German

Just back from church camp last week, Michael began his summer “school”: Rosetta Stone German, Level 1.  It took just a few minutes to set up, and he was off and running with it. The first day’s lesson was great fun for Michael, as the program showed him pictures and he had to pronounce the words he heard describing those pictures.  When he pronounced it acceptably, it took him to the next picture.  Michael jumped right in and caught on.  Rare was the word he stumbled on; it is a good format for him.

Cheryl, watching, exclaimed: “It’s like a fun video game!”

Michael, between pronunciations: “Only I don’t get to blow stuff up!”

Haven’t Lost It

A little background:  I am infamous in our family for, when I am watching an OU game, and they throw a pass, or call a play that I think is not going to work, hollering, “NOOO!” – and then watching the play go for a touchdown!  The kids all laugh and say that if I scream “NO!”, the play is sure to be a good one!  Well, evidently it works with basketball too.  Watching the Oklahoma City Thunder NBA playoff game with San Antonio Monday night, it was coming down to the very end, and with the clock running out, James Harden, the OKC guard, launched a long 3-point shot. “NOOOO!” I cried, just knowing they should have passed it to their big star, Kevin Durant, and that wild shot had no chance of going in.  SWISH — nothing but net, for what ended up being the game-winning shot.

Cheryl, from the kitchen: “Well, you haven’t lost your touch!”

Grounded

My mind has not always been functioning well since I have been sick.  I told Cheryl early Wednesday that the termite people were coming to do their yearly inspection.  So she arranged her schedule accordingly.  Just after noon, the time I said they would be coming, she asked if I was certain about the time.  I looked at my calendar, and said, “How about NEXT Wednesday?’’  She said, “For real?”  I assured her that I was not joking.   I told her I was sorry, because I knew she would have planned things differently had she known.

Cheryl: “OK, but just for that, you are GROUNDED!”

Me: “I’m grounded?”

Cheryl: “Yes, you can’t go anywhere.”

Me: “You mean I have to just sit here … in this chair … like I am already doing?!”

Our “Date”

Wednesday afternoon, after the big storms rolled through and it calmed down a bit, I decided to go out and sit on the front porch.  We recently purchased a second rocking chair for the porch for just such occasions, so I decided I’d better tell Cheryl, who was working on a project in her scrapbook room, that I was going out.  I said, “I thought I’d better tell you I was going, so you wouldn’t feel left out.”  She said, “That’s good, because it doesn’t take much!”  So she hopped up and we sat and talked on the front porch, and watched the little sprinkles that were still falling, and the squirrel make a flying leap onto a big oak tree, and talked about her visit to our new neighbors with some cookies, and an interesting e-mail I had received.  After a while, it began to rain harder again, and we started to get wet, so I said that we’d better go in.

Cheryl: “Thanks for the date!”

I laughed.  That’s about the only kind of “date” we’ve had for the last 6 weeks – but it was a good one still yet!

“Doilies?”

One of our favorite blogs to read here in “Paradise” is Lesley Jackson Gore’s “Mrs. Gore’s Diary.”  She shares all manner of folksy tales about her preschool children, and what it is like to be a pastor’s wife.  Our whole family gets excited when another “installment” comes out.  (You can visit “Mrs. Gore” here: http://mrsgoresdiary.com/)

Well, Thursday evening, I noticed that Mrs. Lesley had posted another “Mrs. Gore” – this time about her one-year-old daughter’s first birthday party.  I noticed on the picture she posted that there was a row of antique doilies hanging over the party table.  I said to Cheryl, “Oh, Lesley has a neat picture of some doilies!  Do you want to see it?  You like doilies, don’t you?”

Cheryl: “Yes, I do – but I don’t know how I feel about you using the word, ‘doilies’!”

Vacation

I have now been on medical leave here at home for about 6 weeks.  I saw on Facebook where one of our friends was at Disney World, and I told Cheryl: “That makes me want to go to Disney World — and golfing, and all these things I see people doing.”  Cheryl said it was especially hard, since a couple of weeks ago we had to cancel our 30^th anniversary trip to Gettysburg and a Broadway play in New York City.

I said, “Well, we’ve enjoyed being together here at home every day, haven’t we?”

“Sure”, Cheryl said.  “Plus I got to dig in the back yard today.”

See, who needs a vacation, when you already live in “Paradise”?!