Book Club Discusses 'Infidel'

Our book club met Saturday morning at the 6 North Coffee House to discuss 'Infidel' by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a woman of Somali heritage who became a Dutch citizen, but whose criticism of Islam has earned her a death threat. Not a cheerful read in the midst of a week that saw devastation in Haiti, but we all agreed that the reading had helped us understand events in Africa, such as the civil war in Somalia and the rise of Islamic extremism, a little better. Next month we plan to observe Black Heritage month by bringing poems by our favorite African-American poets to read. We are still deciding on our books for March and April.

As one of our members noted in a post on Facebook this afternoon: the coffee and the breakfast croissants are great, and sometimes some of us have even finished the book!

This evening Norm and I went out to dinner with our friends Mike and Sandy and caught up on the news in our respective families. We went to Oscar's Cafe, and had a delicious meal. In an odd set of coincidences, this was the third time this week I've been to Oscar's, which is just down the street from where we live. Tuesday night I went there with my circle I have belonged to for over 30 years. Friday noon I had lunch there with the new faculty adviser to the student newspaper; we get together a couple of times a semester so that she can ask questions and I can pass on tips and warnings...she is doing a GREAT job and I am so relieved to have someone as good as she is to advise the college journalists that I nurtured for many years. Makes retirement more fun! Tomorrow we will have a carry in dinner after church and I have my poppy seed chicken casserole (thank you, Maxine!) assembled and in the fridge waiting to pop into the oven in the morning. We are in the midst of dense fog--really thick this morning; lifted this afternoon; supposed to be back in the morning. But at least it is above freezing. We'll take it.

A note on the picture; it's the first time I've used the camera feature on my new Nokia phone that I got when we switched our plan from Sprint to Consumer Cellular. I'm still learning how to use its features, but the service is so much better and so much less expensive. If you belong to AAA or to AARP, Consumer Cellular has some great plans. You can click the link I embedded in this text for more information. (And NO, full disclosure, I did NOT receive any benefits or compensation from Consumer Cellular for this testimonial. I didn't get any special treatment at Oscar's Cafe, either!)

Haiti: Kim Bentrott describes the last two days

The Bentrotts have established internet access and Kim has a long post up tonight (Thursday) along with some photos. She describes their day before the earthquake, how it felt as their apartment settled, the sights and sounds and many trips they have made to pick people up, try to get them to hospital, get visitors to the embassy, etc. She also describes the destruction of the 6-story building that had held their offices, school, and college of nursing, and what it was like to watch men trying frantically to rescue those trapped in the rubble. It is too long for me to copy and paste here, but you can read it by clicking on this link to her post, Processing.

Although Kim is a doctor and not a journalist, if I could nominate this for a Pulitzer, I would.

E-Mail from Kim Bentrott

Just a few minutes ago, Global Ministries posted this e-mail received from Kim Bentrott, medical missionary in Haiti sponsored by Week of Compassion. Although she and Patrick are safe, the news about some parts of the CONASPEH mission there is grim:

LATEST NEWS: January 14, 2010 at 9:44am - E-mail message from Kim Bentrott

Dear India and Felix,

I've been trying since the earthquake to call, but our phone networks are down. Yesterday Patrick and I snuck into our apartment--that miraculously didn't crumble when our apartment building went from three stories to two in one big crunch of the first story. The landlord got out--not sure how... but no one in our apartment complex was seriously injured or killed.

I'm sure you know by now that Patrick, Solomon and I are safe. Patrick and Francoise Villier are safe. The entire Tennessee group miraculously is safe. Had they been on time for dinner, it would have been another story.

CONASPEH building is flattened with all nursing students inside. It is in complete ruin. Francoise and Patrick lost one of their foster care kids inside. Pray for them.

Patrick and I got the Tennessee group to the American embassy yesterday. The embassy was planning on shuttling people 100 at a time to Santa Domingo, and from there AA would take them back to the states. So they all had a plan on getting out.

Veniel--the manager of the Walls guest house, has taken Patrick and I under his wing and took us up the mountain to Kenskoff last night to find a hotel to stay in. We'll be here for two nights and try to figure out where to go next.

We spent most of the day at CONASPEH helping remove bodies and rescue the last few voices inside the rubble. We haven't been able to contact the Villiers since yesterday morning. The phone system continues to either be completely down or jammed.

We'll stay in contact. We hope to head to Port au Prince today or tomorrow to find the Villier's and see what we can do to help.

Pray for us. Pray for Haiti. The horror and tragedy here is beyond description. Such huge loss of life. Such devastation.

Kim

Kim also has just uploaded a post titled "Safe" to her blog, Adventures in Life. You can read that post and access the blog by clicking here or by going to my blogroll on the right of my page. It's worth the time to read some of her earlier posts and get a sense of what their life was like before this tragedy, and what she found to be so wonderful about the people they have met and have worked with.

Haiti News spreads via Blogs, Tweets & FB

I just opened my sitemeter stats, because it looked like the counter had been jump started. It was humbling to see that Home Stories had 34 visits yesterday, a huge increase. And fully half of them were from people who were doing a search for the Bentrotts in Haiti. People in Denver, Washington State, Nebraska--and one of the first hits they got was my post I threw together yesterday morning. Some came in from my link on FaceBook as well. It's just a small chip off the huge block of information sharing that is going on in this disaster. One of the most interesting feeds I found yesterday is the New York Times Lede blog, which has been turned over to Haiti coverage and it will also be constantly updated on Thursday. . You can find it here: The Lede. I've seen things there I haven't seen elsewhere, like the first link of the day to Pat Robertson's assertion on the 700 Club that a "pact with the devil" supposedly made 200 years ago to secure Haiti's independence from France is responsible for this tragedy. I will withhold my comment because it would violate Blogger's standards for decency.

Anyway, thoughts and prayers continue for everyone who is now trying to find a way to help the victims in this tragedy when there is so little infrastructure and civil organization to work with. If I see more news about the various mission partners, I'll post it as well.

Update on Haiti: Bentrotts OK

This received this morning--thank goodness Kim, Patrick and Solomon are OK. So is a group of Tennessee Christian Church volunteers who arrived on Sunday. More news will come during the day. Here is the info from Global Ministries web site:

"Global Ministries has received a call from the family of Kim and Patrick Bentrott indicating that they and their son are fine. We also received news from the Disciples Tennessee Region group letting us know that they are fine. "

Link for news updates: http://globalministries.org/news/lac/haiti-earthquake-what-we.html

Kim and Patrick work with some 6000 small grass roots churches that are part of a religious council known as CONASPEH. They are located in the poorest sections of the country. They will be needing everything.

Some ways to help:

Gifts for emergency relief can be made through One Great Hour of Sharing, Week of Compassion or directly through Global Ministries with the designation "Haiti Emergency". You can follow the links below:

OGHS: http://www.ucc.org/disaster/major-earthquake-strikes.html

WOC: https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=6566

Global Ministries: http://globalministries.org/give/

Prayers for Haiti

The devastating news from Haiti of calamitous damage from a 7.0 earthquake hits especially hard because Norm and I have been following the adventures of two young Americans who are missionaries there, supported in part by Disciples and UCC Churches in the St. Louis area through Global Ministries. We met them in the fall of 2008 shortly before they departed for their new ministry. Just yesterday I was reading their blog, as Kim rejoiced in returning "home" to her husband and son after a restful visit with her relatives in the U.S. Kim is a doctor; Patrick teaches in the seminary there. They have adopted a Haitian boy who is 14 months old. At this early point, no one knows if their 2nd story apartment is rubble, if they are injured or not, if they have survived. If they are OK, then Kim faces huge obstacles as a physician trying to help the people she has been serving, and Patrick will be trying to help students and colleagues at the school, and someone will be trying to care for Solomon while his parents work. The suffering in this small country--the poorest in the Western Hemisphere-- was enormous before; now it is unimaginable. Help is on the way from many countries that are sending medical aid, rescue teams, etc. Both the Week of Compassion (which supports Kim's medical clinic) and Church World Service are accepting donations at their web sites for aid. Many other worthwhile charities are as well. We pray for everyone who struggles with the aftermath of this disaster, for those injured and homeless, for those who did not survive and the families that grieve for them. And we pray for practical ways to help. Here is a link to the blog I mentioned above; it is also listed on my blogroll.
http://kimandpatrick.blogspot.com/

Norm and Ava in the Snow

When Ava came to visit yesterday she had a bright new red sweater in her travel bag. Must have been a gift from Santa. Anyway, it came in handy this afternoon with our below zero wind chill index. In this picture, Norm is wearing 2 to 4 layers (depending on the article of clothing.) He topped off his gray hat with the red one so I thought this outing would make a good picture.

Not a lot to add. It's cold. Get used to it. At least until next week. The thaw apparently starts Monday, when it warms up enough to snow (showers) again. But by Wednesday they are promising 40! I hardly dare hope.

Today I put on some of my Damart long johns that I first ordered 35 years ago when one of our first years in St. Louis provided us with more bone chilling cold than we had ever had living in Denver. And then I put on sweat pants. And a t-shirt, a turtleneck, and a hoodie. Two pairs of socks. And I wasn't even planning to go outside with the dog. A decade of milder winters sort of ruined us for this kind of extended cold, but thank goodness I never gave away the long johns!

Snow Day in Bel Nor

Sometimes the weather forecast is so accurate! Last night it started snowing about the time it got dark. We had a Winter Storm warning for 4-6 inches, followed by high winds, blowing and drifting snow, and dangerous wind chills starting tonight and lasting into Saturday. We got only about 3-4 inches here, but so far the wind and the chill are right on target!

About 9 a.m. after the main storm had passed, we had a brief, heavy snow shower and the wind blew it almost sideways. The bird feeders in the back yard were busy all day. I really wanted to capture the effect of the big, blowing snowflakes, even though the shower didn't last very long. The view from the front door toward a house across the street looks similarly frosty. Not long after I took this photo, Raymond and his friend Junior arrived, driving Vanna, our old minivan, to shovel our sidewalks and driveway. Our neighbor Barb had left earier this morning for the airport and called us later, saying, "don't go anywhere out of Bel Nor. It's too crazy out there." We decided to follow her advice. But at least now we can get out of the garage if we have to.

Inside, we have a riot of blooms right now--three poinsettias (two white, one red) and four amaryllis stalks each bearing three blooms. It has been so cold that we are keeping most of the curtains and blinds drawn day and night to stop heat escaping through our generous number of (supposedly thermal) windows...but I have to open the drapes each morning for the plants in the dining room to get some light. All of this living in the dark is beginning to give us cabin fever! Norm has taken up weaving on his lap loom again, after a hiatus of a few years. I have been working on knitting a prayer shawl. And of course we have Ava to play with and keep us warm until Sunday night when Barb returns from Atlanta. Not long after the snow shower, the sun came out and brightened the day for quite a while. Now it's cloudy again, the low tonight is supposed to be somewhere between 0 and 5 above with wind chills of 15 -20 below. (On my FaceBook page, friends are discussing the color of their thermal underwear! ) Tomorrow might be even worse: high of 13 and low around 0 again. I think I know where my long johns are--haven't had a winter this cold since 1999 but they are still in the bottom drawer of the dresser. At least we can look forward to a week from now: it will be close to 40 degrees! Now that's a forecast I fervently hope WILL be extremely accurate!

2010: New Year, New Hopes, New Blooms!

Happy New Year, everyone! As you can see, we are joined in this greeting by The Amaryllis, which chose yesterday to unfold for this holiday season. Mom Linville's legacy lives on in many ways, but this plant, and its offspring, are one of the more delightful, tangible reminders of her. I imagine many of you who have some of these bulbs have had similar miracles in bloom recently.

Norm and I rang in the New Year at 12:03 this morning on our porch, clanging a cowbell that came with the house, attached to one of the porch lights. We had sipped some sparkling grape and snacked on Scottish shortbread that smelled SO GOOD while it was baking in the oven. Our New Year's Eve Scrabble tournament took place as well. Norm won this year by 2 points: 224 to 222, and that was with getting caught with the Z, so good for him! We have been writing down the scores from each year on a now yellowed piece of paper since 1969, the year my parents gave us the game for Christmas! (They thought a couple of English majors deserved a spelling game!)

As we were doing some correspondence this week, we also took time to rearrange the picture board and update it to reflect many of the events of 2009, as well as showcase some of the pictures that came in Christmas cards. Some of the photos are older because we still like them, or they are the best we have of someone. Those of you who have been to our house know that we have this board on the wall above our kitchen table. We began the tradition in our Ferguson house, back in the 1970s, when it had a small bulletin board on the kitchen wall. We like having the images of places and people we love in a location where we are reminded of them and can think of them each day. Our fervent wish, on this bright, blue, cold (16 degrees!) morning is for health and happiness for everyone we know, for healing for those who have been battling illness, for recovery for those who have lost jobs or confidence, and for progress toward peace and understanding even when the way seems lost. As people in our congregation say to each other every Sunday, may the Peace of Christ be with you! Have a Blessed New Year!

Visitor 5700 is a Mystery Guest

When SiteMeter logged visit # 5700 this evening, I see it is from a mystery reader who just showed up in the reports on Dec. 25. This person has Sprint as an Internet provider, an ISP that begins with 204, and is in an unknown city. But the person is located in the United States, in the Central Time Zone (a lot of territory there.) Visitor uses Windows XP for an operating system and surfs using Internet Explorer 8.0. And this is no casual visitor; he or she checks in two or three times a day. Assuming you are a friend, and not a stalker, feel free to leave a comment to this post (it will be forwarded to my e-mail) or you can go to my profile (bottom of right rail) and click on the e-mail link you'll find on the profile page. Since this visitor had the blog address from the beginning, it's possible you are one of the regular friends or family members who got a new computer for Christmas. But at this time...well, #5700 is still a mystery.

Just A Little White Christmas

Merry Christmas, all! We finally got a little bit of the White Stuff--less than an inch--that started to fall about 10 a.m. on Christmas Day. It was enough to dust the Alberta Spruce out back that gets to be a Christmas tree to greet our back door visitors this time of year.


We joined culinary forces with our friends (and pastor) Jacque and Dave for Christmas dinner this afternoon. It snowed lightly all day, and the wind just kept driving it to the east, but some landed on the grass. There were a few slick spots on the streets, but nothing serious on our route. The snow showers are supposed to persist through noon or so on Sunday. We are beginning to long for sunshine again!

We thoroughly enjoyed our Christmas Eve dinner with friends Karen and Gary, Karen's mom, and Doug and Matt in Edwardsville. We came home with the gift of a new bird feeder, and Norm hung it up on Christmas morning. As I tried to take a long-distance shot of it from the relative safety of the driveway, I realized that a goldfinch was hanging upside down on the thistle feeder next to it. We are really looking forward to lots more birds visiting our yard this winter!

Santa was really creative this year. Norm has a new pair of flannel pajamas, a warming throw to use in his recliner, and a new book about all of the national parks so he can curl up comfortably and plan out our next trip. I'm the proud owner of a new atomic alarm clock, a fashionable cardigan sweater, and a welcome mat. The welcome mat is now out, so we are looking forward to more holiday company!

Have a Merry Christmas

Thanks to Facebook, the new international party line, we have been getting good wishes and greetings from many of my former students and various friends who live far away, from Taiwan to West Virginia. And thanks to the United States Postal Service, we have received several dozen cards and letters from family and long time friends, with their best wishes as well. We are still working on the Linville Holiday letter so for now, I'll just wish everyone a healthy, peace-filled day and evening, with safe travel if that is also in your plans. On our agenda today: listening to Christmas music, baking a pie for dinner tonight with friends, and dreaming of sunshine, somewhere....it's kind of dark and dreary here this morning.

We'll Have a Rainy Christmas--Maybe

While I can, I'll post these pictures of some of the outdoor decorations. A few days ago, the Weather Service thought we might have a white Christmas. Now the snow is out of the forecast and rain is in: two or three inches of it and flood warnings as well. The Christmas winter storm looks massive on the forecast maps but we are supposed to be on the "warm" side, or at least above freezing, until Friday morning. Of course, it could still change...

I want to salute Visitor 5600, who was cousin Mike or cousin Debi in Tulsa, earlier this evening. I can't always tell who is visiting, but I'm pretty sure you are my only regular Tulsa viewers. Although someone using a Tulsa Library computer dropped in earlier today; they were researching--you guessed it--Ft. Sill.

Last evening we had a great dinner out with our friends Mike and Sandy. We got the 2 for $14.99 specials at O'Charley's and had enough take out left to make another meal for us both this evening. Today was one of those days when I knew I had a lot to do but just couldn't get started on any of it. I blame it on the falling barometer and incipient bad weather. Tonight we went to Soul Care, a mini retreat our church has two Tuesdays each month. It was relaxing and refreshing as we shared stories of Christmas past. Tomorrow I'll brave the rain (which started falling as we drove home) and pick up some last minute grocery items at the store. I know I'm baking a pie for Christmas Eve dinner in Edwardsville, but haven't gotten the memo about the rest of the menu yet. There is still time.

We have been thinking of niece Debbie B. in Hutch, hoping she will be recovered from surgery and up and around soon. Also thinking of everyone who has travel plans and wants to get home, or somewhere like home, for the holidays. And I'm thinking of my cousins in Tulsa, wondering if Mike has the train up around the tree yet and if they are ready for the grandson invasion. Merry Christmas to our family, wherever you are this season. We love you all.

Winter: Welcome to the Shortest Day

Finally it is officially winter, although it has felt like it for a while, now. We acquired this droll little snowman, a metal stand up sign, at the Compton Heights bazaar. We have no idea who donated him, but a label on the back indicates he may have been purchased at a shop in Branson. However he has traveled, we are glad to have him on our porch to welcome winter visitors!

We had an eventful weekend. On Monday, Doug e-mailed us that he would be arriving from Florida by plane on Friday night, while Matt would drive with Sam and get here on Sunday evening. So we met his plane and he spent two nights and days with us. We had a great visit with him. The three of us attended the American Chamber Chorale's Christmas concert in Chesterfield on Saturday night, and we all went to church yesterday. Matt arrived safely last evening and the three of them are now ensconced at Matt's parents' home in Edwardsville for a two-week stay in the area. Their dance card is just about full but we expect to see them again a couple of times before they go home.

Last evening Norm and I enjoyed a relaxing time at the open house that our pastor gives each year. After we got home, we sat down and opened all the Christmas cards and read all of the Holiday letters we have received so far this year. Now it's time for us to start composing our own holiday letter to send out by New Year's. This evening we are looking forward to finally getting together with our friends Mike and Sandy for a dinner out. (Nice not to have to cook...:) We hear that Heather and baby, as well as John, will be in town for the holidays and we hope we get to see them while they are here.

Our thoughts are turning to those who are struggling to be well this holiday: our friend Nancy, doing rehab in Kansas City; Norm's cousin Joe's wife Elaine, enduring some grueling radiation treatments in Tulsa; our church friend Royce, fighting off a new infection in his foot; our church friend Janice, on chemo; as well as all their families and friends caring for them. May the Christ we will soon celebrate as having been born in Bethlehem bring healing and peace to them!

Tree & Us, Ready & Waiting

Well, it only took the better part of a week, but our Christmas tree is ready for prime time! Last Friday half of the lights were on, as our friend Steve noted in a comment. Ava supervised much of the decorating until she went home with Barb on Tuesday night. I finally got around to taking some pictures today.








Many of our decorations have a nature theme, which is why it's not unusual to find a spider web next to a partridge. This year we also got out our smaller trees, one of birds and another of angels, and all 14 nativities and all 21 Santas. The next day we have good natural light, I'll try to photograph some of them. As a good friend says, don't put off celebrating Christmas. Do it all. A good motto, I think.

Norm has been fighting off a cold, but seems well enough now. My cold has all but disappeared. We see that our local Walgreens is having an H1N1 vaccination clinic tomorrow and if the snow doesn't get too deep, we may go.

That's right, snow is forecast this evening and something is making the pavement wet outside as I write. About 11 p.m. we will head out to the airport to meet Doug's plane. Then we will all wait until Matt, who is driving the Prius with Sam as a passenger, arrives on Sunday evening. Barb and Ava plan to leave for Kansas City in the morning for a friend's holiday party. So we pray for safety for all of the travelers.

I've been doing some baking--dessert for the Quilt Guild's annual Christmas party last night, and some goodies for our pastor's open house on Sunday evening. The fudge is in the fridge. Now if I can just keep the chocoholics out of it!

With the house straight and clean, most (but not all) shopping and cooking done, we can finally breathe and begin to enjoy the season. Who knows, we might even work on the Christmas Letter this weekend! Or next. Look for it between Christmas and New Year's.

Well, I think I'll go try to re-organize the sewing room while we wait for the plane. I spent part of the last week cutting strips and making fabric kits for the guild's charity quilts project, which will begin in January. All the kits got taken last night, which is very encouraging. Or maybe I'll just sit in the recliner and knit. Maybe dream of a White Christmas, since snow is in our forecast for Christmas Eve. That's actually pretty rare in St. Louis--only about 1 year out of 9 has snow for Christmas. Maybe this will be the year.

Christmas Tree Under Construction

This weekend's project was to get the Christmas tree decorated. Norm brought all of the parts upstairs as well as the 4 strings of lights. By Friday he had the lights arranged to his satisfaction. I started putting on some ornaments, but the end result is still in progress. When we get it finished, I'll post another picture.

On Saturday, Norm got the greenery and bows on the front and back porch railings. The lights on the hedge in back are on each night as well. It's starting to look like Christmas around here, but there is more to come. Tomorrow is supposed to be partly sunny in the morning, so I'll try to get pictures before it turns cold and drizzly again.

Compared to the week before, this past week was a quiet one. My cold is a lot better, and Norm's scrapes from his fall have healed. Which is to stay, we don't scare people as much when we go out in public now.

Ava the golden doodle is staying with us until Tuesday. Saturday night we were having thunder and some hail (yes, even at 40 degrees and even in December--this is the midwest, after all, where in weather, just wait 10 minutes. Oh wait, that's supposed to be Oklahoma. Whatever.) Anyway, Ava got a little restless so I let her sleep next to me on the bed for a while. Later she got down and sought another spot. She is really an easy dog to have around and we enjoy her.

We are so pleased to hear that our friend Nancy S. is out of the hospital, staying at her daughter's house in Olathe, and getting ready for another round of OT and PT this coming week. We wish her all the best for a full recovery and hope to make a quick trip to KC soon to see her and John again. Between the weather and random holiday events, it's proving trickier to plan than we thought.

Sunday was the third Sunday of Advent, or Joy sunday. We had a beautiful sanctuary to worship in, and a fellowship dinner after. A woman who had just moved to St. Louis and who was missing her family visited for the first time...we persuaded her to stay for lunch and there was much caring and sharing over good food. Things that are giving me joy this week: Snuggly Ava, Norm's fading bruises, Christmas lights, a new musical CD by my friend Steve Givens, shopping lists, baking ingredients, open house invitations, Christmas cards from far away, old friends discovered and added as new friends on my Facebook page, a warm house, secrets, e-mails about holiday plans. What gives you joy?

Post Vacation Writers' Block

Dear faithful readers: I haven't forgotten that I have more pictures of Florida (especially the Corkscrew Swamp) to post, but after we got home Tuesday night, the rest of the week was taken up with various errands and preparations for the church Bazaar, which was today. We are still counting receipts, and church members will have a chance tomorrow to shop one more time, but so far we have cleared over $1,000 for the disability access project. We are both OK, although I seem to have contracted my Christmas Cold a couple of weeks early (must be that airline atmosphere) and Norm had a minor tumble on the church steps today that damaged his glasses and his nose. Oh, yes, and yesterday the kitchen sink stopped up, necessitating a call to Roto Rooter, who sent a nice man to clean out the drain line. For a fee, of course. Other than that, not a lot of news here.

Sunday Morning in Ft. Myers

Sunday morning, Nov. 29--Doug and Matt took us along with them as they visited the Lamb of God Church, where some of Doug's university colleagues worship regularly. It is a new church, in the "emerging" church format. The Welcome Center out front shelters coffee and cookies before, between, and after worship. Picnic tables with umbrellas welcome people to visit and enjoy refreshments.

The church is a combined Lutheran (ELCA) and Episcopal congre- gation, one of only two in the United States. Tradi- tional services are held in The Arbor, the smaller of the auditorium spaces. This building also houses the children's program and offices. The grounds are being landscaped with native Florida plants, including some wild cotton that was ripening!


We attended the contem- porary service at 9 a.m. that meets in this building, The Vineyard. Like many contemporary settings, the hymn words were projected on screens, although there was a choir up front. Communion was open. The service had a very informal feel, but it was fairly slow paced. The greeters were friendly, and everyone wore name tags. We were approached only by Doug's colleagues, though. We met Brad and Kathleen, their three little girls, and Maggie and her son after church and headed to a nearby California Pizza Kitchen for brunch. Brad's office is next to Doug's at the university.


After lunch we came home, read the paper, and some of us took naps. I had just drifted off when Doug and Matt got back from walking Sam and burst in talking excitedly about an eagle in a tree on the condo property. So we all trekked outside to look at it. Here is the tree, with a small black spot in the upper left, with Doug and Norm in the foreground to give an idea of scale and distance.

And here is Mr. or Mrs. National Symbol, sunning in the pine near a lake. Matt says he frequently sees an eagle in this tree, and I read in a guide that Florida has more eagles than any other state in the union. They nest here and live here year round. (On Monday when Norm and I took a walk, the eagle was in the tree, on a different branch, as well.)

By now it was time to head out for the beach, to watch an evening sunset. Norm and Matt compared notes in front of the condo where Doug and Matt live. The upper room above the garage is the guest room where Norm and I are staying on this visit.

Sunday Evening at The Beach

After church, lunch, eagle watching and naps, we set forth to visit a beach preserve near Bonita Springs, about 30 minutes away. We arrived a little less than and hour before sunset and waded along the shore. The Gulf was definitely too cool for (us to go) swimming although the air temperature was in the low 70s.

Because the sun was low and the breeze light, we didn't need chairs or an umbrella. We set up on one of Doug's old quilts on the sugar-fine sand. Near the water, the beach comprises small shells. The backdrop is sea grape, planted to stop beach erosion.


Incoming tide means dinner for the shore birds. Several varieties of sandpipers and plovers would run into the surf to pick up a delicacy. Then they would run back on the beach, ahead of the under tow. Another post of the various birds and plants we saw on this vacation will appear sometime next week, after we get home.

The expanse of beach shows birds and people waiting for the sunset. The buildings in the background are high rise condos. We also drove through an exclusive residential area on the way to this beach. Few homes seemed occupied. We don't know if they are unsold, in foreclosure, or if the rich northern folks who own these "winter homes" just haven't arrived for The Season yet.

A new camera with a zoom lens and a sunset are an addictive combi- nation. But I kept trying to capture the light in the water as the waves broke on the beach, showing the progress of the sunset.

Sunsets on the Gulf move fairly quickly. This one began to light up the clouds nearby not long after we arrived. For a while, a sun dog was visible and the air took on a golden hue.










As it got closer to the time the fiery cauldron of sky and sea were about to peak, it was closer to the time we needed to pack up, since the preserve is closed at sunset, or 5:30 p.m. local time. It was getting close to time, so Norm went down to the water to wash the sand out of his shoes.


All in all, another perfect ending to a lovely day in Southwest Florida. Hard to believe we have to head North again in less than a day.

Sanibel: The Portable Feast

Friday, Nov. 27--the day dawned dazzlingly clear. We played with Sam, went with Doug to his campus office and a tour of FGCU (another blog post to come) while Matt worked. In the afternoon we headed for Sanibel Island and the home of Anne-Marie, our holiday meal cook, for "leftovers" and more conversation with yesterday's guests. Night found us around the table, or around the living room, exchanging stories and histories and ideas. It was a good coda for a wonderful Thanksgiving experience.


Anne-Marie's condo is in a community on the bay, looking back toward the mainland. It doesn't have a beach, but it has great views and there is a nice boardwalk along the sea wall. Since night falls quickly after sunset, we all set out for a walk around the grounds soon after arriving.

Inside, the condo is light and inviting. This table expanded for our meal later. We admired many of Anne- Marie's family antiques, including wood work done by her father.



This intricately carved harp is one of those wood pieces that he created.









The walk around the bay took us by a number of boats and some people who were fishing. The cloudless day looked warm, but the breeze was actually little bit cool. It wasn't a day for wading.


In some parts of SW Florida, it almost looks like the great recession never happened. Some of the neighbors have some really large boats. These would be able to travel the intercoastal waterway.

On the bay side of the condo we saw a lot of pelicans, and Doug walked out on this fishing pier with the cars on the toll bridge from Ft. Myers zipping along in the background. The water was choppy but pelicans fished in it anyway. (Photos of pelicans and other birds coming in a later post, as well.)


We returned to find some of our dinner companions deep in conver- sation. People who had never met before found many experiences, traditions and even places they had lived in common.

NIcole is Anne-Marie's sister. She came not only to visit, but to consult on how to make the stuffing for the turkey! She is head of a special collections library at a large university. We loved hearing many of her stories about living in Europe. Anne-Marie, whose photo didn't turn out, is an art historian at FGCU.

Hamdesa is a conflict resolution specialist. He has traveled widely to study causes and remedies for conflicts, and teaches at another university in South Florida. His home country is Ethiopia.



Kathy teaches at FGCU and also studies the role of communi- cation in conflicts. She enjoyed holding the smallest guest, a 6-week-old baby girl, while her parents got to mingle with everyone else.

Anothoer FGCU faculty couple are the baby's parents, Sachiko and Farshad, who met as grad students in Carbon- dale, Ill. Japan and Iran are their home countries. With all of this international and national experience, topics ranged far and wide. One thing we all agreed on: the leftovers were even better the second day!

Not long after sunset it was dark, and then we were all feeling sleepy, so it was time to bid farewell and head for the mainland again. Some out of town guests would leave on Saturday, others on Sunday. For all of these faculty types, there is still one week of school, followed by final exams and a lot of papers to grade!