More photos

More photos

Some fave pix

It was all a blur

We had a great trip to Seattle for Em's wedding and Christmas with Audrey.

The star of the trip was WEATHER!

Seattle had a white Christmas beginning on the 11th. It remained cold (below freezing) until the 25th with an additional few inches every other day or so...so the snow stayed on the ground and on the roads. We guessed about 14 inches on the deck outside.

They just aren't prepared for it up there so we spent most of the time indoors.

With the hills you had to plan your parking. We trekked up the hills to the cars with decorations for the wedding, eats for the parties, and suitcases.


But Seattle is beautiful in white with all the tall trees.

Chicago was no bargain either. While we were gone we had a snow storm and bitter cold. We arrived to heavy fog and 50 degrees (and a driveway that was plowed in and frozen over) but we knew what to do...grab the suitcases and hike in.

It is 60 degrees in Chicago today with rain. Tonight it will be back below freezing.

Like I said. It was all a blur.

We're Chilly, Willy

Last night for family night we decided to go ahead and go Christmas caroling around the block in spite of it being only +5 degrees. We put together a few plates of goodies and selected just a handful of lucky people and piled into the car because it was too cold to walk to the next block! I think I could get into the drive-up-to-the-door kind of caroling, yessirree. We sang four carols really fast to people with their doors open an inch, handed them four plates of treats and high-tailed it home for the hot chocolate. But it was fun! (I'm pretty sure we looked just like this photo...)

Today it began to snow and snow. I brushed a few inches of fluffy powder off of the car after work and sped away. Oops, what I thought that was the parking lot exit was apparently the curb covered with snow but the car just kept moving so I was glad for that. On the radio they said that people going from downtown Chicago to O'Hare Airport would be crawling along for 4 1/2 hours to get there, usually a trip of maybe 30-40 minutes. Makes me so grateful we settled in the Midwest! SH

How cold was it?

It was so cold it shattered the lid on the Rubbermaid tub we keep on the porch for packages.

The wind howled all night. It was 50 degrees yesterday and when we got up this morning it was ONE DEGREE.

Shadowlands

I just finished watching the movie Shadowlands from 1993. It's about C. S. Lewis and Joy Gresham.

At one point Lewis is struggling with the illness and suffering of his wife (Gresham) and one of his colleagues remarks, "I know how hard you've been praying and now God is answering your prayer," as she shows signs of recovery.

Lewis replies: "That's not why I pray. I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping.
"It doesn't change God; it changes me."

And that it a great lesson about prayer that we can all learn. God knows our need before we ask. (3 Nephi 13:8)

And another great lesson I've learned about prayer; God can understand even if we can't articulate our needs. Even if all we can muster is a groan, He understands. (Romans 8:26)

But we must pray just the same. because "It changes (us)."

~Dad

Max Kay Heaton

Max would have been 66 years old today.

Less is more (expensive)

Don't look now but that bar of Dial soap has shrunk.

It's the same length and width. Even the thickness is the same at the ends.

BUT they shaved out the middle (about half an ounce worth) and didn't lower the price.

The cost of tallow is killing them, they say.

Just another example of the hidden inflation we have been living with for the last decade.

Shakespeare poll

Here are three scenes from Shakespeare. Somewhere on the blog you'll get to vote for your favorite, either:
A. The gravedigger from Hamlet
B. The final scene from Taming of the Shrew
C. Juliet's Soliloquy
D. None of the above

A. Hamlet Act V, Scene 1
The gravedigger (clown)
Clown: Why, here in Denmark I have been sexton here, man and boy, thirty years.

Hamlet: How long will a man lie i' th' earth ere he rot?

Clown: if he be not rotten before he die (as we have many pocky corses nowadays that will scarce hold the laying in) he will last you some eight year, or nine year. A tanner will last you nine year.

Hamlet: Why he more than another?

Clown: Why sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade, that he will keep out water a great while & your water is a sore decayer of your whoreson dead body.



B. Taming of the Shrew – Final Scene
KATHARINA :Fie, fie! unknit that threatening unkind brow,
And dart not scornful glances from those eyes,
To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor:
It blots thy beauty as frosts do bite the meads,
Confounds thy fame as whirlwinds shake fair buds,
And in no sense is meet or amiable.
A woman moved is like a fountain troubled,
Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty;
And while it is so, none so dry or thirsty
Will deign to sip or touch one drop of it.
Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,
Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee,
And for thy maintenance commits his body
To painful labour both by sea and land,
To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,
Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe;
And craves no other tribute at thy hands
But love, fair looks and true obedience;
Too little payment for so great a debt.
Such duty as the subject owes the prince
Even such a woman oweth to her husband;
And when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour,
And not obedient to his honest will,
What is she but a foul contending rebel
And graceless traitor to her loving lord?
I am ashamed that women are so simple
To offer war where they should kneel for peace;
Or seek for rule, supremacy and sway,
When they are bound to serve, love and obey.
Why are our bodies soft and weak and smooth,
Unapt to toil and trouble in the world,
But that our soft conditions and our hearts
Should well agree with our external parts?
Come, come, you froward and unable worms!
My mind hath been as big as one of yours,
My heart as great, my reason haply more,
To bandy word for word and frown for frown;
But now I see our lances are but straws,
Our strength as weak, our weakness past compare,
That seeming to be most which we indeed least are.
Then vail your stomachs, for it is no boot,
And place your hands below your husband's foot:
In token of which duty, if he please,
My hand is ready; may it do him ease.


C. Juliet's Soliloquy
Juliet:
O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.
Romeo:
Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?
Juliet:
'Tis but thy name that is my enemy:
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? It is nor hand nor foot,
Nor arm nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O be some other name!
What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
and for thy name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.

Albert's Toothache

One morning Albert Turtle complained that he had a toothache.

"That's impossible," said his father, pointing to his own toothless mouth. "No one in our family has ever had a toothache."

Just the same, Albert was sure he had a toothache and needed to stay in bed.




"Who's afraid of a toothache?" boasted his brother Homer.

"See," said Albert's father. "Homer doesn't have a toothache. And I don't have a toothache. And Marybelle doesn't have a toothache. And your mother doesn't have a toothache. It is impossible for anyone in our family to have a toothache."

"You never believe me, " said Albert.

"I'd believe you if you told the truth, " said his father.

"You believed Homer when he said he didn't break the window," Albert reminded his father.



"I'm worried about Albert," said Albert's mother at breakfast.

"You should worry about a boy who doesn't tell the truth," said Albert's father as he left for work.

"Albert just doesn't want to eat his black ants," said Marybelle.

"If I had a toothache, I'd still want to eat my black ants," announced Homer.

"Come eat your black ants, Albert," called his mother.

But Albert just moaned softly from the bedroom.

Albert's mother kissed Homer and Marybelle good-bye and sat down in her worrying chair. She worried and worried.

Then she thought of something. She got up and went to work in the kitchen.



"Look,"she said to Albert. "I've fixed you a special breakfast of all your favorite things - rotting oak bark garnished with sunflower seeds, a dried aspen leaf, and half a green caterpillar."

"I can't eat anything," said Albert, poking the tip of his nose out from under the covers. "I have a toothache."

"Of course, you don't have a toothache," said his mother.

"You never believe me," said Albert.

"I'd believe you if you told the truth," said Albert's mother.

"You believed Dad when he said he caught a seven-pound trout," complained Albert.



Albert's mother took the tray back to the kitchen and went outside to her worrying swing on the porch. She worried and worried.



Then she got a baseball and went into Albert's room.

"Come play catch with me," she said. "You can teach me how to throw a spitball."

"I can't teach you how to throw an old spitball," said Albert. "I have a toothache."

"You just think you have a toothache," said his mother. "Come on, you can play catch if you try."

"You never believe me," whined Albert. "You believed Marybelle when she said she was the only girl in her class who didn't have a pair of black boots with zippers."



Albert's mother put the ball away and went outside to her worrying rock in the sun. She worried and worried.



Then she got a big book and took it into Albert's room.

"Look, Albert, I brought the family album to show you the pictures we took in Disneyland. Sit up, Albert."

"I can't sit up," said Albert. "Why don't you ever believe me?" And a big tear rolled down his cheek.

Albert's mother put the family album away and went into the living room to lie down on her worrying sofa. She worried and worried. She was still worrying when Marybelle and Homer came home.

"How's Albert?" asked Marybelle.

"He still says he has a toothache," said Albert's mother.

"He just didn't want to fight Dilworth Dunlap," explained Marybelle. "Dilworth Dunlap was waiting for him after school."

"If I had a toothache, I'd still fight Dilworth Dunlap," announced Homer.

"Is that son of yours still playing possum?" Albert's father asked when he got home from work.

"Yes," said Albert's mother. "I wish that he would remember he's a turtle."

"He just knew we were having gray spider legs for dinner," said Marybelle.

"I don't want any gray spider legs either," said Homer.

After dinner Grandmother Turtle came over with chewing gum for all the children.

"Can I have Albert's?" asked Marybelle.

"Of course not, it's Albert's," said his grandmother.

"He won't want it. He says he has a toothache." said Marybelle.

"Isn't that terrible?" said Albert's mother.

"Can you believe your grandson would say an impossible thing like that?" asked Albert's father.

"The trouble with all of you is that you never believe him," said Albert's grandmother.

Albert's grandmother went into his bedroom.

"Well," she said, "I hear you have a toothache."

"Yes'm," said Albert.

"Where do you have a toothache?" asked Albert's grandmother.

"On my left toe," said Albert, sticking his foot out from under the covers. "A gopher bit me when I stepped in his hole."

"Well, I have just the thing to fix a toothache," said Albert's grandmother. She took her handkerchief from her purse and wrapped it around Albert's toe.

Albert smiled toothlessly and got out of bed.

For you shoppers

The word "purchase" hasn't always had the same meaning as it does now. We use it interchangeably with the word "buy."

But "purchase" used to mean the act of searching for things to buy. Goods were not always as available as they are today; it took great effort to travel long distances in hopes of finding what you needed. And often you returned home without it.

The word "purchase" actually comes from the Old French and it means "seeking ardently."

For Kim

A real bargain

Such a deal. Only $3.49 at Home Depot. No roller tray. No mess. Easy to clean.

Of course, you've got to buy your paint five gallons at a time.

Gobble, gobble

Dedicated to Jon and Ryan