Monday Memory: Wedding Songs

I always cry at wedding songs, no matter how corny they are. For years when I was little I was certain I'd have Noel Stookey's "The Wedding Song" in my own wedding, and later it was John Denver's "Annie's Song." I know those are hugely overplayed and all that, but I still love them. I'm a nerd.

But many years later when Dr. H. and I realized we could get married, we chose our own songs that were somehow significant to us. My brother Stephen and our friend Dave, in the photo above, played their guitars and sang. I think my brother also played the harmonica. The first song was Simon and Garfunkel's "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her," which came from our very early months of dating. Perhaps we might call that our "falling in love" song.

The next song was "Forever and a Day" by Gene Cotton. I seriously can't find a link to that song anywhere. (Gene Cotton had a few hits in the late 1970s and early 1980s, including "You're a Part of Me," which we also loved but it's more of a breaking-up song.) Anyway, our friends Joel and Lauren had gotten married two years before and had that song at their wedding, so we thought it would be fun for all of us friends to have "Forever and a Day" at our weddings. Besides that, it's a beautiful song. Here's how it starts:

What did you come here for today?
Did you have something you wanted to say?
Or did you just come to get a piece of paper and say I do?
Or did you come to tell everyone that love is forever
and ever and ever and a day.

Anyway, Randy saw Gene Cotton in concert before we were married and had Gene autograph a guitar/piano book; the autograph was very sweet, wishing us well in our marriage.

The third song—the recessional—was Neil Young's "Comes a Time." This we chose because we loved this Neil Young album and for the lyrics.

Comes a time when you're driftin'
Comes a time when you settle down
Comes a light, feelin's lifting
Lift that baby right up off the ground.

Oh, this old world keeps spinning round;
It's a wonder tall trees ain't layin' down
There comes a time.

You and I, we were captured.
We took our souls and we flew away.
We were right—we were giving—
that's how we kept what we gave away.

And so those were our songs. They were exactly right, and I'd pick exactly the same ones all over again.

What were your wedding songs? Come celebrate our 20th Anniversary Bash and you might win a $20 gift card!

** Click on the 20th Anniversary Bash link above to post your comments there!**

What's Been Happening Around Here

Every now and then I miss taking—and posting—daily photos for Project 365, which I did faithfully for a whole year. I still take photos on a regular basis, but I often neglect to post them. So here's what's been happening here for the past month or so…

Darth Vader hung out for awhile. I love when my kids dress up. I love when they take themselves so seriously in their costumes—sadly only Duncan does that now. (I should probably be glad, actually, that Jesse at 15 doesn't dress up in costumes anymore.) I love those moments when they actually believe they are Darth Vader or an army guy.




We've had some lovely weather: tree-climbing, book-reading, bird-watching, jump-roping warm days. As much as I miss a few big snows, I wouldn't trade the early Tennessee springs for anything.


The kids got to attend another 5-day class at a local Montessori school. The school hasn't opened yet, as it hasn't quite reached its enrollment minimum, so they've been offering occasional 5-day classes for homeschoolers. In December the kids did Journey to Japan; in February they had a blast with "Bluebirds, Bats, and Bark." In the photo above, they are looking for animal tracks in their tracking pit. For the sake of the school, I hope they get enough participants soon, but my kids sure have enjoyed the classes there! And wow, did I ever get a lot done during those 5 days!



Laurel and Dr. H. got to attend our first annual American Heritage Girls Father/Daughter Valentine's Banquet. We've been talking about doing this for years. This year our high-school girls are working on their dance badge, and it fit in perfectly for them to plan this special banquet. It was an absolutely beautiful night (I helped set-up, wash dishes and clean up so that I could scope things out!), and I know those girls and their daddies will treasure it forever. And now we are committed to making this happen every year!



Sometimes you just have to get into the mountains, especially when they are covered in snow on a crystal clear day. We took a quick drive to the Foothills Parkway one afternoon while Jesse was at piano lessons. I love that we live so close that we can take a drive to the mountains and back in just piano-lesson time.




We had the Pinewood Derby! I have to say here that Dr. H. is so amazing. He had soooo much to do this past month, but in the midst of it all he took time out of work to get all this Cub Scout stuff ready and make sure it all runs smoothly. We have a fantastic group of parents in our pack, including one engineer dad who created this amazing timing system for the track. It took the derby to a whole new level and cut down about half the time!


Spring is palpable. The celery is a science experiment for Laurel's botany class; the impatiens I'm beginning to root for planting soon. Daffodils are everywhere in our yard now, and I'm beginning to shake off that winter shroud. It's been a rough winter, filled with too much death. I lost a lovely college friend in January and then without much space between a good friend's mom died, Randy's bio dad died, a church friend's son died, and another college classmate took his life at the end of February. I was thinking today that I haven't posted my "Three Beautiful Things" in awhile, and I need to get back to that. Casting off the heaviness of sadness is easier with spring, though, and the re-greening that ensues.

Field Trip: Rainforest Adventure

We've been studying the jungle for science lately (that's a good way to make watching Survivor part of school), and since we can't go to Papua New Guinea and have banana sour cream cake, we decided to go to Rainforest Adventures in nearby Sevierville, TN (right outside of Gatlinburg). We had been to Rainforest Adventures several years ago as part of a field trip, and I remember thinking it was extremely lame. But my kids didn't remember going, and I invited my friend's kids along for the day because things are always more fun with friends.

We picked a great time to go (11:30 a.m. on a Friday); when we pulled into the parking lot, there were only 3 other cars there. The worker said there had been a large school group there in the morning, so I guess we hit it just right. (Early March is generally a good time to visit the Gatlinburg area, as most spring breaks don't happen until about the third week of the month.) The museum took less than an hour to walk through very slowly, and then we walked through two or three more times.

From Rainforest 3/6/09 4:42 PM

I was personally horrified but fascinated (in a traffic wreck kind of way) by the huge number of snakes—from albino anacondas to a green mamba— that this museum has; this would be an ideal place to visit if you are studying snakes. And the snakes aren't limited to the rainforest theme; some of our local favorites like rattlers and copperheads were there in abundance, too.

From Rainforest 3/6/09 4:42 PM

Strangely, Rainforest Adventures now features an outdoor section called "Aussie Walkabout." I'm not sure how this fits into the theme, but if you've ever been to Sevierville/Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, you know that anything goes. Cheesy as it is, the kids loved this area. I think part of the huge draw was that they were the only people there and had the run of the place. Also, the weather was perfect; this outdoor section would be quite unpleasant on a rainy day. (Because remember, this section is the outback, not the rainforest.) Best of all, an emu unhitched the gate and was wandering aimlessly about, and then the worker collected an emu egg and brought it to us.


How cool is that? Apparently, they give the emu eggs away to artists who carve and paint on the eggs. (Curious? Check out Carved-Eggs.com.)

Rainforest Adventures is a strange little place at the foot of the Smoky Mountains in the massive touristy area known to most as "Gatlinburg." And the kids absolutely loved it! In fact, all four kids gave the Rainforest Adventures a "10+++" rating. Often with museums like this, which are numerous in our area, I feel ripped off. This cost us about $12 for me and $7 for the kids. If I'd paid better attention, I would have seen that there is a $2/off admission coupon on the website and saved us $10. Ergh! But even at that price, I did NOT feel ripped off because the kids loved it soooo much.

My recommendation? If you go, make sure you realize that this is really only about an hour's visit, although you can stretch it into 2 hours to justify paying the ticket price (and don't forget the coupon). It's a small place and kind of smelly, but it has loads of critters. Call ahead to make sure there aren't any school groups because this place would lose much of its charm with a lot of people there. And bring quarters for the goat food (for all those goats in the rainforest).

Recipe Box Swap: Roasted Veggies

I love roasted vegetables. If I had a bowl of roasted Brussels sprouts right now at 7:45 a.m., I would eat them and my kids would be fighting me for them. I love roasting a bunch of vegetables, like eggplant, red pepper, garlic, and zucchini, and sprinkling them on a homemade pizza crust that's been "sauced" with pesto. Truly divine.

For this recipe box swap, I'm going to share two extremely easy recipes: roasted Brussels sprouts and roasted asparagus. I would like to say that these methods will universally cure the "I hate Brussels sprouts" syndrome—as it did with my own children—but a friend (adult) came over while we were eating these the other day. When he mentioned that he didn't like sprouts, we forced him to eat one. He did choke it down, but I'm pretty sure he didn't head to the store to buy sprouts.

And that reminds me: when he fix these dishes, you must buy fresh vegetables, not frozen. Both can be rather expensive, but right now is the time to buy asparagus. Brussels sprouts are a late fall vegetable, but they seem to always run the same price here in the south regardless of their harvest season.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

• 1 1/2 pounds Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed and yellow leaves removed
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).
2. Place trimmed Brussels sprouts, olive oil, kosher salt, and pepper in a large resealable plastic bag. Seal tightly, and shake to coat. Pour onto a baking sheet, and place on center oven rack.
3. Roast in the preheated oven for 30 to 45 minutes, shaking pan every 5 to 7 minutes for even browning. Reduce heat when necessary to prevent burning. Brussels sprouts should be darkest brown, almost black, when done. Adjust seasoning with kosher salt, if necessary. Serve immediately.

Roasted Asparagus

1 lb. asparagus spears (I know we're taught to pick the skinny, tender ones, but fat ones actually work best for roasting)
2 TB. olive oil
kosher salt
black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400. Rinse asparagus and cut off the tough ends (an inch or so).
2. Lay asparagus on a baking sheet in a single layer. Brush oil over each stalk, then turn stalks and coat the other side. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Of course if you have a large enough container with a lid, you could just put the stalks in, add the oil, salt and pepper, and shake. Whatever works for you. Just coat them thoroughly.
3. Cook for about 10-12 minutes. They should be a lovely shade of bright green. If you are a fan of lemon juice on asparagus, drizzle a bit on before serving. We prefer them without, but hike your own hike.

Enjoy! And check out a lot more recipes at Randi's monthly Recipe Box Swap.

Monday Memory: Month of 20

All you'll see here this month for Monday Memories is pictures of Dr. H. and me. I hope you don't get sick of hearing about us, but this is the month for celebration: March 25 will be our 20th anniversary! Twenty years! How is that possible? It truly doesn't seem that long ago—23 years, in fact—that we had our first picture taken together. See us up there? We had no idea what all was headed our way, from gut-wrenching heartbreak to pure joy and everything in between. We were just college kids, holding hands and walking up and down the hills of a tiny college in the mountains of East Tennessee.

We didn't know that someday we would scrape together all our change to buy cheeseburgers at McDonalds, or that one day we'd stare in utter amazement at a positive pregnancy test. We didn't count on spending Christmas day in the hospital having a baby and watching him being whisked away to the NICU for the next week. We never imagined how hard it would all be or how utterly perfect it would all be. We knew absolutely nothing except that we were crazy about each other. We were just kids.

Obviously, 20 years calls for a blog party, a big blog party! I'll be having two giveaways on my blog this month, but you'll have to do more than just leave a comment. If you follow me regularly, you know I like stories.

So get ready to tell me some good ones! Stay tuned for details later this week!

What's Happening at SmallWorld Reads

Looking for something to read? Below are links to my February reviews at SmallWorld Reads:

Children's Books on Slavery
Dedication by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Conversations with the Fat Girl by Liza Palmer

February Picks
Most enjoyable: Conversations with the Fat Girl
Most depressing but best written: The Road

And I've been a little better about the weekly writing prompts at Sunday Scribblings:
Regrets (or Not)
Art
Lost

What have you been reading?

Some Days Are Weeping Days

There are days, now and then, that are filled with weeping, from sweet to bittersweet to mournful. Just weeping. Days like today, when the first thing I see in the morning upon logging into Facebook is that a college classmate took his life yesterday. How can you not weep throughout the day when you see page after page of words of people who loved him, wondering how he couldn't have known how loved he was? How can you not weep when you remember his funny wave and how he'd yell a greeting across campus, how he was so vibrant?

And then tonight the man who has been our Boy Scout troop's Scoutmaster for a decade stepped down during a truly spectacular ceremony. How can you not weep when 35 Scouts stand at attention and salute as this man walks down this aisle of young men that he has helped grow? How can you not weep to realize this decade is ending, that your little Cub Scout from long ago is now as tall as his Dad and nearly done with Scouting? How can you not weep to hear the words said to our Scoutmaster: "how can we possibly, possibly thank you for all you've done?" and know that there aren't any words…

but that you wish that Mike, the college classmate, were alive to read all the words written on his wall today saying how much he'll be missed—that he touched so many lives.

Some days are weeping days.

Homeschool Memoirs: Pets

Today's theme at Homeschool Memoirs is pets: "Tell us your pet history. What was your first pet? Which was your most memorable? How about today? How many pets do you have? Do they help or hinder your homeschooling?"

My first pet, as family legend goes, was a kitten named Poof. One day he was there and the next day—poof!—he'd been run over in the driveway. The first pet I remember was our good mama cat Susie, who gave birth to a few litters before my parents took her to "Lollypop Farms." They said that this was a happy place where animals could run around free and happy. When I was in college and later and would tell this story to friends, they would laugh and say, "Are you serious? Do you seriously believe there is such a place as Lollypop Farm?" I was suddenly confronted with the idea that my parents might have used Lollypop Farm as a euphemism for euthanasia. This seemed uncharacteristic of my parents, but it did seem silly to believe in such a place. Imagine my delight when I discovered that Lollypop Farm is real and still thriving all these years later!

Anyway, as a child we had an evil cat named Chippy (Susie's spawn), two fleeting kittens named Bilbo and Gandalf, and a Toy Fox Terrier named Mandy. Back then everyone had pets. I don't ever remember knowing anyone who was allergic to cats or who didn't have a dog. People just had pets. It seemed natural to me that Dr. H. and I would have pets as soon as we were married, so we started out with three cats. These were really Randy's first taste of pet ownership, besides a bird he had in elementary school. When our cat Sebastian was killed, Randy experienced his first real taste of losing a loved one. This, I believe, is one of the great benefits of pet ownership. Dealing with the loss of a beloved pet prepares one for losing a loved one. Within a few years after that, Randy lost three out of his four grandparents.

Since then we've had an assortment of pets in our home. Our kids have buried one beautiful cat, Pudding; a couple of hermit crabs; and a hamster. We have a little pet burial plot in a corner of our backyard. Several fish have been flushed down the toilet. We currently have residing in our home: our sweet Australian shepherd, Daisy; two cats, Hamlet and S'more; Brooke the hamster; and Shelob, the tarantula (it resides in my son's room). Sometimes I fantasize about our home being completely pet-free: no food to sweep up, no litter box to change, no expense of food and vet, no dog to take out every morning, no jarring barking. And hindering our homeschooling? Yes, they do. Daisy's sudden sharp barking sends my head spinning, and the kitten tearing through the house like a Tasmanian devil is rather distracting.

But the benefits of having pets far outweigh the annoyances. They are good to have about, adding a depth to our family life that makes us even more grounded. And all that good responsibility, nurturing, and companionship that goes along with pet ownership—it's all true.

Здравствуйте (Hello)

Look what the UPS guy dropped off on our front porch today! Jesse is finally tackling his language requirement for high school. His choice: Russian. He's been intrigued by Russian things for years, so the choice makes sense. Also, he was scouting out some colleges and saw that it is actually possibly to get a bachelor's degree in such things as Russian and European studies, and the wheels started turning. We haven't done a language here in a few years, so I'm looking forward to seeing how this goes. I'm not saying that I'm going to sit by his side as he learns Russian, but I am curious. I love languages and am grateful for the years of French, German, and Latin (as roots) that I had. My kids have all done Spanish through our enrichment class program and a sprinkling of Latin here and there, but I've actually found teaching a language rather daunting—especially one other than French or German. I'm happy for Rosetta Stone because I'm sure not up to teaching Russian!

How does foreign language learning work in your homes?

Monday Memory: In Paris

Heidi at Mt. Hope Chronicles got me thinking about Paris this week; she's been posting gorgeous photos as usual. Twenty-six years ago (!) I had the opportunity of a lifetime. My father was a Fulbright scholar at Justus Liebig University in Giessen, Germany (then West Germany) for six months, and during that time we traveled extensively throughout Europe. This was my junior year in high school; I think of it now as the year I homeschooled myself. My teachers back in the States gave me my textbooks and assignments. I finished them in a couple of months and then read voraciously and traveled with one eye on the sites and the other on Fodor's. I kept a detailed travel journal, as well. (I believe much of it is plagiarized directly from Fodor's. I know I justified this by thinking that no one but me would ever read my journals!)

Here is an excerpt from January 3, 1983, which goes along with the photo above:

We are now in Paris! Today we went do the Arc de Triomphe, a monument to an Imperial epoch. It shelters the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It is a gigantic composition where figures 6 feet high crowd in hundreds, depicting the departure of the French armies and their return. … Every evening, as we saw, the flame of remembrance is lighted. We also went to the Invalides, which is generally considered the finest architectural composition in Paris. … From there we went to the Church of St. Louis. … After that we went to Napolean's tomb. The tomb is beneath the cupola of the church. Napolean's body was placed in six coffins, each contained inside the other. Twelve huge figures, sculpted by Pradier, stand against an open gallery. Above the bronze door that leads to the crypt are Napolean's famous words: "I wish my body to rest near the banks of the Seine, in the midst of the French people I loved so well." Tomorrow we'll visit the Eiffel Tower.

I was sorry to see that I somehow skipped writing about the whole incredible New Year's vacation we took prior to our trip to Paris. We spent several days skiing in Chamonix, France. I don't have a single picture or an entry in either my regular journal or my travel diary. (I suspect I'm missing an entire album of photographs. I may have to launch an exploration to the farthest corners of our attic storage.)

Paris was just one stop on this incredible six-month traveling spree. We visited countless castles in Germany; art museums from a tiny private basement in Rome to the Louvre— hidden treasures to masterpieces; breathed in cathedrals and listened to ancient church bells. My dream is that we will be able to share such an experience with our children. It's not an unreasonable dream: my husband can take a sabbatical at any time now, provided he submit stacks of paperwork and get approval from the various powers-that-be in various high-up places. But it's not unattainable.

Where would you spend six months if you had the opportunity?