Easter 2013

Our sunrise service at 7 a.m. means getting up before 6 o'clock and leaving the house while it's still very dark. Since Easter Breakfast is served at 8:15 all I had to do was get dressed, fix my hair, grab my purse and exit the house. I did stop to have a glass of orange juice along with my vitamin pills. We expected rain early in the morning, but were spared.

The choir sang two numbers -- one before the service began and the second was between the Scripture readings.  I counted 20 members in the choir and they are excellent. 

The past Lenten season's theme was about the body of Christ: feet, hands, mouth, ears, eyes and heart and the sermon today summarized what we know about Jesus. Where is he now? He is in heaven; he is present whenever and whenever he wills; he is present in the preaching of his Word.

We returned home to put ham in the oven and wait for the Martins, Kidwells and their two friends, Andy and Dave, to arrive. They came with all sorts of crock pots of food so we were fortified for the day. After eating, Josh, Andy and Dave tried their hand at fishing but the fish were reluctant probably because it's been so cold. 

In the meantime, Nancy and Kylie were hiding eggs so Jayden could have an egg hunt. He was the only one with an Easter basket but he didn't seem to mind. 

Ready to hunt for eggs

At one point, Jayden's basket was getting heavy so he emptied it in a bag and kept searching for more.

Almost filled to the brim

Kylie asked me to take a picture of her with her brother and I should have been clicking oftener because I didn't get any photos of the rest of the family.

Siblings

Even though the sun was shining part of the afternoon, there was a briskness to the breeze. During past Easter egg hunts, the lawn has been mowed at least once. This year the grass is still brown and hasn't grown any. The first lawn mowing of the season is still a couple of weeks away.

On Saturday afternoon I made Pineapple & Cream Cheese Upside Down Cake. It looked yummy when I took it out of the pan. One precaution: the directions called for using a spring form pan but that's not a good idea. The melted butter and brown sugar in the bottom of the pan leaked. After wiping up the spill I used the self-cleaning function and had a clean oven once again.

We didn't have much left over--I guess it was a hit!

A sign of Spring

I posted earlier that Ray had trapped a muskrat and today he caught two moles. The animals obviously know it must be spring; otherwise, why would they emerge from their hiding places? We're not into eating game, but I guess some people eat muskrat (a member of the beaver family) and moles (similar to squirrel meat).

Two moles -- they are so small it's hard to believe the damage they inflict on a lawn.

On Monday we had about 4 or more inches of snow but today there is not a trace left (except in some parking lots). The soil and lawn are very damp but the air was milder than we've had in a long time. Looking forward to 60 degrees tomorrow.

After lunch I invited Ray to join me in the basement and we were able to clean up lots of cobwebs and dirt. Looks much better.

A day out

Basically, the snow has all melted so it was a fine day to meet the Walkers. We drove to Carmel after our workout arriving at the Blu (not misspelled) Moon Cafe just a few minutes after 12 noon. The Cafe was busy with the lunch crowd and we had to wait in line to order our food, but the wait was worth it. My sandwich was delicious.

The Cafe is situated in a corner of the Indiana Design Center so after our meal, we meandered through some of the showrooms. We saw a gas range with double oven that retails for about $15,000 learning also that the brand has models as high as $50,000. Another showroom featured a 3D TV and a home theater; we wandered through flooring and bedroom/mattress showrooms before heading off for a short walk to a small museum.

Scattered throughout the Carmel Arts & Design District are many sculptures; we passed by two. The majority of the statues are by J. Seward Johnson whose lifelike creations draw attention as visitors to the area pose with the statues for photographs, or just for laughs just like we did.  

Hamming it up!

Our destination was The Museum of Miniature Houses. I didn't count the number of doll houses they have, but they were all unique and beautifully displayed and maintained. Here is an example of one:

Replica of a house of approximately 1880

This house was constructed by Suzanne Landshof, one of the founders of the museum. While roaming from room to room and looking at various displays we spoke to Mrs. Landshof, not realizing who she was at the time. We should have known, because she was very knowledgeable about the details of the house we were viewing at the time.

While writing this post, I discovered the museum has hundreds of photos on Flickr depicting many of the miniatures in their collection. 

Not a record!

We've had lots of snow in March and last evening's snowfall was the most for this late in the month but the total for the month is only 4th on the all time list.  Wet and heavy snow is very pretty because all the trees and bushes are covered. I didn't think I would take any more photos, but I couldn't resist.

We stayed home but probably could have gone out. At one point in the morning I looked out the window and immediately saw a photo opportunity.

Great Blue Heron looking for a fish for lunch

These birds are very hard to photograph because you cannot get close to them and they often blend into the background, but the snow offered a contrast to finally get a photo. Seconds after taking this photo, the bird flew off. We'll see him (or her) many times this summer, I'm sure.

All the spring bulbs are about ready to bloom, but the tulips on our patio were covered this morning.

I don't believe the buds have developed to the point where they will be damaged.

Later, I looked in the sun room and the contrast of the red amaryllis against the snowy background caused me to take another picture.

Love this Amaryllis

Last weekend I put up my usual Easter decorations and it's kind of ironic looking at the Easter chick to see our snowy yard.

When lighted at night this chick is very cheery!

By mid-morning it seemed apparent that the snow covering the driveway was melting but Ray decided to make sure everything was cleared away so he went out to push some snow that had not melted. He also had to clean off our satellite dish because the snow was interfering with reception.

An easy job today

Will this be the last snowfall of the year? Probably.

Late March Storm

When I look around the house I see the Easter decorations that I set out earlier this week. Then I look outside and I see several inches of new snow covering the landscape with more on the way. Somehow the two scenes don't match. Earlier this month we had a heavy wet snow but I probably won't take more pictures as they just might be redundant.

This morning at church I sat behind a group of 6 or 7 little boys -- probably in 4th or 5th grade, but I'm not sure. They were very well behaved. I only knew one of the boys and I know he's in Boy Scouts so I assume they were all Scouts. They all had palm branches that everyone received today.

The pastor mentioned in his sermon that it's a long week until next Sunday, Easter, as we have to endure what happens on Good Friday. He talked about the crowd that followed Jesus when he entered Jerusalem (now called Palm Sunday). The crowd was following because they wanted to see and hear more from Jesus. During the week after he entered Jerusalem, Jesus didn't perform any miracles and the crowd became less enthused. They didn't want to hear about commitment and what he was teaching in the temple. Soon they changed to cries of "crucify him." Since we are His baptized children we are not members of the crowd anymore.

On arriving home, Ray went to check the mole and muskrat traps he set out yesterday. We've seen several muskrats swimming and they burrow in the banks and make it less stable so we try to discourage them. Last evening Ray sent me instructions on how to cook muskrat, but I replied by asking "Are you going to skin the rat if you catch one?" This morning he informed me that muskrats are not members of the rodent family and are similar to squirrel or rabbit in texture, but do have a gamey taste.

Here's a close-up of the "catch of the day":

Muskrats aren't beautiful, especially when wet and bedraggled

Not long after, Ray noticed a hawk enjoying his lunch by feasting on the muskrat. I'm afraid the photo is not clear, but I didn't want to venture out in the cold and windy conditions with the high probability that the hawk would immediately fly away.

Can you see the bump near the center of the photo? That's the hawk devouring his lunch.

The carcass is now buried under the snow waiting for the snow to melt and a turkey vulture or hawk finding it once again.

Spring???

Maybe someone is playing a joke or maybe I'm living in another time warp. Officially, it is the Spring season. This morning I was surprised to see a light covering of snow as we drove to the Rec Center. The temperature was about 16 or 17 degrees! It's not supposed to get above freezing all day today. So far it seems as if the month of March has been colder than February. On our return home, about three hours later, most of the snow was melted except where the sunshine couldn't reach it. With clear skies the sun is shining brightly today -- you wouldn't know it was very cold and windy until venturing outdoors.

I find it interesting to note how the position of the sun has changed during the last month or two. The Rec Center has an 1/8 mile indoor track and back in January, when the sun was peeping above the horizon, I often felt blinded because the sun was shining directly in my eyes through the southern-facing windows. Today, the sun is rising more easterly and I didn't have any problem with bright sunshine. Maybe it has something to do with the onset of Daylight Saving Time. I can't quite put my mind to that though.

We played bridge with our neighbors yesterday and Mike offered to fix our DVD player that was stuck--we couldn't open the tray, but could play the DVD inside. In the matter of a few hours Mike returned the player in working condition. I wasn't home at the time, but he and Ray couldn't make it work. Later, I tried various combinations without any luck.

Much later, when I had turned out the lights and was settling down in bed, the solution came to me. I had failed to use the original remote to change the "input" for the TV to "aux." It's funny how the mind works sometime -- what gave me the clue to what I needed to do to play the DVD?

A few crocuses have been blooming despite our cold weather so here's a photo to brighten anyone's day:

Photo taken March 10, 2013

Spring in Three Days?

According to the calendar the first day of Spring is only three days away, but more about that later.

First, the sermon this morning was one I could relate to -- Keep Your Eyes on the Finish Line. Being a runner for quite a few years, I am familiar with the finish line. In the spiritual sense were are to press on to the goal or finish line--heaven. Do we dwell on past hurts or insults? We need to put that kind of thinking behind us and look toward the finish line. Is our goal a comfortable retirement or a life of plenty or is our goal living to honor Jesus our Savior and being with him in heaven?

Life is going to have bumps in the road but we need to stay focused on the goal. We are not competing against anyone, but ourselves. Jesus has already won the race. We are in first place with God. When we reach the finish line we will be with Jesus in heaven.

In a break from our usual routine, we went to the Rec Center today after lunch in time for Ray to go to a cycling group class and do some resistance machines while I ran the trails. The temperature was about 33 degrees with some breeze so I'm guessing the wind chill was below freezing. There were other runners and walkers on the trail this afternoon even though the temperature for this time in March is about 10 degrees cooler than normal.

I learned that the boy's basketball team from Concordia High School (Fort Wayne), my alma mater, is playing in the State Championship next Saturday at 6:00 p.m. I believe they won their semi-state championship in overtime.

Just a few minutes ago I printed out the NCAA championship bracket and need to make my picks before the first game begins. Ray and I have a friendly competition. We are usually pretty close but aren't keeping score of who has won the most. March Madness is upon us!

Trivia and Birthday

For several weeks I heard about the Trivia Night announced at church as a fundraiser to help youth attend the National Youth Gathering later this summer. For Trivia Night a team composed of six members work together to answer 10 questions per round for 10 rounds or a total of 100 questions. I invited Daughter Nancy and Joe to come and invite two others. They asked their neighbor Andy and another friend, Dave.

Ray and I had a hurried dinner in order to get to church before 7 p.m. and Joe, Nancy and their two friends arrived at the last moment and surprised me with a helium-filled birthday balloon, flowers, a birthday card and Reester Bunnies. Reese used a play on words "Reester Bunnie" instead of "Easter Bunny."

Nancy thought this was cool because of the "R" initials -- Ray and Ruth

My Birthday Flower Bouquet

It was fun testing our recall or figuring out the answers to a myriad of questions posted on the screen. For example, we knew that Francis Scott Key was the author of The Star Spangled Banner, but we didn't know what the initials NASCAR actually stand for. The emcee didn't give us much time to think about each question. We thought we were doing well, but soon learned that other teams were doing much better. We worked well as a team but still came in last! I think it would be fun to play again if another event is planned.

We were on our way home by 9:30 but didn't get to bed until much later and slept late this morning. As we were about to have breakfast at 9 a.m. I remembered that a group was meeting at church to knot quilts for Lutheran World Relief. I usually go and help, but realized that I wasn't going to make it today. It simply slipped my mind. Maybe it's my new age -- 75!!

After breakfast, I planned to check emails and discovered that our Internet connection was down. I tried the usual procedure of rebooting the modem but had to call the tech people to see if they had any other suggestions. In a few minutes the tech dude informed me there was a problem at their end and they were working on it. About an hour or so later, service was restored!

I spent the day working on other projects and shortly after 5 p.m. we were headed out the door for dinner (Ray's birthday gift) and then on to Indianapolis Lutheran High School for the 2nd annual Lutheran Variety Show. We enjoyed the program a year ago and this year a group of singers from church had auditioned and were on the program. The talent was excellent including a 10-year-old boy playing a harmonica and a young woman who could really fiddle.

So my birthday came to an end after receiving email and regular cards, messages on Facebook and even several telephone calls (some on voice mail). I would say it was a very nice day (even though the sun didn't shine much and our Internet was out for part of the day).

Meeting overload

Events often come in threes I've heard. Over this past weekend I've had three meetings to attend and I think that's enough for a while. The first meeting was Friday afternoon at the Holiday Inn Express on the south side of Indianapolis when members of the communications department for the Indiana District LWML spent time getting to know each other and updating some aspects of our particular assignments. Some members who were from out of town spent the night at the Inn but since I don't live that far away went home to sleep in my own bed.

On Saturday I attended the Board of Directors meeting of the LWML at Calvary Lutheran Church from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. That's a long day of listening to reports and trying to stay focused. I was home in time to get some supper (leftovers) ready and made a batch of Amish Friendship Bread (my first ever batch I believe). We set our clocks ahead and went to bed early.

The church service today focused on the story of the prodigal son, one that is very familiar with most of us. The pastor began by telling us that the Father is the star of the story of the prodigal son. The Father is gracious, merciful and kind to both his sons. This story of part of a trilogy that Jesus told his followers. The other two are "The Lost Coin" and "The Lost Sheep." Jesus had been accused of associating with sinners and he told the three parables in response.

As we remember, the son repents and journeys to his father's house. Do we measure a person's worth by his bank account? God doesn't. We have someone who loves us unconditionally. God does not compare his children. All are equally loved.

After the service, I met with two other ladies and we discussed the Bible study in the LWML Quarterly and then it was time to head home. The outdoor temperature had warmed considerably and, even though it was windy, I headed out for a run on our street for the first time in 2013. There is a slight rise in the street when heading south and I could feel the difference from the rather flat trails in Plainfield.

Ray was cooking sap and had quite a few gallons to process so he decided it was time to pull the taps as we have a good supply of maple syrup in our pantry. After an early supper I headed back to Greenwood for the third meeting of the weekend. I think we accomplished a lot but the LWCC (Lutheran Women of Concordia Church) women were really chatty and sometimes it was hard following the conversation! Ray was already in bed when I got home. After attending three meetings in three days it'll be back to our regular routine in the morning going to the Rec Center for cycling class. After that, I have several assignments from the weekend to complete. Looks like a busy week coming up.

Frosting on the trees!

The overnight storm was predicted and, when we woke up this morning, we saw a winter wonderland! We stayed home this morning as our driveway needed cleaning but by noon Ray had cleared most of it. When I left at 4 p.m. for the Lenten service the roads were in very good condition. In fact, it was a worthwhile drive because I saw many beautiful scenes. The 4 inches or so of snow that fell was wet and heavy was clinging to trees, shrubs, weeds, etc. I would describe it as everything having a thick layer of white frosting. The branches on a pine tree outside our bedroom window was drooping from the weight of the snow.

I picked up Kylie on my way to church. Today is exactly three weeks after surgery for herniated disc and she is feeling great--just not allowed to lift anything. Her doctor has allowed her to go back to work as a hostess at her new job. She goes back this Friday and is happy they held the job for her since she had only two or three days of training before the surgery.

This snowfall may be around for only a few days since, by this weekend, we may get temperatures as high as 50 degrees. However, I'm wondering if the coating of snow may keep the temperatures a bit lower.

Is Spring around the corner?

I've heard several times in the last few days that March 1 is the beginning of meteorological spring. Actually, we still have lows in the 20s and no higher than 35, or so, at least for a few more days with a chance for some snow in mid-week and then 50s by the weekend. So maybe Spring is around the corner. Let's hope so.

On Friday I ran outside for the first time in 2013 and it felt good to run on the asphalt pavement of the Plainfield trail system. All winter long I've been running 3 days a week on a 1/8 mile indoor track along with many walkers. Today, I had the longest run of the year but waited until 2:30 when it had warmed up to the low 30s. Ray dropped me off and went on to Walmart to buy gas and get a few other items. When he picked me up and hour later he said to remind him to never shop on a Sunday afternoon again. All aisles were crowded and the check out lanes were lined up three deep.

As we were leaving for church this morning I remarked about the fact that it was very light outside but that next Sunday we'll be back to driving in the dark with the beginning of DST next weekend.

In his sermon today, the Pastor began with illustrations of disasters that we hear almost continually on a day to day basis. Then he wondered how we deal with them. Some retreat to their home. Others take precautions and their life goes on. Are these disasters a punishment from God? We deceive ourselves if we think something similar can't happen to us. We need to repent and be ready in the event something similar would happen to us. True repentance means sorrow and changing your life. The Lord holds onto us through His grace -- not we holding onto him.

After returning from my run, it was time for a small snack while we watched "Undefeated," the story of Roger Brown who played 8 years for the ABA Indiana Pacers. We had never heard the story of his early years and his fall from grace which everybody now thinks should never have happened.

Wikipedia states:
A 6'5" forward/guard, Brown starred at Brooklyn's George W. Wingate High Schooland signed to play for the University of Dayton in 1960, but he was banned from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and National Basketball Association (NBA) when it was revealed that while still in High School and along with fellow Brooklyn star Connie Hawkins, he had been introduced to a gambler, Jack Molinas, who was involved in illegal point shaving. Brown was never accused of point shaving and his only crime was associating with Molinas. With the NCAA and NBA ban in place, he continued to play basketball in Dayton's amateur leagues, and in 1967 signed with the American Basketball Association (ABA)'s Indiana Pacers. He was the first player the Pacers organization signed when they were formed.^[1] During his eight-year (1967–1975) ABA career, spent with the Pacers, Memphis Sounds, and Utah Stars, Brown scored 10,498 points, appeared in four All-Star games, and earned three Championship rings. The NBA later reinstated Brown but he never played in the league.

Brown was one of seven players unanimously selected to the ABA All-Time Team in 1997. He is one of four players (the others are Reggie Miller, George McGinnis, and Mel Daniels) to have his jersey (#35) retired by the Pacers.

On February 15, 2013, Brown was announced as one of five direct inductees to join the Naismith Hall of Fame, having been elected by the Hall's ABA Committee. He will be inducted in September 2013.

The documentary concluded with the fact that, less than a month ago, Roger Brown was announced as an inductee to the Naismith Hall of Fame. It's a shame he didn't live to see the day. Also, he now has a 3-year old grandson who could someday be a basketball player himself. Brown's daughter wonders how she will share with her son the stories and fame of his grandfather.