Desert Auction

SuperPizzaBoy’s school had a desert auction last week. I love desert auctions. They are so much fun. Here are few of the entries.

A collection of candy made by the Head of the Lower School.

Looks good huh? Well its mine, and its almost gone, and I didn’t share.

Below is my Mother-in-Law’s entry. Nana outdid herself on this. I don’t remember the actual name but it is chocolate on chocolate and it is good. Of course, I won the bid on this. Sweetie and SPB made me share it.

This was Sweetie’s entry. Its not chocolate, it is better than chocolate, a strawberry cake. Bidding was hot and heavy on this item and I was in the thick of it…

… and then my dear wife whispered something lovely in my ear: “Let them have it, I’ll make one just for you.”

Oh yeah Babe.

Give me an F!… A!… G!… I!… N!… What’s it Spell!!?

Big talent show at SuperPizzaBoy’s school. He entered and made his Mom, Dad, and Nana Proud.

Silver Dollar Skywatch

A couple weeks ago we spent some time at Silver Dollar City in Missouri. The weather was perfect and the park was bustling and busy on the ground but if you lifted your eyes a few degrees it seemed that we were deep in the woods.

Lots of sweet gum trees with their distinctive seed pods.

A roller coaster behind some more sweet gum trees.

And another roller coaster

And later from our cabin nearby

Check out Skywatch Friday for views of our sky from all over the globe.

Spring is Here

Spring has Sprung in Tulsa

MIL’s Star Magnolia Tree is blooming

Forsythia on the Arkansas River trail

More Star Magnolia on the Midland Valley Trail (please never mind the wires and cables)

The pear trees are in bloom.

Booker T. Washington High School’s Race to the Top

I am very impressed with our young people today. A couple weeks ago I did booth duty with some students from Union High School’s Junior Achievement program. All of those kids had their act together.

Our local paper, the Tulsa World, has an article Saturday about students from anther Tulsa area school, Booker T. Washington High School, who are working hard on a contest, the “White House’s Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge” where the President will pick a school to deliver an address at their commencement. You can read the article here. According to the article The Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge, invites schools to show how they are making “great strides on personal responsibility, academic excellence and college readiness.”

Part of the student’s entry is the video (produced by the students) below:

So do you think this is a good contest?

What do you think about our young people today? Are you hopeful or despairing? I want to know!

My World – Texas State Cemetery

I was in Austin, Texas last week for a convention. During breaks I ventured on foot with my GPS receiver and camera into various parts of town to track down geocaches. I eventually wandered into the Texas State Cemetery. I had never heard of it so I had to check it out.

I walked up on Tom Landry’s grave. Serendipity, I am big Dallas Cowboys fan. I started when he was the head coach.

He was a great coach. I know nothing about his personal life but to all accounts he was a very good guy.

I saw the grave of J. Frank Dobie. Boy, did I love his books as a kid. I love serendipity!!

and behind Mr. Dobie is Stephen F. Austin, great hero of the war of Texas Independence.

Barbara Jordan, the great Texas congresswoman, is buried there. I didn’t agree with her politics very often but I admired her passion nonetheless.

Many politicians are buried there and have listed all the various positions they held. I liked her list the best even though it was the shortest:

Texas Rangers are buried there

There is a memorial to those killed in the 9/11 attack.

Those are actual girders from the buildings that collapsed in New York City.

Veterans of the Battle of San Jacinto. “Remember the Alamo!”

Civil War Veterans of the Confederacy

They have a section reserved for Medal of Honor winners. This is just a few:

I randomly googled Mr. James Marion Logan to see what I could find out. He was born in Lulling, Texas and died in Longview, Texas. You can read his story here and here. If anybody deserved a Medal of Honor, he did.

The grave to the left is that of Robert Edward Galer. He was a Marine fighter pilot during the Battle of Guadacanal. You can read his story here.

To the right is buried Joseph Charles Rodriguez. He earned his Medal of Honor in Korea. Here is his story.

There was no better way to spend a couple hours than being among all these people.

Click on over to That’s My World to check scenes from everywhere on this planet.

Making a Joyful Noise – Baloney Sunday Challenge

We had a racket going on the other day. SuperPizzaBoy was giving his cat, LJ, piano lessons. Lots about this picture need fixing: one can hardly see the cat for example, and the piano is way too dark especially where his shadow falls on it, and his face is too dark, but I love the light on on son’s back and head and didn’t want to change that at all, so the image is right out of the camera.

“Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.”

Psalm 100:1-5 (NIV)

Check out That’s Baloney for other pairings of scripture and images.

One Amazing Thing by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

One Amazing Thing is about a group of disparate people in the basement office of the Indian Consulate on the west coast. An earthquake collapses the building and traps them in the basement with very little food, a flashlight, slowly rising water, and no hope of rescue. Nerves are raw and they pick on each other and eventually they start fighting each other. They realize they cannot go on so they take somebody’s suggestion to each tell a story about themselves to help pass the time while they wait.

The stories are amazing and help bring these people from widely different cultures and backgrounds together. Hidden resentments between husbands and wives, parents and children, secrets, reasons, they all come out.

I give the book 3.5 stars out of 4 but hey I’m a sucker for a good story. I liked this book. I’ll be reading more by Ms. Divakaruni.

A Dead Hand by Paul Theroux

“A Dead Hand” is a murder mystery. Jerry Dalfont, a travel writer with writer’s block, a “dead hand,” is in Calcutta at loose ends since he cannot write. He is summoned by Mrs. Unger, an rich American philanthropist, to solve the mystery of the body of a small boy discovered in the hotel room of one of her employees.

As he works on the mystery Unger works on him. She takes him under wing and teaches him all about Trantric massages and reveals her Hindu side. In the meantime Dalfont works with the local police and pokes around a little on his own.

An interesting part of the book is when Dalfont meets the famous travel writer, Paul Theroux, in Calcutta. Theroux is not too complimentary of himself in the encounter. I had never read a writer writing himself in the story before.

The book was ok but I definitely didn’t love it. It needed a little less Tantric sex and lot more story and character development. The book telegraphs the end pretty far out. I rate this 1.5 stars out of 4. I love Theroux’s non-fiction but I’ve never quite got into his fiction.