Recently

We went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on Saturday. I couldn't decide whether I liked it or not. I got tired of the kids asking what I thought about it. Finally I decided that I think I didn't like it. Maybe I'll feel differently if I see it a few more times -- which I'm sure I will, given the people I live with. For some reason, the movie just made me terribly sad. And it wasn't sadness about Sirius or any of the obvious things in the story. I'm not sure what it was. My favorite part of the whole movie was when Neville knocked the wand out of his opponent's hand when they were practicing for the D.A. I love Neville.

Maggie cannot take care of her hair. When the tangledness of her locks caused her to break the nice, thick, fat, sturdy handle of her hairbrush yesterday, that was the final straw. She now has hair that's about 4" long. It looks really cute and curly when it's finger-combed after being wet, but she decided to brush it smooth instead.

We spent a happy afternoon at Anthea's party yesterday. Sad that it is a farewell party. But the company brought great enjoyment into our day. Many pictures available at her facebook page. It was also a relief to me to be with other people as a certain child of mine chose to tell me several bald-faced lies earlier in the day, and that is about the worst thing I can think of for a child to do. So I was not in a happy mood to start.

Situations in individual congregations
and also from the synodical convention
causes us to pray:
Lord Jesus, Thou the Church's Head,
Thou art her one Foundation.
In Thee she trusts,
before Thee bows,
and waits for Thy salvation.
Built on this Rock secure, Thy Church shall endure
e'en though the world decay and all things pass away.
Oh, hear,
oh, hear us, Jesus!

Started the day with more to do than could ever be accomplished. Decided to postpone the weekly errands and most other jobs and concentrate on some overdue housecleaning. Instead, Andrew asked if he could start the intense and effective drawing correspondance-course that I enrolled Paul in a while back. That took an hour and a half to find the materials, watch the introductory videos, get the worksheets copied, and get started. Wasn't what I'd planned for the day, but I love it when Andrew gets an itch to learn something new.

Didn't get much sleep last night. I'd started the flour soaking for bread before we went to Anthea's, thinking that I'd come home and make bread in the evening. Well, we didn't get home till after 8:00. Started the bread. Got a phone call and let it over-rise (in other words, I forgot about it altogether). When I finally got it shaped and rising, and the oven was preheating, I dinked around on the computer for a while. Finally I began to wonder why the timer hadn't gone off to take the bread out of the oven. But I wasn't smelling the deliciousness of baking bread, and I certainly wasn't smelling bread starting to burn. So I kept catching up on blogs and email. Finally, "What on earth is going on with the bread? Is the heat too low? Did I forget to turn on the timer?" I arrived in the kitchen to find four loaves still rising on the counter. I hadn't put them in the oven yet. Yikes! (You who have memories may remember that I told you that I have no memory any more.) My goodness, we have big FLUFFY bread. (At least they didn't overrise and thus fall flat.) I took the bread out of the oven at 3 a.m. (Yes, you can roll your eyes. I'm rolling mine!) I can almost guarantee that I will fall asleep reading the joint history lesson to the kids when Paul gets home.

The crop-duster is flying back and forth in the back yard today. It is utterly amazing to watch his feats of aeronautic acrobats necessary to do his job. But it kind of makes me shudder to think of those poisonous chemicals being sprayed all through the air I'm breathing. The kids are enjoying the show at the moment.