Mishmash

The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be lighted.
- Plutarch, heard on "From the Earth to the Moon"

We were able to see Tom Hanks' 1998 HBO series "From the Earth to the Moon" for the first time last weekend when TNT ran it over Friday and Saturday, and then in a marathon on Sunday. Dear husband is two years older than me and was old enough to notice and follow the space program in the late 60s and early 70s. Not me! So I learned a lot, and it was really, really interesting.

Wives, housewives, homemakers, stay-at-home moms.

The next-to-last episode of "From the Earth to the Moon" was about the wives of the original nine astronauts. Absolutely fascinating to see their side, their lives as part of the space program. After the last episode Sunday night, I watched (recorded) the first episode of "Desperate Housewives."

Big contrast! The show on the astronauts' wives was more firmly rooted in a fascinating reality, as it ought to be. The Deperate Housewives show was definitely unreality TV, but it had some fun stuff that I could recognize in my own life. Not the adultery, though. Eh. Looking back, my favorite part would be the mom wading, fully dressed and in high heels, into the swimming pool at the wake to drag her three young sons out of the pool and march them home. Only a stretch of degree, not kind, from my life!

Reading

I'm actively reading:
Deacons and the Church
The Practice of Prayer; I'm leading a Sunday school class for adults on prayer. This is a great book.
The Theology of Worship; the worship committee members are reading this book.
--
Waiting for the library to reserve for me: Angry Housewives Eating Bonbons, for new MOMS Club book group
--
Son1 is reading:
The Silver Chair (Narnia) in a very nice edition put out by HarperCollins; nice wide margins, and well-spaced lines make it very readable.
--
Son2 likes:
Night Ride, a great picture book about a family going on an all-night car ride, and all of the things they see. I remember as a kid nighttime car rides being so fascinatingly different from daytime.

Allergic reaction update.

I filled my steroid prescription at Wal-Mart on Saturday afternoon. Even on Claritin and benadry I had hives all over my legs and was itching on the soles of my feet. Now I'm on the next-to-last day of the tapering doses of the steroid, and continuing with the Claritin and benadryl. Weird to have these drugs in my usually drug-free system. Unfortunately the hives keep threatening and yesterday morning they showed up my legs for about an hour or two before the morning meds kicked in (I hope). I wonder what will happen when the steroids are done, sigh.

New two-wheel rider.

Son2 (age 4 1/2) requested the training wheels be removed from his bicycle last weekend. He has spent the last few days tackling the new skills he needs, and his stops, starts, and turns are really good now. He spends a lot of time on his bike now, and the guys apparently went for a bike ride around the neighborhood yesterday evening while I was at a meeting. Wow!

Politics.

My meeting finished, unexpectedly, in time for me to hear the beginning of the vice-presidential debate last night on my way home, and then I watched/listened to the rest at home. Taking Son1 to school today, I parked behind a car with a bumpersticker for the president, and made a mental note to pick up a Kerry/Edwards bumpersticker for our car. Oklahoma is pretty much Bush country, so my hope is to add to the visual clues to other voices in our community, our neighborhood, our church, our school.

Fall's fallen.

Today is such an autumnal day! Gloomy morning but mild, a spritz of rain, a sideways dash of sunlight mingled with windchime-ringing breezes, and the prospect of thunderstorms and heavy rain this afternoon. After Son2's bike riding time this morning, he came in declaring his need for hot cocoa. Perhaps that's because he was wearing shorts and sandals with that long-sleeved shirt?!? Over the summer he had asked for hot cocoa several times, but in midsummer I was not willing to make a quintessential winter drink for being "chilled" in the sprinkler on an 80F day no matter how windy! Today, at last, I fixed the first cup of hot cocoa since last winter.