a delightful video

This old couple were at the Mayo Clinic for check-ups, and there was a piano in the atrium inviting people to play it. Have a look at their little "concert"!

out by the mailbox this morning

was this sweet little killdeer chick. His poor mama was doing her "bird with a broken wing!" dance, but I had to pick him up and look at him. Seeing those beautiful markings in miniature was just amazing. :)

My Father's Secret War

I'm reading My Father's Secret War (or rather, listening to it in the car).

It's written by a lady who discovered that her dad was a spy in World War II, and it tells not only about his experiences during the war, but also how she got him to talk about it.

His stories are fascinating. But I can't get over the irritation that she's badgering this old man to reveal things he's promised to keep secret. She seems to take such pride in tricking him into talking about this stuff. I keep wanting to slap her!

I'm going to finish it (hopefully this weekend, before the library police come after me), because I am enjoying hearing about him. But she and I? We would NOT get along well.

Every time she asks him about it (and she does it a LOT), he tells her he promised not to talk about it. Then she begins to badger, wheedle and trick. It's happened several times per chapter. (When she's not snooping through his stuff.)

I'm as curious as anybody (and probably a lot more than most), but there's something to be said for honoring and supporting others' commitments.

My sister-in-law posted the most precious account of my nieces' thoughts on memorial day. Have a look - it was a blessing.

the spring purge ...

Our teenagers at church have been having a garage sale every year to raise money for a mission trip they go on over the summer.

I use it as an opportunity to go through my house, and clean out all the extraneous stuff that's accumulated over the year.

It's amazing how much STUFF creeps into my house. It feels so good to send it on its way.

I've gone through my office and living room tonight. Hope to finish up this weekend, and this year, not allow so much stuff back in!

One of those fun get-to-know others emails

Please leave your answers in the comments!

First Job:
Cleaning the church when the regular janitor went on vacation

First Real Job:
Pet-store pooper-scooper ... also, coincidentally, a very early-morning job. I guess that preference started early!

First Favorite Politician:
I remember liking Jimmy Carter's smile ... he seemed friendly. Obviously I wasn't very sensitive to political issues yet!

First Car:
1984 (I think) Ford Escort. It burned up in my driveway less than a year after I bought it. Oddly enough, while in flames, it started itself and drove into the side of the house. That was a very exciting evening.

First Record/CD:
My dad sent me two records that were my first - A collection of Irish Rovers' childrens' songs, and music from Carousel

First Sport Played:
ALMA (Athens Little Miss America) Softball. It was quickly determined that I had no aptitude for athletics. :)

First Concert:
Petra in the early 80's

First Foreign Country Visited:
Israel

First Favorite TV Show:
Waltons

First Favorite Actor:
Greg Evigan (or however you spell it) on BJ & the Bear (my, but the late 70's had a lot of embarrassing television!)

First Favorite Actress:
Kate Somebody on Charlie's Angels (see comment above about embarrassing tv shows!)

First Girlfriend/Boyfriend:
Still looking for one!

First Encounter with a Famous Person:
Still waiting for this one too ... though not really concerned about seeing it happen. :)

First Brush With Death:
Not really a direct answer to the question, because my worrying-mother would read it and freak out ... but here's my first brush with not worrying about brushes with death: Mom always used to warn us, when we were going over to our grandparents', "stay away from the power take-off on tractors." We would dutifully nod, and assure her that we would. Neither one of us knew what a power take-off was, nor did we ask. :)

First House/Condo Owned:
The one I'm in now - moved in 6 years ago in July.

First Film Seen:
Charlotte's Web, at the theater in Bronson

First Favorite Recording Artist:
Shawn Cassidy (there's that 70's embarrassment again)

First Favorite Radio Station:
Christian station from Elkhart we could get if the wind was blowing just right.

First Book I Remember Reading:
The Black Stallion series. I scoured every available library for them.

Well, THAT was an invitation to greater self-discipline

Just woke up from the most horrid dream ...

I dreamed my life had fallen apart, and I was waking up after a drunken binge, lying on a stranger's kitchen floor.

Well ... time to get some work done around this place ... now that I've seen where slothfulness can lead! Yikes!!!!

Had a really interesting evening last night (before the drunken-binge-dream). Some missionaries from our church who serve in Thailand gave a presentation on how Buddhism affects the Thai culture and thinking. It was fascinating, and sad too in some ways. For instance, Buddha forbids people to think about three areas: Where they came from, what happens after death, and one more I can't remember. These are the big questions of life, and the thought of people being forbidden to ponder them saddens me. There was a ton more, but I'd better get busy developing self-discipline now ... lest bad things happen. :)

Do you think this is clear? :)

so SO tempted to be passive-agressive about this ...

Last night, someone in my building was up after midnight yelling about something.

And it wasn't constant yelling ... it was every 20 minutes or so ... just as you'd had a chance to ALMOST get to sleep ... and he'd holler again. Maybe some kind of sports-thing on Tv? Who knows.

So I couldn't really call the police, because who knows if they'd hear the guy.
I was so, SO tempted to go down and lean on his doorbell at 4:30 this morning when I got up.

I know I was sure having trouble waking up after four hours sleep, so I was thinking maybe he would need a little help also?

What SHOULD stop me is a mature, righteous thought like, "this kind of behavior doesn't solve anything, and only escalates the situation." But in reality the only thing that stopped me was that I wasn't 100% sure I was suspecting the right apartment.

May 11

My chicks have flown the coop. They were in the nest this morning, and gone this evening. The adults are still trying to feed chicks that aren't there. They obviously haven't figured out the babies are gone yet. Very small brains. :)

May 10 Robins

The Lighting Corner in Grandville

This is why I do business on the internet ...

I was looking for a lampshade for an oddly-sized lamp, and having no luck finding one.

So I went into a local lighting store. I knew I'd be paying a lot for a shade, but I had hopes of finding one the right size.

The salesman did help me find one, though it had to be ordered.

I paid ... well I'm embarrassed to say what I paid. Let's just say, it was more than the lamp itself, and about ten times what a lampshade should cost.

At the time I ordered it, the salesman said, "if it doesn't sit right, just bring in your harp, and we'll swap it out" and gestured to a bunch of out-of-package harps hanging on the wall by the shades.

"well," think I, "there is the advantage to dealing with a local business instead of buying online."

So, after waiting six weeks, I picked up ridiculously-expensive-lampshade last Friday, and it doesn't sit quite right on the lamp.

Today, I go in, and ask for a smaller harp.

The same salesman has absolutely no memory of the previous conversation. Nope ... he never would have done that. Couldn't happen.

I chose NOT to buy the smaller harp from them. In fact, I think I will choose to never buy anything from them.

I am miffed.

A few more baby robin pictures

A couple from today -- looking a little cramped in there!





May 7 - daddy robin perches just a little bit away, expressing his displeasure :)




May 7



May 4



May 3

Since yesterday was military-spouse appreciation day

I thought I'd post this for my favorite Army guy & Army guy's wife.

posterous - trying to post to facebook and blogger

We are exploring different options to communicate church information ... I'm specifically looking for something that's a nice fill-in the gap between email and the website ... not as permanent as the web, and not as temporary as email.

Todd recommended posterous - you can post to a blog, facebook and twitter all at once.  I'm trying it out to see what it looks like! 

Feedback is welcome and appreciated!

Posted via email from Trinka's posterous

some baby bird pictures

I've been a little lax in updating the chicks' progress. Here are some from this week.

May 2 - baby robins apparently sleeping late on a Saturday morning


April 28 - Daddy trying to feed the babies, if only I would GET OFF THE PORCH



April 28 - baby robins waiting for dinner

why I'm glad I'm not a nurse

List of office equipment that has died in my presence in the last two weeks:

Imac (twice)
folding machine
digital duplicator

Now, none of these died at my hand, but if I were a nurse, and these were people, circumstantial evidence would necessitate a police investigation, I'm afraid.

Imac is up and running again.

Folding machine and duplicator both currently dead.

Copy machine still running, but who knows ...

On another note, yesterday I was witness to one of the most vicious cases of spite I have seen in a long time.

A (currently mentally ill) husband rented a dumpster, and threw out all of his wife's most loved possessions. They sat out in the rain all day. The dumpster-company-owner kindly us help her retrieve them last night, behind a warehouse, where they were sitting, soaked, in the mud.