Wicked

With some scouring, we were able to get tickets for Wicked before it leaves Chicago.

We drove downtown, found a great parking place, walked back to Macy's on State Street to see the window displays, Christmas tree(in their version of the OakGrill), and FAO Schwartz, none of which disappointed. While walking to Macy's we lucked into an outdoor Christmas market with this and that holiday crafts and some food vendors. It is the Daley Plaza, Chicago Christkindlmarket 2008 (aka Kringle Market), a traditional German Christmas Market. Huge Christmas tree in the background provided the context for another blurry nighttime photo


Wicked was wickedly good. We tried deconstructing the creative process wherein the writer hatches the original idea of taking an American classic and re-crafting it so that the villains become heroes and the heroes become less sympathetic; adds originality to the blend and delivers a product that stands along side the original OZ as though they were made for each other or at least crafted from the same cloth. Some of the favorite tunes include: "No One Mourns the Wicked", "Loathing" - (What is this feeling) and "Pop-u-lar". Good time....

Temple Day-Game Day-Parade Day

Early Friday afternoon Rindy, Brig, Blair, Julie and I headed off to the Chicago Temple. It takes around 40 minutes to drive there, not unlike going to St Paul. It is wonderful to attend the Temple with the your friend / wife and children. A peaceful uplifting afternoon. A great Thanksgiving tradition.

Friday was sleep in late day, temple day, game day, parade day, and Black Friday - hope for good retail sales day; all of which yielded good results. The new game we played extensively this weekend was "Wise or Otherwise". Unfortunately, the wrong people insist on , or is that persist in,winning

As the sun set and before it became too chilly we headed downtown to the Naperville Christmas parade. A truly small town type parade with local clubs and merchants, oddly enough 3 clubs of Irish dancers and of course Santa

You would think that seeing a blurring Santa would be the highlight but NO

the family loved the animal shelter group - they wanted to adopt a dog.

Time will tell if / when there will be a sequel to Eby - Chief - Scout

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a beautiful and temperate day in Naperville that rolled along in lovely fashion. Blair, Julie, Eden, and Brigham all safely arrived; Evan was somewhere serving in Chicago; and the rest of us were here at home. We dressed in our Black & White attire and headed to Aurora to a local church making-do as a food shelf for the day. Our role, as you can tell by the attire, was to serve food and accommodate, assist and chat with patrons who came in for their Thanksgiving meal. Another new tradition to start here in Chicago land. It was nothing spectacular but it was great to participate in and enjoy serving others for a few hours.

The Feast was grand.

As usual Rindy made a spectacular, flavorful, delightsome repas. The basic titles might be expected but the outcomes were far from normal as each had a taste of its own. My favorite was the new stuffing recipe. A home-made recipe of: sausage, garlic, apricots, mushrooms, pecans,onions, nutmeg, cinnamon, bread, celery, and all your basics. It was the best. (Even made for Sunday breakfast left-overs for Julie and Eden.) The sweet-potato boats were a close second

La Serviette

So Thanksgiving was kicked off in a different fashion this year - with 1,750 folded napkins. After being briefly trained in the fine nuances of linen napkin folding the family folded and folded for a local restaurant that was providing 1,750 Thanksgiving meals for those who had no place for their own this holiday. A great beginning of new traditions.

He Shoots. He Scores. GOALLLLLL

Josh isn't the only one in the family with a love of hockey.We have always enjoyed both watching the Wild and being wild ourselves whether in boot hockey, broom ball, ice hockey , or street hockey.We do not live on water anymore but we did bring our hockey goal, sticks, pucks and game with us.

This afternoon's games started innocently enough. First the re-assemblage of the net, (took abit to remember how) and then a few games in the driveway.The games were well played and in the informal games Parker was king. Unfortunately when it came time to keep score things were not as tidy. We played an accuracy game and the rankings were Rindy, Tim Parker.
And then the gloves came off and Tim & Rindy buried poor Parker.
Soiree Canadian and hockey night are back.

Parker was missing Rob & Matt, David, Ty & Al.

Churchill Woods ForestPreserve

Scouting and camping continue to be one of my passions and sources of enjoyment. The opportunity has arisen here in Naperville to work with the Varsity Scouts (14 -16 yr old boy scouts). The deacons and priests are larger groups so we invited ourselves (the teachers) to join in on a deacons camp out. The troop has not been going out quite monthly, so unlike in MN when we take advantage of November to do merit badge work in shelters and save our tent camping for January, this was a outdoor camping merit badge kind of outing.

Zero hero camping is similar whether you are in Minnesota or Illinois given the right temperature. Late night with its 15 Degrees Fahrenheit was chilly. The river we camped next to froze (not quite thick enough for ice-fishing, with fishing being one of the intended activities) but that did not stop us from having a grand time. Unlike a true zero hero there was no snow. A great group of scouts, leaders and dads, a great day in the BSofA

Of Aging Part Deux

President Hinckley taught that all need – a calling, a friend, and nurturing in the good word of God not only for salvation but for personal well-being. The application of those teachings typically defines how we should support new members of the church; however and perhaps moreover of late my ponderings have considered how this applies to the aging saint as well.

The only calling my 90 yr. old father has is as a husband and father – he cherishes that calling and gets frustrated when he can’t magnify and fulfill it to his fullest extent.

A friend – he has out lived most of them. All of his needs could be met in assisted living but it does not provide the love of friends gathered around him, to visit and support him physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Lastly he needs to be nurtured in the good word of God– he can’t get to the temple, he can infrequently get to church, yet he still yearns to be nurtured. He thrives on the visit of his home teachers, of a rich phone discussion on doctrine, on the sharing of one's sabbath oblations or daily studies.

So to me an answer for the aging amongst us lies in following the prophet, in addressing their needs as President Hinckley would. For us as a family to provide a friend, a calling, and nurturing.

ElfYourSelf

A fun part of the holidays that I am deeply involved in,includes the website http://www.elfyourself.com/ . A fun distraction from thee day to day grind.


Go elfyourself and spread the fun.

Go see parents cut the rug fantastic at: http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/kVR6B4BUCB9jlbcW

November Visitors

The favorite visitor . . .
. . . has learned to crawl

Big brother stops by with some pointers.

the pointers cleaned the floor - thank you

Peniata Party

So, it is grand to have visitors.

It is grander to have visitors you love.

The Peniata's were on their way home from a volleyball game in Indiana, so they stopped by for a quick visit and meal of scones. The home is always open and visitors always welcome and food close to ready to be served.

Sometimes I might be a little slow with the post but I will get there.

Ineffable or illegible

So we received our second letter today from Elder Evan Wilson. We know he is alive, still serving and doing fine. Beyond that the hand writing is perhaps too hastily scribbled that even the most discerning pharmacist might struggle deciphering the scratch. He is serving and he is happy. HURRAY.

Tine

Tine - A slender pointed projecting part; prong, the prongs on a fork.
Our kitchen table was always a place of discussion and words; and my father was a master of the language who delighted in nuance and meaning and choosing the right phrase to accomplish the right purpose. Language was at once science and art. As such many was the mealtime when the lexicon du jour escaped my understanding; therefore in close proximity to the kitchen table, resided the oxford dictionary in its entire splendor. For if a word meaning was beyond me perish the thought that it would be explained or contextualized, it would be accurately defined by searching its definition and etymology right then and there, that is why dictionaries exist. So this particular morning found me cooking an omelet and being instructed to keep my tines parallel to the surface of the pan. Me, oblivious and unthinkingly asked what that meant and was sent to the Oxford for clarification. It was there. Scroll forward several hours that same Saturday and as I turn the page to the beginning of the vocabulary section of the ACT exam and what pray tell was the first question: tine. I owned that test, I knew it was mine. Thanks to a father who loves words.

And so from that day forward, with recognition that my father clearly had something going for him I have pursued words. In college a group of friends and I played a version of the ‘stump the star’ by studying the dictionary and coming to the library testing each others word knowledge by seeing who could bring forth in conversation obscure words that the others in the group could not recognize or define. This was followed by late night scrabble games with my mother at the kitchen table, over a bowl of cereal, after a day at law school and studying. Scrabble was followed by Boggle when it joined the gaming world. More current gaming versions still include Scrabble, unfortunately I am on a losing streak with Parker though my words and connections have been splendid. And of course Quiddler, Quiddler the card game, with Scrabble type attributes that is enjoyed with Grand Parents, SJ & Dale, Rindy and me, and the kids.

Gaming has only been a part of the continuation of the love of words. That same large Oxford dictionary now resides next to our kitchen table, a little worse to wear around the binding. But there are also the word regularly appearing articles that are a source of regular pleasure. Of course there is the bathroom distraction of Word Power from Readers Digest where you can flip back and forth and verify the accuracy of your definitions. More compelling is In a Word by Barbara Wallraff in The Atlantic. I truly enjoy Word Fugitive as well as the general article the last of which defined the average college graduate being familiar with some 75,000 words. www.wordcount.org which is an interactive presentation of the 86,800 most frequently used English words. Test yourself one some recent article from the La Times which included:
Quick Vocab Quiz:
Phantasmagoria
Bucolic
Aesthetic
Soupcon
Diminution
Schadenfreude
Contretemps
Vicissitudes

The answers
Phantasmagoria - A fantastic sequence of haphazardly associative imagery, as seen in dreams or fever.
Bucolic - Of or characteristic of the countryside or its people; rustic.
Aesthetic - The branch of philosophy that deals with the nature and expression of beauty, as in the fine arts.
Soupcon - A very small amount; a trace:
Diminution - The act or process of diminishing; a lessening or reduction.
Schadenfreude- Pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others.
Contretemps- An unforeseen event that disrupts the normal course of things; an inopportune occurrence.
Vicissitudes- A change or variation

And of course my favorite weekly fix from the NY Times, On Language by William Safire; an erudite exposition that normally devolves the etymology of some turn of phrase, for example this week he examines “let’s do this”.

When all is said a done, it is a hearty thank you to my father and mother for introducing me to and welcoming me to the world of words.

FROG

Our journey with amphibians has been a long tradition of unknown origin. There is the loving sobriquet of 'Uncle Toad' which somehow worked into Sally's children's vocabulary describing Tim; and the so labeled football jersey which Mackey wears to this day as sleeping attire. Perhaps it was the perpetual nature of frogs in the swimming pool which linked grandma and grandpa to frogs; saving swimming ones and disposing of drowned ones; which in turned led to a collection of frog related paraphernalia. Today a large amphibian demarques parents home by being sentinel in the hallway. The majority of their frogs becoming the Diaspora as they were bequeathed to miscellaneous grandchildren.

However, last night FROG took on new meeting as we celebrated a year of "hopping to it" with the Young Women in Excellence program who's annual theme had been:

Fully

Rely

On

God

I must admit it is a metaphor I had not heard before but one which I immediately connected with as the main speaker laced her presentation with Frog related discussion, including gifting each of the girls a stuffed frog at the end as a remembrance. Real peace and comfort come from knowing that we are doing what the Lord expects us to do and fully relying on Him to give us the support we need. From the guide to the scriptures: To rely upon or place confidence in someone or something. In spiritual matters, trust includes relying on God and his Spirit.

• Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, Prov. 3: 5.


• Rejoice and put your trust in God, Mosiah 7: 19.


• Whoever puts his trust in God shall be lifted up at the last day, Mosiah 23: 22.


• Whoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, Alma 36: 3, 27.


• Put your trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good, D&C 11: 12.


• Let him trust in me and he shall not be confounded, D&C 84: 116.

A FROG approach looks good.

Introducing Elder Evan

So this has been a quick transition into the field of service. Since we last posting, Rindy made the Mr Mac loop in SLC, dropped in Mpls with Evan, and today Evan became Elder Wilson.

He was set apart by our Stake President Peterson after church today, what a great experience. It was tangible when he set him apart as a full-time missionary - not just in terms of how real the situation was but how right the calling is. To our surprise when Evan was asked if he had a missionary scripture theme, he replied yes, it was Romans 15:20-21, a powerful and appropriate choice, though we wonder when in his studies he had made that decision.

Tonight we went to the mission home to drop off Elder Wilson. We met with his Mission President, President Roach and his wife

and also Evan's companions, Elder Castillo and Elder Thompson both of Florida. What great people, a very tangible confirmation of that as well. The president chose some of his best to serve with Evan for which we are very grateful.

Evan gave us a handshake and a hug and hit the road with his new companions for the next month. Serving in the Westchester Ward of the Chicago Stake.

We believe in miracles and the power of prayers. Please keep Evan in yours