The field corn is tasseling, the sweet corn is in and farmers are threshing wheat. This week has been hot for June but it cooled off by the weekend to make Trash and Treasures, the annual yard sale in Cross Plains, rather pleasant. It was also nice for the Hancock reunion we went to this evening.
MY WIFE CAN SING! I am so proud of Vicki! I have heard her sing around the house for years. She has a great voice and I have been urging her to share it at church. While she has been singing in the choir for years it has only been recently that she has sung in an ensemble and this is a big struggle as she suffers from severe stage fright. A week ago Wednesday Brent, our Minister of Music, called and asked her if she would sing a solo (the first verse to Fairest Lord Jesus). According to Vicki that call ruined a perfectly great day. She had a boulder in her stomach the rest of the week. Despite her anxiety she did sing Sunday morning and did a great job. She gives credit to God for the ability to stand on stage and sing praise to Him without throwing up. I was very proud of her.
The back story on this is that Vicki used to sing solos in church when she was little in Illinois. When they moved to Tennessee Pauline sort of warned Vicki that their new church did things differently than their old church. She has always felt this discouraged Vicki from ever singing solos again. We had not told anyone Vicki was going to sing so Pauline found out when she walked into Sunday school and looked in the worship folder. She teared up as she told her class this was an answer to her prayers. According to my mom, when Vicki sang Pauline was so overcome with joy that she had teared up again and was speechless. I think the hug and words of affirmation Vicki got from Pauline was the most treasured compliment she got that day.
TWELVE YEARS AND COUNTING. Sunday was our 12th anniversary! Our gift to each other was a night at Opryland Hotel. We left for our get away after eating lunch with the kids Sunday.
After eight years of Vicki being a stay at home mom and living on one salary Vicki and I just don’t look at things like the average American seems to do. We would not have even considered staying at Opryland Hotel if it weren’t for a really great deal Vicki found (we got 70% off on the room). After checking in we were walking around trying to figure out what to do and where to eat when we started laughing at ourselves. The truth of the matter is that we’re just too cheap to stay at a place like that.
What attracted us to Opryland Hotel was their Summer Fest activities, all of which were free. We spent Sunday evening listening to a great concert by a local band. They were followed by a performance of the Peking Acrobats. That was one of the most amazing shows I’ve seen. I had no idea human beings could do some of the things they did. After that we saw a water show (sort of like fireworks with a water fountain and lights).
Monday we went to the Frist Center for the Egypt exhibit. They had a lot of artifacts from ancient Egyptian tombs on display which was really fascinating. We were really astounded at what they would do to ensure their people had a good afterlife.
PINK MANIA. When I was a kid (or “Back in the day...” if you prefer) the only time kid oriented programming came on TV was for a couple of hours after school (there were no talk shows) and on Saturday mornings. Well, there was the programming on PBS too. Anyway, I think my all out favorite cartoon was the Pink Panther. Yes, I like Bugs Bunny and his friends, Tom and Jerry, the Three Stooges and the Little Rascals. I also considered myself a Mouseketeer as a kid. But Pink is my favorite. I think it is because the humor is based almost entirely on sight gags.
Since they don’t run cable TV where we live and we’ve never gotten satellite I haven’t seen a Pink Panther cartoon in about 30 years. This weekend I found a DVD with three hours of the Pink. I am in Pink Panther Heaven! (Yes, I am easily entertained.) The best thing is that I am winning my family over. Vicki was the hardest sell as she never enjoyed Pink as a kid. Now if I can just find Volumes 1 and 2 of that DVD set....
REMINISCING. With the Pink Panther on my mind and VBS from last week I was thinking about VBS when I was a kid. Our pastor then was Bro. Don Dorris. Bro. Dorris loved to collect John Wayne movies and shorts such as cartoons, Three Stooges and Little Rascals films. This was before VCRs hit the consumer market so all this was on 16 mm filmstrip. Every day during snack time at VBS we’d pile into the church basement with our Kool-Aid and cookies, turn off the lights and enjoy the show. Funny that I don’t remember a single Bible story from VBS but I remember those cartoons and comedy shorts. Maybe that’s why I do the videos of the kids at VBS today.
HOME--WHERE CHAOS REIGNS. We have been painting our bedroom. That means everything except the bed and free standing wardrobe have been moved into the hall. You have to be careful at night so that you don’t stub your toe.
The big problem has been prepping the walls to take paint. The paint on two of the walls has been flaking for quite some time. The odd thing is that this has only happened on those two walls and only within five feet of the floor. We’ve wondered what has been applied to the walls in the past. So anyway, I scraped and sanded. Then I scraped and sanded again. After scraping a third time I felt it was time to apply the primer. As soon as all the stubborn spots got wet they peeled right up. Hopefully everything that is ever going to flake off the walls has done so by now.
We estimated it would take two gallons of paint to do the job. Vicki kept trying to talk herself into liking the color as she painted. (I must agree that it was a bit strong.) Benton’s comment the next morning, “Why is it orange?” convinced her that something had to be done. She went to the paint store and found a great color to tone it down, and thankfully one coat did the job. Anyone need a gallon of “Why is it orange?” paint?
I am quite ready to get our bedroom back together. But just as soon as that happens we’ll tackle the foyer....
Joe
