March 13, 2006
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Monday, Monday…
Spring break is over! Let me weep into my decaf Lady Grey. Actually, for a first day back to school, this one wasn’t so bad. The weather was very mild and lovely (near or at the 70 degree mark!), and the children and I walked with the Wilsons. Then, while Nathan was at orchestra, the kids jumped on the trampoline and had a great time. I pulled the hammock out onto the deck (it’s a free-standing hammock), got a big pillow and a pile of AP exams, and had a nice time grading essays. We are supposed to get thunderstorms (which would be neat), but not much has happened yet. Maybe they missed us.
Sunday night was our second Lifeline at our house. Lifelines are small-group Bible studies in the evening which are geographically split so that the people who live near us (within 15 minutes) are “assigned” to our house. This past week, we had 35 at the house. After the study, we dug into the snacks and had a great time of fellowship. Wish you were here, Loeschers and Dohners, former Lifelines members! I made Pear Custard Bars!
Does anyone do anything interesting for St. Patrick’s Day? When I was in high school, some friends of mine (Bonsalls, for those who know) used to have a St. Patrick’s Day party. We all dressed up in dorky costumes featuring green. They made “slime punch” which was some sort of ginger ale/Kool Aid/sherbet concoction. But, I’ve not carried on the tradition.
I finished reading an interesting book last night, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. What makes this novel unique is that the narrator is a teenage boy with autism and a gift for numbers and mathematics.
The story begins when the narrator, Christopher John Francis Boone, discovers his neighbor’s dog–dead–impaled with a pitchfork. Christopher decides to investigate this mystery and turn it into a book. But, this novel is not a detective tale. Instead, it is a view of the way an autistic person sees the world. Subtle nuances of expression are foreign to him. Jokes are incomprehensible. Imagination and pretend are forms of lying in Christopher’s world. We get to empathize and understand his thinking and appreciate his genius for numbers.
However, the book does not glorify this young man. He curls into a ball and “does groaning” when things are stressful. He hides, wets himself sometimes, and performs complex mathematical equations in his head with equal emotion.
The story does not linger on the death of the dog. It moves forward, giving us a slice of the life of Christopher Boone. The terror with which he views ordinary events (like a handshake or a trip to the store) are neatly juxtaposed with the seeming dismissal of life-changing events (like the death of a parent).
There is profanity in the novel. His father and people he encounters casually (policemen, people on the street) swear, but Christopher himself does not. There are a number of English words that I didn’t know (slang from England). What’s a “skip”? A stoop? An alley? This novel would be appropriate for upper high school to adult readers.
Comments (4)
We usually have the traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner. It’s a huge favorite here. People around here LIKE the smell of it cooking. I usually cook two briskets, and even then, there are seldom leftovers enough for a second meal. Lunch the next day takes care of it. We are also careful to wear green somewhere. Pinching happens.
We don’t wear orange. Because, of course, orange is the English color. We wear green. We used to eat corned beef and cabbage – don’t anymore, although we both love it. We laugh at our St. Patrick’s Day signs that have been on our front door for the last 25 or so months. They are appropriate once a year.
We have had a St. Patrick’s Day Dinner at our home with friends in the past. There’s not a stitch of Irish in David or me, so we do it just for fun! I made stuffed green peppers, pot of gold soup (potato soup), blarney bars for dessert, and I get chocolate gold covered coins from Wilbur Chocolate in Lititz for a special treat at the end of the rainbow. We aren’t doing that this year. In fact, we are having friends over for Italian–I figured spinach lasagna and spinach gnocchi will be green enough. I’ll wear my Green Bay Packer’s sweatshirt to top it off. Ahhh, yesterday was nice. I sat out and read on the patio while Eric napped. I felt good to be warm finally! Hope you have a good day.
Thanks for your message! I enjoyed reading your posts as well! The book you just finished reading sounds interesting. I might have to give it a try! I’m currently readying Eldest by Christopher Paolini. EXCELLENT book! It’s the second in a series of three. It’s science fiction and entwines the typical elves, dwarfs, and humans with dragons. Probably good for advanced middle school kids and well suited for high school and up!