This just in...

Pampered Australian merino sheep who listen to opera have again produced a bale of the world's finest wool, matching the record set by the flock last year.
The special flock is kept mostly indoors in small groups and listens to music, including Italian opera and recordings of Italian singer
Andrea Bocelli.
Each sheep is shorn once a year and the flock is fed a secret diet of grains and specially grown hay, based on advice from a sheep nutritionist.


Ok, I want one of those sweaters.

Pride

Have to say, I was extremely proud of my little girl when she sang her solo on Sunday. Oh yeah...and she was kind enough to let me join in.

So hard to believe you just turned 14. Please stay this sweet forever, honey. I remember when you were little and wanted me to pretend with you and trade roles. You said, "I'll be the mommy and you be the honey." :) I loved that and all the many times when you performed for me standing on the living room chair with the window blind cord for a microphone. So much cuteness.

man·tra (MON-tra)
n.
A commonly repeated word or phrase:

“Today's edutainment software comes shrinkwrapped in the magic mantra: ‘makes learning fun.’” (Clifford Stoll).

I used this quote before, quite a while ago. After spending three hours in the dentist's chair this week, it seemed appropriate again.

"It doesn't really matter whether you grip the arms of the dentist's chair or let your hands lie in your lap. The drill drills on."

A Grief Observed

Quotation for Monday, January 16, 2006:

"The great thing to do with unhappy times is to take them bit by bit, hour by hour...like an illness. It is seldom the present, the exact present, that is unbearable."

Letters to an American Lady
(C.S. Lewis)

The Heavenly Bed

If you're looking for a gift to buy me for my birthday next month, I'll take this whole thing, please...mattress, sheets, down blanket, down comforter and the most phenomenal down pillows ever. Slept in the Heavenly Bed at the Westin in Chicago last year. Oh...my...goodness.

"Every night, wrap yourself in the Heavenly Bed - ten layers of pure comfort atop the most sensuous of mattresses.

The Heavenly Bed was conceived by Barry S. Sternlicht, former Chairman and CEO of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., and modeled after his bed at home in Connecticut. After months of testing hundreds of mattresses, pillows and bed linens, the Heavenly Bed was born."

Quotation for Thursday, January 05, 2006:

In light of the recent gray weather we've had...

"Very likely, what with enemies, and mountains, and rivers to cross, and losing our way, and next to nothing to eat, and sore feet, we'll hardly notice the weather."

The Silver Chair
C. S. Lewis

Word of the Day for Sunday January 1, 2006

I use this word, but people never seem to know what I'm talking about.

vim - noun:

Power; force; energy; spirit; activity; vigor.

The 76-year-old retired Malaysian schoolteacher displayed so much vim during a recent hike through a national park in Sarawak, astonished rangers began calling her a "recycled teenager."
--Choong Tet Sieu, "The Power to Go On and On," Asiaweek, July 28, 2000

Eric Clapton

I really like the new CD I got for Christmas, "Eric Clapton Unplugged."
Now I just need to see if I can get someone to buy me his new one for my birthday next month.

Winter's Gift

In the middle of the Christmas rush and just a bit of stress today, I decided that a trip to the children's book store was in order to set things right. I found a beautiful book called "Winter's Gift." After reading it, life looked much better.

A Christmas favorite

One of the best sounds in the world...children singing

Update

I don't usually "journal" on this site, but...wow, has it been a while since I've posted anything. So, I'll give a bit of an update. Life has been very full of late. I just started my new job in Advantage Health administration. Same company, different position, more responsibility...a move up. Hard to leave the coworkers I love, but it's a good thing and it's exciting.

Word of the Day for Saturday December 3, 2005

chagrin (shuh-GRIN)

noun: Acute vexation, annoyance, or embarrassment, arising from disappointment or failure.

He noted with chagrin how little hair clung to his head.
- -John Marks, The Wall

transitive verb: To unsettle or vex by disappointment or humiliation; to mortify.

Rich Moroni was earning $20,000 a year as a cook and was chagrined to discover that he couldn't keep up with the style of life and spending of his preferred reference group -- the lawyers and executives who shared his passion for squash and belonged to the same health club.
--Peter T. Kilborn, "Splurge," New York Times, June 21, 1998

Chagrined to find that her current boyfriend has become best pals with her ex-boyfriend Hank, she goes to her ex with the problem.
--Stephen J. Dubner, "Boston Rockers," New York Times, July 26, 1998

I'm never moving to Saudi Arabia!

RIYADH (Reuters) - Four Saudi women teaching in a remote village school have married their driver so they can live closer to work, Al-Watan newspaper said on Monday.

The newspaper said the women from Al-Baha province in south-west Saudi Arabia were impressed with the man's "good morals" and decided to marry him and live together in the village where they teach -- avoiding a tiring daily commute.

They were married in a short ceremony, and have agreed to pay the driver a share of their monthly salaries, Al-Watan said. Women are not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, while men can marry up to four women according to Islamic law.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I kid you not...the first thing I saw when looking out my window this morning (other than snow) was a great big turkey at the feeder! This must be a Thanksgiving day tradition now because last year there were three out there just before we sat down to dinner. They must know that by this time our turkey is already in the oven and it's safe to come out and say "ha-ha, you didn't catch me!"

The Roar of Love

From an email I received today from Matthew Ward Ministries -

For all of you who are moviegoers, you’ve probably seen the trailer for the upcoming film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I can’t tell you how excited I am personally to see a work like this being offered to the public. My hope is that the Narnia film will be met with enough success to cause a whole new generation of people to look into not only the Chronicles of Narnia series (seven books in all), but also other writings by C.S. Lewis, much as the Lord of the Rings films did for J.R.R. Tolkien.

The singing group “The 2^nd Chapter of Acts” (of which I was a member) read C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia. These stories had a very profound effect on all of us. It wasn’t long before we began writing songs inspired by the first book in that series, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Over a span of a few years, we had enough songs put together to complete this concept album. We decided to call the project The Roar of Love. This recording ended up being like nothing we had ever done. Instead of having the typical songs that, once they were over, would either end or fade, we decided to arrange the songs in such a way as to have them weave right into each other without stopping. This approach made the listener more apt to be drawn into the storyline, much as a great orator, reading the book aloud, might pull you in. The only time the music really stopped (this was in the days before CD’s) was when it came time to turn over the album or cassette!

The Roar Of Love was originally released in 1980, and it remains in my mind as one of the best projects “The 2^nd Chapter of Acts” ever recorded.
************************************************************************************************

I have this album! That's right...I said album. Still listen to it, too. It's lots of fun, especially for a fan of the books. If you go to the link you can listen to song clips...I love Are You Going to Narnia, Gifts From Father Christmas, Roar of Love and Something is Happening in Me. I just read "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" again this summer. Can't wait for the movie!

ar·dour (Variant of ardor)
n. Chiefly British

n 1: a feeling of strong eagerness (usually in favor of a person or cause);

"they were imbued with a revolutionary ardor" [syn: ardor, elan, zeal]

2: intense feeling of love [syn: ardor]

3: feelings of great warmth and intensity;
"he spoke with great ardor" [syn: ardor, fervor, fervour, fervency, fire, fervidness]

Word of the Day for Sunday November 6, 2005

verdure \VUR-jur\, noun:
Green; greenness; freshness of vegetation;
as, "the verdure of the meadows in June."

"A wide expanse of living verdure, cultivated gardens, shady groves, fertile cornfields, flowed round it like a sea."
--Motley

Quotation for Sunday, November 06, 2005:

"I am rather sick of the modern assumption that, for all events, 'WE,' the people, are never responsible: it is always our rulers, or ancestors, or parents, or education, or anybody but precious 'US.' WE are apparently perfect and blameless. Don't you believe it."

Letters to an American Lady

"To be interested in the changing seasons is...a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring."

- George Satayana, "The Life of Reason"



Ok, fine...I'll accept that summer is over already. After all, it was a beautiful fall weekend.