Critter

At North Street we had a number of experiences with critters. I came across these photos recently. We described the adventure in our July 31, 2007 letter to our children.

"Throughout the evening we heard knocking sounds periodically. Joe looked around outside but couldn’t determine the source. It’s often difficult to determine the source of sounds because of the way sound bounces around in our backyards. We figured the sound came from kids playing in the office parking lot or our neighbors. When I finally got to bed about midnight, I could still hear the sounds. Suddenly it came to me, “check the garage”. I got up, armed myself with a flashlight and went outside. I kicked the garage door (we don’t have an automatic opener) in case there was a critter, human or otherwise, inside. I pulled open the door and looked inside. I was greeted by huge piles of dirt on either side of the door. It was clear an animal, probably our mystery animal/ground hog, had been trying to get out. I left the door open and went back to bed. The next morning we went out to assess the damage. 

The animal had chewed through the rope on the door. It chewed half of the rubber seal on the bottom of the door. [photo below shows the door raised & the rubber seal chewed off]

One hole extended at least two feet under the paver driveway and the hole on the other side went more than a foot and a half. The piles of dirt were 2-3 feet long and 6+inches deep in the deepest part. That had to have been one tired ground hog! We’re assuming it was the ground hog. 

We tamped as much of the dirt as we could back into the holes. We don’t want our driveway to collapse! We were amazed at how much of the dirt didn’t “fit” back into the holes. Several hours later we opened the garage door to show [our neighbor] where the damage had been done. Imagine our surprise when we saw that both holes had been dug out again! The ground hog must have been trapped in the garage again. Later in the day Joe was getting bricks from the narrow space where we keep the garbage cans. The ground hog ran past him and brushed his leg!"

We captured the groundhog below a year later. We don't know if it was the same one that dug up our garage or not. Neighbor Scott Chauvin took it down by the Olentangy River and released it. 

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added August 15, 2016 - The floor of the garage was asphalt on top of dirt. 

Celia Voted Most Dignified

Celia Cathcart graduated from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois in 1915

140 of the 183 senior class members returned surveys in which they voted on people who were "best" in a number of areas. Categories included sports, professor, class “peach,” “biggest bluffer,” best-looking woman (and man), best-dressed woman (and man), “typical college woman,” (and man).

According to this article in the college newspaper, “A majority of the class voted Celia Cathcart the most dignified member.”

photo - Celia Cathcart 1918, this might be her engagement/wedding portrait

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Note - Celia Cathcart and Florence Clark were friends at Northwestern and were in the same graduating class. After Celia and Caryl Holton married, Florence visited the family in London. Dad and his brothers called her Aunt Toots. When Celia died and Caryl and Florence married, they continued to call her Aunt Toots or just Toots. 

In Daily Northwestern, Evanston, Illinois [Northwestern University], May 21, 1915; page 4, column 2; source genealogybank.com

Book - Tuesdays With Morrie

Tuesdays with Morrie

by Mitch Albom 

"Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher. Someone older who understood you when you were young and searching, who helped you see the world as a more profound place, and gave you advice to help you make your way through it. For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly twenty years ago. Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of your mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded, and the world seemed colder. Wouldn't you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you? Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man's life. Knowing he was dying, Morrie visited with Mitch in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Tuesdays With Morrie is a magical chronicle of their time together, through which Mitch shares Morrie's lasting gift to the world." --From the publisher. (image & summary from worldcat.org)

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Several people have recommended this book recently. I read many reviews in which people said the book is shallow with one person saying it's like a collection of greeting cards. Others commented it's the most inspiring and profound book they've ever read. 

The author and Morrie don't discuss God, but I found that most of Morrie's observations are rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I think that's why this book and Morrie have resonated with many readers.

Morrie determined long before he got sick to create a culture around himself that made him and others feel good about themselves. “Morrie ... had developed his own culture – long before he got sick. Discussion groups, walks with friends, dancing to his music … He took more time eating and looking at nature ... He had created a cocoon of human activities – conversation, interaction, affection – and it filled his life like an overflowing soup bowl.”

“The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.”

Author Albom looking at Morrie & seeing how ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) has affected his body – “The disease owns him.” 

  

“Devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.” 

Morrie commented that most people just don't realize how "important" marriage is. 

"...the biggest defect we human beings have is our shortsightedness. We don’t see what we could be. We should be looking at our potential, stretching ourselves into everything we can become.” jht - We are children of God. Our divine heritage gives us unlimited potential.

Ted Koppel interviewed Morrie for television several times. During their last interview, Morrie says, “Ted, this disease is knocking at my spirit. But it will not get my spirit. It’ll get my body. It will not get my spirit.” (italics in original) jht - Our spirits will continue into the next life. 

Morrie – “Death ends a life, not a relationship.” jht - We would add to this, death ends life here on earth, then there is life on the other side. Relationships can continue on the other side. 

jht - I am reminded that time, attention, and focus (no multitasking) are gifts we give each other, any time, but especially when a person's body is greatly affected by age or disease. 

SaveSave

Trust in the Lord

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding."  Proverbs 3: 5

This phrase has gone through my heart and mind often the last few weeks. It usually comes when I'm wondering how something is going to work out or how I should handle a situation. It comes when I'm "leaning to [my] own understanding," when I'm trying to figure something out and don't see a viable solution. 

Most of the time, the Lord sends someone or something to address the situation. Sometimes it's right away, other time's it's not so quickly. It's happened often enough that I'm learning what it means to trust in the Lord. 

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When I looked up the scripture to write this post, I was struck by the phrase "with all thine heart." I'd forgotten that was part of the scripture. "With ALL thine heart." 

"Trust in the Lord" appears in many scriptures. Click here to see a few of them. 

Tents & Risks & Following the Lord

 Can you tell I'm going through my electronic pile of draft posts? Some of them seem to be worth posting now even though they've been sitting around for years!

Written Summer of 2012 - We've been in our new home in Kirkland, Washington for about 16 months. It's been a good move for us. We love the people and the area. However, our Ohio and Michigan friends and family are deeply missed. A huge part of the decision to move was the feeling that this is where the Lord wanted us to be at this point in our lives.

Picking up and moving our home across the country was a decision full of risks. In many ways that decision didn't make sense. To move or not to move - that was the basis of many, many discussions. We are glad we decided yes. We probably would have regretted it if we'd had the feeling but didn't act on it because we let the risks on the "con" list outweigh the risk of regret.

Heather Farrell wrote about tents, homes, and roots here. Her thoughts struck a cord with me. She and her husband were contemplating a major change in their lives, and a move. It was making her feel "topsy turvy." Farrell turned to the scriptures to learn from women who had to leave their homes, move their tents, into the unknown. She wanted to have the kind of faith they had.

Farrell said she was "feeling a bit like I imagine Sarah felt when she and Abraham left their home in Haran to go into the wilderness of Canaan, to".. the land that I will shew thee" (Genesis 12:1)." As I re-read the story of Lehi and Sariah leaving Jerusalem I was really struck by this verse in 1 Nephi 2:15 in which Nephi simply states, "And my father dwelt in a tent." This verse is often used light heartily as the shortest verse in the Book of Mormon, yet this one little verse is packed full of meaning.  It indicates that Nephi and his family had finally made a choice. They had officially given up their affluent, city dwelling, stable life style for the difficultly and uncertainty of being guided by the Lord in the desert. That couldn't have been an easy to choice to make, or an easy road to follow. Yet look at the incredible things that came as a result of that one choice!"

She continues: "I think what I am coming to learn, slowly, is that the Lord expects each of us to "dwell in a tent", in a figurative way.  Even though ancient peoples often pitched their tents for long periods of time, tents (unlike houses) are not permanent structures and can (and were) taken down in order to move on to a richer part of land, escape conflict, or simply because the Lord commanded it. Today those who"dwell in a tent" are those whose hearts are open to the Lord and are are willing to go where He wants them to go-- instead of being tied down by their houses, their riches, or their desire for comfort. To  truly be an instrument in the hands of the Lord, like Sarah and Abraham or Lehi and Sariah, we must be willing to leave everything behind  if it is required of us and go where the Lord directs."

Following the Lord's direction always brings blessings. Those blessings sometimes are immediately apparent. Other times, it takes a while to understand the whys and see the blessings."

Summer of 2016 - After the above I have a few phrases and thoughts that weren't fully developed. I can tell I wasn't sure if I wanted to further talk about risks and/or following the Lord's counsel when it involves a change as large as this one was.

Moving forward with faith in Christ. That's what we did. That's what we continue to do. We feel even more strongly than we did five years ago that this is where we are supposed to be. The timing for our move was probably just right.

Visit With Grandparents

June 1953 - visiting my Mom's parents, Gram & Poppie (Mildred & Harry Floyd), in Arlington Heights, Illinois. I remember a number of train rides from London to see Gram and Poppie. I wonder if we took the train on this trip? There's a picture of us at the Arlington Heights train station from another visit. 

Poppie isn't in any of the pictures from this visit. 

Was he away working or just camera shy?

A Patient Voice

Back in the summer of 2011 I wrote - "A patient voice - that’s what I told the Apple tech person the other day as he spent an hour or so with us on the phone. I’ve thought about that often since I thanked him. I know I don’t always have a patient voice. I know my voice too often shows impatience. I need to do much better with this. I want people to remember me, and my voice/words, as patient and loving. Everyone, especially family, should always hear my most loving and most patient voice."

Present day - summer of 2016 - It's interesting to read this and reflect on whether or not I've made any progress. I've made a concerted effort to tune into the feelings in my heart so I can recognize anything that isn't Christ-like - and then work on that part of my being. I've found it interesting to become more aware of my heart, what's there, and how that's reflected in my thoughts, words, and actions, and yes, my voice.