by jphilo | Jul 30, 2012 | Current Events
Thanks to British comedian Rowan Atkinson and the Olympic Opening Ceremonies being scheduled the evening of my birthday, I received the funniest birthday present ever.
Hiram thought I was a little deluded to claim the ceremony as my personal birthday bash. But those of us with a summer birthdays, like me and Dorothy Hamill, spent our entire elementary careers celebrating birthdays with our classmates born from September through May, but never celebrated our own. So we’ve learned to grab glory where we can, and the opening ceremonies did the trick for me.
After James Bond and Queen Elizabeth entered via parachute, the extravaganza was pretty hard to follow…until the London Philharmonic began playing the theme from Chariots of Fire with Rowen Atkinson (known to many as Mr. Bean) keeping the beat on the keyboard. By the end of the skit, I was laughing so hard, my sides ached.
Rather than try to describe what happened, you can watch for yourself at dailypicksandflicks.com. But hurry! The Olympic committee already took down any clips posted on You Tube, so this one could be next. But until that happens, get ready to laugh at one of the best comic actors of all time.
Thank you, Rowan Atkinson, for the funniest birthday present ever!
by jphilo | Jul 20, 2012 | Current Events
Yup, The Amazing Spiderman is making an appearance on this blog, even though superheros don’t get a lot of play along our gravel road. To be honest, the only reason Spiderman gets his due is because I was plumb out of stuff to write about.
I thought about writing an I-told-you-so post about how I predicted the drought of 2012 way back in January. But that seemed kind of evil, and I ditched the idea. My next thought was to gush about The Amazing Spiderman movie, which we went to with our daughter and son-in-law on Tuesday. The movie was good. Really, really good. But writing a review is hard work, and I wanted to keep the memory fun.
So I ditched that idea, too, and didn’t have a thing to write about until a Facebook friend of mine posted the above picture. It shows the window washers at Michael Hopkins’ Evelina Children’s Hospital in London.
I almost ditched that idea, too, since this blog is for fun stuff and DifferentDream.com is for kids with special needs stuff. But then I read the text accompanying the photo and decided it was fun enough for this blog:
Evelina Children’s Hospital was the first new children’s hospital to be built in London in more than a century. The hospital was designed with a goal of “making a hospital that didn’t feel like a hospital.” Accomplishing this required hospital designers and staff to create a patient experience that included touchpoints fostering a sense of inspiration and wonder – in addition to healing – for children throughout their stay.
Perhaps the most remarkable touch point of all comes from an unexpected source: the hospital window washers. As part of their contract, Evelina requires that hospital window washers dress up as superheroes while cleaning the hospital windows. Bedridden, sick children delight in seeing Superman, Spiderman and Batman dagling just beyond the glass. The window washers report the superhero visits to Evelina are the highlight of their week.
I thought maybe the window-washers-dressed-as-superheros was urban legend. But according to Hugh Pearman’s article first published in The Sunday Times, London, on November 27, 2005, the window washers are for real. The article, “Just What the Doctors Ordered” tells the story of the vision behind Evelina’s Children’s Hospital and mentions the superhero window washers.
I think the idea of window washers at a children’s hospital dressing like superheros is way cool. The perfect medicine for a nation full of hot and thirsty people worried about a drought they’re powerless to control.This story is just what the doctor ordered. Do you agree?
by jphilo | Jun 25, 2012 | Current Events
On Friday, an envelope in the mail contained an urgent message from Essence Magazine warning that our subscription HAS ONLY THREE ISSUES LEFT, so we need to RENEW OUR SUBSCRIPTION RIGHT NOW to avoid any interruption in delivery. Because, as the ad copy proclaimed, we don’t want to miss a SINGLE ISSUE of the country’s premiere black culture magazine.
Quite the sales pitch except for one thing.
We never subscribed to the magazine in the first place.
Every time a new issue appears in the mailbox, Hiram and I speculate about why we receive it.
- Does the marketing department send complimentary subscriptions to randomly selected families to generate interest? If so, maybe they should do market research to find people in their target audience is in order.
- Did a friend sign us up for a guest subscription as a joke? If so, it was a good one because Hiram and I kid about who gets to read it first right before we toss it into the recycling bin. Though if we’d received the Denzel Washington issue, I might have read it.
- Did someone order it to expand and add color to our cultural horizons? In that case, we’d much prefer an all expense paid trip to Kenya. Or South Africa. Or Nigeria. Or Harlem.
Those questions will most likely remain unanswered, but one thing I do know. Even though it only costs $8.00 a year to subscribe and the e-version is free, we don’t plan to renew our subscription.
Which brings me to the essence of the matter.
If this company delivers magazines to people who don’t order it, charge only $8.00 a year for people who do order it, and the e-version is free, why are they still in business?
Anybody else out there receiving unordered magazines? If so, leave a comment about your mystery subscription.
by jphilo | Jun 8, 2012 | Current Events
Today, I’m delighted to introduce you to Cheri Cowell. She’s the author of several Bible studies, including her latest, Parables and Word Pictures from the New Testament. As part of the blog tour celebrating the release of Parables, Cheri answered a few questions about her writing and her faith.
What passion drove you as you wrote your new book?
I LOVE the Word and I love storytelling and I want others to fall in love not only with the Word but also with the concept that they can become a living parable, a living story pointing others toward the Ultimate Living Parable––Jesus Christ.
What surprised or otherwise impacted you as you wrote your book?
There’s not a consensus on how many parables are in the Bible or even what defines a parable.
What do you hope readers will gain from your book(s)?
That the parables are not isolated stories only used for sermon illustrations, but when read together they give us a picture of how we are to live as kingdom people. Through the parables we learn how to become living parables in a world desperate to “see” God.
It has been said that Jesus spoke in parables to “confuse and confound” and you say you have a “key” to making these less confusing and confounding to modern-day readers. What is this key?
It wasn’t until I studied the parables as a whole that the whole message they convey became clear, so the key is a comprehensive look at the New Testament parables. This is what the study brings to the reader.
Storytelling is a big part of our culture. Everywhere you turn there is a new story; how can we use these parables to reach our neighbors and friends with their story-telling power?
For me, this is what studying the parables is all about. It is about shaping our lives after Jesus that when other “read our lives” they see Him. How we treat others, how we respond to sorrow and obstacles tells a story. When asked how and why we are able to be at peace, or turn the other cheek, we don’t need a canned presentation. We simply share our story of how God’s story has changed us.
The study concludes with a look at the Parable of all parables. Tell us about this because this is the heart of your study.
I remember the moment when in preparation for writing this study I received the revelation that Jesus not only taught parables, but He was a parable––a living parable. In fact, He was the Ultimate Living Parable who lived His life as an example of what a life shaped by the truths taught in the parables should look like. Likewise, you and I have been invited to live parable-shaped lives so we, too, might become a living parable in a world begging to see God.
What life experience, education, or training helped you become an author?
I am a writers’ conference fan, having attended and taught at more than 40 over the last ten years. I wouldn’t be where I am today as a writer without them. I also received a Masters in Theological Studies from Asbury Seminary, where I learned the Inductive Bible study method I used in writing the parables Bible study.
What do you do when you’re not writing?
My husband and I love to travel, to see nature and all the beautiful places God’s created for us to enjoy. National Parks are our favorite destinations. In June we will travel to Yellowstone.
Click on this link to order Parables and Word Pictures from the New Testament. You can also enter a drawing for one of three gift baskets Cheri is giving away as part of her blog tour. Here’s what’s in the baskets:
- Parables and Word Pictures from the New Testament (workbook Bible study) by Cheri Cowell
- Women of the Bible: Book One (workbook Bible study) by Barber, Rasnake, and Shepherd
- Mocha on the Mount (Coffee Cup Bible study) by Sandra Glahn
- Direction: Discernment for the Decisions of Your Life by Cheri Cowell
- Direction Bible study workbook by Cheri Cowell
- God: Knowing Him By His Names by Bill Bright
- See For Yourself: Daily Devotionals (ebook DVD) by Cheri Cowell
- Bible tabs
- Bookmark
- Bible highlighter
- Hunter Green gift basket
Quite the motherlode, huh? To enter the give away, leave a comment below. Comments received by me and all the other blog facilitators will be passed on to Cheri who will chose the winners. The promotion runs from June 1 through July 6, so comment away!
by jphilo | May 29, 2012 | Current Events
With Camp Dorothy in full swing and Hiram laid up with a pinched sciatic nerve, there wasn’t time to attend any Memorial Day commemorations. Still, my thoughts strayed to friends and family members who served our country to protect the freedom I often take for granted. Here are the top ten reasons I was thankful on Memorial Day.
10. Mr. Criswell – The father of Katie, one of my best friends in high school, was a WWII vet. I’m thankful for his pride in and the honor his family has for his service to our country.
9. Great-great-grandpa Fred Hess – Fred served in the Union Army for the entire Civil War. I’m thankful for his letters home which his wife Tabitha saved.
8. Marvin Conrad – I’m thankful Uncle Marvin participated in the Minnesota Honor Flight to Washington DC a few months before his death in 2010.
7. Ronnie Fielder – This young man from our church the same year as our daughter, Anne. I’m thankful he’s safely home and going to school on the GI Bill.
6. Hugo (Burnell) Hagen – My great-uncle on Dad’s side regaled us with tales of his WWII service in Alaska. I’m thankful his unit held regular reunions in Las Vegas for decades so he could rave about what a showman Liberace was.
5. Ordel Rogen – Uncle Ordel farmed within 2 miles of his birthplace…except for the years he served in the army during WWII. I’m thankful he came home and married my mother’s sister Ruth.
4. Harold Walker – I’m thankful Hiram’s uncle continues to write and publish accounts of his years as a WWII fighter pilot in the Pacific theater. His story of seeing the Enola Gay take off before bombing of Hiroshima makes that terrible far off event seem close at hand.
3. Leo Hess – Uncle Leo tells amazing, horrendous stories of fighting in the Battle of the Bulge. I’m thankful he dodged enemy fire and caught up with his platoon, despite the shrapnel in his foot.
2. Jim Hoey – Uncle Jim served as a medic in the Korean War. During his years as a second father to my siblings and I, Dad’s faithful friend, a fix-it man for Mom, and my high school World History teacher, he rarely spoke of time overseas. I am so thankful for his service and his safe return as his presence enriched my life in innumerable ways.
1. David Philo – Hiram’s dad repaired radios in WWII planes. In the 1990s he took our family to the Dayton Airplane Museum to show our kids one of the planes whose radio he repaired – the plane assigned to Vice-President Harry Truman during WWII. I’m thankful he got to show his grandchildren a piece of his life history.
Who were you thankful for on Memorial Day? Leave a comment to honor the special soldiers in your life.
by jphilo | May 14, 2012 | Current Events, Reflections on the Past
NPR ran a story about an intriguing concept this morning. The host interviewed Taylor Jones, a 22-year-old who created the website www.dearphotograph.com. Here’s what Jones, in an article at www.npr.org says about how the website came about:
He came up with the idea last year while sitting at his parents’ kitchen table. While flipping though a family photo album, he stumbled across a picture of his younger brother, Landon. “It was his third birthday,” Jones says. “He had a Winnie the Pooh cake, and I was sitting in the same spot my mom was when she took the original photo.” Landon was also sitting in his same birthday seat. So, Jones held up the old picture — taking care to line up kitchen cupboards just so — and snapped a photo. He posted it on his blog, and the rest, he says, is history.
People can go to the website and submit their own photographs, all of which must begin with the words Dear Photograph.
Like I said, an intriguing concept. So intriguing, I started thinking about what picture I would like to rephotograph in the same setting as it was originally taken.
- One from our South Dakota days? Too far away.
- A wedding shot? Too unoriginal.
- A Kodak Instamatic shot of the Badlands from the famous camping trip with my uncle and aunt? Not sure where that one is.
- Something from my teaching days? No, they tore the school down.
Undecided, I opened iPhoto, and there was the scan of a newspaper clipping we found when cleaning out Mom’s house 3 years ago. The clipping records one of my earliest clear memories – the day my aunt took her two daughters, my brother, and me (I’m the one closest to the camera) to watch a parade in our home town. I don’t remember the parade as much as the newspaper photographer who shot the picture. I do remember how safe I felt with my aunt, how much help she said I was, what a big girl I’d become. Heady stuff for a middle child whose major talent at the time was tripping over her own feet.
The caption says 8,000 spectators watched the American Legion Parade that day in 1961. It also lists our names, ages, and the address of the corner where Aunt Donna found a quiet, shady spot (Central Avenue and Fourth Street SE) so we could watch the National Guard trucks rumble past.
Mom and I are going to visit Aunt Donna in a couple weeks. Maybe I’ll take the original clipping along, find that street corner, line up the clipping with the present day location, snap a picture, and submit it to www.dearphotograph.com. I know what to write beneath my submission.
Dear Photograph,
Fifty years has taught me it’s more fun to join the parade of life than to sit and watch it go by.
Jolene
