Blogging as Evasive Action
It feels like a long time since I've been here. The Christmas post was going to be the first of several, but I never got back to it.
On New Year's Day we invited all the Kansas Iwashige relatives for our traditional New Year's Day feast of Japanese food. We always have a good time, and wonder afterward why we don't get together more often. Hiromi and his sister talked to their mother and brother in Japan via Skype.
This year the conversation was partly about a trip Shane and Dorcas plan to make to Japan and other parts of Asia. They're leaving next week and plan to be gone about a month. Their time in Japan will be short and near the end of their trip, but it will be long enough for Shane to meet his grandmother--probably the only time in his life he will ever see her, given the fact that she is 95 years old. All around, it would be nice if Hiromi were there at the same time, to facilitate their finding their way and helping them communicate.
Hiromi's brother Saiji thinks so too. He thinks Hiromi failed his boys by not teaching them Japanese. I think what he really regrets is that his typical "life of the party" persona will be almost entirely wasted on Shane and Dorcas if they can't understand him. I agree--it's a shame, but it's true, of course, also, that Saiji has had some opportunities to learn English that he has not made good use of or he would be able to talk English now as well as Hiromi did when he first came to America. I don't think Hiromi needs to be the whipping boy here.
***********************
Today we had the annual Farmer's Market organizational meeting. Unlike most past years when we had a catered meal, we had a potluck this year. It turns out that produce farmers know a thing or two about cooking. The spread was impressive.
The county horticulture agent gave a presentation on several publicly and privately funded programs that are making investments in the "local food" movement--developing markets in institutional food service kitchens, training producers, providing publicity for producers, etc. I feel vindicated when I hear about this--for having nudged the FM board several years ago in the direction of defining and limiting the term "local" for our market's purposes. I was pretty sure then that "local" would soon become a very critical marketing emphasis, and I didn't think we were ready for it as we ought to be.
I learned at the meeting today that last year the Hutchinson Farmer's Market took in over $280,000.00 in revenue. If that money turns over five times in the local economy, as is reportedly often the case, it's making its own quiet contribution to economic recovery for our county--to the tune of over a million dollars. The Wednesday market alone brought in over $45,000.00, which is as much as the total market season produced about ten years ago. We also carried forward an $8,000.00+ balance. Someone today remarked that at one point long ago, an $8.00 balance was something to feel good about.
Someone else described our vendor group as a family where people look out for and help each other. "We bicker like family too," another person observed wryly after a spirited discussion about what our starting time should be and whether making exceptions for late people was legitimate. We are not all of one mind on this.
Being with the market crowd makes me itch to get seeds ordered and started growing. But first I have to finish the grade cards for last semester, and before that I have to finish a pile of grading. This is not my favorite part of teaching. (So why am I blogging instead of grading? This is the question I'm asking myself. To clear my head of interference, I guess.)
******************
Last week one evening we had a mournful bovine chorus which continued throughout the night. When it was still going on the second morning, I called to see if Lowell knew why the cattle were so unsettled. (I thought maybe the longhorns across the road were sending upsetting signals.) Judy told me that Lowell had weaned the calves and taken them to their home farm, so they were hearing the other half of the chorus. That explained everything.
Wed. eve. when I walked from the church to the car after the evening service, I heard similar sounds coming from Titus and Marijane's farm. It turns out Titus was weaning calves last week too.
"Much weeping in Ramah" came to mind--"for her children." I'm pretty sure the bovine context is wildly inappropriate, but hey, what do you do when such words turn up and feel almost right for describing what's happening at the moment? Squelching them entirely seems a waste.
*******************
On New Year's Day we took our company out for a walk around the hog barn to see the pigs. I laughed when the pigs in the first pen all woofed and galloped to line up along the fence to stare, and check out the strange creatures appearing in their territory.
Why did I think of the song we used to sing in grade school about a trip to the zoo? "You'll see more freaks outside the cage [pen] than inside, any day."
********************
Hilda's grandmother died in Indiana on the last day of 2010. She had been ailing, and we weren't sure whether Joel and Hilda would be here or there on New Year's Day. They left by car the following day for a funeral this past Tuesday.
On New Year's Day, after it was only Hiromi and I and his sister and her husband here, (the others had gone home) they talked about how much they enjoyed our children and their spouses "today."
"Both of your in-laws are so nice," they told us. "I think it has something to do with your religion," they said too. "You have so much going for you--friends everywhere, and so much support," my brother-in-law told me. They also talked about a mutual acquaintance with whom they feel embarrassment for some of the manipulative and dishonest things they've witnessed them doing. "What I can't understand is that they go to church. If they're Christians, we're Christians."
All I could think to say to that was, "I'm so sorry. . . "
We really love this part of our family and feel blessed to belong together. I'm praying to be able to share Christ with them. They are so accepting and receptive, and yet it's not easy to get to the Christian faith matters that are at the core of the difference they see in our family's life and theirs.
*****************
Accumulating snow is predicted for Sun. eve. and Mon. It will be the first real snow of the winter. Following that will be the coldest temperatures of the season, with temps slightly below zero.
I'm as eager for a snow day as the students are. That would deliver me from my grades-not-ready dilemma. I'm not quite convinced that I should pray for a snow day, but I am very open to being as considerate as possible of all the overconfident (or fearful) and inexperienced teenage drivers and the realistically fearful mothers of young children who will likely be forced onto snowy, slippery roads, with low visibility, and dangerous wind chills, if we do have school. (Maybe the wind chill part won't actually happen till later, but it sounds good in this list.)
I think there's a reason that the school cancellation decision is usually made without my input--probably a good reason. It's OK.
******************
We're reading "Othello" for our literature selection this month. It was the very first book we read when we started this program while Harry was the principal--between five and eight years ago.
******************
I stayed behind with the five "left behind" students on this past week's field trip.
I'm usually open to relaxing the usual rules somewhat on these days as long as lots of work is getting done. Things seemed to be clicking right along most of the day.
At one break, however, there was an extraordinary amount of giggling and guffawing in the kitchen. When I went to investigate, everyone was gathered around the island , with a pile of bananas and banana peelings, and a pile of sugar-free chocolate candy and candy wrappers on the counter.
Two of the boys had stuffed themselves with eight bananas each, and candy besides. Soon after the bell rang, one of them asked permission to go to the restroom. He did not reappear for at least 15 minutes.
I had allowed two girls to go fetch the 40 pound box of bananas that were then free for all at school the rest of this week. That box was plucked off one of ten pallets each containing 24?? (can't remember for sure) of those boxes. I don't know all the details, except that it was from a semi load of rejected produce because some of it had frozen en route to its destination. Such rejects sometimes get shuttled off to farms for animal feed unless someone intercepts it again en route. The chocolate candy was rejected because of possible contamination with peanut butter.
Cows apparently like chocolate candy. I'm sure you can imagine the chocolate milk jokes high schoolers might concoct for such a situation.
******************
Today at the Farmer's Market dinner I sat beside Doris, who writes several weekly newspaper columns. She's a sweet lady. During our conversation about the expected snow and cold I mentioned the news article I had seen last week about the fad among young people to shun the wearing of coats. Maybe cool boots or a statement-making baseball cap, and maybe shorts and a T-shirt, but no coat--in New Hampshire--in a blizzard--waiting for the bus.
"That's what my next column is going to be about," she said.
During the break in typing class, I often talk about or read something from the newspaper. I was pleased with my students' wisdom on the day I referenced the article on coats. "That's stupid," one of them said.
*******************
Doris also told me that her husband, who is diabetic, began to act strangely several months ago. Concerned, she talked to her pastor about the "strong ideas" he was developing. The pastor asked if he uses Splenda regularly. He did. Then he said that he knew someone else who exhibited similar behavior which stopped when he stopped using Splenda. (Splenda is a sweetener that can be used in volumes equal to the sugar volume in regular recipes.)
It worked the same for Doris' husband. The blood sugar was under control throughout, but something was obviously going wrong neurologically.
On New Year's Day we invited all the Kansas Iwashige relatives for our traditional New Year's Day feast of Japanese food. We always have a good time, and wonder afterward why we don't get together more often. Hiromi and his sister talked to their mother and brother in Japan via Skype.
This year the conversation was partly about a trip Shane and Dorcas plan to make to Japan and other parts of Asia. They're leaving next week and plan to be gone about a month. Their time in Japan will be short and near the end of their trip, but it will be long enough for Shane to meet his grandmother--probably the only time in his life he will ever see her, given the fact that she is 95 years old. All around, it would be nice if Hiromi were there at the same time, to facilitate their finding their way and helping them communicate.
Hiromi's brother Saiji thinks so too. He thinks Hiromi failed his boys by not teaching them Japanese. I think what he really regrets is that his typical "life of the party" persona will be almost entirely wasted on Shane and Dorcas if they can't understand him. I agree--it's a shame, but it's true, of course, also, that Saiji has had some opportunities to learn English that he has not made good use of or he would be able to talk English now as well as Hiromi did when he first came to America. I don't think Hiromi needs to be the whipping boy here.
***********************
Today we had the annual Farmer's Market organizational meeting. Unlike most past years when we had a catered meal, we had a potluck this year. It turns out that produce farmers know a thing or two about cooking. The spread was impressive.
The county horticulture agent gave a presentation on several publicly and privately funded programs that are making investments in the "local food" movement--developing markets in institutional food service kitchens, training producers, providing publicity for producers, etc. I feel vindicated when I hear about this--for having nudged the FM board several years ago in the direction of defining and limiting the term "local" for our market's purposes. I was pretty sure then that "local" would soon become a very critical marketing emphasis, and I didn't think we were ready for it as we ought to be.
I learned at the meeting today that last year the Hutchinson Farmer's Market took in over $280,000.00 in revenue. If that money turns over five times in the local economy, as is reportedly often the case, it's making its own quiet contribution to economic recovery for our county--to the tune of over a million dollars. The Wednesday market alone brought in over $45,000.00, which is as much as the total market season produced about ten years ago. We also carried forward an $8,000.00+ balance. Someone today remarked that at one point long ago, an $8.00 balance was something to feel good about.
Someone else described our vendor group as a family where people look out for and help each other. "We bicker like family too," another person observed wryly after a spirited discussion about what our starting time should be and whether making exceptions for late people was legitimate. We are not all of one mind on this.
Being with the market crowd makes me itch to get seeds ordered and started growing. But first I have to finish the grade cards for last semester, and before that I have to finish a pile of grading. This is not my favorite part of teaching. (So why am I blogging instead of grading? This is the question I'm asking myself. To clear my head of interference, I guess.)
******************
Last week one evening we had a mournful bovine chorus which continued throughout the night. When it was still going on the second morning, I called to see if Lowell knew why the cattle were so unsettled. (I thought maybe the longhorns across the road were sending upsetting signals.) Judy told me that Lowell had weaned the calves and taken them to their home farm, so they were hearing the other half of the chorus. That explained everything.
Wed. eve. when I walked from the church to the car after the evening service, I heard similar sounds coming from Titus and Marijane's farm. It turns out Titus was weaning calves last week too.
"Much weeping in Ramah" came to mind--"for her children." I'm pretty sure the bovine context is wildly inappropriate, but hey, what do you do when such words turn up and feel almost right for describing what's happening at the moment? Squelching them entirely seems a waste.
*******************
On New Year's Day we took our company out for a walk around the hog barn to see the pigs. I laughed when the pigs in the first pen all woofed and galloped to line up along the fence to stare, and check out the strange creatures appearing in their territory.
Why did I think of the song we used to sing in grade school about a trip to the zoo? "You'll see more freaks outside the cage [pen] than inside, any day."
********************
Hilda's grandmother died in Indiana on the last day of 2010. She had been ailing, and we weren't sure whether Joel and Hilda would be here or there on New Year's Day. They left by car the following day for a funeral this past Tuesday.
On New Year's Day, after it was only Hiromi and I and his sister and her husband here, (the others had gone home) they talked about how much they enjoyed our children and their spouses "today."
"Both of your in-laws are so nice," they told us. "I think it has something to do with your religion," they said too. "You have so much going for you--friends everywhere, and so much support," my brother-in-law told me. They also talked about a mutual acquaintance with whom they feel embarrassment for some of the manipulative and dishonest things they've witnessed them doing. "What I can't understand is that they go to church. If they're Christians, we're Christians."
All I could think to say to that was, "I'm so sorry. . . "
We really love this part of our family and feel blessed to belong together. I'm praying to be able to share Christ with them. They are so accepting and receptive, and yet it's not easy to get to the Christian faith matters that are at the core of the difference they see in our family's life and theirs.
*****************
Accumulating snow is predicted for Sun. eve. and Mon. It will be the first real snow of the winter. Following that will be the coldest temperatures of the season, with temps slightly below zero.
I'm as eager for a snow day as the students are. That would deliver me from my grades-not-ready dilemma. I'm not quite convinced that I should pray for a snow day, but I am very open to being as considerate as possible of all the overconfident (or fearful) and inexperienced teenage drivers and the realistically fearful mothers of young children who will likely be forced onto snowy, slippery roads, with low visibility, and dangerous wind chills, if we do have school. (Maybe the wind chill part won't actually happen till later, but it sounds good in this list.)
I think there's a reason that the school cancellation decision is usually made without my input--probably a good reason. It's OK.
******************
We're reading "Othello" for our literature selection this month. It was the very first book we read when we started this program while Harry was the principal--between five and eight years ago.
******************
I stayed behind with the five "left behind" students on this past week's field trip.
I'm usually open to relaxing the usual rules somewhat on these days as long as lots of work is getting done. Things seemed to be clicking right along most of the day.
At one break, however, there was an extraordinary amount of giggling and guffawing in the kitchen. When I went to investigate, everyone was gathered around the island , with a pile of bananas and banana peelings, and a pile of sugar-free chocolate candy and candy wrappers on the counter.
Two of the boys had stuffed themselves with eight bananas each, and candy besides. Soon after the bell rang, one of them asked permission to go to the restroom. He did not reappear for at least 15 minutes.
I had allowed two girls to go fetch the 40 pound box of bananas that were then free for all at school the rest of this week. That box was plucked off one of ten pallets each containing 24?? (can't remember for sure) of those boxes. I don't know all the details, except that it was from a semi load of rejected produce because some of it had frozen en route to its destination. Such rejects sometimes get shuttled off to farms for animal feed unless someone intercepts it again en route. The chocolate candy was rejected because of possible contamination with peanut butter.
Cows apparently like chocolate candy. I'm sure you can imagine the chocolate milk jokes high schoolers might concoct for such a situation.
******************
Today at the Farmer's Market dinner I sat beside Doris, who writes several weekly newspaper columns. She's a sweet lady. During our conversation about the expected snow and cold I mentioned the news article I had seen last week about the fad among young people to shun the wearing of coats. Maybe cool boots or a statement-making baseball cap, and maybe shorts and a T-shirt, but no coat--in New Hampshire--in a blizzard--waiting for the bus.
"That's what my next column is going to be about," she said.
During the break in typing class, I often talk about or read something from the newspaper. I was pleased with my students' wisdom on the day I referenced the article on coats. "That's stupid," one of them said.
*******************
Doris also told me that her husband, who is diabetic, began to act strangely several months ago. Concerned, she talked to her pastor about the "strong ideas" he was developing. The pastor asked if he uses Splenda regularly. He did. Then he said that he knew someone else who exhibited similar behavior which stopped when he stopped using Splenda. (Splenda is a sweetener that can be used in volumes equal to the sugar volume in regular recipes.)
It worked the same for Doris' husband. The blood sugar was under control throughout, but something was obviously going wrong neurologically.
posted by Mrs. I at
6:19 PM
5 Comments:
My teen son is learning Japanese as fast as he can. He has a strong interest in all things Japanese so it's interesting to me to read about your Japanese conections. I'm really curious how your husband ended up at what I think is a Beachy Amish church. Have you ever blogged about that? God bless!
http://bringingkatyahome11.blogspot.com/
By
Hope Anne, at 1/08/2011
We are snowed in for the third time this winter. I must admit, I hope it is the last time. At least it waited until Sunday night to come this time. We had to cancel church the last two times. Bill is snowed in at work. At least he is safe.
By
Dorcas Byler, at 1/10/2011
Oh ouch. I didn't know not wearing a coat was a fad, but do I ever hate wearing a coat and avoid it whenever possible.Obviously for stuff like caroling and other extended outdoor activities it's necessary. But to run in and out? Why bother? Or to go to a store and then be hotter than a biscuit inside and wonder what to do with the coat. Why bother? To wear it from the van to the coat rack at church? Why bother? :) Okay, I know this opinion is in the minority and that most folks are not as hot blooded as I am...
By
Anonymous, at 1/16/2011
Carolyn--I have at times in the past behaved much as you do with your coat--especially when I didn't have a very decent coat. I always take one along, however, so that it's not far away if I need it.
By
Mrs. I, at 1/16/2011
Well, not having a 'chite' one has a lot to do with my actions right now, but also that I just tend to get hot quickly and that leads to claustrophobic feelings.:)One Sunday I was fanning myself and my friend sat behind me wearing a coat. :)
By
Anonymous, at 1/16/2011
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