My Rob

His big hands are so soft and yet so strong.
They hold a book or his little girl's hand.
They rub his wife's feet for so very long.
They build castles with his son in the sand.

His mind is so bright and his I.Q. rare.
His clear, deep voice is perfect for speaking.
His size is huge though he's a "Teddy Bear".
He is just the husband I've been seeking.

His heart is full; he loves to go shopping.
His laugh is infectious, a joy to hear.
His tummy's great for kids to go hopping.
His blue eyes twinkle when he's in good cheer.

No other man makes soft niblets like him.
I love him more than all men, even Tim.

(Linda Jonasson, November 7, 2006.)

Happy Birthday, Rob!



Photo courtesy http://i.istockimg.com.

Hydrogen Two Parts, Oxygen One

Seventy percent of the earth is covered with it.  Sixty to eighty percent of our bodies (depending on our age) are composed of it.  We use it to clean, to cook, to grow food.  We travel by it and we vacation by it.  It moderates the air temperature.  Its scientific name is H20 (hydrogen two parts, oxygen one).  It is the first word that Anne Sullivan taught her student Helen Keller, signing the letters W-A-T-E-R into her hand.

According to Genesis, God divided "the waters from the waters" on the second day of creation.    Water came before the plants and trees, the fish and birds, and the animals and man.  Water preceded almost everything except for light and the atmosphere.  Humans have always had water. 

Water is essential to our survival:  while we can live for three weeks without food, we can only live for three days without water.  Water plays a major role in all of the following bodily functions: urination, perspiration, metabolism, circulation, hydration and removal of toxins.  Whereas clean water sustains us, tainted water is the second leading cause of death among the world's children.  The cholera epidemics of the 1800's in London, England were traced back to the polluted River Thames.  In more recent years, the deaths and illnesses in Walkerton were due to tainted drinking water.  Anyone who has lived through a hurricane or a flood knows the damage that too much water can exert on civilization. 

We are blessed in Canada to have the third highest source of renewable fresh water after Russia and Brazil, thanks in large part to our Great Lakes.  Australia, on the other hand, is the driest of the world's continents.  African villagers often have to walk miles to reach clean water, given that certain parts of the continent experience constant drought and they lack financial resources to access the water they do have.  In fact, 80 countries face severe water shortages.  As Benjamin Franklin once said:  "When the well is dry, we know the worth of water."  May we use it wisely.



Photo courtesy www.mouserunner.com.

   

Painting a Picture with Words

"If you can visualize the idea in your mind, you can paint the picture so the reader sees it the way you do. If you use the wrong words, or just too many, you will create mud. If you remember early art classes you will know what I mean. If you mixed all the primary paint colours, you ended up with muddy brown. Using too many words will give you the same boring mix."
(www.bozoplay.hubpages.com)

November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) whereby anyone can write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days:  it is like a marathon of words.  I participated in this event for the last three years; however, this year I decided to forego NaNoWriMo and to edit my picture book I'm Just a Home Child instead.  Not having looked at my book for a month, I attempted to read it again with fresh eyes, but it was a difficult task.  As my fellow writing club member, Karen, said, I was at the point where I just wanted to throw my laptop across the room and never look at my manuscript again. 

However, after about half an hour, my eyes were opened and I started to get the inspiration to improve my work.  The first order of business had to be inserting more images in the story.  How could I paint a picture with words?  How could I bring history to life?  How could I make the reader feel like he or she was sitting right beside my great-grandma in every scene of the book?  How could I show rather than tell the story? 

The second order of business was to use the correct terminology for the time and place.  I started peppering my fellow writers' club members with questions.  Did Canadians have mailboxes back in 1903?  What type of stove did a Canadian housewife cook on at the turn on the century?  What is the nautical term for the railing along the deck on a ship?  Do chickens scramble?  What do they eat?  What time of day would you hang the laundry on the line?   Did lower-class Brits live in apartments or flats or tenements?   My fellow writer, MaryAnn, who was hooked up to the Internet, found some answers to my questions.  Finally, though, my fellow writers had heard enough questions and were ready to throw me across the room rather than their laptops. 

Even so, through the process of editing, I was able to breathe new life into my manuscript.  For the first time in a long time, I was excited about my book again.  I look forward to meeting the Christian Critters again next week, opening my laptop and painting a picture with words.  While I may not paint a Picasso, I will paint an original work of art.  So where's my paintbrush?




Cartoon courtesy www.offthemark.com.

      

Grandfriends' Day

Today was Grandfriends' Day at Brantford Christian School.  Oma, Opa, Grandma and Grandpa all visited to hear Jacqueline play a piano solo, "The Bells of Great Britain", and sing all of the books of the Bible in order with her Grade 3 class.  Thomas accompanied eight other Grade 8's on the guitar performing "Ode to Joy".  The Grade 7's performed a play about Reformation Day complete with Martin Luther and his 95 theses.  We (the moms) served a lunch of soup, buns, cold cuts, cheese, fruit and dessert.  What a great day!  Grandparents enrich our lives so much!



WALKING WITH GRANDPA

I like to walk with Grandpa,
His steps are short like mine.
He doesn't say "Now Hurry Up,"
He always takes his time.

I like to walk with Grandpa,
His eyes see thing like mine do -
Wee pebbles bright, a funny cloud,
Half hidden drops of dew.

Most people have to hurry,
They don't stop and see.
I'm glad that God made Grandpa,
Unrushed, and young like me.

~Poem by Thena Smith~



GRANDMA'S FLOWERS

Each time I go to Grandma's place
To spend some summer hours,
She lets me pick a big bouquet
Of pretty garden flowers.
I've learned the names of almost all
The flowers Grandma grows:
Carnation, iris, pansy, phlox
Petunia, and rose.
The sweet pea is my favorite;
It has a lovely smell.
The flower Grandma likes the best
Is Canterbury bell.
I think my Grandma's wonderful
And hope that when I'm grown,
I'll have a "green thumb" just like hers
And flowers of my own.

~By Pauline S. Walker~



Photo courtesy http://imgs.inkfrog.com.

Precious Gems

Rob and I watched our daughter Jacqueline receive her blue scarf at the candelight ceremony last night for the new GEMS at our church.  GEMS, short for Girls Everywhere Meeting the Saviour, is a girls' club started by the Christian Reformed Church in 1958.  At that time GEMS were called Calvinettes and all members belonged to the CRC; however, now girls hail from many different Christian denominations.  Each week, over 900 clubs meet across North America, and even in Zambia, where 24,000 girls from Grades 1 to 8 (Hope CRC is Grades 3 to 8) are instructed by 5,300 women to build a living relationship with Jesus Christ.  GEMS learn how to :

1.  apply the Bible to their everyday lives
2.  be activists for God
3.  participate in service projects (ex. Operation Christmas Child boxes)
4.  sing dynamically
5.  cultivate life skills through badge activities (ex. music appreciation)
6.  make crafts
7.  make meaningful friendships 
8.  find answers to everyday challenges

Every Wednesday evening from 7:00 to 9:00 pm our church comes alive with a flurry of activity.  The girls look forward to attending the meetings.  The leaders give of their time and talents.  And the learning doesn't end there:  the girls go home and work on badges for the following week, which will be attached later to their blue scarves.  So, as I ate my cake and drank my juice, chatting with the other Moms, I thought:  I am so glad that my daughter Jacqueline signed up.  She is one of God's precious gems!


Logo courtesy http://gracecrc.giving.officelive.com.

Quiz Show

What would you do if someone offered you the chance to win a million dollars on a game show, even giving you the questions and answers ahead of time, to guarantee you a victory?  Back in 1957, Charles Van Doren did not even own a television set, but someone suggested that he try out for a game show nonetheless.  His first choice was Tic Tac Toe, but he was offered a spot on Twenty-One instead, which he accepted. 

With a B.A. in Liberal Arts, an M.A. in Astrophysics, and a PhD in English, Mr. Van Doren was well educated and seemed well prepared for the questions posed by Twenty-One show host Jack Berry. Donning headphones as he stood in the isolation booth, Van Doren looked like a nice young man politely speaking into the large microphone as he answered each question in turn, trying to earn enough points to make it to 21.  Professor Van Doren unseated Mr. Stempel and started a winning streak.  However, as time progressed, the questions he was given became more and more difficult; he was up against tough opponents in the isolation booth next to him.  Producers at NBC therefore offered to give Charles the questions and answers ahead of time.  Van Doren's winning streak caught the attention of Time Magazine and he graced its cover on February 11, 1957.  After several weeks, however, the Columbia University professor did lose to a lawyer named Vivienne Nearing but not before he won $129,000 (more than $1 million dollars today). 

Charles Van Doren might have slipped back into obscurity after enjoying his fifteen minutes of fame if not for the whistle blower Herb Stempel who claimed that the quiz show was fixed, saying that he also had been given the questions and answers.  The professor was called to testify in front of a House Subcommittee where he admitted on November 2, 1957 that he had accepted both the questions and the answers from Twenty-One's producers before the shows were telecast.  As a result, Mr. Van Doren was dropped from NBC where he had guest hosted on the Today Show and he resigned his associate professor position at Columbia University.  Although he left teaching, he was hired in 1962 at Encylopedia Britannica and he wrote several books including The Joy of Reading.  More recently, he returned to academia, accepting a position as an adjunct professor at a Connecticut university.

Robert Redford directed a film based on the Twenty-One scandal called "Quiz Show" in 1994 starring Ralph Fiennes.



Photo courtesy http://upload.wikimedia.org.

Carolinian Forest

Canadians call it the Carolinian forest while Americans prefer the term eastern woodlands.  Canada’s Carolinian forest is bordered by Grand Bend in the northwest and Toronto in the northeast and Windsor in the south and contains such trees as the ash, birch, chestnut, hickory, oak, sycamore and walnut.  The southernmost tip even grows dogwood, tulip and sassafras varieties, thanks to the moderating effects of Lake Erie.  Along the banks of its rivers, the Credit, the Grand, the Thames and the Welland, can be found deer, possum, badgers and wrens.  Although ninety-percent of it has been destroyed, Canada’s Carolinian forest still blooms every Spring and sheds its leaves every Fall.  I find it amazing to think that the same trees grow in Toronto, Ontario, at a latitude of 43 40’, as in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, at a latitude of 22.  What a widespread and beautiful forest!   



Photo courtesy www.inn-and-a-round.com.