Easter 2008

Conversation between my 4-year-old nephew Henry and his mom at church on Easter Sunday during communion ...

Henry (watching the priest administer communion): I want some of those chips.

Ardra: You can't have any, Honey. You have to be a certain age.

Henry: Why do I have to be a certain age? Are they spicy chips?


Later in the van after church ...

Grandma Cookie: So, I told Henry that, yes, Jesus is in our hearts. His spirit and his kindness and his joy.

Henry: Grandma, is that kind of like the FORCE in Star Wars?

Everyone: YES!! It is kind of like that.

Henry: But the FORCE is stronger, right uncle Eric (Stan)?

Uncle Eric (Stan): That's RIGHT Henry.

Harvey is For Real

Did you ever watch that old classic movie with Jimmy Stewart and the human-sized, imaginary rabbit? I LOVE that movie. If you ever watch it, make sure you pay attention. The humor is very subtle.

Well, this is no pooka. This is a REAL rabbit. I snopes'd it and everything. Look at those feet!! Imagine if you saw this guy hopping down the bunny trail?

Happy Birthday, Jenny!

This is a picture of Jen getting her hair done for my wedding. We all just looked so cute that day! Jen's birthday was on Sunday. What can I tell you about Jen? She's one of the funnest people I know. She makes a killer margarita, and she has a heart as big as the moon.

We were in the same preschool together, but I don't remember her so much from that year. I do remember the next year (Kindergarten) when she barfed Hamburger Helper all over her desk. That's my earliest memory of Jen.

My second memory was also from Kindergarten. Jen, Penny Watson and I had a lunch date! We met at Jen's house and ate some kind of lunch (it was not, to my relief, Hamburger Helper).

I don't remember anything else about it except that sometime either before or after this, I asked my mom/dad if they would call Penny Watson's mom/dad for something (I don't remember what) and they said I COULD CALL PENNY MYSELF! I specifically remember calling her from the rotary phone in our wallpapered kitchen on Scotland Boulevard and thinking I had hit the big time now -- calling people MYSELF. It was a milestone.

Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEN!! We love ya!!

Last Saturday's View

My Latest Obsession

These are red-tailed hawks. You Ohioans may not realize this, but they are abundant in our area and are sitting in trees just like this all the time right out there in front of our noses and we don't see them. I don't know when it started, but sometime in the last few years, I started watching for them on our numerous trips up and down I-71. I became pretty good at spotting them along the highway and would watch for them as a way to pass the time.

For some reason, I never really looked for them when I was just driving around town. Lately, I decided that I would start looking for them locally, and now I see one almost every time I go to or from work. It's getting kind of crazy. I mean, I'm looking up into the trees WHILE I'M DRIVING. Oh, and I've also been listening to a book on CD about vampires. So, driving is just a background activity. I've tried to stop looking for the birds, but I'm totally obsessed. I love these things. They are HUGE. They weigh three or four pounds, and when you see one, they appear to be even bigger than that. I particularly get excited when I see two together as shown in the picture above. I've only spotted a "pair" twice.

Does anyone else have this obsession?

Bunny Humor

I've seen this before, but it still cracks me up EVERY TIME.

Happy Birthday Mom!

If you remember the pictures from my dad's birthday, these pictures of my mom will surely explain why they are meant for each other.

This is my mom playing the washboard at a Zydeco bar on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. That's a feather boa she's wearing. She had been watching the washboard player and studying his every move. And he noticed. So, he gave her the board and let her have a go at it.

Happy Birthday, Mom!! We love you!

Real Entries in Our Local Paper's Police Blotter

A 62-year-old man who lives in the 14100 block of Kennerdown Avenue threatened President George Bush, prompting a visit by agents from the U.S. Secret Service. The agency did not return calls seeking information. Police here said they did not know the nature of the threat.

Thieves in Garfield Heights will steal not only the kitchen sink, but the new faucet, the kitchen counter, copper pipes, the furnace and the hot water tank. Such was the case when police arrived at a home on Maplerow Avenue. The front lockbox was missing and the door was unlocked. The key was lying on the basement floor near a pack of chocolate cupcakes ... (the thievery doesn't surprise me -- it's the mention of the chocolate cupcakes).

The Marymount Villa also experienced a robbery. A man called and said someone stole his mother's dentures valued at $2,800. He said an unknown Hispanic woman stole them, but there aren't any Hispanic women employed there.