Blossom Time

The Magnolia tree outside of the office is starting to bloom. Ever since I arrived here in Novemeber I've been waiting for the day that the tree would blossom. Whenever I walk by the tree I'm always reminded of this quote by Anais Nin:

" And then the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."

I suspect that when I arrive back here after Easter, the tree will be in full bloom. I can't wait.

Whose Ear?

As I continue my investigation as to how it is that the Indiana natives came to refer to themselves as hoosiers, I've come across yet another gem of a story to add to the "knock, knock" legend. Eric, who was born and raised here, recalls hearing in fourth grade that it's because a long time ago, there was a bloody battle between "some guys". The battle was so brutally violent that at the end of it there were amputated ears lying on the ground. In order to find out whose ear belonged to who they had to hold up each ear and call out "hoosier." Now that's funny!

"knock, knock" - "Hoosier?""

Since arriving in Indiana I haven't been able to figure out why the natives call themselves hoosiers. The reasoning has recently been explained to me by my hoosier housemates. Apparently back in the pioneer days before people would open up the door after someone knocked they'd ask "Hoosier?" . . . . . . ??????? It baffles me!! There's got to be more to the hoosier title than a mispronunced "knock knock" joke. My roomies are pretty much convinced that that's the story though. That to me is just plain odd.

Tc=(5/9)*(Tf-32)

It's freezing cold here. For the past few weeks that's as descriptive I've been able to be when it comes to describing the weather. Whenever somebody here tells me what the temperature is outside, it means nothing to me because it's always in fahrenheit. My car has a thermometer that reads the temperature in centigrade (which makes 100 times more sense than the fahrenheit scale!:), but I won't have my car back until the end of the month, so I finally gave in this morning and looked up the formula for converting Fahrenheit into Celsius. Wow it really is cold out there!! -32C. Makes sense why we were bundled up so well before leaving the "foy-UR" at the Chestnut house last night. :)

Going lug nuts

My roommate Meaghan graciously offered to drive me to Wal-mart last night so that I could do my grocery shopping, since my car is officially undrivable. As we made our way down the street here in Winona Lake Meaghan noticed that her car wasn’t driving the way it normally did. She kept saying "I think the alignment is off." Soon after we found ourselves out on the street, peeing our pants from laughing so hard as we stood staring at the flat tire on her car. We literally sat for a good ten minutes laughing hysterically before we took action and called for help. After my big car wreck on Sunday we could really only find humor in the situation.

After several attempts to get a hold of someone, We finally got in touch with our intern buddy, Sadler, who claimed that he knew how to change a tire. When he finally came to the rescue, he took one look at the tire and said: “You know something, I don’t really know all that much about cars. You better get it towed.” It was probably the best plan of action given that the lock on Meaghan’s trunk was frozen and the spare wasn’t really accessible. So there we were Meaghan, Sadler and I sitting in the freezing cold ’93 Corolla trying to decide what to do. Sadler casually pulled out several power bars and an orange (which He tends to store in His pockets . . . you'd have to meet Sadler to understand that him having a store house of food in his jacket pockets is a just another thing that makes Sadler a unique creature:) Sadler began munching away as he patiently waited for Meaghan and I to stop peeing our pants.

When I was able to compose myself I pulled out my CAA card and attempted to order a tow truck. My first call somehow ended up at the AAA in California! They then proceeded to transfer me to the Chicago AAA, who then transferred me to the AAA in Michigan. One would think that the most logical transfer would have been the local AAA in Indiana, but who knows how these crazy Americans work:) Really I felt sorry for the AAA representatives. As I was on the phone I couldn't control my little fits of giggles. They were really so patient with me. I finally lost it altogether and had to hand the phone over to Sadler when the Michigan AAA lady asked me if the car had locking lug nuts. How on earth would a diva know what a lug nut is, let alone know whether or not they lock? !! :) Those AAA people must think I'm one big crazy lug nut:)

Stuckman's towing finally showed up at around 11 and Sadler drove us to Wal-mart so that we could stock up on our groceries since neither of us have a car now. Although under most circumstances car trouble is never amusing, last night was just too funny and really quite a release for me after Sunday’s accident.

Beyond the Sunset

The Sunsets here in Winona Lake are absolutely glorious. Everytime I'm at the lodege to witness one, I just can't resist grabbing my camera and running outside to try and capture the magnificence of the gorgeous painting before my eyes. Even with my amateur eye and medeocre camera I have managed to capture some beautiful photos. It's so amazing that each sunset is different. God really is the Master artist!

The Goose Report - Jan'07

It appears as though Tom, Dick and Harry have returned to their regular attempts of trying to get a glimpse of "the diva" and her comrades here in Winona Lake. Only now they've brought with them a bunch of other peepers . . . . Well at least that's what I thought last night at 2am when I heard the extremely loud chorus of honking outside of my window.

Since returning to Winona Lake after Christmas break I've rarely heard the geese outside my window. There has been the occasional honk, but other than that it's been rather quiet and peaceful. I assumed that the nocturnal nuts finally decided to fly south when they mistakenly thought that I had left Winona Lake for good. Really what would be the point in staying here if the Canadian diva was not around? :) I should have known better!! It appears as though those geese went out and told all of their Canadian friends that I was here and now there are thousands of them clamoring over one another trying to get my attention so that I will open up my curtains and make a rare appearance. . . . . .

When I opened the kitchen blinds this morning I was thinking that I may be wrong about the peepers. It appears as though the lake froze over last night and in a panic the entire goose community of Indiana has migrated to the canal in front of our house - (which is where my bedroom faces). Soo all that honking was them crying, "oh no what are we going to do? The lake is frozen!!!!"

(this is Winona Lake - mostly frozen)

I went out this morning before work and there were literally 200 or so Canadian Geese on our front lawn jumping in and out of the canal, which appeared to be steaming hot.
And as I approached, one amongst the gaggle saw that I was standing there and told the others. It was hilarious, all 200 of them started honking and flew out to the middle of the lake. What a sight! More so what a sound!! It was the loudest goose honking chorus that I had ever heard!!! And it got louder as they made their way to the centre of the lake. The echo was so loud that I'm sure that the entire state of Indiana heard them!! (I'm hoping that none of my neighbours discover that I was the one out there taunting them:)

Oh those Geese!! Trying to act all innocent like that. Pretending to be afraid of me. Meanwhile they were dying inside cause I was so close. I bet they gathered in the centre of Winona Lake after flying off like that and excitedly said things like "Did you see her?" and "oooo she's more radiant than I ever could have imagined!"

They don't know that I'm on to them and their sneaky little ploys to see "the Diva". I bet that they somehow arranged to have the lake freeze over like that so that I'd think that they are innocent. . . nice try Tom, Dick and Harry - nice try!

From My Kitchen Window

"The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands."
Psalm 19:1

A Winona Lake Sunset- Nov 26/06

My 1st American Thanksgiving

Yesterday was Thanksgiving Day here. My roommate and I were invited to spend the day with Leilani's family, who is one of our coworkers here at Cpaf. It really was a beautiful day. We headed up to the Wells' farm and spent the day with a truly incredible family, 2 horses, 2 dogs, a goose and a Brasilian Baritone:) It was fun to see how the Americans do Thanksgiving. I feel so blessed to have been a part of the celebration.

Hee Haw!!! Yup, that would be me on a horse!!! I swear this place is going to suck the diva right out of me:)
For a girl who claims to come from the big city Meaghan was quite comfortable around the smelly horses.
This is Liliana with one of the Wells' dog, Bear. Liliana is the youngest of 7 children, she was just the sweetest little hostess yesterday. We really did get along famously. Oh what fun it was to play hide and seek and make up ballerina dances together.
Estee, Leilani, and Josiah stuff themselves with the incredible turkey dinner.
Peggy Sue and Hannah enjoying their dinner. Peggy Sue, or "Mamma" as the kids would call her, is a single mother of seven kids. I am just amazed by the strength that radiates from this beautiful woman of God.
Apres dinner, Meaghan and Leilani decided to play music from the Nutcracker Suite.
Inspired, Liliana and I decided to perform the Nutcracker ballet . That's me as "the Nutcracker". Although some would disagree, I thought that my portrayal was very graceful and convincing:)
Here's Robson showing his best "Divo" moves. Robson is an incredible Baritone from Brasil. We performed several opera scenes together at Masterworks in 2004. Robson is going to school in Michigan right now, and came up to spend Thanksgiving here. It was fun to see him again.