Beneath the Wraps

          Roland ended up taking Jenna to the fair on Friday.   I thought it said to dress as a vegetable to get in free, but a friend pointed out that it said to dress a vegetable.   Thus Roland and Jenna decorated a couple of carrots before leaving the house.           After they arrived, they were told there was a seven dollar fee to park.   Roland asked where the free parking was located.   He was told if he parked at the high school, there was a "shuttle" that would bring him back to the fair.   So in order to save money, they went and parked at the high school and returned on a school bus that Roland assures me was designed for small people.   I smiled as I considered the greyhound I had taken from Portland to Salt Lake City in this post.             They returned home just as I had finished up ...

        I watched the 2016 version of Ben-Hur for the first time last night.   I don't recall ever having made it through the 1959 version without crying, so why should 2016 be any different?   Jenna looked at me after the Chariot Race scene and asked if I was crying.   I cry for a number of reasons each time.   She had excused herself before the crucifixion.   That was heart-wrenching.           I had recently met some of my water buddies at the local coffee shop.   One asked what makes one a Jew.   Is it a race? a religion?   It doesn't matter - we're all part of the human race.   He was just wondering.   I'll admit I've wondered about that myself.   I sent him a link to this site .         I am one who could never be in the Klu Klux Klan or put labels on people - usually I don't know.   I don't know if that would be consider...

                I think most fairs offer a free admission before things fully get started.   Roseburg offers a FREE Admission for Seniors Until 3pm I thought today, but it was actually yesterday.   We could all dress up as vegetables and get in free tomorrow between 10:00 and 1:00.  Jenna loves to dress up, too, though I don't know if she's ever considered dressing up as a vegetable - though I know that she would do it for food.  No matter.   It's been so smoky and hot that I don't want to go - although we had planned on it.   We'd take Jenna there in the afternoon but probably wouldn't spend a lot of money.                 Jenna asked if we could go today.   Her friend had called and asked if she could meet her.   I told her to see if she could just get a ride with her friend - i...

        We went to get the car washed yesterday.   Though not an automatic carwash, it brought up memories - though not in chronological order. Memory 1:         When Kimball learned to talk, he'd talk with such excitement that he'd often stumble over his words and came across as stuttering;   he would also put himself in third person.   Kimball LOVED vehicles, dump trucks, cranes, cherry pickers, tractors . . . you name it.   He really did know the names and what they did.   My mom thought he would be fascinated by the car wash as well.   He wasn't.   He was actually very freaked out.         "I'm sorry, Kimball," (once in the automatic car wash has started, the driver needs for it to finish before exiting) "but I really thought you might like the carwash."         "Kimball doesn't li-li-like the carwash. ...

            We have activities each week for the Children's Summer Reading Program.   Today's "Build" activity featured a solar oven and building S'mores. Yum!             JM took the children outside and placed marshmallows in the oven and explained how it would work.             We then came inside and had story time - only it was more of a question, answer and demonstration than straight reading.   We talked about the sun and moon.             When we finished with the book, Rindy was up with her "Pin-a-Moon-to-the-Sun" craft.   Each of the children were given black paper to create a moon.   After all the moons were cut out, each stood in line to paste their moon on the sun while wearing their solar glasses.   It was really fun.        ...

My mom would often tell us that when my brother Patrick was younger, his absolute favorite story (book) that he enjoyed reading was Joan Heilbroner's "Robert the Rose Horse" I would guess because it was a book he could follow and repeat as it was being told "His eyes began to itch, His nose began to itch. And . . .   ACHOO . . "             I was thinking about that last night as I was taking a shower trying to wash the itch away from the rest of my body.   I probably should not have gone to the pool yesterday.   The air temperature was about 10-20 degrees warmer than it has ever been (since I started taking classes anyway) though the water itself was a nice temperature.   I think I breathed in too much nasty air.               I had come to Oregon to get away from nasty air. I think I have used more eye drops this summer than I hav...

       One thing that I have really enjoyed about Oregon is watching the scenery change throughout the day.   For example, clouds will surround the hilltops in the morning and slowly lift before noon.   It’s a clean fog that moistens the air and gives it a freshness – at least six to eight months out of the year.   I haven’t seen it in the summer.        The air has been quite hazy lately.   My eyes burn or are itchy.   Roland and I have been sneezing.   The air reminds me of the poor air quality in Salt Lake at the beginning stages – except that it is HOT outside and no winter chill.   Smoke.   Lots of smoke.   And the fires are further from us this year than the year we had moved in.          The air conditioner had not been working at the library, and so it was announced that the library would close as it was seriously warmer in t...