snowy winter

So far this winter we have had two snows in the last two weeks. The first one was really a layer of ice with some snow on top followed by more ice. Not a very nice snow for playing in or making snow men. On Friday night it was a perfect snow. Yesterday morning my wife and daughter were the first to go outside and tried to make a snow man. Then Jake and I went out to finish off the job. We rolled what we thought were huge balls of snow by packing them by hand. Jake went into the front yard and created a heavy duty ice ball. He needed help in lifting it and moving it across the driveway to make it even larger. I then heard a cry for help only to find him exhausted leaning on the snow ball on the side of the house. I rolled it the rest of the way into the back yard and that ice ball became the base for our snowman. While he was working on his ice ball, I had made threes large balls made mostly of compacted snow. It took us a while to made them flat on top so we could stack them on each other. We packed icy snow around the gaps where the snow balls met. My daughter objected to us using four snow balls and also the size of them. We added a stick for one arm and I took a photo to send to my one armed friend as a tribute snowman to him. As soon as we came inside glowing over our handiwork, my daughter and Andrew took over on what we thought was a finished product. We spent over an hour on our snowman. Two hours later they were finished with the amazing Fuquay Varina snowman. This morning as I wrote this blog I saw a bright smiling face looking at me through the window. I had to asked about the buttons and the nose, to which Andrew told me the red nose was a lawn croquet ball and the three black buttons are actually office chair coasters he found in the garage!

Stones into Schools

I just finished reading Stones into Schools by Greg Mortenson, who is also the author of the wildly popular book Three Cups of Tea. Here are some memorable quotes from this book that I really like:

pg 13
If you teach a boy, you educate an individual; but if you teach a girl, you educate a community.

pg 17
The first cup of tea you share with us, you are a stranger. The second cup, you are a friend. But with the third cup, you become family - and for our families we are willing to do anything, even die.

pg 19
Anything truly important is worth doing very, very slowly.

pg 36
When ordinary human beings perform extraordinary acts of generosity, endurance, or compassion, we are all made richer by their example

pg 191
When you take the time to actually listen, with humility, to what people have to say, it's amazing what you can learn. Especially if the people who are doing the talking also happen to be children.

He has also publisher an image gallery that is very interesting and a full report on the research for this book which also includes more photos.

week of books

I did not really know what the week would hold when I started my Christmas week off from work.

These are the books I read this week:

The Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy
Lipika by Rabindranath Tagore
The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

I have already commented on the first two in previous blog posts so I will not speak of them again. I was actually rereading both the Leo Tolstoy and Rabindranath Tagore books since they are my two favorite authors of all time. It is also interesting that they actually knew each other. I have heard about Nicholas Sparks as he lives near us in the eastern part of NC and I have watched a couple of movies based on his novels which were very nice. I read his book today from start to finish and found it very interesting reading and I would like to read more of his books. His book was very easy to read and entertaining, but cannot compare with Tolstoy and Tagore who both have amazing talents to transport me into the story's scene with their wonderful way with words. My goal for the year is to read one of Tolstoy's major novels, either War and Peace or Anne Karina.

These are excerpts from Rabindranath Tagore's Lipika that I really liked:

pg 3 "a cloudy day"

Man has crossed the seas, he has climbed the mountains, he has snatched precious rubies and pearls delving into the palaces of the oceans, but what is innermost in man's heart nan has never been able to settle up with another to its finality

pg 20 "just a glance"

The power of the king, the wealth of the rich are built up on this earth to die. But it is not a single drop of nectar in one's tears which will make that moment's glance live through eternity.

pg 30 "the story-telling"

God has created man in the world of associations, therefore, he is not made of valid facts or of theories. In spite of all the best intentions no well-wisher has yet been able to lure man's mind away from this reality. Even though in desperation he tries to bring about a treaty between his moral teaching and fairy-tales, but fails to harmonize them owing to their innate antipathy. So that the stories come to an abrupt end, the moral teaching also loses its grip , and there is the accumulated rubbish.

pg 88 "the aspiration"

The Madhavi creeper with its rustling dry leaves becomes all joyous at the first touch of the south wind in spring time. Likewise the wind from a garden of paradise came to sweep over a girl who gathered twigs and a gradual awakening of an exquisite wistfulness made her whole being vibrate with a throbbing ache. All her thoughts began to wander about like bees straying from their hives, having sensed some unknown honey flavors.

pg 104 "the life and mind"

The waves of the sea are the surface layer of the sea. By raising a din they confuse the facts of the sea's deep-trodden base where lies the earth's great womb. When the waves quieten down, in that unbroken harmony between what is seen and what is not seen, what is deep-bottom and what is the top facade, the sea reigns in supreme composure.

In the same way the minute I returned from the outward efforts of my life, I found stability in the heart's inner most depth which is the primary playground of the universe.

pg 111 "the life and mind"

The tune of life sketches from one key-note to another claiming such a pitch that one does not know where its limit is to be.

diary of Anne Frank

Today I finished reading the American version of Anne Frank's story called The Diary of a Young Woman. I read the book and definitely had questions about the authenticity while reading it. I found several critical documents have been written about it. I found one book available on Good Books by searching for The diary of Anne Frank: the revised critical edition By Anne Frank, H. J. J. Hardy, David Barnouw, Gerrold van der Stroom. One of the leading men who tried to critically review the diary was The Diary of Anne Frank: Is it Genuine? by Robert Faurisson. I found another article that commented on his article at http://www.holocaust-history.org/anne-frank/. It seems like this could be a life long project to find out if the diary was real, so I will leave it at that as I need my life for other things.

I liked the following parts:

page 171
Her counsel when one feels melancholy is: 'Think of all of the misery in the world and be thankful that you are not sharing in it!' My advice is "Go outside, to the fields, enjoy nature and the sunshine, go out and try to recapture happiness in yourself and in God. Think of all the beauty that's still left in and around you and be happy" ... And whoever is happy will make others happy too. He who has courage and faith will never perish in misery.

page 223
Why should millions be spent daily on war and yet there's not a penny available for medical services, artists, or poor people? Why do some people have to starve, while there are surpluses rotting in other parts of the world?

page 260
"All children must look after their own upbringing." Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.

page 263
"For in its innermost depths youth is lonelier than old age." ... Older people have formed their opinions about everything, and don't waver before they act. It's twice as hard for us young ones to hold our ground, and maintain our opinions, in a time when all ideals are being shattered and destroyed, when people are showing their worst side, and do not know whether to believe in truth and right and God.

The measure of a man

Late last week, I heard Sidney Poitier speaking at a local college as broadcast on an NPR broadcast called The Story which is hosted by Dick Gordon. Up until then I had no desire to read about his life, but after listening to parts of his speech I had a great desire to read his biography named The Measure of a Man. I finished reading the book this morning and these are some quotes that I liked:

page 168
It often takes a near-death experience like ours to make us realize how simple life is, how few the essentials really are. We love; we work; we raise our families. Those are the areas of significance in our individual lives. And love and work and family are our legacy we leave behind when our little moment in the sun is gone.

page 176
The fact is you can't do that kind of parenting if your values aren't clear to you in terms of your own life. You can't be passing on to your kids a strong foundation if you don't have one yourself - because whatever foundation you do or don't have yourself that's what you're going to pass on. And when we pass on something that doesn't serve our children, we have to be responsible for that.

page 181
The measure of a man is how ell he provides for his children.

page 243
We're all imperfect, and life is simply a perpetual, unending struggle against those imperfections.

our son the cook

For our family Thanksgiving meal this year our middle son used these recipes:

Ham with Gingersnap crust
Ruth Chris' Sweet Potato Casserole
Pineapple upside down cheese cake

Most recently he experimented on us and made this yummy food:

Honey Brined Turkey

International food for Christmas

Four years ago we decided to start a new family tradition of allowing our middle son to choose where he wants to eat when we go out for his Christmas Eve birthday. It is sometimes difficult to find a place open on Christmas Eve, but since he likes trying different international food, that makes it easier actually. Many years ago we were visiting my mother in Tucson for Christmas and we could only find a single restaurant open. It was a Mexican food and that started the idea I think. Four years ago when living in San Antonio, Texas he came up with a great idea of eating Thai food. My coworkers pointed us to what many considered the best Thai food in the city. It was definitely a treat to take all of the family to that place. After returning to North Carolina the following year, our son decided he wanted to try Sushi. He knew it was not my favorite so he found a place that served both Thai and Sushi. Last year was difficult as we called so many places that he wanted to try but they were all closed. We found some other interesting places but they were too expensive like the "Melting Pot" which serves only fondu. So we decided on Greek food, which was a great choice. This year we went for Thai food again and it was wonderful. Who knows what next year will hold? At least we decided not to get ice cream cake this year as we have not had much success with those in the last few years. The photo on the right is the straw covers from our Thai ice tea which were mysteriously formed in beautiful rose shapes. The rice served for our curry dishes was also interesting as one was the shape of a teddy bear and the other one was a fish. Such a great place to eat. It was called Sawasdee.