Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my father's birthday!

He is my all-time #1 hero. If I was allowed to have an idol, he would be it.

I was a little limited in my selection of photos (not being a digital camera person, myself), but I liked this one that was on my computer from Girls' Week. He is looking inspiring, and I am looking adoring:)

I love you, Daddy!

Literature Prep

I've been working on getting ready for teaching my BRITISH LITERATURE class next year (woooooooohoooooooooooooo!!!). My preliminary preparation has been reading up on the history of England. What a tale! I never took a British History class (shame on me), and things are beginning to click left and right!

"Ohhhh, THAT'S what the 100 year war was! Ohhhhh, THAT'S why Bonnie Prince Charlie should have been king! Ohhhhhh, THAT'S where the word spinster comes from! Ohhhh, THAT'S what "Tudor" and "Stuart" and all that is referring to!"

I love learning things!

But as I'm going through history like that, I have to brace myself for my strange alter-ego tendencies to emerge. I am such a conservative, and such a fan of tradition, that I just side with the Kings and Queens as a matter of course. So I'm reading along about such and such a king that was living in horrible excess, and I get annoyed when Parliament tries to check him! Weird. I really had to stop and get hold of myself when I was siding with the King against the MPs who wanted freedom of religion! Good grief. This conservative thing can go a bit too far. I mean, I'm an American, after all! I DO believe in freedom! So I decided that the Kings were pretty cool, but sometimes they did have some, er, issues.

By the way, I'm doing this study out of "A Children's History of Britain and Wales" or something like that. It's perfect! It's written for older children, who are really supposed to be learning, so there is actually serious content there. But it's not filled with humongous words, dry passages about currencies and such, or political nuances (or blatant agendas). Very nice! More history books should be written that way.

The Homerun Derby!

Oh my WORD!

Okay, remember (those of you who have any kind of maturity of years) the '94 baseball strike? Everyone wondered if baseball had just lost all of its support, if it would ever recover, and all that stuff.

Well, we're talking big-time recovery tonight, boy howdy!!! MLB.com (that would be the Major League Baseball) is streaming the home run derby on the Internet. I'm sitting here typing this blog while I watch it! What could be better?! Who needs cable?! David Ortiz is definitely going to win, that's my prediction.

Baseball. Ahhhhh. What a beautiful thing.

The NE Curse

For those of you who may not read my blog all that much - and even for those of you have picked up on the fact that I kind of like teaching, but haven't yet picked up on other nuances of the Dreweyfern Blog, allow me to enlighten you to the fact that I love New England. I think it is one of the best (if not THE best) places on Earth. It is beautiful - historical - characterful - idiosyncratic in a most endearing way - and pretty much perfect in every possible way.

However (as we learn in the Little Elba song), there has to be something to remind us that this world is not our home, and that we're bound for a more perfect place. New England's particular reminder is mosquitoes.

Daddy set up the hammock: the place of joy and peace and relaxation. Hurrah! However, I kind of forgot (during all those winter months) that evening is not the best time for hammock lounging. I happily read for a little while before noticing my back was kind of itchy. As was my arm. And there were some mosquitoes and mayflies buzzing around. I decided it was time to go inside.

And THERE I discovered that I had not been victim to a bug here or there. I had been absolutely GNAWED upon! I had been out there with a blanket, but the weasely bugs had figured out that they could access my back and arm from the backside of the hammock. I HAD 15 BITES!!! Grrrrr. And some of them were huge! My prize winner is about the size of a quarter.

Being the socialite that I am, I went from family member to family member showing them the monstrosity on my arm, garnering all the sympathy I could. They did a good job being sympathetic. But I needed MORE sympathy. So up to Shawn and Gretchen's I went. Ian let out a particularly gratifying exclamation of awe when he saw the bite. Little boys know all about bad bug bites.

In the famed words from years gone by: poor, poor, pitiful me!

“All that Mattered”

I was glancing through a Guidepost article about Bonhoeffer recently, because it happened to be lying open on the counter at the Brown’s.

[Side note: Isn’t it amazing how God can work through “chance” occurrences like that? So often He will bring just the right thing along at just the right time. It’s like He knows us or something!]

Anyway, as I was reading the article it had a little sentence that ran something like this: “God was all that mattered to him.” I have thought of that SO often since then. That’s what I want to be true of me!

After reading that phrase, the importance of a real, vital relationship was emphasized to me by something I chanced upon on the Internet: some guy’s disillusionment with fake Christianity. I realized that I need to be absolutely real in my Christianity – connected with the source of Life. I can’t rely on past inspiration. I need to be up to date – constantly seeking – constantly getting closer.

[Side note 2: Isn’t it amazing how God brings along something to reinforce the lesson He’s taught, so it’s really cemented? It’s like He knows us or something!]

This summer I have more time than I have during the school year (though I’ll be quite busy preparing next year’s classes!), and I want to make it a summer spent in the pursuit of God. That’s what matters!

The Sanguine and the Melancholic

Last night at about bedtime I decided I wasn’t sleepy. So, anticipating Kimberly’s taking my car to work in the morning, I thought I’d empty all of the junk out of it for cleaning the next day. I had moved all of my stuff up from RI for the summer, but hadn’t unloaded it yet. So I began tackling the job. And it was quite the job! What a mountain of disorganized rubble met my eyes.

My car has a strange leak in it, which means that after there’s a hard rainfall there’s standing water in my car for days. This time the water was beginning to smell stronger than usual. Grim.

I began cleaning up a storm, picking things up and dumping them onto the driveway for transport. But alas, the more things I picked up, the worse the smell became. Uh oh. A bad sign, indeed. This must mean that it was NOT the standing water stinking up the place.

I delved deeper, through a smelly book, some smelly CDs, my smelly jacket (the shoulder was damp – gulp), some smelly potatoes (which were left over from the Girls Week), some smelly flour bags (ditto), and discovered, to my dismay, a Lipton Tea bottle, somewhat damp. Ahhhhhh! One of the girls bought it during Girls’ Week, and it must have leaked out. And WHAT a stench!

So back into the house I went to retrieve dry rags, wet rags, and club soda. After several soakings of various kinds I decided that I’d done all I could do. I began carrying things back into the house. A few loads later, and after I’d hung my smelly coat on the line to air out, I grabbed the potatoes to take into the house.

PEW!

It was then I realized that the potatoes, not the Lipton Tea, had created the problem. Oy VAY! Those things stank. For some strange reason the potatoes had not withstood 5 days in a roasting hot car. Odd. In any case, they were rotting and fermenting to beat the band. Gross potato juice had accumulated in the bottom of the bag, and that what is had leaked into my car. Alas!

I left them, as well as the tainted flour bags, outside, and put the book and CDs on the porch. I left the car windows open to try to air out the car, and decided that I was, finally, ready for bed.

The next morning I came downstairs to find a note on the counter that Kimberly had left before she went to work. It read like this:

Some early morning observations:
1. Found a book and 2 CDs on chair outside on porch
2. Noticed side door was unlocked
3. Fern’s coat on clothes line may get rust on it that way
4. Andrea’s car windows are open
5. Saw bag of potatoes and 2 bags of flour outside downstairs door way.
6. I LOVE MY FAMILY!

I read it, and was somewhat amused, but then, as I thought more about it, I just laughed and laughed. On one hand were my frantic endeavors in the middle of the night, combating decay and ruin in the midst of chaos, and on the other Kimberly’s pristine, unhurried chronicling of the results of my frenzied activity.

What a great juxtaposition! The only thing that might come close to that kind of black and white comparison is the fact that she had time to make such a list on a work morning, where I would be dashing out the door with my hands full of things I couldn’t take time to pack up in my bag.

We certainly are a strange pair. But fortunately, despite our dissimilarities, we have a great time together!

Girls' Week Report

For those who prayed, THANK YOU! It was a stunningly wonderful time. I had a group that was fun, interesting, enthusiastic, cooperative, thoughtful, friendly, and spiritually alive. They all got along with each other, and seemed to enjoy everything I threw at them. They even worked happily! My goodness.

We took trips to Newport, Boston, Wrentham, and Concord, MA. We saw amazing sights! We had an amazing amount of fun!

The girls learned the Virginia Reel, made up skits and radio dramas, sang, laughed, played games they'd never played before, and generally kept themselves beautifully and wholesomely entertained.

We also had some rich times in morning devotions and in the meetings. Our theme was "Intimacy with God," and I think we did more that just talk about it - we deepened our intimacy with Jesus. We had some marked times of hearing the call of God to our hearts. Praise the Lord!

And the most startling part of all, for me, was the fact that I was feeling sad about the week coming to a close. Generally, I have a great time, but I'm exhausted by week's end. This time I was feeling blothpicky about it ending. That was quite new!

Hurrah for Girls' Week 2006!

ps. Well, I valiantly struggled to upload pictures to accompany this post. But I am at Fairwood, and thus am trying to maneuver with dial-up. Sigh. Sorry. Maybe another time...

Girls' Week!

The Girls' Week has officially begun, folks. So no lengthy posts or brilliant essays. Just wanted to pop in to say that it's going SO WELL. Fabulous group of girls - fabulous schedule planned. Huzzah!

I would appreciate any little prayers you might shoot up on our behalf. I really want God's anointing to make it more than just a fun time. And an absence of rain would be just wonderful. Especially on Wednesday when we're going for a hay ride type thing:)

Thanks, all!

Sightseeing in Kentucky! (And Cincinatti, sort of, in an Across the River Kind of Way)

I have become quite enamored of this bridge. I love it! I guess I have a thing for beautiful bridges, like I do for arches. It must point to some deep spiritual truth or something. Anyway, this is fast becoming my second favorite bridge (After the Newport one, of course)!
..


This is beautiful 2nd street. So historic. So lovely. I loved the little gardens in front of each house. They were exquisite. I wish I had a close up shot, but Renee was telling a story and I didn't want to interrupt her any more than I already was:)


...

Here is a cute little arched door we found. It was so very wee!

And lastly, Cincinatti at night. Ahhhhhhh. (Note the beautiful bridge in the foreground!)

Looky Looky! I'm in Cincinnati/Covington

Renee (my wonderful fellow teacher) and I have now arrived at our hotel. It is AMAZING! Here are a few pics of the room itself (Renee is by the window, working diligently). Note the sweet laptop. That's mine:)


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Here is the lobby. There is a player piano in the middle of the, um, canopy thing. It's playing tunes as we speak. There is a tile fountain behind it which is hard to see, unfortunately.



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Here is the Red's Stadium! I took this picture from my hotel room window.

Woo woo!

So far this conference business is great!

Explanation of Truancy

I'm so sorry I haven't posted for the past couple of days. I even have something I want to write about! But I've just been too jolly busy with social obligations and partay-ing and such. And today I've been preparing for tomorrow's adventure to KENTUCKY (of all places - who goes to Kentucky?) where I'm going to be attending a teaching conference (all expenses paid by the school - what fun!). So, ya, I'm not blogging. But I am taking my laptop to Kentucky, so hopefully I can find a few moments there... But no promises:)

PS. Happy Anniversary to Shawn and Gretchen! One of my all-time favorite couples, for sure.

Day 4: Why the Problems of the World Can't be Solved by Talking

Short Answer:

Because not even the problems between two people can always be solved by talking. How could 6 billion even remotely think of talking it all out?

Long Answer:

When our church was undergoing some, er, tension, back in the mid 90s or so, I had this dream of peace. I would just go up to Pastor X (whoever he may have been) and say "Hey, let's talk..." I would explain how things stood, he would see the light, and all would be well! Sigh. I never did get the opportunity to do so. So much for my saving of the day.

And yet, somehow methinks a little sit-down with all the Pastors Xs in the world would have done little. Because no matter how much I talk, or how loudly, people still have this irritating habit of having their own opinions! And (gasp) talking to me in reply! There was nothing in my scheme of saving the world that included a dialogue. I talk, they see the light, world saved. It's very simple. Bother these people with their own opinions! Obviously what this world needs more of is totalitarian dictatorship. By me of course. Under anyone else disaster would ensue.

Hm. My days of teaching US Government are wafting back to me from the mists of the past. Perhaps a totalitarian dictatorship is not the best plan. Even though I would be an awe-inspiring dictator, I'm sure.

Okay, Plan B: NOBODY should talk about ANYTHING! We should all adopt the "Ostrich Mentality." If there's a problem, ignore it. Bury your head in the sand. You know, the more I learn about the Victorians the more I like them. Not only was Tennyson among them (moment of reverent silence), but they had this method of surviving the tensions of the times which I find refreshing: Muddle Through. Just keep on going, not addressing the tension, and probably somehow things will work out. Or if they don't, at least the results may be ignorable.

There. I think I've solved it. If the problems in the world can't be solved by talking or by dictatorship clearly ostriching is the way to go. Rest easy, dear readers. I have found the answer.

Day 3: The Emergence of the Smiley Face into the World of Punctuation

When I was young, maybe 12 or 18 (I can't remember which), my Grandfather (FSM) told my Father (TFM) that he was impressed by a recent letter I'd written him (FSM). It was well-written without any spelling or grammatical errors.

(I had written the whole letter with a dictionary at my side - I am a terrible speller. It took me years to convince my sister that this was because of some genetic fluke and not because of a low IQ. I am quite sure that some of the great geniuses of the past couldn't spell either. I mean, look at Shakespeare!)

I wonder what my grandfather would think if he could see the e-mails I write now. Terrible punctuation! She keeps putting colons at the ends of sentences, and then closes parentheses on them as if she had opened parentheses earlier in the e-mail. Which she hasn't! What is this younger generation coming to?!

I admit, the whole :) as punctuation thing can be overdone. I have to go back over my comments on other people's blogs to edit for them. I usually put in a ! or a hee hee hee instead. Once in awhile a . will suffice.

But really the merits of the :) as punctuation are notable. Have you ever noticed that it is almost impossible to include inflection in the written word? One simply cannot add a note of humor to a sentence. If you choose the right words you can give the reader a sense of irony or even sarcasm. But the gentle smile? Hard to recreate with the written word. But with the :) all is solved! No fear that a reader will misinterpret your subtle humor.

Note the difference:
- Admit it: it was an excellent movie. (Tone implication: You must bow to my opinion. I am right. And I am therefore superior in every way. You should probably grovel now.)
- Admit it: it was an excellent movie:) (Tone implication: Wasn't I right in recommending the movie? Wasn't it worth your time? Your valuable time? And aren't we chummy?)

The :) has saved me many times. There is no mistaking it. I try to use at least one per comment. Well, okay, I really don't try. They just pop out. But I try not to use them so much in my regular posts since they are very e-mail-esque to me. Although I have caught myself using them when writing with a pen, or even a pencil. I've even put them in my journal.

Hmmm, it's sounding like it's taking on epidemic-like proportions. I'm going to have to watch it.

Also, while I'm talking about inflection (which I was talking about a few paragraphs ago), have you ever noticed that it is impossible to add inflection to something whispered? Try it. Whisper "and her name was?" and then "and her name was." They sound identical! I noticed it when my Mom and I were trying to carry on a conversation in whispers and I thought she was making a statement when really she was asking a question. The dialogue that followed was momentarily reminiscent of Abbot and Costello's "Who's on First?". Remarkable the role that inflection plays in communication.

:)

Day 2: The Stages of Paper Grading (kind of like the stages of grief, only different…)

* Stage One: Optimism

Thought Process: Of course my students learned from the comments I carefully wrote all over the last papers they submitted. I am about to witness the transformation that comes about as a result of my revolutionary teacher comments.

Timing: Right at the beginning of the paper grading process, after just sitting down in an oh-so-comfy chair with a crisp stack of papers in one hand, a pencil in the other, and a mug of cocoa in whichever hand can take the extra load.

Visible: The top cover page in the stack of papers: Title, Date, Name, Teacher's Name

* Stage Two: Disillusionment

Thought Process: Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! What is this?! I corrected this exact thing in the last paper! Grrrrrrr.

Timing: While reading the first sentence of the first paper.

Visible: "Ancient Greek literature was written on the risings, apexes, and downfalls of the different cultures and epochs of Greek history."

* Stage Three: Anger

Thought Process: Those kids (grumble grumble). Don’t they know that words mean things?! What in the blooming world are they thinking? Didn’t they ever learn to write?!?!

Timing: All throughout the first several papers.

Visible: Sentences like "Because of the war, peace, community and philosophy written by these great authors, Greece has become what is is today," and "Oedipus at Colonus was written during the High Classical Period when there were a lot of Polynesian wars between Athens and Sparta accompanied by severe Greek civil fighting.

*Stage Four: Resentment

Thought Process: What in the world were their past teachers teaching these kids?! How dare they pass them along into high school with writing abilities like these?!

Timing: Following hard upon stage three’s commencement.

Visible: "This is what Homers next writing encouraged Greece to do to live how they were living like back in the peaceful times of the Minoan era."

*Stage Five: Audible Grumbling

Thought Process: If I complain aloud about the ridiculous errors my kids are making, surely my grumblings will be validated by the poor person occupying this room with me.

Timing: Alongside stages three and four.

Visible: Melissa's sympathetic and kindly patient face.

*Stage Six: Awakening

Thought Process: Hey, these kids aren’t really evil, plotting specifically to ruin my evening. They just don’t have quite the same passion that I do for essay writing. Yet.

Timing: Right after the poor person occupying this room with me says, “Hm. It’s weird to be on the other side of the paper from the ‘I really don’t care, I just want to get this done’ perspective.”

Visible: The folly of my own optimism.

*Stage Seven: Acceptance

Thought Process: --------- (not a lot of thought going on, just a grim determination to get through the stack as efficiently as possible)

Timing: Just after awakening.

Visible: A never-ending stack of, um, 3 more papers (sorry, Chad).

Day 1: Sports and the Human Spirit

"I have long believed that competition in sports is detrimental to the human spirit." So says Debra Herrera in the most recent issue of Reader's Digest. Is she right? Does competition hurt humanity?

Herrera, doubtless, is writing from a totally secular worldview. She probably buys into today’s philosophy that no man is better than any other man, no viewpoint better than any other viewpoint. Thus competition is pointless. My worldview is opposed to such a philosophy. Belief in God means belief that the world was created for God, that there is a right way and a wrong way, that there is absolute truth. And there is something in every man that knows he was made for more than this temporal, fleeting existence. There is something in man that desires God.

So where do sports fit in? Does competition in sports help or hinder this aspect of human nature that ultimately desires God? For the casual on-looker sports may appear to be neutral ground. It neither helps nor hinders man in his search for deeper meaning.

However, to the not casual on-looker it quickly becomes apparent that competition in sports can actually help in man's search for truth, because sports are allegorical of what God has created man for.

Sport, of any kind, demands the best out of its players. There is nothing of today's apathetic, relativistic spirit in sports. To be remembered, to be honored, one must be among the best. The precision and speed and strength demanded of today's top athletes is stunning. Similarly, there is something in the human spirit that is crying out for the best. The culture wants to stifle that, to encourage mediocrity. Christianity says no, there is a best; there is a right and wrong. Where else is that truth reflected in today's culture better than in the sporting world?

Herrera claims that it is the competition in sports that is so detrimental to the human spirit. But that competition - that thing that will pay almost any price to defeat the opposition - is allegorical of what is going on in a cosmic sense all around us. There is a war going on for the hearts of men. It is a life and death struggle. And men must be willing to align with the good against the evil. Yes, the Red Sox and Yankees rivalry is not exactly cosmic, but it certainly illustrates the passionate desire to conquer the enemy. Our culture seeks to blur the lines between good and evil. There are no "bad guys," it says. But rivalry in sports helps to keep alive the all-important idea of good vs. evil.

Lastly, sports promote unity, both among teammates and among fans. There is an instant kinship between people wearing the same sports jersey. There is a common bond that is at its height when the competition is the fiercest. This, too, is allegorical of what God intends in man. God has built into mankind the need for fellowship. What is more strengthening than communion with a fellow-pilgrim of "like precious faith?" Again, sports provide a clear reminder of that truth.

So let us not say that competition in sports is detrimental to the human spirit. Rather sports serve as an allegory to truth - a representation of the world as God has created it. Sports are about striving for the best, overcoming the enemy, and finding unity. These are the things our culture needs more of.

Certainly sports are a very dim reflection of truth. I do not advocate going to sporting events as one would go to church. But God has filled the world with symbols and allegories of Himself. "The heavens declare the glory of God!" Might it not be that other things in the earthly realm declare His glory as well? Sports have been around almost as long as humanity itself. Competition is not new. There is something there that is part of the human spirit. And I propose that competition is a part of the human spirit in order to remind man, in however small a way, of what he should be in this cosmic struggle.

Summer Time = Post Time!

Okay, here's the deal. I just want to write! So I'm going to write.

I want to try posting a post every day this week (starting tomorrow) about random subjects that go beyond just what's going on in my life. Okay? Okay. Here we go.

(This may not last past tonight, just to warn you.)

Last Day!!!!!!!

Today was my last day of teaching. One year complete. Wow. God is so good. I LOVE TEACHING!

And then I came home, exhausted, after cleaning out my room for TWO hours. I was up in my room when Uncle Paul called up, "Ummm, Andrea, I think you have a flat tire." "Oh," I said. I wasn't really computing, since my mind was on a project I was working on, and I am kind of used to random things going wrong with my car. "And I think there's a dent in your fender." "Oh," I said. "Do you want to come confirm?" he asked. Oh, I got it at last. I was supposed to go down and look.

Down I went, and Uncle Paul greeted me with a "I know you didn't really need this right now..." And he opened the door to the great outdoors.

AND THERE WERE LINDSAY, AMY, KATIE, CRAIG, AND KIMBERLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They came down to party with me in celebration of my completed first year of school!

Sooooo, I can't write right now, must go party.

PS. I feel SO loved. It's amazing. I have the world's best friends!

What Does it Mean?!

Has anyone else noticed the recent rash of Princess Bride allusions in the blog-o-sphere?! It's been on Karena's blog, Aaron's blog (via Meredith's comment), and Craig's blog. And now it's on my blog! The Princess Bride is EVERYWHERE! I think it's a sign. A good omen, as it were. I mean, it might be a bad omen, but how could a movie that classic be a bad omen? So it must be a good omen (I might be teaching logic next year, can you tell?).


So I'm wondering if there is any way to analyze and interpret this phenomenon. What can it all mean? There must be some deep, cosmic reason for it. Any ideas?

Perhaps there is an adventure in store, and we are being prepared for it: some adventure of revenge and betrayal and pursuit and love and courage. Or maybe someone is going to be poisoned and this is the cosmic warning. Maybe we've reached the saturation point for bad news in the world and our coping mechanism includes dwelling on fairy tales. Maybe we are just due for a laugh. Maybe the end of the world is at hand! Hmmm, anyone have any creative ideas?

Wheeeeee!

I'm typing this post on my brand new laptop!!! It's beautiful! It's speedy! It's fun! It's mine!

All year I've had in mind the fact that eventually I'll have to stop bumming off the Brown's computers, and finally, when my family decided we'd put our England trip off for a year (which meant I had money in the bank) the time was right. So Shawn scouted out the best possibilities on-line, and Gretchen went to town and brought home MY LAPTOP!

I'm having such fun personalizing it. First, Shawn helped me go through the initial business of putting in your name and agreeing to something-or-other in the Terms & Conditions. But NOW I get to do the more fun personalizing.

First things first, of course. I set Google as my homepage:) Then I zipped over to Webshots.com to get beauuuuutiful pictures for my background. Then I downloaded itunes. And now I'm blogging! My next step will be to start adding people's blogs to my favorites list:) What fun to have my OWN favorites list, and not be just a folder on someone else's (a very kind someone else, at that) computer.

YIPPEEEEEE!!!!

Blessings upon the heads of Shawn and Gretchen. Boy oh boy, did Gretchen every marry well:)

Emily Would Be Proud!

Yesterday, in our poetry unit, we read Emily Dickinson's fabulous poem, "I'm nobody, who are you?" If you aren't familiar with the poem, google it right away. It's so charming!


Anyway, I taught the class second period, and the day progressed as usual. Then, at the very end of the day, as the kids were coming from their classrooms and heading to the end of the hall to wait for their parents, I saw one of my students accosted by a younger student in a silly mood.

"Who are you?" asked the younger student, feigning amnesia, or something.
"I'm nobody, who are you?" responded my student with a knowing look toward me.

WOW!!! I have an 8th grade boy quoting Emily Dickinson!!! My little heart swelled with joy as I acknowledged his wit.

I love teaching!

(PS. Tomorrow is the last day of classes for the high school. We're going to be partying like crazy... With "Ice Age" and chocolate!)

(PPS. Happy Birthday to my nephew, Michael, who is six today! He holds an inexpressibly precious place in my heart. I love you, Misha!)