Friday's Fave Five 7-9-2021

 

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1. Blackberries!!  We have them by the boatload in a patch at our farm.  However, they're in such a wild, inaccessible bramble that I am not going to be able to pick many of them.  An hour and a half yielded enough for a sauce for a cheesecake, and that was all.  Every movement takes special care.  But even if I'm not picking them, I still like knowing that they are there.

2. Blueberries!!  Last year we got almost 40 gallons from the patch of cultivated blueberries that was there when we bought the farm.  This year, we lost most of them due to a late freeze.  I think I'll get maybe two gallons at most.  But any are better than none.

3. A new screen door at the farm.  Mike had looked and looked for one, so that we can keep the garage/shop door open in the hot weather without letting flies in.  But we didn't want a nice new one because it doesn't fit the "mood."  He found one at a thrift shop for $20, got the hardware, and now we have a screen door.

4. Got to meet the new husband of a niece as the two of them passed through here on their way to their new home.  We only met briefly at a Cracker Barrel, but it was a nice and good connection.

5. Wildlife at our farm.  I rode out to the road and there was a red fox in the driveway.  I also watched a raccoon run across the field that was unaware of my presence.  And two fawns watch us most of the time as we drive in or out.  It's very nice to experience some of these things.  Last night we drove down and ate supper there - just plain ol' beanie weenie with some cheese on top that I baked while we were down there.  But it sure tasted good out there in the fresh air!!

Friday's Fave Five, 6-25-2021

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1.  An arrowhead.  Mike found this beautiful arrowhead while walking at our farm yesterday.  It's beautiful white quartz, and is a first for our finds there. 

2. This view from our farm (not our horses - they belong to the neighbor) makes my heart happy.

3. A morning spent helping Mike cut brush!!  We have a vehicle for getting down in the woods but the brush needed to be trimmed first.  So yours truly turned into a brush cutter.  Not in my usual playbook but I tried to help!

4. A new recipe.  I've made this several times and love it.  It's low carb/good carb and is delicious.  The prosciutto does not need to be added, and I used shredded parmesan from a bag, instead of the "pecorino romano" which is a bit too sophisticated for me!  But it was very good and nice to add to the repertoire.

5. A good report yesterday at the doctor's office - blood pressure in normal ranges and an A1C of 6.4!  That was a surprise because I have been a little more "generous" in carb choices in the last few months.  But I suspect that swearing completely off sugared drinks/juices, potatoes, pasta, rice, and any bread except rye is keeping things in check.

Happy summer weekend!!

She Knows How to Use a Computer!!

So this sweet little seven-month-old got up from her nap during our book club meeting this morning and sat on my lap.  She loved that I was using my computer with the e-book on it, and she started banging on the keyboard - opening up several programs and hopefully not deleting anything!  (She knew what she was doing!)  So when this ended up on the screen, I had to take a screenshot.  

Friday's Fave Five, 2/19/2021

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1. My sister and her friend are safe in Texas.  They were very cold, and not having electricity and heat for almost a week was difficult, but they did have a small generator, so were better off than most people.

2. A three-day weekend.  Having a Monday off from school (this time it was President's Day) makes any weekend seem so vacation-like.  All weekend long it's like "Oh yes, I don't have to go to work on Monday!"   

3. Flowers delivered at school last Friday!!  From Mike.  A treat!

4. A lab that I did at school with a track that I did not know was available.  It was originally built for an activity at a children's home, and was stored in a back storeroom.  It was perfect to do experiments with motion and momentum with my 9th graders.  Sometimes teaching physical science can be difficult because not many experiments can be done, but this was great.

 

5. Pine siskins have arrived at our feeders!!  They are only around every few years, during an invasion, and they've been in our area for several weeks - but just last weekend came to our place.  They are aggressive, and they will eat us out of birdseed house and home, but they are fun to watch.

God in the Rainforest by Kathryn T. Long

 

This is quite a book. Detailed, thoroughly researched, well written and well edited, it took me a couple of weeks to get through it. This is the story of the Waorani (Aucas) from the time of the martyrdom of the five missionaries in 1956, until now. Long writes as an objective observer, presenting all sides of the story. At times it is not pretty. Long almost goes too far in presenting the opposite side of almost every decision, every personality, and every problem that was encountered in this incredibly complex situation. The government, SIL/Wycliffe, the oil companies, the environmentalists, the anthropologists, the Bible translators, the early missionaries and the later ones as well - all have a part to play in this huge story, which is further complicated by the way it became the face of missions for many years. 

I was affected in my thinking about the entire story by the details given in this book. There are many facets to it - many that are not represented in the average book written about it, of which there are scores. 

Friday's Fave Five, 1/29/2021

 

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1. On my birthday, my daughter gave me a beautiful flower arrangement.  I liked it so much that I had it re-done in silk by a parent of several of my students who does this as a side business.  She just sent me these pictures, and I'm very happy with it.

2. Son and daughter-in-law gave me this picture frame at Christmas, filled with several of my ECN articles. Mike hung it this week.  My DIL always gives thought fun gifts, and this is just another example.

3. Went to the farm with Mike last Saturday.  I was very tired, but got the chance to rest some while I was there.  This blanket is what I gave Mike at Christmas.  I saw the fleece at a fabric store, and it said "Gone to the Cabin" as well as "The Great Outdoors."  One of my students who loves to make blankets knotted it for me to make a little Christmas $$.  I took a nap under it while we were down there, and it is toasty warm.

4. I also had the energy to get to Target this week to return a Christmas present from my dear daughter, something that just wasn't going to work right.  I needed a new hairdryer, so with her permission used the $$ to get a new one.  And since it was a gift, I splurged on a nicer one.  :-)

5. Today is my dad's 91st birthday.  Happy birthday to Dad, on the slim chance that you are reading this!

Friday's Fave Five, 1-22-2021

 

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1. I went back to work on Tuesday for the entire week, and for the most part did fine.  Yesterday I hit a wall by the afternoon, and went home an hour early - and promptly napped for close to an hour and a half.  But today was a great day and I felt essentially. . . .normal.  Even did dissection of worms with the seventh grade, and that takes a great deal of energy.  I'm posting this picture because it's hard to identify anyone individually on it, which we have to be careful of these days.

2. These are birthday slippers from my sister, and they have felt so good this chilly January week!

3. The blanket in the picture above is one that's been in the closet for awhile.  I unwrapped it this week and it is very soft and comfortable.  I'm thankful to be warm on cold days.

4. I had a gift card from a student, and we had an additional $20 deduction from a DineRewards program, so we had a nice dinner at Outback tonight that cost us $2.26. :-)  Friday nights eating out are great.

5. Thankful once again that my COVID case, though not fun and lasting several weeks with the fatigue, was not serious enough to have to go to the hospital or to develop pneumonia at all.  We know several who have had critical consequences, and I could have just as easily been a casualty instead of just a minor statistic.  Very thankful.

Year In Books 2020

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Friday's Fave Five, 1-15-2021

 

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I haven't done this in quite awhile.  Seems like all of a sudden Fridays are over and I haven't done a FFF.  But this week - in the after-throes of Covid, I have time to do this.

1. I am so thankful to have gotten through this without any pneumonia or having to go to the hospital.  Many prayers went up from many people that that would be the case.  I have a history of bronchitis and pneumonia (3x), so in many ways was a prime candidate for complications from Covid.  After two weeks of being confined to my bedroom (for the most part), I don't think I'm contagious anymore - but the main difficulty now is fatigue.  And it is a wrenching fatigue.  When it hits, there is nothing to be done but get to a chair or bed and take a nap.  Now.  But I have four more days with nothing I have to do but recuperate.

2. Very grateful for a dear friend who is available to substitute for me in a situation like this.  She taught for me when I had major surgery three years ago.  She is flexible and she is willing, and she does a good job.  And my dear friend who is also a colleague was right at her side, helping with the classes she did not know as much about.  That is a huge blessing to know that my classes are well cared for during these two weeks.

3. Mike has taken super care of me (from six feet away of course), and has not gotten sick.

4. My mom has brought us some food and we have also used restaurant carry-out several times.  So we've eaten well.

5. And this book came this week.  So glad to have had the opportunity to read it.  Elisabeth Elliot is a hero of mine, and it's always a pleasure to read anything new and well researched.  I wasn't completely sold on it, and reviewed it on Goodreads as well as copying it to this blog.  But reading it was a bright spot in a very, very quiet week.

I hope anyone reading this is spared this awful virus.  It is weird and it is unpredictable and it is rough.  I am once again very grateful to have come through relatively unscathed.

Becoming Elisabeth Elliot

The perfect read for the upswing of Covid recovery. Elisabeth Elliot has been a hero of mine for over 40 years, and this is a well-researched "authorized" biography of her. Many new details emerge from her life; many blanks filled in. The issue of making Christian icons into "perfect saints" was, I felt, handled well - she was neither placed on a spiritual pedestal, nor, at the same time, torn down from a realistic one. Her early years - her anguish at the loss of Jim - what to do after his passing - all these were full of insight into EE's thinking and decisions. Anything read by EE or about her causes any thinking Christian to consider the same issues in his or her own life.

I gave it a 4 for things that bothered me: 

--I felt like there were a few things that were included that would have mortified EE - such as us being told that she "peed herself" upon a meeting with the head lady of her boarding school. Not sure that was necessary. 

--I felt like the language used to describe the Waodani couples was a little bit too earthy for a biography of this distinguished lady. 

--And just because Elisabeth Elliot, in a depth of frustration, wrote "To hell with zeal!" - it was gratuitous to use that as a chapter title, to draw people in with "Elisabeth Elliot said WHAT?" 

--I saw a few places where the punctation did not appear to be properly edited. 

--I also felt like the author inserted herself in a few places where she could have stepped aside. 

But overall, this is a thoughtful, detailed work, and I am eagerly awaiting Volume II (and wish that the fact that this book was Volume I had been stated as part of the title).