Smatterings of LIfe

Grant had a fairly roundabout trip by air to Washington. The first plan was to go from Wichita to Minneapolis to Salt Lake City to Spokane. That seemed a little random--but necessary for flying on Delta routes. Then his departure was delayed by 24 hours and he was routed in a far more illogical way. This time he flew from Wichita to Atlanta to Cincinnati to Salt Lake City to Spokane.

There was a long delay at Atlanta--long enough to miss his flight leaving Cincinnati. He finally reached Spokane at 3:00 AM--24 hours after he got up to leave home.

This kind of change in travel schedules is never welcome, but far less inconvenience is involved than used to be the case before cell phone communication was common.

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I laughed yesterday at Marvin's tale about their new dog. He loves to sit just outside the house and bark loud and long, taxing the patience of everyone indoors who is trying to sleep or relax. One night Randall had had enough. He was barefoot, but he left his upstairs bedroom and headed outside to give the dog a lesson. The dog sensed which way the wind was blowing and took off running, Randall in pursuit. When the dog was far enough away to make catching up hopeless, Randall threw a boot at him in an effort to convey his displeasure.

I presume Randall retrieved the boot. At any rate, he headed back to the house, pleased, no doubt at having gotten the dog to shut up. On the way back he stepped in dog poop. I wonder if the dog was laughing from a safe distance.

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Today at school the nutrition class finished cooking and serving and eating the trial meal for the banquet the class is presenting for their own parents, the other students, and staff in early December.

The very fresh bread was hard to slice (I did it, and the students thought it was funny.) but it tasted delicious. We all agreed that we're going to have to make sure all the hot food is served very warm. It wasn't hot today for various reasons. We ate in the slightly chilly church foyer after carrying all the food from the kitchen at the other end of the building. Some of the food may have been dished up too soon and no longer been at its hottest when it was put into serving dishes. And then I prolonged the waiting slightly by giving some manners instructions first. How are we going to pass the food? Wait to start eating till everyone is served. Use the fork on the outside for the salad. Polite conversation please. No stabbing a whole piece of meat and biting off part of it. Use your knife.

"That's not polite," I overheard one person telling another after he saw him tuck a napkin under his chin. This is eminently sensible of course, but not typical adult behavior at a banquet. I'm glad we got that straight during the practice run.

The food looked really pretty, and every dish was cooked, seasoned, and garnished almost to perfection. We felt quite grand with our white tablecloth and candles and table centerpiece.

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Today I walked past the Music I classroom and heard both singing and tittering. Strange. Then I realized that the teacher had not yet arrived, and some of the students were being responsible and others weren't.

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Shane and Dorcas are headed to Virginia for Thanksgiving. Joel and Hilda will spend the holiday with Hilda's family. Grant is in Washington, and Hiromi will be working at Wal-Mart from 10:00 to 2:00. Lowell and Judy are in India and Marvin and Lois' family plan to be in Tennessee. Ronald's family and Carol's family will not come from eastern Kansas, and Myron's family plans to visit Ronald's family. This all means that it will be a sparse DLM family crowd at Thanksgiving this year. We've invited several friends and neighbors who, for some sad reasons, will not be able to spend the holiday with family.

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Two years ago at this time of year was Mom's health crisis. She was in ICU on Thanksgiving Day, and her heart surgery had taken place three days before.

We're thinking often of Keith and Miriam who are spending many hours with their infant daughter Sabrina at the hospital in Wichita. The baby is five months old and has had at least five surgeries--the first one immediately after she was born, to close an open spine. She seems to be growing and developing very normally, and is a happy and friendly child when she feels well. She needs a shunt to keep fluid from accumulating on her brain, and complications have made repeated surgeries necessary. Keeping infection at bay is a major challenge. The encouraging thing is that God has blessed with one miracle after another. Of late, twice her temporary shunt stopped draining, and twice it re-opened on its own. Apparently this almost never happens, and further surgery is usually what it takes to right the situation.

Keith and Miriam have four other children at home.

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We're babysitting Shane's dogs while they're on a trip. They arrived tonight and immediately set about to check the place over. I'm curious to see what they'll make of the dozens of pigs that have populated the barn since their last visit.

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Hiromi is tinkering with constructing a gas kiln for firing pottery. This is a long-time dream of his, and he's finally seeing it take shape. He has a potter's wheel, an electric kiln and many buckets of Kansas clay which he dug and processed. And now he has piles of firebrick and a gas burner assembly to which he will connect a propane fuel source. His goal is to bring out artful color variations in clear-glazed pottery by controlling the air/gas mixture inside the kiln during firing. He loves Japanese Raku pottery and hopes to create similar effects.

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Last week I heard of the death of a former housemate of mine. She was also my second cousin and fellow student at Sterling College. She was one of the few people I know who was both a professional teacher and nurse. A few years ago her father had died, and apparently life had handed her other challenges that seemed overwhelming to her. Naomi took her own life. I grieve for the sadness and despair she must have felt, and now for her family whose grief will continue for a long time. Pray for the Swartzentruber family.

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My oven is temperamental. Several months ago when it wouldn't light, Hiromi called cousin Ken, who is the serviceman at the business in Kalona where my parents bought the stove. While they were on the phone, Hiromi was trying to follow Ken's instructions when he realized that he had misunderstood what he should have done. He had turned on the stovetop burner, and that wasn't what Ken was suggesting. The oven fired up, however, when he had turned the surface burner to its "ignite" position. He and Ken agreed that it must be working again and they didn't do anything further with it.

The next time I wanted to bake something I had no luck at all. The oven stayed cold and dark. After I did some noisy whining, Hiromi said, "Let me try something." He turned on the oven and then turned a surface burner to "ignite." The oven came right on. I've been turning on my oven the same way ever since.

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I'm hearing a lot recently about how eating red meat affects health. I'm not sure if what I'm hearing is totally in contradiction, but at the very least, the focus varies widely.

In a cancer DVD, I heard from a Cornell University professor that eating red meat sets off multiple cancer-promoting mechanisms. He enumerated some of them. Refraining from eating it helps prevent cancer, and can be instrumental in reversing it, according to him. I know of other medical professionals who recommend abstinence from red meats to their cancer patients.

Yesterday I read about the experience of a recovering vegan, whose health was failing until she restored to her diet the eating of meat.

The Food Guide Pyramid recommends that I eat about 5 ounces of protein each day, with some of it coming from vegetable sources, most of the remainder from fish or chicken, and a small amount from beef or pork.

The last Nutrition Action Health Letter says that red meat may harm the liver. From tracking 490,000 men, researchers learned that those who ate at least 4 oz. of red meat a day were 2 1/2 times more likely to die of chronic liver disease and about 75 percent more likely to be diagnosed with liver cancer than those who ate less than 4 ounces a week.

Getting protein directly from grain sources used to be less of a challenge than it is today, so the plant protein alternatives must be carefully chosen. From King Corn I learned that earlier corn varieties contained far more protein than is true of the ubiquitous yellow dent corn that carpets U.S. corn fields. This corn is mostly carbohydrates.

I conclude that I would do well to pay close attention to not overdoing my animal protein intake, but to enjoy some of it regularly. I keep thinking of the references to meat eating in the Bible. Except for the prohibition of pork and certain other kinds of meat in the Mosaic Law, the eating of meat seems to have happened regularly. I see that Jesus, Peter, and Paul apparently all ate meat without guilt.

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I have heard rumors that many American medical professionals who get cancer or who have family members who suffer from it--these people often seek treatment in Germany.

Last night I watched a DVD that showed interviews with doctors in a number of German clinics. These professionals outlined the treatments they use and the results they're getting. Fascinating. They can't understand why these treatments are not available in the U.S. I don't think I understand it either.