are spoiled. We did enjoy the show itself, though. Then we went out for donuts from Krispy Kreme and then back to the hotel. That's a whole other story all in itself. We were two girls on a floor filled with construction workers. Made for an interesting night.

A few of you have asked about these 'small stones' I have been writing this month, and it made me realise I only gave the briefest explanation. This is why I started writing them: This is the description of what a 'small stone' is on the website of two writers, Kaspalita, a Buddist priest and Fiona Robyn, a published author, and I love the way they are encouraging so many people to slow down and appreciate a moment in each day, and attempt to capture it in words. I am just joining in for the month of January, but I think I will keep writing them now and again afterwards, because I love the discipline and the pleasure of attempting to find words to enshrine a moment. Just a few, well chosen words, that is the rub for me, not the happy rambles I am prone to, but pithy, to the point written observations.It isn't anything as grandiose as poetry, it is just the wrapping of a few words around a feeling or a noticed moment, but I hope if I look back years from now, those moments will be alive still in my memory. Every day though, it is hard, I often don't feel that inspired. But nothing worthwhile always feels easy does it? I'm pushing through! Have a go in a notebook or diary. It is fun and it feels like a good discipline if you enjoy writing. These are my latest four (all unrelated): Clearing the final wizen remnants of last year's growth from the garden seems suddenly like a slate wiped clean, an absolution of sorts, earned by going out in pinching cold and doggedly clearing the way for hope, for this year's bounty yet unseen, for promises of beauty yet unknown. A child at a piano, fair hair haloed by a lamp, makes a mother's heart sing. A glass of wine, sipped slowly between happy conversations with delicious food or in quiet contemplation, to me tastes good. Wine in gulps though, so easily becomes desperation, foolishness, anger, self sabotage. Softly, the winter sunset hovers over fence and hedgerow, the day slips away in a sliding, iridescent glow.

For the past week I have been interning with the Public Relations department of Sydney Opera House in a PR, communications and marketing role. I feel so privileged  to be here; learning from the PR and marketing team that includes some of the most sought after jobs in the country. The office atmosphere is energetic, and thrives on creativity, efficiency, communication and ideas. I am working on the Spring Dance project, which will occupy the Opera House for most of September. Anyone interested in dance should definitely make a trip up, more details here. I will be coming up for a weekend with my talented dancer sister Maddy, to see as many shows as we can.’ I never thought I would spend so much time on facebook, twitter and blogs during my internship but alas – social media is where the eyeballs are and my skills have been quite useful. I also, surprisingly, used my basic German language knowledge. A benefits of the project is that I am spending a lot of time thinking about spring, and in the depths of a cold winter thoughts of spring warm the heart. Spring represents growth and renewal. I am a planner, and have had to teach myself to enjoy the present rather than always focusing on the future (as what is the point of planning amazing things if when you’re there you’re not mentally there?!) This internship has provided me with more proof that PR is for me – an industry where planning is a daily task because your team understands how important it is for the sustainability of your organisation, product or event. I have nine days of internship left and am going to continue to make the most of every minute. Lastly, I will leave you with a tumblr discovery which addressed my nerves pre-internship.

Back in September we took a really lovely trip to Oahu with some dear friends. I'm excited to share some of my favorite pictures with you! We stayed for the first three nights in a cabin by the beach on the east side of Oahu near Kailua. Blue ocean meets blue sky. Watching the sunrise. We found that our sleep schedule was influenced by the sun--early to bed and early to rise! There was no point in sleeping when you could be out enjoying the beach, and there was less to do when the sun set. A classic Hawaiian rainbow. Mom, Christina, and I took a hike in the forest. We got high enough to have a pretty good view. The beach at Hanauma Bay seems to be over-run with pigeons. By the time we left, the beach was getting quite full, and there was a long line of people waiting to enter the grounds. It's so easy to see the coral from above, not so easy from the water's edge. I always love driving up into the mountains and going through the tunnels on H3. We spent out last night in Honolulu. Watching the sunset from our hotel on the last night. So beautiful!

Born this day in 1857: Ida Tarbell (1857–1944), journalist whose stunning exposé of Standard Oil led to the breakup of the oil trust and established investigative journalism. In 1880 Ida Tarbel became the first woman to earn a degree from Allegheny College. After a brief stint teaching, she joined the staff of the Chautauquan as a writer and editor. She left the Chautauquan in 1891 to study the women of the French Revolution at the Sorbonne. She supported herself by selling articles to American periodicals. In 1892 she began a long relationship with McClure’s. She made her first big splash by writing a serial biography of Napoleon. The series brought wide attention to the newbie periodical and likewise established Tarbell’s career as a journalist. The articles were later collected in book form (A Short Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, 1895), selling 100,000 copies. She and McClure’s followed this success with an equally well-received series on Abraham Lincoln (which was collected in book form as The Life of Abraham Lincoln, 1900). The careful research she put into her portrayal of Lincoln revealed a talent for investigation that would serve her throughout her career. The many-tentacled Standard Oil octopus appeared in Puck in 1904. Tarbell’s master work was her investigation in the business practices of Standard Oil. The company was a vertically integrated corporate trust headed by John D. Rockefeller. By 1880 it controlled 90 percent of U.S. oil production and 90–95 percent of refining capacity. Tarbell relentlessly and diligently researched and read thousands of documents and conducted interviews with both Standard Oil insiders and with outsiders whose businesses were victims of Standard Oil’s unethical business practices. Her 19-part exposé of Standard Oil’s business practices and their effects appeared in McClure’s from 1902 to 1904. The revelations enraged the nation and forced the breakup of the Standard Oil Trust. In 1911 the U.S. government ordered the dismantling of the monopoly under the provisions of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. With her history of Standard Oil Tarbell invented investigative journalism. She and other so-called muckrakers gave a new purpose to journalism and fueled the Progressive Era.

I am off today to take 2 Tim Holtz classes at Absolutely Everything. Should be fun. I am excited. My friend Ina is coming into town to take one of those classes with me and it will be a blast to see her. I'm taking Heart and Soul and also Patchwork Pandemonium. Will show you what I make later. So for today, a couple more scrap-journal pages. I am loving making these-It must be using the bright colors! (Using this micro lens you can see every little blip, like where the bottom of the photo pops up-I am SUCH a slob!) It is the background on this page that I love, although it is a pretty good cacti picture too.. I started by putting down some scraps of paper I had. Then I used a very light layer of white paint over most of the page. Then I used some blue flat acrylic paint and a stencil from Crafter's Workshop to add the circles. A tad bit of spray from Dylusions. Some other scraps of paper and paper tape, a left over die cut star which I also sprayed good and thick with Dylusions spray ink. A few Viva paint pen dots, some stickers- and I added a few more sword stickers afterwards just because I think it needed a bit more. You can see the word stickers (Making Memories)-I don't think they make these any more which is too bad because I love them.

When author Chrystie Bowie–an outspoken liberal and confirmed pacifist–first mentioned writing a response to yesterday’s blog post, I was cautious. While I welcome intelligent debate in comments and forums, an actual article regaling the benefits of a nationwide gun ban is not something I care to publish. When I read the draft she sent me, I understood how silly my knee-jerk assumption had been. The truth is, common sense is common sense no matter what an individual’s personal convictions or political leanings might be. That was the heart of my post yesterday–that for America, it’s a really bad time to go brain dead. With every word she wrote, Chrystie proves that being enlightened has nothing to do with being liberal or conservative. Nothing to do with being aggressive or passive. It’s a quality of human nature, rooted in sentient intelligence and personal character. She states in her article that she writes to “halfway back up what [I was] saying and halfway present an argument different from [mine.]” She and I might differ when it comes to other viewpoints, but on this particular issue, we agree one hundred percent. I am very proud to offer a platform for Chrystie to speak her mind. I sincerely hope her article goes viral. A Pacifist Weighs in on Violence and Fear –by Chrystie Bowie I embrace change. The one that created the constitution and freed us from British rule is one Rhonda and I would both stand behind. The influx of immigrants that brought my Irish ancestors here during the Potato Famine is something I owe my existence to. I look out on a good day and see so much beautiful DIVERSITY, it makes my heart swell with pride for my home, the land of opportunity. People will continue to come to this country and bring new viewpoints. America is my home, but I welcome others here because this is the Land of The Free … or we hope it is. You see, freedom means more than being unencumbered by rules. It also means the freedom to be accountable for your own actions. And you can’t be accountable for your own actions if people don’t give you a chance to determine your own destiny and to help your children find their own way in the world. And that is why I am writing this blog post to halfway back up what Rhonda is saying and halfway present an argument different from hers. Don’t go into this post assuming I’m for or against what she’s saying. Go into it ready to hear my words as a standalone point of view that I’ve decided to share … When I heard about the Sandy Hook Massacre, my liberal bleeding heart did exactly what it is known for doing. It bled. I wept over the pictures of the twenty slain children and their fallen teachers. I couldn’t bear to stare at the mural someone painted of Santa Claus standing in front of Newtown with a sleigh full of presents, his face buried in his gloved hands while the reindeer bowed their heads in sorrow. I shook with disbelief that someone would be capable of something so heinous. I started looking through the pictures of my family members at that age, realizing how small and innocent we all looked, including these pictures of myself: The first one is me the Christmas I was six … I was the same age then as the twenty Newtown children who will now be receiving coffins for Christmas and Hanukkah. The second picture is my mother and me standing outside the Rotary Club on the day I received a scholarship to college in my senior year of high school. She was so proud of me that day. I was so happy to make her proud. I was able to give her that joy because I wasn’t mowed down by a gunman in my first grade classroom as a little girl. The shock and fear I experienced as I looked through pictures of my childhood after hearing of the tragedy was unbelievable. I cried so hard. For days. And at night, too. But I have to admit, even though I’m a pacifist, it never occurred to me that the problem was gun control issues. Yes, the problem might have been that Adam Lanza’s mother decided to keep guns in her house with a son she once warned a babysitter not to turn your back on, even to go to the bathroom. But to say the problem is that ANYBODY has a gun is kind of unfair, don’t you think? Even as a radical pacifist, I can see this. Don’t get me wrong, I dream of a world without guns and other weapons. I often visit intentional communities where everybody there has made a pact of nonviolence. And that works for them and I love being there … but here’s the catch. They all chose to agree to those terms and their community is small enough to build that kind of trust. The gun-free world I dream of, it’s one where weapons aren’t needed, not one where responsible people are made to feel like criminals because they choose a different path than mine. You just cannot FORCE people at the national or even state level to abide by those things if they don’t want to. They have to want to be that way or else a higher power is telling them what to do. And when you start telling people what to do and how to think … well, that’s a slippery slope that never leads anywhere positive. In fact, it often leads to resurgent violence and no pacifist should want that. I certainly don’t. How well did banning alcohol work in the Prohibition? How rich are other countries getting from the marijuana market right now? And that’s just recreational drugs. Someone who’s stoned, what are they going to do? Sit on the couch and eat a bag of Cheetos while laughing at Family Guy? Forcing something as dangerous as guns onto the black market makes me a little more nervous. Creating a taboo takes away one of the few things I think may actually work: education and awareness and creating a healthy respect for the dangers of mishandling firearms. If guns are illegal, the people getting their hands on them will never have had a chance to learn to handle one safely. Am I the only one who sees this middle viewpoint between ‘ban all guns’ and ‘give every adult one automatically’? This is all about fear on both sides. Fear is the problem here. Guns don’t kill people. People with their index fingers on triggers kill people … so educate these freaking people, don’t tie their hands behind their backs with mandates. I don’t like guns, personally, but I’m going to share with you my life-altering experience the afternoon I gained a better awareness for them. It stands out in my mind as one of those days that my horizons broadened and my world got a little bigger. First thing to know is that I work with a lot of men … funny, smart, kind, video-gaming, gun-enthusiastic young men in their early-to-mid twenties. They make me laugh. They make me cringe. They take me out of my college-educated, book smart, female, point of view and make me see things through their eyes. And one of them lured me to the gun range one warm April afternoon and encouraged me to shoot some of his ‘babies’ off. He warned me ahead of time that he was bringing his 50 Caliber Rifle, but if I was uncomfortable with it, he also had some tamer guns. I wasn’t exactly excited to go with him, but I stood in front of my Jeep at our meeting spot that day and waited for him to pick me up. I didn’t know what to expect, so I refrained from wearing my usual tie-dye motif and opted instead for an old pair of camouflage pants and a faded, green-and-white shirt. I figured that made me look properly ‘gunsy’. When we got to the range, the first thing I noticed was how collected and respectful everybody was. Nope, no ignorant hillbillies whooping to the sky as they attempted to shoot baseball caps off each other’s heads. There was a man that could have looked comfortable wearing a suit. A dad with his teenage son, being very specific about exactly how to load their gun safely. Oh, my mailman. My mailman? He gave me a smile and a nod as my friend and I got out of the car. I even sensed a tinge of sudden comradery when he recognized me. My friend started pulling cases out of his trunk that looked like they harbored odd shaped violins. The way he smiled so proudly, as he kept looking over at me with earnest anticipation, was kind of endearing. He wanted to convert me. “And this one,” he proclaimed as he pulled the biggest case out. “This one is my 50 cal. I call her The Queen.” “Because when she speaks, everybody listens.” What else could I expect from a gun enthusiast? I rolled my eyes. After watching him fire some of his guns, I was finally convinced to try some myself. It was actually kind of fun. But what really struck me was how responsible all the people around us were being. When one person needed to go ‘up range,’ everybody stopped shooting and multiple people took advantage of the lull, chatting and joking as they walked. When I accidentally turned to my friend with his highpoint in my hands, the shooters on both sides of us reacted strongly. My friend jumped into stern dad mode and corrected me sharply, all the while smiling an embarrassed apology to everybody else. I felt like a little girl who’d done something inappropriate and hadn’t realized it until I was scolded. These longtime gun owners did not play around about safety. They had years of experience to pass on. Years that would go to waste if they ever found their guns outlawed. Towards the end of our visit, my friend finally got The Queen out. The other shooters began to stare at us again, but it wasn’t irritation at me. It was a reverent curiosity for the giant rifle my friend was erecting in our stall. My eyes widened. That damn thing was as long as my leg. The arms of its tripod looked like little branches. My friend smiled and pulled out a box holding the ammunition. Cracking it open, he tilted it toward me to look in. Glaring back at me were rounds as long as my index fingers and as fat as sausages. Ok, so I got a little freaked out. When he fired The Queen, I finally understood what he meant when he said ‘everybody listens.’ He had never been joking that he planned to use it to force people to obey him. No, he literally meant that when that rifle went off, and the percussive shock wave hit my chest and sent a butterfly through my stomach, everybody at the range stopped what they were doing, put their safeties on, and came over to check us out. I listened to the conversations and, while I don’t remember exactly what everybody said, I do remember the feeling of community I felt coming off these people. I remember how my friend patted The Queen a few times while he talked, the way a pet owner would show off their beloved dog or cat. He loved that 50 Caliber and I could tell it wasn’t a deranged obsession but more of a respectful affection. He turned down a few requests from some of the shooters to get behind it for a round or two. That’s why I was kind of touched when he asked if I was ready to give it a try. He hadn’t let anybody else shoot it, but he looked like he wanted me to. I got the impression he would have been a little offended if I didn’t. So I sat down in the chair and wrapped my tense arms around the massive rifle. He showed me how to take the safety off and told me to go ahead when I was ready. I put my finger on the trigger and kind of pulled … then chickened out … then kind of pulled … then chickened out … then … After almost thirty seconds of this, my friend leaned in and spoke the truest words I’ve probably ever heard. “You know, dear,” his carefully disciplined, ex-military tone found its way to my ear past the other guns popping. “Sometimes it’s just as dangerous to be afraid as it is to be reckless. If you’re not ready, you should get up.” “No, no! I’m ready. I’m good now. Give me another chance.” He backed up again. And this time I pulled the trigger. I released that finger-long bullet so far down range, all I saw was a poof of dirt, far out in the field, as the recoil planted that rifle into my shoulder so hard that it scooted me and the chair I was sitting in back several inches. I was completely in shock. It took me a minute to decide whether I liked the experience or not. Eventually my answer came, kind of as a surprise to me as well, in the form of a loud, triumphant, “WHOOOOO!” That’s right folks … it was the hippy with her arms wrapped around a 50 Caliber Rifle, glasses askew on her face, that hollered to the sky like a backwoods hillbilly, as serious gun owners stared at me like I lost my marbles. My friend was kind of embarrassed for the second time that day. But I will never forget the lesson I learned that warm afternoon from people I would have never thought to spend time with had I not opened my mind and let them show me their world. Getting back to this issue of fear in light of the recent massacre, another thing bothers me just as much. A female friend I know said to me today, “I just don’t even know if I’m comfortable raising my children in this world anymore.” Where exactly is she planning to go? Have they approved warp travel to a mysterious colony on the moon that I’m unaware of? Then she said the one thing I was hoping she wouldn’t. “You know, you’re lucky you don’t have any children.” Now that was a double punch right to my heart. First of all, on a personal note, I actually happen to be saddened by my status as a childless woman. I have recently been finding my days without a little one at my side to be a lonely existence. Secondly, it was kind of annoying for her to say that childless people shouldn’t bother having any children just because bad things take place in this world. What if I believe I have something positive to pass on to a child that may help negate the bad things? What if my future child wants to be cop? Or a teacher, possibly a teacher who would sacrifice his or her own life to protect little kids from harm? What if I’m supposed to bear the person who finally finds a blanket cure for all types of cancer? Or becomes the person who defeats HIV, once and for all? What if my child, despite the fact that I’m not very religious, grows up to become some kind of missionary in a war-torn country and brings a message of hope and perseverance to those struggling? Why would I voluntarily remain childless out of fear and not only leave my own life incomplete but maybe even their future husband or wife’s? Fear. That’s the problem here. It’s not about guns or whether children have a place in this sometimes nasty world. It’s about what happens to people when fear determines their choices and what happens when they are in a position to force those limiting decisions on others. The way I see it, gun control and protecting our children have a similar analogy. It’s like having a pool in your backyard. That pool is cool, fun, and refreshing. But it also can be dangerous and children have died in pools when people aren’t careful. So you have two choices. You can build a fence around the pool, restrict access to it, make a child afraid of it … downplay its benefits while spitting fire and brimstone about the dangers. You can do all those things, but they will find a way to get into it if they want. You can try to save them by forcing your will on them and hoping it helps. Or you can show that child how to swim and educate him or her on the responsibility of engaging in an activity that poses such risk. Is it too much to ask that people, even children, be expected to take some responsibility for their own decisions instead of having them made for them? I don’t think so. It’s like a very wise person said to me once, “Sometimes it’s just as dangerous to be afraid as it is to be reckless.”

Quoth the raven: Nevermore. Ahhhh. Is it all over? The tradition lost for good? Since 1949, every year on January 19, Edgar Allen Poe’s birthday, a mysterious secret visitor, sometime between the hours of midnight and 5:30 am, would leave a bottle of Cognac and three roses at the monument marking Poe’s gravesite. Last night he failed to appear. That makes me very sad. I wonder what happened. As a serious lover of Edgar Allen Poe, one of my most memorable “tourist” excursions was a “back east” Washington DC trip with my good buddies, Theresa and Mary Alice, sometime during the mid-1990s. All three of us are big time readers, lovers of everything Poe, so we made a special trip to Baltimore to pay tribute to Poe, visiting several of the sites that honor him. In our rented car and armed with a decorative but seriously unspecific tourist map, we finally located the church where Poe is buried – which is to say, Poe is buried in the church yard, but not where the big grave marker is. It was late afternoon when we arrived and a wedding was just about to begin. There we were – in sloppy tourist duds -- while elegantly-clad people were filing into the church. Several people looked askance at us, apparently wondering what we were doing -- I guess local residents take their most famous author for granted. It was raining – misting, might be more like it. Nicely gloomy for a graveside visit. Because of the wedding festivities, we didn’t go into the back of the churchyard where Poe’s remains actually rest, but when we’d looked, touched, and had our fill of that site, we decided we had time to try for one more. We set out in search of 203 Amity Street, the old Baltimore house where Poe lived from 1833 – 1935, where he wrote “The Raven”, “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary….” You know the rest. Here’s what it looks like. The map was terrible. Time and time again we were lost, several times we came close to giving up. What complicated the situation was that by now it was very dark, street signs were either non-existent or obscured, and clearly this was not a popular tourist spot, at least not at that hour. Another issue was that this was most definitely NOT a good neighborhood – a terrible place, in fact, for three dedicated but somewhat clueless lady tourists to lurk and prowl by themselves. Finally, finally, we found Amity Street, and kept following what house number we could see until there it was – an undistinguished red brick row house. At that exact moment, a fleet of police cars, sirens wailing, passed us, slammed on their brakes a few feet ahead of us. Leaving their light bars flaring, the officers jumped from their cars and proceeded to arrest, or at least pursue someone. Now we really knew we had to get out of there. The possibility of gunfire seemed very real. We’d been told there was a memorial plaque on the house’s door, but there was no way we’d get close enough to see it. None of us wanted to leave the safety of the car to go up to the house itself. Instead, I opened the car door, barely stepped outside, and with my silly little tourist camera, turned and -- without focusing – snapped a picture of the house. By virtue of pure luck, that photo was probably the best I’ve ever taken. Because of the misty weather, together with the lights flashing from the police vehicles, the photo of the house turned out to be the very incarnation of spookiness – slightly blurred from the mist, strangely lighted from the cars. I don’t have that photo here in Israel – this was long before digital -- but it’s somewhere, I know that. Once in a while you get lucky, and that was my day. Once I’d snapped the picture, we left immediately, even as more police cars arrived on the scene. We never did know what was going down – a drug bust most likely. So for decades, now, every year on January 20, I’d check the Baltimore news, to see if Poe’s most dedicated fan had showed up with his toast of Cognac and bouquet of roses the night before. Every year, he -- or she – did. The Poe “toast” was even better than the swallows coming back to Capistrano – another of my favorite traditions. This one had a human benefactor. Someone, some actual person, was doing this, year after year. My eternal question was, how can this visitor be so mysterious? With all the hoopla, why isn’t he – or she – identified? The simple answer was, because no one wanted to. It was a lovely mystery. Why ruin it? All that said, in 2007, the Baltimore Sun reported that 92-year old Sam Porpora claimed he’d started the tradition, calling himself the “Poe Toaster”. Maybe he was, maybe he wasn’t, but this year, the 35 or so people who gathered outside the church yard’s iron gates, hoping to see the ‘Toaster’, were disappointed. He never showed up. "I'm very disappointed, to the point where I want to cry," said Cynthia Pelayo, 29, who’d stood at the gate for over six hours, hoping to see him. "I flew in from Chicago to see him. I'm just really sad. I hope that he's OK." Others in the pack of fans, all of whom huddled in blankets during the long cold night outside the churchyard, above, came from as far away as Texas, California and Massachusetts. Everyone speculated about why the mysterious visitor failed to appear. "You've got so many possibilities," said Jeff Jerome, the local curator, who has attended the ritual every year since 1977. "The guy had the flu, accident, too many people." He says he’ll continue the vigil for at least the next two or three years in case the visits resume. "So for me it's not over with," he said. It’s not over for me, either. I hope someone will pick up the tradition. Lest our longing for the lost Lenore turn into a lament for the lost Poe, himself.

I think the whole world is blogging. I don't think people keep journals anymore. I think I have noticed that most people who blog seriously probably prepare, edit, redo, censor, redo, reedit, and then finally post their blogs. I don't do that, in fact I hardly call myself a blogger. I wonder how many people out there are like me and post a blog when then feel compelled to do so, and also just kind of type what has been happening with themselves. (sounds like a journal to me) I kind of want to continue with that thread, but I won't I am noticing that my laptop makes a funny sound everytime I use the letter "T". I have been answering Craig's list ads for musicians and or gigs, and getting some show dates that way. Also pick up a gig from a Twitter person, that one is for the band, Road to Real I do have a wine tasting gig coming up on April 9th Tues from 5-7:30pm. Which reminds me I have to start preparing for that. 6351 SW Capitol Hwy (Hillsdale) I am not getting paid for this gig, well I guess I am getting some wine. I tried to get Mike my Bass player in on it as well but they only wanted the Singer/Songwriter person. This kind of changes things for me and I think I will have to really look at my play list. I might also have to do some Cover tunes to keep it mixed up a bit. Swallowing my pride on that one, but it makes sense. I am on vacation this week. I had a friend from Vancouver, BC come down for a 4 day weekend, which was a lot of fun I was supposed to leave on Thurs to drive down to Ca. to visit Michael my friend. I was getting an oil change and the oil change guy spotted a problem with my Differential, leaking grease. So now my car is in the shop and will be there till Friday, so that Thwarted my attempts to go to California. The pic above is of me at one of the falls along the Columbia River Gorge from this last weekend Ok this was basically boring.... talk at you soon

Curriculum Curriculum Outline Middle School, or the Middle Phase of Learning, is the transition years between the Junior School and Senior Phase of Learning. At Faith, it comprises Years 7 to 9. The curriculum at Faith Lutheran College, Redlands follows the Queensland Studies Authority Essential Learnings or the Australian Curriculum (English, Mathematics, Science, History and Geography). The Core Key Learning Areas Christian Studies English (Australian Curriculum) Geography (Australian Curriculum) Health and Physical Education History (Australian Curriculum) Mathematics (Australian Curriculum) Science (Australian Curriculum) Japanese (Year 7 and 8) The Career and Cultural Subjects Drama Music Visual Arts Japanese (Year 9) Technology Business Education Home Economics Information and Communication Technology Technology and Design Technology The term 'Technology' has come to describe such things as: the creative processes used to develop products; the products created through these processes; the ‘know-how’ related to these processes and products; and the tools and equipment used. Sometimes the term ‘technology’ is used to mean ‘computers’ or ‘information technology’. At Faith, however, it is used in a broader sense, as described here: Business Education; Home Economics; Information and Communication Technology; and Technology and Design. Home Economics, Information and Communication Technology and Technology and Design are offered in Year 7 to 10. Business, however, can only be chosen in Year 9 and 10. It is part of a two year subject that spans Middle School and Senior School. Year 9 students have used Laser cutting and engraving techniques, 3D printing and traditional woodworking skills to create the FOOSBALL TABLE. Homework In the Middle School, students can expect to have between one and one and a half hours (1-1 ½ hours) of homework each night. Students should regularly spend around 20 minutes per night on a Core Key Learning Area or Careers and Cultural Subjects. The work is designed to: consolidate classroom learning; complete what has been begun in class; stimulate interest in a topic; extend the student’s learning; encourage independent learning; and complete formal assessment. Assessment The purpose of assessment is to allow students opportunities to demonstrate what they know, and can do with what they know, in each Key Learning Area and Career and Cultural Subject. It also informs teachers about how effectively they are teaching, and how effective the learning process has been for students. Assessment also informs teachers’ future planning. Students will be assessed at regular intervals in a variety of ways. The Queensland syllabi indicate four ways that teachers can evaluate and assess students’ performance. They are: teacher observation; consultation; focused analysis; and self and peer evaluation. Of these, focused analysis is the one that will impact on home the most. Focused analysis, or formal assessment, might include such tasks as: assignments; projects; practical demonstrations; reports; artistic writing; oral presentations; multimedia presentations; group work such as debates; tests; exams; and construction of products. Calendars are collated on the College website () each term informing parents, carers and students of due dates of formal assessment for each subject. This calendar should be used to assist students to plan and organise their studies. All classes utilise ‘edmodo’ as a Learning Management System. Assessment tasks, resources and messages from teachers are all accessible through your child’s ‘edmodo’ pages. It is expected that students, with teacher guidance, will prepare for focused analysis during class lessons and homework time. Class time will be given for students to work on assessment and clarify concerns with teachers. If students are absent during assessment tasks, teachers may organise for that student to complete the assessment at another time; or, if appropriate, use an alternative means to assess a student’s progress in the unit of work. It is important for parents to contact the teacher if there is a concern with assessment. Gifted and Talented at Faith What does term ‘Gifted and Talented’ mean? It is often considered that the students in this area are a homogenous population themselves; however, gifts and talents correspond to distinct types of abilities. These natural abilities can be divided into four aptitude domains of either, intellectual, creative, social or physical. Everyone possesses some form of ability in each domain but it is those whose ability level largely exceeds most of their peers that are considered "gifted". With this in mind, gifted and talented students are encouraged to stay with their peer groups to allow them to develop their other domains effectively. At Faith, students are catered for within the classroom with multi-level activities and programs developed for pupils in order to develop and improve their skills, whilst enhancing their inherent motivation to learn. By stimulating their interests and creating a climate that promotes achievement, students are encouraged to accept and value their gifts. Provision for gifted pupils is integrated into an appropriate learning environment and an enriched curriculum giving the gifted and talented students opportunity to demonstrate and develop their talents. Opportunity is also provided through extracurricular activities and clubs providing some more in depth explorations of subjects. Special experiences are also provided throughout the year where students are able to extend and challenge themselves. Subject Information

A couple years ago in the spirit of making bucket lists and such, my brother and I decided our bucket list would be to catch trout in 100 streams in Washington (moving water, no lakes, but beaver dams count). We started counting those where we'd already caught fish, and started making our lists from our earliest forays with fly fishing as Boy Scouts to more recent years exploring blue lines on the gazetteer. We both were just shy of 70 streams. Since then it has been fun to turn every trip into an excuse to check out new streams: picking up a few small tributaries to the Yakima near Snoqualmie Pass on the way back from Seattle; leaving early to explore a few small streams near Ellensburg on the way to picking up a daughter from camp; visiting the MF Snoqualmie, which I had never done while growing up in Seattle; planning a trip with my youngest daughter to NE Washington last summer and picking up 24 new streams, some beautiful streams I'd revisit in an instant, others too small and brushy to fish (well, except for the one little fish I had to pull out in order to add it to my list). Well, this summer I hit stream #100 at Indian Creek near White Pass, finding a small brook trout after hiking to the stream above the falls (I'm now at 103 streams and still climbing). It's fun to reflect back on those memories and some of the places I've found trout. Driving down an apparently waterless creek while exploring the Entiat drainage with my brother, we threw the car in reverse when we saw what looked like some moss covered water. Sure enough, there was a beaver dam and a little open water with trout visible from the road. My brother caught a couple small trout casting from the road, then with waders on we carefully entered the water and each caught about a dozen 10" to 12" rainbows. Returned there for several years and found similar fishing until one year the channel was changed and no fish were to be found. On another trib of the Entiat, my brother and I took 10 minutes to thread our way 30 feet from the road to the stream through a jungle of alder, then found the stream completely encased in the alder thicket. Not letting that stop us, we threaded our rods through the trees with about a foot of line out, dipped the fly on the water, strip set to hook the small trout, threaded the rod back out of the branches, and unhooked the little guys. After one or two fish each, we decided this was too much work and continued on to a less brushy stream. While on a hike along Lake Chelan as a Scoutmaster, there were little six-inch trout literally jumping out of the water and hooking themselves on a fly held a few inches above the surface of the stream. Stopping along a tiny stream for a water break while hiking with my brother as Boy Scouts, we'd race to get our Fenwick reversible fiberglass pack rods put together and the line with the fly already attached through the guides so we could fish for 5 minutes, then put it away and continue on with the hike. Standing on a culvert in a slow-water section of an east side stream, I watched 18" and 22" rainbows come rocketing from dozens of feet away to hammer a fast-stripped white bunny leach. I could list dozens more. Each stream is a wonderful memory of the fish caught and the company kept. Write down a list of the streams in Washington where you've caught fish, and whether it's two or two hundred, enjoy the memories that come back to you. Then go out and make some more.

I cracked open the last jar of from last year and realized I needed to do some canning. While I'm not a huge jam person, I a scone person and like toppings on hand at all times should the urge to whip up a batch strike. Jam on matzoh is also pretty good, if I don't feel like baking for tea time. Blackberries were on sale, but not exactly what I had in mind. Then I saw some fresh rhubarb and decided to put the two together. Rhubarb blends well with berries of all kinds, as they both have that sour and tangy undertone. As for the debate over whether rhubarb is a fruit or vegetable, botanically it's a veggie. It is classified as a fruit because it is so sour that everyone adds lots of sugar to it and treats it like a fruit. The debate always makes me think of the song from Epcot's Kitchen Kabaret that closed many years ago. I use a lot of lemon juice in my canning because I get the lemons off the tree instead of using bottled juice like you're supposed to for consistent acidity. I'm sure my canned goods are safe, but I put in a little extra insurance. At the very least, it keeps the colors bright for months. If you're using juice out of the lemon, go with the 3 Tb in the recipe. From a bottle or not canning, you can do 1 Tb and add the other two as water, if you even need it. 3 Tb lemon juice Cut the rhubarb stalks in half lengthwise, then 1/4" cuts (like celery for tuna salad). Slice the blackberries in half through the core. Place the fruits, sugar, and lemon juice in a medium saucepan and heat over medium until boiling. If canning, start setting up a water bath and jars for a 1 pt yield. Stir jam periodically as it approaches a boil. It will be giving off a lot of liquid to distribute. You also don't want to scorch the sugar before it dissolves. After a few minutes at a low boil, you will see a little scummy foam. Skim that off with a spoon to reveal the jewel-like jam below. Continue to boil until everything has broken down and the rhubarb fibers have separated, at least 30 minutes. Skim off foam as necessary. Once jam is cooked and thickening, either portion into jars and process in a water bath for 12 minutes or cool in an open container in the fridge and use within a week or two. makes about 1 pint Difficulty rating π (maybe :) if you're canning)

This particular ebook is set liberating psychology's poetic mind's eye from the lifeless weight of subconscious assumptions concerning the soul. even if we expect of the soul scientifically or medically, behaviorally or when it comes to internal improvement, we all are used to taking into consideration it in anyone context, as anything own. during this ebook, in spite of the fact that, we're requested to contemplate psychology from a really transpersonal standpoint as a cultural, universal-human phenomenon. Cobb teaches us to examine the area as a list of the soul's struggles to rouse and because the soul's poetry. From this angle, the true foundation of the brain is poetic. good looks, love, and creativity are as a lot instincts of the soul as sexuality or starvation. Cobb indicates us how artists and mystics can train us the which means of affection, loss of life, and sweetness, if basically we will be able to wake up to their creations. The exemplars listed below are Dante, Rumi, Rilke, Munch, Lorca, Schumann, and Tarkovsky. Read Online or Download Archetypal Imagination: Glimpses of the Gods in Life and Art (Studies in Imagination) PDF Sex, Paranoia, and Modern Masculinity (SUNY series in Psychoanalysis and Culture) How sleek conceptions of paranoia grew to become linked to over the top or unregulated masculinity. intercourse, Paranoia, and sleek Masculinity explores how twentieth-century conceptions of paranoia grew to become linked to the over the top or unregulated workout of masculine highbrow trends. via a longer research of Freudian metapsychology, Kenneth Paradis illustrates how paranoid ideation has been in particular hooked up to the determine of the male physique lower than hazard of genital mutilation or emasculation. Transmettre (ou pas) (ESSAIS DOC.) (French Edition) Ce livre est issu de trois conférences (complètement retravaillées) données par le psychanalyste début 2012 au Collège des Bernardins, l'important établissement culturel de l'Eglise à Paris. Que ce soit dans l. a. relation maître-élève, dans l. a. relation parents-enfants, ou dans les religions quelles qu'elles soient, nous sommes tous habités par le désir de « faire passer » un savoir, des valeurs, une culture. Essstörungen im Leistungssport (German Edition) In der heutigen Gesellschaft, insbesondere in den westlichen Industrieländern, wird dem Essen oftmals, resultierend aus dem Nahrungsüberschuss, dem Individualismus sowie der starken Konsumorientierung und der Entwicklung eines funktionalistischen entpersonalisierten Körperbildes, eine missbräuchliche Funktion zugeschrieben. Law and the Postmodern Mind: Essays on Psychoanalysis and Jurisprudence (Law, Meaning, And Violence) David grey Carlson and Peter Goodrich argue that the postmodern felony brain could be characterised as having shifted the point of interest of felony research clear of the modernist figuring out of legislations as a procedure that's unitary and break free different points of tradition and society. In exploring a number of the "other dimensions" of legislation, students have constructed replacement species of felony research and famous the lifestyles of alternative different types of legislations. Additional resources for Archetypal Imagination: Glimpses of the Gods in Life and Art (Studies in Imagination) Rated 5 – based on votes

New Life for CCSF Supporters of City College of San Francisco have won a temporary reprieve in their quest to prevent the college from losing its accreditation in July. A San Francisco Superior Court judge on Thursday granted a partial injunction to block the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) from yanking the college’s accreditation until after a lawsuit filed by the city attorney, Dennis Herrera, can be resolved. Herrera last August filed a legal challenge to the accreditor, claiming that political bias, improper procedures and conflicts of interest improperly influenced its scrutiny of the financially mismanaged college. Faculty unions also filed a separate lawsuit to halt and reverse the accreditor’s actions. . . . The City College tussle has become heavily politicized, and is being watched closely in Washington. The court’s ruling this week is the latest of several dramatic and unusual developments in the accreditation saga. For example, the U.S. Department of Education last year sent a harshly critical letter to the commission [i.e., the ACCJC] for its handling of the college’s review. Faculty and students subsequently called for the commission to lose its federal recognition. They were joined in those calls by two Bay Area members of the U.S. House of Representatives. But last month a federal panel gave the accreditor a year to come into compliance with the Education Department’s standards…. City College of San Francisco Will Fight in Court For Accreditation; Major Win For School

Ever year the Whatcom County Library System picks a Washington Author's Book to read as a whole county- . Along with the book picked there are all kinds of activities as well. I have yet to make it to an actual author talk but maybe this is the year. This year's pick is Elizabeth George's In the Presence of the Enemy Hailed as the "king of sleaze," tabloid editor Dennis Luxford is used to ferreting out the sins and scandals of people in exposed positions. But when he opens an innocuous-looking letter addressed to him at The Source, he discovers that someone else excels at ferreting out secrets as well. Ten-year-old Charlotte Bowen has been abducted, and if Luxford does not admit publicly to having fathered her, she will die. But Charlotte's existence is Luxford's most fiercely guarded secret, and acknowledging her as his child will throw more than one life and career into chaos. Luxford knows that the story of Charlotte's paternity could make him a laughingstock and reveal to his beautiful wife and son the lie he's lived for a decade. Yet it's not only Luxford's reputation that's on the line: it's also the reputation—and career—of Charlotte Bowen's mother. For she is Undersecretary of State for the Home Office, one of the most high-profile Junior Ministers and quite possibly the next Margaret Thatcher. One activity I plan to do is the letterboxing activity similar to geocaching. They will be releasing clues to letterboxes located in the library. The letterboxes have image stickers you collect to form a rebus (a visual puzzle). So far, 2 clues have been released. There are 5 clues total. Once you collect all the stickers and solve the rebus. You can enter the drawing for Elizabeth George's next book . So if you are local, give this a go. I have read previous Whatcom Reads selections but so far this is my favorite. Previous Selections have included The Absolute True Diary of a Part Time Indian,

While I paid hundreds of dollars to read the books of dead sociologists, The Geek stays home and learns how to tile-for free. I'm not sure what I'll get out of my deal, but with The Geek's new skills, once the grout is here and applied, we can hook up the radiator and turn on the boiler so we have heat when we need it. I'm feeling a little ripped off.

Jurgen Klopp has revealed both Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino are back on Merseyside following their exploits for Brazil – and also answered questions on both Daniel Sturridge and Adam Lallana. Speaking at a press conference on Thursday to preview Saturday’s clash at Southampton, Klopp said he’d not actually heard from the South American pair – but was happy to explain that no news was good news. “After international breaks it’s a special situation. It feels different,” he said. “It wasn’t possible for me to watch the Brazil games live. “When I wake up and see there is no message then I take that as good news.” Klopp continued: “Everybody should be able to see that we’ve been working together and that’s what has happened up until now. “It was good, important word is ‘was’. “Then we had 10 days a break with players coming back from all around the world.” Klopp refused to say if the Brazilian pair would start against Saints, and was less than revealing about another man, Sturridge. The Reds striker has been linked with plenty of moves away this week, but Klopp insisted the striker has returned to training with a positive attitude. “My opinion is very good about Daniel, it has never changed, I saw the (England) game and he scored a wonderful goal,” the Reds boss added. “He is a wonderful football player so why should I change after 70-something minutes in the first game and no minutes in the second game? “It is very positive. When he came back he was happy to see us again, I could see in his face, his attitude and the fun he had in training. “He was really happy to be and that’s a good sign.” Asked whether Sturridge would be happier playing Klopp added: “I was a player for a few years so yes, probably.” Lallana rated 50/50 One man who is doubtful on Saturday is Lallana, who limped off with a groin injury against Spain while playing for England on Tuesday. “With Adam we don’t know yet exactly,” Klopp said. “We haven’t done a scan until now. “It will be close. Hopefully it’s not too serious.” Klopp on Southampton Saints have been in good form so far under new boss Claude Puel and Klopp knows his side will be in for a real test. “The biggest surprise for me so far has been Southampton,” the German added. “They have done an unbelievable job. Four of our team are from there – so it will quite the game. “They replaced a very good manager with a great replacement. “[Nathan] Redmond quite a good choice to replace [Sadio] Mane. “But we want to go there and win, rather than celebrate Southampton’s scouting department.” Keep up to date on the latest issues at Anfield by liking their Reds Addict page on facebook.

We have been waiting for it to snow, but not much so far. I guess there are parts in the world where they would be glad there was no snow for a few days in winter, but in Holland we always wish for snow, or enough frost to go ice skating. But this winter (and last) we had no such luck. Making a snowball block may help right? Because our sledges and snowboots are ready to go! FWQ #79 Silver Lane FWQ #80 Single Wedding Star Only 29 to go, whatever will I do after a full year and a half of making farmers wife blocks?

fishing plan had been to float the South Fork of the New River and flyfish for smallmouth bass. Then came the rain. Yesterday afternoon's rain showers turned into thunderstorms that kept regenerating and continued into the morning, and the normally clear South Fork turned into chocolate milk. Obviously that the river less pretty for floating. More importantly to our plans, it tends to put the fish in shutdown mode until the water begins clearing at least a little bit. The plan was for us to go to the outpost in Todd, North Carolina, which is right on the South Fork. Instead Kelly McCoy, RiverGirl founder and namesake, came to our group, and took us trout fishing farther up in the New River watershed. Even well upstream, the water was higher and more stained than what McCoy had hoped to find. That meant different flies and a bit of added challenge in wading conditions. She also hadn't planned to try to guide three people on a single smallish stream. She adapted exceptionally well, though, taking everything as it came, and taking time with each of us to make sure we were doing all that was within her control to catch some fish. I caught a few fish, a brown and a couple of rainbows and brown, and one of the rainbows definitely was a wild fish. (That one flopped out of my hand before I could get a photo, of course.) As important as catching fish, I learned a lot that I can apply for future stories, and I really appreciate McCoy adapting to accommodate us.

Recording Earthquakes with the Slinky Seismometer Kasper van Wijk: Boise State University, Ted Channel: Boise State University, Martin Smith: Blindgoat Geophysical, Chris Knudsen: New England Research Inc. This is the eighth generation of our Slinky Seismometer. The newly designed interface between the analog sensor and computer (named the NERdaq) is based on open hardware from Arduino. This latest version of the system is capable of recording teleseismic earthquakes of magnitude 6 and greater. The detection threshold of the the Slinky Seismometers for regional events is much lower yet. Full-resolution graphics file in original format: 0050.jpg Acknoweldgements: We thank the students of GEOPH201 Seeing the Unseen: An Introduction to Physics of the Earth for their enthusiasm for this project, especially Kara Ferguson and Helena Malone. Keywords: education, earthquake_seismology, instrumentation --- ---

It's a little intimidating blogging after that last post. Thank you so much everyone who left a comment here, in a gallery, or sent me an email. Some of the emails I received really, really touched me and I'll be saving them for a long time. Thank you. I meant to blog my vacation photos last week but I forgot my USB cable. It was still attached to my computer. I saved you a seat though: :) So trying to figure out first things first, or whose on first, or something. I feel all disorganized after vacation. Trying to edit 400 photos, why did I take/need so many? I'm just lazy about deleting them during an outing. I don't want to waste any more time fiddling with the camera, you know? Lots of photos with J in his PFD (personal flotation device) vest. It's not the most photogenic thing, but so important. So many people drown on the Outer banks, esp in the summer. The average is 3 per week in the "on" season. The riptide and undertow are so strong. The PFD was for me too, in the event that I had to go in after him I would be struggling to keep him and myself afloat while swimming against the undertow. So I'd have to swim quite a bit longer to get back to shore, and thus possibly drown myself. I love the water, was a lifeguard, and grew up in this part of the country. But I have huge respect for it and what it can do.

J-Murk (Jordan) performs in Scottsdale, AZ Saturday, also known as "The Day After Christmas Crash" I sat sated, pensively feeling on a handful of new beads; both in my hands and mind's eye. Only one eye though, as the other ogle my new journal and color scanner; key components in my quest to break off the monitor and into print with my doodlings and musings. Yael Rose sit in her whimsy-filled quarters, focusing intently on her new skateboard and instructional guide for girl skaters. Joe is fidgeting with gadgets I should surely know by name after 20 years of art and love. He has that look...the one we all get around here when we're trying to balance the beckoning of the muse against the bellowing of real life. And the phone rings...(per usual I'm the only one who hears it) Grimace. Hello... Din of voices. Hello...Hello Mommy? It's Jordan who has gone to a local venue to audition for their New year's Eve event. "Hey, how'd it go"? Most admirably restraining the desire to squeal-a mother knows these things, he says, "They liked me." Mom-always needing further clarification says, "Oh good, so you made it". To which he says, "Yes they liked me!" We exchanged a few more words then I hung up and told Joe the news. Yael Rose (yes, the same one who didn't hear the phone) enters and says, "Cool, Jordan made it!" I go back to my spot and the playback begins, "Mom, they liked me..." It echoes through my thoughts in an almost surreal manner. For a moment, I'm frozen. I need to organize these thoughts, I need to make sense of what I'm feeling. Part of me feels like I need to have a grade school-like talk about self-acceptance and self esteem. But, I know better. In my heart, I know that Jordan is confident and self loving, I know that Jordan is a well-rounded young adult. In my [he]art though, I also know what he just said, what he is feeling is indeed genuine; completely honest. He does feel an overwhelming sense of acceptance at this moment, greater than even a mother's love. It's what we've been unknowingly preparing him for all along. Jordan is an artist; the Self and the craft are one. Pauses in ambivalence. Somehow, I suspect this realization weighs more heavily on me than him. Peace, art and love

About a month ago, I was asked to make a "wedding cake" for a bridal shower. It was to be the centerpeice for the shower. The bride had, what I considered, unconventional wedding colors. They are purple, black, and red. I stuck with purple, much to the host's delight. I started with the ribbon. I used the same technique that I used on my last cake, I just gussied this one up a bit more. I wanted it to look a little fancier. Then I added some dark purple lillies to match the ribbon. These are the first lillies I've done with fondant (if you don't count the 5 or 6 that were scrapped because they didn't turn out). They looked deceptively simple to do, but were a little bit of a headache. I think I figured them out though. The greatest thing about this cake is the size. Overall, it was about 6 inches tall. I actually had to make it out of brownie instead of cake to boost it's structural integrity. I love miniatures. This one was just so CUTE!!!

Yohan Gourcuff challenged to shine by Lyon chief Jean-Michel Aulas Jean-Michel Aulas says Yohan Gourcuff's future will come down to whether he helps Lyon achieve their aims this season. Playmaker Gourcuff is back in the squad after seeing his campaign disrupted by injuries, making just 13 appearances for the Ligue 1 side. The France international, who is contracted at Lyon until next summer, has failed to live up to expectations since arriving from Bordeaux in 2010, struggling for form and fitness. He has been linked with a move away in the summer, with Arsenal reported to be long-term admirers of the 26-year-old. But Aulas says he will struggle to attract interest unless he makes an impact in the final part of Lyon's season, with the club in the mix at the top of the Ligue 1 table. He told L'Equipe: "We have no choice but for him to again find the value that could attract some clubs. "The club has to succeed in our project, which means qualification for the UEFA Champions League. "Then, we will have a talk with him to see if his future is at Lyon. But if we cannot reach our objectives he will have no opportunity because he will not have participated in a positive adventure." Aulas feels Gourcuff has settled into the squad after a less than smooth start, adding: "He doesn't get injured intentionally. "He looked like someone who has difficulties adapting in the group so it was not easy. But nowadays he seems much more relaxed with everyone. "As an official I have to make him comfortable in order for him to give his best."

Very quiet and beautifull, our appartment is located in an ancient english convent finally transformed in appartment in the early 18th. The courtyard is very charming with plants and lots of flowers.The kitchen is fully furnished open to the living-room. A sleeping room viewing the courtyard with a double bed, a kids room on the others side, a bunk bed ( from 2,5 years old to adult ), a shower, kitchen in the living room. The street is small and quiet. There are lots of light coming into the flat because there are lots of windows in every room. It is very well exposed, the sun is coming inside. Located closed to MOUFFETARD on one side and CHINATOWN on the other. It is very easy to go to the Eiffel tour, museums and restaurants. The ligne 6 ( Glacière) is going to the Eiffel Tour, the Museum. Bus 83 is going to the Grand Palais and Tuilerie. Bus 21 is going to Le Louvre. Gare du Nord, Gare Montparnasse, Gare de Lyon are very easy to reach. 20 min from Orly, 45 mi from Charles-de-Gaulles Airport. bus 21, 83, 91 ; metro ligne 5, 6, 7 French family educated with many interest, specially in films, litterature, music, subculture in general. Always communicate through Airbnb To protect your payment, never transfer money or communicate outside of the Airbnb website or app. Explore other options in and around Paris More places to stay in Paris:

A letter from one of our Doctor of Osteopathy (DO) students in Saudi Arabia. Dear Dr Shahin Pourgol, It was really a pleasure being a student at this respectful academic institute and I was honored being one of the graduates of this university. I would like to extend my appreciation and admiration for you personally and the rest of the faculty at National University of Medical Sciences for the limitless help and continuing support given me during my study year. I may not have had the chance before to express my true feelings towards the institute as well as towards you personally, and I am sure that there are no words that can explain how much I really appreciated all your assistance and help. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and happy graduation for all graduates, and best of luck to all. Muahmmed A. S. Almashhour Alanzi, MD, DO NUMSS Doctor of Osteopathy Student Class of September 2013

My lovely upline Sarah-Jane sent me a gift in the post for Christmas so obviously I had to send her a little "Thank You" card. But when someone is as good a crafter as she is you obviously have to raise your game, so I thought I would try a fancy fold. From this overview, you can see that there is a circle cut into the cardstock and folded. This gives an easel type effect to the card. So when you lift up the front of the card it stands up nicely on it's own. The white section you can see in the previous two photo's is the area when I wrote my message. It was fun to try something different from the usual tent fold or gate fold card, I just hope she liked it. Take care, and have a great weekend ... xx : "Faith in Nature" - Hostess Stamp Set : "Poppy Parade" & "Whisper White" : "SNAIL" and Dimensional adhesives.

This weekend we ran our backyard vegie production workshop. It ran over 2 full days and covered a wide range of topics based around 4 main areas. No dig gardens and Design covers aspect and site analysis. Participants draw a rough plan of the property, put in north ( or south for our Spanish participant) and existing structures etc and then we start adding various aspects of the property that will have an effect eg winter sun, summer sun, strong winds etc. We ask them to make a list of things they would like in their backyard and look at how all these are best placed. Propagation is next and we look at making our own seed raising mix and potting mix, how to sew seeds, when to pot up, how to plant out and much more. We discuss what vegies to grow, how much of each for family requirements and how often to plant to have continuous supply.We construct a simple propagation house using hay bales and an old window, and discuss where to place it in the backyard for maximum efficiency. We get our hands dirty making a nodig garden and planting it out discussing placement of various seedlings depending on size, access and time needed to mature. Natural pest control starts with the Web of Life game where we try to show how completely we are connected to everything else and how disruptions such as pesticide use will disrupt the web. We build a frog pond... and a worm tower.. "Very informative and inspiring and helpful. I have learnt enough to start my home vegie gardens" " I learnt heaps, loved and valued all points covered. Appreciated knowledge shared by Mark and Kate" I love the people go away after a workshop feeling confidant enough to get started on the path of producing their own food

I have grown to love the traditional music of Panamà. It is just different and fun, so I have years of new oldies to catch up on. Here’s a few of my favorites. And here below is Pacifico Dominguez. Pacifico learned accordion from his father who in my next door neighbor. Pretty cool. Very awesome people! And here is a local favorite. Well done but not my style. I love this place!!

This windmill ornament was produced by the Von Dutch company - the swastika which here represent the sails were an early symbol used by the dutch company. Many folk are perhaps unaware of the overlap in symbolism between the mill and the swastika. The swastika is a symbol of Thor/Thunor and is used to represent his hammer. The mill represents the World Mill - which itself is a cosmic Swastika, as we will see in this post. The 'Mill' itself refers to the grinding stone used to make flour - a windmill is simple a wind powered millstone, as opposed to a smaller hand turned one. The root of the word Mill is from the Proto Indo-European mel which basically meant 'to grind' - thus the grinding of wheat and cereals into flour. Thors hammer Miollnir takes its name from this same root word - we still use the word 'mallet' which means the same. The windmill with its rotating sails represents movement and the measure of time - hence the windmill is associated with the Three Norns - who bought to us the laws of Cause and effect (ie time), as well as the movements of the Sun and Moon across the sky. The sun Sol and moon Mani are the children of Mundilfari and he himself is the god of the Cosmic Millstone which is the northern night sky which rotates around the Pole star. As Ursa Major rotates around the Pole star this forms the Cosmic Swastika which is a symbol of both of Thor/Thunor and Mundilfari.

This summer our students took three trips. graders went to South Dakota for nine days , and we had a blast. Three twelve-passenger vans pulled out of the church parking lot on June 18. We spent nine days seeing the Midwest, enjoying cookies with Jerry’s parents, seeing lots of cattle, milking cows, seeing Mt. Rushmore, the Badlands and, of course, the Corn Palace. We played countless games of Werewolf and card games in the van. We also had time every day to open up God’s Word and talk about standards and how God wants us to live. It was an incredible trip and God continues to use the lessons from South Dakota in students’ everyday lives. July 9-14 our High Schoolers MOBILIZED their faith into action and went to Atlanta, Georgia to serve homeless men and women. We spent time serving lunch and dinner to new friends, washing feet, playing games, and talking - treating people like people. There was a huge change in students’ hearts throughout the week. As one 11 grade girl puts it, “My heart was truly broken this week, but I will be forever thankful for that. My heart was broken in order to see the things that break His heart.” Students got to be the hands and feet of Jesus this week and God used them to show Himself to the world. Surf City is our Middle School camp for the summer and it is a favorite of many. The week (August 6-11) was spent tubing, swimming, wave running, dune jumping, blobbing, playing crazy games, and biking to the local ice cream shop. Every day students had Club where we worshiped together (loud, fun, and lots of dancing) and heard the Gospel message. Students heard about God’s amazing love and how Jesus died on the cross for their sins. Many students recommitted their lives to Jesus over the week, and we celebrated with them as they continue to grow in their faith and love for God. Thank you for your prayers throughout the summer, God has used you to pray and support the students at Hebron. Lives were changed this summer and you are part of the life-change of many!

11/28/11 Tuesday, at approximately 7:06 p.m., officers from the Indiana State Police and Fulton County Sheriff’s Department responded to a 911 call reporting a possible murder at 6832 West Olson Road in rural Rochester. The preliminary investigation revealed that the owners of a residence at 6832 West Olson Road arrived home from work, and found a rear door to the house open. Upon entering the house, they found the body of 81 year old Wilma Upsall.  An autopsy, conducted on Wednesday, revealed that Upsall died of a gunshot wound.  There were signs of forced entry into the home but investigators have yet to determine if any articles are missing from the residence. Upsall lived at the home with her daughter and son-in-law. Wednesday night, at approximately 6:34 p.m., officers from the Indiana State Police initiated a traffic stop on a Chevrolet El Camino on 20 A Road near the town of Monterey. The El Camino had purportedly driven across the center line and was exceeding the posted 55 miles per hour speed limit. Officers also wanted to speak with the occupants of the Chevrolet about Upsall’s alleged murder. When troopers activated the emergency lighting and sirens on their police cars, the El Camino accelerated and led officers on an approximately ten minute pursuit. The chase ended when the Chevrolet crashed on State Road 117 north of State Road 110. The driver, Jason Miller, 34, Plymouth, and his two passengers, William Scroggs, 25, Delong, and Roy Bell, 24, Rochester, all fled on foot. After an overnight manhunt, by multiple police agencies, Scroggs and Miller were eventually located and incarcerated in the Fulton County Jail. They each face a single count of murder and two class A felony charges for burglary and robbery. They are being held without bond. Scroggs and Miller were found in different locations and at different times. Roy Bell was located at his girlfriends house in Monterey by Starke County Police officers and is currently being questioned at Fulton County Jail.

But enough about the weather here. I just want to take a moment to mention some of the truly tacky fabulous architecture in Orlando. This building, just off I-4 in Winter Park, is home to "Club Harem," and before that, "The Booby Trap." In cities like Milwaukee, they use their to house large collections of cacti, shrubs, and bulbs. Does that count as culture?  That's not how we roll here in Orlando. Here, we use domed buildings to celebrate women and the art of dance. It proves to be a lovely view from the sky, as well.

This is just one of the King Tiger Prototypes that wasn't chosen for production. I couldn't find any photos of the real thing so I am not sure it made it off the drafting table. This is the Hobby Boss kit, which I was pretty impressed with. To start, the turret detail interior was so fine that I had to leave open all of the hatches and put a light in it. Still cant see all of the detail inside without taking the turret off. I even left out the ammo to help see inside from the rear hatch. I did paint this up and add some markings to represent it in action as if it had been manufactured. I like the grey color scheme. I used a combination of Gun Metal and blue to create the warn effect, then did the usual layers of oil washes. The tracks were individual half links. Two pieces per length so you had to be sure to keep them alternating in order. I sis this in length and link sections to be able to fit the wheels and sprockets. There were extra links so I made some stowage racks on the turret to hang them. Vince B. Dec 1

My team this quarter is placed at Pioneer Industries (check out what they do) and has had the opportunity to learn about what it takes for a business to decrease their environmental impact. We’ve learned that change is always harder than expected and that being held accountable to an environmental program requires certification. This is where the ISO 14001 Certification comes in. This certification is supported both by customers and the public in an effort to encourage businesses to document the way they manage the Environmental Aspects of their operations throughout their supply chain. Another aspect of this process is continual improvement of these systems to move beyond compliance to greater efforts to be environmental stewards in a commitment to their community and the planet. We have the honor of playing a key role in Pioneer Industries receiving this certification. Through this project our tasks include: Talking with current employees to learn about their processes and how the demands of the certification process will work into what they are already doing We’ve learned that Pioneer is already meeting many of the requirements that this standard requires, therefore, we have shifted our focus to the documentation and communication of their efforts. By the end of it all, we will have: 1. Created a new company-wide environmental policy and Environmental Manual that outlines all of their sustainability efforts. 2. Identified new processes that are needed and communicated them to employees 3. Create an implementation plan for the company to successfully become ISO 14001 certified in 6 months.

My cat and my doll. This is a nightly occurence. Phoebe was never interested in the boys. In fact, she spent much time hidden in closets or under beds while they were tiny. She still doesn't seem to notice them much, although she doesn't hide as much as she used to. The day we brought Elizabeth home from the hospital we placed her in her crib and went back to check on her ten minutes later and right there beside her was that old cat. She was purring. Of course we didn't leave her there, but every chance she got she tried to sneak in. It was like she was so grateful to finally have some more estrogen in the house. Do cats have estrogen? Elizabeth drags her, brushes her, puts stickers on her, rocks her, and attempts to dress her like a princess and that cat just takes it. Twelve years that cat loved only me. She was part of our family, but she was I think she's Elizabeth's cat now. And you know what, I'm okay with that. As long as she'll snuggle with me now and then.

The House We Had to Buy How did this project get started? Last summer I went to Rwanda for my global and urban ministries minor. It was a three-month trip, and I went with a friend from Moody Bible Institute. We were working on community development projects with a Rwandan pastor, and we met these street kids one day. They were very poor, running around all day without shoes on. They begged all day. As we got to know these kids, learning about the things that affect their lives on a daily basis, we came back knowing we had to do something. We decided to purchase a home for the boys. We’ve partnered with two organizations, one in Rwanda and one here in America, to raise money and get a staff for the orphanage. Now we’re continuing to raise support and establish monthly commitments to maintain the house. We call the project Hope for Life Ministries Watch Megan Swanson’s story, and find out why she started a home for street boys in Rwanda. What was the turning point for you? I couldn’t forget those kids. There is one night that stands out to me. One of the boys — we were walking home together — he begged me not to leave him because he didn’t want to sleep in the streets anymore. I remember that night choosing: I knew I couldn’t just go home and leave those kids there. So what is life like for a Rwandan street kid? At night they sleep in pipes, which offer protection. Ninety-five percent of the kids are boys because girls are too vulnerable to be in the streets. Some are orphans, and some were abused by parents, or their family was too poor to care for them. Out of the 11 children in the home, all but one had an alcoholic parent. They’re at risk of being captured by the police. The government is trying to clean up the streets, so they’re sending the kids to jail. Eight kids were captured by the police the day we left. We had to prove the boys had a stable home. After the police saw the orphanage, they let them out. What are the next steps for Hope for Life Ministries? The next steps for Hope for Life Ministries are to continue raising support financially and to combine people’s skills and passions in ways that will help the home. I’ll be traveling back to Rwanda in December, possibly with a couple of SPU students who have found out what we’re doing and want to get involved. We hope to train some of the staff in how to work with the children better and help out on a regular basis around the home. How did SPU prepare you for a project like this? Thinking back on my years at SPU, I’ve changed as a person. I’ve grown spiritually; I wouldn’t have been able to do this if I wasn’t strong in my faith. They’ve given me a vision of what it looks like to be aware of the world, what’s happening in it, and how to respond to the needs in our world. View Engaging the Culture Archives

Have you ever faced a garage full, and I mean FULL, of your own “stuff” -stacked way over your head? It’s quite a feeling, and not a good one! I had our garage in Minot filled halfway up the walls in rows with all the belongings of a family of five, and from fifty something years of living. I was overwhelmed, absolutely overwhelmed! I will never forget that feeling! One of the saddest things to have ever happened to our family was when Sydney was stalked and chased around Minot by some jealous, crazy girls. You really don’t want to get me started about girl bullying because that could be the longest blog you ever read! I will write about it sometime but I get really emotional still and have to be in the right place to even go there mentally. I am an advocate for bullying laws, they are finally coming up with some in North Dakota. After about a year of harassment up in ND, we were coming here to Phoenix for Jennie’s wedding, and my sister Marcy said, “why don’t you stay with us, and let her finish here”. She is so much happier here where there are a lot of pretty, popular, successful girls, rather than the few low life girls are jealous of. That’s how I came to live in Phoenix. We were going to sell the Minot house, so Kerry hauled everything from that house out to the house at the farm. I didn’t want him to throw anything just pack it up. Mom’s house was full upstairs and down when he got done! When I’d go up to ND for visits, I would go to the farm and the house looked like a hoarders house on TV. Just paths where you could walk. I felt horrible the house was like that, Mom was always a neat housekeeper. Part of the beginning of my depression was the “what the heck are we doing, staying or going, selling or keeping"? After we decided we’d be staying and Kerry couldn’t transfer here without losing his seniority there...that was really a mind bender as to what to do. It wasn’t the big things I worried about… but the sentimental things like all of Sydneys’ dance trophies, Brendons’ Kiss memorabilia, Shelbeys’ sound system, my collection of Hallmark ornaments I have collected with the kids for years. I didn’t know if I was staying here or how long so I only hauled down here what I really needed and would fit in one trailer load. Finally in 2010, Shelbey and her teacher friend Cheryl, said they’d fly up and help us clean out Mom’s house. They did thank God because Kerry and I alone, could not have gotten all that done without them. They had to go back to Phoenix and I was going to have a garage sale and get rid most of the stuff, I knew that. It was a huge relief to finally be rid of the guilt of crapping up Mom’s house with my stuff ( even though its our house now, its still Mom’s house!) Mom passed away a few years earlier and hadn’t lived out there since 1994 but I don’t know its just home to everyone and I didn’t like feeling like I’d messed it all up. So Kerry, Shelbey, Cheryl and I rented a 26’ Budget truck and hauled two full loads of stuff back to Minot. Kerry grudgingly participated, because he’d hauled it there, now only to haul it back, and he hates parting with anything. We had to stack it half way up the walls and way over our heads to get all that in the garage! In the house in Minot, the garage sits lower than the main floor, so when you step out onto the step in the garage, you overlook it. The first couple days that all that stuff was in the garage, I did the new car thing all day! You know when you get a new car, you open the garage door just to look at it several times a day? Or when you redo a room, you stick your head in there several times a day just to look at it. I did that, except this was not a happy thought but a “ oh my gosh, how am I going to clean this up now”! I was having surgery in a couple weeks to fix my bladder so it should have been done yesterday, before I couldn't lift anything after the surgery. I have allergies to dust and mold so every time I got out in it I coughed and coughed! Coughing and bladder don’t belong in the same sentence by the way. Making myself sound even worse after the last blog, besides being lazy, I am not an organizer. You know how some people can compartmentalize things mentally, and physically be organized and actually think its fun? Not me, I stand there overwhelmed, and anxious because I don’t know where to start and coughing from the musty smell! Kathy came down and she brought her pitchfork….no I’m kidding about that, but she helped me start and helped me finish. Thank God for her help! Things hadn’t changed much since we were kids, she’d call me and say lets work out there in your garage today and I’d say well ok…if you drag me out there…ha, ha. For days we worked out there and started having the sales in the driveway. Kathy handled all the people out front, while I kept going through all the buried treasure. Kerry would come out every so often, check how much money we’d made and take a couple of his things off the sale. I guess he’s having his own, or something, not sure. Every day there was a little less in the garage. What didn’t sell we donated at the end of the day every day. The point of todays blog is to ask you when I ask myself, how much stuff do I need to be happy? At some point it actually takes away from your happiness. I have just a few things that I really hang on to and value now. I gave my kids all their papers and report cards and things I saved for them over the years. These days with digital cameras we can take a picture of some special something and get rid of the actual thing. The picture takes a lot less space! I love Peter Walshs’ advise - “if something is really special then give it a place of honor in your house and enjoy it”. I have a shadow box on my wall, filled with my grandmas crocheting, her wire rim glasses and letters she wrote me in the 70’s asking me to get bread that week when I came to Palermo from Minot. Bread was 5 for a $1.00 at the bread outlet store! My Mom and Dads wedding picture with the old curved glass I have hung( and stick tacked to the wall), by the door. Mom is wearing her double stranded wedding pearls. The ones I took apart and added crystals to, for all of us girls in the family last year. I have my Nanas family dolls I’ve collected for years displayed in my bedroom. And I have my Hallmark ornaments I take out at Christmas. I do have Sydney’s dance trophies taking up space in the garage down here. I wanted those for her from Mom’s house so bad. To me it represented the life we were forced to leave, which was horribly sad at the time but she is so much happier here. Karma always comes back on people, because I wish I could share these girls’ lives today with you but I’m trying to be bigger than that. I learned a lot about myself when I saw all that stuff in the garage and had to get rid of it all. Most of it I’d forgotten about untill I saw it. I watched my Mom go from living on a farm for forty years and having a yard full of stuff, downsize to an apartment full of stuff, downsize to a nursing home room full of stuff. We don’t need all the stuff we have. I don’t shop like I used to, and when I do I ask myself do I really want or need this? If I get something new I get rid of the old right away. I’m still working on myself to be more organized. I literally have to say out loud to myself when I pick something up, “a home for everything and everything in it’s home, a home for everything and everything in its home, a home for eve….” . Its not a natural thing for me. I prefer to throw everything around, live freely, make a mess and then clean it up when I can put on some rockin’ music and clean. Problem with that is I have been caught with a mess more than I want to be so…to be my best self I need to work at this a little because it does cause me stress which isn’t living your best life. I am adding some fun websites and blogs about organization on the end of this …I hope you enjoy them! Enjoy your day above all else, life goes by fast! ~

Houston's new coach could be an old one. The that athletic director Dave Maggard is mulling a plan that would bring former Cougar coach Jack Pardee out of retirement. Pardee, 71, coached at Houston from 1987-89 and had a record of 22-11-1 before leaving for the NFL's Houston Oilers. He has been retired since 1995. "The University of Houston is a special school. I'm sure Dave is doing his homework, and whatever decision he makes will be the right one, even if I'm not the coach." In other coaching-related news: : Tommy Bowden's flirtation with the Razorbacks earned the Clemson coach a nice raise . The latest name is East Carolina's Skip Holtz , a graduate of Fayetteville High. : Grambling State's Rod Broadway . Navy's Paul Johnson interviewed Monday. : The Wolverines are still talking about how the big one got away. As the story goes, Les Miles' agent called Michigan athletic director Bill Martin, and when Martin didn't return the agent's call , Miles decided to take Louisiana State's big money offer. Nearly 500 emails reportedly have been sent from former players and alums to Martin and Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman, pledging support for Miles. : South Florida defensive line coach , who was Iowa State's coach for 12 seasons, has interviewed. : Navy's Johnson spent Tuesday on campus. SMU fired coach Phil Bennett on Oct. 28 and still hasn't figured it out. : Oklahoma State offensive coordinator Larry Fedora : The status of Tyrone Willingham remains unclear. Although athletic director Todd Turner is staunchly behind Willingham, speculation continues that university president Mark Emmert could step in and make a decision : Offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher is close to an agreement in writing that will make him the Seminoles coach when Bobby Bowden retires, according to Kevin Scarbinsky of the Birmingham News. Florida State will have to pay Fisher if it doesn't promote him to head coach when Bowden retires, and Fisher will have to pay Florida State if he leaves for another job before Bowden retires. : Tommy Tuberville has agreed to a two-year contract extension . His deal will now be through 2013 and Tuberville will average $3.3 million annually, starting with a $2.8 million salary in 2008 and climbing by $200,000 each year.

HOPKINS, Cathy (2010) Million Dollar Mates Oliva Barrio, 2º ESO A This book is about a girl who goes through a hard time because her mum dies, and at the beginning she was living with her grandma, but then she had to go and live with her dad and brother to this new house. This big change made ‘Jess’ feel worse. She missed her friends, her cat, and she couldn’t do anything! But suddenly one day everything changed and …... I really liked this book, it was really interesting. Some parts were better than others. The part where it was more boring was when the girl was changing into her new house, and it gave a long description of the house. And the funniest part was when the girl’s cat did poo in her dad’s bed, and when she has the party. This is a good book because it also describes the characters a lot, so that you can get an idea of what they are like. I would rate it 4 stars.

Floreana Island / Galapagos , infamous for her/his antics in John Water's cult film "Pink Flamingos", these Galapagos flamingos are graceful, stately, long-legged - and don't weigh 300lbs. They reside in the salt water lagoons of Island, formed by shallow flooded lava fields. One particular Cormorant is particularly good for spotting these lanky birds. They are usually seen perched on a single leg (for reasons unknown) though this one must have been feeling a bit unstable as it has both feet firmly planted in the mud. love mud. They're born in mud nests, breed in mud, and feed on mud. Unlike most birds which feed us eyesight, flamingos only use the sense of touch. They feed by stirring the mud around with their feet, then sticking their heads under water, turning their unique beaks upside down and straining out tiny , mollusks, and algae. The characteristic pink coloring is caused by the beta carotene in their diet. The source of this nutrient varies by location and species diet but shrimp and blue-green algae are the most common sources.

LV= County Championship: Yorkshire edge ahead at Scarborough Phil Jaques and Kane Williamson shared an unbeaten stand of 257 after Yorkshire were asked to follow-on by Durham. Having been bowled out for 274 first time around in reply to the visitors total of 573, the reigning Division One leaders responded by reaching 276-1 by the close. Although they still trail by 23 runs, the efforts of Jaques and Williamson - who came together after Adam Lyth was trapped lbw by Chris Rushworth for 10 - have given Yorkshire real hope of avoiding defeat against their closest rivals. Opener Jaques was 151 not out off 192 balls with 23 fours and two sixes while New Zealander Williamson had 90 to his name, his unbeaten knock containing 13 fours. Deep trouble The White Rose county had got themselves into deep trouble during a morning session in which they lost their last seven first-innings wickets for 63 runs, collapsing from their overnight 211-3 to 274 all out. Williamson and Jonny Bairstow experienced few early difficulties as they resumed their unbroken third wicket stand of 75, the latter moving to 50 from 89 deliveries with nine fours. However the introduction of Ben Stokes into the attack changed the game, the all-rounder trapping Williamson lbw with a yorker for 84 before Gary Ballance was dramatically run out. Another shock quickly followed as leg-spinner Scott Borthwick dismissed Bairstow for 82 with his 10th delivery of the day. The lower order failed to put up much of a fight; Liam Plunkett had his leg bail trimmed by Mark Wood and the paceman's next ball nipped back fiercely and shattered Steven Patterson's stumps. The innings was closed by Stokes when he had Ryan Sidebottom caught behind for five, giving Durham skipper Paul Collingwood the chance to ask the hosts to have another go.

So the optimist says the glass of water is half full. The pessimist says it is half empty. And while they are arguing about it, the opportunist drinks it down. Oh! To always have the right perspective! Sometimes I even wonder if I'm looking at the right glass of water. I was looking in the wrong place on Sunday. I looked despondently at the field of brown corn in Kisesa, once so green and strong. The small cobs looked a bit pathetic and there were weeds growing throughout the field. What went wrong? Why didn't Baraka do the weeding? Weeds in the brown maize We had come to Kisesa, the church planting school site, joining Baraka and the church there. After the service, Tim and I went to see how the crops were doing. I shook my head and went back the mamas preparing the lunch. Later Tim came up to me. "It's good, you know," he said. I wasn't sure how. But he told me then about his conversation with Baraka as they had walked farther through the field. After planting one area with us, using the new methods, Baraka had continued to plant the rest of the field, but in the way he usually does. We had watched the two crops growing side by side and seen over the months the composted, mulched seed outshine the other. But when I was in the field, I didn't look at the whole field. I didn't look beyond the seed we had planted, to see what had happened on the other side. Tim told me. The whole crop was gone! Without any rain in the last weeks, Baraka had lost all the other maize. Baraka was so thankful for that patch of maize that we had planted together. It may be smaller than we had expected, and didn't look so amazing, but it is still a harvest. It will feed a family. A planted tree flourishes Why did I look so narrowly? How did I not notice a whole field of corn was gone and not realise the precious blessing which was right in front of me? Why was I so quick to criticize someone else? How often do I do this in other ways? I think of time. Living in Tanzania, one just has to stop stressing about time and get used to waiting! Everything takes time. Things don't happen "on time." But even though I have given up wearing a watch, sometimes it can be frustrating. I like to plan. Plans go awry. But I just need to look at the bigger picture, and rather than worrying that the time I have is wasted or not enough ... I should make the most of each opportunity and realise all I have is enough and a blessing to boot! Keeping perspective. And hey, from God's perspective, 1 day is 1000 years and 1000 years is a day! And as Tim Keller said, "God's delays don't make things worse, they always make things better." So what is it, half empty or half full? Or should we just be gratefully drinking the lot? Baraka's daughter and friends snacking while mamas cook

I've been saving my money up lately, since I got back from my summer vacation, and with my evening private lessons, I've been able to afford a new computer monitor. Well, that's what I call it. It's actually a hi-def Sharp AQUOS 37" TV. Does the job quite nicely as well. I'm still mucking about with the dual-monitor setup, and I've managed to get my shows, movies and games to play on the big monitor, while I can still use the smaller one for web browsing and chat programs, to see if they're worth pausing my movie for :P Here's the pic of the new setup. What you can't see is the mound of crap I've shoveled out of the way to make this all nice and neat. Saturday and Sunday will be living room straightening day, though I've got a date Saturday in Kamakura (and I'll get your paper, Mom), which might preclude me from getting this stuff done. Ah well. Hopefully I'll have it ready in time for some Thanksgiving party action. I'm still futzing about with stuff, so the arrangement will probably change due to space considerations. I'd also like to get a more sturdy rack for my CPU, barely visible behind the small monitor. They're some cheap-o 100 yen things I had lying around. Ye olde computer desk, inherited from my friend Nicole, will probably go to roommate Mike, who's about to start online classes. Which also means I'll have to get some headphones to play Fallout 3 in 1900x1080 resolution. Happy happy happy.

I love Christmas time...and I think it should last much longer then it does! In August I always start working on Christmas cards and projects. I have been asked to design the make & takes for an up, up, upline of mine, Alicia. She is planning a BIG ALL DAY meeting in August and we are doing a Christmas theme! My fav! I have been planning these projects for a little while now...mostly on paper and in my head. So last night and today I have been able to make the projects...and they have turned out sooooo good. I don't have the stamp set or the DSP we'll be using yet! So I've made most of the projects and I will add those finishing touches next week! On Friday night I get to share them with Alicia! Oh, I hope she likes them...and doesn't think that they are too much work! I told her that I have a hard time with "simple"...I like the little details...and when I get working away on something I lose track of time...so I think that the project that I'm making at the time is simple and Quick but then when someone else tries to duplicate it ...we'll it takes a little more time. But I have been taking step by step pictures to go along with the projects and writing up the directions. Sorry to tease you because I cannot show you the projects just yet. But I do have a card for you today...I was inspired by Sharon Field.... The DSP (Designer Series Paper) is from Greenhouse Gala. The colours are Baja Breeze Early Espresso and Whisper White cardstock. The butterfly was stamped on Tangerine Tango CS (cardstock) with Basic Black Craft Ink and embossed with Clear embossing powder. Then I coloured in some places ont he butterfly with a white gel pen. I would like to make this same card with different colours...maybe today! Summer and I got to have a "Girls Night" last night...wanna know what we did? We watched Barbie's Fairytopia and ate Oreo cookies with milk and then we ate some pop corn and had some chocolate milk with that! We snuggled on the couch! It was fun...just what we needed. The boys went down to the park for Bayfest....Rush was playing. Jon really likes them and has been playing their music for Liam over the last couple of years...so Liam knows some of their songs too. They found a place outside of the concert (Liam is too young, in our opinion, to go inside...too many people!) where they could see the big screen and hear the music. Jon said that Liam was so excited...his first concert...and doing it with Dad! Liam wants to go back tonight but Jon doesn't like who's playing. So Liam went off to Papa's tonight for a sleepover! Miss Summer will be sleeping over with me, in my bed...we have never done this before...we usually do camp-outs in the living room, where she'll sleep on the floor and I on the couch...but she wants to snuggle with me in my bed....so we are kicking Daddy out of his bed and he can sleep in the couch or in Liam's bed! Tee hee! I hope that Summer is not a puncher or kicker in her sleep. Liam is. Last Summertime...(see how I have to distinguish between Summer, my daughter and Summer the season!!!)...we went camping in a tent and Liam punched me right in the check in his sleep...he's a maniac when he sleeps...he fell out of his bed just last night...poor little guy. He's a go'er...never stops...never stops talking either...even talks in his sleep! Ok, enough about them. I can go on and on....I love them so much! Enjoy your Saturday night...I'm going to!!!

It's Sunday afternoon - a hot, humid, sunny, Sunday afternoon. Some of the neighbours are busy picking cherries - but not us. Everyone at Thiessen Farms is relaxing, taking it easy, enjoying the slow pace - and building energy for the busy week ahead. Here are some good examples of how to relax & chill... We are still picking cherries - should finish this coming week. The heavy rains last Monday caused a lot of damage - splitting & rotting. Some of the worst trees we are leaving & not picking. Others are not as bad, except the sorting takes a lot longer. They still taste great though, and sales at the farmers' markets are going well! We also started picking

They say that a father is a son's first hero and a daughter's first love. It must be true because Papa has always been my first love, and Lolo Amen, my first hero. :) I won't share much because I might end up crying again, because I miss them terribly, but suffice to say, I am so blessed to have a father as loving, as nurturing, as faithful, and as responsible as Papa. Three of my maternal aunts remained single by choice and their common reason is that they have never met someone like my father. And I agree with them, Papa is my benchmark, too. But I know very well that I won't find another Heide Escuadero Garnica. Nag-iisa lang ang tatay ko! I am sure though that if I'm going to marry, he would have to be just like Papa - loving, nurturing, faithful, and responsible. Lolo Amen had only one reminder to his daughters (and to me, being the eldest granddaughter) - marry someone responsible. By that he meant someone who can manage his time well, who can provide, who can decide for himself (and makes sound decisions), who can lead the family, who can bring me closer to the Lord, who can support me and help me become my best self. And again, I am just so blessed to have that person for a father. :) No wonder Lolo Amen sacrificed his own life for Papa. Because he knew I need a man who would teach me how to love and how I should be loved. I need a man who would appreciate me at my best and encourage me at my worst. I need a man who would give his whole life for me. I need a man who would think of my well-being first before his own. I have met amazing men and have become good with some of them but none of them, not even my future husband, will ever claim the title that only (and rightfully) belongs to Papa: my first and endless love. We don't have a perfect father-daughter relationship, but he will always be my first true love. :) This post may be a day late for Father's day, but I believe that our fathers deserve to be honored every single day. Because whether we like it or not, without them, we wouldn't be here. God made us live through our fathers (and mothers), and so it is but proper to thank and honor them. Belated Happy Father's Day to all the great men who have loved us, protected us, and provided for us! Special greetings to my beloved Papa! I love you and I miss you so much! Please get well soon. Remember, you still have to walk me down the aisle. ♥ Now... and forever... you will always be my first true love, Papa! ♥ P.S. If you're reading this, please say a prayer for my Papa Henry - that he would live long and healthy and that he would be protected from any harm. Thank you and God bless you more! :)

"I'm Doing Okay. . ." better than expected in fact! Diving in Palau before the start of our round of peformances. Thursday, May 8, 2008 A gorgeous shot of a little fish in Palau courtesy of Bev's underwater camera Well, we are back from our annual REAL Christian Theater tour--this year we performed in Palau--the fourth time the team has toured there, though technically for everyone except "CK Girl" and me this was everyone's first REAL trip there. For excellent chronological accounts of the weekend with lots of great photos check out In my next two entries I'll be focusing on a couple aspects of this tour that stuck with me. For this entry, my emphasis is "expectations." Expectations are a funny thing. Sometimes when you've built up grand expectations in your mind, the experience itself seems less than stellar. And often when you're least expecting it, you are surprised by an experience that sails long past your ordinary expectations. I'm finding that there is more joy to be found in embracing the actual experience than in savoring expectations that often disappoint. In many ways our 2008 tour to Palau was very much about expectations and their collapse. Our last tour to Palau two years ago was so magical, so remarkable in every respect that I fully expected this one to be even better. And it's not that this tour was worse--it was just different. Different than I expected. First there was the diving. I arrived in Palau, my head full of promises of an unparalleled diving experience--a once in a lifetime, sublime underwater fantasy. And I knew from past experience how amazing mere snorkeling had been in Palau. I expected diving would take that experience to new heights. . .er, depths. The weather was bad (more on that in just a minute) and we couldn't get outside the lagoon to all the legendary sites. Instead we dove just minutes from the marina. The day was overcast, the visibility underneath was limited and dreary. We saw a lot, but it wasn't what we expected. For me however, these dives were the best I've had so far, but not in the way I expected. I feel like I finally turned a corner, finally began to be comfortable underwater. My air consumption improved dramatically (though the fat 100tank surely helped) and I finally felt like I was holding my own and not dragging the rest of the group down. For the first time I surfaced eager to dive again instead of being relived it was over. On these two dives I finally, unexpectedly began to feel at home underwater. My two dives in Palau weren't at all what I expected, in both the good and bad ways. Suiting up for the dive My dive buddies: Mai, Bev, & Jessica Lunchtime! Since we were so close to the dock, they just brought us back to the dive shop for lunch instead of picinicing on a rock island. We ate heartily and then promptly. . . Fell asleep! This naptime was not staged. We really were asleep when Bev snapped this picture. After a nice nap we headed back out to dive a sunken World War II era Japanese ship! The four of us pose for for a group shop just above the sunken ship. From left to right that's Mai, Me, Jessica, & Bev--I think. (As you can see it was too murky to get any real decent pictures of the ship as a whole, though Bev has some gorgeous shots of the coral gardens that festoon the every nook and cranny of the ship). I wasn't the only one with expectations that ran crash-bang into reality. The students in Palau had raised their excitement to fever pitch in expectation of our coming. They remembered the bevy of beautiful actresses and clutch of cool and funny guys from two seasons ago and somehow I think they expected all of those people to come back. Imagine their shock when they saw three young girls--the oldest an 8th gradeer come off the plane Wednesday night? Someone told me they actually overheard someone say "Is that really them?" Our girls took it all in stride. They thought it a great joke than instead of the fantasy girls and stage heroes of 2006 the high school aged fans had been expecting, they got the too-young-for-dating girls of 2008! Perhaps this year's team of intrepid girls knew they'd win hearts of their own. And indeed they did. By Friday thye'd already been treated to lunch by a group of friendly 8th grade girls from the Palau Adventist Elementary School. Rather than basking in the leftover glory of team's past, our girls carved their own in places in the hearts and memories of Palau. They left their own unique and unexpected mark. The 2006 REAL team in Palau and. . . . . . .this year's much younger and all-girl REAL team 2008. Only "CK Girl", second from left in this photo and directly below me in the 06 photo was on both teams. Palau itself confounded our expectations. My last trip to Palau had been a journey through a wonderland of God's most beautiful creation--brilliant blue skies, crystalline waters, the rock islands. This time, a passing typhoon left us with torrents of rain, somber gray skies, and rough water beyond the reef that made a rock island tour impossible. Sunday was a quiet day of simple pleasures we might just as easily have found at home in Saipan. But we were together, bonding as a team, enjoying time with our Palauan friends, finding fun where we could and creating memories we'll treausre. And we were also saving a ton of money. I had expected a rock island tour would cost us nothing beyond a $50-$70 donation for gas--so you can imagine my shock when I discovered that the church would require a $300 deposit to go out on the boat--and most of that deposit we wouldn't get back as a typical fuel cost for a day out the rock islands ran upwards of $250! We'd also have to pay $35 per person to see Jellyfish Lake! I certainly hadn't planned to spend that kind of money and yet probably would have spent it anyway, out of my own pocket so the kids wouldn't miss the classic rock island experience. So perhaps, for the sake of the financial viability of the team (and me!), perhaps it was just as well that the weather was what it was. Rock Islands up close and in bright sunshine in 2006 and. . . . . .Rock Islands from a distance and shrouded in rain in 2008. And the kids did get a Palauan experience that no one else ever had. On Thursday, May 8 while Mai, Bev, Jessica and me were diving, Babs & Veronyka took the team to Dolphin Pacific, an open water dolphin park, and they got to see, touch, and swim with dolphins. From what I've heard that experience exceeded their wildest expectations and I'm glad for that. Here's the reality. In life we actually never really know what to expect. Often we'd like to think we do know exactly how things are going to shake out for us, whether good or bad, but the truth is we really don't know at all what the next day, month, or year--or even minute--holds for each of us. So perhaps its better to spend less time in expectation of the future, and more time fully experiencing the right now. "I'm jumping in the rain, I'm jumping in the rain, what a glorious feeling, I'm happy again!" Bev, Jessica, and Mai didn't let altered expectations dampen their mood! (Photo taken Sunday morning, May 11, 2008 after a torrential rainstorm aborted our planned morning run).

I'm ten days behind already, but it's not too late to start. Here are the rules of the game: For this project I'll use only one camera: the Olympus E-P1 (unless the camera bites the dust, in which case I'll have to find another). The only edits allowed are those that are done in the camera itself (Olympus' art filters are fine). Yes, I just moved to Seattle, but the photos aren't about Seattle. They're about me and my state of mind. Don't spend a lot of time fiddling around. Just shoot every day. No excuses.

"Surely, I am with you always — even unto the end of the world!" Matthew 28:20 Christ is ever with you — in temptation. The hour of temptation in the believer's experience, is one in which he may especially and safely rely upon the nearness to him of the Lord. Tried Himself in this crucible, as none ever were — He is prepared by all the workings of His power, all the restraints of His grace, and all the sympathy of His love — to support and deliver those who are tempted. Tempted in all points as you are — He knows how to foil the adversary, to quench the fiery dart , and to enable you, the solitary and the weak one — to put to flight ten thousand foes. Tempted believer! your faith in the truth of the Bible, your confidence in the God of the Bible, your loyalty to the Savior of the Bible, your acceptance of the salvation of the Bible, your comfort from the promises of the Bible, your enjoyment of the hope of the Bible — assailed and tampered with by Satan — fear not! Greater is He who is with you — than those who are against you. "The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation." Take heart, then, tempted believer! you shall come forth from the fiery furnace, from this painful discipline, of which all the saints of God are partakers — with your faith more firmly grounded, your love more deeply rooted, your heart more thoroughly purified, and your hope of glory more unclouded. All the more precious to your heart, will be that Divine Intercessor for His tempted ones, who says, "Satan has desired to have you that he might sift you as wheat — but I have prayed for you that your faith fail not." O you Satan-tempted soul, "Surely, I am with you always!"

Shah Rukh Khan's "Raees" and Hrithik Roshan starrer "Kaabil" are slated to be released on the same date. However, it appears that SRK is not comfortable with the big clash and has been trying to avoid the situation. Shah Rukh is said to have recently met Hrithik's father Rakesh Roshan to discuss the clash between "Raees" and "Kaabil." Rakesh happens to be the producer of "Kaabil." SRK and "Raees" co-producer Ritesh Sidhwani headed to Rakesh's residence, where the three had a two-hour meeting, apparently to chalk out a plan to avert the box office face-off, according to SpotboyE. Although the result of the meeting is not yet known, the report said that the two films are not likely to be released on the same date now as Shah Rukh shares a good equation with Rakesh. Both "Raees" and "Kaabil" are expected to hit the screens on Jan. 26, 2017. However, this is not the first time that the "Dilwale" actor had met with the producer of "Kaabil" to discuss the issue. "We spoke to them a month back as they were just starting so we can do some adjustments. Rakesh Roshan, Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar will be meeting again. We are figuring it out so that we don't clash," Gulf News had earlier quoted SRK as saying. When Hrithik was asked to comment on the expected box office battle between his film and the SRK-starrer, the actor preferred to make a safe remark. "Yes, we spoke and said we are actors and we should leave it to the producers to decide," Bollywoodlife had quoted Hrithik as saying.

One of our favorite recipe from our days, the Vegetable Frittata is fresh and light, yet full enough to constitute as a meal on its own. Although my husband does often complain if a meal is “meatless,” he usually goes for this one. But, in an unexpected turn of events, I was the one feeling like I needed some meat…so I added Canadian bacon to this otherwise vegetarian dish. The original recipe is from the South Beach diet cookbook, but I often play around with the veggies I put in, and, as I did this time, added some meat. Tonight I added summer squash, tomatoes, and spinach as well to the variety of veggies. 2 tablespoons Smart Balance (trans-free) margarine 1 zucchini, thinly sliced 1 summer squash, thinly sliced 4 large mushrooms, chopped 1 bell pepper, chopped (I used orange, but often use red) 1 package of frozen spinach, cooked and drained (it is important to “wring out” the spinach, the liquid in the spinach will make the dish too watery) 2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped 4 rounds of Canadian bacon, cubed ½ teaspoon fresh thyme ½ teaspoon ground pepper 4 large eggs, at room temperature I cup liquid egg whites or egg substitute 1/8 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese 1/8 cup freshly grated asiago cheese Preheat the broiler, and place rack in lowest position (about 6 to 7 inches from heat source). Melt one tablespoon margarine in a large, oven-safe, nonstick skillet over med. heat. Add the onion, zucchini, squash, mushrooms, pepper, half of the salt, thyme, and half of the pepper. Sautee over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 8 minutes. Once the vegetables are tender and no juices remain, add the cooked and drained spinach as well as the tomatoes. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, egg whites, half the salt and pepper, and half of the cheese. Melt the remaining teaspoon of margarine (this step is not really necessary, I have found) in the skillet with the veggies over low heat. Pour in the egg mixture. Once egg mixture is in the skillet, add the cubed Canadian bacon. Cook, uncovered and without stirring, for about 15-20 minutes (the recipe says 15, but I always need more like 20, sometimes even 25 minutes). Once only the top remains runny, the frittata is ready for the broiler. Place the skillet under the broiler and cook for 5 minutes, or until the eggs are set (again, sometimes I feel it needs longer under the broiler). Slide the frittata onto a large plate to serve. Top with reserved grated cheese and slice. The spinach made the frittata look rather ugly, so I was upset about that, but it added a nice layer of flavor, so I am glad I included it. Not my best presentation, but a yummy meal nonetheless! Per serving (including the Canadian bacon, less without):

Once when I was visiting sunnier climes than Detroit, I gave money to a legless man in a wheelchair adorned by flags. He sat in the same place by the post office across from the trailerpark where he lived. I'd sometimes see him wheel over to his post and hang out. I felt bad whenever I saw him -- some internal voice kept saying, You have legs. Go over and say hi, loser . I don't know if this is how God talks to everyone, but there you have it. So I did -- I went over and started a conversation, overpaid for a flag that I did not take as I couldn't see myself walking around with a big old honking flag all day, and told him I was from Detroit. "God," he said. "That place seems really depressing." I had to laugh -- here was a legless dude in a flag-adorned wheelchair telling me that Detroit and my life there sounded depressing?! I couldn't believe it. I feel anxious a lot. Defeated, occasionally. Out of place, often. But depressed, well, seldom. On my desk, there's a postcard of Marilyn Monroe drawing a heart in the sand. It will wash away, sure, there's that. But she looks so happy drawing it, the whole ocean behind her that you can't see, full of secrets, beauty, danger. One can only imagine what the tide will bring. Michelle's Spell of the Day "A thing is not necessarily true because badly uttered, nor false because spoken magnificently." Saint Augustine Drinking short story collection suggestion:

Two Huskers named to weekly B1G recognition Senior Ben Miller and junior Jake Hohensee were each instrumental in Nebraska posting a 4-1 record last week, including a series win over Maryland, the preseason pick to win the Big Ten. Monday afternoon the league office announced that Miller was tabbed as the league’s player of the week and Hohensee earned pitcher-of-the-week accolades. Pitcher of the Week Jr. – SP – Lincoln, Neb. – Lincoln East • Earned a 3-1 series-opening win over nationally ranked Maryland • Struck out a career high eight batters in 8.1 innings of work, while allowing just three hits and one earned run • Collects his first career Pitcher of the Week honor Monday marked the first time Hohensee has been named Big Ten Pitcher of the Week and he’s the second Husker pitcher to earn the award this year, joining Jake Meyers. Player of the Week Sr. – 1B – Clive, Iowa – West Des Moines Valley • Led the Cornhuskers to a 4-1 week, including a conference series win over nationally ranked Maryland and victories versus Creighton and Omaha • Batted .600 on the week with 12 hits, six RBI and five runs scored • Earns the second Player of the Week award of his career Miller has now been named Big Ten Player of the Week twice in his career and is also the last Husker to earn the award, achieving it last May. The Huskers are back in action Tuesday night at Kansas State, and then return home this weekend with a three-game series against the Iowa Hawkeyes. Freshman of the Week Dominic Canzone, Ohio State OF – Sagamore Hills, Ohio – Walsh Jesuit • Led the Buckeyes to a 3-1 week with a series victory over Penn State and a win over Kent State • Hit .462 on the week, scoring two runs, belting one home run and adding seven RBI on seven hits • Earns the first Freshman of the Week award of his career • Last Ohio State Freshman of the Week: Brady Cherry (Feb. 29, 2016)

This juvenile Purple Heron was found by Jonny Taylor on the reserve near the corral. It proved to be very flighty and was last seen at 12:10 landing on Garners, to the east of the reserve, where it would be best looked for from the south bank at Eldernell. Presumably this bird was the same one seen at Thrapston Reservoir earlier this month. The last record for the PBC area was in 1995 when a juvenile was at Maxey GP on the 24th September. Click the image for the bigger version.

Its been 10 months since I left Philippines to have a greener pasture and to save and prepare for my future family if God's will. It's hard being away from the family especially when it is your first time going abroad and if you re not strong enough for sure you will struck by what they called "homesick". When I heard that my cousin here in Riyadh will go back home in the Philippines to have his yearly vacation and he ask me if there is any presents that I want to send back home, I bought some chocolates, chocolates and chocolates :) And of course I ask them to send something for me in return when my cousin come here again. One month had passed, my cousin came back fresh from the Philippines. And he phoned me to tell that he is already here and my family has given "pasalubong" for me, because of busy schedule for both of us 2 weeks had passed until me and my cousin met. And handed the "pasalubong" for me. Let me share you this "pasalubong" given to me by my Mom. Pancit Canton maybe my Mom didn't know that there is also Lucky Me Pancit Canton here ;) Bawang na Bawang come on' I never imagine that my mom will send me this, but I found out that my Cousin put that in the bag. ;) Gatsby Wax my Mom wants to be sure that I am still well groomed " Sabi ng Mommy ko gwapo daw ako, at pinaniniwalaan ko yun nyahaha, siya lang kakampi ko wag na kayong kumontra pls pls pls" nyahahaha. Peanut Butter my Mom knows that of all the spread, Peanut Butter is my one and only favorite, specially if it's home made Peanut Butter. Boxer Brief this really made me realized that Mother's know best everything, my Mom knows that I don't wear brief and that I prefer Boxer Brief of Boxer Shorts, and for that Mom you deserve a big kiss and hug ;) I really feel like I'm in the Philippines again after seeing this Dried Fishes wooooaaaah. My Mom deserve my high five ;) This piece of paper really made my tears come down in my face, seriously guys. I never imagine that my Mom will write a letter for me, those pasalubong is really enough for me to know that they care and love me, but this letter moves my heart and gave me strength that I needed in my stay here knowing that they are miles away from me. With love and prayers we wish to greet you in the name of Dear Lord Jesus Christ who is the same today, yesterday, and forever Amen! Nagpadala ako kay Elton ng 1 peanut butter, tuyo at dilis, mayroon din si Elton nito. Bumuli din ako ng 2 boxer brief at 1 gatsby. Hope you like them. Ingat always at lagi kang makikipagusap kay Lord upang lagi ka nyang gabayan at pagpalain Remember, we love you and we miss you so much. Love, Mommy Family is a place where everyone loves you no matter what, and they accept you for who you are.

Well, I didn't make the last one but I thought I would try again. I had a lot of fun with this one and it's good because I need another "just because" card. So, if nothing else, these challenges are stretching me and helping me add to my stash! Here's the Whiff of Joy Guest Design Team Call and here's my card. I used either a PIF image or a WRAK image of Tilda by Magnolia. I used all new SU colors and colored her with my prismas! Paper-Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze Ink- black, close to cocoa marker, Pacific Point, prismacolor markers, copic marker (cheeks) Accessories: American Crafts ribbon, su scallop punch, marvy circle punch I used Katharina's sketch number 26. I LOVE her sketches- I plan on making a few more cards using them (I had a hard time deciding which one to use!) Thanks for looking and reading.

We know zebra mussels spread quickly, but seeing them cover almost every inch of an object is astounding. One North Dakota man apparently thought so, too. He told Minnesota state conservation officers that he found a zebra mussel-covered shopping cart next to some dumpsters on the Duluth waterfront, according to a report from the Duluth News Tribune. He had put the cart in the back of his pickup truck and told the officers that he thought it would be cool to put on display at his hair salon. Officers seized the cart and cited the man for unlawfully possessing or transporting a prohibited invasive species, the newspaper reports.

The untempered bile associated with any and all screw-loose conspiracy theorists permeates this sprawling composition that takes the best elements of Meshuggah, subtracts the worst (ie Jens Kidman's vocals), and extrapolates their already formidable melodic and experimental components onto a much bigger canvas. Using F. Thordendal's signature Confessor gone Alpine riff modalities as a base around which alien motifs oscillate, an air of soaring Reptilian bombast is established; to which snarled wraithen rasps are added as spice. Morgan Agren's drumming holds down the jagged groove when necessary, but is just as likely to convulse into a trance of ghost notes and flagellated abstraction (eg the ballsout athleticism of Tathagata). All in all, an awesome display of Apocalyptic-Free-Jazz-Cyber-Jam-Metal.

This soup was spot on - simple ingredients balanced just right. I did not make the garlic infused oil as included below, but I know it would be heavenly. Make some to accompany this soup, and you've got the perfect winter meal. So this photo shows you my new tupperware - canning jars! I don't know why I haven't thought of this before. You can use the standard canning lids, but I love these plastic lids you can purchase to fit canning jars. You can even write on the lids with a dry erase pen to label the contents, if needed. Lentil Soup with Sausage and Kale 1/2 cup olive oil, divided 2 large links of sweet Italian sausage, casings removed or 1/2 c. 1 medium onion, diced 2 celery stalks, sliced or diced 2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into half-moons or diced 4 cloves garlic, sliced (reserve half for later in recipe) A pinch of crushed red pepper flakes (optional) 1 cup brown lentils, sorted and rinsed 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes Freshly ground black pepper 3 to 4 cups shredded or thinly ribboned Swiss chard leaves or kale Grated Pecorino Romano cheese to finish Heat 1/4 cup olive oil (enough to coat bottom of pot) in a large pot on medium heat. When hot, add the sausage, breaking it up with a wooden spoon until it starts to brown, about five minutes. Add the onion, celery, carrots, first two garlic cloves, a pinch of salt, and if you like your soup spicy, a pinch of red pepper flakes. Cook with the sausage until the vegetables soften a bit, another 5 minutes. Add the lentils, bay leaves, tomatoes, water (6 cups is, conveniently, 2 empty 28-ounce cans, so you can get any tomato pulp you missed), more salt and black pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer and allow to cook until the lentils are tender, about 40 minutes. Add more water if the soup gets too thick. When the lentils are cooked, add the chard and cook until the leaves are tender, just a few minutes more. Discard the bay leaves. To finish, divide soup among bowls, then add the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil and 2 garlic cloves to a small skillet and heat over medium until the garlic softens and hisses. Drizzle this over soup bowls, and top with fresh Romano, passing more at the table. Leftovers will keep for several days in the fridge.

About a month ago, I visited the Mayo Clinic. I had been there once as a teenager, accompanying my mother and aunt who were bringing their aunt to the Mayo for a leg amputation, necessitated by complications from diabetes. For its size, the Mayo Clinic runs like clock-work. It was huge and impressive. Awhile back, I believe it was who posted about local saints. The belief is that a saint picks you, you don't pick them. In the time we had before my appointment, we wandered into the history museum on the lobby level of the clinic. I was lost in my thoughts, while my husband, in his typical curious-engineer fashion, was busy reading all the information about the Mayo brothers and how the clinic came into being. Near the back of the display, as I was aimlessly pacing and not really absorbing any of the information, I came face-to-face with a picture of Dr. Giancarlo Rastelli -- our local saint in the making. Cardiac Surgery Researcher -- Giancarlo Rastelli, M.D., a Mayo Clinic physician who developed a cardiac procedure for congenital heart disease among children, is being considered for beatification, the first step toward sainthood. The late Dr. Rastelli died of cancer in 1970 at age 36. He was educated in Italy and came to Mayo Clinic in the 1960s. He was appointed head of cardiovascular surgical research at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, at age 34. He conducted his research in cardiovascular surgery at Mayo during the 1960s and developed Rastelli 1 and Rastelli 2, procedures credited with saving numerous lives of children with heart disease. He was awarded two gold medals by the American Medical Association and did a great deal of his research while suffering from Hodgkin's disease. Dr. Rastelli displayed a poster with the Italian saying L'Amour Vince (which translates as "Love Always Wins") in his office. Many patients signed the poster as an expression of hope and appreciation. In an article appearing in the official diocese newspaper, Diocese of Winona Bishop Bernard Harrington wrote that Dr. Rastelli's efforts allowed "thousands of children to live who would probably not have survived." Bishop Silvio Bonicelli of Parma, Italy, is leading the effort to have Dr. Rastelli canonized. A proven miracle must be recognized for beatification. To be a saint, a second proven miracle must be presented and verified. The process could take years. Bishop Bonicelli submits documents to the cardinals and bishops at the Vatican for consideration. And "you wait for an actual miracle to take place" after someone prays to Dr. Rastelli, Harrington said in a story in the Star Tribune newspaper of Minneapolis. Monsignor Gerald Mahon of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Rochester, where Dr. Rastelli was a parishioner, said he sees the possibility of Dr. Rastelli being beatified as a sign of hope. "This person worshipped and walked these streets where I walk. It means something becomes more possible, more real, for me," he told the Post-Bulletin newspaper in Rochester. Maybe it's because I'm Catholic and knew of Dr. Rastelli's story, but as I came around the corner of the display and saw his photo, listing his many medical contributions for the 50th anniversary of the cardiopulmonary bypass and cardiac surgery at the Mayo, I felt a sense of comfort. Wishful thinking perhaps? Something familiar in a strange place? I don't know, but from that moment on, I've asked for Dr. Rastelli's intercession. On the wall across from the display with the information on Dr. Rastelli, was a place for people to sign a placard for the 50th anniversary. People's comments were typically, "Mayo rocks" or "Thank God for the Mayo." These types of things usually are a turn off for me. What sort of person signs these things anyway? I did. Disregarding the syrupy, but probably heart-felt compliments others had signed to the Mayo on the placard, I instead wrote the personal, "Dr. Rastelli, Intercede for me." Hopefully, if the placard is stored in the Mayo archives and is brought out in another 50 years to commemorate the 100th aniversary, Dr. Rastelli will have been canonized and maybe I will be in a place to know for certain if Dr. Rastelli "picked me."

South Africans know how to celebrate spring. September 1, while not exactly the spring equinox, is known as "Spring Day." People dress crazily at work, call it "Casual Day" and donate to charity. Children get to wear civvies to school instead of their uniform. We get ice cream at church on the first Sunday in September, and there is always a big, colourful celebration. I used to wonder why. It seemed a bit... "pagan" to me, almost as if the season itself was worshiped. But this year, I finally figured it out. Let me explain: You Northern Hemispherers (is that a word?) celebrate Easter in spring. The analogy of new life is visually displayed by nature - flowers are beginning to bloom, trees that lay dormant all winter are budding, baby chicks are hatching, the sun is shining, etc. It's all very convenient for you. You have an instant visual of what our lives look like when Jesus redeems us. Here in the Southern Hemisphere, however, we celebrate Easter in autumn. The weather is turning cold, leaves are falling off trees and everyone is preparing for the long, cold winter ahead. And I have to confess, it's hard to be excited about Jesus rising from the dead when I am preparing to wear my coat 24/7 for three solid months. There are no pastel colours at Easter in South Africa. No picnics. No lilies. Just... impending gloom. Ah, but come September we can celebrate. It's Palm Sunday all over again. The bright colours come out. New life triumphs once again. We sing Hosanna to the King. And we eat ice cream... because we can.

I finished my purple socks last night! I'll take some better photos after I've given them a bath and can put them on my feet without fearing my feet turning a lovely bruised shade... I'm very proud of them, though, and wanted to show them off. Click on the picture for a closer look of the cables and lovely detailing of the pyramid heel gusset. I'll take a closer picture of that after they've been washed so you can see how pretty it looks. I must go buy a pair of clogs or mules to wear with these socks...I must! And while I didn't quite finish in time for the Olympics to be over, this was one of my Ravellenics projects--my WIP.

There's no sound worse than the dentist's drill going down into your jaw, looking up and seeing gloves flecked with blood. "You did so well," she says as I spit pieces of broken molar into the sink and mentally curse my irresponsible youth, family genes, and the past three years full of car crashes and stress that wreaked general havoc on my little snarky mouth, while thankful to have insurance and live in an industrialized country where there's things like local anesthesia even if half my face is temporarily paralyzed and my grin has a glint of silver in the back like a fortuneteller's. I'm uncharacteristically bitchy today, still sore, unable to wake up despite having coffee in my system, contending with "I'm fighting the system even though I'm totally the Man and don't even see it" boomers way too early in the morning. Quoting Jim Morrison like it's new and fresh and deep was the last straw and I got a bit more vitriolic than usual. Maybe it's the residual Novocaine still coursing through my bloodstream that made my lips get a little looser but given that I smile so much, most of the snark and generational antipathy went unnoticed. when the fact of the matter is you just don't care to comprehend or understand a single word I say Seriously, I just want to go home and listen to the Bad Brains right now. The sunlight coming through the ice-covered trees was so amazing that despite my wooziness and aching jaw, I drank tea with my adopted aunt and then drove along Riverside after seeing the the Valley was closed off and took lots of pictures of glittering branches. Oh well, life goes on. I'll feel better tomorrow.

You seldom see teasels in Cornwall but they are common on the Isle of Wight. Here growing away by the entrance to a bio digester in Newport which we had a trip around. Dispacus fullonum is the Latin name for teasel which the finches so enjoy eating when the seeds are ripe. Growing here on waste ground to 6ft with some flowers out and some setting seed. Would they sell in the catalogue I wonder? 2016 – CHW Off to Ventnor Botanics again with the Caws and the Thorpes in torrential wind and rain. We were almost the only visitors and everything looked battered. The gardens may be ‘the hottest in the UK’ with only 28 inches of rain per year but today they were Cornwall in a good, foggy, westerly gale.A few new things today to admire although the pictures will be poor and fuzzily damp:Kniphofia ‘Ice Queen’ – not sure I have ever seen a pure white ‘red hot poker’ before. An unidentified fuchsia species with panicles of flowers six to nine inches long and large blue-green furry leave. The shrub was five to six feet tall. (This has now been kindly identified as fuchsia boliviana by Russell Beeson in his comment below, I have to agree.) A rather poor picture of Chitalpa taskentensis in flower on a hot sunny bank. A tender and difficult plant even in Cornwall which I have only ever seen in flower before in pots in the nursery. A eucomis species with white rather than green flowers. Not the Eucomis bicolor which we stock. The bicoloured Agapanthus ‘Queen Mum’ just coming out. Olearia coriacea was another new dwarfish species in this vast collection of this genus here. Saw the first swift here today over the pond (evening) and watched some other youngsters yesterday out of the window at a rather critical and decisive if not terminal Cornwall Farmers board meeting at the Arundell Arms in Lifton (Devon). If the swifts have bred at the castle this year I have not seen them.What a joy to have two weekends on the trot to settle into life at Caerhays and enjoy the garden with no public here or public functions to attend and all the time in the world to look at plants and research (and covet old and new ones!) them properly. I cannot remember this happening for several years. Time to think, children all married (John and Katie visit), dogs happy, work absolutely up to date. Weddings at Coastguards Hut and Vean so everyone busy earning money apart (for once) me! Glorious Twelfth and The Cottage loom soon but Wi-Fi and Gmail access will still be necessary nearish there. Technologically illiterate I admit! So now time to investigate Hydrangea paniculata hybrids on the drive which are coming out and making a show a bit later than all the hortensus varieties. Mostly planted 2007 or 2009. Hydrangea paniculata ‘Phantom’ – by the top lodge with a second sunnier positioned clump further down above the drive. Huge flowerheads which turn coral pink in autumn. Hydrangea paniculata ‘Kyushu’ – top end of clearing to top lodge. Smaller growing and a distinct upright habit. Attractive pointed flowers but short lived at Burncoose (20 years). Hydrangea paniculata ‘White Lace’ – above Red Linney on bank. Distinct and dainty habit as its name implies. Very nice and would do in a large pot. Hydrangea paniculata ‘Pink Diamond’ – by Hovel turning in a huge clump of around eight feet tall. Very floriferous in full sun. Opening white, then a hint of pink, then pinkish allover. Hydrangea paniculata ‘Vanille Fraise’ – a newer form planted only five years ago on the bank of The Fernery. Pretty ray florets which again open white then turn pale and finally deeper pink. Benefits from pruning. I think this would be my first choice in the paniculata varieties although Hydrangea paniculata ‘Unique’ which is much taller growing is the current best seller at Burncoose. 1980 – FJW Still a few flowers on Midsummers Day Camellia. 1952 – CW It has been very dry for long. Lapageria coming out – Auriculatums good and hybrids. Prophortum nearly over. Big wall Magnolias about at best – a few cyclamen. Hydrangeas very dried up. A few of the late Auriculatum pink hybrids still out. Eucryphia pinnatifolia at its best. An odd flower on Nymansii. 1944 – CW A few lapagerias. Eucryphia pinnatifolia very good – Magnolias grandiflora and delavayi out. Didymum x hybrid white rhodo’s good. Auriculatum half open. 1942 – CW One lapageria out – Eucryphia pinnatifolia beginning to be good, also white rho hybrids. A few 2nd flowers on Mag sinensis, many on big Parviflora, and on all 3 evergreen Mag on big wall. Rho didymum very good in places. Romneya at its best. There has been a lot of rain since early June and shrubs have grown well. 1909 – JCW Buddleias nice, Romneyas good, nothing else. Daff seed sown, bulbs nearly all in, one year olds to plant.

After completing the ‘Hand and Eye’ theme in university this week I decided that I would like to continue my idea of colouring on top of the image. So my first thoughts were, what will I use to colour on top of the image? From the image that I completed last week, feedback I received said that they really liked how I used felt tip pens as it produced a nice bold colour and the pens marks that could be seen added to the handmade nature of the print which was positive. But when completing that image I found it difficult to do details with the Steadtler pens as the nib wasn’t really precise. So I decided to go out and purchase some Papermate fine tip felt pens to experiment with to see if they would be effective to use alongside my paper mate pens. After making a strip of the colours to see how they look on glossy photo paper I was thinking about what different effects can be achieved with these pens. As at the moment I have only really used horizontal and vertical colouring. But I think that some interesting effects could be created by creating different textures. So I created this grid below where I tried out different effects that I could use and compared the two different types of pen so I could judge what would be the best pen to use for each effect. I think this experimentation was useful as I can now try out other approaches to make the work more interesting. It may not be successful when on the actual image but I think it could be interesting to experiment with. I think the next stage for me is to choose what type of paper would be best to colour on top of to create the best image results. Also, from this trial I would like to choose full images to colour that are more intricate as I think that would look good, especially when using the paper mate fine tip pens. By doing so hopefully it will create an impactful image.

Alo im untaniku! (Hello my family!) Another great week in Armenia. =D I have so much to write about, it's great! =D Well, first off, can I just say how funny it is how crazy Armenians are about marriage?? Seriously! Just about every house that we go to, the people ask if we're married. Haha When we say that we're not, then they say something along the lines of, "That's great! Then you can marry our son, right?" Half the time they're in their thirty's or forty's or something. Haha SO we say, "Um... no." To which they say, "Why not?! He's great!!" EVERY HOUSE. I swear. It is hilarious! It's a good thing that we're missionaries, or else we'd be in trouble. However, that doesn't mean that we still don't get proposed to. Nearly every sister missionary has probably been proposed to about three times out here. It is definitely a different world out here. Poor Sis. H. was nearly kissed one time too. Yep, all the old grandma's yelled at him for that. Haha But it's all good! We've been walking all over Artashat lately. I found out this week that our area has a bunch of villages in it. It's kind of crazy because just about every three neighborhoods is a village. It's crazy to me, because it just all feels like a small town all together, but it's cool. This week has definitely been different. We would have days when all of our lessons would be super great and awesome. Then on all the other days, all of the lessons would just fall flat! I seriously don't get it sometimes. In one of our new members house, her boy was seriously super wild. He had a box of small fireworks that he was playing with. They were like little fire crackers. As we were teaching the lesson, he started pushing some of those fireworks into their wood-burning stove, and they started just exploding in there. Um, yeah, Sis. H and I were freaking out. Good thing that stove door was closed or else it could've gotten bad. We left pretty soon after that, especially since he was lighting them IN THE HOUSE. So that lesson didn't exactly go as planned. Haha We were safe though, and we love that family. It just got a little wild... It's been crazy how many investigators we've been getting lately too. One lady just showed up to church one day with her friend and was super excited to meet with us. Another was a member's husband. Plus, last night, we were walking around the streets of Artashat and we were just getting contact after contact!! It was so great! One in particular was this funny old man who kept pinching my cheeks and calling me a Russian doll. Haha So funny. Well this week we're all super excited because we're gonna have Thanksgiving with the two southern Armenia zones. We are SO excited!! We're bringing a fruit salad. It's gonna be so much fun! I can't wait. Well I just wanna say that I am so happy to be here! It's been crazy to be in this other world. I still don't know what most of the people are saying, but I'm trying to work hard and speak (with my limited vocabulary). =D I am so grateful to be here, and I know that angels are helping us to do this work. I am so grateful for the gospel, and I know that the most important thing we can ever do is bring others to Jesus Christ.

Too much has already happened and in an effort to not fall further behind I'll do my best to quickly hit the major plot points of my first couple of days as a JET participant The place where all journeys begin I arrived at LAX sometime before 1PM and found a ridiculously long line that could only belong to our flight on Singapore airlines. I saw some familiar faces as I made my way to the tail end of it, which seemed daunting at first, but moved at a very brisk pace largely due to the coordinated efforts of all the JET program people involved. After checking in my bags (which were thankfully not overweight) I sat down with my family on the upper floor of the terminal where all the food courts are. They got up to get something to eat. I told them I didn't want anything, probably because I was full of anticipation more than anything else. I watched the table while they were away and that left me ample time to stare out into the sea of people who were destined for anywhere but the place we all stood. I'm a fan of people watching in general. But there was something altogether different about the way I was looking on at the activities below. Today I wasn't mindlessly viewing random people. I was thinking. As I paused and leaned over the railing I saw many things. People reuniting. Families saying goodbye. Friends embracing. Lovers kissing. Farewells. Long time no sees. Excitement. Tears. Everything that had once seemed mundane before had suddenly become magnified. Today was different. Today I was one of those people. As I looked on, I felt as though I were a part of something bigger than the program even. Whatever it was, I was glad that I felt it. Airports fascinate me for reasons such as these. Skipping ahead a bit to the flight, I sat in the middle seat (which normally would be the pits) next to another JET named Matt Frazier. Matt is a super awesome guy who if memory serves me correctly flew in from Kansas City to Denver to have his interview and come time to leave the country he made the same journey once more: Kansas City to Denver then Denver to Los Angeles and naturally LA to Narita. He told me there were 40 people at the Denver Bon Voyage meeting, which adds up to the other numbers I had heard floating about in the weeks leading up to departing. Apparently there were 138 people accepted from LA, but the total number of people leaving from LAX was going to be 178. So there you go. Matt and I talked for a long time during the flight about all kinds of stuff. Hopefully we'll get a chance to hang out sometime when we're all traveling. Not too many JETs in our section of the plane Here's an example of how first class I am: We were given this zipper pouch before takeoff and Matt and I looked puzzled. What was inside we wondered. I unzipped it and discovered a couple of items. Mysterious complimentary zipper pouch Okay, the first thing I did was try to stick them on my hands. I admit it! And I thought to myself: These are the stupidest gloves ever! For shame. Hah! Socks! I get it now! So I dug deeper into the bag, and this time I knew exactly what I was pulling out. A toothbrush and quite possibly the smallest tube of toothpaste ever. For when you need to scrub on the go! After a while Matt decided to watch a movie, and I saw they had some games. As soon as I saw Earthworm Jim 2, I knew exactly what I would be doing for an hour or so. Or so I thought. It was buggy, slow, and after the first level it thanked me for trying the game. IT WAS A DEMO! DEMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! It would've made my day had they not been demos So after we land and get all our luggage sorted out we decided to walk outside for a bit to enjoy the incredibly hot and humid summer Japan has on offer. On a humorous side note: My predecessor's name was Ian, Mitsuko's was Kyle. My two roommates were named Ian and Kyle respectively. That night as Brianna, Ian, and I rode the elevator down we ran into my new buddy, Morgen, who looked super burned out that night and just wanted to catch some sleep. Poor guy. There was a mix up with luggage so had to take care of that. You can't see it in this picture, but this is me holding up an Ajitsuke Tamago in front of the Lawson sign, which was located about 3 minutes or so from the hotel. Ajitsuke Tamago how I've missed you! I'll bring you another one when I visit Keiko-san! I promise! Ajitsuke Tamago in all its glory So we all went to sleep horribly that night, despite our best efforts. Oh well, at least tomorrow was only going to be back to back meetings. Meetings all day. All day long meetings. The orientation book was nicely designed at least I couldn't help but shake the feelings of how important and seriously Japan treated our arrival when I walked into the main room where we had our preliminary keynotes. It was impressive to say the least. That's not the 25th year of the program. It's the 25th year in Japan Emperor Years. After all the meetings we went out again that night to see Akihabara. Even though most of it was closed by the time we got there it was still pretty cool. I'll have to go again though, during the day when we go on a trip to Tokyo apropos of any official plans. Here's some more pictures for you: A little inside shot of the Yamanote Subway Line Ian flexing his guns. After the next day's meetings we went out again for our last hangout as a group before we'd split up and sent all over the country. That night we were: Brianna (radiantly smiling too), Morgen (the visible gentleman in plaid); and behind them, Yeelly, Therese, Euan. We went out to Harajuku, and walked from there to Shibuya, had some food and drinks at an Izakaya, visited some wacky arcades, and ended the night with a ramen shop. I wish we were all closer together. But we do get to visit all kinds of other places now Here's my dinner that night. We all squeezed together in there and enjoyed each others company The next morning we were all set to depart to our various locations. I was shipped off to Tottori airport, where I was picked up by my supervisor Tanioka-san, a super nice guy, and another BOE member named Iwafune-san. We talked the whole ride back as they were super relieved that I could speak Japanese to them. So that was the first couple of days in a really fast overview. I'll try to post as much as I can as soon as things settle down. I know there's more story to tell, but this will just have to do for now! I think my next post will pick up with Tanioka-san and the first day(s) in Kotoura-cho. Also, I mostly took videos of all the places I went to so I'll have to make a quick video later that highlights all of that.

Dee Dee Here: Jerry, Matt, Samantha, and I attended the Preservation Achievement Awards this week. The luncheon was held at the Crystal Tea Room at the Wanamaker Building. Presser Senior Apartments received a Grand Jury Award for the renovation of this National Register-listed building. Next up is the adjacent Nugent Home, which is also slated for rehabilitation!

'You dey bleach?' That's the question on the lips of some of Annie Idibia's fans. Annie's fans gasped when they saw the photo, the actress posted on Instagram on Sunday. While some of her fans admired the sculpted luxury nails which was the reason for the photo, others fixated their eyes on the multi-complexion of her fingers. See as the drama unfolded on her Instagram page;

[Six days after a catastrophic storm bore down on a several trekking routes in Nepal ’s central Himalayan region, trapping scores of hikers, a spokesman for Nepal’s home minister said Monday that there was “no one left to rescue” from the area and that workers had turned to recovering the bodies of the dead. He said that eight were still missing, trapped under at least 35 feet of snow.] Family members of Nepali trekking porters waited outside a morgue in Katmandu Narendra Shrestha/European Press photo Agency In an incense-filled prayer room inside a Buddhist monastery here, more than a dozen lamas chanted and prayed beside the body of Ang Dorje Sherpa, a 36-year-old porter who died last Tuesday alongside two Slovakian clients when an avalanche engulfed their group at the base of the towering Dhaulagiri mountain. At a small, brick synagogue, a handful of young Israeli friends prayed for Nadav Shoham, an Israeli man of about 30 who was overcome by blasting wind and blinding snow that day as he tried to fight his way down from the Thorong La pass to the nearest town. And in the quiet garden of a guesthouse in this city’s labyrinthine backpackers’ district, Grant Tomlinson, of Vancouver, British Columbia, waited another day for the body of his wife, Jan Rooks, 55, a nurse, whom he saw swept under a wall of snow and debris. “It was like she was erased,” he said. Six days after a catastrophic storm bore down on a several trekking routes in Nepal ’s central Himalayan region, trapping scores of hikers, a spokesman for Nepal’s home minister said Monday that there was “no one left to rescue” from the area and that workers had turned to recovering the bodies of the dead. He said that eight were still missing, trapped under at least 35 feet of snow. Officials in three districts where bodies had been recovered in and around the popular Annapurna Circuit raised the death toll to 40 people, half of whom were Nepali. As rescue efforts ended and travelers began slowly to return to Katmandu, the international dimension of the disaster and the toll it took on Nepali porters and guides came into focus. People from at least seven countries — Canada, India, Israel, Japan, Nepal, Poland and Slovakia — lost their lives. Travelers from many other nations were injured. The trekkers were drawn to the mountains by distinct motivations. There was the group from Vancouver, for whom hiking was in their blood. There were retirees who finally had enough time to travel, like a 62-year-old former banker from Calcutta who was killed in the storm. And there were Swiss engineers and young Israelis, some delighting in the rhythms of trekking and its walking meditation, some looking at it as a much-needed break. Because of the pull of the Himalayas, and the relative accessibility of the treks in and around the Annapurna Circuit, the tragedy reverberated across continents and contexts. The circuit attracted many inexperienced trekkers — young people with little money to spend on a vacation, and some with gear more appropriate for a comfortable hike than for a journey through a snowstorm. While climbers pay up to $100,000 to tour companies to climb Mount Everest, and their Sherpa guides earn $3,000 to $5,000 a season, some of the most basic packages for the Annapurna Circuit cost as little as a few hundred dollars per person. On budget tours, porters can make as little as 1,000 Nepalese rupees a day, or about 10 dollars, and are often even less equipped to handle harsh weather. October is meant to offer the best and clearest trekking weather, but the climate has become less predictable recently. “Seven people died — and we’re only one story,” said Paul Cech, 54, a computer animator from Vancouver who trekked in a group of four that included Mr. Tomlinson and Ms. Rooks and who escaped from the village of Phu. Tamar Ariel, a 25-year-old Israeli pilot, came to Nepal after a summer of working as a navigator on a fighter jet during the 50-day conflict between Israel and Gaza. The daughter of a farmer, she hailed from a kibbutz of avocado groves and modest, red-roofed homes. The Israeli police visited the family on Thursday to deliver the news that she had died in the snowstorm. Scott Copeland, her uncle, speaking on the phone from the family’s home in southern Israel, described her as a deeply religious woman, and a “boundary breaker.” He said that after her work in Gaza over the summer, “it was time for a little bit of a break.” For Nepalis, the vast expanse of the Himalayan ridges offered a chance at economic freedom. Ang Dorje Sherpa came from a village of a few hundred people at the foothills of Mount Everest. At 7,000 feet, there was not much his parents’ generation could do but grow potatoes and millet for paltry wages. But the burst of tourist interest in Nepal represented an opportunity, however imperfect, for his generation to lift itself out of abject poverty. “My opinion is that it’s a job,” said Datenzee Sherpa, who grew up with Ang Dorje and who also turned to portering and guide work. “It should be work. It’s normal for us. An incident like this suddenly may happen at any moment.” For Mr. Cech and Mr. Tomlinson, 63, who fashions lutes for a living in Vancouver, Nepal was a natural extension of lives filled with hiking in the Pacific Northwest. Their group hiked the Annapurna Circuit in 2001 and returned for the quieter route along the villages stepped into the mountain in the Nar Phu valley. They were drawn to the ancient stone carvings along the way, and the Tibetan prayer flags hung around villages. Ms. Rooks, a cardiac nurse whose work included counseling families with infants who undergo serious heart surgery, cultivated a love of hiking with Mr. Tomlinson. They hiked throughout their 15-year marriage — to the Rockies; to Ladakh, in India; and to Nepal. She and Mr. Tomlinson loved bird-watching, and her ever-present binoculars were a source of fascination to the villagers they encountered along their path. “She was one of the finest people I’ve ever met,” said Mr. Tomlinson. “She was smart and warm, she reached into the heart of people and pulled out their essence.” When the group of four woke up in a tea lodge in Phu on Tuesday morning, there were several inches of snow already on the ground. The guides of their group and two other tour companies in the area met and decided to move out. It was a decision they would later regret. “If we stayed in Phu,” said Mr. Cech, “Jan would have lived.”

Well here goes. Departing for Melbourne today. Meanwhile - most of what I am or hope to be is in 8 crates - consigned to Maersk (the shipping line that keep being pirated off Somalia - agghhhh) Odd to pack up stuff like this- yes I have lots a of books (too many), CDs and DVDs, too many clothes too perhaps. Watching Gok do his capsule wardrobe of 24 things(yes i think TV programmes are a valid technology medium - video-lectures, TV programmes etc all inform our lives and choice making values) left me feeling over-clothed. Or rather as someone with too big a wardrobe.... See here Anyway since I will be living out of a rather large suitcase for the next8 weeks or so; watch this space for tips!!!! Of course - my bow and arrows are also packed - as well as the essential technology; or at least the bits I have not broken in the last 5 weeks (double grrrrr on that). And I cried as I went through departures - perhaps thats what madethem search my bag - or the fact it was overloaded with a million techie wired things!!

Update on the coat I'm making. I found the fabric in storage, having bought it ages ago. It's a 2/2 twill which I'm pretty sure came from an unlabelled sale rack. I did a flame test and it self extinguished and turned to a fine ash, so I think it's probably a wool blend of some kind. It sews up quite nicely. Here is my effort at a welted pocket with a flap. I've done one welted pocket before and this one turned out quite nicely. They aren't actually difficult, just fussy. I'm happy that the underside looks as nice as the outside. The pattern didn't call for an upper welt, but I think if I had to do it over, I'd probably put one in, just because it isn't too much more work. These pockets are large enough to be more than decorative. I sort of wish I'd been able to find a nice polished cotton or some other interesting fabric for the lining, at least all but the sleeves, but in the time I had, this regular old lining fabric was the best solution I could find. The peplum lining is mainly sewn in by hand. It's slip stitched along the hemline and on the back opening. On the back, the two sides are slip stitched together. This is when I really love my old thimble that actually fits. Black on black, with black thread is something I'd not put into the equation. Good thing my sewing room has pretty decent lighting. The jacket top only really needs a few things left to do. I should go back inside and do a bit of support stitching. The buttons and button holes need to be made and if I have time, I'll do a prick stitch from the underside of the lapels to give them a bit of stability. The pattern doesn't call for it, nor does it call for top stitching but it looks a little unfinished without something . Perhaps the weight of the peplum will give it a more polished look. What's left to do? First, slip stitching the other half of the peplum lining. Then assemble the two halves. Attach the peplum to the top. Then it's make the button holes and sew on the buttons! Before the coat can be worn though, it will need a very thorough dehairing from the shedding cats.

Well, my life has been a whirl of activity over the last week and this weekend... we had a wonderful time visiting Homechurch yesterday after not having gone for a few weeks due to sickness... it was so nice to see all the familiar faces again. Our homechurch seems to have grown closer and deeper and I am so excited to see how the Lord is working through all of us. :) The SBD (South Beach Diet) is going splendidly - Mama and I made tacos for dinner tonight and she and I had ours 'taco salad'-style without chips. I put a smidgen too much hotsy-totsy sauce on mine and consequently felt somewhat akin to a fire-breathing dragon, but it was very tasty nonetheless! :) And...... for the past week I have been up to something very special, colorful, and involving... And that's all the hint you get, until further notice. Any guesses? :)

One distinct quality of Korean food is the number of dishes that involve mixing and stirring. You can see this in dishes like bibimbap (비빔밥, 'mixed rice'), bibim mandu (비빔만두, 'mixed dumplings'), and bibim guksu (비빔국수, 'mixed noodles') as well as deopbap (덮밥, 'covered rice') dishes and desserts like patbingsu. Korea is a food culture that loves to mix and stir things up. In fact, bibimbap was once called 골동반 (pronounced 'gohldoengbahn'), represented as 骨同飯 in hanja (Sino-Korean characters), containing the meaning 'to mix in a jumble' according to professor Choi Joon-Shik. The point of mixing it up is to meld the flavors of each ingredient so that the resulting dish brings out the combined and individual flavors of each ingredient ( ). There is something about this fusion that manifests the collective psyche of Koreans in such a magnificent way. Each ingredient is added for the unique contribution it brings to the flavor of the dish, but then, all ingredients are combined to bring out the collective flavor of the whole ( ), a wonderful mishmash of different textures and flavors. This fusion of diverse ingredients creates a dynamism that cannot be achieved by individual ingredients alone. It is this complexity of textures and flavors that creates the richness and depth that stimulate and tantalize the tastebuds. It is through this potpourri that one can see the rich and dynamic spirit of Korean people and culture, the sense of oneness or uri (우리, 'us') mentality that is characteristic of the people and the passion that can be seen in many Koreans, our movies, and our dramas. Koreans really love a deep and hearty flavor known as 고소한 맛 (pronounced 'gosohahn maht') and bibim dishes do an excellent job of bringing that out. Here are some wonderful examples of the mixing that Korean dishes are known for: via One Fork, One Spoon via Eating and Living

Horizon and UK NEQAS Partner to Improve Accuracy of Lung Cancer Diagnostics Product News: Horizon and UK NEQAS Partner to Improve Accuracy of Lung Cancer Diagnostics The UK based company Horizon Diagnostics, a division of Horizon Discovery, has announced the signing of a strategic partnership agreement with UK NEQAS. The partnership will focus on the development of genetically defined reference standards for novel lung cancer biomarkers, to help guide personalized medicine. The reference materials will be used to minimize variability involved in fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and immunohistochemistry (IHC). HorizonDx is the first company to offer human genomic reference standards containing defined allelic ratio’s offering an unprecedented level of control to the diagnostics industry. Under the terms of the agreement, UK NEQAS ICC (the UK National External Quality Assessment Service) will receive an exclusive license to distribute reference standards related to certain lung cancer biomarkers in the UK and Europe, for the sole purpose of proficiency testing within its quality assessment programme. The partnership announcement follows the launch of HorizonDx’s launch of a suite of genetically-defined fixed formalin, paraffin embedded (FFPE) cell line standards in September 2011. These cell lines contain defined stoichiometric ratios of, among others, the seven variants of the K-Ras oncogene, for which testing is required to determine individual drug treatment regimens for colorectal cancer patients. Dr Paul Morrill, Commercial Director, Horizon Discovery, commented: “Newly discovered mutations are rapidly shaping how and when novel cancer therapies are prescribed, and quality assurance for diagnostics is a key factor in the prescription of these therapies. Through this partnership with UK NEQAS, we look forward to seeing our genetically defined reference standards adopted in proficiency schemes and as batch controls, ultimately helping to improve the accuracy of diagnostic testing for patients.” Keith Miller, Director of UK NEQAS ICC, commented: “Horizon’s application of its gene editing technology in development of reference standards is ideally suited to diagnostics proficiency testing. We look forward to working with them as the field of cancer therapeutics moves increasingly toward a more personalised approach.”

In lieu of a rental car to see the sights on Honolulu, Jeff and I opted to do some running to get around town. The final destination was Pearl Harbor, approx. 11 miles from our hotel. In 80 degree weather, that was a bit far. So we ran about 5.5 miles and then took a city bus the remainder of the way. We ran through the University of Hawaii campus and stopped to get a bite to eat at the bus stop. We got some high quality gas station food and tried a Manapua. Those little puffs of goodness are DELICIOUS. I don't really know what was in them, some sort of mystery meat. We took the bus to the Pearl Harbor visitor's center and did the USS Arizona tour which included a movie and a boat ride to the memorial. It was during the movie that I realized nobody wanted to sit next to us and kept covering their noses when we got too close. Running 5 miles in 80 degree sunny weather made us very sweaty. To top it off I forgot deodorant. In fact, I didn't even want to be around us, we smelled disgusting. We then rode the bus back to the hotel and even the homeless man was offended by our stench. Maybe running as a form of transportation wasn't the best of ideas. Jeff is currently washing our running clothes in the sink.

Happy New Year, everyone! I know that the holidays have wrapped up and we are heading into a bland, cold, desolate month and a half until the next spot of brightness, Valentine's Day. That in mind, I needed something warm and sweet to keep me feeling festive for just one more day while I kissed the holiday season goodbye. Then came this cranberry orange bread and I felt better. 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda zest from one orange 1 cup sweetened dried cranberries 1 cup slivered almonds or chopped walnuts, or 1/2 cup of each 1/4 cup butter, softened 3/4 cup orange juice Preheat oven to 325. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Fold in cranberries, orange zest, and nuts and set aside. Beat butter and sugar 3-5 minutes, then mix in egg. Stir in orange juice and then fold in flour mixture just until incorporated. Prepare a loaf pan by greasing it with butter then dusting it with flour. Spread batter in pan and bake at 325 for one hour. Cool for ten minutes before turning out, then cool for another thirty minutes before glazing. For glaze, mix 3 Tbsp powdered sugar with one teaspoon vanilla extract. Slowly mix in a little bit of water until it reaches desired consistency. I think I used 1 Tbsp water then ended up adding in a few pinches of powdered sugar. Drizzle over the top of the loaf. All in all, this bread was really a tasty treat and would make a great breakfast with some hot tea and honey. I do think that next time I'll add 1/2 a cup of sour cream into the wet batter for a little more moistness, but it was delicious just as it is. And Brooklyn loved it. Always a win in my book.

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Working technicians will be able to be educated on a variety of important service and repair topics when they attend a 2014 MACS Mobile A/C Update clinic. Topics to be covered include: A/C Diagnostic Tools and Perspectives Batteries and Modern Charging Systems Flat Rate Times and Variables Finding the Right Fix Odors, Contaminants and Remedies Another Passenger Car Compartment Odor Problem “Virtual” Sensors OBD II Monitors Coolant and Electrical Systems Plus an update on new refrigerants Classes will be held around the United States check the MACS website for training dates and times beginning in March 2014. If you would like to schedule a class at your facility, please contact Marion Posen at 215/631-7020 x 304 or email .

I finally got pictures of this top that I made in late summer.  I have shared a picture of the skirt before, but here is a better shot of it. The shirt is my drape top pattern out of Modern Jersey in my own fabric design.  I really like this design, and even put it on a pair of shoes that I purchased from Zazzle. I kept my top sleeveless, so I can use it in both summer and winter. The skirt is made out of a nice thick black ponte.  It is a bit of a mermaid style skirt with 4 gores and then a waistband. It was super easy to put together.  Just serge the 4 pieces together and add the waistband on it.  Everything stretches, so fitting wasn’t an issue.  The waistband is a little less than two of the pieces.  I kind of eye-balled it and cut it out. I should have top-stitched the seams down.  It is a little irritating.  It also isn’t the easiest to walk in, so I want to change where it swoops out to a bit more above the knee.  The waistband also flopped over since it was straight up and down.  Next time I will use one where it goes in at the waist.  This is like the waistband on this skirt. I have some chambray colored ponte that I plan on making another top/skirt combo.  That ponte is much softer and more pliable, so I think it will be pretty comfortable for a skirt. In the meantime, I have to do a pattern test for Sofilantjes that I am really excited about.  I have a SUPER CUTE outfit grouping planned for the girl, and spent too much money on custom fabric for it.  She doesn’t know how lucky she is. 😉

Can you identify the persons in this photo? I can. These people make up the little family that I (and God, of course) made. Oh, how I miss the perfection that comes from the unity displayed in this photo. Jamaica is beautiful. Jamaica is nice, but it's tough to enjoy when you're missing home... I'm sure this feeling won't last long. I promise to post something much brighter (and more intellectual) by the beginning of the week.

And she’s currently listening to mine! Yay! Yesterday, as I was scrolling through my Twitter feed, I saw a post by one of the book bloggers I follow pretty closely. She was talking about her recent introduction to audiobooks. And, as her posts usually do, it got me thinking . . . I have heard so many people say in challenges or other bookish conversations that they weren’t quite sure about audiobooks, or if they counted toward a challenge. If you have children, you have probably been told many times that it’s very important to read to them. It’s how they learn, how they are exposed to new ideas. To me, audiobooks are the same thing, except catered more toward adults. The narrator is essentially reading the book to you. And some of them, like your parents when you’re younger, even do the voices for different characters! For the record, I used to be…

A doo wop group, you know, The Five Satins. This collection, called The Five Satins Sing Their Greatest Hits , comes from La Grande Bibliotheque – sometimes I wonder whether I moved to this city just to have access to the great CD collection at the library – it has 20 tracks, including all 4 (!) of their top 100 singles. Cool. --- The Five Satins: In The Still Of The Night – One of the great doo wop classics. I first learned this from a Sha Na Na album, actually, one on which they did mostly original stuff. Then at the end they reverted to their usual forte, and this is the song they picked. This song stayed 24 weeks on the top 100, but only ever reached number 24. Go figure. That was in the fall of 1956. It is variously known as (I’ll Remember) In The Still Of The Night. Not to be confused with the Cole Porter song of the same name. – “Last Semptember, our live was bright and gay.” Oh how our language has become corrupt. Things have gone bad. From late 1959. – I’m in love with a wonderful girl. Good to know. You Can Count On Me – The Satins sing of one of the qualities that women actually look for, I think… I’ll Be Seeing You – The old standard. From the spring of 1960. – Not the Edwin Hawkins Singers song A Million To One – Not the Dean Martin song. A Nite Like This – Reminiscing about when things were wonderful, with sweet strings, a lilting melody, and Fred Parris singing… I Ain’t Gonna Dance – The wedding aisle, not the supermarket aisle. Romance as a foregone conclusion. I’m so used to hearing the American Graffiti soundtrack that I keep expecting to hear Wolfman Jack’s voice. From the summer of ’57, a great slow dance. – There is a tuba in this. This is a rare celebration of marriage. There’s a few around. Happy Anniversary by The Little River Band, etc. etc. Our Love Is Forever – Waltz time, 1-2-3, 1-2-3… A Nite To Remember – How basic is that; we fell in love by the candlelight. Another great slow dance. – A fast one. Land Of Broken Hearts – That’s wear Lonesome Town must be; centre of town you’ll find Heartbreak Hotel on Lonely Street… – Just a typical adoration song, the use of the surname being highly unusual… – This one has a modern sounding guitar solo… – Not to be confused with Willow Weep For Me, but same idea. Wish I Had My Baby – Interesting use of the possessive… – An unusual girl’s name for a love song. There’s a Toni where I work, she is some kind of project manager, a nice lady, but I wouldn’t write her a love song. I think there was a Toni in my parents’ world when I was growing up; she was a psychologist I think, and lived in LA, so we didn’t see her often. I wouldn’t write her any songs either. Love With No Love In Return – Alright alright alright, isn’t self pity a beautiful thing. Think Love To Love by Neil Diamond. – Cute, echoes the vocal chorus from In The Still Of The Night

Tomorrow afternoon we'll have My Space Club 4 Teens we offer during the school-year. We organize this club for local kids, in partnership with Budrio Town Hall as part of their after-school programme. In this way we have a fantastic room with a courtyard in Budrio Library and the social workers are sending some of the kids they follow. As part of our club, we also offer help with their English home-works. Together we'll engage with the YfC Rock Solid material interacting with the theme: Worldview: A world of trouble? How well do you know your world?, If I were UN President for a day..., A World of trouble, Can we fix it?, Memory Tools Game, Can you change your worldview?, Texas' Quiz, Hold me up!, Into Action, Spot the difference, which will serve as illustrations to Stefano's Talk from

As the day approached anxiety ran high for one crowning princess. The closer we got to the date, the more she questioned wearing a crown. After years of diligent work she wavered in finishing the very last small assignment. You see, the enemy of her soul did not want her to take a stand for Jesus. he didn't want to see her honored for the things of Christ, nor feel beautiful as a princess....daughter of the most high God. She overcame the temptation to quit and completed the last assignment. Then the ugly nothings that were whispered in her mind questioned her beauty, her ability to be loved and accepted. She is a gorgeous young lady who was created by the one true God to do great things for HIS kingdom! She is treasured, she is valued, she is loved, and she is wanted. But somehow those ugly whispers rang stronger than our words of affirmation. Somehow she believed that if she could just change her appearance, THEN she would be seen as beautiful and worthy of a crown. But the tempter is a snake...a liar...a thief. His goal is to rob, steal, and destroy. Once we step over the line to listen to the whisper, he screams words of condemnation... that we are not worthy, that we will never amount to anything, that no one will want us because of the ugly of our sin... The truth is...we are ALL sinners, saved by grace! All sin is ugly...but Christ trades beauty for our Ashes. So in Christ's strength...our baby girl put satan under her feet...and a crown she wore! She was honored for the work she accomplished, but more importantly she boldly took a stand for Christ!! She stood with seven of her peers Was reminded that God made her beautiful, and HE longs for us to see what HE sees.... I pray that the truth of this special event resonates in my sweet girl's heart. She is a beautiful princess...daughter of the the Most High God!!! She has beautiful wrapping paper, but her true beauty is on the inside!! May she shine like the stars of the universe for HIM all the days of her life. May she find her identity and worth in the ONE that created her for HIS special plan and purpose!! May she walk BOLDLY for JESUS, putting satan under her feet, all the days of her life. Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Proverbs 31:30

The Voice is a faithful dynamic equivalent translation that reads like a story with all the truth and wisdom of God's Word. Through compelling narratives, poetry, and teaching, The Voice invites readers to enter into the whole story of God with their heart, soul, and mind, enabling them to hear God speaking and to experience His presence in their lives. Through a collaboration of more than 120 biblical scholars, pastors, writers, musicians, poets, and artists, The Voice recaptures the passion, grit, humor, and beauty that is often lost in the translation process. The result is a retelling of the story of the Bible in a form as fluid as modern literary works, yet remaining painstakingly true to the original manuscripts. (from the publisher) Several months ago I read the New Testament portion of The Voice Bible, and I was very happy to be given the opportunity to read the entire book. I still love and will continue to use the Bible I normally use, but I love The Voice for additional reading and study! Written in a screenplay style, it clarifies who is speaking to whom, and provides background info to help deepen one's understanding of the cultural relevance or background that further explains what is happening. I find it a refreshing new look at Scripture. I admit that I am guilty of skimming through certain books of the Bible, such as Leviticus and Numbers, so I appreciated the additional info about why something was happening and to know who was speaking. (By the way, The Voice also properly capitalizes pronouns that refer to God. That is very important to me.) While some of the poetry of the Psalms may not seem to flow as well, I found it to be applicable to my life. After all, one of the main reasons I read my Bible is to live my life in a manner that glorifies and pleases God. --Italicized information added to help contemporary readers understand what the original readers would have known intuitively --In-text commentary notes include cultural, historical, theological, or devotional thoughts --Screenplay format, ideal for public readings and group studies Go to their website ( ) to explore more about Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com < book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255