catching up

The last few weeks of summer just flew by ~ once band/soccer/cross country started it seemed like school was in session anyway!

A few things of note:

1 ~ way back at the beginning of August Katie and Megan joined us on a trip to Cedar Point.  It was hot and it was crowded, but we had a great time and rode everything we wanted to ride.  The Dragster and Millennium Force are still my favorite rides ~ I would be happy to ride just those 2 all day long.  After our trip there last summer I'd been trying to remember the warning on the signs in line for the Dragster.  So, while waiting in line, I emailed them to myself.  Here's the warning.  The "just in case" it happens possibility.  And I really never want it to happen to me:
Occasionally the train fails to clear the hill. Do not be concerned. The train will safely return to the launch position.

I especially like the "do not be concerned" ~ yeah ~ I'd be concerned...

2 ~ A longer time ago (I believe it was Thanksgiving 2010) Morgan told me about a comment a teacher put in the margins on one of her tests.  I would get fired for putting this message on a student's paper:
ATFQ
You may be asking, What is ATFQ?  and you would be right to wonder.  It stands for: answer the f-ing question.
things that make you go hummmmmmm

3 ~ Last Sunday (not so very long ago) we FINALLY went to the Ohio-Erie towpath and rode our bikes from Rocky River to Peninsula.  It's a 13.5 trip one way.  It's really a pretty ride.  Lots of turns and different terrain.  It was rather crowded which made it a little tricky (especially for Kimi who doesn't always pay attention).  When we got to Peninsula we were outside the train depot reading the train schedule to see when the train back to Rocky River would depart.  Out of the depot comes a park ranger in full park ranger gear ~ hat and all ~ and she walks up to me and says, "Becky, I would recognize that voice anywhere."  It was a girl I'd gone to Mount Union with.  While Mike doesn't let me forget that I'm loud and obnoxious, it was a treat to meet up with Kerry after all these years and it would never have happened if I were quiet and shy.

4 ~ Today we went to Newbury for a picnic dinner because Uncle Bob was visiting from Florida.  Mike brought a new game to the party ~ Beersbee.  It involved throwing a Frisbee at a beer bottle perched on a pole.  It was really fun and we LAUGHED as we played and I broke blood vessels in my right thumb trying to catch the stupid Frisbee.  Obviously I was not so good at this game!  Dad Barton, on the other hand, is REALLY good at catching a beer bottle knocked off the pole.  It was rather AMAZING how ninja-like his reflexes were. 

Headed into a week of soccer games, cross country practice and 5 full days of work.  I know, I know, teachers have it so good.  I did make an amazing career choice.

THOME

Jim Thome has come home.  Yesterday the Indians claimed him off the waiver wire (and I really have no idea what that means).  When I heard the news this morning, I got my Thome jersey out of my closet because it's no longer vintage apparel. 
I have loved Jim Thome since he played third base ~ he became my favorite player because he was so bad at third base and Mike always made so much fun of him.  Loving the underdog, I took him under my wing (at least his name) and wouldn't let anyone make fun of him any more.  Then he became GREAT.
We're watching the Tribe play and it's such a smile in my soul to see Jimmy in an Indians jersey again.  And then he swung at the first pitch and bounced it in front of the plate.  (I was kinda hoping he'd hit a home run.)  I think he was a little nervous too.  I hope he's happy being back in Cleveland because I'm pretty excited that he's here.

The Help

A great book and a great movie.  This was one of those books that, when I read it I thought, this is one of my all time favorite books.  I find it disconcerting that it joins Gone with the Wind ~ but I'm not going to dwell on the moral ramifications of that today. 
And then I went to see the movie with some MMS favorites ~ so the company was good and the popcorn was buttery!
There were about 75 middle age, book club women in the audience and I think 3 guys.  The one in front of me kept checking Facebook throughout the whole movie...really?...but, once again, it was great to watch a movie in a crowd to hear the responses ~ the laughter, the shock, and some tears. 
I left the theater feeling humble ~ would I have the courage to stand up for what it right?  Or am I Elizabeth, who does what Hilly says?

Class of 1986

After 25 years Mike and I chose to attend a high school reunion ~ his.  They were honoring Cliff Radie, his wrestling coach, so Mike couldn't NOT go.  I would not choose to go back to high school.  It was four years of growing and learning and I really don't need to go back there.  I am fb friends with the two people I still talk to (would be three if Judy would be on fb!) ~ but I really don't care to go back.  Mike feels basically the same way, but being that his family is still in Newbury and he graduated with family, he knows more of those people.  It was like a family reunion ~ and I was reminded of how strange Mike's life was growing up ~   In his graduating class (120+ total) are: his ex-step-sister, his step-aunt, and his step-mother's sister's brother-in-law.  Yep.  That's not so easy to follow, I know.  But it's all true.  He even went to prom with his step-aunt ~ before she was his step-aunt.
It was good to meet Tina, his ex-step-sister.  She pretty much "saved" Mike during the "evil-step-mother" years, and it was good to get to know her a little bit.
I thought that a reunion would bring back more memories of high school ~ thoughts and reflections about where I've gotten to in my life.  Maybe I didn't experience any such moment because it wasn't my reunion ~ but it was just a get together of people, some I knew, some I didn't.  We ate and drank and had a nice evening.  1986.  Seems like a life time ago ~ probably because it is.

#23

Elizabeth Berg's True to Form is book #23.  This the third book about Katie (and the one that started my quest to read the first two).  I'm sure that some people think Berg's style is too sappy ~ but I love it.  It is rich in the images that have been true to my life.  Here teenage Katie is learning who she is and how to be who she wants to be.  So many characters come to life and point to things she values in her own life. 

I have quite a collection of good quotes:

• This one just made me smile ~ to have your whole being reduced to one sentence: "She was a housewife who made good gravy and kept a parakeet in her kitchen." (p2) and have that sentence speak so much!
• Why I wish I could be a writer ~ (p63) I take in a huge breath and look at the sky as hard as I can.  I feel like I'm trying to eat it with my eyes.  I wish there would be certain things you come across and you could say, Okay, that's one.  Put that away for me to pull out later just exactly as it is now.  My dream is for me to be a poet who could make things like this sky come to life for someone else.  If you see a sunset and try and describe it to someone in normal words, all you can say is, "Boy, I saw a great sunset last night."  But if you are a poet, you give it to someone to feel for themselves.  Like you make a little seed of what you saw, they swallow it, and it blooms again inside their own heart.
• If we could live our lives remembering this ~ (p72) One thing I know: Anything we have, we are only borrowing.  Anything.  Any time.
• (p130)  This is why I'm crying, the distance from what you feel to what you say, how it will always be like that.  ~ This is EXACTLY how I feel when I want to tell someone thank you.  Can words ever express what we truly FEEL?
• The gardener in my soul knows this ~ (p167) Sometimes when you've been outside and gotten dirt on your hands, it just feels so friendly and connected.
• (p210) Next to me was a woman who could not carry a tune.  At first I was so annoyed, listening to her.  I wondered, Why does she sing so loud when she doesn't even know how?  Then I looked at her and she was so pure, staring straight ahead, her face lit from within.  Something moved into my heart at that moment that I did not really understand, but I understand it now: It is never about how good your voice is; it is only about feeling the urge to sing, and then having the courage to do it with the voice you are given.  It is about what people try to share with each other, even if so many of us are so off-key when we do it.  It is about saying we are somewhere, when what we mean is we are as close as we are able to get.

fl: It is the first Sunday evening of the summer, the sky an ash rose color and losing its light to night.  ll: The leaves rustle violently, then settle back down into calm greenness, as though nothing has happened.  I think when I get home, I'll sit at my desk and find a way to make something of that.

disappearing

Where do things go when they disappear?  We've had a rash of missing things over the past year:
1.  Mike's charger cord for his iPod shuffle ~ lost February 2011.  I remember when we got it thinking, "Wow, this is so small, I'll have to put it some place safe so I don't lose it."  Where that place is I still don't know.  Mom and Dad were here at the time of the loss and Dad found one on Amazon for 99 cents.  Unfortunately, it didn't work as the iPod shuffle is the only iPod to not have a universal charger.  Apple wanted $30 for a replacement charger (HELLO, the iPod only cost $47).  I was ready to buy a new iPod when I found chargers on eBay for $1.29.  It came from Hong Kong at a total price of $3.29.  Quite a deal. 

2. Jacob's iPod ~ lost April 2011 (as we were leaving for spring break).  He claimed that it was on the counter in the mud room.  He had put it there and I remember seeing it.  He had a 22 hour car ride looming and no iPod.  I felt pretty bad for him and searched high and low.  We all did.  No iPod.  Mike dug out ol' Mae (the pink iPod found on the side of the road...that does work) and Jacob was happy to have something.  In May Jacob got a bunch of birthday money and in June he bought himself a new touch screen iPod nano for $150. 

3. Patrick's cell phone ~ lost at float week July 2011.  He remembered having it the first day of the week spent camping.  He looked in the tent and around the tent.  I think it's lost in the woods.  Luckily we found his old phone and a charger that works and Version actually activated it for free.  I could have even done it myself through the website.  That was a miracle.

4. Patrick's soccer cleats ~ lost August 2011.  He swears he put them in his bag, put his bag in my car, and went to the (stupid) mandatory OHSAA meeting at the high school.  The next practice (two days later) the only thing in the bag were empty Gatorade and water bottles.  No cleats.  Things that make you go hummmmm.

5. The remote control for the common room TV ~ lost August 2011.  Not under the couch cushions.  Not under the couch.  Not under the chair.  Not under the bean bags.  Not under the blankets.  GONE.

This is when we said, "What's up with this bad juju?"  Something is going on here.  Which begs the question, what IS happening?  Is there really something taking stuff from us?  Mike went back to the common room to find the remote.  He lifted up the couch...and there was Jacob's iPod.  Patrick walked into the common room and looked at the couch and the dislodged middle cushion...and there was the remote control.  He said, "Quick, lift up the couch again and find my cleats!"  (but they weren't there)
Maybe the "curse" has lifted and all will miraculously be found.   Maybe we'll learn to be more careful with our stuff.

#22

Book #22 is Harlan Coben's Darkest Fear ~ a Myron Bolitar ~ I think the seventh one.  I'm almost "caught up" with this series.  I like not being caught up because I know there is always another one coming.  As soon as I catch up I have to wait for them to get written!

This one was one I didn't want to put down!  Coben really can weave an intricate mystery.  I do have trouble remembering characters from previous books, but he does a pretty nice job of giving enough information to jog my memory.  Interesting concepts about how fragile life really is and how quickly it can be changed.  Does evil always have to exist?  Myron and especially Win live by the belief that the strongest survives and violence is necessary.  It's easy for Win, with out a conscience, but is that really the way we should live?  Isn't that just perpetuating the evil?

The book also touches on father issues.  What makes a Dad?  What happens as our fathers age?  Should the father/son relationship change over time or is it important for Dad to always be Dad and Son to always be Son?  

fl: Ann hour before his world exploded like a ripe tomato under a stiletto heel, Myron bit into a fresh pastry that tasted suspiciously like a urinal cake.  lp: The images scattered when he blinked.  his heart started beating again.  He stared again at the basket and waited.  This time nothing burred.  Nothing happened.

#21

 Book #21 is The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver.  My friend, Anita, was reading it while we were on our girls' trip to UP ~ and gave it to me when she finished.  Barbara Kingsolver wrote The Poisonwood Bible, which I haven't read, but has been on my list forever!  This story revolves about the question, "what makes a family?".  The answer, according to Kingsolver, is the people we end up loving.  It's not easy to make your way in this world and we certainly need loving people to guide us in the right way. 

Good Quote: (page 241) "It's like this, " I told Turtle.  "There's a whole invisible system for helping out the plant that you'd never guess was there."  I loved this idea.  "It's just the same as with people.  The way Edna has Virgie, and Virgie has Edna, and Sandi has Kid Central Station, and everybody has Mattie.  And on and on."  The wisteria vines on their own would just barely get by, its how I explained it to Turtle, but put them together with the rhizobia and they make miracles.

fl: I have been afraid of putting air in a tire ever since I saw a tractor tire blow up and throw Newt Hardbine's father over the top of the Standard Oil sign.  ll: And me.  I was the main ingredient.