Sunday Wrapup--2/23/2014

News and inspiration both seem to be in short supply, but we'll see if blog material comes to mind as we go along.

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Facebook quotes:

From my brother-in-law, Matthew--

I find it awe-inspiring to lie on my back and gaze at the night sky.

But I'm still learning to fully experience that sense of wonder when the lying down is unexpected and the resting spot is an icy sidewalk. 

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From Josh, who helped sing the "Hallelujah Chorus" as a congregational song this morning at our church:

Hey, we should put complex choral masterpieces in our hymnals so congregations everywhere can amuse themselves by mangling them every sunday.

I liked some of the followup comments too:

F. K. Ha, ha!! I just heard you all sing that song--and it sounded LOVELY to me!  You should hear our singing at church. . . actually, you shouldn't.

(She lives half a world away and must have heard the recorded service.)

MarlinGlanette Smucker Or you could use the basic hymnal and mangle simple hymns. Only it's not very amusing...

ShaneDorcas Iwashige It was a good morning for John to be leading singing! Hey, at least we try. For a stretch of four services in a row several weeks ago I had to sight read a song as I led it. Uncomfortable, but I'll take that any day over a church that insists on singing the same poorly written songs week after week.

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We had guests from other area Mennonite churches this morning.  They were participants in the MCC Friendship Meals fundraising program, which is a precursor to the MCC Relief Sale in April.  They were the guests of William Hershbergers and Dwight Millers.

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I have a quibble with blogspot's formatting codes, which apparently capriciously preserve in subsequent text the formatting for cut-and-pasted material.  I hate it because it makes the quoted material hard to distinguish from my writing.  The previous paragraph is an example.  Usually, before I cut and paste anything, I remember to write something first--usually gibberish, before and after the quote--and then plop the pasted material in between.  This time I forgot to key the "aft" material, and one time it worked out OK and other times it didn't.

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Last night the school staff from Pilgrim was invited to Mark Nissleys for an evening of food, conversation, and poetry.  After consuming entrees of Creole Food or Gnocchi (Italian potato/kale soup), and other good accompaniments, and visiting around the tables, each person read or recited a poem for the group.

It's my private opinion, but I thought Aunt Martha, who is almost 80, stole the show with her recitations of children's poetry, complete with the expression and embellishments that must have delighted her children.  Martha was there because her husband Paul, retired principal and bishop, still teaches one Bible class.

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Elizabeth, the hostess's mother, informally recited a verse from Edwin Markham's poem "Outwitted."   She said she had clung to this verse when they were shunned by most of their family.  "It really works," she said.  Here's the verse:

“He drew a circle that shut me out-
Heretic , rebel, a thing to flout.
But love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle and took him In !

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I read/recited "High Flight" by John Gillespie Magee, Jr., a 19-year-old poet who was also an airplane pilot, explaining before I did so that I'm not really deeply in love with flying, but I liked the flight images that showed freedom, beauty, playfulness, reflection, and devotion.  Here's the text of that poem:

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth 
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings; 
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth 
of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things 
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung 
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there, 
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung 
My eager craft through footless halls of air.... 

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue 
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace. 
Where never lark, or even eagle flew — 
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod 
The high untrespassed sanctity of space, 
- Put out my hand, and touched the face of God. 

The poem was written in August, 1941.  The poet died in December of the same year, in a mid-air collision with another airplane over England.  Clouds had created conditions of limited visibility, and, according to one witness, after the collision, Magee prepared to parachute, but the plane was too low and the parachute could not be inflated.  He died on impact.

Other tidbits about the poet:

He was born in China to missionary parents, an American father and a British mother.

His father was a chaplain at Yale University when his son died.  The father was from a prominent and prosperous family, but, in choosing a missionary life, he turned his back on opportunities this privilege might have offered him.

This website has a lot of background information on this poet and this poem.

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I lament the deaths of young men in WWII, and in other wars, young men who were likely as talented as Magee, but we'll never know about them or benefit from what they might have become.

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We had night school last week on Friday.  First we had a normal day of school.  Then everyone except our principal went home, and came back for the start of another school day at 6:00 pm.  We dismissed a little after 12 AM, and then did our cleaning chores for the week.

A little late afternoon nap did wonders for me, and I got a huge pile of grading done in those two school days on Friday.

As usual, a festive air pervaded the second installment of school, and an abundance of snacks (and some caffeine) helped fuel the activities.  Several groups of visitors showed up.  All, however, cleared out on schedule--a request our principal had made earlier.  We have plans to take a day off at a later time.

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I finally found someone to help me in the house several hours a week--Doris Nisly.  She's a neighbor and mother to some of my students.

Marian had to stop coming to help about a year ago, and I've missed her in so many ways.  After she died in September, I knew I really needed to work on finding someone else, and I tried several things that did not work out.

Coming home to a clean house on Friday was really special, thanks to Doris.

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My brother Lowell and all of his family except Christy are in Costa Rica right now with Judy's family.  Christy is at Calvary Bible School.  The trip happened now because two of Judy's nieces are getting married.

Anthony (Tony) S., our music teacher at the high school, also was traveling recently, and his brother, Jared, substituted for him while he was gone.

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Marvin Miller and the part of his family still at home are visiting here from Romania.  They left Kansas 30 years ago to move to Ohio.  From Ohio, they went to Romania when their youngest daughter was a year old.  She's at least in her upper teens now.  Another daughter is getting married while they're in the US.

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Darrell and Karen Bontrager plan to leave on Tuesday for 3-month stay in the Middle East, in the same country they visited last summer.  They're seeking direction for their future, with a possible long-term stint in that area.

Joe and Marilyn K. and their baby Zora, are back after nearly five months in Nepal.

Oren and Jo are visiting Frieda in China.

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Charlie Rhoades does not have cancer in his mouth.  Nerve damage is being investigated as the culprit in his discomfort.

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Rachel Y. plans to accompany Perry and Judith S. to Oregon this week to visit their son Owen and his  family.

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The composition class students have voted to send the bulk of the income from the "Anja" book to the Anja Miller Memorial Scholarship fund.  Pre-established percentages of the money from this fund will annually go to students wishing to attend "school" in one of three places:  Shenandoah Music Institute, Shenandoah Music Camp, and Faithbuilders Educational Programs.

I'm pleased with this decision.

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Our curriculum review committee is working on a purpose statement for the Language Arts section of the Pilgrim curriculum.  Any reader input?

Arlyn N. is leading the effort, and giving us some good material to peruse in preparation for weighing in with our contributions.

On the side, we've been engaged in some vigorous email exchanges related to educational philosophy.  It's probably a good idea to  keep it "on the side" for now, in order to move forward on the assigned project.

I'm pondering some of what I see in the local homeschooling population now, as contrasted with what was present when our family was among them.  I also see changes in the group-schooling population.

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David Yutzy, father to Lester, and brother to Elizabeth H., died yesterday in Arizona.  His home was in Montana, and that's where the funeral and burial will be later this week.

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After some mild weather last week, this week looks like we'll have more cold weather.  In some years, people plant peas about this time of the year.  Not a chance this year.

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I've planted an Italian rhubarb variety from seed, and the plants jumped up in a hurry.  I note that some tiny seedlings have redder stems than others, and I wondered if I could selectively plant only the red ones and have a higher percentage of red-stalked rhubarb plants in my garden.  I did some online snooping to see if this is possible and found that it is.

Now I wish I had planted more seeds to insure that I have enough red-stalked plants to fill out my row. I'm also wondering if I'll go to the trouble that Bob Marker suggests is important--planting rhubarb on a ridge, to avoid any chance of the roots rotting in water-logged soil.

The asparagus seeds I planted aren't up yet--much slower than the rhubarb.