Five for Friday… hobbies I’d like to try

Sometime in the last year, I realized that I had squeezed about all I could out of the time in my life.  You know how it is – we’re all a little inefficient sometimes, and if we get rid of those inefficiencies, then we could take on something else.   (Hopefully something that we enjoy!)  Well, I finally decided that I was about as efficient as I was going to be^*, and that if I wanted to do something new, I was going to have to give up something old.

* Let me be clear here – I am not saying that I am fully efficient.  Not by a long shot.  I’m quite inefficient, really.  I’m just saying that my efficiency isn’t going to improve any time soon.  To restate what I said above, I’m as efficient as I’m going to be.  Don’t hold your breath, if you’re hoping for more.

Anyway, you know how, from time to time, you might say, “I’d like to try (fill in the blank) sometime?”  Well – here are the things that I’d enjoy doing, if I had more time.

1) Genealogy – Actually, I already have a good start on this one.  If I ever find some more spare time, this is the first thing that I’ll pick up again.

2) Music – If I had more time, I’d learn a new instrument or practice the ones I already have.  If I were learning something new, I would probably start with violin, but I’d consider bass guitar, dobro, or mountain dulcimer, as well.

3) Woodworking – This would require time, space, and money.  I’d like to have a little shop of my own where I could make furniture or cabinets or maybe turn things on a lathe.  In reality, I don’t expect this to happen any time soon, but I keep the idea tucked away in the back of my mind.  When the girls are older…

4) Photography – I already am able to do a little of this from time to time.  I would upgrade my equipment and focus on nature photography.

5) A mish-mash of things around the house – This is how I jam more than five things into Five for Friday.  There are lots of things that Ordinary Spouse does that I also enjoy, but that I’ve mostly given over to her, since she’s at home.  These include gardening (I’d really enjoy doing the flower beds), sewing,  and cooking.  I’d also do more reading, since my book queue is always about ten books deep.

Dances with coyotes

I haven’t really blogged about geocaching before.  Today seems like a good opportunity to begin.

Geocaching is a bit like a high-tech treasure hunt.  One person hides something (called the ‘cache’) and uses a handheld GPS receiver to record the coordinates (the latitude and longitude for the location).  Often, the location is in a forest, park, or other natural area.  At a minimum, the cache contains a logbook, but it may also contain small toys, trinkets, or other items suitable for trading

The person then publishes the coordinates for the cache on a geocaching website (such as Geocaching.com).  Other people are then free to go searching for the cache.  When they find it, they sign the log, perhaps trade some items (always trading even or up!), and then relate their story on the website.

I learned about caching through my father-in-law and his brother-in-law (Ordinary Spouse’s uncle).  The combination of technology and nature fascinated me.  When my birthday rolled around three years ago, my ordinary family bought me a GPSr.

So what does this have to do with coyotes?  Well, today I was out in a local forest preserve looking for some geocaches, when I realized that there was a coyote about 100 feet in front of me on the path.  It was keeping a safe distance from me, but not making any real effort to get away.  I didn’t have any real safety concerns, since I’ve encounter coyotes before.  However, because the forest preserve was rather empty (of humans), I decided to find a walking stick for some extra safety.

I backtracked a bit, keeping my eye on the coyote, and realized that it was now following me.  Hmm – that concerned me a little bit more.  So I found my walking stick and took a few paces toward the coyote once again.  And again, it kept its distance.

We happened to be near a junction of three trails, and the coyote chose the trail which it hadn’t originally been on.  Since I wanted to use the other trail, I kept going.  When I turned around and looked back, I saw the coyote go past, walking in the direction toward where I’d started.  It was then that I realized that we had both simply wanted to go around each other.  The whole back-and-forth looked a bit like a vehicle doing a three-point turn.  And it was just a bit exhilarating to be in such close proximity.

So, if you ever find yourself wondering if you’d like to take up geocaching as a hobby, maybe my little dance with a coyote will convince you.

(One way or another!)

Good strawberries

This evening for supper, Ordinary Spouse put a bowl of strawberries on the table.  There weren’t many to begin with, and soon Middle Daughter and Oldest Daughter had consumed nearly all of them…

ordinary (mostly): Hey!  There’s only one strawberry left!

(Middle Daughter grabs the last one and takes a bite.)

o(m): Well – now there are none.

MD: Daddy, did you eat any strawberries yet?

(Now I’m thinking, “Wow – she’s considerate.”)

o(m): No.

MD: Well, these are really good!

(And the last bite is consumed.)

Old McNoah?

Today’s cute story comes to us from Ordinary Sister and Extraordinary Niece.  Ordinary Sister says, “I don’t have a blog, but if I did, this recent conversation would make it on.”

(Extraordinary Niece comments while Ordinary Sister reads aloud from a family devotional guide for Advent.  The devotion is about the story of Noah.)

EN: Old MacDonald and Noah same.

OS (clarifying):  Old Mac Donald had a farm?

EN: Yes.  Noah had ark.

Ordinary Sister concludes, “Then there was a lot of singing of Old MacDonald.  I didn’t finish the devotional guide.  It seemed like a good place to stop.”

Blessed!

I’m always learning from my daughters.  This morning, I had to learn how to say, “I’m sorry”, after I raised my voice at Oldest Daughter.

Later, Ordinary Spouse sent me this from the traveling minstrel that we also know as Youngest Daughter:

Blessed! Blessed! Who—-ole world!

Many of you won’t know the source, but her tune roughly approximated the tune for the hymn, “Blessed”, by David Wright and Jim Clemens (from their hymnal, “A Field of Voices“).  It’s a song that we’ve been singing at church recently during a sermon series on the Beatitudes.  I don’t know where she came up with “whole world” (the next line is actually “Loved and blessed!”) but it matches the bumper sticker on my car (“God bless the whole world.  No exceptions.”).  But she can’t read yet.

I’m blessed to be around children.

Black Friday, Amish style

While the rest of the world was trampling over each other at Walmart this morning, my family went to the Amish bulk food store in Shipshewana.

As we neared the store, we saw a buggy cruising through an intersection a bit late, giving us this quote of the day: “Did that buggy just trot the red light?”

Once we got to the store it was surprisingly empty.  We stocked up on the usual items: flour, cocoa, spices, quinoa.

Some big guy with a NASCAR jacket took a big handful of cheese samples.  Just reached into the cup and grabbed them.  No toothpicks involved.  Youngest Daughter: “Can I have cheese?”  Me: “No.”

As we were leaving, we observed a lineup of around twenty buggies along the side of the building.  Gives new meaning to Black Friday.

Over the river and through the woods…

Well, here we are at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  We traveled early this morning, instead of trying to fight Thanksgiving Eve traffic last night.  And just what does a three hour trip from the Chicago ‘burbs to north-central Indiana look like?  Here’s my view from the driver’s seat…

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“Who wants to see my proboscis?”  (Oldest Daughter, just out of the driveway)

“I’m sure glad we’re travelling this morning instead of last night.”  (Me to Ordinary Spouse, as we made two effortless left turns  where I’d normally encounter great volumes of traffic during my morning commute)

Six minutes into the trip, we get on the “fast road” (the general nickname for limited access road, which in this case is I-55).  This is the signal for the girls to request a DVD.  In goes Fraggle Rock.

About fifteen minutes later, we’re onto I-355 and crossing the “blue light bridge” over the Des Plaines River.  McMansions overlook the valley on the south side.  I spout opinions… “If I had half a million dollars to buy a house, I’d get something with more character than these boxes.”

Shortly thereafter, I remember my blog… “If I could live blog this trip, I would.” Instead, I ask ordinary spouse if she has paper and pencil.  She anticipates my next request and writes, “My ordinary assistant will hand write the whole thing.”  I comment that “ordinary assistant” will probably get replaced by “smart-alecky assistant” when the notes make it into print.

“Could you give me blana?”  (Youngest Daughter woke up five minutes before we left and didn’t have breakfast.  Now she wants a banana.)

All along, I’m sipping coffee.  I’ve got a great thermos.  Too great.  The coffee is scalding hot nearly all the way.

Ordinary Spouse is cleaning out her purse.  She finds a diaper.

From I-355 to I-80.  The opening bars of U2’s “Zoo Station” (from the album, “Achtung Baby”) are playing as we’re exiting from one to the other.  Makes for a nice transition.

We see a white flag with a red border and a blue star.  Ordinary Spouse speculates that it’s a Czech flag.  Turns out that it’s a flag displayed by the family of a member of the armed services serving in a dangerous location.  We learned something new.

Shortly after getting on I-80, an alert Ordinary Spouse kept me from rear-ending another car.  The road was nearly empty and there was no one in my lane, so I reached for my coffee.  At the same moment, a car in the left lane braked and pulled into my lane.  Then they proceeded to the right lane and accelerated again.  Not sure what that was about.

We cruise through the IPASS lane when I-294 merges with I-80.  It occurs to us that we have no idea how much toll we’re actually paying.

The billboards along the interstate near the Illinois-Indiana border are really classy.  (“Gamble 30 minutes and get a free buffet” or “All of the liquor; none of the clothes”.)  Ordinary Spouse comments on the first one. “Sounds like  a gamble to me.”

We’ve removed Fraggle Rock, which didn’t seem to be a big hit.  It’s been replaced by the Laurie Birkner Band. “This is like a rock star for kids,” says Middle Daughter.

Rain, rain, rain.

Onto the Indiana Turnpike (I-80/I-90).  We immediately stop at a rest area.  Coffee’s coming through.

We debate the spelling of “niece”.  I comment on the weird spelling of “weird”.

We see a flock sheep walking in formation.  Then we see a sheep dog calmly standing and calling to them.  No running involved.  Impressive.

We reached the end of “Achtung Baby”.  I spout more opinions: what makes an album more than the sum of the parts, and why “Achtung Baby” is one of those albums.

We pass the pond with the big musical instruments.  Time to exit the Turnpike.  On to the bypass around South Bend.  Ordinary Spouse phones her parents and tries to make them believe we still have two hours to go.  Actually, we only have about 45 minutes – we’ll be just in time for Thanksgiving dinner.

Michael Card’s “Starkindler”  is now playing.

Ordinary Spouse and I discuss Richard Rohr and right brain/left brain duality.

Off of the bypass and on to US-33 toward Goshen.

In Goshen, we spot a couple running from their house to their car, carrying a turkey.  They didn’t cover the bird.  It’s raining.

And then, 150 miles and two and a half hours later, we’ve made it.

Thanks to God for every blessing in our lives.  May the thanks we give today continue throughout the year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Candle making

I took today off and began the Thanksgiving holiday one day early today.  Our family was invited to a day of candle making at the home of couple from our congregation.  The wife teaches kindergarten and didn’t have today off, so the husband did all of the hosting today.  We had an awesome time.

One of the things that is really special is that our host is a good teacher, so he took the time to show the girls how to do things correctly and safely (hot wax on the stove).  Also, he has been making candles for forty years now, but he still enjoys seeing how each candle turns out.  His encouragement makes the girls feel proud of what they created.  Everyone enjoys the time.

(And a well-timed “Elmo’s World” on TV didn’t hurt when attention spans got a little short.  We spent the whole day!)

Anyway, here are the fruits of our labors today…

Ordinary Spouse made one; Middle Daughter, Youngest Daughter, and I each made two; and Oldest Daughter made four (and wanted to do more).  In addition, we made four other candles that are being used for Advent at church.  We dropped them off before we came home, so no pictures.

Here are my ordinary candles…

Note the deliberate choice of green for ordinary time.  Candles for contemplation.

On Thanksgiving eve, I’m thankful for my community, for friends, for other adults who care for my children.

Five (more) for Friday… Discontinued comics

To go with today’s earlier post, here are my favorite comics that are no longer in production.  If they were, I would have had some troubles narrowing down my favorites to a single “Five for Friday” list.

1) Calvin And Hobbes

2) The Far Side

3) Boondocks

4) FoxTrot (Technically, FoxTrot is still published on Sundays (yay!), but it is no longer a daily strip.)

5) Bloom County/Opus

Five for Friday… Comics

Today I give you my favorite comic strips, without too much explanation.  It seems to me that a person’s sense of humor is either understood or not.  If understood, explanation isn’t needed; and if not, no amount of explanation is going to help.

I’m afraid my sense of humor will be in the latter…

1) Frazz – Frazz is like a grown up Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes.  He’s a wise custodian who could be in a higher paying job.  But why move on, when you’re doing what you love?

2) Dilbert – I work in cubicle.  I’ve been known to photoshop Dilbert cartoons in order to put in my own name.  And sometimes, they’re just a little too realistic.

3) Arlo & Janis – I am Arlo.  Except that I have no desire to own a sailboat.  A canoe, on the other hand…

4) Doonesbury – I like my political commentary to lean slightly left (while still making fun of everyone).

5) Baby Blues – House with three kids.  Need I say more?