Oh, you have to see this!

Sounds like one of those emails with attachments of some fantastic photo, like the one of the airplane crashing into the WTC. yeah. No, really, these photos ARE fantastic. If you go to my link to Caithness.org, they posted recent photos taken of a storm coming across the sea right across from our old house. Also a FABULOUS one of two collies standing on the beach. Besides those, there are red deer stags standing just looking at the camera, like the one in the movie, The Queen. Denny and I have been looking at those pictures of Caithness, and I ache with the beauty of it!!! My Caithness friends will realize, once again, that I am nuts! But they (not my friends) are fantastic fotos, I mean photos!

Fifth Grade, Day Two

Yeah, that's a boring title, but that describes today. The school isn't keeping me as crazy busy today as last Friday when I worked every period AND had lunch duty which INCLUDED the lunchroom and outside duty. I still had lunch duty today, but I didn't have class 4th or 6th periods. I'm back into another Brother Cadfael story. I can read those easily when I have these stop and start days.

Everyone is "praying" for a snow day. We have had no snow days yet this year. Lots of students are out sick. I think all the teachers are well for now. It's supposed to snow 2-4 inches tonight, but man, we're hoping the front does something crazy and DUMPS on us! Not that I really need a day off, the teachers and students are just tired. Of course, there's President's Day next Monday. I brought my Abraham Lincoln photobiography to school today just to inform students that today is the real birthday of A. Lincoln. I think students forget that or else just don't even learn it.

The Senior Class is selling roses, candy and cookies for Valentine's Day here at school. They also have an ensemble that goes around singing to students for $5 a song. I ordered, "You are my sunshine" for Andrew. *smile* He and Stephanie are running the fundraiser, so he knows ahead of time. He said it wouldn't bother him!!

Pictures of the class will be posted when I get home.. Back to my book.

Valentine Art

I'm not going to post any art, but I'm listening to 5th graders make their Valentine bags. It's art time. They all have red, white and pink paper and a brown paper lunch bag. Scissors, tape, glue. Some must've brought boxes from home because at least one box already is covered with silver aluminum foil. The girls have yarn and stickers. One boy just opened his bag and said, "I'm done." Now he's taping some pink paper to the outside of the bag. Boys stab the top of the shoebox in order to make the opening. Girls cut carefully and with difficulty. I passed out Valentine M&M's while they worked. Why is it so hard to do something carefully and nicely? They want to hurry and be finished so they can play. Hmm. I'm drinking peppermint tea. Goes with the mood.

Earl Grey and Marmalade

Yes. Most delicious. What a great way to curl up with a book on a snowy morning. Two things we learned to enjoy in our life "over the Ord!" American marmalade just isn't right, nor American tea for that matter. This one isn't too bad. Hope your morning is cozy!

What Happened to Sunday Evening Services?

When I was growing up we went to church Sunday morning and Sunday night. Rarely did we miss. Sometimes we would go to a church closer to our house instead of to our own, but we always went. It was just something we did without thinking. Because we lived in the country, the service started at 8pm. Can you believe that? We'd get home from church at nearly 10!

We moved to Scotland and went to Sunday evening service there. I had babies then and Denny would stay home with them most of the time. I then would go to my friend's and have tea, visit and sometimes sing Psalms with another friend. What a wonderful memory!

In Italy we were blessed to have neighbors across the hall who were also from a PCA church. For nearly five years we had our own Sunday evening service alternating houses and sermon tapes. I think our whole family enjoyed those evenings. It trained our children to sit and listen, and they learned lots of hymns from the blue Trinity hymnbook since we sang for the first hour. More great memories. Isn't wonderful how God blesses us everywhere?

Then we moved to America. No more Sunday evening services. We have had them at our church sporadically. Now we don't have them anymore. Why are our churches giving up Sunday evening service? No one comes.Hmmm. Is that a good reason? Does it not pay for the pastor to prepare anything? Does it not pay to turn the lights on and the heat on for a few? What happened to "Remember the Sabbath DAY to keep it holy"? The Sunday evening service gave a peaceful ending to the Lord's Day. It kept the day different ALL day. Now, when families get home from church, it's Saturday again. Really. Change your clothes. Turn on the TV. Pick up where you left off on Saturday. Yeah, it takes effort to get up and go back to church at night. In the winter it's dark. Our church makes a big push to get people out for Wednesday evening study groups and prayer meetings. And that's all well and good, but Sunday is the day set apart for God. The holy day.

Sorry, I don't mean to be cynical. I just wonder why? Who's responsible? Just something to think about.

Back to Super Bowl Sunday.....

Stained glass

Ever since we lived in Italy, I have loved glass. Walking around Venice is a glorious experience in colors and shapes of glass. The sea, the boats, the canals, the colors all swirled together in the glass. And in the evening the shops were lit to highlight the colors. I loved it! Then we watched a program about Chihuly and his wonderful glass creations. We have an absolutely stunning one in our local art museum. Glass either blown or stained is one of my favorite art mediums.

Last night our good friend gave us one of his stunning stained glass creations. Its idea is meant to encompass some of our travels, the colors and symbols representing Scotland, Italy and the sky and sea. The picture is taken from our living room window. We tried not to get too much of the tree in the background. We don't really have a clear window, but it is shining on the carpet right now and is lovely!

Thanks, Chuck!

Books, Skype and Cozy

Ah, I needed that picture to help me type. Wednesday it was snowing, I was reading a delicious book Pilgrim's Inn by Elizabeth Goudge and I made a pot of tea. It was the perfect afternoon. I had to take a picture of it. Sorry you can't see the big, fluffy flakes of snow falling! I substituted in a very WILD second grade yesterday (I felt all of about 65 when I got home!!), and one of the little girls said she loved reading. I told her that I loved reading, too, and about my Wednesday afternoon. She got a happy glowing look on her face. She understood perfectly! Ah...the love of a good book on a snowy day.
We heard from Will! Yeah! We downloaded Skype at his suggestion and then yesterday morning about 7, we all talked via the computer! It was sooo cool because it was so clear and we could all talk at once. It was like a family conference. We've come a long way from the days in Italy when Den would try to talk to our brother-in-law in Sicily. Most of those conversations went like this: "Dave, you're breaking up. Can you hear me, Dave?" I think they did get some real conversation in, but not significantly. The cool thing about Skype, is that you can type messages, too, giving us two ways to communicate. Looking forward to hearing all about his European experience! We "texted" yesterday, but he didn't have time to talk. Now we just have to be up at the same time. If you go there and get it, it's free to talk Skype to Skype. If you do get it, let us know! I'd like to figure out how to talk to my friends in Italy, too!

Enough for now. I'm battling a bad headache. Taken two doses of drugs since 5. Last one was migraine stuff. Let's hope it works. At least the sun is shining---even though it's in single digits out there!