The remains of the day

Life-saver: Sonic has $1 burgers every Tuesday night. Ahh! Sweet!

My brain makes weird connections sometimes. I was just thinking how blogging is like private devotions. I make myself believe that if I can't commit to it a decent chunk of time, I should skip it altogether. Not a good approach. Both are, I guess, time investments. Of course, the vast difference in the value of these two things makes the comparison quickly looses its effect.

But just writing that intro reminds me of another comparison between blogging and private devotions. I often find that at the start, my mind draws a blank, but if I just make a go of it (respectfully), thoughts will soon start to flow. The hard part is making the initial attempt.

On to other things: Thursday Josh, Candace and I are going up north to check out the University of Chicago as a possible grad school for Josh. Should be a good trip. More on that later.

Other summer pursuits include guitar and Latin lessons. I'm going to teach guitar lessons to a friend this summer, and I'll tutor a girl in Latin for a few weeks too. We'll be gearing up for next year's Latin II class. Really looking forward to teaching two levels of Latin next year, and tutoring this summer will help me get back into the language. I guess I better play the guitar too to toughen up the ol' fingers.

Here are some of our backyard photos:
Like I told you last blog, we had a backyard fellowship the other night. There was a lot of visiting, baseball playing, bubbling, cat petting, and even some attempted pinching. Thought you'd like to know that. You have some fun too.

Not much remaining in this day so I better go.

Little girls and a cat

We had a backyard fellowship
At our house tonight.
Meat on the grill
With friends around
The citronella light.

The volleyball
Flew through the air,
The ladies looking on.
A guy played baseball
With the boys
Round the corner on the lawn.

With waning light the fireflies
Showed forth
Their fleeting glory.
The Psalms arose
From every voice
The everlasting story.

But on this night
I'll hold inside
A special memory
Of three small friends
Who pet a cat
That sat upon my knee.

Center stage

The lights dim. The conductor, well-beloved and humble, speaks the opening words. The audience is put into the right mood.

The orchestra starts to play The Barber of Seville Overture. The music pokes fun at “real” opera. Thoughts of old Bugs Bunny shows freely roam through minds. The players express their fun-loving joy. Rehearsals and practice behind them – now they have just the music. Some play without pause, others stop to quickly turn a page. A silent service.

The reaction from the audience is immediate and sincere.

Conscious of those who come behind. Sliding chairs. Moving stands. Making room. Waiting patiently. Most of the players exit the stage.

A quintet remains to perform a Corelli piece comprised of six movements. Moving from walking rhythms to more lively tunes, the players’ hard work and skill are swallowed up in musical expression. The first and second violinists enter into a lively interplay with one another. Both violists and the cellist enter the frolic as well.

The crowd responds with delight.

Every musician returns to the stage. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 is introduced as a baby grand piano is wheeled to center stage. Three musicians move gingerly forward taking their places at front stage. Joel, a tall, confident high school senior, holds his violin. Next to him standing composedly is Katie, a lovely flutist. Seated next to her is Lindsay, the radiant, graceful pianist. The conductor sets the stage for the music and turns to his orchestra. His hands motion the instruments into playing position. All is ready.

The familiar concerto leaps forth. After the first movement, the audience is not able to contain themselves and claps and cheers loudly. Performance decorum demands silence between movements, but decorum would never do at a time like this. Silence is no response for such wonderful music. The audience too must have the center stage so an involuntary outburst of clapping and cheering ensues. Two more movements round out the concerto and allow the audience to clearly hear the solo instruments.

The final piece to be performed is Beethoven’s Egmont Overture. The performance is powerful and dramatic. The music ends. The audience jubilantly rises in standing ovation. Flowers are presented. The air is electrifying.

But wait. It’s not over yet. The orchestra has a surprise in store for their beloved conductor and his wife. To celebrate the very day of their 22^nd wedding anniversary, the players have prepared some waltz music so the couple can dance. The music begins and the lovers dance. Center stage belongs to them now. Smiles are all around. The song ends and the dancers bow. Then suddenly the players begin to play a second waltz. The crowd laughs to see the conductor and his wife’s dance prolonged. They dance again, start to bow only to hear the players begin their third waltz. The hilarity compounds and the conductor pleases the crowd with silly antics looking at his watch, borrowing a cane from an old lady as he pretends to grow old during the dance, and hooking his wife toward him using the cane as his arm’s extension. To the delight and amusement of the audience, the players let the couple complete their dance after the fourth waltz.

Wonderful interplay. Wonderful music. Wonderful day.

This is the true story of Saturday's concert performed by the KASH (Kokomo Area Schools at Home) High School Orchestra. The conductor is John Christenson. Candace, Amy, and Ben are all players.

Supper goes awry

Sisters and email, what can you say? It's always interesting. Like take the past few days for instance. One wrote that she has unearthed a couple of old family recipes of main dishes that we used to eat as kids. So one of them came back later reporting that she had made one of the dishes and it brought back childhood memories. So the other made the dish and reported back too. So I set out to re-discover this lost cuisine, but didn't fare so well. (No pun intended.)

Here's an excerpt from my email to them.

OK, OK, so I realize that I'm the only one who hasn't reported on my journey down memory lane with dinner recipes from childhood, and all, but I guess I'm expecting everything to just fall into place. I had really good intentions today. I mean, I printed out the email with both recipes on it, and I actually got a pan out and filled it with water and set it on the stove to boil to prepare the noodles. Then I really looked at the recipe.

"Hum, pimentos. I don't have those. Oh well, I don't think you really HAVE to have pimentos for this dish. OK, I'll get the cream cheese out of the frig. Where's that cream cheese? It was here yesterday. ... Blast those kids - eating all the cream cheese just when I need it! Little varmits eating me out of house and home!

"Whatever, OK, I'll just scratch the casserole.

"Now for Plan B. No prob, I'll just make the other one. Let's see. Bacon - check; flour - check; mush soup - check; American cheese - hum, don't have that ... but I do have the creamy, yellow cheese stuff in the jar ... reckon that'll work - check; 4 well-beaten egg yolks and 4 stiff-beaten egg whites - well, aren't we picky - check. Why do the old '60 recipes have to be so labor intensive? ::sigh::

"Directions, directions - here we go. It says, 'Fry bacon.' OK. ::cuts open the bacon and gets out the pan.::

"Then is says, 'Drain on absorbant paper.' Well, duh.

::scans through the recipe:: "What the...?! You mean to tell me this takes 55 mins. to bake? Man, they even cooked slower than we do these days! I mean, I gotta BE at my exercise class in 40 mins. Oh well. I'll REALLY do it tomorrow. Yeah tomorrow, that's when I'll make it.

::Looks in the pantry. Spies a can of Progresso Soup.:: "Now, that's more like it!" ::Finishes the last bite when the first kid enters.:: "Where's supper?", says he.

::Thinks about retorting, "You tell me where the cream cheese is, Bucko, and I'll tell you where supper is!" Bites her tongue and with an angelic smile points to the fine selection of soup in the pantry.::



Well OK, so I stretched the truth a little with that angelic smile business. I was just trying to come up with a happy ending.

Early morning in our neighborhood

This morning I woke up around 4:30 and was amazed to see the first dim glow of the morning seeping around my curtains. I took this picture about 4:55 from our dining room to show you that the sun is starting to come up PRETTY early here in Kokomo, Indiana. I don't plan to be up that early in a week on June 21st, the longest day of the year. I'm sure the sun will be up long before I will!

Smothered chops

Back from Texas.

Pros:
> Canny's grad;
> seeing home folks;
> being back home in the pineywoods of East Texas.

Cons:
> Not near enough time;
> time flew by;
> wish we had more time.



Tonight I'm going to the Women's Night Out with our church ladies. Yippee! Prayer, fellowship, and eating out! Great combination!

Started to seriously work on Rob's and my reading project this week. I plan to spend several hours each day on the project - he'll end up spending even more time on it than that. It's pretty cool - we go on walks and talk about what we've been reading. I'm reading about Scottish church history and he's reading sermons about the application of Scriptural and historical covenants. We'll both eventually read all the material. Profound subjects. I'll let you know more about it as I soak it up and try to make sense of it. I'm starting out with a lot of questions.

Umm, I can smell the smothered pork chops, ::thinks about cracking a joke about chops, but decides it's entirely too corny:: :::Her readers sigh with relief::: but I can't eat them - have to save my appetite for dinner with the ladies. Poor me. :-(

Sweet summertime

Summer’s here. Gone are the days of weekly school planning, lecturing, grading, and making of lunches. (Well, I guess I’ll still be making lunches – just not before 8 o’clock in the morning.) Sure, I’ll be plenty busy doing just about the same things I do during the year around the house, but I’ll be busy doing them during the summer. That’s the difference. Do you see what I mean?

I have a specific pile of books I want to read. I’m actually going to read the same books my husband is reading about the covenants of God and man. I have been VERY interested in this subject for a few years and this summer I finally get to delve into it and read about it and think about it. It is nice to have a season of personal study on a highly interesting subject without a lot of other mental distractions. I don't normally study theology books (that's more in Rob's line). I usually just want to read books to help assist me in private devotions. But we're doing something a little different this summer. The neat part is that because we'll be reading the same books and thinking about the same things, we can discuss them together. We've done that with one book, but never with a group of books. It will definitely be a syntopical study, and I’m very much looking forward to it.

The main priority now is making the final preparations for Candace’s graduation. Rob and I have already gone over each other’s speeches to make sure we aren’t saying the same things. We’re not. My excitement and anticipation is growing as we approach our oldest daughter’s high school graduation. This is a special time indeed. The time of graduation is the perfect time to look back on a person’s whole childhood. What’s it’s been. What she’s meant to me as a mother, and to her father, and to her brothers and sister. What a wonderful time. I could almost write more oratory right here and now, but I’ll spare you. Just come to the celebration with us if you can!

Tomorrow’s our 21^st anniversary! Guess where we plan to eat. None other than Kokomo, Indiana’s Texas Roadhouse! Yeah, we’ve never eaten in that restaurant so we thought we’d give it a try. Nice name.

We had our last regular Wednesday night bible study in our home tonight since we don’t meet for them regularly during the summer. It was very thought provoking tonight. I like it because we go verse by verse and have a format that encourages us to dig a little deeper into a passage. Tonight, we studied Act 13.

I’m sitting here typing in our den which we’ve turned into Josh’s room for the summer. He’s sitting right behind me on his computer. We had to put them this close to share this DSL plug. I don’t know how the boys have it hooked up, but they’ve fixed it somehow.

Well, I need to ready myself for bed. G'bye

Quick note ...

One more day of our co-op school for me. Yep, tomorrow's the finals for the two classes I teach and my final in Hebrew. Both in the college-prep English class and in the Latin class, I've made some dandy four page tests. In Hebrew we will have to translate 5 out of 9 verses from Genesis and parse the highlighted words. I better go study some more or I won't do so hot. Makes me feel like I'm in high school all over again - just the studying for a big test part not the loads of endless energy part. Oh well, better go study.

Oh yeah, we'll be driving to Texas in a week to celebrate Canny's graduation. Yippee!! Hope to see you there!

Later

Feel like I did a lot of walking today
... and I'm ti-ert.

We'll talk later.

Deja vu

Much has happened since my last “what’s going on with me” entry. I can definitely see how an old person like me can forget the events of the recent past unless it is written down immediately. Now, ask me about say the hubbub that surrounded the release of the original Star Wars movies and I can relate every detail, but ask me what happened seven days ago and I draw a blank.

But let’s see what I can dig up. Oh yeah … we picked up Josh at the airport close to midnight last Monday. Now there was a senior moment. Josh’s dad and I were walking through the airport after just having checked on the TV screen to see when his flight would arrive. We still had ten minutes until his plane was supposed to land. We were hungry so we were walking along greedily eyeing all the closed airport restaurants not paying a bit of attention to the stream of passengers who were filing by us on the way to baggage claim when suddenly, I heard a voice say, “Robert and Suzanne?” I turned and saw our own son grinning behind us. We had walked right by him without seeing him standing there waving at us. It seems we had momentarily forgotten why we were at the airport. Silly us. I smiled a ridiculous smile and hugged him.

Since then, all six of us have eaten meals together (even this is a big event when one member of a family has been gone), we’ve gone to our co-op school banquet together, we’ve watched PTO together, and we’ve gone to our first Sunday service together. Ah! It doesn’t get any better than this. All six of us together again! (Remember about that, those of you who miss your friends back at school, your mom, dad, and siblings like to see your shining face, too!)

This week has had a familiar feel to it as though they were all children and we were living together again. But it’s just for the summer. In reality, there aren’t any guarantees that all of us will live in the same house for other summers to come. And so one of my main goals for this summer is to work on my relationships with my "adult children" (now that sounds like a paradox). I want to relate with them differently than a mother to a child and I want them to relate differently with me than a child to a parent. I mean, I’m still a handy advice-giver, but our relationships must change and adapt to this new adult/adult situation. I’m shooting for mutual respect and freedom of expression. Please pray for both the parents and the young adults as we are in this transition. :-)

Thank goodness we have this summer. I’m going to enjoy every minute of it!

Talk it up, fuzzball

Ever been caught in the blog twilight zone? Let me define it. That's where in real life, in real time, one person who used to open up and talk to you stops responding or initiating conversation and reverts to blank looks or very short replies. It stops feeling like conversation at all. Feels more like occasional verbal comments to the other person's blog. Okay for blogging, not okay for healthy relationships. In real life, in real time - talk it up! We all need it, and even when we feel awkward if we'll just try a little, it'l go a long way. Conversation: it's a beautiful thing.

My day, as I see it now

- Algebra at home,
- Tidy up a bit,
- 100 details too boring to mention,
- Go to Carmel to music lessons,
- Make supper,
- Wrap birthday gifts, etc.,
- 100 additional details too boring to mention,
- Go to exercise class with the girls,
- GET JOSHY!!! :-D

Hip, hip, hooray for the tea drinkers of the world!

This morning in a little while I travel the three miles to Canny’s school to attend the freshman orientation for parents. Canny will become oriented to a place where she has spent much of her life the last eight months. But since she is technically passing from a high school student to a college student, it will be a little different to become a full-time student. Exciting times!

Had some interesting visitors last weekend – the Blunts from Scotland.

Our dear friends Rev. and Mrs. Blunt (otherwise known as David and Sybil to their friends) flew over three weeks earlier to visit Sybil’s sister and to visit with a budding fellowship of believers affiliated with their denomination, The Free Church of Scotland (Continuing), in Dayton, Ohio. We were able to drive the 3 hours and pick them up in Dayton last Friday and drive them back on Saturday. It was sooooo good to see them again. They are some friends with whom we have experienced a deep bond. Hope to get to see them again soon someday in Scotland, D.V.

Which brings me to my final topic today – tea. David who was born and raised in England and Sybil who was born and raised on the Scottish island north of the mainland of Britain called the Isle of Lewis are both, of course, stanch tea drinkers. Sybil confesses that her husband is much more chronically hooked on the stuff than she is, and from what I observed, I believe she’s right. I am a tea drinker myself, but more in the vein of the hippy-type American health food nut.

Regardless of the different types of tea drinkers out there, I don’t think we could ever touch the enthusiasm of the famous Samuel Johnson. Note the following excerpt from the notes in the back of a re-printed version of his dictionary:

Tea was indeed “lately … much drunk in Europe.” It first arrived in Europe in the sixteenth century, but was little known outside Portugal and Holland until the seventeenth. Thomas Garway offered it for sale in London in 1657, and in the next year, an advertisement appeared in the Mercurius Politicus for “China Tcha, Tay or Tee.” Soon tea houses sprang up across London. It was Johnson’s favorite drink. Boswell supposed “No person ever enjoyed with more relish the infusion of that fragrant leaf than Johnson. The quantities which he drank of it at all hours were so great, that his nerves must have been uncommonly strong.” A friend recollected that “when Sir Joshua Reynolds…reminded Dr. Johnson that he had drank eleven cups, he replied:-‘Sir, I did not count your glasses of wine, why should you number up my cups of tea?’ ” But calculating his prodigious consumption was a common sport. A woman remembered that she “had herself helped Dr. Johnson one evening to fifteen cups.” In 1757, he wrote a review of Jonas Hanway’s Journal of Eight Days’ Journey, a work that “endeavours to show, that the consumption of tea is injurious to the interest of our country.” Johnson would have none of it. “He is to expect little justice from the author of this extract, a hardened and shameless tea-drinker, who has, for twenty years, diluted his meals with only the infusion of this fascinating plant; whose kettle has scarcely time to cool; who with tea amuses the evening, with tea solaces the midnight, and, with tea, welcomes the morning.”

A Sunday meditation #2

Today is Sunday. From today’s sermon, several things arrested my attention. In this world, the children of God will suffer persecution so the question was asked, “Am I suffering for my faith?” If not, then that is probably a sign that I am walking with a low standard. Christ’s standard isn’t low, but I tend to compromise and lower it for myself. I want to make sure I don’t do that. I don’t want to kid myself. I can’t kid God. And what about all those people watching me? I have a responsibility to them. I don’t want to damage my relationship with Christ or damage the name of Christ in those around me. If I’m not living under the blood of Christ then I’m not really living at all. Being true to the walk of Christ is all that matters.

A Sunday meditation #1

Today is Sunday. More importantly, it is the Sabbath. Over time, my mind has changed about how to spend this day. Long ago, I used to treat is as a play day or a work day. A day for my own self to DO WHAT I WANT TO DO. Then as an adult and a growing Christian, the fourth commandment started giving me some problems. The word of God will do that to you. It’s not an easy book. Oh, the commandments are easy enough to understand – just difficult to obey. I started wondering, how is it that commandments 1-3 and 5-10 say what they mean and mean what they say, but commandment 4 is somehow different? I would rationalize that it was not a concrete command like the other ones. After all, isn’t a Christian supposed to live every day unto the Lord? Is Sunday supposed to be any different to any other day of the week? I thought long and hard about that. I kept going back to Exodus 20:1-17 to see if I could in good conscience interpret verses 8-11 any other way than literally. Of course, I don’t have cattle (at present) or male or female servants, but I knew that the essence of the command transcended those details, and I wanted to understand it so that I could obey it. Looking at the fourth commandment in context, I firmly believed that the Lord didn’t want me to make an idol – that would be very wrong. I also knew that the Lord didn’t want me to murder or steal or lie. So why did I waver so much on the issue of one day in seven to be set aside in a special way for the Lord? Those other commandments had not lost their direct application over time so how could I conclude that #4 had?

I finally couldn’t make that assumption any more. There was a quiet change that came over me. I didn’t make a big deal out of it; I just started making different choices on that day. Actually, I started making different choices on Saturday, too. I would try to get more organized on Saturday so I wouldn’t have to do so much everyday chores on Sunday. And on Sunday, I would try to put work off until Monday. I would also read my bible or a devotional book instead of doing some form of recreation.

Now I talk to others on Sunday about the things of God which is a great use of the time. I also like to visit about everyday things, because I don’t think God’s law intends Sunday to be a lonely day. The Lord’s day is a good day to concern myself with the cares and joys of others. I’m sure I still have a lot to learn about this, but then again, life is for learning, isn’t it?

I’m writing this blog as my way of meditating on God’s word this very special day. I hope you’re having a blessed Sabbath!

When troubles come

I've recently been taken into the confidence of two people who are very dear to me as they have both shared some painful situations in their lives. I'm very concerned about both of them. Even though the troubles my close friends are dealing with are their own and not mine, I still bear a burden. My heart is heavy too, and I groan within. I feel weak and vulnerable because their troubles could just as easily be mine in an instant, and besides, I want to help. I want to carry some of their burden for them, but I can't. The burden that a concerned friend carries is not the actual load. Oh, what can I do? What can I do?

I can listen well, I can be there, I can pray.

There is something we can do together. We can enter together into the presence of the Lord. I want us to walk in together - side by side. If we must have different trials on our own paths of life, let us then come together to worship God.

As Psalm 33:20-22 says:
"Our soul waits for the Lord;
He is our help and our shield.
For our heart rejoices in Him,
Because we trust in His holy name.
Let Thy lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us,
According as we have hoped in Thee."

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer!

Back at Vladimir's for Benny's cello.

Ben wants me to change my blog background to something a little more interesting. I don't know what he means by that. I can't think of anything more interesting than black words on white. Can you? I mean, it doesn't get anymore classic than this. Besides, I like my little purple link words. Sorry Ben, I'll keep it just like it is. ; - )

We did add a new category to my blog similar to Ludwhig's "Immortal Ravings." Mine's called "Food for Thought." For the longest time my "Fellow Gourmets" showed up in an ugly little black font so we fixed that too.

It snowed Saturday, and we woke up Sunday morning to a little accumulation. I was going to photograph a spring flower with snow in the background for you to see, but it had all disappeared by the time we drove in from church. Hopefully that will be our last chance to see snow this season. I mean, enough's enough.

Even with the snow, Spring Fever's hit me hard. I have a huge urge to throw down my books and run outside. I want to float slowly down a river on a raft. Yeah, like Huck Finn. I wanta sit under a tree chewing on a piece of grass all day lookin at the birds and bees, and such. But alas, we still have a few more weeks of school to go, and besides, grown-ups aren't supposed to feel like that. In reality, I wouldn't be happy sitting around all day anyway. Just ask my family. My idea of a rip-roaring good time is to have enough free time to clean out a closet. Now, that's my kind of recreation. (Although, I do enjoy a nice walk every day with my good friend, my hubby.)

My girls and I will go to exercise class later today. That'll be fun. There's something about going to a big room filled with mirrors and other out-of-shape people that creates just the perfect atmosphere for exercise. I don't know why. It just does.

That's all for now. Oh, and by the way, ask the Pea sometime to post the complete lyrics to "Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer." Nat King Cole sings it. It's a great sing-along song and I know once you hear it you'll go around singing it all the time like we do. (S.O.G. probably knows it already. You can get her to sing it to you. She knows this real versatile tune that she sings all her songs to. She knows LOTS of songs and they all go to the same tune. It's really neat.)

Testing, testing

The last blog I posted called "The goings on" went on a rampage and won't let me open my blog site and others have not been able to comment on it. Sooo I'm posting this one to see it having a new post magically fixes things where I am allowed to go to my own site. Thank you very much! >:-

Oh, and don't try to comment on yesterday's blog. If you want to leave a message - leave it on today's. In fact, would someone leave a comment here just so I can see if I am up and working? Thanks.

The goings on

Taking a break from acronyms in my blog title. Titles are so important since they draw your readers in, but too much of a good thing is bad. I'm quite handy with catchy titles. Can't you tell?

Let's see, I've recently critiqued movies and Broadway shows. I've uncovered hidden identities. What's left? Guess I could just catch you up on what's been going on.

Been helping Amy get ready to take her AP English Language Exam. This'll take place in a week and a half. Friday she'll take her last 3 hour practice exam - so be praying for her about that and for the real exam. Those of you who have taken this three hour exam in the past know what she's in for. :-(

Benny and I have still been studying Hebrew. It's actually pretty cool now. We are in Vol. 2 of the textbook series and we are simply translating excerpts right out of the first chapters of Genesis. It takes me a while on one day to copy the Hebrew out of the book and then on another day I translate word by word looking at parts of speech, tense, suffixes, prefixes - things like that. Ben and I work separately these days because you just need some time, a quiet place, and a working brain to do it. I actually enjoy that kind of mental exercise.

Something Ben and I are working through together is Algebra. Haven't done Algebra a whole lot with my kids. They've been learning it on their own. But this time, I decided I wanted to go right through the whole course with him. This doesn't come natural to a humanities-type person like myself, but I'm actually enjoying this as well.

(I can sense the skeptics out there thinking, "Yeah, right. You say you enjoy rigorous study just because there might be some impressionable minds you're trying to indoctrinate into thinking that learning is supposed to be fun. I don't buy it." That's what some of you are thinking alright. But I can only speak for myself when I say that learning something new and totally outside of your area of expertise is gratifying. I like to be challenged and explore new areas in life while sitting in my own home. I am a homebody, remember.)

Tonight, Rob lead the bible study on Acts 11. Studying God's Word is actually the most exciting intellectual learning experience I know of. Just think of it - you can ALWAYS learn something new and very relevant to your life. I mean, tonight we talked about the nature and fruit of salvation, how a person operates within his family and church as he comes to God, and five things that make up a healthy church. We touched on other issues, too. And that's all from one chapter! I guarantee you that the next time we read it, we could talk about the same subjects or bring up others and never grow tired of these things. No wonder the Bible is called the Living Word - the depths and far reaches of it literally have no end!

Candace and I went to her college, IUK (Indiana University Kokomo), and took in an art exhibit created by a painter from Mexico. Mexico City to be precise. He grew up in the slums of the city and one day saw an art exhibit and became immediately inspired to become an artist. And a fine artist he has become - quite good actually. He uses vibrant colors to portray symbolic creatures and people. Each one of his paintings has a moon or a sun in it - and he paints with swirling strokes and uses lots of paint to create depth and texture. Some animals seem to leap out of the picture at you. Good feast for the eyes - and for the heart.

OK, one more thing. Let's see, I'll have to put this very delicately.
Let's pretend that there was this woman, and her oldest son went to college in a far away place called Texas. This woman missed her son and thought of him often wanting only the best things to happen to him. She wanted him to have a happy life and not be left out of any good thing in life. So one day on around May 8th, her son was to have his 20th birthday. This mother thought and thought about the best way for her son to celebrate his birthday with his friends even though he wouldn't technically be with them on his actual birthday. She wondered if there was some kind of harmless and fun activity that the students could do together where nobody gets hurt and everybody has fun. Preferably something to do with water, because her son just LOVED water. Hum, this is a nice beginning for a story. Wonder how it will end?

The SOG Identity

Urgent alert! We have just discovered through reliable sources that SOG is not who she claims to be! You look surprised – I was too, I’ve known her for years, but I have proof.

As you know, she has several aliases: Joy, Granny, Mom, Mrs. Jones (there are probably others), but in her blazon confidence, she has recently been known to use the name, SOG, which she claims stands for "Silly Old Granny". By using this name, she has made a critical error, giving us the clue we needed to discover her true identity.

SOG originally stood for Studies and Observation Group, an elite joint services military group designed for covert operations in the Vietnam War. Its existence was once denied by the US Government and it wasn't until long after the war that the SOG Story could even be told.

The following is an excerpt from US ELITE FORCES-VIETNAM by Leroy Thompson that further describes the nature of this specialized group and its secret missions.

“Separate from "conventional," unconventional operations of the 5th Special Forces Group were the clandestine operations of Military Assistance Command Vietnam/Studies and Observations Group (MACV/SOG). The Studies and Observation Group (SOG) was a cover name to disguise SOG's real function, and the name "Special Operations Group," as it was sometimes called, described its real mission more accurately.
Activated in January of 1964, SOG was a joint services unit composed of members from all four branches of the armed forces, including Navy SEALs, Marine Recons, Air Force Special Operations pilots of the 90th Special Operations Wing, but predominantly Army Special Forces.
MACV/SOG's missions included: cross border operations into Cambodia, Laos and North Vietnam to carry out intelligence gathering or raiding missions on the enemy's 'home ground'; gathering intelligence about POWs and carrying out rescue missions when possible; rescuing downed aircrews in enemy territory ("Bright Light" missions); training, inserting, and controlling agents in North Vietnam to gather intelligence or form resistance groups; carrying out 'black' Psy Ops such as operating fake broadcasting stations inside North Vietnam; kidnapping or assassinating key enemy personnel; retrieving sensitive document so equipment lost in enemy territory or in enemy hands; and inserting rigged mortar rounds or other booby-trapped ordnance in enemy arms caches (OPERATION ELDEST SON).”

-Leroy Thompson. US Elite Forces-Vietnam. No. 7. Texas: Squadron/Signal, 1985. 27.

So you see there can be no doubt that this so called “Silly Old Granny” is in fact a member of the Special Operations Group, and she is now trying to assimilate back into society until her next assignment comes up.

Knowing this makes the world suddenly seem like a very unsure place. I know, I know. I understand. But don’t worry because we are having her closely watched. You know all those huge white SUV's all over East Texas with women driving around with one or two kids in them? Well, those are our people. The kids are really highly trained military little people.

We’re going to bring her in for questioning when she least expects it to get some answers to the pressing questions – like: Who really shot JFK? Who really shot JR? Did we really land on the moon? What time will supper be ready? You know, the important stuff.