Snow Sculptures and Miscellaneous
Yesterday at school our students played in the snow. True, not everyone had boots or gloves, but everyone participated. Students had a choice: build something or have a snowball fight. Creativity prevailed over violence for about half the students, so after the fighters faced off, the rest went on to demonstrate their imaginative and artistic abilities.
One group made a mammoth snow man--with the bottom section perhaps 3 feet in diameter. They piled three more big sections on top before they ran out of time. (I thought snowmen always had three sections, but what do I know?) Another group made a different sort of snowman. This one was a skinny fellow with snow-sculptured legs and a snow arm crooked at the elbow. He wore a stocking cap and had a proper snowman face made of small rocks. Another group made a pickup truck carrying a cargo of snowballs. It had hollowed-out wheel wells and snow tires. The fourth group made a castle--its bulk formed in a squarish mop bucket, by packing it with snow, then inverting it and lifting it off. Water glasses served as a mold for forming turret-topped lookout towers at the corners on top. A moat around it, a bridge to the arched doorway, and windows in the towers and on the sides finished it off. The students voted the castle as the best creation, but the sculptures all made me smile. I found the snowball fight far less entertaining.
********************
Shane and Dorcas are in Japan. Hiromi talked to Shane briefly this morning--at 6:00 AM our time, 9:00 PM, their time. They were with Hiroshi , a former employer and friend of Hiromi's, in Tokyo. He owns an electrical contracting business. Since we've seen him last, his wife and young married daughter have both died, and life must be altered in unhappy ways for him.
Shane and Dorcas also met Hitoshi, Hiromi's cousin, and Hitoshi's daughter Maki. They did some sightseeing together. Hitoshi is from a family of three boys. They are the children of Hiromi's only aunt on his father's side. The aunt and Hiromi's father were orphaned when they were still quite young (Tuberculosis claimed the lives of the parents.), and were raised by their grandparents. Hiromi and Hitoshi's family were close when they were growing up, and I have pleasant memories of meeting all of them when we were in Japan in 1984.
Tomorrow morning (tonight for us), after one more night's sleep in Tokyo, Shane and Dorcas head for southern Japan, Kyushu Island, where Hiromi grew up and where his mother and brother still live. Shane's step-cousin, Yoshinori, who lived with us for several months while Grant was in high school, will be home from his job in Tokyo over a three-day weekend, and will no doubt help ease the complications of the language barrier significantly.
Hiromi did a lot of emailing and phoning to Japan in the past few weeks to try to make sure Shane and Dorcas have a good experience in Japan. Even then, I often wished he could simply be there to personally introduce his homeland and his people to his American family. I know that it was a wonderful experience when he did that for me.
On Monday evening, Shane and Dorcas expect to arrive home. On March 1, two weeks after that, Grant plans to return from Washington. And then this mother hen will go back to making contented clucking sounds.
*************************
The snowfall amount last Tuesday and Wednesday in Hutchinson was revised upward to an official 11.5 inches. We were back in school on Thursday, but the minivan I usually drive was still barricaded in its parking spot behind several snow drifts. So Hiromi took me to school in his car in the morning and I came home with Emily in the evening. I wore the shtiffle to the car in the morning, carrying my shoes, and carefully stomped a walking path through the lawn, avoiding the highest drifts, so that I could navigate it in the evening without boots.
Oren and one of his boys were in the process of clearing the driveway when Emily dropped me off, and by the next evening, the snow there was all melted. There's still a good snow blanket left where it wasn't plowed, but three days in a row of temperatures in the 50s will no doubt "disappear" it quickly. We've had brilliant sunshine ever since Thursday morning. Having the snow melt in the fields will provide welcome moisture there.
Since Hiromi, after dropping me off at school in the morning, took the shtiffle along in the car when he went to work, I didn't feed the sheep in the evening as I usually do when Hiromi has to work late. Besides, before I had discovered the missing shtiffle, I had filled a bucket with warm water from the bathtub (Mara loves warm water.), and spilled part of it onto my skirt, socks, and shoes on my way to the outside door. Discovering that there were no boots to wear made me decide in a hurry that this wasn't going to work, and I would simply have to inform Hiromi that the chores weren't done when he got home.
"Go buy yourself some boots," he instructed when he got home. " So I did--half price from the "Woman Within" catalog, with an additional 30% off when I entered the discount code. I'm now officially ready for any remaining snow storms this winter, or will be, as soon as they arrive.
********************
There's an insanely cheap round-trip air fare from Miami to Tokyo right now (unless it's already been withdrawn), but Hiromi is too contented here at home to consider taking it. I think 330-some dollars would be a reasonable expense for such a trip. I wish Grant and Hiromi would go together, but I think Grant's too much like his dad to jump for the chance--and maybe too cash-short at the moment. He certainly would not go by himself. Hans alerted me to the fare on Facebook.
*******************
I've been mesmerized by the drama unfolding in Egypt, and am thrilled at the success of the peaceable young people's protest that has resulted in the dismantling of a very repressive regime.
It it will take lots of hard work, however, to restore economic opportunity and a stable, equitable government. I pray that people who want the good of the people will provide leadership. Another Iran in the Mideast would not seem like a positive development, and I hope it doesn't happen in Egypt.
******************
By the way, do you know any other words besides Egypt that have three below-the-line loops in succession when written in cursive?
******************
I heard about the drowning death of Casey Gingerich in Puerto Rico where he had just arrived with a group from Hillcrest Home. Although I barely know his family, I grieve with them at this loss of their only son and oldest child. I'm sure it's devastating for the Hillcrest family too, and others who knew him.
I don't know anything about the circumstances surrounding Casey's death, and have no condemnation for anyone involved at all.
*****************
Maybe it's because I raised boys and spend a lot of time around high school age people, but I do my share of shuddering at the dangerous things people undertake, either through ignorance, reluctance to appear overly cautious, or in search of a thrill.
Witnessing teetering too close to the edge of a bluff, venturing out when the roads are vile and the visibility is awful, and driving recklessly all make me feel a little angry. Disaster can strike even when everyone does their best to avoid it, and the sad results sometimes cause grief for a lifetime. Any thrill gained by flirting with disaster seems to me like ill-gotten gain of any kind--not worth having, even if acquiring it without significant loss is sometimes possible.
Staying safe is not the ultimate obligation of responsible living. Sometimes doing the right and necessary thing involves risk. But thrill-seeking for its own sake, and reckless disregard for safety both fall into the "irresponsible" category, as I see it.
One group made a mammoth snow man--with the bottom section perhaps 3 feet in diameter. They piled three more big sections on top before they ran out of time. (I thought snowmen always had three sections, but what do I know?) Another group made a different sort of snowman. This one was a skinny fellow with snow-sculptured legs and a snow arm crooked at the elbow. He wore a stocking cap and had a proper snowman face made of small rocks. Another group made a pickup truck carrying a cargo of snowballs. It had hollowed-out wheel wells and snow tires. The fourth group made a castle--its bulk formed in a squarish mop bucket, by packing it with snow, then inverting it and lifting it off. Water glasses served as a mold for forming turret-topped lookout towers at the corners on top. A moat around it, a bridge to the arched doorway, and windows in the towers and on the sides finished it off. The students voted the castle as the best creation, but the sculptures all made me smile. I found the snowball fight far less entertaining.
********************
Shane and Dorcas are in Japan. Hiromi talked to Shane briefly this morning--at 6:00 AM our time, 9:00 PM, their time. They were with Hiroshi , a former employer and friend of Hiromi's, in Tokyo. He owns an electrical contracting business. Since we've seen him last, his wife and young married daughter have both died, and life must be altered in unhappy ways for him.
Shane and Dorcas also met Hitoshi, Hiromi's cousin, and Hitoshi's daughter Maki. They did some sightseeing together. Hitoshi is from a family of three boys. They are the children of Hiromi's only aunt on his father's side. The aunt and Hiromi's father were orphaned when they were still quite young (Tuberculosis claimed the lives of the parents.), and were raised by their grandparents. Hiromi and Hitoshi's family were close when they were growing up, and I have pleasant memories of meeting all of them when we were in Japan in 1984.
Tomorrow morning (tonight for us), after one more night's sleep in Tokyo, Shane and Dorcas head for southern Japan, Kyushu Island, where Hiromi grew up and where his mother and brother still live. Shane's step-cousin, Yoshinori, who lived with us for several months while Grant was in high school, will be home from his job in Tokyo over a three-day weekend, and will no doubt help ease the complications of the language barrier significantly.
Hiromi did a lot of emailing and phoning to Japan in the past few weeks to try to make sure Shane and Dorcas have a good experience in Japan. Even then, I often wished he could simply be there to personally introduce his homeland and his people to his American family. I know that it was a wonderful experience when he did that for me.
On Monday evening, Shane and Dorcas expect to arrive home. On March 1, two weeks after that, Grant plans to return from Washington. And then this mother hen will go back to making contented clucking sounds.
*************************
The snowfall amount last Tuesday and Wednesday in Hutchinson was revised upward to an official 11.5 inches. We were back in school on Thursday, but the minivan I usually drive was still barricaded in its parking spot behind several snow drifts. So Hiromi took me to school in his car in the morning and I came home with Emily in the evening. I wore the shtiffle to the car in the morning, carrying my shoes, and carefully stomped a walking path through the lawn, avoiding the highest drifts, so that I could navigate it in the evening without boots.
Oren and one of his boys were in the process of clearing the driveway when Emily dropped me off, and by the next evening, the snow there was all melted. There's still a good snow blanket left where it wasn't plowed, but three days in a row of temperatures in the 50s will no doubt "disappear" it quickly. We've had brilliant sunshine ever since Thursday morning. Having the snow melt in the fields will provide welcome moisture there.
Since Hiromi, after dropping me off at school in the morning, took the shtiffle along in the car when he went to work, I didn't feed the sheep in the evening as I usually do when Hiromi has to work late. Besides, before I had discovered the missing shtiffle, I had filled a bucket with warm water from the bathtub (Mara loves warm water.), and spilled part of it onto my skirt, socks, and shoes on my way to the outside door. Discovering that there were no boots to wear made me decide in a hurry that this wasn't going to work, and I would simply have to inform Hiromi that the chores weren't done when he got home.
"Go buy yourself some boots," he instructed when he got home. " So I did--half price from the "Woman Within" catalog, with an additional 30% off when I entered the discount code. I'm now officially ready for any remaining snow storms this winter, or will be, as soon as they arrive.
********************
There's an insanely cheap round-trip air fare from Miami to Tokyo right now (unless it's already been withdrawn), but Hiromi is too contented here at home to consider taking it. I think 330-some dollars would be a reasonable expense for such a trip. I wish Grant and Hiromi would go together, but I think Grant's too much like his dad to jump for the chance--and maybe too cash-short at the moment. He certainly would not go by himself. Hans alerted me to the fare on Facebook.
*******************
I've been mesmerized by the drama unfolding in Egypt, and am thrilled at the success of the peaceable young people's protest that has resulted in the dismantling of a very repressive regime.
It it will take lots of hard work, however, to restore economic opportunity and a stable, equitable government. I pray that people who want the good of the people will provide leadership. Another Iran in the Mideast would not seem like a positive development, and I hope it doesn't happen in Egypt.
******************
By the way, do you know any other words besides Egypt that have three below-the-line loops in succession when written in cursive?
******************
I heard about the drowning death of Casey Gingerich in Puerto Rico where he had just arrived with a group from Hillcrest Home. Although I barely know his family, I grieve with them at this loss of their only son and oldest child. I'm sure it's devastating for the Hillcrest family too, and others who knew him.
I don't know anything about the circumstances surrounding Casey's death, and have no condemnation for anyone involved at all.
*****************
Maybe it's because I raised boys and spend a lot of time around high school age people, but I do my share of shuddering at the dangerous things people undertake, either through ignorance, reluctance to appear overly cautious, or in search of a thrill.
Witnessing teetering too close to the edge of a bluff, venturing out when the roads are vile and the visibility is awful, and driving recklessly all make me feel a little angry. Disaster can strike even when everyone does their best to avoid it, and the sad results sometimes cause grief for a lifetime. Any thrill gained by flirting with disaster seems to me like ill-gotten gain of any kind--not worth having, even if acquiring it without significant loss is sometimes possible.
Staying safe is not the ultimate obligation of responsible living. Sometimes doing the right and necessary thing involves risk. But thrill-seeking for its own sake, and reckless disregard for safety both fall into the "irresponsible" category, as I see it.
posted by Mrs. I at
7:32 AM
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