Kids do say the darndest things

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Kay Pelham

Earlier today when the neighborhood kids were still in school, James asked if they wanted to play at his house (meaning yard), would that be okay. I told him it would be fine, but they probably should not go in the garage because of Dad’s tools. Sure enough, the kids come home from school and are riding bikes around and want to hang out in James’ yard. James comes to the door to double-check with me and I say it is okay. And then I hear him yell out to the front yard, “It’s okay,

but you can’t go in the garage because there’s stuff in there you shouldn’t see.”

Oh, great! I hiss at him, “Don’t say that. Tell them you have to check with your Dad.” And so he repeats that to them.

Now I’m wondering what the talk is around the neighborhood about what the Pelhams have in their garage.

And I’m wondering when we’ll get our visit from the Sheriff.

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Communicating or The Order of Brethren against the propagation of the legend of the Lost Colony

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Kay Pelham

One morning late last year Jack was sitting at the dining room table eating breakfast and I was sitting on the couch in the living room doing who knows what. I hear him say these words,

“How many people who wear black coats and collars are intolerant to Roanoke?”

I found this to be a strange question as I had never been aware of any priests who were against the legend of the Lost Colony. I thought, since I didn’t have my glasses on, that perhaps I had not heard clearly what he said. I don’t remember if I asked him to repeat the question or if I made some comment about the priests or if I simply exclaimed, “What?!!!” Whatever I said, he responded with a request for me to tell him what I heard. So I told him. And then to my surprise, he said (with a look of humorous amazement on his face,) “You’ve got to stop right there and write that down.” He wanted a record of this. Which turned about to be a good thing because this many months later I can tell you exactly what I heard that morning. The paper is right here next to me.

After I jotted it down for the record and so he could be certain of what I heard, he tells me (very slowly and clearly,) “What I said was,

‘I wonder how many people who are lactose intolerant are intolerant to raw milk.’

You can do the deciphering and try to figure out how I heard what I did.

I share this story to illustrate the great efforts that this husband and wife make to communicate and the great pains we go through to make sure that there are no misunderstandings. And you can see how easy it is to misunderstand — especially when you don’t have your glasses on.

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A radiant love

Posted on February 15, 2011 by Kay Pelham

For a special bonus on the day after Love Day I will tell you about the chapter I read from Eve Curie’s bio of her mother Madame Curie. This chapter is about Marie’s discovery of radium. Though I tried hard to understand all the scientific details, the thing that I noticed the most was the relationship between Marie and Pierre Curie. And with the author being the daughter of this couple, how wonderful for her to have had such parents who genuinely loved and respected each other and to have decided that the chemistry between her parents was just as important to record as their discoveries in the lab.

As part of a doctoral study Marie had made the initial discovery of a substance, but now she needed help. Continue reading →

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Narration of Edward II…Story of King Robert the Bruce and Bohun

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Kay Pelham

Here James narrates the story from Our Island Story. The Henrys I and II should be Edward I and II. The Scottish king that he never names is Robert the Bruce who you might remember from Braveheart.

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Happy Love Day

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Kay Pelham

Happy Valentine’s Day to my Sweetheart and to the Parents that taught me by their words and example that marriage means only having eyes for each other.

Celebrating 60 years together

Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well.
Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares?
Let them be for yourself alone, not for strangers with you.
Let your spring be blessed.
Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
Be captivated always with her love. ~Proverbs 5

I am my beloved’s. His desire is toward me. ~Song of Solomon 7

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What a boy can handle

Posted on February 12, 2011 by Kay Pelham

Yesterday evening we were in the van on our way to the library and then some supper and I pondered aloud “I wonder if there ever was a king that understood that he served the people; a king that acted more like a shepherd than a ruler/owner of the people.” I won’t bother to pinpoint where this wondering came from since I’m reading alone and with Jack and James several things right now. James pipes in at some point, “That’s just like the government!” and says some things about them making things that are not their business to be their business and on and on. On our return home (I can’t remember what was being said at the time) James asked the question, “When did I first become interested and aware of what is really going on with the government?” (as in the reality of the corruption).  We don’t really know, but it’s probably about the time of our run-in with our small town government in which James made several visits with us to the attorney’s office and local justice center and earlier that year James accompanied us to a rally for Ron Paul. In case you don’t know, Ron Paul does not hold back and he isn’t concerned about speaking the party-line. This would date it around the time of James’ 5th birthday.

The boy is pretty intense about the truth of things and does not hold back from being a part of the conversation. But what was funny to me was to see him when he got home playing with his new spy watch. James has some pretty grown up thinking and concerns and is more serious and mature than some folks might think is good for him at this age, but he is still all boy and full of fun and imagination. This is not a kid who is being “robbed of his childhood” because he is being exposed to and participating in real life situations. He is having a good time. And so is his very serious Dad. You know that by the 100s of nerf darts that I’m constantly picking up around this house.

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Initial Musings on Sir Thomas More’s Utopia

Posted on February 12, 2011 by Kay Pelham

I am currently working my way through Sir Thomas More’s Utopia. I’m a third of the way through and I don’t know what the author’s conclusion will be.  Is he fer or agin it? Does he believe this ideal society is possible or even desirable? Where I am at this point in the story, a traveler named Raphael is sharing his adventures and encounters with Utopia and some other civilizations with Mr. More and another companion.  They are trying to persuade him that, with his experiences and knowledge, he ought to be working as an advisor and consultant in the court of a King.  Raphael poo-poos this idea. As he sees it Continue reading →

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The nobility of the ready and pro-active learner

Posted on February 10, 2011 by Kay Pelham

Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

Paul and Silas had had to skedaddle out of Thessalonica after some “unpersuaded Jews took along some wicked men from the marketplace, and gathering a crowd, set the city in an uproar.” Upon their arrival in the town of Berea, they head to the synagogue and continue doing their teaching. The author takes time to label the behavior of the audience in the new town. He calls them noble (well-born). They definitely showed more of this than the crowd back in Thessalonica. Why does he call them this? Because they were wealthy? What he tells us is that they had ready and willing and eager minds to receive information and that they examined the Scriptures daily to check out the truth of this information. From the few other stories of Paul teaching, he seemed to always point to the Scriptures to prove what he was telling them. He claimed that his message was told in these Scriptures and that much that had been “foretold” in these writings had been fulfilled. These ready learners were not lazy. We are not told that they went to the religious leaders to find out what they should believe. They were compelled to go to the source themselves. If Paul claimed these things about the Scriptures, let’s go see if he is right.

I wonder how available the Scriptures were. Was there access in every home as there is today? It probably took a bit more effort for them than for us today to make a daily effort to get to the Scriptures. And yet they did. What is in a person’s character for them to show such concern —- to take the responsibility for themselves?

I appreciate it when a writer footnotes — when he cites his sources.  I particularly like it when it is an original source. Please don’t cite another author for this quote from a Lincoln letter. Vet it and show me that you actually read the letter yourself. Or a copy of the letter. Most times the best we have is hopefully trustworthy facsimiles and translations. Another value of checking sources is being able to read it in context. At times that can clarify and maybe cause you to see the statement in a whole different light.

This checking of facts and sources is valuable in almost every area of life – right down to the gossip you hear about your neighbor. Take responsibility for yourself to verify. Have a zeal for truth. Don’t be lazy.

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Reprove a wise man

Posted on February 10, 2011 by Kay Pelham

There’s something you have no idea about. You have no idea how much I love you and Dad both.

Just something my son said to me the other night while he and I were chilling in front of the TV. I got a little nervous after the first sentence and was very delighted and surprised by the second. James does these kind of things. Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am. It seems there are many things in which you can be deliberately teaching and training your son and then there are some things that just happen. I think what takes me by surprise most often is the fact that James doesn’t take his situation for granted — and he would have every reason to take it for granted. He doesn’t know any other life but what he has. But somehow he does know. And what compels him to express this to me is….well…I just don’t know, but it is a wonderful thing.

Actually, that evening of sharing his feelings came after a couple of mornings of deliberate correction after an act of disobedience and some untimely silliness. There’s something about the correction that gives a boy peace and security. And then 12 hours later or so it wells up in his heart and he turns to his Mom and says some beautiful words. If it is this good at 7, what do the years ahead hold for us?

Reprove a wise man, and he will love you.
Instruct a wise man, and he will be still wiser.
Teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning. ~Proverbs 9:8,9

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New thoughts on Consistency while reading Emerson’s “Self-Reliance”

Posted on February 5, 2011 by Kay Pelham

I hesitate to write anything until I’m done with the 12 pages in my printed out copy of “Self-Reliance,” but I decided to say this much about Consistency and how I relate to what (I think) he’s saying.  Here’s a section I read last night:

The other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit than our past acts, and we are loath to disappoint them. Continue reading →

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