What a month!!! It has been fun without being so hectic except for the past week. I went to my sister's in Greensboro and Don went to Charlottesville, VA, both of us to be with family. We went on Christmas Eve and returned on the 26th.
During the month, we attended several parties and all were fun and we got to visit with plenty of our friends here in Charlotte. We also went to Nova Voce for some non-traditional Christmas music. One of our good friends from church was singing in this and it means so much to her every year. Don and I try to attend their Easter concert as well. Last year, we went to that one twice. I went to hear some more traditional Christmas music at church (not counting the regular Sunday services music) and my favorite male soloist, George Washington, III, sang several solos. One of his solos was O Holy Night and it was gorgeous.
We also went to a small dinner party at Jim and Nancy's and Ann and Bob were there too. Nancy served hot apple cider when we arrived, along with some hor d'oeuvres. Then we had lasagna and green beans and rolls - Yum. Later we had brownies and peppermint ice cream (my favorite kind of ice cream). Double yum!!!! We also played a game with some bagged gifts where Jim read the Christmas story with lots of deliberately placed left and rights in the story. Every time you heard left, you pass your package left and every time you heard the word, right, you pass your package right. When the story ends, you are holding your gift. The packages had CDs and DVDs and candy so they were not gender specific and all were things anyone could enjoy. It was great fun and we laughed and laughed as we passed things around - especially when Joseph and Mary "left right away." We also watched the Albert Finney musical version of "A Christmas Carol." We all loved that. I wound up giving that DVD to Don and to Julie as part of their Christmas presents.
I went to my sister's for Christmas. Don and I left around 11 on Christmas Eve and got there before 1. (I was a worried about Grayson, my cat, who was limping pretty badly on his right front leg. I cut his toenails just in case that might be the problem and Bertha is looking after my kitties while I am away. She will watch them pretty well, I believe. By the time I got home on the 26th, Gray was moving around much better.) Pretty soon after we got there, we had turkey and all the fixings - lots of cooking had gone on before we got there. Don and I really enjoyed the meal. It really hit the spot for all of us. Those of us at my sister's just snacked or helped ourselves that evening with leftovers. Don went out for steak and eggs to Waffle House as he had left us by then to prepare for a long drive the next day.
On Christmas morning, we gathered in the living room and opened presents. I was REALLY surprised to have received a new computerized sewing machine which I am now trying to learn to thread. I think I know how to thread it - it is a matter of hitting the right spots for some things so I hope practice makes it get easier and easier with time. I also got Carolina blue velvet curtains for one of my bedrooms from my nephew. So beautiful. My sister and I will get them hung as soon as we can. My sister got a whole new bedspread outfit including nice pillows with shams, a quilt to lay on the foot of the bed and new dust ruffle. Her bed now looks superb. Lauren and John got lots of things, some of them related to cooking, working out, or just great books for reading. They also got a small flat screen tv for their bedroom. David got a wireless router, several bluebird houses for putting out this spring, books. Daniel got shelving for his room. It has to be put together which should be a project, but the wood was really a nice color and it has glass doors in a couple of sections. I think it will look really good when it is installed. He also got games which we played and one of them was really fun and is authored by the crossword puzzle editor at the NY Times. It was Imagination TriBond by Will Shortz. Had fun with that one. We also played Scrabble which I like. I didn't do that well with the Scrabble game. I wound up with some pretty unusable letters and no vowels to attach them to. Maybe we should have gone with Hebrew spellings?!? Everyone got CDs or DVDs or books. We all had a great time. I gave Daniel a new Zelda game and a DVD of American Beauty which I wanted to watch with him but we ran out of time due to his working on the 26th.
Don and his daughter and two granddaughters drove to Crozet, Virginia to join his other daughter and her family for Christmas afternoon and evening. The drive was better than we had feared since there was no ice on the roads. However, it rained all day and that made it hard to see as well as one would like. But the traffic was light and there were no trucks on the road so that helped.
Lauren and John had been to Antigua this year and hot sauce is everywhere at restaurants there and it will be named for the owner of the restaurant, etc. So they gave David and Marlene a bottle of hot sauce called Susie's Hot Sauce but with Obama's picture on it. Apparently, Obama is much admired there so they put his face on lots of things to honor him. I'll have to find out how the hot sauce is.
On Christmas Day, my sister cooked (heated) a whole country ham. It took 2 and a half to 3 hours and the instructions were not very good. The glaze was also a challenge and something of an issue as the instructions left a clumpy looking substance on the ham. We diluted it and heated the ham some more after putting it on and all worked out really well. The ham was DELICIOUS. Although it was a lower salt ham, it was still plenty salty but so very hard to resist. The ham was bought from a gift certificate from Don from the previous year. It really was great and memorable. Smithfield also gave my sister a discount on a Paula Dean cake that had a mild peppermint icing. The aftertaste on the icing was the thing. At first you don't notice the peppermint but after a few minutes, you realize what you are eating. I loved that peppermint too.
We cleaned and cooked a LOT. But we enjoyed those meals like crazy. On the 26th, my sister and I and my niece went to a Ross Dress for Less to look for curtain rods for my new blue curtains. We found a decorative rod there. (The guys decided to come with us so we had David and John as well. Daniel was at work the day after Christmas.) We also went by a PetSmart to get some cat food with glucosamine in it for my Grayson who is sometimes limping pretty badly and won't eat the Cosequin for cats right now. So I got a bag of Purina One for Senior Cats and it has glucosamine in it. The minute I set it down once I was home that night, Milo was trying to tear it open. Must smell good or something. I gave some to both cats and they ate it right away. (Haven't seen Gray in it since but I am hoping he is eating it in the middle of the night. It does disappear.) Then we went by Target to see if something was available for John's dad's gift to make it complete. We didn't find it.
At home, we ate on leftovers and Marlene and I went back out to a fabric store to get material to make tiebacks. We got a satiny material and something to edge the material to give it a little more pop. I like it very much. We went home and worked on the tiebacks but it was taking a little long so we retired to the living room to visit with my niece and her husband. Daniel came home somewhere in here also but went to sleep pretty soon (been up since about 5 in the morning and worked pretty hard at Panera's).
My sister's dog, Biscuit, and her two cats were around us all 3 days and they were all well-behaved and fun to pet.
Don picked me up on the 26th maybe around 8 or so. We got home at 9:30 or 10 p.m. We unloaded a huge pile of stuff into my place and he went home. Gray was walking better than when I left. (Maybe the rain on the 24th made his arthritis hurt more than on the 26th when there was no rain.) Bertha said both Milo and Gray were good while I was gone.
The next day was the 27th, a Sunday. We went to church at 8:30 and Jim taught Sunday School. We went to Phil's for brunch and Jim's daughter was there with her 3 children who were great fun. One of them spotted Santa through his window on Christmas Eve and told about his mad race to get to bed before Santa came. As a coincidence, Don loaned Jim some Santa costuming earlier in the week!!!!!?????!!!!
After that, Don and I went to my place to open our presents. Julie had given me a automatic cleaning cat litter box. Don and I put that together and went to PetSmart to buy a cover for it and the right grade of litter. We also had to get batteries for it as we didn't want to use it in the house where we could have plugged it in. We'll see how that works. It took us hours to do all this but now it is set up and working fine. One of the cats used it during the night as I checked for that. I also got a blue topaz and silver bracelet from Sally and I think it is beautiful. I always love topaz and don't think I have anything made of blue topaz. Don gave me a book of pictures from the twins visit this year and a book that we will have a book discussion on in February called "Blood Done Sign My Name." We are hoping to get the author to come to the discussion and I am glad to have the book this early to read and mull over. I also got a trip to Black Mountain with a church group at the end of January. I am looking forward to it as I will be able to meet more of our church members in a more one on one way then. It is a women only trip. He has also been helping me endlessly with a new pc all year and before that he helped and helped with my poor dying pc.
Don and I also got a mat from his place and cleaned it up to put under a table to help give more stability to the foot pedal on the sewing machine. We set up the sewing machine on this table with foot pedal underneath. Of course, this entailed moving other things and especially getting cords off to the side of the room rather than toward the middle of the room. However, this did not take as long as you would have thought. Then we tackled putting together the litter box and getting it operational. That did take some time as we went out to stores to buy a few more things to go with it since we wanted to have it covered rather than the litter being out in the open. Figuring out how to put the cover together took us the longest and we succeeded more by our own wits than with the instructions (which made no sense).
I gave Don an out-of-print book called "Anatomy of a Game" which we had a difficult time finding at anything approaching an affordable price. But I managed to find a guy in Maine who was willing to sell it below the normal asking price. I am so grateful to him as this book was something Don wanted a lot and I like giving gifts like that to people I love. He said it was 5 times better than he expected and he wants to spend New Year's Day reading it and watching football games on tv. I know he will enjoy that.
I am sure there are things I left out but that seems to be the gist of it for Christmas this year.
12/28/09
12/18/09
2009.12.18 So You Think You Want to Learn Hebrew???!!!!
On December 16, 2009, Barbara and I finished the last of 10 Hebrew 101 classes at Temple Beth-El. In it, we learned the basic Hebrew alphabet (which has no vowels by the way). By this I mean, we learned the symbols and sounds associated with the symbols. Whatever speaking we did was mostly just sounding out the symbols presented with occasional information telling us what the words meant. I don't even think everything we sounded out represented a word or words. Vowels are designated by a series of dots or dashes or apostrophe-looking signs surrounding the letter. Most of these vowel designations are below the letter but some are beside or above. Also, some of the "letters" look VERY similar to other letters so you had to look carefully toward the end to see which letter is which. I liked the letter P, which looks for all the world like a little Pac-Man (including a dot that looks like his eye) from an old Atari game I used to play. The letter K looks very much like our P except the rounded part nearly meets but does not quite meet the line. One version of the letter, F, looks like the pac-man without an eye in it.
Our teacher, Dahlia, was from Israel and was very enthusiastic about her subject. Both Barbara and I thought she was a very good teacher. Many of the other students in class had attended Temple services for years and knew the Hebrew prayers that were often given as examples of words used from the letters we were learning. Barbara, another Oriental-looking lady, and I appeared to be the only three who were not familiar with those prayers so the examples were a little lost on me at least. The Oriental-looking lady was married to a Jewish guy who was in the class and who was always very friendly and nice to Barbara and me. She did not attend the last two classes and often said "Pass" when it was her turn to read a "word." I think her husband was a little disappointed that she gave up and didn't attend the last two classes.
Barbara and I had perfect attendance and neither of us ever "passed" when it was our turn. I wasn't always successful in reading the letters right but I did give it a try.
Some letters such as the M, N, F and TS sounds had two symbols - one if it were inside the word and another symbol if it ended a word. Other letters also had two symbols but had nothing to do with whether it was at the end of the word or not. I think on some of them, you just get to choose which symbol you like best - that was not really explained in any other way. The throaty "CH" (as is said at the end of Bach) sound had three symbols- one of which was a final "CH", the T had two, S has two. Two of the symbols (ayin and alef) were silent but could be put somewhere if you needed to add a vowel designation without a consonant being present.
Proportion of the letters was also important as that is the only way to tell the difference between some letters which look the same except for length or width of a line. A few letters go a bit above the line or a bit below and you need to know which ones are appropriate for that. Lamed (L) was one that went above the line, Final Nun or Nun Sofit (N) was one that went below the line as was final Feh (F), final Tzadi (TS), Kaf (K), and final Khaf (CH).
Also, the teacher made symbols on the board that did not look exactly like those shown in our book. Sometimes that could be confusing. And, vowel sounds can sometimes be silent even though they are shown as part of the word. There were six rules for this that were put on the board every week. I might get used to those rules over time but did not while I was in this class. I was concentrating on what the sounds were for all the symbols. I would have had to take this for quite a while to start adding in the rule variations for vowel sounds.
In Hebrew 102, some of the prayers are read and learned so reading is more important there and I don't feel adequate for that yet. Maybe if I took 101 again, the second time with the base of knowing most of the letters by looking at the symbol - maybe then I could move to 102 with a little more comfort that I would get something from it.
Since I don't have keyboard keys for the symbols we used, this lesson in Hebrew will do for now. I did pick up certain words as Shalom Shabbat, Torah, Alleluia, Amen, Adonai (looks like two apostrophes side by side - these symbols are called Yod and normally have a "Y" sound). The Yod is also used to turn a vowel sound into something more distinct such as an "ah" sound into an "a-ya" sound. But if you see two of these symbols together in a prayer book, the word to say is Adonai.
There are actual symbols for the sound oy (as in toy) and ooey (as in gooey). These were the last two sounds we learned in class.
Overall, I am glad I took this class and I think I will miss it. Barbara told me she practiced in front of her cats so I did a little of that too. Milo slept through most of it and Gray just left the room.
By the way, we went through Halloween, Thanksgiving and part of the Christmas season during all this and one perk is that I got to walk through Barbara's yard at Halloween. I have never seen a more decorated place for Halloween and Don and I had great fun on that adventure - especially at the head-removing witch at the end. Barbara's husband loves the holidays and loves doing up the yard especially at Halloween. I think kids all over the neighborhood must view a visit to their house as their favorite trick or treat place. We also saw the outside Christmas decorations her husband has put up after the class last Wednesday. Beautiful and complete with a countdown sign showing the days, hours and minutes until Christmas. Barbara and I ate at Izzy's Restaurant before the last two classes. The last time, we had a sandwich called the Providence which was a great chicken salad sandwich (not on the menu but available on request - at least when Barbara is the requestor).
Shalom!!!
Our teacher, Dahlia, was from Israel and was very enthusiastic about her subject. Both Barbara and I thought she was a very good teacher. Many of the other students in class had attended Temple services for years and knew the Hebrew prayers that were often given as examples of words used from the letters we were learning. Barbara, another Oriental-looking lady, and I appeared to be the only three who were not familiar with those prayers so the examples were a little lost on me at least. The Oriental-looking lady was married to a Jewish guy who was in the class and who was always very friendly and nice to Barbara and me. She did not attend the last two classes and often said "Pass" when it was her turn to read a "word." I think her husband was a little disappointed that she gave up and didn't attend the last two classes.
Barbara and I had perfect attendance and neither of us ever "passed" when it was our turn. I wasn't always successful in reading the letters right but I did give it a try.
Some letters such as the M, N, F and TS sounds had two symbols - one if it were inside the word and another symbol if it ended a word. Other letters also had two symbols but had nothing to do with whether it was at the end of the word or not. I think on some of them, you just get to choose which symbol you like best - that was not really explained in any other way. The throaty "CH" (as is said at the end of Bach) sound had three symbols- one of which was a final "CH", the T had two, S has two. Two of the symbols (ayin and alef) were silent but could be put somewhere if you needed to add a vowel designation without a consonant being present.
Proportion of the letters was also important as that is the only way to tell the difference between some letters which look the same except for length or width of a line. A few letters go a bit above the line or a bit below and you need to know which ones are appropriate for that. Lamed (L) was one that went above the line, Final Nun or Nun Sofit (N) was one that went below the line as was final Feh (F), final Tzadi (TS), Kaf (K), and final Khaf (CH).
Also, the teacher made symbols on the board that did not look exactly like those shown in our book. Sometimes that could be confusing. And, vowel sounds can sometimes be silent even though they are shown as part of the word. There were six rules for this that were put on the board every week. I might get used to those rules over time but did not while I was in this class. I was concentrating on what the sounds were for all the symbols. I would have had to take this for quite a while to start adding in the rule variations for vowel sounds.
In Hebrew 102, some of the prayers are read and learned so reading is more important there and I don't feel adequate for that yet. Maybe if I took 101 again, the second time with the base of knowing most of the letters by looking at the symbol - maybe then I could move to 102 with a little more comfort that I would get something from it.
Since I don't have keyboard keys for the symbols we used, this lesson in Hebrew will do for now. I did pick up certain words as Shalom Shabbat, Torah, Alleluia, Amen, Adonai (looks like two apostrophes side by side - these symbols are called Yod and normally have a "Y" sound). The Yod is also used to turn a vowel sound into something more distinct such as an "ah" sound into an "a-ya" sound. But if you see two of these symbols together in a prayer book, the word to say is Adonai.
There are actual symbols for the sound oy (as in toy) and ooey (as in gooey). These were the last two sounds we learned in class.
Overall, I am glad I took this class and I think I will miss it. Barbara told me she practiced in front of her cats so I did a little of that too. Milo slept through most of it and Gray just left the room.
By the way, we went through Halloween, Thanksgiving and part of the Christmas season during all this and one perk is that I got to walk through Barbara's yard at Halloween. I have never seen a more decorated place for Halloween and Don and I had great fun on that adventure - especially at the head-removing witch at the end. Barbara's husband loves the holidays and loves doing up the yard especially at Halloween. I think kids all over the neighborhood must view a visit to their house as their favorite trick or treat place. We also saw the outside Christmas decorations her husband has put up after the class last Wednesday. Beautiful and complete with a countdown sign showing the days, hours and minutes until Christmas. Barbara and I ate at Izzy's Restaurant before the last two classes. The last time, we had a sandwich called the Providence which was a great chicken salad sandwich (not on the menu but available on request - at least when Barbara is the requestor).
Shalom!!!
12/12/09
11/16/09
2009.11.14 UNC 33 Miami 24
Julie, the twins, Buzzy and wife, Bob, Bob's son and his son's friend all went with us to the Carolina/Miami football game Saturday, 11/14. We had great great fun. The boys were just as wonderful as the girls always are. Don surprised us all with a gift card to the student store and the very first thing we did was go shopping. Katie got the most wonderful jacket which she said was $80 but marked to half price. I told her I'm going with her next time. I never find those kinds of deals. I got a book about Carolina with gorgeous pictures and signed by the author AND I got some earrings (3 pair). They gave me 15% off the book since it was marked as such but the guy said that was really a mistake. I have all kinds of other Carolina jewelry but didn't have a single pair of earrings. I needed them to complete my "going to Carolina football games" outfit. Everyone left happy with their new stuff. One of the twins got a bum card and Don had to go in and straighten out that snaffu but had no trouble doing so. They just issued her a new card - one that would work.
Then we went to eat at the Carolina Club which is in one of the buildings right outside the football stadium. On the way, I got to see the new Don Stallings building which is still under construction. There are a couple of pictures of it in the slideshow above. Don and I became especially aware of this buidling as some people think it is named for him! We do know Mr. Stallings and his wife so it made a good story the last time we saw them. Food was good at the Carolina Club and we got to visit with everyone including Don's son and his wife who joined us for the meal. They sat apart from us at the game but went to the game also.
We also went by the bell tower which everyone except me climbed and went by to let the twins and everyone else at least touch the ram as he wished he could just graze on the grass. The twins didn't want to go see the mascot until they saw it was the "natural" one, not the dressed up cheerleader. I always love to pet the mascot which I have done almost every game this year. When we had a Thursday night game, I told him he would get Saturday off for taking the trouble to come out on a Thursday. I just know no one else had told him.
Game was great. We did win which I did not really expect. But Bob's son wants to go to Carolina and I am glad our team made us proud in his presence. We left the game a little early, partly because Julie and her group had left and Don remembered we had some of their stuff in his trunk. So we scurried to catch up with them before they got away completely. I convinced Don to hurry on as I couldn't go fast enough in the dark to make it possible to catch them. Therefore, I got to walk by myself (in well lit areas) a good bit of the way to the car. He stayed with me until we got all the way down steps and almost out of the stadium and then he jogged on ahead and caught up with them just before they got to their vehicle.
Trip home was good and peaceful - we took 64 to 49 which is now mostly 4 lanes and a very peaceful road. Not like I-85 at all. You can almost relax. However, you have to watch speed limits. We got pulled over for speeding - the guy said we were going 53 in a 35 zone. I am not convinced he was right as we saw a 45 limit sign but not a 35 MPH limit. Anyway, Don apologized and the policeman gave us a lecture and let us off with a warning. We could not believe it. Two miracles in one day - a win and a warning without a ticket (especially with that much over the limit). We stopped to eat at a place we were told about called Best Foods. It is a cafeteria with all sorts of huge anterooms and a shop with Christmas everything for sale and a steakhouse on the side. Don got a salad bar and chicken and I got beeftips over rice. The food was really good but we concluded the chicken and salad bar are their specialty so that is what we should get if we go back there. Don is going there with his high school class real soon and he wanted to see what it was like before he makes a 97 mile drive to eat with them again. We concluded it was a good place to go eat a meal.
Got home safely and our burning question has been how to spell the mascot's name. Some places spell it Ramses and some places spell it Rameses. I did some research and concluded most of the official places spell it Rameses. Don wrote the university - someone he knows there - and Rameses is correct. The keeper this week told me we are on Rameses XVII. Maybe I'll research that too since the same guy told me the spelling is Ramses and now I know that isn't right.
11/9/09
2009.11.09 Lunch with Amy in her snazzy boots
Amy and I went to lunch together for our second outing together. This time she showed up wearing some really nice boots and I had to have a picture of them. We had a great time and we went to Manzettis where I ate a chef salad with my absolute favorite dressing. Amy got a salad with chicken on it which she said she really loves.
Looking forward to another outing sometime.
10/24/09
2009.10.24 Surgery One Year Anniversary
This is a cut and paste from an email I did today which describes the day and my thoughts right now. It was written to dear dear friends and thus the references to visits and wanting to hear from people.
Today is the one year anniversary of my brain surgery. I am happy to say that Don and I met our first mountain climbing goal for Pinnacle this morning. (Pinnacle is part of Crowder Mountain State Park and is a more challenging mountain to climb than Crowder Mountain.) We both made it to the area where the climb becomes extremely steep and difficult - still quite a distance from the top I am told. We took instead what is called Turnaround Trail and made our way back to the beginning from there. This was our first goal - to make a round trip on Turnaround Trail rather than turning around even before we got to the trail and going back down the way we came. Both of us are enjoying these hikes and they are challenging for me but we do take it slow especially when we come to some of the rockier patches. Nancy, there is one patch of rocks that Don calls "Nancy's rock pile" because he remembers your saying something about it when you made the climb some time ago. (This rock pile becomes a minor thing as you go on up and realize you are now getting into boulders rather than rocks.) We will try this path several more times before we try to start seeing how far up the really steep end-climb we can go. Don says we can spend an hour or more on the last bit if we need to - we just want to arrive in one piece each. I may have been on Pinnacle's top twice and want to do it again. Some people who pass us as we are making our way up are out for 8 to 12 mile hikes. You can go all the way to Kings Mountain (the mountain, not the town) from Pinnacle's top. It is a 6.2 mile walk along the ridge line. Of course it is then 6.2 miles to get back - to say nothing of the distance to the top and back down to the bottom. That probably adds at least 2 extra miles to the whole trip - maybe more. Today's "walk" took us 55 minutes up and 45 minutes down. I do not go over rocks and boulders without being super super careful. We got passed more than once by speeding 20 year olds but then Don and I are a little past that age and tried to use some sense about our conditions. We may try this walk a few more times before we make a go at reaching the top. Today's hike was certainly do-able as we proved to ourselves today. (Of course now I am having a hard time moving around the condo. Milo, my cat, is concerned about that a little.) About every other word out of our mouths is "Careful here now, Be careful" and we are very deliberate about where we are stepping especially around the rocks and boulders. We surely do not want any falls on that terrain.
What Don and I really wish for is to go back to Mt. LeConte. If any of you are interested in hiking, that is a great one and it has a web site that tells about it. The way we went up LeConte, it was apx a 6 mile hike almost literally straight up most of the way and I think I trained for 2 years to get in shape for that one. I don't know if I could ever do it again but there is a longer less strenuous route to the top of LeConte that might be more possible for a more mature person. There is also something called Alum Cave that you get to on the way up and we could most surely do that at a minimum. When you climb to the top, you can spend the night (make sure you have a RESERVATION) and they feed you well and put you up in a cabin with cots for the night. The sunset is gorgeous (take a camera) and the only amenities are the really great food and water you can pump if you want it. I think someone came in and lit some kind of heater to keep us from freezing during the night also - so there is another amenity. No lights except candles and such so take a flashlight as well. We hiked up to the top one day and back down the next (after an all-you-can-eat breakfast). The hike down was accompanied by RAIN. I still remember it and I still am in love with the sights and sounds of that trip. Some people are lucky and get to see the llamas carrying the food up to the top. They use llamas since the only other way to get supplies in is by air (which they do if they have to). No kind of vehicles allowed on these trails. I did not get to see the llamas but Don has been with some of his family and they were lucky enough to witness the llamas delivering the food. I believe we climbed up in April and at a certain level, there were still patches of snow on the ground. I bet October would be beautiful with the leaves changing color. Link to the LeConte web site is below:
http://www.leconte-lodge.com/
Way more than anyone wanted to know, I guess, but I was right proud of today's hike and I did have fun doing it. (Last year this time, I had a hard time reaching to turn off a light in the bedroom; more than once had to be lifted up out of a chair; and, Lord help me, the bathtub. I haven't taken a bath since - only showers. It is a horrifying experience to be down in a tub and completely unable to get to your feet no matter how hard you try. My legs and arms only seemed to work. They really didn't. I will have to try a bath again soon as I like baths a lot. But I think I will have to have someone in the house in case I need help for some reason - or at least a cell phone within reach. (Psychological block, I hope.) I might have to write my surgeon, Dr. Asher, and tell him I think this climb today is evidence that his skills are outstanding. I don't think we knew last year this time how this tumor removal would end up but I am doing pretty darned well. (And taking Hebrew to boot - now that is difficult.)
Hope to hear from some of you soon. I do love you all, you know.
Looking forward to lunch with Pam and Lynn on Wednesday and with Nancy and Ann on Friday. I really do look forward to visiting with these great friends. Wish I could be with you all at one time but separately or two at a time is good too.
Linda
P.S. Just my own entertainment news. Saw Amelia, the movie yesterday and liked it a lot. Of course, we all know the ending and it didn't change for the movie. But they didn't make it gory and horrifying. You just knew doom was about to happen. Also loved Julie and Julia in case any of you missed that. It is still on at some places. And Rod Stewart has a new CD coming out Monday. I always liked that guy and guess I will be looking into getting the CD soon.
Today is the one year anniversary of my brain surgery. I am happy to say that Don and I met our first mountain climbing goal for Pinnacle this morning. (Pinnacle is part of Crowder Mountain State Park and is a more challenging mountain to climb than Crowder Mountain.) We both made it to the area where the climb becomes extremely steep and difficult - still quite a distance from the top I am told. We took instead what is called Turnaround Trail and made our way back to the beginning from there. This was our first goal - to make a round trip on Turnaround Trail rather than turning around even before we got to the trail and going back down the way we came. Both of us are enjoying these hikes and they are challenging for me but we do take it slow especially when we come to some of the rockier patches. Nancy, there is one patch of rocks that Don calls "Nancy's rock pile" because he remembers your saying something about it when you made the climb some time ago. (This rock pile becomes a minor thing as you go on up and realize you are now getting into boulders rather than rocks.) We will try this path several more times before we try to start seeing how far up the really steep end-climb we can go. Don says we can spend an hour or more on the last bit if we need to - we just want to arrive in one piece each. I may have been on Pinnacle's top twice and want to do it again. Some people who pass us as we are making our way up are out for 8 to 12 mile hikes. You can go all the way to Kings Mountain (the mountain, not the town) from Pinnacle's top. It is a 6.2 mile walk along the ridge line. Of course it is then 6.2 miles to get back - to say nothing of the distance to the top and back down to the bottom. That probably adds at least 2 extra miles to the whole trip - maybe more. Today's "walk" took us 55 minutes up and 45 minutes down. I do not go over rocks and boulders without being super super careful. We got passed more than once by speeding 20 year olds but then Don and I are a little past that age and tried to use some sense about our conditions. We may try this walk a few more times before we make a go at reaching the top. Today's hike was certainly do-able as we proved to ourselves today. (Of course now I am having a hard time moving around the condo. Milo, my cat, is concerned about that a little.) About every other word out of our mouths is "Careful here now, Be careful" and we are very deliberate about where we are stepping especially around the rocks and boulders. We surely do not want any falls on that terrain.
What Don and I really wish for is to go back to Mt. LeConte. If any of you are interested in hiking, that is a great one and it has a web site that tells about it. The way we went up LeConte, it was apx a 6 mile hike almost literally straight up most of the way and I think I trained for 2 years to get in shape for that one. I don't know if I could ever do it again but there is a longer less strenuous route to the top of LeConte that might be more possible for a more mature person. There is also something called Alum Cave that you get to on the way up and we could most surely do that at a minimum. When you climb to the top, you can spend the night (make sure you have a RESERVATION) and they feed you well and put you up in a cabin with cots for the night. The sunset is gorgeous (take a camera) and the only amenities are the really great food and water you can pump if you want it. I think someone came in and lit some kind of heater to keep us from freezing during the night also - so there is another amenity. No lights except candles and such so take a flashlight as well. We hiked up to the top one day and back down the next (after an all-you-can-eat breakfast). The hike down was accompanied by RAIN. I still remember it and I still am in love with the sights and sounds of that trip. Some people are lucky and get to see the llamas carrying the food up to the top. They use llamas since the only other way to get supplies in is by air (which they do if they have to). No kind of vehicles allowed on these trails. I did not get to see the llamas but Don has been with some of his family and they were lucky enough to witness the llamas delivering the food. I believe we climbed up in April and at a certain level, there were still patches of snow on the ground. I bet October would be beautiful with the leaves changing color. Link to the LeConte web site is below:
http://www.leconte-lodge.com/
Way more than anyone wanted to know, I guess, but I was right proud of today's hike and I did have fun doing it. (Last year this time, I had a hard time reaching to turn off a light in the bedroom; more than once had to be lifted up out of a chair; and, Lord help me, the bathtub. I haven't taken a bath since - only showers. It is a horrifying experience to be down in a tub and completely unable to get to your feet no matter how hard you try. My legs and arms only seemed to work. They really didn't. I will have to try a bath again soon as I like baths a lot. But I think I will have to have someone in the house in case I need help for some reason - or at least a cell phone within reach. (Psychological block, I hope.) I might have to write my surgeon, Dr. Asher, and tell him I think this climb today is evidence that his skills are outstanding. I don't think we knew last year this time how this tumor removal would end up but I am doing pretty darned well. (And taking Hebrew to boot - now that is difficult.)
Hope to hear from some of you soon. I do love you all, you know.
Looking forward to lunch with Pam and Lynn on Wednesday and with Nancy and Ann on Friday. I really do look forward to visiting with these great friends. Wish I could be with you all at one time but separately or two at a time is good too.
Linda
P.S. Just my own entertainment news. Saw Amelia, the movie yesterday and liked it a lot. Of course, we all know the ending and it didn't change for the movie. But they didn't make it gory and horrifying. You just knew doom was about to happen. Also loved Julie and Julia in case any of you missed that. It is still on at some places. And Rod Stewart has a new CD coming out Monday. I always liked that guy and guess I will be looking into getting the CD soon.
10/19/09
2009.10.19 Walking up Mountains
We went for a little stroll this morning - about half way up Pinnacle Mountain. First we had to drive about 30 or 40 minutes to get there for the privilege. Then the walk we took today was 35 minutes up for me and about 40 minutes up for Don. (He did go further than me.) I just love doing this and our goal is to make it all the way up. We've done it before but it has been years. I find that it reminds me of times when I used to walk Olivia, mine and my father's dog, in North Wilkesboro. The dog and I would go pretty far into the woods and up hills and while I rested from the climb, she would run around and have great fun. We don't run around doing anything and we are careful around the rocks and muddy spots that we encounter but both of us enjoyed it very, very much. We have done it in the recent past to a lesser extent, maybe 4 times previous to today. But today, we were especially proud of our progress because we got almost to the really hard part that is almost straight up. Our next goal is to make it to Turnaround Trail and come back down that way instead of backtracking the way we went up. If we can do that 4 or 5 times, we think we can start trying to do the hard climb and see how far we can go with that. Once we decide to go the whole way, we are going to do it slowly - even if it takes a couple hours. But we want to get there.
I also want to do Kings Mountain again, mainly to go see the museum there but also to get to the top again and see everything there. We can take cameras and get us some pictures at the top of all these mountains. We are also planning to do Crowder just to have the exercise and variation of scenery.
It makes me look forward to exercise to have something visually interesting and to have someone to talk with who is also enjoying the work of climbing. I do need a stick for some of the Pinnacle Trail as it can be a bit treacherous in spots. So far though, nothing we can't handle. If it were, I would wait and turn back when Don came back for me.
I saw some pictures of me last year around this time. Nothing anyone wants to see. I have climbed a great healing mountain in the past year and I am so grateful for the chance to try things like this again. Somebody did a good job helping me get put back together and I am grateful to one and all who worked with me and wished me well. It seems to have been successful.
I also want to do Kings Mountain again, mainly to go see the museum there but also to get to the top again and see everything there. We can take cameras and get us some pictures at the top of all these mountains. We are also planning to do Crowder just to have the exercise and variation of scenery.
It makes me look forward to exercise to have something visually interesting and to have someone to talk with who is also enjoying the work of climbing. I do need a stick for some of the Pinnacle Trail as it can be a bit treacherous in spots. So far though, nothing we can't handle. If it were, I would wait and turn back when Don came back for me.
I saw some pictures of me last year around this time. Nothing anyone wants to see. I have climbed a great healing mountain in the past year and I am so grateful for the chance to try things like this again. Somebody did a good job helping me get put back together and I am grateful to one and all who worked with me and wished me well. It seems to have been successful.
9/25/09
2009/09/25 Friday Memorial Service
An old friend of Don's lost her husband this week and the Memorial Service was today at a nearby Presbyterian church. The service was just right, Don and I decided. The man must have been a wonderful person. His son did a talk abou his father that must have been very difficult to deliver. It was heartwarming and heartfelt and I thought it was a very loving thing to do. I think everyone in the room felt the love that existed and exists between this father and this son and this family. The son made it through without a tear but I think just barely. I felt like shedding a few tears myself during his testimonial about his dad.
The minister spoke very highly of this man and he must have had such a great record here on this earth. He sounded like someone all of us would have loved to know.
Much of the service was Scripture readings and I liked that very much. There was a good mix between paying honor to the man who passed away and giving comfort from Scripture. There were two ministers present and one read from Isaiah in the Old Testament. I don't remember enough of the passage to look this one up. Then I wrote down some of the main ideas in the New Testament readings. One was John 14, at least the first 6 verses. This is where Jesus says to trust in God and in Jesus. "In my father's house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you....You know the way to the place where I m going." Thomas says they don't know the way as they don't know where he is going. Jesus answers, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."
Then I think II Corinthians 4:16 - "...we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are renewed day by day."
Then Romans 8:28-31 which contains "God works for the good of those who love him" and "If God is for us, who can be against us."
Then Revelation 21:1-7 where it says "..I saw a new heaven and a new earth...Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away....I am making everything new!...I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty, I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life."
Two beautiful hymns were sung during the service. One was "Morning Has Broken" which was just lovely and the congregation sang that one. I like that it is an uplifting song and includes nature in it so clearly. Then a solo of "How Great Thou Art" toward the end of the service. Both were just beautiful. And there was a lovely pipe organ in this church as well. It made for some great music.
Then we went to a receiving line to meet Don's friend and the rest of the family and ran into a couple of others that Don knew as well. I had met Don's friend at their 50th high school reunion. She is just such a lovely person and was so gracious to everyone who came. I found her to be especially wonderful to me and I am basically a stranger. But she sees some of these blogs and I hope she sees this one. What a lovely person and a lovely family! I think Don was around some great people growing up.
This proved to be a good way to spend a couple of hours of our lives.
The minister spoke very highly of this man and he must have had such a great record here on this earth. He sounded like someone all of us would have loved to know.
Much of the service was Scripture readings and I liked that very much. There was a good mix between paying honor to the man who passed away and giving comfort from Scripture. There were two ministers present and one read from Isaiah in the Old Testament. I don't remember enough of the passage to look this one up. Then I wrote down some of the main ideas in the New Testament readings. One was John 14, at least the first 6 verses. This is where Jesus says to trust in God and in Jesus. "In my father's house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you....You know the way to the place where I m going." Thomas says they don't know the way as they don't know where he is going. Jesus answers, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."
Then I think II Corinthians 4:16 - "...we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are renewed day by day."
Then Romans 8:28-31 which contains "God works for the good of those who love him" and "If God is for us, who can be against us."
Then Revelation 21:1-7 where it says "..I saw a new heaven and a new earth...Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away....I am making everything new!...I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty, I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life."
Two beautiful hymns were sung during the service. One was "Morning Has Broken" which was just lovely and the congregation sang that one. I like that it is an uplifting song and includes nature in it so clearly. Then a solo of "How Great Thou Art" toward the end of the service. Both were just beautiful. And there was a lovely pipe organ in this church as well. It made for some great music.
Then we went to a receiving line to meet Don's friend and the rest of the family and ran into a couple of others that Don knew as well. I had met Don's friend at their 50th high school reunion. She is just such a lovely person and was so gracious to everyone who came. I found her to be especially wonderful to me and I am basically a stranger. But she sees some of these blogs and I hope she sees this one. What a lovely person and a lovely family! I think Don was around some great people growing up.
This proved to be a good way to spend a couple of hours of our lives.
2009.09.14 Tabor on What Kind of Jew was Jesus
Jim Tabor from UNCC gave a talk on "What Kind of Jew was Jesus" based on his archeological experience in the Holy Land and his theological studies. The talk was billed as "Judaism in the time of Jesus" but Professor Tabor indicated he had not known this was the title and he changed it up-front before he gave his talk. Professor has a book called "The Jesus Dynasty". He has a web site with the following link and this particular link leads to other sites having to do with Professor Tabor's work or subjects related to his work:
http://jamestabor.com/
Also this is a good one:
http://www.religiousstudies.uncc.edu/JDTABOR/indexb.html
The first link, www.jamestablr.com, leads to ther links which include sites about the Mt. Zion dig that he has participated in and the Jewish Roman World of Jesus and more.
In his lecture, he said "What new things do texts and archeology tell us?"
He participated in a dig at Mt. Zion and there the archeologists found a snail which had a hole drilled in it. Thje Torah says every Jew has to have a fringes on their clothing with a thread of blue in it. There are also references that this blue dye comes from the shell of a snail. The hole drilled in the shell says there was dye extracted from this particular shell.
Professor Table said Judiaism is not a singular word but a plural word, Judaisms. There were all kinds of sects or groups, all of whom called themselves Jews. Some of the major ones were Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots. These were some of the largest groups extant at the time of Jesus. The Essenes are mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Yet no one identified themselves as being a pure Pharisee, Essene, Sadducee, etc. They took parts of their beliefs from different Sect beliefs, so that there were as many Judaisms as there were people almost.
Hillel was the best known rabbi of Jesus' day. But Jesus did not fit into any of these sects either.
We can use archeology to find out more facts on how people lived in Jesus day and before his day and after his day.
In pictures of the modern day, Jesus has many different looks as well. He showed us pictures of the "Protestant Jesus" which is a very familiar picture from my own childhood and is still in many churches (and homes) today. It shows Jesus facing the viewer's right and a stream of light coming down on his face or radiating from it depending on your perspective. There is the Jewish heritage Jesus which shows a picture of a man with curls and a shawl. And there is an anthopologic image which takes skeletal remains found and recreates the look people of that day would have had.
In Jesus' day, Sepphorus was the largest urban center. It was 3 miles to the Northwest of Nazareth. So Jesus lived in the suburbs of a major city of his time. Sepphorus was being built at the time of Jesus. And it was the center of a North/South route to and from Egypt and an East/West route to and from the sea. This major urban center is now a tell, a ruin where archeologists can dig and find out information about the time. Living in Sepphoris are rulers of Galilee. Herodius is the guy who had John the Baptist beheaded and he lived in Sepphorus.
Hippocretae means merely actor in Greek. It later came to be a derogatory word.
Jesus moves his family to the Sea of Galilee. There are harbors around this sea and you could walk about a mile into it without getting in over your head. Now there are whole docks which are exposed.
Capernaham is the largest population center on the lake. Simon, James, John, came from there. Peter's house was there and has had some excavation. Jesus sets his grouop up at Capernaham. They are all Galileans, coarser than the more urban Sepphorus people.
There is a 2000 year old boat at Migdal which is believed to be a fishing boat like the one Jesus and his disciples would have used. It could hold 15 to 20 people.
In the last days of Jesus, he sets out for Jerusalem. He crosses the Jordan (in John) and hides out in a wadi (ravine). In the last winter of his life he lived in an area beside Samaria (to the north) and Judah (to the south).
He gets to Jerusalem in th elast week of his life and he went to the Temple. There he turned over the money tables and was angry over the way people had turned this house of God into a money-making enterprise. The Romans, Sadducees mainly, had Jesus killed because they ran the temple, they were the priests, and they were beneficiaries of the system of selling sacrificial animals near, at, or in the Temple. These Sadducees lived in palatial homes and now, archeological digs are finding many of these homes. Archeological digs are also finding stone vessels which priests were required to use for eat and drink. And they are finding mosaic frescoes in these ruins.
Jerusalem today is smaller than in the time of Jesus. The temple is on the right in the picture Professor Tabor showed us. The Old City Wall dates from the 1500s during the Turkish period so was not there at time of Jesus. The Older wall is in a different place from the wall people see today as the "Old City Wall."
Now, UNCC is digging in the only place a dig is allowed in the city of Jerusalem. It is a very small area. Other digs are outside the city. Other digs are
Pool of Salom - near Hezekiah Stone. The Pool of Salom is a huge ritual pool for cleansing and healing prior to people entering the Temple.
The threat Jesus represented was economic and social. Masses of the population congregated at the pool - it would have been thousands of people. It was a sacred area wehre people get in to ritually cleanse themselves. Everyone has to be fully immersed. It would be similar to Lourdes to Catholic Christians where there are said to be miraculous properties to the water there. Such areas gather great crowds.
Every day, Jesus comes down from the Mount of Olives and enters at the pool and goes up into the Temple. He is a revolutionary who puts himself into the crowd. It is a volatile situation. The Temple has an Upper Room where Jews commemorate the tomb of David. Tabor believes, the Last Supper was in a private home on Mt. Zion. So think about Jesus at the Pool with masses during the day and in the quiet of a private supper at someone's home for his last night before being taken into custody.
Professor Tabor then showed a picture of some a gate in front of some "steps to nowhere". These steps are believed to have been part of the grand entrance to Herod's palace.
The Via de la Rosa which people follow as the path Jesus took to the crucifixion site dates back to the Crusader period so this was not necesarily the route Jesus took.
So archeology has shown us Jesus was living among aristocrats. The gate in front of the steps to Herod's palace is where Jesus went up and Herod came out and the Jews tried him there. So when you walk or sit on these steps, you touch ground Jesus touched on his last morning. At the time, Herod Antipas was staying in the house of his father. Herod Antipas is half Jewish and would have come to the Temple to cleanse and do worship. Jesus threatened his way of life.
Every family coming to the Temple needed a lamb to sacrifice. It was hard to travel with the lamb so people waited and bought one at the Temple. Then there were other economic benefits to this system such as people needing food and lodging when they got to Jerusalem. Jesus threatened all this. Jesus quoted Jeremiah, "It is written, my house shall be a house of worship for all people. You have made it into a den of robbers."
On a dig that Professor Tabor was on, someone found a bone with a crucifixion nail through it. In archeology, you do not excavate tombs unless they are open already. But some are open and this is where this bone with a nail through it was found. In Roman superstition, a crucifixion nail is believed to bring good luck.
An ossuary (bone box) has been found near Jerusalem believed to contain the remains of Caiphus.
Jesus was probably a stone masonas most houses were made of stone, not wood. Jesus was a carpenter is only in Mark 6. Jesus lived outside Sepphorus, appeared before Pilate but was sent to Herod Antipas. He was not likely a Zealot as they had violent expectations and Jesus did not. Mostly their violent expectations were in the form of "Vengeance is mine saith the Lord."
God will bring judgement in God's own time. Sort of "The Kingdom is already here....but not yet."
Is it easier to associate John with the Essenes. This is partially true. John said don't drink alcohol but also says to share, be content with your wages, etc. John baptized a completely diverse group. The Essenes would not have done that.
Go to http://www.digmountzion.com/ for more information about the dig there.
We also had a handout which Professor Tabor went through quickly.
In the handout, he reiterates the idea of several Judaisms which recognizes the diversity of what we call Jews and Judaism. Josephus tells us much about the major groups of Jews - Pharisees, Essenes, Zealots. Jesus is usually slotted with these last 3 groups of Jews. Contemporary understanding of Mishnah and the Dead Sea Scrolls has added to our understanding of these groups. Archeology is now seen as a sort of fifth Gospel in terms of understanding Jesus in light of geographical evidence.
There was also an Enochian Judaism. It was a kind of Judaism shown in the Book of Enoch which was written between the Old and New Testaments and is not part of our Scripture.
Dead Sea Scrolls were written by "an apocolyptic, wilderness, messianic, new covenant, baptizing, anti-Temple, community..." (quote from handout which cites the quote as being from the Dead Sea Scrolls and written 100 years before Christ.) Writings are attributed to the Essenes.
The handout gives several quotes from the Dead Sea Scrolls which are similar to words and phrases used in the Gospels of the New Testament. Such as "This is a time for preparation of the way into the wilderness."
Jesus was a revolutionary but he was also a humanist. (This is one of my random notes on the handout and I thought it worth putting into this blog somewhere.)
Another Dead Sea Scroll: "They shall separate from the habitation of unjust men and shall go into the wilderness to prepare there the way of Him." This reminds us of the way Jesus joins John the Baptist who talks of preparing the way.
There is a quote about a Prophet and Messiahs of Aaron and Israel which are to come. When are these Messiahs coming? is the question asked.
There is talk of a New Covenant in the land of Damascus. Groups believed they are part of the New Covenant and they believe they are in the end times. This concept of the New Covenant is mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls 100 years before Christ.
There is talk of flesh being sprinked with purifying water and sanctified by cleansing water. It shall be "made clean by the humble submission of his soul to all the precepts of God". This appears to be talk of baptism in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Josephus writes of turning away from wickedness. This is repentence and John the Baptist sounds like an Essene in this way.
The Essenes also say build a sanctuary of people, "He has commanded that a Sanctuary of men be built for Himself, that there they may send up, like the smoke of incense, the works of the Torah." Then Josephus, "They shall atone for sins without flesh of holocausts and the fat of sacrifice and prayer shall be an acceptable frangrance of righteousness."
Another quote from this period (Josephus or Philo?): "All those who freely devote themselves to His truth shall bring all their knowledge, powers, and possessions into the Community of God." This means sell what you have and give proceeds to the community and it parallels Jesus words.
There are many parallels between words like this and Jesus' words but Jesus was not an Essene. They would not have liked him as he talks to Samarian women, takes water from unclean people, i.e., he used un-Kosher utensils. Essenes also say if animal falls in a well on the Sabbath, you cannot get him out. Jesus said to save the animal even on the Sabbath. So Jesus was not an Essene but he came from part of that heritage.
GREAT TALK. Would have liked more than one hour's worth.
8/27/09
2009/08/26 Lesson in Shabbat Service for Friday Evenings
We went back out to Temple Beth-El where Canter Bernard, Rabbi Micah Streiffer, and Rabbi Judy Schindler taught a class on the Shabbat Services for Friday evenings. There are different services for morning and also for holidays.
We arrived about 10 after 7 for the 7:30 class and we found the room without much trouble. Mr. Matt Wells came by to greet the class members about 7:15 but only Don and I were there by then. Anyway it was nice that he thought to come by. A lady brought in lemonade, ice water, and cookies and set up the food on a table.
The class started filling up and Canter Bernard came in and asked someone to go get the class some prayer books for use during class. There was a piano and two chairs in the center of the room.
The Friday night service begins with the Kabbalat Shabbat. This came from the mystics who would go into a field in the evening to welcome the Shabbat as the sun went down. They would welcome Shabbat as people welcome a bride. In today's services, Shabbat is symbolically welcomed by turning to the entrance door (which faces west in synagogues since the altar faces east). Shabbat is a foretaste of the perfect world to come so we welcome it every week.
The Kabbalat Shabbat consists of six Psalms representing the six days of the week gone by. This and other prayers/psalms are chanted in Hebrew by the canter. The congregation often joins in when they are able to use the Hebrew and many are. Some people in class joined in with the canter often during class.
The Psalms making up the Kabbatlat Shabbat are taken from Psalms 95 through 99. In the prayer book, the readings were Psalm 95: 1-7, Psalm 96: 1-6 and 11-13; Psalm 97:1-2 and 10-12; Psalm 98: 1-9; and Psalm 99: 1-5 and 9. The Kabbalat Shabbat is intended to make us think of the week gone by which is busy and difficult to stop the activity of the week. So we are gathering up the week gone by, embracing it, and then letting it go.
The Kabbalat Shabbat begins with the Hebrew version of Psalm 95:1-7 from the Jewish sequence of the Psalms (the Christian sequence may be different) which reads in English:
"Come let us sing joyously to Adonai;
raise a shout for our rock and deliverer;
let us come into His presence with praise;
let us raise a shout for him in song!
For Adonai is a great God,
the great ruler of all divine beings.
In God's hands are the depths of the earth;
the peaks of the mountains are His.
His is the sea, He made it;
and the land, which His hands fashioned.
Come, let us bow down and kneel,
bend the knee before the Lord our maker,
for He is our God,
and we are the people He tends, the flock in His care.
O, if you would but heed God's charge this day"
This chant is followed by the other 5 readings from Psalms included in the Kabbalat Shabbat which are listed above.
The Kabbalat Shabbat is a later addition to the service and the traditional service used to begin with the Bar'chum discussed below.
The Kabbalat Shabbat service is joyful in tenor and mourners do not attend right away after losing a loved one. They attend other services during that time of deep mourning.
Then comes a poem called L'Chah Dodi. The poem is by Shilomo Halere Alkabetz. There are nine verses to this poem but not all nine are done at all services. Usually five or six are chosen and quite often they use the same five or six week after week so the people can get accustomed to them. This is where the congregation stands and faces the back of the church to welcome the bride (Shabbat). (Safardic congregations have a center area where worship is conducted by the rabbi so they cannot face the back as there really isn't one section that is the back.) The L'Chah Dodi was chanted and there were lilting Laladelalalala's added that are nowhere in the Hebrew words in the Prayer Book. Someone asked about that and the answer is that Jewish tradition (nigume - sounds like) goes without words in music. In music, you can get beyond the precise meaning of the text. During the week, we use words all the time. Music doesn't mean anything. The mystics used this to help us get past the words and lift our souls. Some pieces go beyond the words and thus the added ladeladedalalalalala's. It is joyful.
Then we go to Psalms 92 and 93. Psalm 92: 1-7 and 13-16 are chanted and Psalm 93:1-5 is chanted. Psalm 93: 1-5 was demonstrated by the canter. This deals with the completion of creation and 93:1-5 goes:
"Adonai is sovereign,
God is robed in grandeur;
Adonai is robed,
God is girded with strength.
The world stands firm;
it cannot be shaken.
Adonai's throne stands firm from of old;
from eternity You have existed.
The ocean sounds, O Lord,
the ocean sounds its thunder,
the ocean sounds its pounding.
Above the thunder of the mighty waters,
more majestic than the breakers of the sea
is Adonai, majestic on high.
Your decrees are indeed enduring;
holiness befits Your house,
Adonai, for all times."
The next segment of the service is an invitation more than a prayer. It is the Bar'chum and is similar to the call to prayer by the Muslims. This is the call to prayer used in Judaism. Many people stand for this and some people cover their eyes. This is where traditional services began - with the Bar'chum or call to prayer. The previous sections were later additions to the service.
The leader calls out the command (in Hebrew); "Praise Adonai to whom praise is due forever." The congregation replies, "Praise be Adonai to whom praise is due now and forever."
Some of trhe pages of the prayer book have a blue line around it. This is where there are two versions of the same prayer side by side on two pages. You only use one side in this case and you can really choose which to follow. You either follow the right side prayers or the left side prayers but not both. The right side offers the more traditional options for a prayer. The left side gives more interpretive versions of that same prayer. But in any case, one side covers the 2-page spread.
Then comes Ahavat Olam which is a blessing and then the Sh'ma which is central to the service.
Sh'ma is often taught to Jewish children to be said first thing in the morning and last thing at night. It is:
"Hear, O Israel, Adonai is our God, Adonai is One."
Then "Blessed is God's glorious majesty forever and ever."
The Hebrew is:
"Sh'ma Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Eched." (This is the Hear, O Israel line).
Then "Baruch shem k'vod mulchutz l'olam va-ed." (This is the Blessed is God's ... line).
In the evening service, readings often talk about darkness coming while the morning services talk about light coming.
In the morning service, you might use the Latimah: Baruch atah, Adonai, hama arivim. which is Blessed are You; Adonai is the beginning.
People often stand for the Sh'ma which reminds us of God's Oneness and is not really a prayer. It is not a prayer to God but a reminder to ourselves of God's Oneness. Sometimes people cover their eyes when saying the Sh'ma. People used to sit for this and bend over and cover eyes to make themselves seem small and also to concentrate on prayer and not be distracted.
Then comes the V'ahavta and the L'maan tizk'rn.
Then the Mi Chamachah which is in Torah and was sang during the escape from Egypt.
So we have Welcomed Shabbat and Praised God. Now we do our petitions. Traditonally, people take 3 steps forward to signify the 3 parts of the service. Before we ask God for things, we sing "Adonai, open up my lips, that my mouth may declare your praise." This prayer focuses your mind since sometimes it is harder than other times to get focused on prayer.
In the prayer book, I spotted these words which seemed worth hanging on to:
"Pray as if everything depended on God. Act as if everything depended on you." I like that.
There is a prayer in the prayer book which is a weekday prayer. In it, you pray for 19 things but the Shabbat prayer only asks for 7. On Shabbat, the petitions are removed. This gives God a rest on Shabbat as well.
Avit V'Imahot: This prayer asks that God bless us because our forebears were good, not because we are. We are remembering our parents here. The Shabbat prayer asks that God resurrect the dead or in reformed thinking, instead of resurrect, ask for renewal. It also asks for God's strength, God's holiness (Holy is the day), it asks that God accept our prayers, then we give a prayer of gratitude, a prayer asking for peace, then silent prayer.
Page 86 of the prayer book shows a prayer for abundance. We can ask God indirectly if we don't want to say something so directly as "Blessed are you, Adonai, who blesses our wants and gives us abundance."
On Friday, the Reformed Temple reads Torah in the middle of the service. It used to be read on Shabbat morning and on Monday, Thursday. So it was read Monday, Thursday, and Saturday so the whole Torah was read once per year. But not as many people attend morning service so the Reformed Temple here reads it on Friday evening when more people are in attendance.
Torah services contain songs that ask for blessings such as "May Torah come forth on Israel" or "May people study war no more". Then comes a sermon-like talk which takes the words read in Torah and the rabbi (or sometimes a learned member of the congregation) talks about the reading.
There is a saying about turning Torah around and around for two reasons: (1) it is read through each year during services and (2) it is on scrolls which turn.
Torah is called the Tree of Life. It is alive to the Jewish people and it is on a scroll which turns on wooden rods. So it is a tree because it nurtures us and we live and grow through it.
Closing prayers. Aleim - We have prayed the whole service and we now need a sense of purpose for going into the world. The first prayer at the end of the service is the Aleim where we praise and thank God who has set us (Jews) apart from others. We give thanks that we have a special purpose and we try and lift the world to a perfect state. We (the Jews) are working for a Messianic Age and we all have a piece of that work to do to make the Messianic Age come about.
Kadesh is a reminder we are all part of a chain in this endeavor to bring about the perfect world. This prayer remembers those who came before us. Mourners Kadesh is what this is called but it does not talk about death. It is a doxology (a prayer in praise of God) and we re-commit ourselves to the work of making the world a better place.
It is:
"Exalted and hallowed be God's great name
in the world which God created, according to plan.
May God's majesty be revealed in the days of our lifetime
and the life of all Israel - speedily, imminently, to which we say Amen.
Blessed be God's great name to all eternity.
Blessed, praised, honored, exlalted, extolled, glorified, adored, and lauded
be the name of the Holy Blessed One beyond all earthly words and songs of blessing,
praise, and comfort. To which we all say Amen.
May there be abundant peace from heaven, and life, for us and all Israel.
in which we say Amen.
May the One who creates harmony on high, bring peace to us and to all Israel.
To which we say Amen."
On this, class ended and we visited with other class members. I met a lady named Maxine who told me she is taking Hebrew through individual tutoring over the phone. She arranged this through an organization called Partners in Torah.
We arrived about 10 after 7 for the 7:30 class and we found the room without much trouble. Mr. Matt Wells came by to greet the class members about 7:15 but only Don and I were there by then. Anyway it was nice that he thought to come by. A lady brought in lemonade, ice water, and cookies and set up the food on a table.
The class started filling up and Canter Bernard came in and asked someone to go get the class some prayer books for use during class. There was a piano and two chairs in the center of the room.
The Friday night service begins with the Kabbalat Shabbat. This came from the mystics who would go into a field in the evening to welcome the Shabbat as the sun went down. They would welcome Shabbat as people welcome a bride. In today's services, Shabbat is symbolically welcomed by turning to the entrance door (which faces west in synagogues since the altar faces east). Shabbat is a foretaste of the perfect world to come so we welcome it every week.
The Kabbalat Shabbat consists of six Psalms representing the six days of the week gone by. This and other prayers/psalms are chanted in Hebrew by the canter. The congregation often joins in when they are able to use the Hebrew and many are. Some people in class joined in with the canter often during class.
The Psalms making up the Kabbatlat Shabbat are taken from Psalms 95 through 99. In the prayer book, the readings were Psalm 95: 1-7, Psalm 96: 1-6 and 11-13; Psalm 97:1-2 and 10-12; Psalm 98: 1-9; and Psalm 99: 1-5 and 9. The Kabbalat Shabbat is intended to make us think of the week gone by which is busy and difficult to stop the activity of the week. So we are gathering up the week gone by, embracing it, and then letting it go.
The Kabbalat Shabbat begins with the Hebrew version of Psalm 95:1-7 from the Jewish sequence of the Psalms (the Christian sequence may be different) which reads in English:
"Come let us sing joyously to Adonai;
raise a shout for our rock and deliverer;
let us come into His presence with praise;
let us raise a shout for him in song!
For Adonai is a great God,
the great ruler of all divine beings.
In God's hands are the depths of the earth;
the peaks of the mountains are His.
His is the sea, He made it;
and the land, which His hands fashioned.
Come, let us bow down and kneel,
bend the knee before the Lord our maker,
for He is our God,
and we are the people He tends, the flock in His care.
O, if you would but heed God's charge this day"
This chant is followed by the other 5 readings from Psalms included in the Kabbalat Shabbat which are listed above.
The Kabbalat Shabbat is a later addition to the service and the traditional service used to begin with the Bar'chum discussed below.
The Kabbalat Shabbat service is joyful in tenor and mourners do not attend right away after losing a loved one. They attend other services during that time of deep mourning.
Then comes a poem called L'Chah Dodi. The poem is by Shilomo Halere Alkabetz. There are nine verses to this poem but not all nine are done at all services. Usually five or six are chosen and quite often they use the same five or six week after week so the people can get accustomed to them. This is where the congregation stands and faces the back of the church to welcome the bride (Shabbat). (Safardic congregations have a center area where worship is conducted by the rabbi so they cannot face the back as there really isn't one section that is the back.) The L'Chah Dodi was chanted and there were lilting Laladelalalala's added that are nowhere in the Hebrew words in the Prayer Book. Someone asked about that and the answer is that Jewish tradition (nigume - sounds like) goes without words in music. In music, you can get beyond the precise meaning of the text. During the week, we use words all the time. Music doesn't mean anything. The mystics used this to help us get past the words and lift our souls. Some pieces go beyond the words and thus the added ladeladedalalalalala's. It is joyful.
Then we go to Psalms 92 and 93. Psalm 92: 1-7 and 13-16 are chanted and Psalm 93:1-5 is chanted. Psalm 93: 1-5 was demonstrated by the canter. This deals with the completion of creation and 93:1-5 goes:
"Adonai is sovereign,
God is robed in grandeur;
Adonai is robed,
God is girded with strength.
The world stands firm;
it cannot be shaken.
Adonai's throne stands firm from of old;
from eternity You have existed.
The ocean sounds, O Lord,
the ocean sounds its thunder,
the ocean sounds its pounding.
Above the thunder of the mighty waters,
more majestic than the breakers of the sea
is Adonai, majestic on high.
Your decrees are indeed enduring;
holiness befits Your house,
Adonai, for all times."
The next segment of the service is an invitation more than a prayer. It is the Bar'chum and is similar to the call to prayer by the Muslims. This is the call to prayer used in Judaism. Many people stand for this and some people cover their eyes. This is where traditional services began - with the Bar'chum or call to prayer. The previous sections were later additions to the service.
The leader calls out the command (in Hebrew); "Praise Adonai to whom praise is due forever." The congregation replies, "Praise be Adonai to whom praise is due now and forever."
Some of trhe pages of the prayer book have a blue line around it. This is where there are two versions of the same prayer side by side on two pages. You only use one side in this case and you can really choose which to follow. You either follow the right side prayers or the left side prayers but not both. The right side offers the more traditional options for a prayer. The left side gives more interpretive versions of that same prayer. But in any case, one side covers the 2-page spread.
Then comes Ahavat Olam which is a blessing and then the Sh'ma which is central to the service.
Sh'ma is often taught to Jewish children to be said first thing in the morning and last thing at night. It is:
"Hear, O Israel, Adonai is our God, Adonai is One."
Then "Blessed is God's glorious majesty forever and ever."
The Hebrew is:
"Sh'ma Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Eched." (This is the Hear, O Israel line).
Then "Baruch shem k'vod mulchutz l'olam va-ed." (This is the Blessed is God's ... line).
In the evening service, readings often talk about darkness coming while the morning services talk about light coming.
In the morning service, you might use the Latimah: Baruch atah, Adonai, hama arivim. which is Blessed are You; Adonai is the beginning.
People often stand for the Sh'ma which reminds us of God's Oneness and is not really a prayer. It is not a prayer to God but a reminder to ourselves of God's Oneness. Sometimes people cover their eyes when saying the Sh'ma. People used to sit for this and bend over and cover eyes to make themselves seem small and also to concentrate on prayer and not be distracted.
Then comes the V'ahavta and the L'maan tizk'rn.
Then the Mi Chamachah which is in Torah and was sang during the escape from Egypt.
So we have Welcomed Shabbat and Praised God. Now we do our petitions. Traditonally, people take 3 steps forward to signify the 3 parts of the service. Before we ask God for things, we sing "Adonai, open up my lips, that my mouth may declare your praise." This prayer focuses your mind since sometimes it is harder than other times to get focused on prayer.
In the prayer book, I spotted these words which seemed worth hanging on to:
"Pray as if everything depended on God. Act as if everything depended on you." I like that.
There is a prayer in the prayer book which is a weekday prayer. In it, you pray for 19 things but the Shabbat prayer only asks for 7. On Shabbat, the petitions are removed. This gives God a rest on Shabbat as well.
Avit V'Imahot: This prayer asks that God bless us because our forebears were good, not because we are. We are remembering our parents here. The Shabbat prayer asks that God resurrect the dead or in reformed thinking, instead of resurrect, ask for renewal. It also asks for God's strength, God's holiness (Holy is the day), it asks that God accept our prayers, then we give a prayer of gratitude, a prayer asking for peace, then silent prayer.
Page 86 of the prayer book shows a prayer for abundance. We can ask God indirectly if we don't want to say something so directly as "Blessed are you, Adonai, who blesses our wants and gives us abundance."
On Friday, the Reformed Temple reads Torah in the middle of the service. It used to be read on Shabbat morning and on Monday, Thursday. So it was read Monday, Thursday, and Saturday so the whole Torah was read once per year. But not as many people attend morning service so the Reformed Temple here reads it on Friday evening when more people are in attendance.
Torah services contain songs that ask for blessings such as "May Torah come forth on Israel" or "May people study war no more". Then comes a sermon-like talk which takes the words read in Torah and the rabbi (or sometimes a learned member of the congregation) talks about the reading.
There is a saying about turning Torah around and around for two reasons: (1) it is read through each year during services and (2) it is on scrolls which turn.
Torah is called the Tree of Life. It is alive to the Jewish people and it is on a scroll which turns on wooden rods. So it is a tree because it nurtures us and we live and grow through it.
Closing prayers. Aleim - We have prayed the whole service and we now need a sense of purpose for going into the world. The first prayer at the end of the service is the Aleim where we praise and thank God who has set us (Jews) apart from others. We give thanks that we have a special purpose and we try and lift the world to a perfect state. We (the Jews) are working for a Messianic Age and we all have a piece of that work to do to make the Messianic Age come about.
Kadesh is a reminder we are all part of a chain in this endeavor to bring about the perfect world. This prayer remembers those who came before us. Mourners Kadesh is what this is called but it does not talk about death. It is a doxology (a prayer in praise of God) and we re-commit ourselves to the work of making the world a better place.
It is:
"Exalted and hallowed be God's great name
in the world which God created, according to plan.
May God's majesty be revealed in the days of our lifetime
and the life of all Israel - speedily, imminently, to which we say Amen.
Blessed be God's great name to all eternity.
Blessed, praised, honored, exlalted, extolled, glorified, adored, and lauded
be the name of the Holy Blessed One beyond all earthly words and songs of blessing,
praise, and comfort. To which we all say Amen.
May there be abundant peace from heaven, and life, for us and all Israel.
in which we say Amen.
May the One who creates harmony on high, bring peace to us and to all Israel.
To which we say Amen."
On this, class ended and we visited with other class members. I met a lady named Maxine who told me she is taking Hebrew through individual tutoring over the phone. She arranged this through an organization called Partners in Torah.
8/22/09
2009/08/22 Dinner at P J Chang
Don and I were given a gift certificate from some dear friends to P J Chang's and we decided on tonight to use it. I went on-line to look at a menu and found a dinner for two for $39.95 that included soup, appetizer (or starter), entree, and dessert. I read through the options offered with this and decided on what I wanted and called Don to let him know how to find the menu on-line. We decided on what he wanted also. My sister advised me on how to tell spicy items and told me she loved the Mongolian Beef but you needed to know it had lots of onion in the dish. Don decided to try this one out. I chose Ginger Chicken with Broccoli.
Don picked me up at about 5:30. We thought they might be less busy at this early dinner hour than later on and we wanted to get back in time to see the Panthers play at 7:30 p.m. or at least get back not much after 7:30.
The place was crowded but we had no trouble getting seated right away. Our waiter was very good and efficient. We ordered and the food started coming. By the time I got through half my entree, I was very full. And then they brought dessert offerings. We both got a small one and it was good too. The funniest and fun-est part of the meal was the vegetable lettuce wrap. We had not idea how we were supposed to eat this but suspected we were supposed to wrap the vegetables in the lettuce and eat with our hands. We could see that that was going to be a bit messy so we ate with a fork but asked the waiter how we were supposed to eat it. Yes, with our hands with the veggies wrapped in the lettuce as a holder. Oh, well, we ate it all wrong but we still enjoyed the taste of it. Don used a sauce on it that was so hot it cleared his sinuses and told me I should get some of that and take it home with me. I used the sauce the guy mixed at the table in front of us and I thought it was very tasty. We had lots of fun with the whole meal.
We are so grateful for the gift and we enjoyed the food and each other tonight. We are just at the beginning of football season and this was a good "kickoff" for that. We are going to be going to lots of games real soon and hope to invite friends along this year more than ever. The Lumadues and Hatfields will go with us to the first Carolina football game and we and they are looking forward to that. It is only a couple more weeks now.....
Don picked me up at about 5:30. We thought they might be less busy at this early dinner hour than later on and we wanted to get back in time to see the Panthers play at 7:30 p.m. or at least get back not much after 7:30.
The place was crowded but we had no trouble getting seated right away. Our waiter was very good and efficient. We ordered and the food started coming. By the time I got through half my entree, I was very full. And then they brought dessert offerings. We both got a small one and it was good too. The funniest and fun-est part of the meal was the vegetable lettuce wrap. We had not idea how we were supposed to eat this but suspected we were supposed to wrap the vegetables in the lettuce and eat with our hands. We could see that that was going to be a bit messy so we ate with a fork but asked the waiter how we were supposed to eat it. Yes, with our hands with the veggies wrapped in the lettuce as a holder. Oh, well, we ate it all wrong but we still enjoyed the taste of it. Don used a sauce on it that was so hot it cleared his sinuses and told me I should get some of that and take it home with me. I used the sauce the guy mixed at the table in front of us and I thought it was very tasty. We had lots of fun with the whole meal.
We are so grateful for the gift and we enjoyed the food and each other tonight. We are just at the beginning of football season and this was a good "kickoff" for that. We are going to be going to lots of games real soon and hope to invite friends along this year more than ever. The Lumadues and Hatfields will go with us to the first Carolina football game and we and they are looking forward to that. It is only a couple more weeks now.....
2009.08.20 Jewelry Fittings
Don and I worked out early and then went home to shower. Then the really fun stuff began. I went through my jewelry a couple of weeks ago and some of the real jewelry I have no longer fit my fingers. I wanted to be able to wear these rings so I took them to a place called Karat Patch to be re-sized. I think the Lumadues recommended the place but it may have been the Hatfields. Anyway, I trust these folks so off we went to Karat Patch to get the resizing accomplished. I had great fun with these people who seemed down to earth and cleaned up one item with me participating in the clean-up. Cost $-0- and it is now a wearable item. At first Heather (the girl who helped me with all of it) did not think the tarnish would come off the necklace we were cleaning but when we finished it was nice and shiny and wearable again.
So on 8/19/09, Karat Patch called to say my jewelry "repairs" were ready. Really, it was some rings that no longer fit well on my fingers so I wanted to be able to wear them as they are my "good" jewelry, a.k.a., the real stuff. (1) One is a wonderful sapphire, white gold, and diamond ring that I wore for years and now sadly does not fit. They did just a wonderful job of sizing that ring and four others to fit my fatter fingers now. More than one of the ladies in the jewelry store came by to say, "Oh, you are the one who owns that beautiful ring. We all just love it."
(2) Another ring was a pearl and diamond ring they all called "sweet" that was a size 4 before and now needed to be an 8. To be fair to myself, it was bought to be a pinkie ring but falls off that finger pretty easily so I now have it fitted for my ring finger. I was amazed they could do it as the gold band was pretty narrow to start with but they did do it and it fits my ring finger beautifully now. The other rings were (3) a silver ring with a cross carved into it. I don't remember where I got this ring at all but it was solid silver and could be sized so I did it. Some of the rings I took in were bought at a high end store that sells really good fake jewelry that might be silver plate or something. These could not be sized as silver plate blackens if you try to heat it to resize and then it is unwearable forever. Heather said, "Wait for winter and your fingers will shrink. Since these almost fit anyway, they will fit then." As a matter of fact, most of them can go on my left ring finger but my right ring finger is a little larger and they won't go on there with out forcing them on it. I just can't do that without being afraid the ring will be stuck there for the long haul.
(4)Then there was another sapphire, diamond and yellow gold ring that is not as fancy as the first sapphire ring but that I love nonetheless. The band is way thicker than on the first sapphire ring. And now it fits too. (5)And there was a $39.95 Carolina signet ring which they polished up and sized which I can now wear because it finally looks clean and new again. I think it was silver. I showed the girl the price tag so we could get a laugh out of it but she took me seriously and went to the jeweler to get advice and he said he could fix me up on this one.
I left one more necklace which was broken and I love it. There was a bar that used to hold the topaz pendant on the chain but the bar has fallen off so I can't wear it at all unless the missing bar is put back by someone who knows how. They should have it ready late next week or early the following week. I asked for a bit of a longer chain since the one it was on is something of a "choker" the way it is. It matches some topaz earrings I have and I am also excited about getting that back soon so I will have my set back together again. I do love topaz and I have lots of topaz looking stuff but I don't know if much of it is real.
I know of two rings I have lost, one was a topaz ring I had since high school I think and another is a diamond and gold ring that was really really pretty and I believe valuable. No use crying over spilled milk but I do check the pockets of everything I get out of the closet just to see.
I had a great time at the store. Heather and I have a great time together and we laugh and laugh over some of the stuff I have. They also have a dog that someone brings in every day. The dog is named Alfie and he is as laid back and loved as any creature you will ever see. Alphie even has a business card that the owner of the place is proud of and gave me one. Alphie has a title of "Head of Security." But he mostly sleeps and wakes up when someone wants to pet him or when someone fixes food in a back room microwave. He left me suddenly while I was admiring him and the people helping me said, "Oh, it's lunch time and someone must be heating up something in the microwave. Alphie always goes back to see if they are willing to share their lunch with him." We then talked and talked about our own animals and their quirks. One lady has several cats and had to turn one into an outdoor cat because it kept getting her up in the middle of the night for food. Just like my Gray who is not about to become an outdoor cat. I got to tell my Milo and the shower story and Milo and the printer story. We just had the greatest fun talking about our pets. One of them even has a friend who uses my vet for his animals. I always put a plug in for Dr. Green whenever I can. I really believe in this doctor.
Then I went to Providence Cafe behind the jewelry store for lunch while I waited for Don to get finished with his Men's Group at church. There, I ordered an Asian Tuna Wrap sandwich which was one of the cheaper things on the menu. $12.95. When they ask you how you want the tuna cooked, you know it isn't coming out of a can and it is going to cost something. Anyway, the service was great, the sandwich was good, the people were friendly, and it got me a nice cool place to be while I waited for Don to finish his Thursday lunch get-together.
All in all a really fun, good morning.
So on 8/19/09, Karat Patch called to say my jewelry "repairs" were ready. Really, it was some rings that no longer fit well on my fingers so I wanted to be able to wear them as they are my "good" jewelry, a.k.a., the real stuff. (1) One is a wonderful sapphire, white gold, and diamond ring that I wore for years and now sadly does not fit. They did just a wonderful job of sizing that ring and four others to fit my fatter fingers now. More than one of the ladies in the jewelry store came by to say, "Oh, you are the one who owns that beautiful ring. We all just love it."
(2) Another ring was a pearl and diamond ring they all called "sweet" that was a size 4 before and now needed to be an 8. To be fair to myself, it was bought to be a pinkie ring but falls off that finger pretty easily so I now have it fitted for my ring finger. I was amazed they could do it as the gold band was pretty narrow to start with but they did do it and it fits my ring finger beautifully now. The other rings were (3) a silver ring with a cross carved into it. I don't remember where I got this ring at all but it was solid silver and could be sized so I did it. Some of the rings I took in were bought at a high end store that sells really good fake jewelry that might be silver plate or something. These could not be sized as silver plate blackens if you try to heat it to resize and then it is unwearable forever. Heather said, "Wait for winter and your fingers will shrink. Since these almost fit anyway, they will fit then." As a matter of fact, most of them can go on my left ring finger but my right ring finger is a little larger and they won't go on there with out forcing them on it. I just can't do that without being afraid the ring will be stuck there for the long haul.
(4)Then there was another sapphire, diamond and yellow gold ring that is not as fancy as the first sapphire ring but that I love nonetheless. The band is way thicker than on the first sapphire ring. And now it fits too. (5)And there was a $39.95 Carolina signet ring which they polished up and sized which I can now wear because it finally looks clean and new again. I think it was silver. I showed the girl the price tag so we could get a laugh out of it but she took me seriously and went to the jeweler to get advice and he said he could fix me up on this one.
I left one more necklace which was broken and I love it. There was a bar that used to hold the topaz pendant on the chain but the bar has fallen off so I can't wear it at all unless the missing bar is put back by someone who knows how. They should have it ready late next week or early the following week. I asked for a bit of a longer chain since the one it was on is something of a "choker" the way it is. It matches some topaz earrings I have and I am also excited about getting that back soon so I will have my set back together again. I do love topaz and I have lots of topaz looking stuff but I don't know if much of it is real.
I know of two rings I have lost, one was a topaz ring I had since high school I think and another is a diamond and gold ring that was really really pretty and I believe valuable. No use crying over spilled milk but I do check the pockets of everything I get out of the closet just to see.
I had a great time at the store. Heather and I have a great time together and we laugh and laugh over some of the stuff I have. They also have a dog that someone brings in every day. The dog is named Alfie and he is as laid back and loved as any creature you will ever see. Alphie even has a business card that the owner of the place is proud of and gave me one. Alphie has a title of "Head of Security." But he mostly sleeps and wakes up when someone wants to pet him or when someone fixes food in a back room microwave. He left me suddenly while I was admiring him and the people helping me said, "Oh, it's lunch time and someone must be heating up something in the microwave. Alphie always goes back to see if they are willing to share their lunch with him." We then talked and talked about our own animals and their quirks. One lady has several cats and had to turn one into an outdoor cat because it kept getting her up in the middle of the night for food. Just like my Gray who is not about to become an outdoor cat. I got to tell my Milo and the shower story and Milo and the printer story. We just had the greatest fun talking about our pets. One of them even has a friend who uses my vet for his animals. I always put a plug in for Dr. Green whenever I can. I really believe in this doctor.
Then I went to Providence Cafe behind the jewelry store for lunch while I waited for Don to get finished with his Men's Group at church. There, I ordered an Asian Tuna Wrap sandwich which was one of the cheaper things on the menu. $12.95. When they ask you how you want the tuna cooked, you know it isn't coming out of a can and it is going to cost something. Anyway, the service was great, the sandwich was good, the people were friendly, and it got me a nice cool place to be while I waited for Don to finish his Thursday lunch get-together.
All in all a really fun, good morning.
8/21/09
2009/08/18 Lunch with Amy and Dinner with SS Class
I saw Amy at church a few weeks back. We took several Disciple classes together and she is one of my favorite people from small groups at church. Anyway, she asked me to lunch and today is the big day. She arrived to get me in a convertible Mini with the top down. What fun!!! I am glad I have my short curly hair right now as there is no way to "mess it up." It just is what it is. We started toward the South Park area toward a restaurant I mentioned. As she started to turn in, I realized I had given her the name Mangionni and meant Manzettis. She said she could not possibly go to Manzettis as her daughter was eating lunch there with a group of her teenage friends. Her daughter would for sure think she had come out to spy on her if she went there. She suggested another near-by restaurant as one of her favorites. She also told me her favorite dish there, a Palm Salad which was crabmeat and egg and vegtables mixed together on a bed of baby greens. I said it sounded good except I didn't really eat eggs. She asked the waitress to leave the eggs out of mine and was told "no trouble." Wow. They must make it up per order and not a big batch for the day. Mine and hers came and mine was full of egg. Amy took one look and said she was going to "get this fixed." And she did. And the wait staff did it joyfully, not crabbily. And graciously apologized which I said, No problem to. But if you knew me, you would know it was a problem as I mean I don't eat eggs unless they are cooked into a cake or something. Anyway lunch was a scoop of lump crabmeat mixed with stuff other than eggs and it was absolutely delicious. Amy picked up the tab and I said something to her about paying for mine. She said "so you will get it next time." Of course. I saw the bill $49.99 for this meal and tea for each of us. Of course, this paid for service as well as the food and it was also a very pleasant place to be.
I told her about Don's twin granddaughters going to School of the Arts in Dance this summer and she said one of her twin daughters is going to go to School of the Arts in Drama for her Senior year of High School. I think she has to move in this coming up week or maybe the next week. Amy and I were both excited that we could talk about this wonderful school together. What a fun coincidence.
We also talked about taking another Disciple together - she really wants to take Disciple 4 which neither of us has had. We both stopped after Disciple 3 as we were tired but now I would be willing to tackle 4 and she really wants to take it. But neither of us is available this time around on Wednesday nights when it is offered. So we will be on the lookout for another 4 next spring or fall and hopefully we will be able to get both our schedules on track to do it. It would be good to have all 4 of the long classes under our belt as it is a shame to have completed all but one class. I hope we can work it out even if it is not together. We just should do it. Maybe we should mention to Barbara that if another night comes up for this one to let us know. Someone really did tell me they might be willing to schedule more classes for the long courses if the Wednesday didn't work for enough people. But I think I am into enough stuff for right now and I am willing to let sleeping dogs lie for a while.
Then we went back to my place in her convertible Mini (of the James Bond variety) and I took two pictures of her in the car. We are to go out again after Labor Day to give her time to get her children situated in various schools. Looking forward to it really and truly.
Then Don and I went to dinner with our Sunday School class. I had Sweet Potato Bisque soup (yum) and a salad with shrimp (yum again). Wonderful good food and we talked and talked with our Sunday School class memebers. Don did a wonderful prayer before our meal and everyone was impressed with it, especially me. He must have spent a long time coming up with it as he quoted Wesley in it and told me it was hard to come up with a thankfulness quote from Wesley. I think a lot of people we admire so much in religion have done prayers about other of life's aspects but not about thankfulness per se so it hard if you go after a quote about being thankful.
One of our young ministers was also there. Kevin Wright does lots of missionary trips and tries to work with good causes in Charlotte. He was great to hear talk about Haiti and its problems. I am interested in these Latin America trips since that was a big part of my college studies back when. It is good to hear first hand information about these countries. He said there aren't even animals or insects there because there are so few natural resources that haven't been entirely depleted. They have even cut down all their trees. He said you really know a country is poor when not even an animal or an insect will be around due to lack of food. Wow, the things he has seen and the knowledge he has of the history of the island is impressive. I had a great time just listening and felt that I was being taught something interesting and maybe valuable to my own ability to be grateful. I would love to spend more time being taught by him. I think he should do classes on his missionary trips to show what he found and how our church has maybe helped people there. He did one class for our Sunday School group but there is so much more he talked about at dinner this night. I would like to get with him in a little informal group and let us ask questions and listen to answers. What a blessing to be around someone like him for a couple of hours.
I told her about Don's twin granddaughters going to School of the Arts in Dance this summer and she said one of her twin daughters is going to go to School of the Arts in Drama for her Senior year of High School. I think she has to move in this coming up week or maybe the next week. Amy and I were both excited that we could talk about this wonderful school together. What a fun coincidence.
We also talked about taking another Disciple together - she really wants to take Disciple 4 which neither of us has had. We both stopped after Disciple 3 as we were tired but now I would be willing to tackle 4 and she really wants to take it. But neither of us is available this time around on Wednesday nights when it is offered. So we will be on the lookout for another 4 next spring or fall and hopefully we will be able to get both our schedules on track to do it. It would be good to have all 4 of the long classes under our belt as it is a shame to have completed all but one class. I hope we can work it out even if it is not together. We just should do it. Maybe we should mention to Barbara that if another night comes up for this one to let us know. Someone really did tell me they might be willing to schedule more classes for the long courses if the Wednesday didn't work for enough people. But I think I am into enough stuff for right now and I am willing to let sleeping dogs lie for a while.
Then we went back to my place in her convertible Mini (of the James Bond variety) and I took two pictures of her in the car. We are to go out again after Labor Day to give her time to get her children situated in various schools. Looking forward to it really and truly.
Then Don and I went to dinner with our Sunday School class. I had Sweet Potato Bisque soup (yum) and a salad with shrimp (yum again). Wonderful good food and we talked and talked with our Sunday School class memebers. Don did a wonderful prayer before our meal and everyone was impressed with it, especially me. He must have spent a long time coming up with it as he quoted Wesley in it and told me it was hard to come up with a thankfulness quote from Wesley. I think a lot of people we admire so much in religion have done prayers about other of life's aspects but not about thankfulness per se so it hard if you go after a quote about being thankful.
One of our young ministers was also there. Kevin Wright does lots of missionary trips and tries to work with good causes in Charlotte. He was great to hear talk about Haiti and its problems. I am interested in these Latin America trips since that was a big part of my college studies back when. It is good to hear first hand information about these countries. He said there aren't even animals or insects there because there are so few natural resources that haven't been entirely depleted. They have even cut down all their trees. He said you really know a country is poor when not even an animal or an insect will be around due to lack of food. Wow, the things he has seen and the knowledge he has of the history of the island is impressive. I had a great time just listening and felt that I was being taught something interesting and maybe valuable to my own ability to be grateful. I would love to spend more time being taught by him. I think he should do classes on his missionary trips to show what he found and how our church has maybe helped people there. He did one class for our Sunday School group but there is so much more he talked about at dinner this night. I would like to get with him in a little informal group and let us ask questions and listen to answers. What a blessing to be around someone like him for a couple of hours.
8/11/09
2009/08/02 Through 2009.08/08 Twins' Visit
Don decided to get the 14 year old twins for a week's visit starting on 8/2/09. He rode down to Raleigh to pick them up after church on Sunday. He had dinner with Julie, Christopher, Jessie, Katie, and Kitty Cat (the unnameable cat that wound up being named Kitty Cat). Their nanny took some time off for a trip and Julie could use the help with watching after the kids for a few days. Don tells me he took a walk with Christopher (16 years old) and the two of them had interesting conversation. For such a young man, Christopher is a very thinking person and can converse on a many many topics. Everyone is very proud of his abilities.
On Monday, 8/3/09, the twins and Don started out for the ride back to Charlotte. Christopher has a job and likes his paychecks so he stayed in Raleigh so he could get in some work time. The three of them started out at 10:30 a.m. and went to Asheboro where they tried to eat at a Chinese restaurant that Don and I like there. It was closed and they went to the Golden Corral where everyone enjoyed a great lunch. At 2 p.m., they went to the zoo in Asheboro where they got to see the elephants in an area where they were close up to the people. They also saw babboons. Everyone enjoyed this little excursion as they did not do so much that everyone got worn out with the trip. I think they just went to the Africa exhibit.
Later, at 7 p.m., our church had a speaker from Duke Divinity School, Dr. Efird, who is an expert on the book of Daniel. The twins went with Don while Linda went to a class discussion on Parker Palmer's book, "Let Your Life Speak." The twins got to meet my facilitator, Marissa. Some of our friends, in particular Bob and Anne, Jim and Nancy also visited with them. Everyone was entirely charmed by these lovely young ladies and they were amazing to sit through a talk about the book of Daniel. Dr. Efird was very personable and interesting in his presentation so this helped with keeping everyone's interest piqued. Don and the girls met me after class and I got to introduce them to one of my classmates, Randy, who has become a great friend over the last while since we are in lots of groups together. We went on home after and maybe the girls and Don went to Wendy's for a frosty. The twins like soft ice cream/yogurt and smoothies.
I believe we went to Jason's Deli after this and we had wrap sandwiches (mainly turkey) and soup. I got ginger ale in a bottle and they were surprised I poured it over ice to drink. They thought it would be way more cool to drink it straight out of the bottle. I offered them some of it that was still in the bottle and they loved that. (We did offer to buy them a whole one but they said no.)
Tuesday, August 4, Don picked me up with the twins and we went to the White Water Park for lunch. They wanted to ride the Zip Line. At first, we discouraged this as we didn't know how parents would feel about it but they convinced us that (A) They are in shape (they really really are), (B) They have done Zip Lines before (we didn't now if the ones they had done were quite as long as this one), (C) They are daredevils (yes, indeed they are), and (D) Just call their mom and she would say yes. And so they rode and they rode again. They did just great and loved all but the long walk back to get to ride again. The Water Park really needs a 3 or 4 golf carts to help people make this journey especially on a hot hot day like it was on Tuesday. To get them permission to ride, they had to go weigh to be sure they met the weight limit. They did easily. Then,they had to rent some shoes and a helmet as they were wearing flip flops and of course the helmit is essential. They found the shoes "yucky" but had no choice as they are weighed again at the top of the tower where the zip line takes off and are inspected for safety clothing and harness. They are also given an individual talk on what to do and this takes some time but they listened with attention and came through quite well. Don and I stayed on the ground and tried to get pictures/video of them in the air. We did well too. Don has video of both of them riding down the line and walking back to the tower for their second ride.
That evening, Tuesday, they wanted to rent a movie and have pizza at Linda's so they could see the movie on a larger screen tv. Don took them to Blockbuster and they rented a movie and I set up the table for serving pizza on plates. They came and we ate the pizza and then hit the freezer for "Italian Ice" treats that Marlene had recommended the last time she was here. Cherry was the flavor of the night and they seemed to enjoy it all. And, oh yes, we had to get them cokes in the little glass bottles so they could drink the coke straight from the bottle. This is an indulgence to them as they and their mother don't really think it wise to drink cokes. But this was a treat night. Don and I bore with the movie and the girls seemed to really enjoy it although I don't think anyone sat at rapt attention through the whole thing as we were all busy getting bits of food throughout. This turned out to be a great night for us all though as we enjoyed each other's company.
Wednesday, August 5: The girls wanted to go back to Jason's I do believe. So we went. They wanted extra fruit and one a salad so we did get a lot of food for everyone.
The girls wanted to see a play while they were here. We had done this with them in the past when they visited and I guess they enjoyed it more than we knew. It was "Abba" before and we thought they found it a little "hokey." But since they requested to see another play, Don and I were on the lookout for one that was playing. We found a local production of something called GRITS (stands for Girls Raised in the South) that was given a good review and big article in the paper. They agreed that sounded fun so tickets were bought. They picked me up and we arrived at the theatre (a small one with a small stage but intimate). There were tables set up to sell this that and the other and the girls explored all those possibilities while we waited for the doors to open. We found seats in the theatre which was general admission. Still we had not trouble getting exactly where the girls wanted to be - center, a few rows back from the stage. The play was a series of little stories with a song during or after each one. Some were cute and some were a little melancholy. It started out that Southerners don't understand why Yankees always lock their doors. In the South in the 1940s and 1950s and beyond, no one ever locked anything, nor did people feel it completely necessary to knock. Just go on in and if food was being served, welcome that visitor to your table. Well, Don and I remember it well but it is outside Jessie and Katie's experience. Then there were cute songs and funny songs, like "Lipstick Sisters," "I Hope Dolly Parton Lives Forever," "Sweet Tea," and some song about a girdle. And there was a song about "Mama" and "I Remember" about a dog one of the characters owned for 15+ years that passed away. I sat there and thought of Bandit through that one and it was about to be a tearful moment but the song got happier about the memories so I managed to make it through. I got the girls a CD with the songs on it and they were happy as could be. They wanted Frosties after and Don went by and got them one.
Thursday, August 6: The girls swam in the pool at Don's complex while he went to his men's group and I went to see a video of Dr. Efird's talk from Monday night. We were told that they had to get special permission to show the video(DVD). I am glad I did see it as he gave a great presentation and it made the book of Daniel much more reader friendly. I took notes too. Hope I can find them someday.
At 1:30, Don picked up the girls to go visit Sally and her family in Crozet, VA. She just closed on a new house August 1 so Don told Jessie and Katie there would probably be lots of unpacked boxes around and everyone might want to help a little with anything Sally needed done. Don also picked up Subway sandwiches ($5 footlongs) for everyone to eat in the car when they were hungry.
They got to Sally's about 7 p.m. and saw the new house, Sally, Jim, Kara, and Ben. Jim, Kara, and Ben went swimming. Don took pictures. Jack and Logan were at camp. Jack was spending the night at his camp and Logan was at a camp also.
On Friday, August 7, Don helped Sally build out a desk for Jack. Then, around 12:30 p.m., Jack came home a day early from camp. The grown-ups went to pick him up after a call asking someone to come get him. Turns out, there had been a fire at the camp and tragedy had occurred with one death involved. I saw a picture of the burned building and there was little left except a wall and a half. Jack was not told of the death right away. I don't know how you tell a kid something like that when he has just been at the place that had a fire and had had a good time there.
At 4 p.m., the whole family went to swim at Mountain Lake. The girls liked this as they wanted to go to a beach and the lake has sand around it as if it were a beach. But there was such great views of the mountains from the lake. Everyone agreed it was a lovely place. Logan arrived and took part in this activity.
Since they had been able to see Jack from Noon Friday on (instead of from 1 to 3 Saturday had there not been a fire) they felt it was worth the effort to get back to Raleigh early for a dance rehearsal for Jessie .After sleeping fast Friday night, Don, Katie, and Jessie started out at 7:34 a.m. on Saturday, August 8, for Raleigh. The dance rehearsal was at 1:30. Don got lost somewhere around Lynchburg and they lost 45 minutes trying to get back on track. At 11:45 a.m., they arrived in Raleigh after 245 miles, would have been 200 without getting lost.. They took the children's bags to their father's house and he had three dogs (I think 3) that were all very sweet and everyone liked them. Jessie made her rehearsal. Don left around 1:00 and was back in Charlotte by 4 p.m.
Really fun children and really nice that Don and the girls got to visit with Sally and her family. With all so scattered out, it is difficult to arrange visits around everyone's schedule.
Good job, Don.
On Monday, 8/3/09, the twins and Don started out for the ride back to Charlotte. Christopher has a job and likes his paychecks so he stayed in Raleigh so he could get in some work time. The three of them started out at 10:30 a.m. and went to Asheboro where they tried to eat at a Chinese restaurant that Don and I like there. It was closed and they went to the Golden Corral where everyone enjoyed a great lunch. At 2 p.m., they went to the zoo in Asheboro where they got to see the elephants in an area where they were close up to the people. They also saw babboons. Everyone enjoyed this little excursion as they did not do so much that everyone got worn out with the trip. I think they just went to the Africa exhibit.
Later, at 7 p.m., our church had a speaker from Duke Divinity School, Dr. Efird, who is an expert on the book of Daniel. The twins went with Don while Linda went to a class discussion on Parker Palmer's book, "Let Your Life Speak." The twins got to meet my facilitator, Marissa. Some of our friends, in particular Bob and Anne, Jim and Nancy also visited with them. Everyone was entirely charmed by these lovely young ladies and they were amazing to sit through a talk about the book of Daniel. Dr. Efird was very personable and interesting in his presentation so this helped with keeping everyone's interest piqued. Don and the girls met me after class and I got to introduce them to one of my classmates, Randy, who has become a great friend over the last while since we are in lots of groups together. We went on home after and maybe the girls and Don went to Wendy's for a frosty. The twins like soft ice cream/yogurt and smoothies.
I believe we went to Jason's Deli after this and we had wrap sandwiches (mainly turkey) and soup. I got ginger ale in a bottle and they were surprised I poured it over ice to drink. They thought it would be way more cool to drink it straight out of the bottle. I offered them some of it that was still in the bottle and they loved that. (We did offer to buy them a whole one but they said no.)
Tuesday, August 4, Don picked me up with the twins and we went to the White Water Park for lunch. They wanted to ride the Zip Line. At first, we discouraged this as we didn't know how parents would feel about it but they convinced us that (A) They are in shape (they really really are), (B) They have done Zip Lines before (we didn't now if the ones they had done were quite as long as this one), (C) They are daredevils (yes, indeed they are), and (D) Just call their mom and she would say yes. And so they rode and they rode again. They did just great and loved all but the long walk back to get to ride again. The Water Park really needs a 3 or 4 golf carts to help people make this journey especially on a hot hot day like it was on Tuesday. To get them permission to ride, they had to go weigh to be sure they met the weight limit. They did easily. Then,they had to rent some shoes and a helmet as they were wearing flip flops and of course the helmit is essential. They found the shoes "yucky" but had no choice as they are weighed again at the top of the tower where the zip line takes off and are inspected for safety clothing and harness. They are also given an individual talk on what to do and this takes some time but they listened with attention and came through quite well. Don and I stayed on the ground and tried to get pictures/video of them in the air. We did well too. Don has video of both of them riding down the line and walking back to the tower for their second ride.
That evening, Tuesday, they wanted to rent a movie and have pizza at Linda's so they could see the movie on a larger screen tv. Don took them to Blockbuster and they rented a movie and I set up the table for serving pizza on plates. They came and we ate the pizza and then hit the freezer for "Italian Ice" treats that Marlene had recommended the last time she was here. Cherry was the flavor of the night and they seemed to enjoy it all. And, oh yes, we had to get them cokes in the little glass bottles so they could drink the coke straight from the bottle. This is an indulgence to them as they and their mother don't really think it wise to drink cokes. But this was a treat night. Don and I bore with the movie and the girls seemed to really enjoy it although I don't think anyone sat at rapt attention through the whole thing as we were all busy getting bits of food throughout. This turned out to be a great night for us all though as we enjoyed each other's company.
Wednesday, August 5: The girls wanted to go back to Jason's I do believe. So we went. They wanted extra fruit and one a salad so we did get a lot of food for everyone.
The girls wanted to see a play while they were here. We had done this with them in the past when they visited and I guess they enjoyed it more than we knew. It was "Abba" before and we thought they found it a little "hokey." But since they requested to see another play, Don and I were on the lookout for one that was playing. We found a local production of something called GRITS (stands for Girls Raised in the South) that was given a good review and big article in the paper. They agreed that sounded fun so tickets were bought. They picked me up and we arrived at the theatre (a small one with a small stage but intimate). There were tables set up to sell this that and the other and the girls explored all those possibilities while we waited for the doors to open. We found seats in the theatre which was general admission. Still we had not trouble getting exactly where the girls wanted to be - center, a few rows back from the stage. The play was a series of little stories with a song during or after each one. Some were cute and some were a little melancholy. It started out that Southerners don't understand why Yankees always lock their doors. In the South in the 1940s and 1950s and beyond, no one ever locked anything, nor did people feel it completely necessary to knock. Just go on in and if food was being served, welcome that visitor to your table. Well, Don and I remember it well but it is outside Jessie and Katie's experience. Then there were cute songs and funny songs, like "Lipstick Sisters," "I Hope Dolly Parton Lives Forever," "Sweet Tea," and some song about a girdle. And there was a song about "Mama" and "I Remember" about a dog one of the characters owned for 15+ years that passed away. I sat there and thought of Bandit through that one and it was about to be a tearful moment but the song got happier about the memories so I managed to make it through. I got the girls a CD with the songs on it and they were happy as could be. They wanted Frosties after and Don went by and got them one.
Thursday, August 6: The girls swam in the pool at Don's complex while he went to his men's group and I went to see a video of Dr. Efird's talk from Monday night. We were told that they had to get special permission to show the video(DVD). I am glad I did see it as he gave a great presentation and it made the book of Daniel much more reader friendly. I took notes too. Hope I can find them someday.
At 1:30, Don picked up the girls to go visit Sally and her family in Crozet, VA. She just closed on a new house August 1 so Don told Jessie and Katie there would probably be lots of unpacked boxes around and everyone might want to help a little with anything Sally needed done. Don also picked up Subway sandwiches ($5 footlongs) for everyone to eat in the car when they were hungry.
They got to Sally's about 7 p.m. and saw the new house, Sally, Jim, Kara, and Ben. Jim, Kara, and Ben went swimming. Don took pictures. Jack and Logan were at camp. Jack was spending the night at his camp and Logan was at a camp also.
On Friday, August 7, Don helped Sally build out a desk for Jack. Then, around 12:30 p.m., Jack came home a day early from camp. The grown-ups went to pick him up after a call asking someone to come get him. Turns out, there had been a fire at the camp and tragedy had occurred with one death involved. I saw a picture of the burned building and there was little left except a wall and a half. Jack was not told of the death right away. I don't know how you tell a kid something like that when he has just been at the place that had a fire and had had a good time there.
At 4 p.m., the whole family went to swim at Mountain Lake. The girls liked this as they wanted to go to a beach and the lake has sand around it as if it were a beach. But there was such great views of the mountains from the lake. Everyone agreed it was a lovely place. Logan arrived and took part in this activity.
Since they had been able to see Jack from Noon Friday on (instead of from 1 to 3 Saturday had there not been a fire) they felt it was worth the effort to get back to Raleigh early for a dance rehearsal for Jessie .After sleeping fast Friday night, Don, Katie, and Jessie started out at 7:34 a.m. on Saturday, August 8, for Raleigh. The dance rehearsal was at 1:30. Don got lost somewhere around Lynchburg and they lost 45 minutes trying to get back on track. At 11:45 a.m., they arrived in Raleigh after 245 miles, would have been 200 without getting lost.. They took the children's bags to their father's house and he had three dogs (I think 3) that were all very sweet and everyone liked them. Jessie made her rehearsal. Don left around 1:00 and was back in Charlotte by 4 p.m.
Really fun children and really nice that Don and the girls got to visit with Sally and her family. With all so scattered out, it is difficult to arrange visits around everyone's schedule.
Good job, Don.
8/1/09
2009/07/24 Through 2009/07/26 Mountain Fun
Don asked me a day or two ago if I wanted to go to Boone again this year to see Horn in the West and eat at Daniel Boone Inn and so all the things we did the year before on a similar trip with Julie and the children. Of course I did want to. Last year, I evidently had a really great time on the trip we took to Boone to Horn in the West and etc. The only problem is I somehow lost it entirely from my memory after my surgery in October. I can only get occasional glimpses of it in my mind but all details are wiped out. So this year, I am determined to document the trip in writing and in pictures while my memory holds of it. I had another great time and want to remember the peace and joy of it all. Here is my description of what happened on the 2009 trip.
Friday, July 24, 2009: First Don and I went by way of Lexington and ate at Lexington Barbeque prior to going on to Winston-Salem and then Boone. We got to the Barbeque place around 11 or a little after and ordered a meal. We love the place so it was a good beginning to a great weekend. We eat there often enough during football season on our way to Chapel Hill to the games but I like to go during "off season" as well and sometimes combine it with a trip to Bob Timberlake's Gallery on the other side of town. After we ate, we headed for Winston-Salem which was an amazingly short distance from Lexington. We were there before we knew it and plenty early for the girl's dance recital from School of the Arts.
We toured the campus and I was amazed it is part of the UNC system. It has a street named Kenan Drive and Carolina blue signs up all over. It is a really pretty campus with beautifully kept grounds and "Private" on every street sign. I think they want to keep sightseers to a minimum, but we felt we had some business there in that the twins are in attendance.
Then, Don and I went to park the car downtown near the theatre where the recital was to take place. We were going there to meet Julie and Gabe and Christopher to see the twins dance recital upon their completion of the summer session in dance at the UNC School of the Arts in Winston-Salem. Don and I got there first and went to the lobby of the theatre where the recital was to be held. Soon, we saw Gabe coming with roses in hand for his daughters. Julie had called and said she would be with us momentarily. She arrived but needed to move her car, a newer model(shiny) black Jaguar, just purchased and beautiful. Gabe went with her to help her find a deck to park in and a spot to park. We learned that each student gets 2 free tickets to the recital and that left us needing to buy only one ticket. Wow, a big savings already.
The rest of us went on up an elevator to get to the seating for the recital and soon Julie and Gabe joined us. We kept the flowers under a seat near Gabe as the girls would get them at the end of the recital. Julie went backstage to give a knee brace to one of the twins who had pulled a muscle the day before at practice. Not to worry she said, the costume was some rather baggy pants so the brace would not show during the recital. Two people appeared on stage to introduce the recital and just before they turned to exit the stage, they announced the rehearsals had proven the show to be approximately 1 and 1/2 hours long. With a 15 minute intermission, we would see the whole thing and be out within a 2 hour framework. Everyone in the show did a fine job and there was lovely costuming and choreography to go along with the well-rehearsed and talented students. It was more like going to a program at the Blumenthal than being at a recital for school children. The School of the Arts chooses students well and then trains them well. We all thoroughly enjoyed the entire presentation. The twins did great and we did pick them out of the groups they were in. We tried to take pictures but with no flash allowed in a darkened room, the pictures are a bit fuzzy but we are keeping them anyway. Once the show was over, we awaited the girls coming out to meet us. They cried when they saw their family and the flowers. They are really pretty young ladies. Once we had all told them how beautifully they had done, we discussed whether they needed help finishing up with the packing of their dorm room. They had already done their packing so we all left to help load the car and get them checked out. There were parking problems around all the dorms as every parent was there at one time trying to check their children out of the school's housing. We parked up at a Welcome Center sort of place which was across the street from the dorms and walked over. By the time we got there, Gabe said he had his car all packed and Julie was trying to help them get checked out. Evidently, they inspect the room before you leave to tell whether or not damage had been done to anything. Don and I waited in the "Welcome Center" and Christopher joined us. I saw a "lifesize" poster of what looked to me like a giant green peanut but Christopher said it was a pickle which is evidently a mascot for School of the Arts. I took pictures of him and later of the girls with the Pickle. Julie asked if we preferredt to eat in Winston or wait until we got to Boone. Both Don and I were still full from the Lexington Barbeque earlier in the day so our vote was to wait for Boone. Soon the girls were telling us that eating at a Japanese streakhouse in Winston-Salem was tradition for all the family who had attended School of the Arts (Julie went there for high school). Julie somehow convinced them that a Japanese steakhouse in Boone would do just as well so Julie and the girls and me and Don started for Boone. The trip took longer than I thought it would but we made it just fine. We checked into 3 rooms, one for Julie and the girls, one for me, and one for Don. Julie found the address for a Japanese steakhouse and we started out for it. After getting a little lost, we found it pretty late, maybe 9 or 9:30 p.m. I ordered steak without a combination meat and I think Julie and the girls ordered steak and scallops. Don got steak and chicken. It was way more than Don or I could eat so next time, we need to pay the $3 extra to share a meal. We took our leftovers as the rooms had refrigerators and that steak was good for 2 more meals for me once we got home.
Saturday, July 25, 2009: Julie and the girls wanted to go to the mall and shop and maybe get a manicure. Don and I wanted to go into the town of Blowing Rock and browse around the shops. Rather Linda wanted to browse around the shops in Blowing Rock and Don was willing. I think we both had bun. To me, it was pure heaven. The town is so picturesque and lovely, much different than the town I knew as a little girl when I visited. I have bought some really lovely things there and I looked pretty hard this time but all the lovely things had even lovelier prices so I was content to look. I did buy a few things, mostly books of postcards of the mountains and a really nice writing book. Almost everyone in my Monday night class has a really nice writing book for their notes so I thought that purchase appropriate. Then I got a couple of nice pens with periwinkle ink that I could share with Don as his "Carolina" surprises of the weekend. We went to a bookstore that had fewer books than coffee but of course I browed through all the Jan Karon and had fun doing it. No new books there yet. She is working on one though. I was getting tired and I went up to a nearby park to find a public bathroom and then Don joined me in the park and we just sat in the shade a while. What gorgeous, perfect weather. It was not too hot and it was breezy and peaceful. We sat there a while and just talked like we had all the time in the world. Finally, Don went to bring the car around and we went back to Boone. We saw Julie and the girls and decided eventually to go to the Daniel Boone Inn for dinner around 5:30.
When we got to the Inn, there was a bus out front and a line almost all the way around the building. Don went in and found a place for me to sit and wait while they were in line. Some of the "Horn in the West" actors came and sang for the patrons. They lined up right in front of where I was sitting and sang "Danny Boy." Later, I saw some of those same actors playing war in the play and it was an out-of-body experience - from Danny Boy to war in just an hour or two!!!
We ate well. They serve family style and they cook up a menu and that is what you get. We had chicken and country style steak the night we were there. Of course there were all kinds of vegetables and ham biscuits as well as plain biscuits. And, lo and behold, dessert. I had strawberry short cake. All of it was delicious.
The play was wonderful as usual. We looked for changes from previous viewings. Both Julie and Sally have been in the play in the past so Julie knew many of the actors and behind-the-scenes people. She stopped and talked to many of them while the girls shopped in the gift store. I got everyone programs and then we went to our seats. The play is fun to watch, even more so, the second and third times around. At the end of it, we went up and participated in the "Meet and Greet" that the actors hold at the end of each performance. I talked to Daniel Boone and a couple of British soldiers, the main Indian Princess character, and others including one Appalachian State student who is an advisor on authenticity of portrayal of the indians. He gives talks about Cherokee Indians at National Parks as his summer job. He was interesting and friendly. He says the play still has many inaccuracies, especially the fire dance before intermission but is improving over time. The program tells you that the fire dance is not authentic but it is highly dramatic and it would be a shame to lose it.
Sunday, July 26, 2009: Julie and the girls thought they would sleep in late before leaving for Raleigh. Don and I wanted to eat early and go to a church service at Blowing Rock Methodist Church at 10:30 a.m. Julie and the girls wound up meeting us for breakfast downstairs at the hotel. Julie talked to us about how she stays so trim, eating very few calories (and watching her calories) throughout the day until dinner and then eating what she wants. She watches sugared sweets, especially staying away from sodas such as Coke unless they are diet. She also believes in hard exercise every day even if she can only fit in 20 minutes sometime. She almost never skips and does not compromise her diet unless it is a very special occasion. The twins do much the same thing and all 3 are trim as can be. It was an inspiration to Don and I who have been trying hard all week to exercise (not piddly stuff but real work)and we bought some things at the grocery store to help us count those calories during the day. I am not doing as well with the diet drinks but am trying to use them every other time I want a drink (hopefully better than never drinking one as an alternative). So finally someone has inspired us to do better. We have worked out at the Y Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday this week and Don walked to church and back on Thursday. On Tuesday we both had physicals so we didn't do as much on that day for exercise.
After breakfast, Don and I went to Blowing Rock Methodist Church. It is a small church (room for about 150 in the sanctuary)and they put up a canopy tent in advance in anticipation of an overflow crowd. By the time we got there, we had to park way up a hill from the church and sit barely under the canopy. Then, to at least my surprise, they were singing 30 minutes worth of Christmas carols. The church doesn't hold services except during heavy tourist season (maybe May through September or June through September), so they have Christmas in July. They have not permanent members so people can become Affiliate Members. The church has no budget, it just sees what it collects and uses it the best it can. The sermon was about how the best things come in the smallest packages. We saw some people there from our church in Charlotte and some of them were listed as being on the governing board for the church. We want to go back again. Such a wonderful place. After the service, we waited (a long time) for the inside crowd to exit so we could go in and see the sanctuary. Very lovely. The church is made of rock on the exterior and it has a very reverent feel inside. After we did this little walk through, Don offered to get the car but that would have put us going out of town in the wrong direction so I walked up the hill with him and we made it just fine.
Next we went to Blowing Rock Park where the real Blowing Rock is. We went through their gift shop and Don offered to buy me as many mood rings as I wanted. I took him up on the $1.98 to $2.98 ring offers and wound up with 6. One of them is in the shape of a Carolina Tar Heel and was blue to start with but turned purple on my finger in a short time (purple means very happy according to the chart I was given). So I told him I guess East Carolina colors were the theme of the day. We ate a hot dog at a little snack shop in the park and took lots of pictures walking around and looking out at overlooks. I also got pictures of others climbing the rock. At one point you are directly under the rock and I got some guy climbing the rock from this vantage point. Kind of dramatic looking. Then we opted to go see a waterfall area rather than a garden as I was getting a little tired walking on gravel paths.
So I now have memory of a weekend in Boone/Blowing Rock that is happy in every detail as well as in the overall. The weather was just perfect - great temperatures, no rain and not much humidity. And we were inspired by Julie and the twins. And we will be up to go again anytime. Maybe next time, the twins will be part of the Horn in the West act. Who knows!! Wouldn't that be just a stellar event for us all.
Friday, July 24, 2009: First Don and I went by way of Lexington and ate at Lexington Barbeque prior to going on to Winston-Salem and then Boone. We got to the Barbeque place around 11 or a little after and ordered a meal. We love the place so it was a good beginning to a great weekend. We eat there often enough during football season on our way to Chapel Hill to the games but I like to go during "off season" as well and sometimes combine it with a trip to Bob Timberlake's Gallery on the other side of town. After we ate, we headed for Winston-Salem which was an amazingly short distance from Lexington. We were there before we knew it and plenty early for the girl's dance recital from School of the Arts.
We toured the campus and I was amazed it is part of the UNC system. It has a street named Kenan Drive and Carolina blue signs up all over. It is a really pretty campus with beautifully kept grounds and "Private" on every street sign. I think they want to keep sightseers to a minimum, but we felt we had some business there in that the twins are in attendance.
Then, Don and I went to park the car downtown near the theatre where the recital was to take place. We were going there to meet Julie and Gabe and Christopher to see the twins dance recital upon their completion of the summer session in dance at the UNC School of the Arts in Winston-Salem. Don and I got there first and went to the lobby of the theatre where the recital was to be held. Soon, we saw Gabe coming with roses in hand for his daughters. Julie had called and said she would be with us momentarily. She arrived but needed to move her car, a newer model(shiny) black Jaguar, just purchased and beautiful. Gabe went with her to help her find a deck to park in and a spot to park. We learned that each student gets 2 free tickets to the recital and that left us needing to buy only one ticket. Wow, a big savings already.
The rest of us went on up an elevator to get to the seating for the recital and soon Julie and Gabe joined us. We kept the flowers under a seat near Gabe as the girls would get them at the end of the recital. Julie went backstage to give a knee brace to one of the twins who had pulled a muscle the day before at practice. Not to worry she said, the costume was some rather baggy pants so the brace would not show during the recital. Two people appeared on stage to introduce the recital and just before they turned to exit the stage, they announced the rehearsals had proven the show to be approximately 1 and 1/2 hours long. With a 15 minute intermission, we would see the whole thing and be out within a 2 hour framework. Everyone in the show did a fine job and there was lovely costuming and choreography to go along with the well-rehearsed and talented students. It was more like going to a program at the Blumenthal than being at a recital for school children. The School of the Arts chooses students well and then trains them well. We all thoroughly enjoyed the entire presentation. The twins did great and we did pick them out of the groups they were in. We tried to take pictures but with no flash allowed in a darkened room, the pictures are a bit fuzzy but we are keeping them anyway. Once the show was over, we awaited the girls coming out to meet us. They cried when they saw their family and the flowers. They are really pretty young ladies. Once we had all told them how beautifully they had done, we discussed whether they needed help finishing up with the packing of their dorm room. They had already done their packing so we all left to help load the car and get them checked out. There were parking problems around all the dorms as every parent was there at one time trying to check their children out of the school's housing. We parked up at a Welcome Center sort of place which was across the street from the dorms and walked over. By the time we got there, Gabe said he had his car all packed and Julie was trying to help them get checked out. Evidently, they inspect the room before you leave to tell whether or not damage had been done to anything. Don and I waited in the "Welcome Center" and Christopher joined us. I saw a "lifesize" poster of what looked to me like a giant green peanut but Christopher said it was a pickle which is evidently a mascot for School of the Arts. I took pictures of him and later of the girls with the Pickle. Julie asked if we preferredt to eat in Winston or wait until we got to Boone. Both Don and I were still full from the Lexington Barbeque earlier in the day so our vote was to wait for Boone. Soon the girls were telling us that eating at a Japanese streakhouse in Winston-Salem was tradition for all the family who had attended School of the Arts (Julie went there for high school). Julie somehow convinced them that a Japanese steakhouse in Boone would do just as well so Julie and the girls and me and Don started for Boone. The trip took longer than I thought it would but we made it just fine. We checked into 3 rooms, one for Julie and the girls, one for me, and one for Don. Julie found the address for a Japanese steakhouse and we started out for it. After getting a little lost, we found it pretty late, maybe 9 or 9:30 p.m. I ordered steak without a combination meat and I think Julie and the girls ordered steak and scallops. Don got steak and chicken. It was way more than Don or I could eat so next time, we need to pay the $3 extra to share a meal. We took our leftovers as the rooms had refrigerators and that steak was good for 2 more meals for me once we got home.
Saturday, July 25, 2009: Julie and the girls wanted to go to the mall and shop and maybe get a manicure. Don and I wanted to go into the town of Blowing Rock and browse around the shops. Rather Linda wanted to browse around the shops in Blowing Rock and Don was willing. I think we both had bun. To me, it was pure heaven. The town is so picturesque and lovely, much different than the town I knew as a little girl when I visited. I have bought some really lovely things there and I looked pretty hard this time but all the lovely things had even lovelier prices so I was content to look. I did buy a few things, mostly books of postcards of the mountains and a really nice writing book. Almost everyone in my Monday night class has a really nice writing book for their notes so I thought that purchase appropriate. Then I got a couple of nice pens with periwinkle ink that I could share with Don as his "Carolina" surprises of the weekend. We went to a bookstore that had fewer books than coffee but of course I browed through all the Jan Karon and had fun doing it. No new books there yet. She is working on one though. I was getting tired and I went up to a nearby park to find a public bathroom and then Don joined me in the park and we just sat in the shade a while. What gorgeous, perfect weather. It was not too hot and it was breezy and peaceful. We sat there a while and just talked like we had all the time in the world. Finally, Don went to bring the car around and we went back to Boone. We saw Julie and the girls and decided eventually to go to the Daniel Boone Inn for dinner around 5:30.
When we got to the Inn, there was a bus out front and a line almost all the way around the building. Don went in and found a place for me to sit and wait while they were in line. Some of the "Horn in the West" actors came and sang for the patrons. They lined up right in front of where I was sitting and sang "Danny Boy." Later, I saw some of those same actors playing war in the play and it was an out-of-body experience - from Danny Boy to war in just an hour or two!!!
We ate well. They serve family style and they cook up a menu and that is what you get. We had chicken and country style steak the night we were there. Of course there were all kinds of vegetables and ham biscuits as well as plain biscuits. And, lo and behold, dessert. I had strawberry short cake. All of it was delicious.
The play was wonderful as usual. We looked for changes from previous viewings. Both Julie and Sally have been in the play in the past so Julie knew many of the actors and behind-the-scenes people. She stopped and talked to many of them while the girls shopped in the gift store. I got everyone programs and then we went to our seats. The play is fun to watch, even more so, the second and third times around. At the end of it, we went up and participated in the "Meet and Greet" that the actors hold at the end of each performance. I talked to Daniel Boone and a couple of British soldiers, the main Indian Princess character, and others including one Appalachian State student who is an advisor on authenticity of portrayal of the indians. He gives talks about Cherokee Indians at National Parks as his summer job. He was interesting and friendly. He says the play still has many inaccuracies, especially the fire dance before intermission but is improving over time. The program tells you that the fire dance is not authentic but it is highly dramatic and it would be a shame to lose it.
Sunday, July 26, 2009: Julie and the girls thought they would sleep in late before leaving for Raleigh. Don and I wanted to eat early and go to a church service at Blowing Rock Methodist Church at 10:30 a.m. Julie and the girls wound up meeting us for breakfast downstairs at the hotel. Julie talked to us about how she stays so trim, eating very few calories (and watching her calories) throughout the day until dinner and then eating what she wants. She watches sugared sweets, especially staying away from sodas such as Coke unless they are diet. She also believes in hard exercise every day even if she can only fit in 20 minutes sometime. She almost never skips and does not compromise her diet unless it is a very special occasion. The twins do much the same thing and all 3 are trim as can be. It was an inspiration to Don and I who have been trying hard all week to exercise (not piddly stuff but real work)and we bought some things at the grocery store to help us count those calories during the day. I am not doing as well with the diet drinks but am trying to use them every other time I want a drink (hopefully better than never drinking one as an alternative). So finally someone has inspired us to do better. We have worked out at the Y Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday this week and Don walked to church and back on Thursday. On Tuesday we both had physicals so we didn't do as much on that day for exercise.
After breakfast, Don and I went to Blowing Rock Methodist Church. It is a small church (room for about 150 in the sanctuary)and they put up a canopy tent in advance in anticipation of an overflow crowd. By the time we got there, we had to park way up a hill from the church and sit barely under the canopy. Then, to at least my surprise, they were singing 30 minutes worth of Christmas carols. The church doesn't hold services except during heavy tourist season (maybe May through September or June through September), so they have Christmas in July. They have not permanent members so people can become Affiliate Members. The church has no budget, it just sees what it collects and uses it the best it can. The sermon was about how the best things come in the smallest packages. We saw some people there from our church in Charlotte and some of them were listed as being on the governing board for the church. We want to go back again. Such a wonderful place. After the service, we waited (a long time) for the inside crowd to exit so we could go in and see the sanctuary. Very lovely. The church is made of rock on the exterior and it has a very reverent feel inside. After we did this little walk through, Don offered to get the car but that would have put us going out of town in the wrong direction so I walked up the hill with him and we made it just fine.
Next we went to Blowing Rock Park where the real Blowing Rock is. We went through their gift shop and Don offered to buy me as many mood rings as I wanted. I took him up on the $1.98 to $2.98 ring offers and wound up with 6. One of them is in the shape of a Carolina Tar Heel and was blue to start with but turned purple on my finger in a short time (purple means very happy according to the chart I was given). So I told him I guess East Carolina colors were the theme of the day. We ate a hot dog at a little snack shop in the park and took lots of pictures walking around and looking out at overlooks. I also got pictures of others climbing the rock. At one point you are directly under the rock and I got some guy climbing the rock from this vantage point. Kind of dramatic looking. Then we opted to go see a waterfall area rather than a garden as I was getting a little tired walking on gravel paths.
So I now have memory of a weekend in Boone/Blowing Rock that is happy in every detail as well as in the overall. The weather was just perfect - great temperatures, no rain and not much humidity. And we were inspired by Julie and the twins. And we will be up to go again anytime. Maybe next time, the twins will be part of the Horn in the West act. Who knows!! Wouldn't that be just a stellar event for us all.
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