The gopher / seal has only shown itself one time since the trap has been placed outside of his hole.  Perhaps the fear of the trap has kept him away.  Now all that I need to do is grow some vines around it and make it a part of the lawn; a very short trellis.

One caterpillar has gone inside of its chrysalis.

The heat index in Huntington is about 132 degrees.  You should probably stay inside today.

We watched “Chariots of Fire” the other night.  I hadn’t watched it since my freshman year at Valley Forge with the Cross Country team (imagine that).  The scene where Erik describes God’s pleasure is very powerful: “God gave me a purpose but he also made me fast… I feel his pleasure when I run.”  The 1981 soundtrack could use a massive update, however.

Next movie: “The Mission” (1986) with Robert DeNiro.

The butterfly garden that Jack helped to plant is a nice garden.  It has very tall, feathery flowers that you want to touch.  I am hoping to get some of the same flowers outside of my living room window. 

Right now, there is a gopher trap outside of my living room window.  You should see this thing living underneath my front porch.  It lumbers around my garden like a seal.  Perhaps it really IS a seal.  So my neighbor and I set up a cage / trap and covered it with some nearby weeds.  Apparently, gophers are smart enough to know that a trap is a bad thing.  Hopefully the camouflage will ease its apprehension of eating the nicely served piece of lettuce inside.

Sister Sharon Rose instructed Gracie and I last night on the care of Monarch butterflies at Victory Noll.  Sister Sharon’s character is one that butterflies would be drawn to and light upon. 

Outside of the convent were milkweed plants mixed in with her flowers.  Most people view milkweed as a weed but Sister Sharon thinks that weeds are plants that people just don’t want in their yard.   Milkweed is the only plants that Monarch butterflies eat (who knew?).  Did you know that butterflies taste with their feet?

Gracie had a great time and chattered non-stop to Hope when we got home.  We were able to take 2 caterpillars home to watch their transformation into butterflies.  She is very excited and I’m surprised that she hasn’t named them yet.

More hazards of gardening… on Sunday night, my mother-in-law and I were removing some plants when a bee flew up my pants and stung me on the left hip.  Being allergic to bees, I began a sort of dance similar to the Holy Ghost Hop that the older women would do at church but including a new twist: a hip-slap to smash the intruder. 

Arriving quickly in the back yard, where the rest of my family, my sister-in-law and father-in-law were as well, I took my pants down very quickly to make sure that there weren’t any more creatures wanting to do damage to other discrete parts.  Hope, in shock because my pants weren’t where they usually were, began asking many good questions but also reached into her purse for some singles (that last bit may be a slight embellishment).

The little critter flew out of my pants onto the ground where someone stepped on him.  Insert “moral of the story” here:

Does anyone happen to know what Poison Ivy looks like?  It is creeping around in my backyard and I got a hold of some.  What a stupid plant!

I bought some beer the other night.  Two different gardners and a 500-page book on gardening told me that if I put some beer in ground level dishes, the slugs would drink it and die instead of getting fat off of my plants.  It worked.  Slugs think that they like Rocky Mountain refreshment in the specially-lined can but really, they don’t.

It is (still) official: we are (still) having a girl!  Yahoo!  Lots of squeals ahead.  Three proms.  Three weddings.  Three entrances into womanhood (gulp).  Three petite, blonde heads squealling around as their brother antagonates them.  And three different boyfriends coming around that I can wear my black socks and bathrobe (that I do not own yet) around.  I have been studying old “Cosby” show episodes to see how Dr. Huxtable embarrassed his children in front of their friends.

On Sunday, I began planting my Father’s Day presents into the ground.  I got flowers for our front flower beds; all shades of yellow and pink.  Some of them look like ice cream cones and others are simply called “Pinks”.  Gardening has become theraputic for me recently.  Transplanting and planting flowers over the past few months has helped transform my overgrown yard into something more attractive as well as unplug; it is refreshing and gives me a tremendous sense of accomplishment.

Hope is doing well.  The baby continues to cook and appears to be right on schedule.  There was a nation-wide Youth For Christ conference at Huntington that Hope was a big part of. 

I like Hope a lot.

Book Review

Skin Game by Caroline Kettlewell

 

One February day in the seventh grade, I was apprehended in the girls’ bathroom at school, trying to cut my arm with my Swiss Army knife.  It is always February in the seventh grade, that terrible border year, that dangerous liminal interlude (p. 3).

 

Transitions are difficult to manage.  Transitions can feel like the month of February: gloomy for months without any sign of spring.  Skin Game is a memoir about transitions.  Caroline Kettlewell is an intelligent woman who struggles with cutting and anorexia while transitioning from adolescence to adulthood.  Ms. Kettlewell describes her history with clarity, depth and a touch of humor that takes you by surprise given the gravity of the topic.  Reading Skin Game is not like witnessing an accident nor is it overly dramatic.  As you witness Ms. Kettlewell’s life unfold, her descriptions do not make you feel faint but instead, you feel connected to her story.  You smell the paint and disinfectant in the women’s restroom, hear the radiator clank and hiss, see her veins described as meandering like “a roadmap underneath her skin” (p. 5). 

 

Skin Game helps to make a difficult-to-understand behavior seem more comprehensible and less startling.  The book illustrates a behavior that many students use to manage their pain, hurt or stress.  Though you may have little experience with cutting or anorexia, you will connect with Ms. Kettlewell’s experiences because Skin Game is more than an insider’s view of self-injury.  It is a coming-of-age story about the struggles and “months of Februaries” that Ms. Kettlewell transitioned through while trying to construct her identity and place in this world.  

 

More information and a Reader’s Guide can be found at http://www.carolinekettlewell.com/index.html

Courage is one of the most admirable characteristics a person can have.  Bravery in the face of grave danger awe-inspiring; especially when it is exemplified by someone who’s position in life does not require them to be brave often.  Faith feeds courage.  Without a faith in something that is greater than you are, courage becomes frustrated.

 

Inspiration from courageous people has been a motivational factor in my recent reading.  Atticus Finch (Mockingbird), Uncle Billy Gable (Gathering of Old Men), Grant Wiggins (Lesson Before Dying) have all become role-models of courage in the face of seemingly insurmountable danger.  Atticus on the steps of the jailhouse under his make-shift light reading his newspaper, Gable and the other old men standing up to the racist attitudes of Sheriff Mapes and Fix Boutan and even the reluctance of Grant are all images that have been seared into my thoughts.

 

Courage is a great factor in my study of the Civil Rights movement.  Normal, working people lived very courageous lives in the looming shadow of Dr. King. Atticus Finch, Uncle Billy Gable and Grant Wiggins all help me better visualize and stand in awe of their struggle.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a great book.  I finished it 6 days after I opened it up.  Watching the story unfold through the eyes of 8 year old Scout helped me to remember how children think (except that Scout had a much better vocabulary than any 8 year old that I know of).  Every neighborhood growing up has a mysterious (and heroic) Boo Radley in it.  Where my Grandmother Brown used to live on Oakwood Drive, my sister and I were certain that a large rock covered up a grave in her backyard.

I greatly admire Atticus as a father and lawyer and I am ashamed for many of the Women’s Circle members who viewed Tom Robinson’s final actions as “typical.”  There are many people today who have “typical” viewpoints about blacks and other people groups. 

Jem reminded me of Mr. Tavani’s oldest son, Vincent.  Both have a tremendous imagination and act a little older than their age.  It was funny when Scout realized that Jem was getting old and, therefore, becoming moodier.  Her resolution to Jem’s moodiness was that he simply needed to get beat up but she was too little to do it.

In church, the choir director’s (Zeebo) voice sounded like distant thunder.  Few words give better images and sounds in my mind than these.  Ms. Lee’s book painted many other pictures in my mind: the front porch, the pageant, the Courthouse, Mr. Elwell’s yard.  I guess that good writers have a way of helping you imagine the story.

I’ve discovered fiction and have also finished two other Earnest Gaines books (aside from A Lesson Before Dying).  A Gathering of Old Men and In My Father’s House were both very good books as well.  Definately read Old Men if you get some time.  I’ve begun Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead on a suggestion by Jack Heller.  Thus far, it has been a good read.