We played Mousetrap this past week. James got the game for Christmas and so we had to try it out. Mousetrap is a Rube Goldberg sort of contraption constructed into a 3-D board game. The object of the game is to gather enough cheese wedges to form a cheese wheel. Along the way you can land on spaces where you collect cheese wedges, steal cheese wedges or give up a cheese wedge. Best of all is the space that allows you to send another player’s mouse token to stand in the Cheesy Danger Zone. That’s when you activate the trap … Continue reading Good Morning 12-31-18

Clarence Stephenson had come out of the store one day to find he had locked his keys and his cell phone in his car. As he stood there kicking the tire and uttering a few choice words, a young man riding by on a bicycle stopped. “What’s wrong?” he asked. Clarence told him what he had done. “Worse yet,” Clarence said, “my wife couldn’t bring the keys if I wanted her to. This is our only car.” The young man smiled, handed his cell phone to Clarence and told him, “Call your wife. Tell her I’m coming to get the … Continue reading Good Morning 12-30-18

A gentle parent teaches their child to come when their name is called. I saw that a lot this week and unless the child was mesmerized by the television or a movie on Grandpa’s iPad, they responded. Each of the grandsons knows his name and comes when he’s called. It’s that answer, that “Here I am!” (okay, let’s be real, the most common response was “What?”) that allows dialogue to begin. “What would you like for a snack?” “We are going to eat lunch in 10 more minutes.” “Please help your cousin.” “Who would like to read a book?” Sometimes … Continue reading Good Morning 12-28-18

In the early 1930’s life in Europe was good for everyone. Jewish Germans worked alongside non-Jewish Germans. Jewish Austrians were proud to have served the Kaiser in WWI. Things began to change slowly. Taxes were levied on Jewish businesses. The Jewish population began to feel the squeeze as their children were forced out of public schools. Their business were shuttered one by one. Then came Kristallnacht and it was all too clear what was happening. Jews who couldn’t find a way out of the land were forced to wear yellow stars sewn on their coats. Then the deportation and systematic … Continue reading Good Morning 12-27-18

There are three clashes that Moses observes and then intervenes to stop. The first is the one we are most familiar with. Moses, a prince of the palace ever since Pharaoh’s daughter pulled him from the water and adopted him, saw an Egyptian slave master beating a Hebrew slave. Filled with outrage, he struck down the Egyptian and hid the body in the sand. (Exodus 2:11-12). The following day Moses went out and saw two of his kinsmen, Hebrews fighting with one another. Moses asked the offender, “Why do you strike your fellow?” The Hebrew man retorted, “Who made you … Continue reading Good Morning 12-26-18

It was a critical moment. Moses was tending his father-in-law’s sheep as he no doubt did everyday. Suddenly, he noticed a bush that was burning. Now perhaps others had seen this conflagration and passed on. Moses, however, stopped to study it. The longer he looked the more he realized that the bush, while it was completely engulfed in flame, was not being consumed. It should have used the fuel provided by the leaves and the branches and burned up. When a fire no longer has fuel, it goes out. This fire was not going out. Out of sheer curiosity perhaps, … Continue reading Good Morning 12-25-18

Where is Dinah? I started to wonder about Jacob’s only daughter as I read through the blessings at the end of Genesis. Now Exodus opens with the naming of the seventy who went down to Egypt and while eleven brothers are named (Joseph was already there), Dinah is noticeably missing. You remember Dinah, right? She was the daughter of Leah who went out into the city to meet the daughters of the land. Shechem the son of Hamor, prince of the Hivites, kidnapped and raped her. After all this he professed his love for her and asked permission to marry … Continue reading Good Morning 12-24-18

In the movie “A League of Their Own” we are introduced to Dottie Hinson (played by Gina Davis), who joins the All American Girls’ Professional Baseball League formed during World War II. Hailing from a small town in Oregon, both Hinson and her sister Kit are offered tryouts for the new league. Kit pitches and Hinson catches, but it’s in the batter’s box that Hinson shows her strength. There is a scene in the movie when Jimmy Dugan, played by Tom Hanks, realizes that Dottie is quitting just before the league championship. She announces she’s done. Her husband Bob has … Continue reading Good Morning 12-23-18

Today is a very special day in our house. It is retirement day for my husband Steve. After a long career in the printing business, 40 to be exact, he is stepping away from all that this job has entailed and walking into a new chapter in his life—actually, a new chapter in both our lives. You see, after the holidays, starting on January 2nd I suspect, I will still get up and go to work in my office in the sunroom and Steve will—well, I’m not sure. I suspect not get up or at least not get up so … Continue reading Good Morning 12-21-18

What is it to be the executor of another’s will? In a last will and testament, you assign someone or perhaps a team of people to ensure that your wishes expressed in the will are carried out after you are gone. For this reason, the person selected is typically someone who will be fair and honest in that execution (hence executor). At the end of Genesis, both Jacob’s and Joseph’s deaths are chronicled. Jacob’s instructions were to make sure not to bury him in Egypt. “Bury me with my fathers in the cave which is in the field of Ephron … Continue reading Good Morning 12-20-18