20 February 2007

Fat Tuesday...

Pancakes and sausage for dinner. Red wine later as I while away my time and dull my brain cells watching "Boston Legal." Maybe I can even find a leftover pascki to stuff in before bedtime. Ah...the delicious decadence of the night before the fast.

May your Mardi Gras be gras indeed. And may you wake up tomorrow ready to wear your repentance faithfully.

14 February 2007

An unexpected gift...

There's enough snow on the ground to blow into the top of your jeans. The roads are a mess (though getting better); schools are cancelled; businesses are closed; and the manufactured anxiety flowing out of the TV reporters would have you believe that we're all going to be consumed by the raging winter beasty at any moment.

Granted, there are some legitimate problems. If your car's in a ditch or your furnace has gone out, you've got issues. But is it just possible that we might be missing something here? Could it be that winter storms are a gift...an opportunity to take a little break and to simply watch the snowfall?

Last night, the Mrs. and I didn't have to...couldn't actually...go anywhere. Her office closed early. Meetings at the church were cancelled. So we did something daring. We had dinner together...a nice, quiet, conversation-filled dinner. We shared a bottle of wine. We watched Law & Order re-runs until the cable gave out and we got tired. What a lovely evening. What an unexpected gift in the midst of what is usually a very busy time of year.

Excuse me while I go pray for more snow.

06 February 2007

Channeling Grandma...

This morning, the Mrs. and I talked to our youngest face to face...even though he's in Germany. Thank you, Skype. Later this morning, the youngest and I IM'd for a few minutes while I was updating the church's website. Just after that, I spoke to elder son on his cell phone while he's pulling up stuff on his computer about a database/search program that I had entered about two minutes prior, and telling me about his new VISTA-running, 1024M, 120Gig, 6-cell, 15.4 TGVA computer. (Does that thing have four on the floor and a hemi?)

And in the back of my head the whole time, I'm hearing Grandma Piehl telling us how she walked to the one-room schoolhouse more than a mile, even in the winter with snow up over your knees. They carried a baked potato in the pockets to keep their hands warm and to have something for lunch. On the way home this time of year, your hands just got cold.

I know: the mere act of channeling Grandma is testimony to the advancing years. But I'm amazed at some of the things we're able to do now. She'd be absolutely flabbergasted.

01 February 2007

Just for fun...

This is for my friends on the political right. (Lefties, you'll be offended...so just don't go there.)

Check out Kitty Myers' blog (http://myerskatt.blogspot.com) for the Hillary Clinton poetry slam. I couldn't resist contributing something myself. Bring a hymnal.