Confederates in the Attic

Not a new book but one which I recently read and enjoyed is CONFEDERATES IN THE ATTIC: DISPATCHES FROM THE UNFINISHED CIVIL WAR by Tony Horwitz. it is a well-wriiten , engaging, and compelling book. Not a quick read for me but a thoughtful read. He explores his own fixation with the Civil War and the book is part exploration of his fascination and part historic review of the south.

Those who know me, know that I have been challenged by southerners and their life view. True there are many a great individual southerners (read Honor), and many a good  attribute and lifestyle to the south ; but the under currents as explored by Horwitzz are things that challenge me. He  "refers to regional memory, the importance or lack thereof yet attached to this momentous national event. As Horwitz visits the sites throughout the South, he encounters unreconstructed rebels who still hold to outdated beliefs. He also meets groups of “reenactors,” devotees who attempt to relive the experience of the soldier’s life and death. One of his most disheartening and yet unsurprising realizations is that attitudes towards the war divide along racial lines. Too many whites wrap the memory in nostalgia, refusing to look beneath the myth. Too many blacks dismiss the war as meaningless to them or to their present existence."

Some insightful quotes include:

" You Wear Your X, I'll Wear Mine" ( the one the X in the rebel flag and the other Malcolm X)

" The two men had walled themselves inside a stockade or their own creation and erected around it an ideological deadline?"

"The  issues at stake in the Civil War - race in particular- remain raw and unresolved, as did the broad question the conflict posed: would America remain One Nation?"

"The  past had poisoned the present and the present, in turn, now poisoned remembrance of things past."

Veterans Day

Neither my father nor my father-in law, nor for that matter my mother-in-law ever made a big deal about their years of service during World War 2. Nasty times and long service. I am grateful for their sacrifice and safety. I've never had the interest, desire, motivation to join one of the armed services. Again, I am grateful for the many who have and do. They deserve more than a day.

Naperville has a nice salute with a community hill with 2012 flags and a short service. There are five veteran memorials in Naperville , these photos are from earlier in the day before the rain.

Thanks Vets.

End of the Volleyball Season

Rindy is one of the most productive people I know. Not busy for the sake of being busy but always actively engaged in adding value and  creating. Mackey has played many a volleyball game as her high school volleyball draws to a close; and those games have created opportunities for many a stitch. The fruits of which our in our home. For those who have seen her stitching - here is evidence of closure. The Crab and The Lobster - lovely companions. Its more than just spread sheets, sheet rock, seminary, and spades full of dirt for this talented woman.

Holidays On the Way

The snow isn't flying
The porch furniture has been put away
The family has not gathered
The calendar is filling.

The lights are up in downtown  Naperville
Hence the holidays are coming

Round Table

The first Thursday of the month typically, as it has for years, will find me at RoundTable. Its name is derived from King Arthur's famous table in the round where the knights gathered to discuss the affairs of the nation. In these days it is used to describe the monthly training of the Boy Scouts of America. In candor, many is the night when I have come home from a training session and said the definition of Round Table is "why do in 5 minutes in what you can do in 50". Though I must admit I have felt that much less frequently here in Three Fires Council than up north in Northern Star Council.

Our Stake YoungMen Presidency instructs a Varsity Scout session each month. It is attended by LDS units and we usually get about 50% of our units in atttendance. They tend to be the same ones making it and the same ones missing it.

Tonight's  subject was pioneering with a focus on knots. There are multiple videos that you can use to refresh the skill.Knots have been an issue for me throughout the decades of scouting. I learn them; I practice them; I apply them; I teach them; I forget them. So its always a humbling experience having to relearn what I have theoretically learned before. I now have the added challenge that knots fall into the fine motor skills that I am impaired by P, a double strike. Nonetheless, as a group activity we did " Cross The Alligator Pit". In the midst of said our Stake President dropped by for a visit and so he volunteered to walk the A-frame across the pond.

All in a night's fun

D'Bears

Some opportunities are too fun , too much an adventure, too much an event that they are not to be missed.  Such was Monday night. Blair and I had the opportunity to attend Monday Night Football - where the Chicago Bears hosted theDetroit Lions in Soldiers Field

Sitting in a sky box is pretty cool by itself. One that feels suspended over the playing field is even cooler. The food was plentiful and satisfying.

But clearly the highlight was being on the field prior to the game. Like being court side at a basketball game - the dimension of the truly big men is enhanced being up clodse - they are BIG.

Blair and I also discussed what an ego boost being under the lights, being them focused of unbridled attention - week after week, would really be an ego boost thinking it was all about you.

It was a good night- even for erst while Vikings.

Home Coming

How does an away game feel like a home coming - go watch BYU play Notre Dame and you will see how. 6-8 thousand of our closest Cougar fans crawled out from every rock to attend.

I'm not an over-the -top football fan but ND knows how to host a football game. Thousands descend on their middle of nowhere campus to participate in a broad range of pre-game events. I was clearly enraptured by them - I like their style of pre-game.

The game was disappointing in that they loss but satisfying given I was sure they were going to be destroyed and they did just fine - thank you very much.

We saw family,
We saw friends,
We saw alumni,
We saw folks from Illinois, Minnesota, Utah, Virginia

It was an event.
The best of which was spending the day with Blair.

Row Ride Run

Our Stake Young Men sponsor two campouts a year expressly and exclusively for the Varsity Scouts (teacher quorum - 14- 15 year old). They serve several purposes: provide a spiritual teaching moment with a member of the stake presidency, model how to run a teacher's age outing, challenge the boys and have fun.

This activity met all the objectives. Friday night President Duffield spoke about Fighting and conquering our Goliaths - sharing a great story about confronting a downy red-pecker, and seeing and acknowledging the Lord's hand.

It was fresh but not cold as the boys kayaked 2 miles on the Fox, biked 10 mile through the forest reserve and then brought it home with a 3 mile run. there were skeptics but we had a good turnout and people were pleased.A challenging day but one which the boys enjoyed and rose to the challenge.

Je Me Souviens

So for our birthday, christmas, anniversary and miscellaneous presents Brigham gifted us with a airplane trip to Montreal- the land of the Mission - Quebec Canada. Rindy and I haven't taken a trip with just the two of us since forever. Thanks to Brigham, and Mackey juggling some things here alone, and Blair & Julie coming down to help Mackey with others - we were excited to go. Our goal wasn't per-se to do any particular thing but to spend time together and see a few things I had never seen before, and for Rindy all of Quebec was a first.

traveling partner

We started with Sharon Vermont and visiting Joseph Smith's birth place. Its in the middle of nowhere; but a lovely nowhere. its a peaceful, reverential place. One of the highlights was a new church video about the family that is part of their presentation. As the world debates the nature and definition of families - the Lord is constant and this video teaches the simple doctrine.

it was a beautiful day for a road trip

Thanks to the Internet we drove through Montpelier and search for the top restaurants. As rindy drove I read aloud the reviews and we voted. SALT.  It is a tiny 16-seater with locally sourced ingredients and a menu that changes regularly. Dad would have loved the short ribs and we loved everything we ate. A delightful and tasty choice. Equally in the middle of nowhere. But if you find yourself there - we recommend it and give it a 5 star rating.

Back to Montreal. In candor we drove many a mile, but our goal was to spend time together talking and once you get your 'Road Warrior" mindset. Its as easy to talk in a car as any where.

Montreal - did it look the same? Its funny how much I remembered and how much I forgot. The french slide back easily, my conjugation reeked, but the core was there. Remembering streets and roads, and areas just didn't happen for me. I remembered the teaching highlights of the mission.

We stayed in a downtown Marriott on the 34th floor and had a panoramic view of the City. It provided a quick orientation of where what was. Saturday morning we arose early and went walking the old city of Montreal. There is no better fashion, at least in our view, to quickly get a feel for a city than to walk it. WE came across the shooting of a movie set in the 19th century and they had quite a few buggies going back and forth; went to the cathedral and out to the harbor and though the town.

Afterward we drove over to the Temple and enjoyed  a session together;  Clearly, there was no temple there back in 73.It is the same make and model as the St Paul, only done right, with added space for coats, waiting, eating - go figure - glad to see them apply the acquired wisdom. I visited with a few people that I knew and enjoyed reconnecting.

We followed the temple with a drive up to Mont Tremblant. (check the link out their photos are better than mine)I never knew Quebec and such hilly (small mountainous) terrain. It was beautiful. The city itself was about 2 - 2 1/2 hours north of Montreal. We stayed in a small  village reminiscent to a vail or a park city but quainter and more european.

Might as well fess up here and now. We thoroughly enjoyed Quebec and would go back. It has multiple enjoyable venues and  has the benefit of being foreign all the while being very close. The shops were as they should be a once again we were more than pleased with the food. We were guided right and simply enjoyed .

the next leg of the journey was to another place I had never been - Quebec City. Lots of one-way roads made navigation a bit tricky but we figured it out. We stayed in the heart of the town and walked the evening in a light mist while finding an outdoor skating rink which in turn led to us discovering another great restaurant _ we did remarkably well in the food department this trip. The morning was spent wondering the old city, over looking the St Laurence, cathedrals and forts. It was great.

The trip reminded us once again that we are first and foremost friends who enjoy each other's company, we are complementary travel companions, and still in love. 

Mysteries of vernacular

Words have always had a fascination to me. I think the origin lies in my father having a large OED sitting in the kitchen adjacent the table; and so as we conversed at meal time he would and could drop a Bon mot whose meaning escaped me at which point he would refuse to define it but would insist that I dive into the dictionary and extract the true and contextual meaning from its depths.

My most remembered experience of this came on the morning of my taking the ACT. I was preparing eggs on the stove top and father corrected my use of tines in the process insisting that they be parallel to the bottom of the pan for optimal results. I foolishly asked what a tine was, I say foolishly for by this time his habit of sending me to the dictionary was well entrenched, and he sent me to the dictionary once again insisting that to do so would allow me to master and own the word - I did. Imagine my surprise when a few hours later, literally the first word in the vocabulary section of the ACT was to define tine. I knew that I would own that section of the test.

The interest in words continued in college where my senior year lunch group, would sit around the table and play stump the chump. We'd compete with each other to know a word that no one in the group could define. If you won the others bought your lunch. I won many a Monday lunch that way.
It was a great game. This game led to many another game of Boggle, Scrabble, Quiddler, and Words with Friends.

I enjoy reading about words, their etymology, usage or a well turned expressio. The Atlantic, long a source of engaging word articles recently review The Mysteries of vernacular. "Using paper cutouts and stop-motion animation, the delightful and informative Mysteries of Vernacular series brings the pages of antique books to life to tell the stories of everyday words." The article (click) is well worth the read.; but if you don't have time at least watch this video clip: