Archive for September, 2008
Binns Park
I’m sorry for all of you who came to check my blog today and found nothing! I have a squeaky keyboard at the library. and a half hour to write! Come back and visit me again!
My latest discovery has been the fountain at Binns Park. I have been past this place several times, but missed the fountain. It is about 12 feet in diameter and has holes level with the ground for the water to shoot thropugh. It is very cleverly choreographed so you feel constant entertainment. It makes me want to know who put it together. One day I walked to the post office in my flip flops (formerly known as ‘thongs’– I always want to say that when i say ‘flip flops’!) and my feet were burning. I was pretty sure the fountain was around the corner , so I went and stuck my feet in it. the next time Katarina was up, we took her and was she fun to watch. I got her started a little and she went off the ‘deep end’ playing in that water. Then a couple days ago I just stopped by and watched 2 little kids, one probably a 4 yr old boy and his little sister. He had great fun putting his face right where he would get shot in the face. After a while his timid little sister tries it and when she gets smacked, she screamed and ran for mama! I thought I could sit there all day and just people watch. but I made myself useful and painted my entryway, stairway and upstairs hallway. It’s a golden sand color. a little more neutral than my yellow , but, oh, so much warmer than flat-white-realtor-ready paint! Sorry, I didn’t read who the Binns are.
Then i looked at my bookshelvesa and thought, “Have I read all these books? Do I have them for some reason?” So I started down the line and came to one about Osceola, a Seminole Indian. My mother-in-law lived in Semilnole Fl. The Seminoles were basically told to clear out of FL. They had to sell their cattle -to the people making them clear out- and get on a ship for Oklahoma. O’s wife was a Negro/ Indian mix and someone watned to drag her back into slavery and that put the fuel to the fire. O did lose his wife and startd a war that lasted for years. It is not unlike the William Wallace story, where there is a lot of valiant fighting, and it is only betrayal that captures him. The story is written by the great great granddaughter of a doctor who cared for him the last weeks of his life. Another Indian takes the lead and keeps the fight on after O is captured, but is eventually defeated and put on a boat. He hears cannon and asks what that was for and no one wanted to tell him it was for July 4th, Independence Day. The Seminoles never signed a treaty. About 150 were left in FL, and they have never had to stay on a reservation or other things that most Indians in america are obligated to do. The next day i watched “The Rosa Parks Story’. and I learned things there, too. I always thought she just got tired of sitting in the back and sat in the front, but she was actually sitiing in the ‘colored’ section and the white section filled up. So the bus driver was making the black people give up their seats and she wouldn’t. So he moved the ‘colored’ sign in back of her and went and called the police. After 9/11 I began to notice how a single event can explode into conflict and this is no exception. I could make a list, but you can probably come up with your own. Then Saturday Joel and were looking for a movie and I said “No ethnic movies!” But we saw Kite Runner and I didn’t really know what it was about but had heard it recommended. It is an Afghani story and it is sad, but it has a happy ending. We befriended an Afghani family who left after the the Russians invaded A, so it was interesting to watch the contemporary events. we went to Friendly’s to absorb it afterward. I knew I couldn’t go right to bed! I was thinking how can God bear all this grief that comes up to Him? What keeps him from just clearing the table? And I thought, that is why we need to praise Him, so that is going up as well. So we , art least somebody, remembers who He is and He is in control. But there just is a tremendous amount of grief in the world.
The girl next to me is reading her IMs out loud. My grief.
I had lunch on the at a sidewalk cafe’ with friends today. I love going out for lunch. I’d do it every day if I could afford to. Then I went to Barnes and Noble and got a recording of ‘Libera’. And what I was going to tell Lu, or anyone else who is interested, see if you can download their ‘…. oh shoot, I lost it, something with ’solemnis’ in it, not ‘missa’. It’s Beethoven’s 7th
Gotta run, or I’ll turn into a pumpkin which is the old way of saying ‘ The computer will automatically log me off and the parking meter will expire’. I’ve seen those parking attendants! I watched one from my front room while I was in my jammies. I just wasn’t bravve enought to run out there and save myself!
Discoveries
I wrote this a week ago. Our computwer is in the reapir shop, as is our car, so I am at the library…. not too bad for city life!
Yesterday I was cleaning in the attic. I have wanted to do that for a long time. It is really a cool room with dormers at both ends and a beautiful view of the hills south of Lancaster on a SW view. I imagine toys and extra beds up there for all the “little people” coming to visit me! So far, it is the place to go with things I can’t think what else to do with. I suppose every house has one, but I really don’t want one! I found my hangers! I found Luisa’s yarn. And I found Dad’s old slides. That is where I just got jolly stuck! I also have the little ‘view finder’, a hand held thing you put a slide in and hold up to the light. I found Sam’s list of books he read in the 4th grade, all 33 of them. Yes, there were chunks of Narnia and Great Brain, but he was in the 4th grade. Then he started writing down the number of pages and moves into 300-400 pages. Speaking of Narnia, the Stovers loaned us an audio book of the Chronicles that we listened to on our trip south with Luisa. It is really good! We just finished listening to the Silver Chair, which I think is the most profound of them all. I also find it frustrating as they bicker, go into this dark Underworld, and generally mess things up. Then there are these stellar lines like “Aslan’s instructions always work.” And they are probably stellar because of all the aforementioned goings on.
While at Covenant, I picked up no less than 6 James Ward CD’s. I also have Claudia Peters’ cell phone, if anyone wants it. She works in the book store at Covenant. I also met the Great JW as I wanted a particular CD and they didn’t have it in the store. So CP made a quick call and we ‘dropped in’ to pick it up! I had bought most of them before, but they were either tapes we wore out or CD’s we had given away. Plus, I bought his very first recording which is with a group. There were songs on there I don’t think I have heard since I was a teenager, and I remembered most of them! It is an old recording and dated in some ways, but the voices are wonderful …and young ! and now I understand the songs much better. I didn’t understand Gospel back then and now I have a much better feel for it. It is really fun to listen to. we had dinner with CLaudia Pters and the Gienapps at the G’s and a really great visit with Beth Lear Rogers who is gutting her house and redoing it. she actually pulls out the old plaster herself!
I checked out the ‘local’ grocery store, the one where they say ‘gracias’ when you check out. My neighbor keeps telling me they are expensive, but I think it is pretty much like everywhere else. Everyone has their good buys and their bad buys. I found Yardley English lavender soap. I used to always use it, but I thought they went out of business. I got two bars for under 3 bucks. Lovely stuff.
After we got back we went to Philadelphia to take ailing computer to guru son-in-law. On the way, our car broke down. We had stopped at the Valley Forge rest area on the Turnpike and then we couldn’t put it in reverse. So that is in the hospital, too. We called our regular car repairman for a number for a towing service. It turned out to be a guy who lives a block over from us and he often tows for another guy who lives next to us and works on cars in the evenings. There is a skinny alley next to us and he squeezes that loaded tow truck through it with nary a mishap. I should be back on wheels by Thursday.
I could discover that I can go back to sleep now!
P.S. today
I finished the attic. It looks great. Sam is home from Italia. It’s a beautiful day. Hope jnettie feels better!
