While I Was Doing Laundry

While I was doing laundry my pilot nephew was busy having just another day at the office.

The best part of this first day of Spring, besides being proud of my nephew, is wearing my sunglasses and flip flops not just because but because the weather becons it.  Grilling ribs and chicken, listening to music on the deck and sipping ginger ale.

I forgot to mention there are 49 days in the school year for me and D. Five days less for M.  Is counting down wrong?  H-E-double-L, NO!   

Simply Titled--Veteran's Day

Something most everyone knows is that King Ralph is a police lieutenant.  Something most people don't know is that I keep one dirty white undershirt of his at all times.  I started this years and years ago when a rash of suburban police officers' lives were being taken in the line of duty.  In my young married years I was naive to the idea that King Ralph's life could ever be in much danger--the bullet proof vest was just a fashion accessory worn to induce sweat.  He works in a white-suburban-cookie-cutter-community, so what could ever go wrong. Right? Wrong!  Crime knows no boundaries.  Crime doesn't care if you live and work in the inner city or in an affluent community.  It was when officers in suburban communities were losing their lives to senseless crime that I wanted to be prepared in case the scent of my spouse would be stolen from me.  I want to be prepared to smell that musk like deodorant that clings to the cotton fibers that is, his, scent.  And. So. One dirty T-shirt at all times it is.

Monday night the school district put on the Annual Veteran's Day concert that supports the Backstopper's; an organization that assists families of fallen police, firefighters and EMS workers.  A troop of color guard girls clad in green velvet welcomed veterans and district residents.  An orchestra played.  The elementary school aged choir singing patriotic tunes in voices that sweetly struggle to increase volume and turn to slight shouts.  Innocent cuteness.  There was the high school acapella choir whose voices sounded like a symphony of angels--so beautiful words hardly describe.  There was the marching band who flooded the auditorium playing "God Bless America", followed by a medley of the armed forces theme songs.  With each branch's song that was played the veterans [and active duty] in the auditorium were asked to stand and be recognized, honored.  The Navy grabbed prize for the branch best represented.  Then I noticed, what we all do, I am sure, that there is an unspoken brotherhood among our WWII veterans.  As the band played Anchors Aweigh men in there eighties, strangers to one another turned, reaching rows apart to shake hands--a bond of brotherhood that only their hearts understand but we appreciate.  It leaves me asking why the Generation X'ers can't have that same kind of military brotherhood?  The evening ended remembering the men and women that the Backstopper's exists for as a police department's bagpipers played Amazing Grace.

Those names scrolling past remind me why I keep that single piece of dirty laundry.  In some ways I like to think as long as that t-shirt is there full of its musk scent-- life is safe.

Who knows there may be a wife whose spouse is serving our country right now who also has a fabric of clothing laced with a familiar scent.   What else is there say to that thought, except-- thank you, thank you for honoring our nation and protecting our freedoms.   

Heroes of different kind, yet both with the common goal to protect and serve, honored.                 

Three Cheers for the Red White and Blue

After a week of detox from my over indulgence of sweets, in an effort to lose some weight I have fallen off the wagon…the cause—the Fourth of July, weekend.

There was Thursday. Dinner at my sister-in-law’s where my mother-in-law joined us—God bless her. If I may digress…as good as it is see her it is hard. Preparing for and worrying about her upcoming delicate brain surgery she wears on her face like a coat. The stress, the worry, the draw of her face is something I have never seen draped across her being. For her children to be with her breaking bread seemed somehow comforting for her and them. So, while she worries she poisoned us with the most decadent homemade triple chocolate brownies I have ever eaten. That’s all it took to fall of the wagon. I tried to lose the calories by laughing at King Ralph’s practical joke he played on his little sister. Tried again by laughing at King Ralph’s uncharacteristic behavior each time his team won a point in the game of “Catch Phrase”. I think someone said, and it had a measure of truth, “you would think we were drunk”…but we weren’t. Just family having good ole’ fashion fun. If I may add the jealousy soothed at me for being the only adult not in need of reading glasses or a magnifying glass to read the game card.

Friday. Back at sister-in-law’s house to swim, sun and reminisce about the evening before practical joke. Where we sipped frozen mudslides while floating on rafts. The kids sipped Icees from the Quick Trip. While we floated and sipped we planned our next bit of holiday weekend fun—the drive-in.

We were the envy of the drive-in. Our dining table with its meal of lasagna, Zia’s salad, French bread and again those dammed delicious triple chocolate brownies; were hardly competition for others dinner of greasy popcorn from the concession stand. Then we played Catch Phrase while we waited for the movies to start—Ice Age 3 and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. By the time Ben Stiller bid me good night I had really fallen off the wagon. One punch in my stomach I could have shot out Mike & Ike’s and Milk Duds like a machine gun.


On Saturday we woke to Mother Nature’s evilness instead of Uncle Sam’s glory. It rained and rained to the point I feared we would float off before we had a chance to light a sparkler. Luckily the rain paused long enough for us to party with the cousins, watch King Ralph and cousin Rich perform their Independence Day boy ritual of blowing up plastic bottles with sparkler wicks while the family’s best out-laws (me and Nancy) watched with frozen beverages in hand—mine being the ever so patriotic margarita. It must be breed in their offspring because M and Kelli decided they wanted to try to blow a full soda can, or was it send it to the moon with a tail of twinkling colors...unsuccessful attempts each try. Of course no Fourth of July is complete without an All-American meal…let me just say we feasted well! While we waited for dinner to digest we went to see the firework display where Mother Nature was kind enough to give the rain a brief break so we could be umbrellaed under a canopy of colors. Who picked the spot with the tree blocking the view? Rich maybe? Probably King Ralph.Once back at cousins’ house it was time to add insult to injury when someone served a towering four-layer chocolate cake with thick fudgy chocolate icing. Yum-me! (I am beginning to feel like Fudgie the Whale)
failed attempt one

failed attempt two

Now the weekend indulgence of fun, celebration, explosives and sweet treats has come to an end… it is time for me to rejoin Sweet Eaters Anonymous. This weeks meeting: on the scale. Yikes!

Independance Day 2009

Aaaaaahhhh the Fourth of July. America's birthday. A celebration of freedom under an umbrella of sparkling colors in the sky.

coming to a screeching halt

Someone find Noah and his arc, send him to rescue us. We are dam near ready to float away here in the suburbs of Saint Louis. Our galoshes are filled to the rims. The run off of water on our umbrellas is like that of a clogged gutter. The odds of keeping a punk lit to flare a sparkler--slim. Blankets spread on lawns must be exchanged for air mattresses.

In other words friends, it's a wet one today. A soggy celebration.

Memorial Day

This day is a day for all to simply say thank you for all those who have sacrificed with there life or with there service to our country.

So I will say, with much gratitude, thank you to my nephew and his wife for serving our country proud and preserving our freedoms.

Especially to Captain Suzanne who is serving a tour of duty in Iraq as a nurse...as I always sign off on my emails to her...take care, be safe.

Dignity

Here in St. Louis there are two faiths that rule the commercial air waves-- the Mormons and the St. Louis Family Church. But,now,it is time to welcome a new guy to the TV team--the Lutherans.

Here is a glimpse at one of the commercials that you will soon see on national cable and local television stations. The commercial beautifully filmed; almost has an HGTV feel. You judge then I'll tell you the rest of the story.



After I watched I clicked on the link to the side of the video clip that read, "Read the story behind the ad." In a world that nowadays is over seasoned, so doused with despair...it's just good to know [and read] that a vision of hope still exists; the desire to restore dignity in a person (if only for a short while) is getting a wee bit of public acknowledgement.

So here's the story:
At around 5 p.m. every Thursday, rain or shine, the guests start arriving outside of Trinity Lutheran Church, Bismarck, N.D., for a banquet. Volunteers -- the true cornerstone of the Trinity community -- begin to greet the guests, visiting with them outside the doors that open promptly at 5:30.

Regulars fill each other in on their weeks. Smiles are contagious. When the doors open, more volunteers will be waiting to escort guests to a table for a hot and delicious meal, free of charge.

Unlike most of the meals they've had this year, this one will be enjoyed on a beautiful table setting, complete with colorful decorations, menus and real china and silverware. Sometimes there's even live music provided by the Strolling Strings.

Hosted by churches and business groups from around the Bismarck area, and with dozens of volunteers organized each week by Banquet Coordinator Tudy Fennern, Trinity's Banquet welcomes any and all homeless and hungry members of the community with open arms each and every week. Founded on the belief that "the needy should never be served poorly," the Banquet's goal is simple: to nourish the body with food and the spirit with dignity and respect.

The tables, which seat eight, fill quickly with seven guests, escorted by yet another volunteer. The final seat remains open for one of the volunteers who has cooked and served the meal to join them in the family-style meal. The food is delicious -- prepared with fine, fresh ingredients, and perfectly spiced with compassion. As freshly baked and donated bread is broken, stories are exchanged. Laughter is shared. And hope is restored.

The Banquet has served more than 58,000 meals since July 2005. It receives no state or federal funding -- it's a labor of love shared by Trinity and the Bismarck community.

The volunteers of Trinity's banquet return, week after week. "They say to me, 'I've heard about the Banquet and I'd like to serve,'" said Fennern. They come from churches and groups within the community, often hearing about it from a member of the Trinity congregation. They come from all walks of life. They get every bit as much -- if not more -- out of each Thursday's meal. Camaraderie. Conversation. The joy of knowing that they've not only helped nourish their neighbors' bodies with food -- they've nourished their souls with dignity, respect, and love.

The solution to hunger goes way beyond getting a person to their next meal. Every day, in ELCA ministries and companion congregations spanning the globe, people help their brothers, sisters, and neighbors, providing the food, shelter, education and resources to help eradicate world hunger.

Heart. Love. Compassion. The ingredients the soup of life sometimes is missing. The menu reads-- God is good.

This is all I have to say

I wake this morning, like all Americans to our country being guided by a new man. A man who says he is up for the challenge. (Let the fast track of aging begin). A man that some how has his name on more buttons, hats and T-shirts than any other president. Whose head is immortalized as a Chia Pet.

I am sickened in a time when our country and its people has such deep financial struggles that hundreds of millions of dollars where spent to produce such spectacle and grandeur. I wonder what our fore fathers would have thought. I guess I feel justified to say this because I am one of the few Americans with no credit card debt...actually the only debt my husband and I have is our mortgage and we have money in the bank for those emergencies (which have not yet arouse). Yesterday could have been a day to turn the leaf over and show transition with simplicity.

Yesterday I read a good post Lin logged and this was my response. This will be my only blogged political comment.

I keep repeating these words to people when they say how "historical" today's inauguration was-- We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

If we Americans would believe "all men are created equal" then it wouldn't be about a "black" man becoming president it would be about a man becoming president; and that in itself made today's swearing in of the 44th USA President historical-- as was the first and the forty-third president's inauguration. Pointing out races or genders builds barriers of prejudice.

Now I watched the inauguration, everyone at work did from the five year olds to the...well us grown ups. I watched as I do every four years. I watched because I am an American. I watched because I believe it is just as important to say farewell to one as it is to say welcome and good wishes to the new man and his family.

Our country will only prosper and grow as we believe in our country's greatness together. We are a fractured nation. It was not the fault of one man, Bush. It is the fault of many--politicians and citizens. We will just have sit back and hope everything President Obama spoon fed those who desired change he can bring to fruition.

I say that with a great deal of trepidation.

I want nothing more than goodness for our nation, for our people.