The Whistler

My dad was an amazing vocalist. He had a beautiful tenor voice and loved music. His radio station of choice was out of Los Angeles, and with as close as we were, you'd think the reception would be pretty good. Not so. Classical music, for me, will never be complete without that overtone of static. Perhaps that's why I don't really care for it. He also whistled. I've heard a lot of people whistle, but no one ever whistled as good as my dad. I sat at an old sewing machine once with my mouth full of pins while working on a project, mindlessly "whistling", though my attempt was pathetic at best. He watched for awhile and then told me his mother used to do the exact same thing.  I'm sure she made much better noises than I did. I'm also fairly confident that growing up listening to my grandmother make mouth music was where my dad picked it up. 

Dad was a multifaceted person. He wasn't afraid to try anything, and had an extremely mechanical mind. He would claim to be a "Jack of all trades, master of none" but his attempts were always pretty impressive. He fixed cars, built stuff, did the various and sundry home decor things that mom insisted we have but didn't want to do herself, he drew, and painted when he got a little older. His occupation was as a dental lab tech, and so he was good with his hands. He even made me a skirt one time. I had to have it for some kind of school play in grammar school, and we both knew that the only way it would come about is if he sat at the sewing machine. And it was made from taffeta. Ugh. But he managed and I really liked it. It was long, lavender, and had 3 black ribbon stripes around the bottom. When I wore it, I carried a yellow shepherds crook. That's the extent of my memory of the use for this garment. 

Dad was a night owl. And he was a morning person. I'm not sure how he managed to do both as a younger man, but as he got older, an afternoon snore-fest made it possible. He could sleep through anything. He considered early morning the very best part of the day. It was quiet, and smelled like coffee and cigarettes and newspapers. It's how he started each day, but he didn't do so quietly.

For as long as I can remember, mornings started entirely too early, and included a LOT of sound along with the smells. Throat clearing, slamming cabinet doors, stomping on wood floors, and whistling. Always whistling. He never did it to be ornery. He was just a happy guy in the morning. Wide awake and wanted everyone else to be awake too. 

When he got tired of waiting for us to emerge from the bedrooms, his favorite thing was to reach under the covers and grab our toes. So annoying. And our response always garnered a chuckle. I have to give it to him; his methods of getting us out of bed were much more gentle than mine were with my own children. He tugged toes, but I jumped on beds. It was way more fun. 

I was talking to little brother Bunns recently, and he's also a morning person. And the older I get, the more I'm appreciating early morning. Bunns drinks coffee, but usually gets his news online. My morning drink of choice is something brown and carbonated, but neither one of us smoke. Ming did for a long time, but finally quit. I admire him for that. It couldn't have been easy. Bunns and I got the quiet gene from somewhere. Ming inherited the noisy one. But as much as Dad's "morning music" used to annoy me, I do miss it. Especially the whistling.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

Serve the Lord with gladness:

Come before His presence with singing.

Know ye that the Lord, He is God;

It is He that hath made us and not we ourselves.

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving

and into His courts with praise:

Be thankful unto Him and bless His name.

For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting;

And His truth endureth to all generations.

Psalm 100

The Whistler and Ming sporting the hillbilly style, complete with oreo teeth.

I miss them both.

Eating a Bisquit

I grew up between two brothers and food was always an issue. Daily trips to the grocery store weren't unusual because the boys could wipe out the contents of the kitchen in one sitting. Mom was known to hide snacks so that she could actually have a treat when she wanted one. Not that she was always successful, because we were masters at ferreting out her hiding places and whatever we found wasn't safe. "Finders eaters" so to speak.

We all had our preferences when it came to meals, but we couldn't afford to be too picky. Mom and dad were extremely particular, and so the menu in our house was already pretty slim. We didn't realize it at the time. In fact, it was several years into my own marriage before I realized that the folks were picky. I was never a bright child, and evidently, not a terribly bright adult either. At one time, I went through a Trix cereal phase. It's all I would eat. I still like Trix. But I also like broccoli, which I discovered on my own as an adult. 

The bigger the boys got, the more they ate. Ming was especially hungry and I think he would eat anything. Usually I found that completely annoying, because it seemed every time I went to the kitchen he had beaten me there and everything was gone. I remember seeing a movie one time when one of the main characters was magically transformed into the body of a 12 year old boy, though he was still a adult. One of the most profound observations the character made was "I am ALways HUNGRY!!" It helped me to understand my brothers were normal. Well............... at least when it came to their penchant for consuming food. 

One evening found little brother Bunns, and myself in the kitchen with one of his friends just talking, and as was often the case, things turned creative when just talking wasn't enough. We had finished dinner and the leftovers were still sitting out. Mom  had made biscuits from a can and the one left over was sitting in a pan on the stove. "Somehow" it ended up on the kitchen floor, and was used as a puck for a fun game of kitchen hockey. It worked really well for that purpose. 

When we heard Ming pull in the drive, my little brother and I just looked at each other, scooped up the biscuit, and placed it back in the pan. It's important to note that we had dogs in our house, as well as a family of five and lots of friends in and out. And mom chose the floor we had in the kitchen because it didn't show the dirt. It didn't get cleaned, or even swept very often. So to make the biscuit look as it should we had to take a few seconds to brush off the obvious detritus of every day life before placing it back on the stove.

Just as we knew he would, Ming burst through the door and came directly to the kitchen. He was like a "bull in a china shop", walked heavily and always made noise. Nice because we always knew where he was, and we were rarely taken by surprise. Those of us in the kitchen just resumed our earlier conversation as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Ming walked to the stove, checked out the leftovers, picked up the biscuit, and put the whole thing in his mouth. 

Bunns was a master at keeping a straight face. Me? Not so much. But I was able to hide my face so that no one could see me holding my breath to keep from bursting out laughing while Ming contentedly chewed and swallowed the biscuit. It had gotten really quiet while we watched him snack, and he finally picked up on the fact that he was the center of attention. All he said was "What?" and I completely lost it, and the rest of the group quickly followed. And again he asked "What?" I don't remember who it was that told him the biscuit had spent the last 20 minutes on the floor sweeping up dirt and dog hair while it was kicked around by our bare feet. I was too busy just trying not to hyperventilate. I think that was about the same time he started licking things before he handed them to us. Yeah.......... payback lasts a lifetime.

And He said to His disciples,

"For this reason I say to you,

do not worry about your life,

as to what you will eat; 

nor for your body,

as to what you will put on.

For life is more than food,

and the body than clothing.

Consider the ravens,

for they neither sow nor reap;

they had no storeroom nor barn,

and yet God feeds them;

how much more valuable you are than the birds!"

Luke 12:22-24

Ming and me before Bunns came along.............. 

and things got interesting.......

Today I'm Looking For......... 10 on 10

I can't believe it's already June 10th!! So, time again for the 10 on 10 project. I don't have sweet little children in the house, I'm not traveling anywhere exciting, nor do I live in a cultural or entertainment "hot spot" (not to be confused with an internet hot spot that can be created on your iPhone.......... just a little extra. You're welcome.) Today I spent some time looking for stuff.

I looked online for a new quiche crust recipe for dinner. May I say, smart phones are the bomb!

And then headed to the local Farm Market to look for fruit to go along with the quiche.

I even got inspired to look for some Christmas presents! Don't get your hopes up. This isn't one of them.

Then I went in search of some new gardening gloves that would not fill up with dirt every time I used them. 

I also perused the greeting cards............. and the majority of greeting cards now are SO lame! Perhaps I need to go into the business and write my own.

Off to choose some fabric to use on the patio.

Looked at some pretty posies, but none of them really caught my eye.

Then I looked for something to upcycle and found a couple of things.

And I'm happy to report that dinner was a huge success!

But from there, you will seek the Lord your God

and you will find Him if you search for Him

with all your heart and all your soul.

When you are in distress

and all these things have come upon you,

in the latter days you will return to the Lord your God

and listen to His voice.

Deut. 4:29-30

Linking up to: A Bit of Sunshine

Through Your Nose

I'm a middle child. I don't remember exactly what "they" say about middle children, but it's probably all true. I grew up between 2 boys who were amply supplied with creative genes. Ming, 4 years older, drew a lot, and went through a phase that involved building models; mostly cars, and quite an assortment of them. He also spent many hours developing his musical talent. If you've ever heard anyone try to learn percussion, you understand the unique kind of torture the rest of the family endured. I remember being absolutely ...................... no words.......... shocked, for lack of a better one, when my parents bought Ming his first snare drum. I just knew, even at my young age, that things were not going to be good for a very long time. Ming spent hours practicing in several garage bands. I can't believe the neighbors never drove us out of town. He actually developed an amazing talent on the drums, as well as many other kinds of rhythm instruments, but it was painful getting there. He also played the electric guitar, complete with a Gibson amp, turned up all the way. Are you noticing the theme? With Ming, it wasn't satisfying unless it was loud. And the louder the better. 

Bunns, 6 years my junior, is also extremely artistic. He's musical too, but has an appreciation for quieter things. Acoustic guitar as opposed to electric, jazz instead of all things head banger. He's quite good with water colors as well. Bunns is the more cerebral brother. Which got him into trouble over the years. Thinking too much isn't always good. Like the time he thought it would be a good idea to enter Ming's room and remove all the wheels from the models that had been so carefully built and displayed in a place that should have been out of reach. I don't think he did it to be ornery. I think he was just exploring and it turned into an archaeological dig. When Ming returned home from school to find the various pieces and parts that covered the surfaces of his room, he made a LOT of noise. I'm convinced that the only thing that spared little brother's life was the fact that Ming really loved him. Several years later, payback came at Bunns' wedding reception when Ming's toast involved a couple of tires removed from little brothers get away car. 

I grew up between these two, kind of like the little steel ball inside the old pinball machines. I spent my life going a hundred different directions and bouncing off the bumpers that were my brothers. I learned along the way that there was no place in life for drama, and pragmatism is the desired state in which to dwell. Those two tidbits have served me well. I think more like a man than a woman. "It is what it is, so just accept it and get on with it" is my mantra. I never learned to draw like the boys, and just recently, I realized that was because that requires sitting still for long periods. Remember the little steel ball? Yeah, not good at the sitting still thing. 

But my brothers creativity didn't stop with music and art. They were also united in finding ways to be entertained by my reactions to things. Poking me in the sides elicits a seizure like response which they found extremely funny. Jumping out from hiding places brought on near heart failure and then a quick smack if they didn't get out of the way in time. Drooling on me was always good for laughs. But their all time favorite, to this very day is getting me to pass things through my nose. Random comments at unexpected times always results in uproarious laughter and they never even have to get up from their chairs. It's a wonder I have any lining left in my nasal passages. 

Behold how good and pleasant it is

for brothers to dwell together in unity!

Ps. 133:1

Macro 10 on 10

With today's rain, and a yard that was decimated by an extremely harsh winter, I decided that little tiny bites of pretty things were the way to go. As a whole, it still looks pretty dead outside, but when you look really close, there's a lot of promise for beautiful things to come!

"For behold, the winter is past,

The rain is over and gone.

The flowers have already appeared in the land;

The time has arrived for pruning the vines,

And the voice of the turtledove has been

heard in our land.

The fig tree has ripened its figs,

And the vines in blossom

have given forth their fragrance.

Arise, my darling, my beautiful one,

And come along!"

Song of Solomon 2:11-13


Linking up to: A Bit of Sunshine

Glimpses of the Day 10 on 10

Just a peek into a normal Thursday. A lot of beauty in little things.

These two are pretty special

A great friend who has only worthwhile things to say

A bubble princess among my Thusday babies

Gymboree bubbles.  Best. Bubbles. EVER!

Happy feet!

In recognition of moms special birthday

 "Children, these accessories are called 'sunglasses'. We don't get to use them very much."

Beautiful things in unexpected places

It's been awhile, but I THINK that's called the sun!!

Welcome home!

And in honor of National Siblings Day, my two handsome brothers. 

I'm so blessed.

This is the Lord's doing;It is marvelous in our eyes.

This is the day which the Lord has made;

Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

O Lord, do save, we beseech you;

O Lord, we beseech you, do send prosperity!

Ps. 118:23-25

Linking up to: A Bit of Sunshine

"Husband Speak" The Sequel

English is my first language. But we've moved a lot, and the more we move, the more I realize that there are "dialects" within the English language that vary from state to state and from profession to profession. Both of my son in laws often throw terms around that completely baffle me. When they use turns of phrase directly related to their educations and fields of expertise, I just stay quiet or change the subject so as not to reveal my stupidity. Up until now, I probably had them fooled. If they read this, I'll have to find another way to avoid responding. But my better half knows my limitations intimately, so I can honestly and without restraint let my ignorance shine. It's quite freeing, actually. There are very few questions I can't ask him, and often interrupt him mid-sentence with the question "what does that mean?" so that I can continue to unravel the dialect of "Husband Speak".  

The husband is a career pilot, having flown nearly 20,000 hours in 12 different jets, and countless propeller driven equipment. Some of the terms he uses are aviation wide. Others are specific to either civilian or military aviation. And even within the civilian theater, some terms are specific to either Airline or General aviation. And within General aviation, there's an even further breakdown. So it gets complicated. And confusing. But if you've landed here voluntarily, you should be used to my confusion. Welcome to my world. If you could only see inside my head..................

1.  More Acronymns. The list is endless - NQC, SMR, ATC, NJI/NJA, FRED, BUFF, SOS, AR, ORI, FAA, ZULU, JP4, MEL, DOM ...... 

Yes, I know what most of those initials stand for. But beyond that, I can't necessarily tell you what they MEAN when they're all put together. Sometimes it's because I just don't use that kind of language, if you know what I mean. Other times, I can tell you what the letters stand for, but nothing beyond that. Learning the dialect of husband speak means learning what the letters mean, but it's not until husband speak is MASTERED that I could EXPLAIN them to anyone else. I know I won't ever master husband speak. It's kind of like "Spanglish". I never really mastered that either.

2.  Flipper, Quiche Wagon, and Wide Mouth Bottom Feeder - Terms of endearment for Boeing 737's. The wide mouths are the later models with bigger engines. You can use your imagination for the source of the other two.

3.  Boards - Speed brakes on military aircraft. 

4. Number 1 - You young parents might THINK you know what this means, but in this case, it's actually the lead airplane in a formation. The other airplanes in the formation have to keep up with Number 1. Different planes in the formation can take over the number 1 position and when that happens there is a simple flash of hand signals beside their helmets coupled with radio calls to make the change. I learned those hand signals before cell phones were invented and we had to travel with 2 cars. They came in very handy, actually.

5.  "Fatigue" - Being too tired to fly. 

I never heard this phrase until my handsome half had passed through both military and airline aviation. In the military, he was told to fly, so he flew. End of discussion. In the airline business, for the most part, schedules are built with the crews ability to fulfill the requirements before they become too tired to do so. But when he entered the realm of general aviation in the form of corporate flying, I became acquainted with the term "Fatigue", as in calling in to say "I'm going to fatigue", i.e. "I'm not going to fly because I'm just too tired". Military and airline pilots often have very little patience for the amount of "Fatigue-ing" that goes on among some general aviation pilots. But that's not a battle the Lord intended for me to fight. I just try to follow the conversation, remember?

6. Crew Food/Crew Meals - Food that the crews eat. You knew that one. PLEASE tell me you knew that one!

When the handsome half was in the military, he spent most of his time outside of the contiguous United States, flying at odd hours, and trying to figure out what foreign air traffic controllers were telling him to do. He often had to depend on the base or local snack bars for his meals, and the snack bars were usually manned by the local population, which meant that English was their second language. These sweet people often missed the sarcasm in much of what the crews said when they ordered meals before or after they flew. "Extra grease, please" or "A side of grease" were actually intended as negative commentaries on the meal. But these ESL folks would hear them say it and happily throw some extra grease on the grill. Yeah.........

7.  Spoilers - Civilian for #3

8.  "Guaming" - It's raining. That's what it often does on Guam

9.  "Prang It In" - A very hard landing. Sometimes after REALLY pranging it in, flight attendants "find their pantyhose at their ankles."

10. "Water Your Eyes" - The opposite of "prang it in". When the landing or flight performance is so good that it waters your eyes. 

11.  "Keep your smash up" - Get your airspeed up. Go fast. "Let the Big Dog Eat" means the same thing in civilian aviation. 

In the military, you get your smash up in order to catch up to number 1 (see #4). You got that, right? Because trailing number 1 by too much isn't a good thing. A "tight" (close) formation is way better. Conversely, "Too much smash" would mean you're at risk of overtaking number 1.... which would then make you number 1. But you never want to become number 1 with too much smash unless you're supposed to be the new number 1. If that's the case, you BETTER get your smash up or you'll never make it to number 1. Get it? You just got several terms with a heavy dose of that confusion I referenced earlier!

12. Long Steel Tube - Another name for McDonnell Douglas MD80's. Because............ that's right, children!! They look like long steel tubes. Very good!

No one ever said "Husband Speak" was terribly deep. 

13. Barbie Doll Jets - Fokker F100's. Supposedly, they're so easy to fly a Barbie doll could do it. Which means I'm NOT as smart as a Barbie doll. 

14. Blunt End Forward - See T-37. This is the first jet my better half ever flew. Why it's called "blunt end forward" is obvious just looking at it. It also had a distinctive whine while in flight. It was one of the many airplanes I came to recognize just by their distinctive sound.

15. Lawn Darts - I've only ever heard that term applied to Embraer's. I guess because they're kind of long and skinny ......like a dart. Hey. I don't make 'em up, I just learn what they mean.

16. White Papers - Incident reports to document out of the ordinary events on a particular flight. Again, I didn't learn this term until the hubs entered corporate aviation. And it doesn't make much sense. It's  not written on paper, and it's not white. Whatever. I CAN tell you that generating white papers is generally considered a pain in the keester. 

17. "Up and Locked" - Officially refers to the landing gear being up inside the body of the airplane and locked into place, thereby allowing safe flight. 

But I have to tell you, I love this term because the applications are endless. We often use it in reference to people or philosophies that are a bit (ok, sometimes a LOT) difficult to deal with. Even our kids know what 'up and locked' means. You don't want to be "Up and Locked".

18. Spinners - You'd think that this would have to do with some part that spins on an airplane. Not so, Kemosabe! It's a civilian aviation term that actually came into being with the companies that decided to forego assigned seating. 

When the flying public are not told where to sit, they tend to stand in the middle of the aisle while they try to decide where to sit. Sometimes this process of  decision making includes going back and forth from the front to the back looking for just the right seat. If you ever find yourself doing this, congratulations. You are a "Spinner". And it is because of spinners that flights are often delayed. I'm a seasoned traveler, and you can trust me to tell you the truth. THE SEATS ARE ALL THE SAME! One is no more comfortable than another. Just find one and sit down so we can get airborne!

19. MAC - A military acronym that stands for "Military Airlift Command". MAC is no longer in existence, and it's mission has been incorporated into other commands. My handsome half spent most of his military career in MAC. They flew airplanes 24/7 all over the globe. In fact, his squadron was called "Global Eagles". It was a good time in our lives. But that's not to say all of MAC was good. Often when something distasteful happens around our house, we often say "We MAC'ed". 

20. Early American MAC - The style of our household decorating. Because the hubs traveled so much, he was able to do some interesting shopping. At one time, much of our home was furnished with items he drug home from some other country. It didn't match, it wasn't a fancy brand name, and it never fit in a specific decorating type. It is a category all it's own, and few people appreciate it. My home is still, largely, "Early American MAC" and that's fine with me. It will always tumble my gyro's!

Let your speech be always with grace,

seasoned with salt,

that ye may know how

ye ought to answer every man.

Col. 4:6




Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-slivered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air....
Up, up the long delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew -
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

Here Comes Spring!! 10 on 10

Spring is nearly here!! And the weather today was beautiful!

The calm today, before the storm tomorrow!

First thing today is to try and get this baby working properly. Not terribly optimistic!

We see these guys once a year. Today was our day.

Makings for some great chicken salad for dinner.

These things always seem to be piled somewhere!

With today's weather, you'd never know we have a winter weather advisory hitting tomorrow! Thursday's gonna be great. *cue sarcasm*

Taking advantage of the good weather with an afternoon walk

Today was my little brothers 25th wedding anniversary . Such family celebrations call for text bombs!

And yes. He DID have his phone on in his classroom!

Mom's 85th birthday is a week away, so we're collecting cards from all over the country to celebrate. 

I have some "things" coming up in the next couple of days that call for cookies. This is how I spent this evening!

In that day, the mountains will drip new wine,

and the hills will flow with milk;

all the ravines of Judah will run with water.

A fountain will flow out of the Lord's house

and will water the valley of acacias. 

Joel 3:18

Linking up to: A Bit of Sunshine