IHOP Girl: Summer!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Summer!

It's finally summer! I say this because we had our first canoe trip of the year. We only got to go once last year around this time, and Torque was a LOT smaller then. I wasn't sure how it would be this time. However, we only tipped over twice within 20 minutes. The first time was not Torque's fault actually, the second totally was. Fortunately the only thing lost in the capsizing was the leash.

6 of us went, all girls from work - and we had a blast!!!

Here is a picture from last year:

Awwwww, look how wittle!!

AND NOW.....

I think I am going to get him a life vest. He LOVES, loves, loves the water, but I worry that he isn't strong enough in a current. That way I won't have to worry about him. I'll post more pictures soon - a couple of the girls got some cute ones that they're going to send me.

Happy start to summer everyone!! Get out there and get your vitamin D!

4 comments:

sfl said...: that looks like fun.

WOT wants to know why you did not tell her about this before you went. pre-approval of dangerous water activities is required.

by the way, did i ever tell you about our white water rafting expedition in Montana?

WOT asked the guide (in all seriousness i may add) where was the place where she would not get wet!

well the guide was a real pro, told her where the best spot was, and that's where WOT sat. We have a great action shot taken by the outfitter's photographer of WOT holding up her paddle in the white water section, wincing as she tried to keep dry. her sun bonnet flapping in the breeze. we had a great time, even though WOT was slightly dampened during the outing.

ps - yes torque needs a flotation device. probably an empty 55gal drum is what he will require to stay afloat.; 5:02 PM
Clair Bannerman (alias) said...: Haha, well quite honestly I forgot to get preapprovial, so fortunatly for everyone involved I lived. I'll have to pay a back tax I'm sure.

I do remember the white water rafting story, and I'm pretty sure that I laughed SO hard about the whole thing. We'll have to take her again and see if she learned her lesson the first time!

55gal? You sure? I was thinking 80.; 5:09 PM
sfl said...: i think that's a wonderful idea. we can tie her leg to torque so if she falls in the water, he will save her.; 7:56 PM
Clair Bannerman (alias) said...: Unfortunately, I think that he's more likely to either drown her or drown himself. I would stick with an unbias personal floatation device.; 7:04 AM

Movie Night In...I love a good movie!

Mega Mind
Taking Chance (Will make you cry like a baby)
Charlotte Grey (A bit of a different take on Nazi Germany)
Series - Merlin (I LOVE BBC)
Robin Hood (Okay, a love Russell Crowe, you'll have to understand that about me...)
Kingdom of Heaven (Chuck full of acting power with an epic tale)
Miss Potter (Such a great film! Story of the creator of Peter Rabbit)
How to Train your Dragon (Possibly my favorite animated movie ever...I'm like a little kid, I watch it over and over)
Buck (Sundance winner, Biography of Horse Trainer, heart touching)
Lost in Austin (Modern day spin on Pride and Prej.)

Life as a nurse...

Great words by Reb Jeff: Vayishlach: Facing Death

"Rachel died. She was buried on the road to Ephrat — now called Bethlehem. Jacob set up a pillar above her grave. It is the pillar at Rachel’s grave to this day."–Genesis 35:19-20

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidui http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva_(Judaism), and preparing the notifications to the community, feel like little fragments of the sacred. I have been entrusted with the care and tending of the most powerful, complex and difficult emotions that a person can experience in life. I have been made, in some small part, a guardian of the memory of a departed soul — a life that touches upon many other lives.After dropping off my older daughter at her high school this morning, I made a stop at Treasure Coast Hospice http://www.tchospice.org/, a remarkable organization that sets a very high standard for the loving and respectful care of the dying. There, I visited a lovely man whom I have seen a few times in his hospice room. I sat by his bedside and listened to him (in full possession of his faculties) as he told me about his worries about his family, the support of his wife after he is gone, and the future of his children and grandchildren. I was deeply moved by the way he put any concern for himself — even while facing death — in a distant backseat to his concerns for his family. When my own time comes, I can only hope to have his awareness of the way that one life can touch so many others.Also at hospice, I visited a woman I have known for the past two years — a dear soul who is a former Jewish religious school director. I sat with her, too, singing psalms to her as I listened to her heavy and labored breathing. I have no medical training, but I have come to know the sound of a person who is close to death. The body begins to fight for each breath as it slowly looses it grasp on life. As I held her hand and sang, I realized that being a rabbi is no protection against becoming one of the people caught in the web of connection. I, too, am changed by the loss of a life that has touched mine.Later in the day, I met with a couple from our congregation. She had just learned that her brother died yesterday in a car crash. Coming to terms with the loss is made more difficult for her by the fact that she and her brother had not seen each other or spoken in five years. Sometimes, people think it is easier to mourn the death of someone who has moved out of your life. In my experience, though, it's harder. Grief is magnified by wounded love and regret. I have no magic words to say to ease the pain of mourning. All I can do is listen, become a vessel in which people place their stories, and offer compassion.Actually, there is one more thing I can do. I can have faith that "all I can do" is all that I need to do. It is enough.In this week's Torah portion (Vayishlach) Jacob watched Rachel, the love of his life, die in childbirth. He was overcome by grief. Jacob had worked for his cruel uncle Laban for fourteen years to earn the right to marry Rachel. Now she was gone. Because she died while they were traveling, Jacob had to bury her by the side of the road. He built a pillar of stones on the spot to mark the place as sacred.This is what we all do, in one way or another, when death enters our lives. We grieve and our hearts break. We wish that we could continue to walk along the path of life with our loved ones forever, but the dead cannot fully join us. We have to leave something behind in order to resume our own journey. So, what do we do? We mark the moment as sacred. We erect monuments — both in cemeteries and in our hearts. The stones we place on top of stones remind us that a life may end, but its sanctity is forever.The Torah says that the monument Jacob built for his beloved continues to stand until this day. A life that touches the lives of others never ceases to send living reverberations throughout the web that binds us all.