Harvest!

"Wine is sunlight, held together by water." ~Galileo

When we bought our house it had two grape vines in the back yard.

With the help of some friends, we added a third vine and a gazebo for the grapes to grow on.

This year is the first time we have had anything approximating a harvest.

Sadly, we will not be making wine with our grapes because

1) We don't know how
2) Even if we did know how, we have enough grapes to make about 1/2 bottle of wine
3) Even if we knew how and even if we had more grapes, it would probably be a lousy wine as the grapes are pretty sad by professional standards

But to us they are a little bit of backyard magic!

Quote of the Day

Life seems to have a way of looking at your crayon drawing of a plan and laughing. Sometimes it laughs at your lack of imagination and sometimes it laughs at your hubris. Either way, it crumples up your plan, tosses it aside and calmly feeds you into a Cuisinart because you asked for it.

- 3six5

Recently Read

Christ has no body on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the
eyes through which Christ's compassion for the world is to look out; yours are the feet with
which He is to go about doing good; and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now. -SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

- The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us? The answer that changed my life and just might change the world.

The Hole in Our Gospel

Richard Stearns was CEO of Lennox Tableware, one of the premiere tableware companies in the world, when he decided to slash his income by 75% and move his family across the country to take over World Vision, USA,  a Christian international aid agency.

I recently read his book The Hole in Our Gospel in which he describes his decision-making process and how it changed his life.

The book is a good read and even though I have served the poor in various US cities and foreign countries, I came away with a new understanding of the complexity of the world's poor. I also came away with a new understanding of how little it would take to make an impact and reduce their suffering.

The book is aimed at the Christian church in America (and the Church takes some well deserved hits) however I think that anyone, regardless of their faith, with a heart for the poor and oppressed worldwide, will be informed and inspired by this book.

I highly recommend it and will (as usual) be posting snippets in upcoming days to give you a better feel for the book.

An Explanation of Fatherhood to Teenagers

The wee-one has finally gone down for her nap. Even as I type, she is sleeping motionless and quiet in her crib - proving once again, that dad can sit on the deck, reading a book and enjoying a cool beverage longer than the child can bounce, flip-flop, tumble, giggle, scream, laugh and shout.

This, dear teenagers, is why your father sits silently motionless reading the paper when you come badgering him for money. He learned years ago that if he quietly sits there long enough, there is a chance you will go lay down some where and be quiet.

Swimmin' With the Boys

Sea World!

Our Sea World passes cost us about $7 a month so it has become one of our favorite things to do. We usually head over to the park every week or so - even if it's only to catch one show and leave (the trick is not EATING there).

Here is some random SW goodness:

Feeding Sea Lions

Beluga Whales

Starfish!

Bubbles! (and a cracker)

Asnooze

One of the unexpected benefits of Annie's new wheelchair is the anti-tippers. No, I am not talking about stingy people in restaurants.

Most manual wheelchairs have two little bars sticking out the back of the chair down by the ground. The bars have little wheels on them but they don't touch the ground. Their purpose is to prevent you from tipping backwards if you should shift your weight too far back as you are pushing your chair. Since Annie usually puts the "pedal to the metal" whenever she starts out, it is not unusual for her to "pop-a-wheelie" and the anti-tippers catch her before she lands flat on her back.

But the best thing about the anti-tips? When we adjust them all the way up, you can lean the chair back on them and take a nap! It's like a portable Lay-z-Boy for wee-ones!

Big and Tall

So we finally got Annie's mobile stander. It's quite a contraption and it takes two of us to get her all strapped in properly. Right now she is spending less than 30 minutes in it at a stretch but we are slowly increasing the time.

I was a little concerned that Annie-Lu wouldn't care for it or that she would have trouble maneuvering it. Naturally, no sooner had I taken the breaks off than Annie was zipping around the family room.

Big and tall.

We Who Are Your Closest Friends

by Phillip Lopate

we who are
your closest friends
feel the time
has come to tell you
that every Thursday
we have been meeting
as a group
to devise ways
to keep you
in perpetual uncertainty
frustration
discontent and
torture
by neither loving you
as much as you want
nor cutting you adrift

your analyst is
in on it
plus your boyfriend
and your ex-husband
and we have pledged
to disappoint you
as long as you need us

in announcing our
association
we realize we have
placed in your hands
a possible antidote
against uncertainty
indeed against ourselves
but since our Thursday nights
have brought us
to a community of purpose
rare in itself
with you as
the natural center
we feel hopeful you
will continue to make
unreasonable
demands for affection
if not as a consequence
of your
disastrous personality

then for the good of the collective

Hilarious

http://youtu.be/jwTIa_2A9ZU

I'm Sorry, This is Awesome . . . No. really. I am sorry . . . .

http://youtu.be/EMwxwRA9Xr8

Here in Cincinnati

by Garrison Keillor



We're in Cincinnati and it's good to be here
In a city of pork and a city of beer.
Old beer signs everywhere you walk:
“Good Old” Brucks, Brenner's XL Pilsener, John Hauck
Barbarossa, King Gambrinus, or Crown.
You eat you some Pork hocks with leeks and garlic cloves, you need beer to wash it down.
Similarly, to go along with a pint of beer, you need more than a pretzel
You need Pork Meatloaf with brown gravy and spaetzle.
A big pork sandwich and something to drink,
Geisbauer, Bierbrauer, Linck.
Nothing chintzy
Here in Cincy.
Like it or not, Cincinnati was not vegetarian.
It went for pork shanks with bread dumplings and a pitcher of Bavarian.
No lemonade, no cranberry juice, no apple cider,
But a big mug of Weber's, Lackman, Jackson, Mohawk, Gerke, Burger, or Foss-Schneider.
And all of the pig was used, even the snout
To make Bierwurst, Mettwurst, Bratwurst, piled high with sauerkraut.

Beers with distinguished names like Butcher & Weidmann and Windisch-Muhlhauser
To give a sense of dignity to the drunken carouser
City of suds and city of swine,
Some greasy goetta sausage and a glass of Christian Moerlein,
Or Little Kings cream ale

Beer by the bottle, the barrel, the hogshead, and the pail,
Golden brown glasses of beer with nice big heads
And Hudepohl-Schoenling, Cincinnati's finest, hu-dey “Hu dey think gonna beat them Reds”
It was the national capital of beer.
In 1890, they produced a million barrels a year.
Old breweries along McMicken Avenue on the hill north of Liberty Street,
Making beer out of water, yeast, sugar, plenty of hops, and wheat.
Oh in Cincinnati there was lots to do:
You had a Hudy and a Pork cordon bleu.
Cincinnati was a regular culinary riot.
How sad to be on a diet.
What a terrible loss.
To miss out on the roast pork loin with beer sauce.
And it is politically incorrect
And you may object
To my saying so, but I suspect
Something joyful and boisterous and profane
Was lost when we decided to abstain.
A man sitting down to pork braised, roasted, fried, boiled, battered, with a glass upraised,
A man who is a little fried himself and his eyes are glazed.
That may have been the night he became your daddy
Here in Cincinnati.

An Excellent Tribute

http://youtu.be/3wJYpRJQVbo

Quote of the Day

“Enlightenment can come only after humility – the wisdom of realizing one’s own ignorance, insignificance, and lowliness, without which one cannot see the truth.”

- Chan (Zen) Master Li Yuansong

Quote of the Day

Now it's time for me to wrench the children away from their various television-type devices and force activity on them until they all start screaming and fighting and I give up and let them go back to their television-type devices. That's how I spent a lot of my summers when I was a kid, right? And I turned out JUST FREAKING FINE.

Also, I might make some muffins.

- Haiku of the Day

Lady Liberty Marching Forward

Happy 4th!

http://youtu.be/N0B9CitsfU0

Quote of the Day

People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within.

- Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

Happy 4th!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W5bBs4QDeM&feature=player_embedded

Me and My Friend Jason

Because Nothing Bonds a Mother and Daughter Like Matching Tattoos

You can find more of this sort of stuff at www.3ELove.com

Takin' It To the Net

Para-Olympian tennis player Kaitlyn Verfuerth attended the Spina Bifida Conference this past week so, of course, there was a tennis clinic.

The wife took the wee one to check out the action, and the wonderful and talented Anthony Lara ended up coaching her! Annie absolutely loved it.

Quote of the Day

"I want to thank the President and the CEO of Constellation Energy, Mayo Shattuck. That's a pretty cool first name, isn't it, Mayo. Pass the Mayo."

- George W Bush

Quote of the Day

It was 107 today. That was what it “felt” like, according to some arcane measurement of these things; the true temp topped out in the mere mid-90s. You will not hear me complain. I like heat. I associate heat with the good things – beaches, the ocean, summer, not wearing 16 layers of clothing. Let me put it this way: after three months of very hot weather, I don’t think one becomes overcome with a sense of emptiness and depression. Three months of cold that makes your lungs ache and your fingers go dead is like being beaten with a cloth-covered mallet once every hour. The despair of February is a hundred times worse than the inconvenience of the afternoon sun broiling the parking lot you’re crossing on your way to an air-conditioned place. It’s not a summer if we don’t have a day like this. Now we’ve had it. Now it’s summer.

- Lileks

Howdy Duncan Managed Our Team

by Paul Zimmer

in the Junior Baseball League in 1950.
Twice divorced, without children,
Howdy liked his Schlitz too much.
Our team was his only other pleasure,
but we were taking out licks
at the bottom of the standings,
embarrassed and blaming our manager.
Gus Thurman arranged a petition
for Howdy to be replaced and
brought it around to our houses.

Of course we won our next game.
Howdy was boisterous and thrilled.
After he thanked the umpire and
shook hands with the losing manager,
he turned with a smile to his team.

Just then—at that very moment—
Thurman handed him our petition.
Howdy read it carefully, studied all
our signatures. When finally he raised
his stricken face, we were all looking
at him from the bench, our mouths open
like a row of empty, baby swallows.

It was dusk and shadows were long.
Our girlfriends waited and watched,
their tawny legs crossed in the bleachers.
A distant freight, full from the mills,
whiffed its way through the switches
out of town. A covey of dirty wrappers
flapped up across the first base line.
The neon sign in the window
of the Cricket Bar and Grill
across the Eighth Street bridge
blinked once, then came on full.