cousins at Christmas

After church Dorcas and I hosted four cousins--Kendall and Deborah Martin, left, and our own two contributions to the Miller cousin pool--Joel and Stephanie, right.

Kendall and Deb were on their way from Lancaster to Grantsville, Md. They live in Phoenix, Ariz., and had been visiting his sister.

Here's one warm December day. Sweaters will do as we hide a shrub (see lights above my head) in front of our porch.

elephant appears as gift

At the Lehman Christmas my brother, Milton, got Horton the elephant as a gift. Squeeze a paw and he says, "I meant what I said and I said what I meant--an elephant's faithful one hundred percent."

Milton gives the Dr. Seuss book by memory and it's a trademark of family gatherings sometimes.

harp clip by Sarah

Last Sunday Sarah and Ryan and the harp went to Zion Mennonite Church where I'm finishing up my interim. I had my H-2 digital recorder on a music stand, center of the front wall. Here's "Lo How A Rose." Click on this and then hit play.
http://www.box.net/shared/mksm26re7r
Can't get too much of this Christmas!

lights out

In six days the shortest day of the year arrives. So I put out the lights. I didn't outen them. I strung them around the two shrubs in front of the house. I put them up, really. Up and out--and then plugged them in to turn them on. What would a rabbit see, looking up from underneath--the rabbit's-eye view? I sat the camera on the ground and clicked with the remote to see.

outback wakes up in Monterey

For the first time in 12 years, the sun rose on Monterey without a Dodge caravan in our drive. Now it's a Subaru outback. It got Dorcas to work and she reported: "On my first drive to school, I really like the outback. Could be that it fits me better than any other car we've had since I drove my superbeetle to my first job over the mountains in snow." Not quite new at 34K miles. How to say good-bye to 216,000 caravan miles?

thistle hog

Okay. Anybody know this bird?

What is Festivus?

If you like a little unholy humor. Festivus? Sounds like a Latin heavy weight.