Praying God's peace for him and those who love him.
My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign;
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me,
And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree;
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
In mansions of glory and endless delight,
I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
We were there all morning, this morning, working out their clothing. Exhausting, but fun--sort of like playing dressup with several rooms full of clothing. They took care of almost everything--underclothes, dresses, shoes, cloaks, petticoats. The only thing we have to buy is stockings.
Elder dd and I had volunteered for "Auntie School" but when we didn't hear anything we thought we hadn't qualified. It turns out that we *did* qualify--they had us set up in their volunteer hours log and everything--but somehow we were never notified to go to the first day of training. I got to play dress-up today, too! My dress needs altering, but I'll be able to pick it up on Monday next week.
They're repeating the first day of training next month, so we'll go then. What fun! It appears we're all going to be historical re-enactors (maybe docents?) when training is done.
Of course, that may be the delusions of a late night combined with an early morning, too.
Anyhow, the last two "events" I've gone out to see with only the dog for company have ended in... well, "disaster" is too strong a word, and "inconvenience" too weak, really.
The first of the two was when we went out to watch a lunar eclipse. It was about three in the morning, and though the dc had said to wake them up, they were unwakable (unwake-able?). The Dog, however, is ever ready for adventure, and so the two of us walked down to the corner, as the sky is easier to see from the intersection, where no big tree crowns block the sky. It was *great*! (I always find "How Great Thou Art" running through my head at such times. How marvelous His Creation!)
I was not standing in the middle of the street, but on the sidewalk near the curb--nearer than I realized, as it turned out. I stepped backward, preparatory to turning around to go home, and stepped off the curb, spraining both ankles. Ouch! Do you know how hard it is to hobble a quarter of a block when both ankles are screaming?
Thankfully the Dog is not a mini-anything, but a Giant, and made something of a crutch or cane to help me on my way home. That was some months ago, and made me more cautious about walking in the dark. (Whatever happened to streetlights?)
I'm still smarting from the latest misadventure. The rest of the family was watching the Olympics a week ago, and nobody wanted to go out to see the meteor shower with me. (Nobody except the intrepid Dog, that is.)
So Dog and I went out into the warm, mild summer night, such a relief after the heat of the day, and began the journey to find open sky. (I love the big trees in our neighborhood, but they are a bit inconvenient for sky-watching.)
We didn't get far--next door, as a matter of fact--before blundering into the skateboard ramp the neighbor kids had left smack dab in the middle of the sidewalk. Score: Ramp 1, Jean 0. Or maybe -1. (The street was dark. I don't know if people are keeping their porch lights off to save on the electric bill, or what. I know the neighbor's light came on when they heard the racket of our tangling with their heavy homemade wooden ramps, and the neighbor dad came out, alarmed and very apologetic. The good result was that they're faithful in moving the ramps onto the grass off the sidewalk when they're done playing, nowadays.)
I think I must have cracked something in my left hand, as it is still stiff and sore when tasked to do such things as type or move the turn-signal thingie in the car. I didn't go to get it x-rayed at the time because it didn't swell up the way my right hand did, years ago, when I cracked a bone in the same relative location. I don't know that it's worth going to the doctor--what will they do, that I can't do at home? (Ice, rest) I mean, if it were an obvious break, I'd go.
I also have a very impressive bruise on one leg. It's sort of a mini-science experiment on the part of the dc--they're fascinated with the changing colors and progression of healing going on.
Anyhow, the moral of this long and rambling post is to watch where you're walking, or walk where your watching, and if you go stargazing, it might be a good idea to use a flashlight on your way there.
Unfortunately our camera batteries died so I sure hope I can get some pictures from one of the other families there!
When we picked up our dog from the dog-sitter, we hardly recognized her! Her shaggy coat had been groomed and clipped until she was sleek and streamlined and very athletic-looking. We no longer have a shaggy dog, we have a fashion plate! (Except her eyebrows, which middlest cut the other week so the dog could see. Cut very short, need to grow out in order to be clipped into the regulation shape.
I meant to put up a hymn and summary of our school plans for the week, but am short on time today, and also I've forgotten how to put things in the margin, and HSB won't let me log into the forum to ask how (for some reason I have an inactive account and no instructions on how to re-activate that I could find, and my email has gone unanswered).
Well, lunch break is over and I have no more time!
However, let me just say that if you are ever on a visit to Mount Saint Helens, having taken exit 49 off of I-5, stop by the Seven Wonders Museum on your way to the mountain. They have lots of books and videos for sale there, and fascinating displays, and if you call ahead you might be able to join one of the tours they conduct. Great place!
The burial was this morning in a pill bottle, with flowers and tears
, followed by a memorial breakfast of French Toast with real maple syrup and orange juice.*sigh* Writing and posting this is helping littlest feel better.
The dc are asking if we ought to observe a school holiday today as a part of mourning.
So far as I could tell, we were the only two living creatures out there, taking the night air. I had to go to a nearby intersection to see the moon clearly, unblocked by houses. Dog was happy to go along. A Walk! Hooray!
Turning to go back and see if anyone else wanted to get up to view the eclipsed moon, I stepped backwards off a curb that was closer than I realized. Result: two strained ankles and a strained knee.
It's going to be interesting, trying to get things done the next few days. God is good, and whatever I get done, it'll certainly be by His strength and wisdom and not mine.
Not to mention the oversized shaggy carpet lying beside my chair in hopes of the usual morning walk. (Ain't gonna happen--none of the dc can control the beast when a squirrel appears on the horizon.)
We bought a female betta fish today, and the girls have great plans for mating her to one of the male betta fish. They've read up on it, so I suppose this could be considered a science lab. Fish behavior 101?
It's a beautiful day and I really need to go hang out some laundry, especially as the weather report is calling for rain tomorrow.
(I can't believe the girls passed up free swim day at the local pool, but the bettas seem to be much more interesting. I guess we're having our own free swim day, come to think of it.)
(literally)
(tap on the glass) Anybody still there?
I haven't been at hsblogger (or any blog) for months. I went through six months of bronchitis relieved by an occasional bout with pneumonia, and just didn't have the energy for extras. Found out, in May, that the lung problems were being triggered by cleaning products. Hey, I don't even have to mix bleach and ammonia to have a problem. I can just use cleaning products containing one or the other, all by themselves, and wake up with severe bronchitis the next day.
After two courses of antibiotics and a summer of cleaning with baking soda and vinegar, or Norwex cloths and plain water, I still have a nagging cough but I've had my energy back again for a few weeks.
We spent much of the summer catching up from doing so little in the way of academics over the spring. You see, this was the year for standardized testing. (We don't have to do it every year, but we had to do it this year!)
I have to tell you that two sites saved me, both while I was sick, and then after. I didn't have the energy to read the books that we were going to read together, to put together copywork from those books, to work on writing and math and all the rest.
However, we did have a trial account for Time4Learning (www.time4learning.com), an online curriculum. While I was barely functioning, our children were doing age-appropriate lessons in Math, Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies. (Well, not science, not at first, anyhow. They thought science on the computer would be boring. They found out later, after I started paying attention again due to the antibiotics having a good effect, that the interactive science lessons were just as fun as the others!)
I have one child who is unusual in that she will read just about anything, even textbooks, for fun and interest, but that doesn't apply to all of them. However, I have found any one of them, at various times, doing online lessons just for fun, imagine it. And this isn't your typical educational computer game fluff, but real lessons in vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension, math topics, history, and science.
Sorry to sound like a commercial, but if you're having struggles like we were this spring, or if you need a change of pace, you might go to their website and check out their trial period offer. Memberships are on a month-to-month basis, and I think the price is very reasonable for the content and quality. They'll even keep a record of what your student has done.
The other lifesaver, in getting ready for standardized testing, was EdHelper. (www.edhelper.com)
Now, EdHelper has a lot of free pages that you can access without subscribing. I used a lot of them! Since I subscribed back in February in order to get access to pages I wanted for a project, I revisited the site this summer and was so pleased to find their test-prep materials! Yes, for every grade they have grade-level tests complete with answer sheets with those little circles you have to fill in on computer-graded tests. After printing these out for a few days in the week before the test, I got the children familiar with test-taking methodology so they didn't panic when they were confronted with a sheet of circles waiting to be filled in. I also took advantage of their summer studies--worksheets generated to keep skills sharp.
Believe me, I'm not the worksheet type (these days, though I used to love them in school), but the girls for some reason seem to enjoy occasional worksheet work. It added a little structure to our summer, provided fun Sudoku, Word Search and other puzzles, and got us in an "academic" mind-frame for the test.
Now that testing is past, we can go back to literature-based learning. Hurrah.
(However, they like Time4Learning so well that we're talking about keeping up our subscription for enrichment. Will have to see how next month's budget pencils out.)
A pun is the lowest form of humor. At least, that was one of my Dad's pet phrases, especially right after he'd punned.
But perhaps there's a lower form of humor. It comes out of Hollywood, often in the guise of "family films".
It was our anniversary this week (20-something), and dh wanted to do dinner and a movie. I'd go along with that. (*g*) He asked me about movies. I checked the Sunday paper. (Newspapers: a whole 'nother topic.) He went to a popular Christian website with movie reviews and read the reviews for the two G-rated movies I found: Cars and Over the Hedge.
He wasn't all that excited about Cars, from the description in the review. He laughed out loud at the review of Hedge, and so that's the movie we decided to see.
As I recall, it was this same Christian movie review site that gave a glowing review of Princess Diaries. (We took the kids to that one, after all, it was G-rated and got a glowing review on a Christian site. Did the reviewer see the same film that we did? We walked out within the first ten minutes.) Actually, I didn't recall that until Hedge ended.
Granted, there were a few chuckles in the movie. But the overall message of the movie was that Man is evil and Animals are, for the most part, virtuous (except when they've been corrupted by Man - as in the case of the bear and the raccoon characters, by becoming hooked on junk food).
Who was the villain in the piece? A hard-working homeowner, who likely had paid an enormous sum for her beautiful home and was likely working extra hours to make the mortgage and car payments. Certainly I didn't identify with her, much - she was high-powered, talked incessantly on a cell phone, drove a shiny new car and had a shiny new house with a landscaped yard and was evidently a single career woman, very outspoken and pushy. (Don't get me wrong. I know outspoken and pushy homeschool moms too. I'm just not usually outspoken and pushy... though I've become convicted that sometimes I'm rude and pushy when I'm focused on asking a question of a homeschool workshop speaker who is already carrying on a conversation with someone. But that, too, is another story.)
The other villain in the piece was a sadistic exterminator. Pretty sad when the kiddos identify more with thieving, nuisance animals than the working everyman. Okay, so the occasional blue-collar worker or entrepreneur running his own service business might be a sadistic so-and-so. But you'd never know that this was an exception, not The Way of the World, watching this movie. I know, I know. Movies exaggerate things to make humorous points. But...
I remember the struggles our neighbor had with raccoons that kept raiding her backyard pond. (My dh helped her to dig that little pond!) She had beautiful huge goldfish that she'd raised from pet-store feeder fish. She had tree frogs and a big bullfrog that would sing to her at night. Operative word "had". The racoons cleaned her out. I guess that this retired teacher's aide would have been portrayed as the villainess in this movie, for putting electric wire all around her pond in a last, desperate measure to keep the raccoons from eating all of the re-re-stocked fish.
I know what you're thinking. "Lighten up! It's only a movie."
But I heard a comment last week from one of the little ones that got me thinking. "Man is evil," she said. Now theologically, there is something to be said for Original Sin and the Fall and corruption and all that. But she wasn't talking theologically, as I found when I asked her what she meant. She meant that Man, coming into the forest, was Evil and all the animals were Good. She was getting her worldview from "Bambi", you see.
Over the Hedge reinforces that worldview. Sure, it's just a movie. But how many children are taking home the idea that Man is Evil and Animals are Good, the same thing that we're seeing acted out by eco-terrorists and those who think that a worldwide outbreak of Ebola that wiped out nine-tenths of the world's people would be the best thing since sliced bread?
Am I overreacting? Or did the frog just jump out of the pot? The water's getting warmer... (How ironic, that movies with "overt religious themes" - meaning Christianity, of course - are now to be rated PG so that parents can carefully consider whether they want to expose their children to such influences.)
I meant, "Good Morning!" but since I haven't been here in a week, the greeting in the subject line seemed more appropriate.
I am at the library. Two of the dc are volunteers helping with the summer reading program this summer, and one is playing one of the library's educational computer games, and I get to have an hour on the Internet, so I decided to catch up on some blogs as long as I'm here.
I was going to post another hymn but will have to wait until I get home, to look it up. I have it bookmarked in the hymnal, but words (titles, authors) just don't stick well in my head and so I can't look it up in the CyberHymnal while here at the library.
What I'd really love to post, today, would be the words to "How Deep the Father's Love for Us" but I'm sure it's copyrighted. So go and google it; I think you'll be blessed. We sang it on our way to the library this morning, and it was wonderful, filling the car with praise as we fought the morning traffic.
Yesterday we spent the afternoon at Larch Mountain. When it's clear you can see five (I think it's five, anyhow) volcanoes from the summit. All we could see was the bottoms of three volcanoes (Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Hood, and Mt. Adams) with the naked eye, and the bottom of one more (Mt. Ranier) with borrowed binoculars. I WISH WE HAD REMEMBERED THE CAMERA!
We had a picnic atop Larch Mountain. Oh, I need to mention, with kudos to Mrs. S. (our homeschool science teacher) that we delighted, on the 1/4 mile hike from the parking lot to the viewpoint, in identifying many of the plants we saw: wood violets, trillium in full bloom, Oregon grape, sword fern, columbine, various trees, nurse logs and nurse stumps. We looked for oxalis, that delicious wild salad with a snappy sour-lemon flavor, but didn't find it. Since that altitude seemed to be at about the same place our yard was in March (I think it was March, when our trillium bloomed, or maybe late February), we speculated that it was either too early in the season for oxalis, or else perhaps that plant doesn't grow at 4,000 feet. Will have to see if we can find out.
We met a delightful family vacationing here from Florida who told us a few things we didn't know about local places to see. Funny, we do more tourist-type stuff when we go visiting than we do around here. We shared some of our lemonade with them. Another family came up the trail with two big dogs, who proceeded to polish off the lunch plate belonging to one of the dc. Good thing it was a paper plate, and the child was nearly finished eating! Good thing, too, that we had not yet broached the tin of cookies and the lid was still on tight!
Thanks for listening!
Yep. Shot myself in the foot again. Why do I do this to myself?
Got up yesterday five-ish to drive dh to the airport. (He flew back the very same day, instead of being gone a few days, what a strange feeling! But nice, to have him home again so quickly...)
He was tired and went to bed at a reasonable hour. I stayed up until midnight doing stuff on the computer, even though I told myself I was going to hit the pillow before 10:30.
The alarm rang not long after six this morning. I am a wreck.
Have *got* to resist the siren call of email and web-surfing and researching and writing tonight and do something good for myself. (i.e. sleep)
Thanks for stopping by.
I remember when I was hooked on Paul Harvey's news. I can still hear his wiry voice in my ear this morning. "Good morning, Americans! It's Friday!"
Filled up the gas tank yesterday, to the tune of more than $40. It wasn't all the way empty, either. That means that the proposed $100 rebate the politicos are talking about would work out to about two weeks of gas, if we are conservative in our driving and prices don't go up any more, appreciably.
Yesterday we went to a local "park" for a homeschool science field trip. This is not your typical city park... it's over a hundred acres of forest, some of it old-growth, and a river runs through it. It's called a "regional" park, and its oversight is done by a "regional" government body that covers the urban parts of three counties. This agency provided "guides" to take us on a nature walk of sorts, learning to look and listen and feel and smell the wilderness.
There was an interesting contrast between our "guides"--here we are, a Christian homeschooling science class with moms and dads and kids from baby to high school, and you could tell our cars from the guides' by the bumper stickers, among other things. One that stood out: "After the Rapture, we'll have the Earth all to ourselves!" (or something to that effect.)
I think we comported ourselves pretty well, although I did have a teeth-grinding moment. Our guide spent part of her time reminding kids (and adults, sometimes) not to walk where there were animal tracks, because we were split into four groups and the othergroups would want to see the tracks after we'd passed through. There were a number of "Don't walk there..." "Don't touch that..." "Don't..." All of which is fine and good. The teeth-grinding moment came when this guide turned to one of our dc and, trying to maintain an even tone, said, "I just told you not to..." whatever it was, "step there" or something, "...and the first thing you did was what I told you not to do!"
Mixed emotions. Part of me wanted to sink into the ground, as mother of this all-too-evidently ill-trained kid. Part of me wanted to say to the guide, in a wry tone, "Join the club." We have been struggling with this issue all that kid's life. "Don't touch that" or anything of the sort brings an immediate and opposite reaction--although the defiant behavior has moderated, over time and lots of consequences, from the full-fist grab to the furtive finger going out to touch, just one last time, probably as a display of (I can, too, touch it!). This is also the kid who always has to have the last word.
Do you have one of those kids? What do you do? And what impact has it had on that behavior?
Don't know whether to grumble or sigh.
In any event, there was a really neat "game" built into the experience. After our hike, and lunch, we played "Get to Know a Tree" in which the group split up into partners, and took turns being blindfolded, turned around to become disoriented, led to a tree, given time to explore the tree and its environs, led back to the "circle area", turned around again, and then (unblindfolded) having to go find "their" tree. It was great!
And then at the very end we all gathered back into our circle and everyone had the chance to say a little about what the day meant to them. Several of the people, both parents and kids, gave glory to the Lord and Creator. I wonder if our testimony made any impression at all? I know that the Park Ranger had said at the beginning that the Tuesday group had been so well-behaved that our science teacher didn't have to stay for the whole Thursday event (and we sent her off with our blessing; she has a wedding in her family this weekend!). I hope that our group was as well-behaved, and that my contrary child didn't leave a lasting bad impression. There were some other kids there that I noticed, like the little motor-mouth boy who just could not keep still (oh, how he tried!) when we were supposed to be walking silently so as to be able to see wildlife without startling them away, but for the most part the kids were respectful and well-behaved. No boys ran wild, beating sticks against the trunks of trees, for example--something I'd seen on a campout.
Well, I've rambled on and on, my tea mug is empty, and it's time to start the day. Hope you have a blessed weekend!
Staying home was the right idea. I only got up to pick up dh at the airport, and then I went back to bed. Feeling much better today.
The youngest decided to make breakfast this morning. She set the table with the best tablecloth and middlest made a beautiful arrangement of candles, and their alarm went off at 5:30! But they didn't get up until a quarter of 6. Still, it was enough time to make bacon and eggs and tea before Daddy had to leave for work.
How they glowed at their Daddy's praise. And they are determined to get up early every morning to make breakfast. (I usually make his breakfast while they snooze.)
It may have something to do with our current readaloud about a homeschool family. It may have something to do with the homekeeping and homeschooling blogs I've been reading. Middlest is fascinated with schedules a la Managers of their Homes (MOTH, more info at titus2.com). I'd had a schedule when she was tiny and her little sister was still nursing, which sort of dictated our schedule. She loves schedules and knowing what to expect. I still remember, when she was two or so, her pointing to a block on our MOTH schedule and saying, "What do I do now?"
...and when we got "off", she always knew when "readaloud time" was, and what the clock said for "readaloud time", and she'd go to the posted schedule and point to the block, no matter what was happening, and say firmly, "Readaloud!" (Not quite so insistent, say, at chore time... *g*)
Anyhow, am going to try to put together some sort of schedule. We have a routine at the moment, but it doesn't always get everything done. We were doing "blocks" sort of like Marilyn Howshall's "Lifestyle Routine" suggests, but over the winter we've really sluffed off. (or is that sloughed off?)
Speaking of which, it's time to start our Bible reading for the day.
...that the writer of Proverbs who compared a contentious woman to "a constant dripping" had a headcold at the time?
Have come down with a cold. Drat. The handle on my nose-faucet seems to be broken, or the gasket, or whatever you'd call it.
Yep. A constant dripping.
And very annoying.
Going to bed now. Perhaps I ought to sleep with a bucket!
Can you name the year? (Answers in next post)
The Titanic hit the iceberg.
First American abolition society founded in Philadelphia.
President Lincoln shot.
Webster's American Dictionary of the English language printed.
(If you don't want to wait for the next post, you can always go to:
This Day in History at the History Channel website.)
As far as today goes...
We're still trying to get through today's academics.
Nearly got sidetracked by the arrival of the new (replacement) keyboard for the laptop. But we're getting back on track. Told the girls that we won't attempt reconstructive surgery until after lunch, and protein, and lunch doesn't start until Bible reading is finished.
Tonight is our church's Good Friday service. One of the songs we're singing is Mozart's "Ave Verum Corpus", possibly one of the most lovely pieces written by that composer.
It seems as if it ought to be a day set aside for solemn reflection, but for some reason (poor planning... how about no planning?) I am busier than a one-handed paperhanger. (Is that the right expression?) I want to "do better" next year. Here we are at the high point of the year, and I haven't done/scheduled any of the special things I wanted to do.
In related news, I'm joining the "Clean Heart, Clean Home" challenge over at DandelionSeeds. It's a scary prospect, and it's going to take a lot of prayer, I think. But the girls are all excited at the prospect of clearing out the junk, so that's a start. (Except youngest rescued two of the teddy bears from the giveaway box this morning--bears that she so enthusiastically put in a few days ago. Would it have been better to get the box out of the house right away? Or is it better to let her have second thoughts and no regrets?)
In case I don't update before Monday, wishing you and yours a blessed celebration of our Lord's Atonement on our behalf, and His Resurrection.
Well, am sleeping again. It might have been stress, or a part of a bad reaction to Sudafed. *shudder*. I will never take that stuff again. It was always great when my allergies attacked and I'd have a sneezing fit--which would progress into a pounding sinus headache and sometimes a sinus infection.
But the last time I took it, something had changed in my body chemistry. It made me very loopy, as if I were intoxicated, and then the next morning when I awakened I was in the grip of a paralyzing depression that lasted for days. The only thing I can attribute it to was the Sudafed.
A friend suggested that they'd changed the formula, but this was from a half-used box in our cabinet. I checked the expiration date, and it was fine.
Anyhow, let this serve as a warning. OTC may imply that a medication is safe and trouble-free, but it may not be the truth, if you develop an allergy or bad reaction to the stuff.
As I mentioned, I'm sleeping regular hours again. As a matter of fact, I'm going to bed early most nights (by 10, and tonight it'll be 9:30) and waking up early too, not something I've always done but it's getting easier. Was it Ben Franklin who said "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise"?
One can only hope.
All the best,
Jean
Have to mention last night. I wish I'd had the digital camera with me. What an incredible sky!
We went to a local farm where they have a free concert every Thursday night in the summertime. The concerts are mostly bluegrass, it seems, though in a couple weeks is "Family Square Dance Night" and at least one of the concerts in August is "country that rocks". We went for the bluegrass last night, and we were not disappointed. Fiddle, bass, banjo, mandolin, guitar, singing, dancing and all.
The farmer has gone out of his way to promote a family-friendly atmosphere. There were hayrides on a very slow-moving wagon. There were U-pick fields of berries surrounding the venue. The concert itself was bordered on one side by the U-pick flowers; the musicians were under cover, just in case of rain or sun. (All contingencies covered!)
Thunderstorms were in the forecast, and the sky was full of those weird pillow-clouds that back in the Midwest meant severe thunderstorm or even tornado. But we never felt more than a drop, thankfully. Families were spread out all over the grass, on blankets, in camp chairs, eating picnic food they'd brought or bought at the farm store. (We brought--chicken salad, baguette from the French bakery, celery, carrots--and bought--tree-ripened peaches and nectarines, yum!)
There was a clear space in the middle where people danced, lots of people of all sizes and shapes and ages. There was such joy in the music, and it was reflected in the dancers. Bob took the girls to wait for the hayride and while they were waiting, they danced.
"Welcome!" the farmer shouted during one of the breaks. "There's a fifty percent chance of a beautiful sunset tonight! I say 'fifty percent' because I don't know if there'll be a break in the clouds, but the sun will be setting over those hills across the river, right about where those telephone poles are..."
The music continued as the sky darkened. It looked as if the fifty percent chance had not been enough, when...
Before us (facing the band) the western sky turned the most glorious rose color. Something prompted me to look behind me, to see if the sunset was reflecting in the clouds to the east, and not only was there sunset color there, but there was the most magnificent rainbow I've ever seen, arching all the way across the sky, so intense that the left side of the arch was reflected in a double rainbow.
It's not the first time I've wished for eyes in the back of my head. I also wished for the digital camera (missing. Misplaced, I hope. And hopefully to be found again sooner than later.). It was difficult to know which way to look as the sky turned from rose to burnished gold, slowly fading to rose once more. People all around me were staring in awe, and some were taking pictures--those that didn't have cameras were taking pictures with camera phones!
And still the sky brightened and throbbed with color, and the music spilled into the air and the children danced.
And finally it was all faded away, faint roses on the horizon, and it was time to pack up the picnic and the children and wend our weary way back to the car, and homewards once more.
But we all took a piece of the sky home in our hearts.
"I have set My bow in the heavens..."