Fall recital

It's been a very musical week. Thursday, Nov. 13 was Ri's recital at a local nursing home. When we left to go to it, I realized I had forgotten the camera and turned around to come back (I wasn't very far) ... only to realize, after all that, that the battery was dead. Father-in-law to the rescue with his camera, although I missed the first song: Scales and Arpeggios from Aristocats, as well as the group performance of Boogie, Woogie Bugle Boy, which was fun. This picture is while she sang "Scales," taken by grandpa. The camo headband and plastic bugle around her neck were props for "Boogie, Woogie."

Using my in-laws' camera, and not quite knowing how to work it as well as my own, I shot this for the last piece: You'll Never Walk Alone.


In other musical news, the church concert went well on Sunday (I sang in the choir and played flute), and Ri and I may do a duet for Christmas.

Well, Thanksgiving is coming up and I get the bird. :) I've only done a turkey 1 or 2 times before, so I'll be praying for things to go smoothly next week, between having the house clean and cooking a bunch of stuff I'm not used to. But, then again, I like doing different things. E.g. made soymilk and tofu today. Hmm, if my vegan niece shows up, maybe I can make her a Tofurkey. :D Ok, I'm not feeling that creative.

Of Ribbons and Rodents

It's been a rough month for our pets ... and our pocketbook. Sad to report that our guinea pig, Angel, is no longer with us. I think she had a pretty long life for a gp, dying, we presume, of old age. Rog found her "asleep" and buried her in the back yard while Ri and I were visiting family. It was sad to come home to and is a notable absence, although we're glad to be "down" to 3 pets at the moment.


Even worse, our beloved cat, Bob, nearly met with his end a couple weeks ago. A ribbon, no kidding, nearly killed him. He "ate" part of it, and his intestines got "scrunched up" on it, blocking him up and damaging his intestinal lining. He had to have surgery and about 4 days of intensive care, racking up quite a bill. He's still not quite back to his old self, but he's definitely making progress. I must say that the vet we use was very kind to us in the followup care after the surgery--even taking Bob to his own home to give him round the clock care. I understand that Bob wouldn't be left alone at his guest's home, but "insisted" on getting in bed with the vet by trying to open the door all night. Good thing he's so sweet! Well, sweet and sassy. That's him in the image above eying Angel (look for the eyes and their reflection on the table in the background!).

Stormy must've been a little worried to have lost Angel, then Bob, then the dog went to a friend's while we left for a weekend trip. Alone for the first time in years! A friend stopped by and checked on her, noting how starved for attention she was.

Well, I'm happy to report that all are well at this house at the moment. In fact, other than being crazier-than-usual busy, things are pretty good. Mariah got a lead part in her school play and has a recital from her voice lessons tomorrow night. I may post some pics/vids of that soon.

At this point, I'm just glad to have most of the dr. and vet appts. over with for a while! Too bad the bills are still "out there lurking"! Upcoming holidays, birthdays, and going to music practices and recitals is a welcome change to all of that! Speaking of which, here's a shout out to all my friends and family with late October and early November birthdays--a ton of ya--not to mention all the new babies!! Hope your November is going well.

Are you a good citizen?

Being a good citizen requires more than showing up at the voting booth. It means carefully considering the options before you. I've shown up in the past only to find confusing names and issues and felt ashamed for going in unprepared. Not anymore. I've learned and admonished myself enough over that to always prepare by checking out the issues and candidates ahead of time. Not that this is giving any readers much notice for this election, but a website I've found to be handy is "smarvoter.org." About to go there myself to do a bit more research on the issues after spending about an hour or so last night reviewing the candidates. It doesn't take that long to find out what you need to know to feel informed, but ultimately, you can't really know the candidate entirely from any information you can find at this or other sites. The next thing to do, then, is to leave it in God's hands after prayer. Really, unless we've done both, we're not being good citizens, nor good Christians.

One last pertinent comment regarding Obama's statement about him not being socialistic because he shared his cookies in Kindergarten. Roger pointed out, deftly: "But did your teacher make you share them." Aye, there's the rub, now, isn't it. Let's see it for what it is. Democrats, I'm all for many of the programs that you want to support, but let me choose when and how much to give, and it might surprise you how much you get. Christians are supposed to work hard to obtain excess--yes, that's right, excess. But what is the excess for? Ephesians 4:28 tells us. Sadly, I bet that I give more to multiple charities personally than many of the Democrats in office with much more affluence, and I'm not "giving until it hurts," by any means. When Dems put their money where their mouth is (not mine), I might consider their social work policies more seriously. Not that there aren't other glaring problems with their policies otherwise, namely abortion on demand.

Now, go do your part ... THEN vote. Let's not encourage ignorance or popularity polls. And let's continue to set the example for how to care for others without compulsion. That, my friend, is charity. Government is something else, entirely.

Addendum (11/4/08):
I meant to add this earlier. Reading with 'Ri last night brought us to Isaiah 37. Verse 14 is particularly appropriate today. Let's lay our ballots--and the nation--before God today.