Up for Air

I don't dare look at how long it's been since I posted last.  I'm not even sure my faithful readers are still checking in here.... Mom, Dad, are you out there? ;)   Anyways.  I've spent the entire day working on the analysis section of my senior paper that was due yesterday.  And, I'm not done yet.  But I'm going to bed soon anyways. I knew I was getting a little tired when I started assigning my survey participants names of literary characters.  I have Mrs. March, Mrs. Bhaer, Miss Ingalls, Mrs. Wilder, Miss Shirley, and Miss Huddleston.

My roommate was a sweetheart and did my dishes for me tonight.  She even packed up my beets that I cooked, cooled, and forgot while I was immersed in my analysis of my survey results.  I only asked three survey questions but most respondents gave multiple answers so that left me with lots of data to sift through.  And of course, how do I want to arrange it, represent it, or quote it?  So many options.  So out of time!

Fair Moments

After working in the County Fair Livestock Office for six years, I never tire of sharing the funny moments in the midst of the frenzy of fair.  Here are some of this year's "fair" moments:

"Ummm, excuse me?" A teenage girl and boy stand peeking in the door to the livestock office trailer.  I look up from the show paperwork I'm sorting and ask how I can help them.  "My pig ate my bill of sale," the girl replies.  I muffle my laughter and ask to see it.  The boy pipes in that they have a copy of it but they were told we need the original.   The paper is mangled and has a large snout shaped chunk taken out of it but all the pertinent details are there.  I grab the tape and a sheet of paper and use the new paper as backing.  The bill of sale salvaged, the teens head out to take their pigs through the weigh in.  I burst out laughing at the thought of what their FFA advisor's face would look like when they told him.  "My pig ate my bill of sale..."  Wonder if that pig got the taste for paper from a steady diet of homework?  Or better yet, who put the pig in charge of the bill of sale?

Every group has "special people."  Fair is no different.  I actually kind of want a shirt that says "NOT a member of the 4-H Drama Project"  But, both sides of the livestock aisle has its share of drama.   Oddly enough, the people who create the drama are the ones who are most passionate (or competitive) about their animals, children, or event.  In the six years I've been in the office, I've heard a lot of drama.  My favorite this year was the rumor being spread about during weigh in that the scale was 70 lbs off.   Each animal has a specific weight range required to be shown.  If the scale was that far off we would have either a lot of underweight or overweight animals.  The idea that the scale was 70 lbs off was laughable. 

Each year, I end up trying something new in the Livestock arena.  Last year, I did some announcing.  This year, I checked tattoos at vet check for the dairy goats.  I like goats.  I was a part of the dairy goat project when my siblings were showing.  I never did tattoos.  Never looked at tattoos.  But, we needed someone with goat experience to go out and check tattoos.  In theory, I knew the tattoos were done in the ears or, in the absence of ears, the tail. I grab a flashlight (for a backlight) and wipes (to clean the area) and head out.  Now, my siblings raised Toggenburgs. Lovely mocha colored goats with white markings.  And light skin.  The first goats through the vet check: Alpines.  With DARK ears.  Goats are tattooed with dark green ink.  Try spotting green ink on black skin...  Even with a flashlight for back light, it was like trying to find a green bead in a box of blue beads that someone is shaking in the dark.   Plus, every tattoo varies in placement in the ear.  Seriously, goats with black ears should be tattooed with black light ink.  It would be so much better. Trying to figure out which way was up or down to determine if it was a letter or number was a challenge.  I was just looking to see if there was a tattoo much less trying to read it.  "What am I looking for?"  "A3"  "Ok... I sort of think I see something that looks like that" All this without slowing down the line of animals cleared by the vet so they could get out of the hot trailers and into the building.  It was a challenge that made me laugh and say "never again!"    

My other favorites were the freshly tattooed goat kids.  You knew where they had been tattooed by the large amount of green ink in their ears.   The ink needed to be wiped off in order to read the tat.  Such lovely green ink which sticks to your fingers and gets into your cuticles.  I didn't mind the ink on my hands.  The green thumb look works for me but I still have a remnant of ink in my cuticles. 
   
On Saturday, I arrived to find a goldfish in a nice little carrying container sitting on my desk.  There was a note.  The fish and the note had been left outside the door and found by the Livestock Manager.  The note read:

D3AR Livestock Office, 

I can no longer provide 4 my baby gurl.  

please spoil her rotten.  

Her name is Jazzy.   

Thanks I love you,

MBR

It took me a day but I found Jazzy a home. In the meantime, the note and the fish became a bit of a local livestock legend. We even thought about auctioning her off to benefit the Ag Boosters.  I also sent a picture of the note to a couple of friends thinking they would enjoy the laugh.  But I forgot to explain that Jazzy was a fish...  :)

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

 "I only talk to my dad while I'm waiting for my mom to come to the phone." - Overheard

Whew!  I am so glad that isn't true for me.  I love talking to my dad.  He's funny, kind, insightful, and he keeps secrets.  When I need advice but I don't want mom to freak out, I call my dad.  When I have a funny story or want to talk about church stuff, I call my dad.  Sunday afternoons, we tally burnt out light bulbs in the sanctuary, clogged toilets, and anomalies like marshmallows being ground into the carpet. We joke about playing light bulb catch from back when it took a suction cup on the end of a long rod to unscrew a light bulb.  (The suction would give out once the bulb unscrewed and the goal was to keep the bulb from breaking before throwing it away.)

He coached my t-ball team, was a 4-H leader, driver, and did beekeeping with me (with a severe allergy to bees).  He drove a group of four girls five hours for a meeting and waited for five hours to drive us home.  He helped me coordinate a plant contest.  He built our playground.  He's cleaned barns and was ranch manager for our 4-H club.  He got involved in the local rifle range because his kids were interested in shooting.  He loves Pride and Prejudice (the six hour version) and Chuck Norris films. 

He taught me how to draw house plans, about architecture and painting, to drive a manual transmission, basic home repair, and basic car maintenance, and he tried to teach me geometry.

He's been my walk partner for years.  On Saturdays, we wander pretty neighborhoods, admire and critique the homes, and talk about life.  We rode bikes together for a few years.  He took me to the airport to watch the planes land.  I learned how to ride the bus that day, about friction and heat and why smoke comes from the wheels when the plane lands. 

He taught me how to swim with mom.  He coached me on my strokes since he was on the swim team.. 

He's also the dad that sent me to camp with a flashlight that would go dim and die with fresh batteries.  He sent us off camping without tent poles. TWICE! 


He's a dad that loves his kids!  He's supported us, given us boundaries, helped us grow, and celebrated with us.  We love our dad! 

Dads' don't always have positive connotations.  In the last few years, some dear people have lost their dads.  Others are in a difficult place with their dad.  This makes my time with my dad so much more precious.  I am so incredibly blessed to have a dad like mine.  I love you, Dad!

 Back in March, I went on a planting spree. 

 Tomato Purse!  

(6 pack with a carrying handle)

 Beware of mint.  It has delusions of grandeur.

 When I finished the planting spree, I had 5 tomatoes planted.

 Front Yard Fungi

 The balcony as of a few weeks ago.  7 tomatoes, 8 strawberries, 11 pole beans, 20 + squash and cucumbers in 4 inch pots, and herbs.

 The herb corner in the community garden.

 Peas

The whole jungle of a garden.

When I was in 5th grade,  I was enrolled in a two day a week history and science course that ran from 9:00 to 2:00.  One of our regular homework assignments consisted looking up words in Webster's 1828 monstrosity of a dictionary which we occasionally had to drag to class.  Other uses of the dictionary: flower press and booster seat.   We would look up the definition of the word, write it down, and choose three words from the definition to look up and write down those definitions.  I received horrible grades on the first couple definition assignments. 

Why?

Because I was trying to paraphrase the definitions. 

My teacher wanted the exact definitions from that version.  I knew about plagiarism.  I was not going to copy someone's work.  My mom went in and explained the situation.  I'm still not sure why the teacher didn't ask me or why copying definitions from the dictionary was such an important skill to learn.  Then again, this is the class where the teacher lectured and wrote notes on the board that we were supposed to copy word for word.  Looking back on the class as a future teacher, wow...  Anyways, I was told that it was fine to copy word for word out of the dictionary because the teacher knew what the source was.  

Now at the university, I spend a lot of time citing my sources and checking my reference page to make sure everything is in the correct style.  I just got back from some final senior presentations and for some reason this story came to mind and it made me laugh because I've been so grade oriented for most of my life.  I just finished a human development final so I want to make a comparison between dopamine levels in the brain and a possible grade addiction but that makes my head hurt.  That 5th grade class assignment... I was pretty upset about it!  I got a B in history and I totally frustrated because I couldn't figure out what I did wrong. :) This semester, I really had to give up on grades and just do my best.  I worked more than I had in the past.  I had a weird schedule that didn't allow for quality study time.  I just did what I could and I'm ok with that.  It's kind of a nice feeling.  Hopefully, the feeling lasts when grades are posted.

P.S.  I have garden pictures galore so they will be posted soon.

Gophers

Or Why I Love My Neighbor's Cat

It's been a while since I posted about my garden.  Which may or may not have something to do with the amount of time I've spent on it... A couple weeks ago, I had a little time and tossed some snap pea seeds in a line across back of the plot.  I watered occasionally, but with the sandy soil I didn't have high hopes for them sprouting. 

 I added a garden sign with a "Do Not Disturb" message since someone stole my long poles and pulled out my short ones.  Yet another reason to visit more often! 

 Despite my neglect, I have a row of peas!

 The Herb Corner

 This half of the garden is brought to you by my mother's fabulous seed starting abilities.  In the front: Kale.  In the back: Dinosaur Kale.  And in the middle and not visible: Swiss Chard.  The green ferny stuff: Poison Hemlock.

 The beautiful poisonous plant.

This is the reason I let poison hemlock grow in my garden. 

Gophers. 

This is also why I love my neighbor's cat.  I've affectionately nicknamed it Fluffy. Fluffy likes to bring home remnants of his gopher snacks for his human family.  

Go Fluffy! 

 Note the gopher super highway running through the middle of the plot.  The gophers have yet to enter the poison hemlock infested regions of my garden.  This is my non-scientific approach to natural pest control.  So far it seems to be working...

 Everyone's gardens are going to seed but one garden is filled with beautiful white blossoms.  

 I pulled some filaree.  Check out those taproots!  Pulling weeds always makes me think of sin. You have to  catch it small so it's easy to remove.  The longer it stays, the harder it is to remove.  Wait too long and you need special tools to remove it. 

 My new pet: Lotus berthelotii aka "parrot's beak!"

I've wanted one of these for years, and I found it at the farmers' market.  I just love the vibrant colors.

It hangs by my front door and makes me smile every time I come home.

Leap Day

I'm kind of failing at this blogging thing.  I want my posts to be regular, insightful, witty, and cohesive.   Instead you get the random ramblings of a college girl who just wants to find time in her day to cook a real meal and sleep for 8 hours.   My life is school and work with a dash of God time.  It seems like ages ago when I could tie work, and God time into the same package.  Don't get me wrong.  God is with me all the time and I'm doing the work that he has set out for me at this time.  It's just different.  Two years ago, the majority of my time was centered around church.  Now, the majority of my time is centered around school and work.  It's just a different perspective.  

My perspective on everything seems to be stretching and growing.  My mind spins with ideas on the best practices for classrooms.  What if I had a classroom with no desks so the kids were moving all the time?  Open classrooms, flipped classrooms, Montessori, Waldorf?   Teaching as social justice?   Experiential learning?  Literacy as a social justice issue?  Music, movement, rhythm, beat... Hope, roses, and concrete.

I type.
I write.
I think.

Wash, rinse, and repeat. 

Senior Trilogy: Part 2

Senior Trilogy sounds so much cooler than super senior.  Senior Trilogy evokes Lord of the Rings and Star Wars.  It also is appropriately nerdy. 

I worked during winter break but went skiing with a small group from the university.  I hadn't met any of the ski trip members before the event.  I enjoyed getting to know everyone as we attempted to ski and snowboard on what was basically ice with a little snow on it.  We laughed and joked.  We played games.  Four of the group members are foreign exchange students from Asia.  We had a funny night trying to teach them some English tongue twisters.  (Which also included trying to explain what a woodchuck is...) 

School started.  My schedule is unusual with my afternoons dedicated to work.  Mornings and evenings are classes.  Classes have been in session for a couple weeks and I am still trying to find a balance for study and work.  I ended up turning in math homework that was basically unfinished (every question had an answer but none were complete) because I underestimated the amount of time my total studies would take for the week with my current schedule.  Someone at work noticed that I'm a little off on getting a rhythm set for the term.  It's embarrassing. Hopefully, this week I'll have more of a rhythm and will be able to post more funny/cool/interesting things!

2011 in Numbers

32 Pages:  The most I've written in my college career.

1 New Job

13 Cousins Visiting

5 Knots:  The fastest day on a sailboat.





















2 Power Outages

1 Year in My New Home

40 Minute Presentation

1 Barn Built for 3 Goats.




















18 Units: The highest course load taken in my college career

4 Plants lost to gophers/rabbits/deer.

90 Years Celebrated: Grandma's Birthday

Countless Books: Read ;)

3 Elementary Classrooms

• 2nd grade (2xs)
• 1st grade

20 Socks Used in P.E.


6 Crochet Projects Started

1 Crochet Project Finished

25 Years Celebrated: Me

1/3 of my Senior Year Completed

1 Epic Family Vacation

38 Blog Posts


Numbers don't adequately reflect the human interactions, the relationships, friendships, experiences, heartache, joy, frustrations, blessings, and life that occurred in 2011.  Thanks for joining with me on the journey. 

Let's see what 2012 brings!

Top 11 Ways to Know You're a Geek

11. You get really excited about the fact that work is getting all new computers so you'll have to back up the old ones and set up the new ones

10. You also get really excited about updating the OS on faculty computers and iPads

9. You use the acronym OS as part of your everyday vocabulary

8. Someone tells you about a teacher's conference where the teachers were learning binary and you respond "Binary? Really?  I learned that in 7th grade."

7. Going to Fry's makes you giddy.

6. You set up the TV so it can connect to the internet

5. Why get a CAT5e patch cable when you can get a CAT 6 or 7? 

4. You take pictures of cables.

3. While at Fry's you stop and look at all the pretty towers. 

2. You know that Bonjour is not just hello in French.

1. You've built your own computer.
 

Details

Looking at the course calendar, I read:

Last Day of Frustration - December 9th

It actually says:

Last Day of Instruction - December 9th  

Of course we have assessment week after the last day of instruction so the official "Last Day of Frustration" for me will be December 16th.  Then, freedom!  Glorious freedom!  

Is this really me?

 Picture from North and South

I was looking over my blogger profile recently and I started laughing at what I had on there.  Who was I trying to impress?  I liked all the books and movies but really?  If you were trying to get to know me on the basis of the profile, I would be pretty girly girl with my period dramas and Jane Austen books.  I like my movies funny and semi-romantic but my tv shows?  That's a whole different genre...  I love mystery and action with a little science fiction.  Favorite TV shows: Castle, Rosemary and Thyme, Stargate SG1, Star Trek: The Next Generation, MacGyver, Remington Steele, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Walker Texas Ranger, NCIS, Covert Affairs, you get the picture. Not exactly what you'd expect from the period drama nut.

So Many Reasons... pt. 2

Funny how thankfulness sinks in.  I've been struck by all the little things that I take for granted during my day.

22.  Caffeine
23.  Clean socks
24.  Sisters (genetic and "adopted")
25.  Hot water
26.  Alarm clocks
27.  Transportation
28.  Trader Joe's
29.  My Parents
30.  Blogs
31.  Meeting my neighbor
32.  Hanging out with friends
33.  Reading with 2nd graders
34.  Hearing children speak Spanish
35.  Children that don't laugh when I speak Spanish in return.

Nerdyness

I went for a hike today.   And not just any hike, a hike with some plant nerds like me.   Ones that initiated the plant talk and had a game going looking for fungi.  So much fun!  I've missed that type of thing.  My family gets that I'm plant nerd.  My mom's a plant nerd.  We like to be plant nerds together.  But being a plant nerd with peers... a little harder to come by.  When I was taking environmental studies classes, no one else really got excited about plant id, drawing plants, or finding out more about the plants.  I was "weird' even in that context. 

During high school and my first year of college, I was involved with a plant group.  We were all plant nerds.  We did plant nerdy things together like getting excited about new plants, arboretums, and plant identification.  It was fun having friends interested in the same thing.  It's times like this I wonder about my major. 

The same type of situation comes with period dramas.  In high school and early in college, we had a group of girls that appreciated period dramas like A&E's Pride and Prejudice, Wives and Daughters, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility.  Tonight, my sister and I were discussing how we miss meeting people who appreciate period drama.  She just met up with a group who are interested in period dramas.  Kindred spirits are in short supply here in this area. Or I need to look a little harder for them.  :) 

So many reasons...

A couple friends have been posting what they're thankful for each day on Facebook.  I like the concept. I'd just rather do it on my blog...

I'm thankful for:

1. "Free" weekends where all I need to do is homework
2. Having the Bible in multiple versions and forms
3. Freedom 
4. Dreams
5. Vacuums :)  
6. Spanish Flashcards
7. First graders who are enthusiastic about P.E.
8. the campus Christian Club
9. Finally being able to nail the "correct" theme (or at least come super close) in my children's literature class
10. An excellent local library
11. A yellow flower growing outside the library
12. Boxes that can be recycled to make dvd shelves
13. Face to face time with the sister over the internet
14. A great place to work, where I can stop in between classes just because I have time
15. Getting the classes I needed for Spring and mapping out the last semester.  
16. Sharing the same interest in TV and movies with a co-worker 
17. Carpeted floors for dropping electronics
18. Fun friends in my classes
19. People with French accents and fun senses of humor
20. Finding a good run/walk route 
21. My education
    

Tent Syndrome

Public Service Announcement:
Do you have tent syndrome?  This temporary condition afflicts thousands of people every year.  People go camping and think that no one around them can hear what's being said inside the tent.   This may be due to a temporary loss of object permanence once you step inside the tent.  If you can't see it, it's not there.   This dangerous condition has threatened many relationships.  Its insidiousness is not limited to tents but can be observed in other situations including the dreaded "This is a private conversation that no one else should hear but I'm talking about it at Starbucks."  You too can raise awareness and help stop tent syndrome by talking loudly about tent syndrome in public places that might give people the illusion of privacy.  A public restroom is a good spot to start.

----End of Public Service Announcement---

We've all seen tent syndrome in action:
Like when we'd go to Mexico...  You'd have a line of tents, a boy half and a girl half.  Invariably, someone in the girl half would be talking about a boy who is just a few tents over...  Until someone in boy tent starts talking and all of a sudden the girl side realizes that the fabric walls don't stop the sound.  Oops! Both sides would do this.... the things you would hear! 

I think I'm living in a tent.  I used to want to live in a yurt.  I take that back now.   My neighbors were in their yard late last night and early this morning.   I was half asleep; but this morning, I woke with a memory of someone talking about Jesse being gay.  Tent syndrome strikes again!  Just because you're talking to someone doesn't mean the rest of the world can't hear.  You're outside.  Sound travels. 

I have a partition dividing my room from the entry way so if you stand in common area, I can hear just about everything you say.  So at 6 am, my housemates came in and started to settle some friends in to camp out on the floor in the common area.  My favorite bit: housemate says to friends, "I'll see you both in the morning."  I respond: "Um, it's 6 am; it is morning!"  Silence.  Tent syndrome. 

Yes, thanks to tent syndrome, I watched the sun rise this morning.  It was beautiful. 

Now, I'm going to go dig out my white noise machine and plug it in.

So neighbors and housemates, if you can hear my "ocean", I can hear you!

  

Garden Day

Today, I went to play in my garden and took my camera along.

 My favorite heirloom bean: Rattlesnake.

 Best part about rattlesnakes is that the pattern on the bean differentiates it from the stem.  Most beans blend with the stem color which makes them harder to find.  Although, I still miss finding them even with the pattern! 

 My cilantro grew nice and big earlier in the summer.  I came out one night to cut it for dinner only to find that something had been nibbling on it.  I'm going with rabbits here since deer aren't usually in the residential areas.  Both plants were nibbled back over two days.  When the cilantro grew back it started to bolt.  I left them since I think the flowers are rather beautiful.  The flowers have larger white edge petals.  The centers are trimmed with pink.  They work as cut flowers but smell like cilantro.

So far I've lost 4 different plants to gophers.  The gophers have breached the chicken wire under the plot.  Plants lost: 1 tomato, 1 nasturtium 1 cilantro, 1 cucumber.  

I'm taking bets on what plant will disappear next!

 The tunnels are collapsing but I don't have a clear entry point to work with.  I'm curious if planting poisonous plants like poison hemlock or oleander around a garden would do anything to deter gophers.  When I first started my garden plot, there was a large poison hemlock plant in the center and no gopher trouble.  The hemlock died and was taken out.  Now I have gophers...  Of course, I may just have the five star plant buffet or the gophers took advantage of our wet spring to go forth and multiply.  Who knows?  :)

Update

It's been a fun couple of weeks.  The program I work for at the University was going through an accreditation process and we ran about making sure everything went smoothly.   It went incredibly smoothly and the program passed with flying colors.  My new nickname is "the Dean's Assistant" as someone mistook me as such.  I'm not going to complain about that... I just need to live up to it!

Tonight, in my multicultural literature class, we were looking at Jacqueline Woodson's book If You come Softly. It's an excellent book that will be added to my library.  In the book. Jeremiah makes a comparison between rain and the looks he and Ellie receive  while dating (he's African American and she's White).

"Think of it..." Jeremiah said slowly. "Like weather or something. You got your rain, your snow, your sunshine.  Always changing but still constant, you know."

In class, snow was compared to the overt acts of racism and sunshine to the days where racism isn't present.

Jeremiah continues with, "Let's say it's rain- the people who've got problems with us being together-let's call them and their problems rain."

A little later, the snow is melting on Ellie's face and I made a point about snow as a metaphor for racism in the book.  This got my professor really excited.  And he proceeded to emphasize snow as he read the rest of his selections in the book.


But what he didn't know was...




My mom was an English major in college. 

 

She would do this thing when we were growing up, pointing out the symbolism and metaphors as we watched movies or read books.  She ruined more movies that way. :)  We'd be watching a movie and all of a sudden there's Mom talking and pointing out patterns and symbolism (see the waves crashing, that implies...or when Mr. Darcy goes for a swim, that's a symbol of rebirth...  yada yada yada ).   This is all wonderfully helpful as an adult but when you just want to watch a movie, not so much.

I caught myself doing the same thing recently while watching the "other" Pride and Prejudice (2006). I'm turning into my mother! When Lizzy wanders through the statuary room at Pemberley, there's an awakening and Lizzy gains the awareness of a woman. It wasn't a very subtle metaphor though.   I have to have a disclaimer here. This was my first time watching this version all the way through.  The first time I tried to watch it, I wanted to smack Bingley for acting like a 15 year old boy, walking into a girls room WHILE knocking, being coached on proper etiquette and his general silliness....  I just couldn't take it. ;) 

Anyways, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to post.  The picture at the top has nothing to do with the post.  I just wanted to add a picture.  Plus, I had been thinking about the trip Mom and I took to Washington a year and a half ago. 

Thanks Mom for making me look smart!  Love you!  :)

I feel as though I've discovered a treasure trove. 

Since encountering Elizabeth Goudge, via Lanier's writings, I have been on the lookout for Miss Goudge's books.

http://laniersbooks.com/2010/01/14/precisely-miss-goudge/
http://laniersbooks.com/2010/04/19/bereft/
http://laniersbooks.com/2007/02/23/elizabeth-goudge/


I have to admit that when I first picked up one of her collections of short stories, I only read a few before returning it to the library.  Somehow, it did not capture my imagination nor was I willing to devote the attention required by its beauty.  Beautiful books cannot be skimmed.  They must be absorbed word by word.

During the summer, I was poking about the library and spotted several of her books.  Castle on the Hill had me drawn in on the first page.  I've since devoured two more, A Pedlars Pack and The Golden Skylark.  Each one is filled with beautiful thoughts and word pictures.  She reminds me a bit of L.M. Montgomery in her descriptions of nature.  If I ever make it to Europe, I would like to visit the Channel Islands.  For that is where the Du Frocq's live with their mischievous, good hearted children!  

My summer reading plans never quite materialized.  I didn't finish any of the ones that I had on my reading list.
But, I made a new book friend in Elizabeth Goudge.  I'll be seeking out more treasures by her and looking to add some to my collection!    

Remember way back when?

Ever re-visit something from your childhood?

Last year for my birthday, my parents bought be the complete set of the Gospel Bill Show. It was my absolute favorite show when I was little. It came on right after re-runs of RinTinTin in the afternoons. It was also on Saturday mornings with Quigley's Village and Joy Junction. Along with the childhood standards of Sesame Street and Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, I have vivid memories of watching Gospel Bill.

Even though I received the DVDs last year, I didn't get a chance to watch them. I left them at home when I moved and the idea was that we would watch them as a family. Last time I was home, we were celebrating my birthday and I pulled them out with the intention of watching them.  We went swimming instead. I brought the first dvd back with me.

I curled up on my bed and braced myself for disillusionment.

Nothing

It such a pleasant surprise to have something be as good as I remembered it.  It was something that I think I could show to kids now (depends on the kids) and they might (hopefully?) enjoy them.   The live action stories, the puppet storyline, and the music made me smile.  I'm looking forward to working through the whole set.  Silly of me? Maybe. But definitely very enjoyable.  

Do you have a favorite childhood program that you like to revisit?

I'll leave you with one of my favorite bits.