a life beyond running shoes.

artistic photo by my husband.... me and peanut walking down the lane...g'ma, cousin, and peanut. g'pa and little bit - who enjoyed each other fully!!! and here is my absolute favorite.

four days, 2200 miles, 12 states, 9 movies, and turkey day at cracker barrel. leaving flordia..... on monday just after the lakeland memorial service. green valley, illinois walking across the corn fields. great-great-grandparents house in the midst of the trees. barn and road to houses. our family in front of house where great-g'parents friends lived. my mother-in-law's g'parents lived down the road. my husband a pallbearer....as we bury his great-grandpa. all celebrating a life well lived!

Go Down, Death Weep not, weep not, She is not dead; She's resting in the bosom of Jesus. Heart-broken husband--weep no more; Grief-stricken son--weep no more; Left-lonesome daughter --weep no more; She only just gone home. .... And Jesus took his own hand and wiped away her tears, And he smoothed the furrows from her face, And the angels sang a little song, And Jesus rocked her in his arms And kept a-saying: Take your rest, Take your rest. Weep not--weep not, She is not dead; She's resting in the bosom of Jesus. by James Weldon Johnson emailed by my sister-in-law (i skipped a few verses) my husband lost his grandfather this week. it is not like losing a distant member of the family that you saw once every couple of years.... for his family it is the patriarch of a close-knit family. they lost the man that was part of the daily fabric of their childhood. it is the passing of the man who shaped the structure of a family i am more than blessed to have jo...

five seasons took us two years.... on netflix since we don't have hbo. we watched the final episode on monday night and watch some of the extras last night. we are officially done. i'm a bit sad and relieved. it was one of the best shows we got into. if you have missed it..... it is a cop drama about baltimore, maryland. of course, like most things, it is never just that. here is the re-cap: season 1 - the drug war season 2 - the docks season 3 - politics season 4 - education season 5 - media you hate the cops, like the drug dealers, despise the politicians, feel for the unions, hate the system. it gets complicated and tries to deal with the reality of what city politics look like. it is never simple nor or the characters. it is a show about the blight of our culture... those who have been overlooked, those who profit, those who twist & shape the news, what truth really is, etc. a lot to deal with in a television show... which is why it was on cable. but one thing a...

but don't let that fool you into thinking i had a ton of time or that it was all that compelling. it was more that my train got stuck, i gave my midterm, and was more desperate for resolution that led me to finish so quickly. it wasn't that it was a bad read, it was interesting. i like the parts of the story focusing on the woman that raised phoebe - the daughter given away because she had downs syndrome. it was more that the impact of the dad's lie that disturb me in such a way that i needed resolution at the end. i didn't hate the dad but it was a close emotion because of his ignorance, his lack of faith in his wife, and his impact on the lives around him for that lie. argh! i am glad to be finished. i think i am glad i read it, but i think i would enjoy the lifetime movie more. less engaging and shorter. now, i can get back to something less light and quick. and one last thought, i didn't get the relevance of the title. if caroline was the memory keepe...

in church yesterday, our oldest was singing along with the songs that he thought he was singing. we were visiting a neighborhood church that had a 6 person choir. this doubled the number of people in the actual sanctuary....we tripled the number. here are some of the song highlights: real words: sing hosanna, sing hosanna, hosanna in the highest. his words: so hannah, so hannah, hannah lives on a rock [hannah was our babysitter last spring before she deserted us for college] real words: there is none like you god, god there is none like you. his words: god does not like you, god does not like you. of course the PA system was so loud that no one was able to hear any of the mistakes.

i promise. this picture, of course, is just going to fuel my brother's impression that i forced my child into the mouse costume. NO, i didn't not. i was voting for a ninja or pirate. the mouse was our compromise. he loves it and fought to wear it almost everyday!!! i promise. he could have just as easily been grumpy the dwarf with that face. i mean the jack-o-lantern looks happier. he could not understand why we had to "march" in the parade before we got treats..... ah.... three years old. and of course little bit had no idea he was in a hand-me-down costume. i promise, lu, i won't always make him wear what his big brother wore the year before!!! once we found a friend and "hit some houses" (exact words ) we finally got a smile. we ended up having a great time and even stopped by some of the houses on our own block....which we found out is not really a trick-or-treat kind of a street. maybe some more kids might change that - or maybe just my really ...