Random Thoughts Inspired by July

Goodbye July!

I've made it, 31 days in a row of blogging.



I love these kittens. I think they are looking out the window saying good-bye to July as it disappears making room for August.


A recap of July to bid it farewell.

We had lots of rain this July which kept everything green with no danger of fires. Very few, if any, tornadoes have torn through our area at all this year. You may know a line from the song "Oklahoma!" that goes "When the wind comes sweeipin' down the plain." Sweepin' isn't always the best description for the way the wind blows through the state of Oklahoma.

July is National Ice Cream Month and National Hot Dog Month. I ate a little bit of both of those. The 4th of July, also known as American Independence Day, is the only holiday we celebrate in July. Are there holidays in July that I don't know about? Hang out at the lake day? Thank God for air conditioning day?

It's been really hot the last weeks of July. It was 105 degrees Fahrenheit today. And I do thank God for air conditioning. What were the pioneers thinking when they came through here and decided to stay? Things must have been really bad on the east coast for them to prefer a mud house (no trees) and 100+ heat and the occasional tornado. Tough people.

My baby girl turned 28 July 22. How can it be that my kids are full grown adults?

Our llama, Jack, died this summer. He lived in the goat pen and protected them from dogs. I wasn't very fond of Jack. He wasn't very friendly, a little bit big and scary, and he'd spit like a camel. YUK! But I am sorry that he died. He was part of the family, likable or not.

I worked more hours than usual at the public library during July. My boss gave me a lot of extra hours. He is helping me with my quest to get all the money in the world. Craft day with teens was fun and Children's program day with 800 (give or take) kids was other worldly. The library is no longer a quiet place to read.

I started a new blog on July 12th. It's a 4 day a week Bible Study traveling through the Bible using the lectionary readings as our guide. I'm loving it. It is a good discipline to not only read the scriptures but write about them too.

My favorite thing about July 2010 was blogging every day at NaBloPoMo, reading some great blog posts and becoming friends with Heather and Maria. I'll be posting at NaBlo throughout the year to stay in touch with my new friends and to keep reading the interesting things that are going on around the world.

I wish you all an Awesome August!

.

Indiahoma Funerals

We don't have a lot in Indiahoma, Comanche County, Southwest Oklahoma. There's a lot of poverty and unemployment. There isn't much to do in Indiahoma besides hang out or go to church (we have 6 churches).

What goes on in an insignificant town like Indiahoma? Community. Everyone comes out to the ball games. You don't have to have a kid on the team to root for Indiahoma. School Board meetings are important events. We need the school to keep the town alive.

What impresses me most are the funerals. Everyone comes together to comfort a family in their time of grief. Cards, calls, visits, and food are lavished on those stricken with grief. We had another funeral today at the Baptist church. The choir had singers from the other churches and the pews were filled with members from every denomination in town. The pastors gave a personalized service because they know the deceased and his family. After the service are hugs, handshakes and words of encouragement.

Lunch is served to the family either before or after the funeral, depending on what time the funeral is held. Today's funeral was a morning funeral, so the family returned to the church after the cemetery and found dishes and plates and bowls of food piling high in the Baptist Fellowship Hall, cooked and delivered by the people of Indiahoma. The look, the smell, the taste all say, "We love you."

I've been on the receiving end of the Indiahoma style funeral and experienced how palpable the love and support of the community is. Are other places like this? Do you have different but equally meaningful funeral traditions?

Sisters

My mom only had sisters, I only had sisters, my children only have sisters. That's a female legacy.

We're silly, we're funny, we like to laugh.
We're smart, we're witty, we like to learn.
We're adventurous, we try new things, we go new places.

Sheryl likes it hot, Susan's in the middle, I like it cool.
Susan has one daughter. I have two daughters. Sheryl has three nieces.

Susan and Sheryl were born in California. I was born in Kansas.
Susan and Sheryl live in California. I live in Oklahoma.
Susan and Sheryl are both blond. I have red hair.

We grew up together. We've celebrated together. We've grieved together.
We have the same mom, the same dad, the same family.

I've known my sisters all their lives. I'm the oldest.
Sheryl has known her sisters all of HER life. She's the youngest.
Susan is older than Sheryl but younger than me.

We're creative, artistic, with a flair for the unique.
Sheryl's a potter, Susan's art is in the garden, I blog.

Sydney, Susan, Sheryl...Sisters..................................................
I saw these coasters in Tuesday Morning and I thought I should get them for my sisters and me because our names all start with S. But I didn't. I got them because S is for Sisters.

Movies

Prompt for WED, July 28: Write a pitch for a movie that you wish someone would make.

Movies based on books usually disappoint. I was listening to SKIPPING CHRISTMAS on a trip to California with my daughter. It was dusk and snow was falling when the book got so funny and we were laughing so hard that we had to pull over to avoid an accident. I kept imagining that book as a movie as we listened to the CDs. Years later they made the movie, "Christmas with the Kranks." What a disappointment. But isn't that always the way? A good side effect of books made into movies is that people will often read the book after seeing the movie.

I recently saw "The A-Team" and loved it. I've already written a whole blog post about that. I might be able to promote a movie based on a TV show. What are some possibilities? Rockford Files would top my list but it's already been done, a movie made for TV this fall. And Hawaii Five O is back as a weekly TV show. Magnum PI, Mattlock, and Greatest American Hero would be possibilities for the same reason as Rockford Files. Each one has a fun, likable, interesting character that the show is built around.

Looking at a list of TV shows from the 60s, I'm amazed at how many have already been made into movies: Batman, The Flintstones, The Fugitive, Get Smart, I Spy, Mission Impossible, The Mod Squad, Rocky and Bullwinkle, and Star Trek. What were your favorite shows from long ago? Would they make good movies?

How funny would this be, make a movie based on a TV show that was based on a book? I thought of two right off: Perry Mason and Nero Wolf. The old Perry Mason TV shows have been made into TV movies, still starring Raymond Burr. Isn't it time for a 21st Century Perry Mason big screen movie? The kids don't know who he is, and he's worth knowing.

Lastly, if I were in the movie promoting business, I'd promote the quicker release of the last two Harry Potter movies. It's not that I want them to be over. It's just that I have a feeling J.K. Rowling isn't going to publish her next book until the Harry Potter films have been released. And I'm kind of going into Rowling withdrawal. I need her next book.

Well, what do you think? Should I keep my day job as a librarian or branch out into the movie promotion biz?

What Are Your Daily Reads?

My husband still reads the newspaper with his morning coffee. It's his routine. Then he tells me the important news.

Meanwhile, I'm at my computer checking email with my coffee. It's my routine. I see most of the big headlines when I open AOL. But it's the personal stuff I'm interested in. I read email from friends first then I go to my subscriptions. I share them with you here in hopes that one or more will be of interest and/or useful to you. I hope you'll share what you're reading with me.

Mystery Book Club You can sign up for just about any genre at Dear Reader. I read mysteries and it is great to start a new book every Monday morning. I read several chapters in my email during the week. If I want to finish it, I go to the library or bookstore to get it. It's somewhat of a social site too. You can leave comments about the book, send an email to the creator of Dear Reader (Suzanne Beecher), enter contests (once a year there's a writing contest) and click into subareas like authorbuzz.

CopyBlogger These emails are full of good writing tips. It is geared toward Business blogs but is applicable to any writing. It is usually funny and entertaining as well as informative.

HomeWord Devotionals HomeWord is a Christian family organization (with focus on teenagers and their youth leaders) started by my friend Jim Burns. Several people write the devotions which begin with a short scripture followed by an illuminating example and some comments. There are questions at the end for going deeper.

South Beach Diet Daily Dish is part of Everyday Health. You can sign up for a variety of health related daily emails from this link. Daily Dish provides information about foods (why eating fish is good for you), seasonal produce, recipes, etc. I lost 50 pounds following the South Beach diet. It's a no simple carb diet (sugar, refined flour) and very limited bad fat food. Extra Virgin Olive Oil is good, bacon is not.

A.Word.A.Day "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug." --- Mark Twain A.Word.A.Day can help you learn that right word. The word comes with pronunciation, etymology, meaning and usage. There is also a daily quote, some are really good.

OK, it's your turn. What are your daily reads?

Saved by Grace

I haven't shared my salvation story in a long time, never in a blog post. How could I not share it in a month with the theme: SAVED?

I grew up going to church and Sunday school. I took a communicants class and joined the church in junior high. Then high school - separating from the parents, thinking I was thinking on my own, reading material with different world views, growing, wondering and wandering. But that was just the beginning, college - party down, living "on my own," bombarded with new philosophies, new lifestyles, it was the 60's.

After spending my senior year at the University of Heidelberg, I came home to finish my degree at UC Irvine. I fell back into my friendship with my high school friend, Ann, who had become, as we called "them" then, a Jesus freak. I loved Ann and we had a great time together but she was always pestering me about Jesus and the Bible and eternal life. I decided to read the New Testament and explain to Ann all of its inconsistencies and show her how ridiculous she was being.

I started reading. I believe it was somewhere in "The Acts of the Apostles" when I put the Bible down and said, "Jesus, I want to receive this Holy Spirit that I am reading about." Poof, it was done, I was a Jesus freak too.

The Word of God is powerful. Read it and tell me how it affects you.

.

A Wonderful Sunday

It started out like any Sunday, breakfast with Pa and Owen, Nick Jr. on TV while we got ready for church, drank coffee and checked email.

9:30 a.m., the day continued as expected, church began on time. It was a hot day in SW Oklahoma but cool and comfortable in the church. Singing, sharing, praying, a sermon about the prodigal son and worshiping the God we love.

There was a little snafu between church and Sunday school involving getting lunch ready but it was just enough to keep things interesting and unpredictable.

The Sunday school lesson was 2 Thessalonians 3:1-15 about God's Own Faithfulness. I liked the part about not being idle. "He who does not work should not eat." I can be a bit of a workaholic during the school year. But when your job is a mission for God, I'm sure that isn't a bad thing. Plus, I get to eat!

Lunch at Gran's was a little late because of the snafu, but it was worth the wait. This was Beth's Sunday birthday dinner (lunch). Her menu was meatloaf, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes and gravy, salad and green beans with peaches and cantaloupe for dessert. (There was birthday cake, but since Beth's birthday was actually on Thursday, the cake was all gone by Sunday).

After the lunch dishes were in the dish washer and the kitchen was cleaned, we sat down to wait for our company, cousins Don and Donna from Oregon along with Cousin LaRae from Texas were on their way. Pa went back to our house to take a nap, Owen fell asleep on his mat in the dining room, Beth curled up on the couch and Gran nodded off in her chair. I was the only one awake when Don knocked on the door.

The company came in and everyone woke up (well, not Pa - we had to give him a wake up call). We told stories and laughed, reminisced and consulted family history books, looked at pictures and caught up with news about people not present. When it was time for them to head on, Don said, "We should be going and let you all get back to your regular life activities." My response was, "Oh, you don't have to do that. This is way more fun than what we normally do." They left anyway.

Pa went to the farm, Beth & Owen went home, and I headed down the street to my house. We left Gran talking on the phone to her sister in Michigan.

I enjoy my Sunday evenings. I got my Bible Blog done and checked my email. Finally back to normal! Mari & Shawn are home from their honeymoon cruise and back online. Five emails and one blog post from Mari. That is more like it.

I'm almost done with my NaBloPoMo daily blog post and then I will watch a TV show (I like Leverage) and read a little (I'm trying to finish John Grisham's children's book THEODORE BOONE: KID LAWYER).

It's been a pretty spectacular Sunday, a great start to the last week in July.

.