Mount Vernon

Friday at Virginia Beach

lifetime love affair

As a child I was not a reader. I didn't dislike reading; I just couldn't hold still long enough to finish anything. I think that is the same reason my mother gave up on me learning to play the piano. Reading a book didn't come to my mind as something to entertain myself. I wanted to play soccer, ride a bike, and play, and play, and play. So, it thrills me to see my children becoming devout readers. The reading gene certainly comes from the Kirkham side of the family. I tease them, and it is true, that they have already read more books than I did before I graduated from high school. It also is satisfying to see my children enjoying this pass time for it is a skill and desire that I strove to develop within them since infancy. My current favorite trick is to stratigically leave books that I want them to read on the couch or any other noticable place. I have to bite my tongue many times when I find them reading and they should be doing something else because I had set them up.
Joshi and Zayne have also been good example to me of how to squeeze in a read. Typically they have a book in the car to read while we drive or if we get stuck somewhere. Also, they leave books here and there through out the house and are handy to sneak in a few pages in between classes. I have found them reading in the bath, in trees, in the bathroom, perched on the kitchen counter and cirled up with the dogs.



I love to have them see me read. Most of the time they too go grab a book. Zayne sometimes wants to read what I am reading. For the past couple weeks I have been reading what they read. Sharing their books with me excites them. Reading all those books that I should have read as a child has been fun. I have also gained a great appreciation for juvenile literature.

There is a Kirkham family rule, which Dan has exempted himself from, that you cannot see a book based movie until you read the book. So in the past couple weeks we've raced through the "Water Horse," "Spiderwick Chronicles," "Nancy Drew," and "The Chronicles of Narnia." Well, Zayne is done with the prior and I am on book #2. He puts me to shame. Out of all the books so far, my children love the books from the "Redwall" series, by Brian Jacques. I hope they continue their love affair with reading through their lifetime.

knee update

Crutch free for seven days! Yahoo!

need I say more?

Happiness does not depend upon what happens outside of you, but on what happens inside of you. It is measured by the spirit with which you meet the problems of life.




Spencer W. Kimball Quoted in "A Vision of What We Can Be" by James E. Faust.Ensign, March 1996, 10.

as you like it

While Dan was on his way to the mountains and tropical forest of Ecuador, the children and I went to see Shakespeare's "As You Like It" performed by the Richmond Shakespeare Company. Joshi has been studying this play with some other students for the past six weeks. The book the teacher used was "No Fear Shakespeare" which is a marvelous way to read Shakespeare for both young and old. On one side of the paper is the original script and on the other it is written out in modern language. Joshi loves it. Another good thing about these books is that they relatively cheap.

The play was okay. Joshi was bothered by how they strayed from the original story. I am looking forward to going to the American Shakespeare Center this week, http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/ The set is supposedly just like the Globe, so we will eat on our hard wood benches that surround the performance. Zayne shouldn't squirm too much while he has fried chicken in his lap and Joshi will be pleased that they perform the plays exactly as they did in Shakespeare's time.

Delving into Shakespeare this year has been surprisingly enjoyable. So far, I feel that we only have sampled a bit of what he has to offer. My only other exposure, aside from movies, was in my 8th grade Literature class where we read Romeo and Juliet. I think the fact that I thought both characters were stupidly shortsighted tainted me somewhat against the writer, plus the whole class was dull. Zayne says Shakespeare is all about love, lies, death and murder. Maybe he is right. I am just glad he is able to have some knowledge of the writings to form an opinion. I would add to Zayne's list cross dressing which seems to be a popular side theme is his plays.

For those of you who are planning on introducing The Bard to your wee ones take a look at our battle plan and see what you would like or not like to incorporate into you own plan.

1. Read picture books with the plays simplified for young readers. Act excited and make this time a fun snuggling time with Mom or Dad. Let them slow the story down to ask questions. The point is to understand, mull over and experience the story, not just get through it. Reading these stories provokes a lot of questions about human nature for young thinkers. Be patient and enjoy the time snuggling and conversation.

Bruce Coville does a great job with these short stories. http://www.amazon.com/Hamlet-Bruce-Coville/dp/0803727089

2. Videos can be an added benefit if they do not deviate to much from the real story line. Scheshinger puts out some good ones, (as well as many other educational programs). Libraries should have several different adaptations to choose from.

3. Jump in with one of his short comedies. Children loved the lightheartedness of these comedies and, at least for my children, they do not get as excited over the more murderous plays such as Hamlet and Macbeth.

4. An intermediate interpretation of the plays is an other option. We read Charles and Mary Lamb's "Tales from Shakespeare", put out by Puffin Classics. This is easier than reading the plays straight up (unless you have former knowledge of Shakespeare), but I found that I still have to do a lot of explaining because it was first published in 1807 and my children, 8 and 10 yrs old, do not understand all of the wording or phrasing therein. But, do not what I said scare you. Their book is still great. The brother and sister writing duo retell the plays in story form while not losing the feel of Shakspeare's creative language.

Tales from Shakespeare:
http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Shakespeare-Puffin-Classics-Charles/dp/0613519019/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208664077&sr=1-5


5. Skip over parts if your kids start getting the "glassy eyed" look or the content is too graphic or sexual. I do the same thing reading the The Bible to them. Knowing who begat who is not necessary for their salvation.

With the "No Fear Shakespeare" Joshi can read on her own and get the benefit of the original, colorful language. Of course she can't write a twenty page discourse about her readings, but the point is she is actually enjoying her reading, excitedly shares with me things from the story and is getting the main idea and the beauty of this guy called The Bard of England. She doesn't like Romeo and Juliet either.

No Fear Shakespeare:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_1?ie=UTF8&rs=1000&keywords=no%20fear%20shakespeare&rh=n%3A1000%2Ck%3Ano%20fear%20shakespeare&page=1

Timber Dick

Timber Dick passed away over a week ago. Tamara Stubbs just imformed me this evening. How this news grieves me. Timber was my friend Annette Tilliman-Dick's husband, best friend and confidant. Annette's father, senator and holocaust survivor, passed away a little over a month ago. Such heart ache so close together must be almost unbearable. Yet, Annette is a resilient woman. She and her children have a firm testimony in Our Savior Jesus Christ and his promise of Eternal Families that will help see them through. Annette is amazing as is the whole Tillimen-Dick family. Aside from their brilliant minds and many and various talents, they all possess the gift of making you feel that you are the most important person in the world. Timber and Annette have reared a truly amazing and inspiring family. Annette and her family was the inspiration and encouraging voice that I needed to push me over the precipice into the unknown realm of homeschooling.

I first met Annette by phone after I was given her name and number by Tamara Stubbs who was serving on the Activities Committee at church with me. I wanted to do a Passover meal for an activity and Tamara knew Annette and that she was a Jewish convert to our faith and keeps many of the Jewish traditions alive in their family. Annette was a pleasure to talk to on the phone and was delighted to help present a Passover dinner for our ward/congregation. During the weeks preceeding the dinner I could tell that this was a family that regularly had twenty things going at once, but all the plates still spun in the air held up by talented hands, yet they still treated this little church dinner with the utmost importance. Did I mention that they have thirteen children? (They had a set of twins pass away). Did I also mention that Annette and still has the figure of a twenty three year old? Yeah, one of those wonder women.

Timber, with his deep voice, led the Sedar dinner for our church. I will always remember that act of service because with his busy schedule he could have easily excused himself. Timber was an ingenious man and an inventor. He has left an lasting legacy within his family and as well in the world at large.

He and Annette have a remarkable love story that started by a chance meeting and spanned the years through many children, blessings and struggles. After battling to keep two twins alive in the womb then losing them, Timber sat down and began to write a story. It is a story how a young, lost, partying college kid met a beautiful, on track, blonde girl and how their two worlds fought and meshed together. It is a story of how a wayward soul found faith in Jesus Christ. It is a story of a husband's and father's love. It is a story about eternal love, eternal families and how faith in Our Savior Jesus Christ can hold us together. This is a must read friends. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You will be inspired.

It's $2.99 at Amazon. Link below:

http://www.amazon.com/One-Heart-Timber-Dick/dp/0971668205/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208406802&sr=1-1

You can leave memories or condolences in a Guestbook by clicking the following link. http://www.legacy.com/DenverPost/GB/GuestbookEntry.aspx?&PersonID=107577434

Click on the below link to read about Timber and the auto accident that took his life.

http://www.denverpost.com/books/ci_8891919

don't read if you are squirmish

Okay, I know this is not appropriate, so stop reading if this stuff bothers you. I thought this information comically odd yet it might be useful to some heads of households who have been asked to look into the porcelain bowl to see if there was something wrong with "it". Now you can answer with confidence, "That's a Bristol 3 son. Good job!"

Dan was the one that brought the scale to my attention with the comment, "Can you believe someone got paid to study done?"

I hope you all rate well on the scale.


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bristol Stool Chart
The Bristol Stool Scale or Bristol Stool Chart is a medical aid designed to classify the form of human feces into seven groups. It was developed by Heaton and Lewis at the University of Bristol and was first published in the Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology in 1997[1] The form of the stool depends on the time it spends in the colon[2].



The seven types of stool are:
Type 1: Separate hard lumps, like nuts (hard to pass)
Type 2: Sausage-shaped, but lumpy
Type 3: Like a sausage but with cracks on its surface
Type 4: Like a sausage or snake, smooth and soft
Type 5: Soft blobs with clear cut edges (passed easily)
Type 6: Fluffy pieces with ragged edges, a mushy stool
Type 7: Watery, no solid pieces (entirely liquid)

Types 1 and 2 indicate constipation, with 3 and 4 being the "ideal stools" especially the latter, as they are the easiest to pass. 5-7 being further tending towards diarrhea or cholera.[2]

america's astroid

Below is a great article that really helps one visual the crisis of Medicare and Social Security. Hopefully it'll inspire you not to vote for the presidential candidate proposing government funded, universal health care. Our country would not be in this situation if more people would have fought FDR's expansion of government and spending. We need to let our voices be heard and support honest candidates who let the constitution guide them and are not led by potential constituant votes or the political breezes. I keep praying for such canidates nightly.

I do not want to be an apathetic American voter. There was a reason our Founding Fathers granted the vote only to land owners; land owners had a vested interest in the politcal and economic status of the country and were more likely to be educated and to look into the issues before voting. Of course expanding the vote to include other groups, such as blacks and women, was needed, but why do institutionalized people have the vote? Should there be some bar that we have to measure up to to have such an honor and power aside from being 18, and a breathing legal citizen not in prison? I know I am speaking democratic heresy, but it frustrates me when I find out someone's political views and voting records are based on the evening news' sound bites. It frustrates me when politicians try to make it easier for people to vote, such as mail in ballots and not requiring a legal picture ID. This only opens the door wider for fraud. If someone truly cares about the issues they won't mind being inconvienced to excercise their polical voice in voting. It agrivates me when I hear pundits declaring the need for getting more people out to vote as if getting more people coming out for a vote makes the country better. Well it would be if the people were informed and voting on the premise of "what is good for the country?" and not "what's in it for me?" I'll get off my heretical high horse now so you can move onto to a better read by Glenn.

By Glenn BeckCNN

Glenn Beck: The economic asteroid will first hit America when the Medicare trust fund becomes insolvent in 2019.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Let's say a giant asteroid was headed toward Earth right now and experts say it has a good chance of ending civilization as we know it. Let's also say that we've known about this asteroid for years but even as it gets closer and closer our leaders do nothing.
"Don't worry," they tell us, "The next administration will figure something out."
With the future of our country at stake, would Americans really sit back and tolerate that kind of inaction? Of course not -- we'd be sharpening our pitchforks and demanding answers.
Well there may not be a space asteroid heading toward us, but there is an economic one -- and the threat to our future is just as severe.

You might think that I'm talking about the recession (sorry: potential recession) or credit crisis, but I'm thinking bigger. Much, much bigger.
Let me give you three numbers that will put this economic asteroid into perspective: $200 billion, $14.1 trillion, and $53 trillion.

$200 billion is the approximate total amount of write-downs announced so far as a result of the current credit crisis.

$14.1 trillion is the size of the entire U.S. economy

And $53 trillion is (drum roll please) the approximate size of this country's bill for the Social Security and Medicare promises we've made.

While no one will ever mistake me for Alan Greenspan, it seems to me that the third number is quite a bit larger than the other two. It also seems very few people care.
According to the latest Social Security and Medicare Trustees report (and I use that term loosely since it has the word "trust" in it) released earlier this week, the economic asteroid will first make impact in the year 2019 when the Medicaid trust fund becomes insolvent.
Only an immediate 122 percent increase in Medicare taxes and a 26 percent increase in Social Security taxes can prevent (or more likely, delay) its impact.


Realizing that Americans have become pretty much numb to these kinds of ridiculous sounding proposals, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson tried to up the ante this week. "Without change," he said, "Rising costs will drive government spending to unprecedented levels, consume nearly all projected federal revenues, and threaten America's future prosperity."
Now, I know we're all worried about important sounding things that none of us understand, like CDO's, SIV's, and Credit Default Swaps, but did you hear what our Treasury Secretary just said?
"Rising costs will ... consume nearly all projected federal revenues ..."

Translation: Every single tax dollar that is sent to Washington will be used to pay for just these two programs.

That means no money is left for anything else. Nothing. No Department of Defense or Homeland Security, no Department of Energy, no Department of Justice, no Environmental Protection Agency, no Internal Revenue Service. Actually, knowing our government, they'd probably keep the IRS going somehow.

Of course, none of this is exactly breaking news. Our leaders have known about this rapidly approaching asteroid for years now and they've done nothing but debate it. At the same time, I'm a realist. I understand that this stuff is "the third rail of politics," but our leaders' negligence on this issue is damn near criminal. No, correction, it is criminal.

Americans aren't afraid of the truth. In fact, we crave the truth only slightly more than we crave a leader who will actually give it to us. But part of the problem with this issue is that numbers followed by 12 zeroes aren't very relatable to the average American. Instead, try this on for size.

A million seconds is 12 days. A billion seconds is 32 years. A trillion seconds is 32,000 years. And 53 trillion seconds? 1.7 million years.

In an article that will appear in an upcoming issue of my magazine, Fusion, former Comptroller General of the United States David Walker tries a different tactic. He writes that our unfunded promises translate into "an IOU of around $455,000 per American household."

Wow. Does the size of our debt hit home now?

The America that I know doesn't sit around waiting for someone to rescue it from disaster. Besides, who do we expect to swoop in and save the day? Congress? The president? Please -- they're not only the ones who put the asteroid into space, they've also been making it bigger with irresponsible spending on everything from prescription drugs to billions in rebate checks and bailouts.

Bruce Willis and Tommy Lee Jones? They're more likely to be on Social Security than to save it.
And that leaves only us: We the People. Like every other crisis we face, it's up to us to save ourselves.

But how? Be honest, no matter what side of the political aisle you're on, it's obvious that our financial deficit is dwarfed only by the deficit of trust we have in our leaders.

I'm willing to do the right thing for our future, I'm willing to sacrifice, but not when I believe that our leaders will do nothing but make the asteroid even larger.

Heather cooks?

Yes, this is a recipe. Some of you might be surprised to see this even here for you know that I am not a cook nor a baker. I do not not like recipe exchanges nor do I try other people's recipes for "something new," BUT, this soup tastes so fabulous, it changed they way I viewed my soup ingredients. My family loved it. Joshi said that it is the best soup that she ever tasted and wants to learn how to cook it. She had a friend over and she also wants the recipe to make at her house. Its so yummy.

Mulligatawny Soup:
prep time: 30 - 40 minutes
serves: 4

This soup is to include everything in the vegetable bin, so use the recipe as a starting point.
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 celery stack, chopped
2 medium sized carrots, sliced
1 medium sized zucchini, chopped
1 large apple, chopped
3 T olive oil
1 T tapioca flour
1/4 t thyme
1 t curry powder
4 cups chicken broth
1 bay leaf
1 t lemon zest
1 cup cooked chicken
1/2 soy milk (I used rice milk).
1/2 t fresh ground pepper
salt, if desired

In a large stockpot, saute the veggies and apple in oil for 8 - 10 minutes, or until tender. Stir in tapioca flour, thyme, and curry powder. Cook for 1 - 2 minutes.

Add chicken broth, bay leaf, and lemon zest and simmer for another 12 - 15 minutes. Add the cooked chicken, soy milk and freshly ground pepper. Heat through. Season with salt if desired.

yorktown

Last weekend we went to York Beach and Yorktown. It was fun to was the children run around on the beach, but Brrrr! It was cold on the river. Visiting historic places and battle fields excite me. I do not mind letting my children see this and am pleased to see sparks of this excitement in them also. The beach was still the best part to them.

zayne's giant

Last fall Zayne found a little treasure. He proudly showed me his rare finding after he brought it home on a stick. It was a rather large chrysalis. Though I did not have much hope for it lasting the winter in his room, I consented to his desire to keep and "study" it. Mothers always have to give into the educational argument. A plastic container was our little morphing friend's home. Regularly Zayne checked on the little guy as he waited and waited. Last night Zayne's pet hatched and it was a moth. He was so excited he had to call us while we were at the concert to let us know.

This morning I was surprised to see how large the moth was, about 4" x 2.5" prompting Zayne to name him Giant. I loved the designs on Giant. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/ helped us identify the little guy as Antheraea Polyphemus, from the silkworm family. The site was informative and we learned a few things about Mr. Antheraea Polyphemus, which I won't bore you with. However, I will tell you that the lepidopterists that run the site did not have our Giant living in our county, so we email them about our sighting and attached a picture. We are all excited to hear back from them.

Giant stayed outside where we laid him all day long, never moving a centimeter. We were thrilled to discover that our little night creature flew away after sunset.

Update:

The lepidopterists over our area responded and has added Zayne's moth to the data base. Zayne is thrilled with the honor of finding the first Antheraea Polyphemus in Central Virginia.

Giant ate up his casing after hatching. These are the leaves left that surrounded the chrysalis. We found out that these guys do not eat as adults and mate within an hour after hatching. Most likely, Giant will not have any descendants since he spent his first night in Zayne's bedroom.

bikes, bikes bikes

I know. I know. I have an "irrational devotion" to my bikes, an obsession. Yesterday evening my new Fetish frame came. The bright red paint says, "Shazam!" Its hot, hot hot. You might be thinking, "Didn't Heather just get another new Titus frame?" The answer is yes. But, that bike has gears. The new Fetish will be a single speed.















The last week has been like Christmas for me. All this wouldn't have been half as fun without Dan there obsessing with me. I get excited to ride again just watching his enthusiasm for building up my bikes. That is a good thing he feels that way because putting together things frustrates me. Last night we got home from the Bodeans' concert around 11:30 pm, past our bedtime. He stayed up for about an hour putting most of the bike together. That is true love. It could also be his way of saying, "Lets get you biking and get some meat back on those bones."

Our living room is now getting a little tight with bikes. Yes, I did say living room. We just love our bikes.














My old Titus.

Let me add on a bit here. This evening I went for my first bike ride since my last surgery. I put it in the easiest gear and went for a blissful stroll around a few blocks. It couldn't have been a lovelier evening. Blossoms were blowing in the spring breeze like cheerful snowflakes. Birds were happily singing. I even saw a bluebird in a blossoming Dogwood tree. I arrived home with revived energy and found Dan finishing up my Fetish. What an evening.