Our Friends

We met Denise and Sanders our first Sunday in Gabon, twenty years ago. We stayed friends through five intercontinental moves between us. No small feat.

On Denise's first morning after her transatlantic flight, she ran a 5k with me. Her first ever. Apparently, walking your doberman for an hour up and down Bulgarian hills every day is as good as any twelve week couch to 5k plan. Who knew?

We went to hear Justin's band play at a friend's wedding reception. Sanders and Denise remember Justin drumming as a wee little kid.

We were pretty low-key about activities. They had shopping to do, the kind of shopping we used to do when we were back--Walgreens, Goodwill, Best Buy. And we went to see How to Train Your Dragon. Thumbs up, btw. We're fans.

We had s'mores around the fire one night while Sanders told us a couple African stories.

And we went to at Tin Caps game. Anna didn't want to go--I had to convince her that going to a baseball game is not about the game itself (my apologies to baseball fans out there), but about hanging out with friends, eating ballpark food, and singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame. She was only fully convinced once Scott caught a ball tossed up over the dugout by a player.

It was cool to be right behind the dugout. The seats didn't cost extra but felt fancy.

This was a common site throughout the visit. I'll say it here for the record--I totally want that camera.

The highlight of any Fort Wayne trip is feeding the giraffes at the zoo. I never mind paying a dollar for a piece of lettuce.

I'm thankful for our friends. And I'll add that Fort Wayne may not be as exciting a destination point as, say, Nice, France (we seem to be getting fewer visitors than we did there), but it has its charms.

World Cup

So, it's the one time every four years where I watch a sport. Woo hoo. The World Cup is a part of our family culture. Here's us watching with our upstairs neighbors in Nice in 2006...

The final was horrible. When Zidane did the infamous headbut, or coup de boule, France gasped. When we lost, it felt like the whole country deflated. Eventually, life returned to normal. A song was written about the catastophe. And eventually, we laughed again.

Four years later, we watched the Cup in between visits to friends and family in the U.S. Justin got a Spain cap for his birthday, and wore it all summer (until we lost it on a plane).

Here he is eating at Black's Barbecue in Lockhart, Texas, with our friends, the Grants...

Selfie with mom...

Disney with Grandpa and Dad...

In 2010, we did follow the Euro Cup, and were in Cologne, Germany, traveling back from our debriefing conference on Justin's birthday. It was also the night that Germany beat Greece.

We watched with German friends. Here's Stefan. And Justin had the most amazing birthday dessert ever.

Cologne was joyful that night, people shouting and dancing in the streets.

So it's funny to be watching it here, in Indiana. We're pleased that team U.S.A. has done well so far, but we don't pin our hopes on the team winning. Italy and Spain are out, which is disappointing. We're squeezing game-watching in the spaces around our schedules. I think I was the only one on my facebook feed excitedly commenting on Croatia's win yesterday.

I was relieved Thursday when there were no games I had to watch--the only one I was committed to was played when I was working. It felt like a mini-World Cup vacation.

A Pepper Picture Post

Scott's been away for a week and a half at InterVarsity's student training camps, and it's been busy around here with soccer and band and swim lessons and birthday parties and cupcakes. Today it's rainy, and there's time to breathe.

So, a good time for a Peppercentric post.

Here we have Pepper helping Anna learn her current violin piece--Perpetual Motion. We showed up to our lesson Sunday without the violin, so Anna's trying to finish the song before the next lesson. With Pepper's guidance, she's progressing well.

Anna took this next one, which is notable for a few reasons. One, the cat's glowing eyes of death are always fun. Two, the tennis ball that's mid-air is interesting. And three is the mystery. Was Anna holding the camera in one hand while throwing the ball with the other, intending to get this picture? Or was it a happy happenstance?

This weekend, while Justin was playing soccer in Indy, Anna and I took Pepper to Games! Dogs! Play!, an event sponsored by the SPCA. Pepper got a bag of goodies, including a snazzy yellow kerchief. She had several tasks to perform for the Games! and did, well, about average.

She performed well enough on the basics--weaving in and out of cones, sitting, waiting, and jumping. And she aced the "What will your dog eat" challenge, happily eating cheese, hot dog pieces, and the like while disdaining the cucumbers and fruit.

Here she is catching balls--no problem.

However, she would have nothing to do with tunnels, which lost her points in two games. And our first attempt at the ball on a spoon challenge was an utter disaster. I was to guide her as we weaved through cones, holding both her leash and a small ball on a spoon in one hand. As I took the first step, Pepper jumped up and captured the ball. Once I gave some firm instructions, she did better, and our second attempt was a great improvement, but we still didn't make it all the way back through the cones due to my lack of hand-eye coordination.

And, Anna and I only scored a six out of ten on the dog anatomy test. 

Later we went over to the grandparent's homestead. It was a beautiful day for sitting outside. Or running on the soft grass while spraying Pepper with a hose.

I bought this book a few weeks ago on the recommendation of Charlie's (Pepper's best friend) owner. Pepper needs plenty of stimulation--otherwise she starts to play games with us on her own terms--like "the take something I'm not supposed to have so that someone chases me" game.

I started working with her yesterday on balancing a treat on her nose, then catching it. It's a little tricky. The dog is supposed to flick it up in the air and catch it, but most of the time, Pepper lets it fall to the floor. The book says that exuberant dogs will naturally fling it up, but Pepper, though exuberant at times, is still the dog who fell asleep during puppy training classes.

The way to keep your dog from letting it fall to the floor is to go after it yourself. This did seem to work, and she caught it in the air the last two times.

That's a pretty easy one, and she should have it down in a day or two.

We'll be working up to this one...

As of yet, no one in the family has volunteered for it.

Garage Sales as a Spiritual Discipline

First, a picture of this lovely November, February, uh May day from the skylight. Hmmm. 

Leaves, leaves, wherefore art thou...

Garage sale season has begun. This makes me happy. We went out last week to some association sales in the area, and I went again this morning.

Like any shopping/acquiring endeavor, garage sales can lead to greed, but for me, it teaches me that I don't need everything I want. I learn patience and self-control and kindness.

Last week, Scott and I were walking up to a sale where I saw two of those lighted reindeer things. Lighted reindeer are not a need, of course. But I thought they would be cute in the middle of the trees in the front yard, and I knew Anna would love them. As we walked up, I looked at them, but there was no price. As I turned to ask the price, a man rushed up the driveway and blurted out my words, "How much for the reindeer?" He got them for five dollars each. I did say that I was just about to ask the price, but the fact that I was physically there first didn't matter.  Sigh.

Sigh.

But hey, before I saw them, I didn't even know I wanted them, and Anna will never know that we almost had the reindeer. No harm, no foul. I don't need everything I want.

There are plenty of things that we have to buy new--like Justin's goalie gloves (which are not only expensive, but they don't last forever--this is new information for me). But, there are things that I can obtain cheaply if I just wait. Today I picked up flannel sheets for our bed. They will make me happy next winter (or actually this week if it doesn't warm up soon). Our garage needs organizing, and I picked up deep plastic shelving for a few dollars. There's a certain satisfaction is not going out to buy everything I want immediately when I want it. It guards against a certain self-sufficiency that I don't think is good for my soul.

It teaches me kindness as well. Garage sales are a mixed bag--some people mark their prices too high, some clearly have too much stuff, some put out junky things that I can't imagine anyone buying. But they've all taken the time to set up, mark prices, and sit out in the cold (at least so far this year) to let strangers pick through their stuff. I always say hello as I come in and a thank you as I leave. They offered me the hospitality of their garage. 

Pepper didn't go this morning. She's not so into garage sales. She's still mid-trim, so has tufts of hair that need taken care of.

A Pepper Profile

Wind

I'm sitting at home, peacefully, on my couch. The wind is howling outside.

I love how the skylights in the ceiling give light and openness to this space, but I wish the tree branches were moving a little less, and I wonder how thick that glass really is.

These trees are still leafless, though there are buds way up there. Why do tall trees get their leaves last? Justin posits that it takes a longer time for the sap to travel. Hmmm. By the way, all the cute mid-size trees in the neighborhood have their leaves and flowers now. Show offs.

I love our wooded lot, but it's a bit like the Selfish Giant's yard (you know the story--it was spring everywhere else but still winter in his yard because he wouldn't share it with the neighbor kids, then a little boy sneaks in and gets in a tree and spring appears around that tree and the giant relents and lets the horde of kids in and spring comes, at last, to his garden). We are always the last in the neighborhood to still have snow and we'll be among the last to have leaves on all our trees. It's not some weird environmental judgment on our family, it's just that we have a lot of shade and very tall trees. Really. 

I just read over to the online version of The Journal Gazette that a mature oak tree crushed a pavillion at a local park this afternoon. Yikes. Time to sit somewhere else.

Almost

It's that almost time of year. I took Pepper on a walk and the smaller neighborhood tree buds are just about to pop. So close that tomorrow, or maybe later this afternoon, I suspect that there will be leaves. Real leaves.

It's a relief.

I've never been good at waiting. I was the kid who couldn't sleep on Christmas Eve. After sleepless hours waiting for the house to go quiet, I would stumble out to the tree and organize the presents into piles. I passed the time by counting my presents, piling them up, and doing the same for everyone else's. Finally, I would rearrange them all and go wait in bed. I did eventually sleep, but no more than a few hours. It was tortuous.

It was a relief when my family began opening most of the presents on Christmas Eve, like my mom's family had done when she was a kid. I could finally get some rest.

Waiting is  why I don't like to travel. This is true. I've lived on three continents, traveled to and through more States and countries than I have the energy to count right now, but I don't like car rides or planes, and especially buses. I don't like them because while I'm on them I'm waiting to get to my destination.

Well, and because they smell funny. And the toilet issue (Fun fact. I made a couple transatlantic flights before I finally gave in and used the airplane toilet. I don't recommend this, btw). 

I talked to someone this weekend who had traveled to China. Fifteen hour plane trip. Eleven was the most I've ever done, and I think I will just plan to never go to China. It makes me physically cringe to think of living over half of a day in the in-betweeness of a plane ride.

When we travel as a family, even in the relative freedom of a car, I hunker down and try to be civil, but they know to not expect much. I'm friendlier once we've arrived.

This weekend at our church retreat, we talked about light and darkness. On Good Friday, kids and adults together listed facts and ideas about light. On Saturday we did the same exercise with darkness. I thought about how darkness makes me long for light.

This long Winter made me long for Spring in a way that I never have before. Spring has always been a welcome relief after Winter, but this year is different. March was hard. Not knowing when the weather would finally turn, when buds would appear, when the snow would be gone; the indefiniteness of the waiting made it dark and tiring for me. 

The hardest waiting I've ever done was in the middle of our years of fighting infertility when we lived in Gabon. The beginning was hard, as it was clear as we started to "try" that something wasn't right. But still, we had statistics in our favor. Most couples do get pregnant within two years; we were hopeful.

Our last year of trying was also manageable. I had undergone surgery to remove endometriosis, and statistically (again), I would get pregnant within the year if endo was the cause. The calendar year after the surgery contained the waiting. A clear ending made it less painful.

But that middle time of not knowing what the end would be, what we should or should not do, or what God was up to was hard and dark.

I'm not living in an in-between time right now. I pretty much know what I'm up to and what's around the corner as much as any of us do. And I'm thankful, knowing that those waiting times that are so hard for me are not forever. They come and go.

For those living in that in-between time, I do pray for faith and hope. This weekend, Pastor Keith asked one of his kids to come up and hang onto his leg. She wrapped her arms around first and then her legs and held on. He said that this was an illustration of faith.

There have been times when my faith has felt that desperate, that clingy.

But there have been times when others have held me up, and I know that I am held up with arms stronger than mine or my friends'.

The Lord is faithful in all his words

and kind in all his works.

The Lord upholds all who are falling

and raises up all who are bowed down.

Psalm 145 verse 14

An Idea Whose Time has Come

I've just started reading An Idea Whose Time has Come. I heard an interview by the author on the radio a couple weeks ago, then got my name of the waiting list for it at the library. I only had to wait a week, which is funny since I think I'm something like 136th on the hold list for Divergent (which is fine since a friend loaned it to me so I could have mindless reading entertainment during my short convalescence).

Anyway, this book is about the battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and I just read the first chapter last night. It's riveting. 

Here's a quote that puts the civil rights struggle in context for me:

The challenge of the civil rights as the 1960s dawned was simple yet profound: In the century since the Civil War, the nation had neither fully accepted the consequences of the conflict's outcome nor enforced the provisions of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments passed in the war's wake, guaranteeing full citizenship and the equal protection of the laws to all Americans, regardless of race--let alone the Fifteenth Amendment's promise of voting rights. In the Reconstruction era, Congress had at least tried, passing the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which granted full and equal access to public accommodations--hotels, restaurants, trains, and so on--to blacks and whites alike. But in 1883...the Supreme Court of the United States had held that Congress lacked the power to outlaw discrimination by private individuals, a decision that had never been overturned. In 1896, in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, the High Court had further enshrined segregation by ruling that "separate but equal" facilities for blacks and whites were compatible with the Constitution.

What hit me here was that it had been one hundred years since the Civil War. That's a long time. And full citizenship and equal protection under the law were still denied to many, many people. I knew this already, but thinking about it in terms of full citizenship and basic rights under the law is startling. Because it's so very basic.

In the international community, segregation was "giving the United States an international black eye." Diplomats from the newly independent African nations were refused service in restaurants and motels between New York and Washington.

And here's a story that made me gasp:

The United States was already sending black troops to help the government of South Vietnam in its struggle against Communism, but it was not welcoming them back home with a communitarian spirit. One black Army captain, just back from his first tour in Vietnam and stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia, was tired and hungry one day after fixing up a modest rental house for his wife and baby son. He stopped at  a local drive-in in hopes of ordering a hamburger to go. He knew he could not be served inside, but thought he might get curb service. "I pulled in and after a small eternity, a waitress came to my car," he would recall.
"Are you Puerto Rican?" the waitress asked.
"No," the soldier answered.
"Are you an African student?" she wondered.
"No," the soldier replied. "I'm a Negro. I'm an American. And I'm an Army officer."
"Look, I'm from New Jersey," the waitress said, "and I don't understand any of this. But they won't let me serve you. Why don't you let me go behind the restaurant, and I'll pass you a hamburger out the back window."
I'm not that hungry," snapped the Captain, whose name was Colin Powell (that's where I gasped). "As I drove away," he would recall years later, "I could see the faces of the owner and his customers in the restaurant windows enjoying this little exercise in humiliation.

The Civil Rights Act was of course more about being able to buy a hamburger, but it wasn't less than that either. And that's what struck me as I read last night.

I have a too-big pile of books that I'm working through right now (which merits another blog post another day--titled My Book Problem as a follow-up to My Easter Problem), but I'm putting them aside for now to read this one.

A Sabbathy Easter Weekend

Our book club just finished Eugene Peterson's Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places. I had read it years ago, but though I often prefer thinking things through on my own (it's nice and quiet in my head and no one calls on me unexpectedly), I gained tremendously by going through this book with friends.

Peterson prefaces a section on the ten commandments with this:

And if we are going to live in community, dealing with the men and women whom we look at and see every live-long day has to be faced head-on. This may not be as obvious as it appears, for there is nothing more common among us than turning the people among whom we live into abstractions, lumping them into categories, idealizing or demonizing them, dealing with them impersonally as principles or projects.

In Peterson's comments on the fourth commandment, sabbath-keeping, he points out that the Exodus reason for sabbath-keeping was that we keep it because God did. As God rested on the seventh day, we get back in stop with the creation rhythms of work and rest. Then he says:

In Deuteronomy we are told that keeping sabbath is a matter of simple justice; it prevents the stronger from exploiting the weaker, whether parents over children, employers over workers, even masters over horses and mules. Everyone is given a day to recover the simple dignity of being himself, herself, in the community without regard to use or function or status. Even dogs and cats are included.

In our discussion, my friend Angie talked about how they try to observe sabbath as a family--to have a time where chores and homework and clean-up pause and she and Joe and the kids can just be, without usefulness or productivity.

We are entering a busy time. May is a busy month anyway as school seems to wind up before winding down. In the next six or seven weeks, Justin will be full-on busy with soccer and band and school. He has some kind of rehearsal or practice four nights a week and one or two games every weekend. Anna will have rehearsals for the 5th grade play. Scott will be away for two weeks as well, adding to the general mayhem.

So, a church retreat over Easter weekend in Michigan was a perfect way to get away and and breathe and, well, just be.

Some people flew kites...

Idyllic weather

Kids buried each other in the sand...

Anna has ALWAYS loved the sand. It's her happy place.

We karaoke'd...(don't tell Justin I put this up--he never reads the blog, so he'll never know...unless you tell him)...

We shared meals and worship times, scavenger hunts and bonfires; we played basketball and volleyball and card games; we had long conversations and walks.  And on  Easter morning, we worshiped together before parting ways. I imagine that I'm not the only one who took a Sunday afternoon nap when we got home.

I'm thankful for this warm, welcoming community and for the rest and refreshment that were ours together this weekend.

Oh, and Harris Easter Basket Hunt report--We did it in the evening. Here's Anna hunting for a clue in her tree (yes, it's her tree).

Just so you know, we didn't hide it way up in the tree. She could have found it with her feet on the ground. She just enjoys the climb.

My Easter Problem

Easter was simple when the kids were little. Color some eggs, fill their baskets with goodies, and sing some Easter songs.

When Justin was three, he insisted that we sing, "He Arose," before going to find his Easter basket. Sweet child.

I had a picture of kids with baskets in Gabon, but as they were highly unclothed (as they were most of the time inside during our time in Africa) , it wasn't appropirate. Here they are in Nice, where it was cool enough for clothing.

Besides coloring eggs and gathering some Easter basket fillings, I got them dressed up, a step above the usual, for church.

Anna loving being dressed up in an Easter dress for church.

But no, I couldn't leave it at that. I added homemade cinnamon rolls. We made Easter Things out of marzipan.

I know they're scary looking.

And as soon as they were old enough to read, the Annual Harris Basket Hunt began. This involved me writing and placing clues for them to follow to find their baskets. Most years, it was too manic for pictures or video, but I did dig up a few videos from a year in Nice. If you don't get dizzy easily, feel free to look. I didn't know that you shouldn't video holding the camera sideways, so um, it's not stellar videography...

Here's Justin looking for a clue that's hidden in one of his How to Train Your Dragon books.

And Anna's friend Jasmine hunting in the dictionary for her next clue. Anna and Jasmine's clues were in French.

In this video, Jasmine's hunting for a word in English, Anna's drawing a rabbit, and Justin is wanting to use the dictionary for his next clue.

Here Justin is apparently making a rabbit out of Legos. Though it looks an awful lot like an airplane.

This hunt ended in our underground storage unit, where the girls, off-camera due to my stellar videography, do find their baskets.

So, here's my problem. We're going out of town on a church retreat this weekend in Michigan. It will be lovely and calm and restful and fun. But, by the look in their eyes, it was clear that not doing the Basket Hunt would have ruined this Easter for my children. Justin's already bummed about missing the Easter service at our church--he still wants to sing Easter songs after all these years (we will be singing them, but with a smaller group and minus the electric guitars and drums).

So, in addition to getting an oil change and all the other little things that need doing today, I need to come up with clever tasks and clues and place them in clever places so the children can have their Easter fun.

I'll probably still be doing this as they come back from college. Writing clues for them and their spouses. Then for them and their kids. It will never end. What have I done?

On the other hand, no mention has been made of cinnamon rolls, so I may be off the hook. Or we may be eating them Sunday night. And there will be no making of marzipan creatures

Ahhh, Spring

Spring!

blue sky

breaking out the barbecue

gathering to eat on the deck

buds on the trees

new leaves

perennials rising up after the long Winter

and the brave daffodils, first up

and first

to be pummeled

back into the ground.

P.S. Peps thinks it's great. She enjoyed our week of Spring and figures it's Winter now. So, it's time to eat snow, dig in it, lay in it, and come inside occasionally to chew snow clumps off of her fur.  

Pepper says, "Seize the day! Embrace the snow!"

 We should change her name to Pollyanna.

Post-Op Rambling

I had outpatient surgery yesterday. I won't go into details as my innards feel that some info doesn't need to go on the blog, but I'm happy to give probably more details than anyone wants to know if you write or call.

What I like about surgery...

1. Being able to leave the house in pajamas. I wore my favorite red plaid bottoms that I bought at Goodwill before winter hit. They have a stranger's name written in permanent marker on the size tag. Which is awesome. Justin would point out that plenty of people go out shopping in pajama bottoms, but after living in French cities, there's no way I could ever do it. I have to Get Dressed to go out. It's only been in the last couple months that I started going out in a sweatshirt sometimes. This cultural readaptation thing is a long haul.

2. The free socks with tread on the bottom. Scott would argue that they weren't exactly free. They cost us about $900. But, they felt free.

3. The last thing I like about surgery is that I have access to it. We have good insurance through Scott's work. I don't take this for granted.

My pulse rate...

In the recovery room, I noticed that the number for my pulse kept flashing as it hovered around 50. The nurse asked if I was a runner. And of course, I said yes. This made me happy. I've just been running since October and basically haven't at all in the last month, but my heart is strong and happy.

My pack...

I had to schedule the surgery for a day when Scott was in Indianapolis for divisional meetings, so my mom and step dad came over to help. They were with me in the hospital and each gave me a kiss before I was wheeled off to surgery.

Back at home, my mom and I talked and talked--about family, race, World War II, books, poverty...She's an amazing woman, and I'm grateful that we can sit around and chat and become better and better friends after all of our years overseas.

Jack made a McDonald's run to obtain an M&M McFlurry. That and crackers were the only food that I managed to keep down yesterday. I may McFlurry again today.

Anna made dinner last night with my Mom as her assistant--spaghetti a la carbonara. Basically, a lot of bacon and half and half. Our kind of French food. I think she peeled and cut up carrot sticks as their side. Tonight will be homemade chicken nuggets.

Justin put his speed and agility skills to great use when I had a very sudden attack of nausea. Won't go into details here, but he saved the day.

Scott has turned off lights, prepared drinks, found misplaced medication, taken care of getting Anna out the door (no small task in the morning--the child is not a morning person), and been on call.

And of course, Pepper has been my kind, faithful companion. I guess pack animals know when a member is wounded and do their best to take care of one another. She gave me a very thorough sniff over when I got home, then didn't leave my side for a few hours, even when Anna came in the door. They usually have a very exciting greet time that involves much hugging, licking, and jumping. Pepper sacrificed it to sit by me. I was touched.

She also accompanied me to and from the bathroom, matching my shuffle and looking up to check that I was ok. I figure she was making sure that I didn't go off into a dark corner of the house to die.

The cat cuddled with me through the night--which she does anyway, but she doesn't have much else to offer.

So, rambling is done for now. I'm ready for a lazy day on the couch. Plan to watch the Price is Right this morning. It's good to have goals and plans.

Miscellaneous Saturday News

I'm starting this post off with a picture of today's snowfall, as is my habit.

Today's snowfall

After much thought, dialogue, and input, I've finally made a firm decision on the blog name and address. Seeing how it snows here  through the month of March, I can no longer in good conscience call this blog Mediterranean Meditations. It just isn't right. However, Midwest Meditations (which several people suggested) is already taken as a blog name. So, this is now Michelle's Blog--plain and simple, with my whole name as the web address. And I'm not changing it again. Phew.

Probably everyone who reads this is up to date on the big band news, but just in case you missed it, Justin's band, Abandoned, has a paying gig this summer at a Christian day camp here in town. The band will play every morning for two to three hundred kids. The boys are super excited and have their work cut out for them.

They got the job at their audition last Friday and were immediately whisked out to do publicity photos for a mailing that will go out about the day camp. 

I was soooo not this cool when I was fourteen. 

They look cool and calm, but there was a lot of boisterous whooping and  hollering as soon as we were all in the parking lot.

Oh, and is Justin rocking the peach shirt, or what?

And other news that was hard to miss on the Harris feed this week..

Anna and I took a road trip two weekends ago to Ashland, Ohio, where we visited with our friends Edith and Peter. 

We last saw Edith in Europe at our last debriefing conference where she was figuring out her next steps. Since then, she has begun seminary and gotten married--big changes. Edith is Spanish; Peter is British, so  it was fun to answer some of their questions about Midwest American behavior.

Anna looking very grown up

Playing Boggle

I went to the MFA (Master's of Fine Arts) Open House on Saturday, while Anna visited the campus and took pictures of their mascot, a purple eagle.

There's Anna's kitty on the eagle's head.

I was thinking that I would apply for the program in a year, but it was clear that you didn't have to be a published, experienced writer to enter the program. So, I ordered up my college transcripts, tidied up my twenty-five page writing sample, wrote a five hundred word description of my development as a writer, and asked two friends for references. Then I waited and compulsively checking my inbox. Fortunately, they process applications very quickly and let me know this week that I've been accepted.

This is a low residency program in Ashland, Ohio, where I'll spend two weeks on campus in the summer and do semesters online. It's a great opportunity to learn from quality faculty, speed up my learning curve, and get to know other writers. I've very, very happy about this next step. Now I'm on to applying for financial aid.

So, that's the news this Saturday. Snow appears to be melting. About time for a nap.

Waiting

Sunday was a cold, cloudy day. I was alone for a few hours and thought about walking the dog, but I was so irritated with the weather that I holed up on my bed and watched Law and Order episodes.

This is from November 11. Back in the olden days when snow was fun and new.

Yesterday, the weather was capricious.

It snowed fat, fluffy flakes, the kind that are so exciting in December, but not so much at the end of March. Later it cleared up, then kicked in again with a heavy dose of wind--sideways snow this time. The snow stopped, and we had a little sun. Then more clouds blew in and the day ended grey, cold, and windy.

Coming home from work, I stopped at the store and bought our dinner from the freezer section. I felt guilty as I did this--I usually make real food. But I was tired, and the wind was blowing.

I drove past kids playing on top of the seven-foot grey snow drifts at the edge of a school parking lot. I napped through my group 2.5 mile run. We had breaded fish and fries for dinner.

I'm waiting these days. For real Spring, for sure. But also on other things, big things. I've applied for a MFA program in writing, and I'll find out if I got in soon (and start my college fund--thinking garage sale). I've had some health issues (nothing dangerous), and will find out if surgery is recommended. My job is up in the air. We're waiting to see what happens funding-wise for my program.

The funny thing is that I'm not feeling much angst about any of these issues (though I am somewhat compulsively checking e-mail to see if I have MFA news).  I don't mind the waiting. The only thing that's truly bugging me is this delay in Spring.

It may be here. The highs for the next week are all above freezing, so I'm cautiously optimistic. The radio announcer keeps cheerfully proclaiming today a "Beautiful sunny day--with a high of 36." I may even walk the dog.

Productivity and a Betrayal

I'm home with the pets today. I'm determined to get some home front tasks done, so I've had my weekly caffeinated drink and told the pets that we're going to be productive. 

On the pet note, the cat has taken over Pepper's bed. This youtube video about dogs dealing with bed-stealing cats cracked us up this week. Pepper doesn't quite know what to do about this. She will sometimes curl up next to the bed, sometimes go somewhere else.

Pepper got a new toy a couple weeks ago. It replaces her stuffed "baby" that she has torn apart over the last year. She sleeps with it sometimes. I think it's awesome that our stuffed animal-looking pet sleeps with a stuffed animal.

Pepper with her baby

Justin experienced a deep betrayal last week and has still not forgiven Pepper. We returned from being out somewhere or other, and Anna let Pepper out of our room. Justin held out his arms and called to Pepper, and she ran down the hallway toward him...and around and past him and up to me. "Wow," he said. "Just wow." He asked a few days ago why we have pets anyway.  I suggested walking her more.

This morning's snow has melted, and we'll be tackling several large downed branches in the yard tomorrow. And, um, taking down the outside Christmas decorations.

Now to the dungeon basement to organize storage areas. I appreciate actually having storage areas, I do. It's a first for me in my adult life, but having the will to go down to a windowless room and arrange is a stretch.

What do I call the blog?

So, I finally thought through a name change for the blog. I've been in Fort Wayne for over a year and a half now, so calling this place Mediterranean Meditations is a little silly. The view out my window is not Mediterranean...

Many downed branches from Wednesday's snow storm.

I got feedback from facebook friends a couple weeks ago and had made my peace with Midwest Meditations. I even changed the header to reflect the change.

Half a tree came down into the road.

Today, I decided to commit to the new name and went to change the actual web address. I had decided to go with midwestmeditations. Midmeditations sounded weird, though admittedly, probably not any more strange than medmeditations. And midwestmeds could lead to misunderstandings about the purpose of the blog.

Branches heavy with snow

Unfortunately, the name is taken. There's another Midwest Meditations blog. Bummer. I thought I checked before changing the name on the header weeks ago. So, I'm back to the drawing board. I liked keeping the meditations word for continuity's sake. It's been eight years since I started the blog, so I don't want to cut all ties to the name. And I like the name being tied to place.

Any ideas are welcome.

A Wintry Walk

Just another wintry Janurary, February, March day here in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I'm at home on Wednesdays, so since it was a balmy 70, 50, 30, 26 degrees this morning, I decided to take the pup for a walk in the newly fallen snow.

our snowy neighborhood

When it's snowing, what Pepper mostly wants to do is run around and chase sticks and play. So, she didn't really want to just walk. And she let me know.

She played the Tug on the Leash game,

the Grab the Leash and Pull game,

the I Really Want to Grab Your Glove, Run off, and Have You Chase Me game,

and the Please, Oh Please Let's Just Go Run Around in the Snow Look game.

I did eventually bend her to my iron will, and we had a nice walk punctuated intermittently by my own yelps and yankings of the leash as I slipped and slid on our roads.

A Walk

Last weekend, Scott was out of town for the Justice Conference simulcast in Indy. My running group ran at Foster Park that morning, and it was actually pleasant. There were paved trails with not much ice. So, I decided that the kids and I should go back to walk the dog there later in the day. 

This took some cajoling. I said it was for Pepper.  The temperatures were about to fall again, and it was a window of opportunity to get her out. 

It was a beautiful, crisp, clear day. It reminded me of Winter days in Nice. 

We saw geese.

 Justin ran out with Pepper...

...and back.

Though the Foster Park loop is mostly ice-free, I took a wrong turn and led us onto some icy patches. Here's Anna making her way on the ice. She liked the feel of the ice; it made the walk less "boring," but it was slow going.

Here's Pepper waiting for her. Pepper is most happy when we're all together.

 I said icy patch, but it was basically all one big, long icy road.

Making for much fun.

Our icy roadway didn't lead back to the well-paved trail, so we walked over snow, which was its own challenge. It's deeper than it looks, and though the geese were able to walk on it without sinking down, we weren't.

Fortunately, this increased the adventure/fun factor of the walk.

I think the real loop is 2.2 miles, so I don't know if we did more or less (since I'm a runner now, this seems to matter). I took the kids to a nearby coffee shop, The Friendly Fox, for a hot chocolate afterwards. Justin loved it, Anna not so much.

Science Fair, Snow, and Pep Pic

Since I last posted pictures, we had more snow.

Street sign

 No surprise there.

I shoveled in front so the mail truck could pull up.

We shoveled and snowblowed (snowblew?) like everyone else, had a day off from school, then the requisite two-hour delay to help kids adjust back to waking up early. The district is so nice about providing that buffer.

Days later, it snowed just a couple inches  The forecast for the next few days was warm--40s and 50s. I figured it wasn't worth the trouble to shovel if the snow wasn't impeding our ability to get in and out and would just melt in a couples days. That was a poor choice. Our driveway is now an impenetrable solid two-inch thick sheet of ice.

Justin needed a picture of himself as a kid for school, so chose this one to scan and bring in...

So cute.

Aren't the kids cute?

I went into this year's science fair prep with much trepidation after last year's led to results like this one:

A friend posted this on Facebook. I would rate this as a Superior entry in terms of accurately describing last year's science fair experience.

Last year's project involved countless rotting seeds in baggies needing to be opened and checked on consecutive days in our downstairs science lab/furnace room. It was not pleasant.

This year's involved the following materials:

Our vacuum.

Our cat

And a computer and a stopwatch. Nothing rotting. The title was, "Does Music Calm a Cat?"

Here's Anna when she was still stomping mad that she only got an Excellent ribbon instead of the coveted Superior. Four points away. She barely consented to the picture.

Anna stomping mad but trying to be pleasant. Notice the awesomeness of the cat shirt.

Fortunately, she got a special reward because the school counselor chose hers as her favorite. I am forever grateful.

And here's me bugging the dog by taking flash pictures of her mussed-up Winter face fur.

Annoyed dog.

Happy last week of February! It's possible that the kids will have a normal week of school with no delays or closings. It would be the first time since the first week of December. 

W.E.B. Dubois

I’m taking part in a book club at our Reclamation Project office on Thursday nights. We’re making our way through W.E.B. Dubois’ The Souls of Black Folk. It’s challenging reading. I often have to slow down and reread passages, and some of the references to Greek mythology are lost on me.

The book was published in 1903, and he writes that, "The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line." 

I’ve learned a great deal from the book about the reconstruction period after the Civil War, information that I last read a couple of pages about in high school. Back then, the War was usually the focus of study, and a little information about carpet baggers is all I remember of the aftermath.

After my reading this week, I wonder…

If only there had been another way for slavery to come to an end. War left the South poor and hostile to the newly freed.

If only there could have been some effort at reconciliation like South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission after the end of apartheid.

If only long-term measures could have been put into place for help and support and infrastructure.

If only those freed had been given something to start out with—40 acres, a mule, and maybe even an apology. It would have been so very little.

I wonder the same thing about other groups who endure long-term oppression. We expect instant turnaround and success when the oppression stops, when in reality, the scars are long-lasting, and sometimes passed down through the generations. It was true of Irish immigrants fleeing persecution and famine in the 1800s and the Congolese who survived King Leopold’s brutal reign in the 1900s. It was true of those rescued from concentration camps. It is true of the oppressed in Syria, Central African Republic, North Korea and it is true for the young girl rescued from sex-trafficking.

So today I pray for for the oppressed and those coming out from under oppression. Whether the action of lending a hand is on the part of governments, churches, non-profits, or individuals, may it be wise and long-term and lead to wholeness of individuals and communities.

  

My friend Megan

Megan Painter and I work at The Reclamation Project together, but she's also started a business of her own, Great Heights Furniture. She makes beautiful, functional pieces out of reclaimed wood. 

It's so cold here that we wear our coats all the time now. Just kidding.

 Her work is on display at Crestwoods Frame Shop and Gallery, in Roanoke for the next month.

bench

Anna and I drove over for the opening of the show on Saturday. Roanoke is only fifteen minutes down the road.

headboard

Some of it looks a lot like the kind of woodwork that my dad did. Megan knew about my dad's work before I met her.

coat hooks

I especially love the knife blocks.

magnetic knife blocks

Here's Anna trying out the fake bed. She brought her stuffed kitty along.

Anna and headboard

I got a picture of Megan and her young hip friends.

Megan and her hip friends

 And Anna chatted with Megan's mom while I bought a birthday card.

Anna chatting with Megan's hip mom

The gallery is a beautiful space and other work from local artists is on display as well. It's well worth a visit.