Leave It To Beaver

Happy birthday kiddo!! It's funny yesterday's post should be about moving and I ended with unpacking, that's another story, because that's what I remember most about your birth. We had just made the move to West Point and were lucky enough to have borrowed temporary quarters that overlooked the Hudson. I was a waddling eight months pregnant and your brother and sister were ten and eight years old. The system at West Point was to have a housing draw in early June based upon rank. Your Dad was just a Captain at the time our name was low on the list, hence the month long wait.

And as the days went by and my due date drew nearer I must confess I began to get a little worried. But God is good and we signed for quarters with a week to go. I remember thinking, Hang in there little buddy. But I guess you had other ideas!

So about four hours after the moving truck had unloaded the last box, and your Dad and I were furiously unpacking, you decided, That's it, you got the house, I'm on my way!

Now let me tell you just how good God really is. A very new friend of mine from church had stopped by earlier and asked Wally and Betty to spend the night at her home, and I had let them go. And because it was one o'clock in the morning when we left our box strewn new quarters for the hospital, we didn't have to worry about what to do with your brother and sister. And when they woke up the next day they had a new baby brother!

Musing on Movings

This being an off year for me (as in NO move) I can ramble on about moving with no thought as to having to actually do anything. I can speak with some authority on the subject, having made no less than 14 moves in the last 25 years, and that's just military moves, it's not counting all of the early marriage, college dorm moves!

There are definite stages to moving. The initial euphoria (or not) of finding out you have to move, the excitement of learning where you're going (or again, not, as in Korea) and then the reality sets in. Having to organize yourself for the move, the sorting, the unloading of stuff you don't need and oh, by the way, what possessed you to own in the first place!

Then there is the cleaning, painting, repairing of your quarters (military for house) to get ready for the final inspection. Between this, the moving company, packers, children, animals and your spouse the tension and drama builds until you reach the culmination, and snap. Then, there it is, the big blow-out. There's got to be some shouting and anger management. I find it best to get this over and done with before you hit the road or you may find yourself choking your partner at some national park, say, Mount Rushmore, and incriminating photos might be taken. I'm just sayin!

After that, the denouement naturally follows and you are happily on your way to your new location. Unpacking? That's another story!

Popsicle Snobbery

Isn't it a shame they don't sell boxes of Popsicles with just the one flavor you love? Because then you wouldn't end up with half a box of grape sicles that will sit in your freezer for a few months until you decide to throw them out.

I bought the Popsicles because it's summer and there should always be Popsicles in your freezer in the summer, just like you have watermelon, corn-on-the-cob, and gallons of iced tea in the fridge. But I confess, I only like the cherry flavored ones. The orange are only tolerable, but the grape, not goin' there, just don't like grape.

And it appears, neither does the Beave. I think I'll switch to boxes of fudgesicles!

Guilt by Association

It's been a few weeks now since the incident, but I'm still feeling it's aftershocks. This is what happened. A friend of the Beave's got onto his Myspace account and posted a very nasty item on his bulletin board. With friend's like that who needs, well, you know.
When I read the item, my eyes bugged out, my heart raced and I felt faint. Yes, it was that bad and I removed it immediately, but not before several of Beave's friends had read it and said "WHAT?!"

Remember the science experiment where you sprinkle pepper on top of water and then place a single drop of liquid soap onto it? The pepper goes shooting off to the sides of the container. That is exactly the feeling I got about the Beave . . . it was a total repulsion based on a few words. Even when I found out that he had been punked by this acquaintance the ugliness of it remained, and you just can't shake it. There is this lingering doubt, I mean, what if he actually used those words.

This is why it is so important to choose friends wisely and words carefully. You are judged by your actions. And sadly, by the actions of those you associate with. So when your friends use expletives and do crass things because they think they are funny or cool and "man, I was just kidding!" people just naturally assume you condone, or actually do the same.

Ew, Ick, Phewwft! A Book Review

Yes, you can gather from my title that I did not care for the book my group read this month. Pilate's Wife, by Antoinette May, did not attempt to hide what I perceived as an attempt to diss Christianity through dishonoring it's namesake. The book is a fictional account of Pilot's wife, Claudia. She grew up as the privileged daughter of the Rome elite, closely related to the emperor, with all of the political intrigues and betrayals of the time.

The author chose to give us the details in first person, so Claudia comes off as self-centered and, I guess as the culture of the time, a bit hedonistic. Deities are worshiped wily-nilly, base needs being the determining factor. Claudia has some small physic powers which is actually spoken about in the New Testament account dealing with Pilot (Matthew 27:19).

It is how the author takes license with the facts, I would go so far as to say abuses them, that offends my sensibilities. In her forward Ms. May talks about being a journalist, and so she should understand that facts are facts, and you can't change them and call it fiction. A good historical fiction writer should tell her made up tale to fit the facts from original documents or primary sources, and as Ms. May speaks about gathering information for no less than six years, you'd think her research would have enabled her to get that part of the story right.

How is it that she places Jesus in a temple of Isis, the Iseneum, in Egypt when he is twenty-something and has him speak of "seeking"? (She intimates that Isis and Jesus are not so very different.) How is it that she has Jesus marrying a prostitute shortly before his crucifixion? Why has she chosen to disregard what historians would regard as eye witness accounts given in the New Testament?!

My fellow bibliophiles chalked it up to, "Hey, it's just fiction, a story!" No, Jesus was a real person (and much more than that!) as was Claudia, Pilot, Germanicus, Caligula, Livia and Tiberius. Much is known about them, and those things should not be distorted.

My guess would be that Antoinette May is more a seller of books than an author and sensationalism is the best way to get books moving off of the shelves. Shame on her as an author for not treating the Christian part of the history in her books with as much respect as she gives the Roman part.

Nigella's Breakfast Bars

From Nigella Lawson's new cookbook Nigella Express, these are like homemade chewy granola bars, and I'm sure they pack enough calories for a generous breakfast. I made them today and Beaver has been scarfing them up (or down as the case may be!)

Here is the recipe:*

1 14 oz can condensed milk
2 1/2 cups rolled oats (not instant)
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup mixed seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, sesame)
1 cup natural unsalted peanuts

1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F and oil a 9 x 13 pan
2. Warm the condensed milk in a large pan
3. Meanwhile, mix all the other ingredients together and add the warmed condensed milk, using a rubber spatula to fold and distribute
4. Spread the mixture into the oiled pan and press down with a spatula, making sure the surface is even
5. Bake for 1 hour, removed, and after about 15 minutes, cut into four across and four down to make 16 chunky bars. Let cool completely.

*I made my bars using dried cherries and almonds, and I didn't have the seeds on hand so I just put in a bit more oats. Still delicious! Also, watch the time carefully. My oven tends to run hot so I pulled these out at 50 minutes.

Friends Don't Let Friends . . .

Eat pork! That's right, we had another foreign student get together. This time our International Club hosted both newcomers and students that are getting ready to graduate to what we call a Meet and Greet. We had Godfather's Pizza, fruit trays, vegetable trays, and a mix of sodas.

So the students were all mingling and we were introducing them and then said finally "let's eat!" We made a point of ordering mostly vegetable or cheese pizzas, but we also had a couple of pepperoni on the end of the table. We told them they were all no meat, and the group from Tunisia and Morocco said, "But what about the pepperoni!!" Oh , yeah, we said, except for the pepperoni . . . and we all had a good laugh.

I had talked Beaver and a couple of his buddies into coming along, because we were short on greeters. They did a great job of engaging the foreign students in conversation, asking them about their countries and what they or don't like about being here in the U.S. They talked to the students from Saudi (who gave them his phone number in case they had other questions), Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, Poland, Romania, Israel, Germany and Bahrain.