And the Bride Wore Red

(Not really, but the title was catchy.)

Here are some pictures of our Independence Day celebration.  It went off mostly without a hitch.  Of course, there was the approximately 30 minutes of rising panic that I felt when I could not find Gannon in the small crowd.  He’d gone with his dad to the bank and did not tell me.  I was glad to see him when they showed up.  And that is all I will say about that.

The other hitch was that I sat on a concrete wall that turned out to be the home of a nasty colony of ants.  They got a bit bristly when my hinder parts disturbed their entryway.  I can’t blame them, really.  I do wish though that they had not defended their territory with so much biting vigor.

I didn’t get pictures of that, though.  Sorry.

We were treated to a fly-by of two planes.  I can’t tell you what kind they were.  Loud and fast ones.

Brian sprouted antennae at some point during the day.

Note Acadia’s socks.  She sees no need to match them.  Neither do I.

Random interesting guy, above.

We ran into a few similarly-dressed friends along the way.  We made them feed us dinner.

That thing on her cheek was a mermaid.

This Guy Is a Prophet.

In 1971, Urie Bronfenbrenner’s work, Two Worlds of Childhood, was published.  I know nothing about it beyond this one quote in The Well-Trained Mind, by Susan Wise Bauer.  In light of the incidents of kids shooting kids in schools, I think this man’s work perhaps deserves a closer look.  Here’s what he says, with SWB’s words in regular print, his in bold.

Thirty years ago, Cornell Professor of Child Development Urie Bronfenbrenner warned that the “socially-isolated, age-graded peer group” created a damaging dependency in which middle-school students relied on their classmates for approval, direction, and affection. He warned that if parents, other delights, and older children continued to be absent from the daily life of younger children, we could expect “alienation, indifference, antagonism, and violence on the part of the younger generation.”

Interesting.

The Well-Trained Mind has a nice chapter on the question, “But what about socialization?”  If you even mention, in a crowd of people who are not familiar with it, the idea of teaching kids at home, this will come up.  If you’re like me, at first you’ll launch into a list of ways you personally make sure your child has plenty of chances to interact with peers: church, sports, home school group events.  In other words, I bought into the idea that by not putting my child in school, I was depriving him of something necessary to his complete development.  After reading this chapter a few times (at least it took me a few times for it to soak in), you’ll understand that this is simply not true.  Your family is arguably the best, at the very least an appropriate, social setting for your children, and better prepares them for life in “the real world” than a classroom can.

By the way, in case you’re curious, William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies came out in 1954.

Acadia in Boston, by Gannon

I Don’t Make These Things Up.

We ate strawberries and whipped cream last night after Gannon’s ball game.  As we sat in the living room savoring the yummy-ness, I wondered aloud, “What did our pioneer ancestors ever do without carrageenan?”

Gannon asked, “Was she the inventor of whipped cream?”

Ms. Geenan, I salute you.

She’s Got a Collection!

We were out in the “garden” and Acadia came up to me excitedly, with an insect carefully balanced in a little shovel.

Mama, I decided I am gonna add this humongous, scary-looking black bug to my collection!

I love this girl.

Sorry, no photos this time.

Oh, and “garden” is in quotation marks because it’s just a semi-randomly planted front yard. I call it a garden because it sounds pretty. It’s not very, really. I have a place where I want to put some vegetables. Cats keep defecating in it. Not so sure I will ever get around to that veggie garden.

We Went to Boston.

Here are some pictures of our little getaway we had this weekend.

The kids on the T.  This was actually taken on the way out of the city.  On the way in, Acadia clung to her daddy’s chest like a marmoset.  At least I think she did.  Or maybe I am thinking of the word marsupial.  Anyway, she was a little nervous.

Harbor seals at the New England Aquarium.  We keep calling them sea lions, though.  I hope they are not offended.  After all, we live in a landlocked state.  What can you expect?

A fountain in the Rose Kennedy Garden.  The kids wanted to run around and around on that bench part.  I, being their mom, would not let them.  It is my job to forbid all sorts of fun things like that.

The kids splashed in it instead.  Acadia found three pennies in the fountain and put them in her pocket.  I hope that does not mean she is now responsible for granting the wishes associated with those coins.

A man in the park.  He later took a nap.  I found him interesting but was too timid to go talk to him.  So I took a spy picture of him instead.

We tried to leave Gannon locked behind this iron fence, but he made so much of a fuss that we relented.

Looking out into the harbor.  At least, one of us is.  The other is asking repeatedly to be lifted up.

Gannon enjoyed looking at boats in the harbor, especially the tugboats and Coast Guard.

After that, he used it to shoot down a helicopter.  That’s my boy!

This guy…I don’t know what he was doing.  I really want to know what he’s got playing in his headphones.  He stood in the middle of this compass rose for quite a while, facing east, eyes closed.

In Case You Need a History Project and You Studied Medieval Times This Year

How to Make a Viking Shelter

from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit
This is a great water-tight shelter that’s designed to retain the heat of your body to keep you warm. The concepts have been proven by Bear Grylls.

Steps

1. Find a location. Choose a hill or raised area to prevent puddles of rain from forming inside the shelter.
2. Gather materials.
   • Find logs, large rocks or thick branches for a strong frame.
   • Find pine or fir branches, leaves, moss or clumps of grass to cover the frame.
3. Make the frame.
   • Place logs, large rocks or thick branches into the shape of a coffin.
   • Make it two feet high and leave an opening at one end.
4. Cover the frame.
   • Tightly layer and weave pine or fir branches over the “entire” frame.
   • Add layers of leaves, moss or clumps of grass until the shelter is water-tight.
5. Add a floor.
   • Add layers of moss or clumps of grass over the floor of the shelter.
   • This will make a soft, comfortable bed and retain the heat of your body.
   • Sleep with your head towards the opening.
6. Make a door.
   • Weave pine or fir branches into a wide branch that will cover the opening.
   • Once inside, place the door over the opening.

Tips

• Make a fire near the opening to provide light and heat.
• Because the shelter is designed to hold heat, you’ll be warm through most of the night!

Things You’ll Need

• Logs
• Large rocks
• Thick branches
• Pine or fit branches
• Leaves
• Moss
• Clumps of Grass

Related wikiHows

• How to Go Canoe Camping
• How to Keep Yourself from Getting Scared at Camp
• How to Repair a Broken Zipper Slider
• How to Camp in the Rain

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Make a Viking Shelter. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Being Berean

I like to listen to sermons.  Preaching is cool.  I love that my husband has several hours of sermons from different preachers in our iTunes library.  We’re discriminating listeners, however.  It’s not (only) the format of communication that delights us.  It’s the unpacking and giving of the word of God that makes me happy.  Preaching is the way God designed for his word to be brought to people, which is what makes it so great.  But if it is not the word of God, but of someone else, that is presented, the preaching is no longer lifegiving.  In fact, it’s lifedraining if the errors and lies are not recognized.

How can a listener tell if a preacher is giving God’s word?  After all, he’s done lots more studying that I have, right?  And he maybe went to school to learn how to preach, and this is his job, so of course he is good at it.  By what authority can I challenge anything he says?

As a Christian, I have the Holy Spirit.  His presence makes the Bible understandable to me as I read and pray.  If what the preacher is saying is not supported by what God’s word (the Bible, Scripture) says, then he is either mistaken, deceived, or lying.  As “the average Christian”, I should be consistently reading the Bible and comparing what I read to the sermons I hear (and the books I read).  Some will be right on, some will be questionable, and some will be quite harmful.  Depending on the centrality of the issue to the heart of Christianity, I may continue to listen to the preacher (for instance, if he got some names or dates wrong).  Things like the following from these popular folks, however, make me want to vomit.

Creflo Dollar. “There is a way out of every negative situation you face in life. [Acts 14 - continue in the faith through many tribulations] There is someone who can help you no matter what you may be going through. [True - help IN our trouble.] There is a means of escaping times of despair, failure and darkness.  [Yes, death and eternity with God.] That way is Jesus Christ! Jesus is your Great Escape from bondage, sickness and financial hardship. [Why then was Jesus bound, wounded, killed and poor?] He is your means to bypass the snares of the devil and dance your way to victory every time.  [He is not a "means", he is the End; we are for him, not he for us.] By trusting Him and His Word in every situation [it's not about situations in this life, which is just a vapor], you will pass each test with flying colors, and move to the next level of success in life. [Success in this life is never promised in Scripture.]“   In short, SPEW.  [my comments added]

Joel Osteen. I looked through his writings on his website, including the 22-page emagazine, Hope For Today.  I see a lot of sentences saying that I am God’s friend, and that I can have success through Jesus.  If I asked the question from Acts 2, “What shall we do,” I would not find an answer.  The Bible answers this question this way “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  Joel Osteen’s organization leaves this out.  Without it, he is not preaching Christ.

Marilyn Hickey. (This is her salvation prayer.) “Heavenly Father, I acknowledge that I need Your help.  [More, we are dead, Romans 7.] I am not able to change my life or circumstances through my own efforts.  I know that I have made some wrong decisions in my life, and I turn away from those ways of thinking and acting that are not producing positive outcomes in my life. [Is this her way of saying that my evilness has separated me from God, and I want him to give me a new nature so I will bring glory to him?  Would that be a "positive outcome"?] I believe You have provided a way for me to receive Your blessings and help in my life [and save me from your eternal, just wrath]. That way is Jesus. [her emphasis] Right now, I believe and confess Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I ask Jesus to come into my heart and give me a new life born of Your Spirit. I thank You for saving me and I ask for Your grace and mercy in my life.  [including, I am assuming, in the life to come.] I pray this in Jesus’ name.”

I’ve just had these things on my mind lately, and wanted to share.

Kid Quotes

This morning we were going over our address during school.  I asked Acadia, who still can’t say the “r” sound, if she knows our town.  I told her it starts with “W”.

“Wuh…wuh….Wussia??” she asked hopefully.

Cute and funny, but no. 

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I asked Gannon if he knew where his sister was.  “She’s at the leutenant’s house,” he told me.

This was disturbing to me, since I had no idea whose house he was talking about.  I asked him again.

“She went over to show Audrey how empty the leutenant’s side is.”

OH.  He meant the other side of the duplex, which would house our TENANT if we had one.

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In our grammar class, we memorize little poems.  One is called “Work.”  Acadia is fine with it till we get to the last two lines, which she recites as:

Things done by calves

Are never done right.

Those of you who are familiar with First Language Lessons will know that it’s supposed to be “halves”, not baby cows!

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Edit: Here’s another one that just occurred.  The kids have started talking kinda goofy, like starting all words of a phrase with the same letter, or replacing one or two first letters with a different one.  Thus, television becomes bel-bah-bision, for instance.  This reached a new level of weirdness as Acadia washed up in the bathroom singing,

“Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah, tasing the Lord!”

Just what we need, a five year-old with a taser, tasing the Lord.  Now, if she’d ever heard of a taser, I’d be seriously worried.

Along the Ridge Trail

We took a walk at the Montshire Museum of Science this morning.  We’re members there and we love it!

Above: fiddleheads.  Below: noodleheads.

Above: I need to look up this flower.   Below: the boardwalk of the vernal pool.

Above: Gannon trying to catch mosquito larvae.  Below: reflections on the surface of the pool.  A vernal pool is one that dries up after spring is over.  During springtime, it is home to breeding frogs and salamanders (and mosquitoes).

Above: was this hemlock chewed by deer, porcupine, or something else?  It wasn’t Acadia; this much I know.  Below: kids not getting along. Boy taunting sister. Sister wanting to leave a space for Mommy, boy scooting over to sit in that space.

Above: bloodroot.  If you pick it, the stem oozes red-orange stuff.