Bloody Sunday

We had church this morning, watching both KidPak and our Free Chapel services, and in between all that there was a nice breakfast, as usual, something nice that Mommy put together for us.

Bedtime came a little earlier tonight, which was something we haven't had to do in a while.  But Madison is starting a camp tomorrow morning, and we actually have to set our alarms for 7:00am or so, which will seem kind of early for Madison, certainly.

Madison is doing some piano work, this despite the fact that she's done with her recital.  She's going to work on a few new pieces, including "Victor's Solo" from "The Corpse Bride."  It's one that she's always liked, and she's had the sheet music for it.  If she stays with it, she might have it ready by fall, which would be wonderful.  We'll see how it goes, but today she started with both hands, and though it was slow to start out with, there's just something really nice about hearing a piano being played in the house.  This piano is very grateful to be in this loving house!

We had this awesome spaghetti tonight, of course gluten-free.  Mommy made the sauce, and it was just perfection.  The three of us had a bowl full of this masterpiece, and it wasn't quite enough for Madison, who had quite a bit in her bowl.  It was just very tasty tonight.

The protests last night in Gainesville weren't as notably bad as other places, and that's good.  A vandal got to "Old Joe," and there were some police vehicles damaged.  Protesters are getting bad optics because there are people amongst them that are using the protests as an outlet to go out and destroy and loot.  And yet the protestors still keep going out there, because by gum, they still want to keep going out there.  And hey, while they're out there, the rioters can sneak out too, and destroy and steal even more.  And the next day it starts all over again, fueled by media, false narratives, and false equivalencies.  It is disheartening seeing what is happening, and heartbreaking.  They're setting fire to churches, attacking iconic locations, and there have been brutal beatings.  In some respects, the perpetrators are no better than ISIS.  We have a lot to pray about.

Cast Re-United

Heres' our final logo for Summer Xtreme this year, the online experience.  It's a simple design, but it's perfection in so many ways.  We weren't actually thinking there'd be a resurrection of the space program when we were going with this theme.  And additionally, we weren't thinking there'd be a need to use the word "united" either.  More on that in a bit, but for now, take a look at many of our KidPak cast members, finally reunited after some time away.

I think it was March when we were all together last.  There are two not in this picture, but here we are, all united for a practice session this afternoon.  We were running through the scripts that I wrote, and performing them on location.  The idea is to film here in the media control center, because it looks somewhat like a mission control center of a space center.  This afternoon, Madison came with me to the church, and we led everyone down to this area.  Our stage is currently still like a Northern Lights winter wonderland, so that didn't quite work with our space theme.  In fact, the KidPak auditorium is something like a time capsule presently, all ready to go for a church service on March 15th.  We have the papers in the chairs, the Parenting Matters ready, the scripts in place and so on.... only we're in the summer.

It was so great to be with everyone again.  It was quite a happy reunion together, with a lot of catching up going on.  We've seen each other here or there, doing some filming for KidPak's online services.  But not a full skit, and not all of us together at once again.  So you can imagine, there was a lot to catch up on.  It was very nice to see everyone again, and these folks are so enthused and so ready to have fun.  We'll be filming next weekend, so we'll have lots of footage then.  Hopefully the end product will work out - we're planning on filming skits, running through them and then perhaps doing some individual shots afterwards.  The end product should be a nice ongoing series.  We'll see how it turns out, but it will be just one extra aspect of our Summer Xtreme services.  

We got home after practice, and we got home just in time to watch the SpaceX rocket launch successfully.  It was canceled earlier this week, so today was a second chance - and it was cutting it close.  There was threatening weather in the area, but they managed to make the launch, and it is such a big deal.  The President was there, and over a million people were watching because this was the beginning of a new era of space travel. 

We were nervously watching, but everything went off without a hitch, at least to the untrained eye.  It was exhilarating, and it was inspirational.  America is capable of doing so much when we are united. So many people worked hard on this, and it was so amazing to see us launch two astronauts (and their plush dinosaur) off into space.  Tomorrow, they meet up with the International Space Station, which we'll actually get to see ourselves in person later on in the week, soaring overhead.

We as a nation can soar so high, and at the same time sink so low.  This is a shot from Gainesville, which is technically our address.  If you wanted to go out and protest, you could join all these people with signs, megaphones and various chants, standing in unity against the police violence.  This, of course, is in response to the terrible murder that happened in Minnesota this past week.  The fruit of that man's murder has been more murder in retaliation, along with looting, burning and destruction of people's lives.  Somewhere within many of these protests, mobs formed and then the looting and destruction followed.  And the beatings and killings.  In Gainesville, the damage was limited.  There were police cars vandalized and damaged.  The statue on the town square was spray painted.  And other than a lot of angry yelling and accusations, things were not that bad comparatively speaking.  I feel for the officers there, many taking on the abusive accusations despite the fact that they themselves have not done anything wrong.  There's something in that though, apologizing for the sins of others.  The angry shouts are not accusations at us, necessarily, but cries for someone to empathize, and truly listen and understand.  There is that, and a shifting for many in their opinion on this whole issue of racial inequality.  But then there are the instigators of violence, and the orders from government officials to allow the mobs to destroy people's lives in the city.  That's what's happened, with many buildings on fire, many small businesses completely wiped out, and many cities now suddenly facing the reality that they will never be the same again.  Memorials to veterans have been vandalized, these sacred monuments to help us remember the lives that were sacrificed to make this place a better one.  It has been as if a series of tornadoes tore through all the cities of this country, night after night, destroying everything in their path.  It didn't matter what the skin color was of the store owner - everything was leveled, empty of everything except for debris.  One of Madison's China sisters lives in Minneapolis.  She's not a biological sister, of course, but she was adopted on the same day as Madison, in the same room.  She's with her family in a suburb close to the epicenter of the violence, where the original murder occurred.  That family is packed and ready to leave in case of an emergency.  They're living in fear, as most people in the city are.  Add this event to the ongoing virus situation.  It's as if we as a nation have just hit the self-destruct button.  A joke was going on around the internet tonight about the two astronauts:  "Congratulations on your mission.  You picked a great time to leave the earth."

Solve for P

Today we got Madison's report card, and the only letter she got for each class was a "P."  So she didn't get all A's.  She got all P's.  I'm not entirely sure why she put so much effort into class, given that anyone who gets anything above a 70 automatically gets a "P."  Therefore, you could be someone like  ... well, me.  I was a big fan of "just getting by" early on in school, and would have been delighted at this system.  All those smarty pants students studying late and working hard on their projects, and they even turned them in on time.  Me?  I could be a little late, and put minimal effort into the end result, and just get by.  Go ahead - give me a 71 on my final project.  Give me a 70 on my final test.  As long as I get that 70, then I'll get the same exact grade as that kid who actually put all this effort into their work.  It was odd:  they wouldn't even calculate on the website or the report card what her numerical grade was.  Here's a screen capture of the webpage showing the numerical average of her summative grades in math, as well as the average for her formative grades as well. 

I have to do some calculations to get her final numerical average, so if her grade is a P, then we have to solve for P.  This is the entire semester grade, which is the combination of grades from quarter three and quarter four.

     P = (94.28 x .8 ) + (94.5 X .2)
     P = (75.42) + (18.9)
     P = 94.32 (94)

There, I solved it.  Her final grade is a 94.32 in math - at least for quarter four.  I might be working on the other classes too.  I'll pop those grades in at the bottom of this blog entry as I figure them out.

It goes without saying that we're VERY proud of Madison for her grades this year.  She worked so hard, as she always does, studying and putting a lot of effort into each class.  She was fantastic, and today's report card verified that - sort of.  I mean, as much as a "P" can verify anything.  That's why I'm typing this out on this page, so she can see that her grade point average is much more than a P.  She did extremely well this year in seventh grade!

Today Daddy was finishing up with the writing for Summer Xtreme's skits.  We'll rehearse them tomorrow with most of the cast - they came out pretty well.  I got a few jokes from some of the television programs we've been watching for "research."  Tonight we even watched "Rocketman," which is one of the greatest cinematic masterpieces of our time.  People don't realize this yet, because for the most part, people who don't like "Rocketman" are uncultured Philistines.  And no, I'm not talking about the "Rocketman" that is about Elton John.  No, this is the 1997 classic cinema landmark film about a hero named Fred Randall who goes to Mars.  I'm not even going out on a limb here when I say this is the greatest movie ever made about a person going to Mars.

Okay, seriously, I do love this movie.  I can't defend it or explain it.  So just bear with me.  I was still laughing at this movie tonight, and I was glad to see Madison and Mommy were also.  It's just one of those movies I like coming back to from time to time, and this time we'll say it's for "research!"

In regards to the script, one of our props is a computer screen that is used by a girl who is somewhat like Elle Woods or Sharpay Evans.  She's got a monitor that is completely covered with bling, and so it was Madison and Mommy's job to decorate this old television monitor with jewels and ribbons and bows.  The television was from our guest room - it died a few months ago.  But it did not die in vein, as by the day's end, it was completely beautified, and it will look great during our skit.  Great job Madison and Mommy!

As mentioned earlier, Daddy was finishing the third skit for church.  But he also was at church today too.

Here's a shot taken of our meeting today at the church, a staff meeting.  We were discussing a few things, such as our upcoming thoughts on reopening the church, and what work will be like next week.  The plan is to come back to the office next week, officially, although many of us have been in and out to do these various online services.

Really, the greatest thing of all was the corporate worship.  There was a sense that we were all back in church together, doing church together.  It was a smaller gathering, but at the same time, it was like things were back again as normal.  This is what we've been watching on television, and they've been preaching to and playing for an empty house.  But today, the staff were in the seats - and in the near future, Madison and Mommy may be in the seats as the staff may be allowed to bring in family to teh sanctuary.  That would be nice.

Today's word had to do with the church being asleep, and how that's not a good thing for the long term.  It's time to wake up.  It was good to be back, and see the staff all together again.  We sat talking for quite some time after our service, so nice to see each other in person again.

Tonight we talked with the grandparents for quite some time, and it was good to see Ba-Ba doing better.  He's had a difficult week, and is in the midst of quite a battle.  Yesterday was a transfusion, and the side effects were minimal compared to that other drug he took to increase his blood count.  Mommy didn't do well with that drug either, and I don't think anyone does.  Worse still is the news that the drug - despite the bad side effects- didn't actually help him enough either.  Hence the transfusion.  Hopefully things will progress in a more positive direction at this point.  We're praying.

We're going to bed tonight, but there are riots all over the country again, even some in Atlanta.  Rioters are looting and destroying, and here we go again.  Not much to be said here that hasn't been said before:  there has been a terrible injustice, and in fact two terrible injustices over the past few months.  Actually, the word "terrible" doesn't cover the murders that took place.  In both instances, the culprits have been charged and will face justice, so "injustice" might not cover it for them.  They'll face punishment.  But they represent something, a racism that we find it hard to believe still exists.  It'd be nice to move on and have everyone get along, but I don't think that will happen with this generation.  The best we can do is do our best to continue to love everyone, and raise Madison to know better.

----

Science:

     P = (94.2 x .8 ) + (98.12 X .2)
     P = (75.36) + (19.62)
     P = 94.98 (95)

Social Studies:

     P = (97.83 x .8 ) + (100 X .2)
     P = (78.26) + (20)
     P = 98.26 (98)

Language Arts:

     P = (95.66 x .8 ) + (95.54 X .2)
     P = (76.528) + (19.108)
     P = 95.636 (96)

PE:

     P = (100)

Media Arts (Photography):

     P = 117.39 (117)

This last grade is pretty humorous.  We think the teacher knew that the end result would be a "P," rather than any numerical grade showing up in Madison's record.  And while that's true, it's still funny to see her have a 117 average in any class at all.  The reason for the high grade is that two of her summative grade projects were given pretty outstanding scores:  a 200!  She got a 200 on two summative projects, and of course that lifted the grade quite a bit!

ANYWAY, so here's what her report card is.  Instead of getting all "P"s, this is how well Madison did:

Science                 95        A
Social Studies      98        A
Language Arts    96        A
Math                    94        A
PE                      100        A
Photography     117        A

Cell Phone Imagery

We went to the grocery store today to do some shopping, and while I was picking up eggs and milk, Madison was snapping pictures with her cellphone.

She just had a whim to snap some pictures as she was helping out in the store, this based on the moment she looked down and saw some flowers there for sale.

She took several shots of the flowers there, and I believe this one below is her favorite:

These were nice shots that are a fun reminder you can take a great photograph anywhere you are.  We were out shopping after a bit of work at home.  Daddy was writing today, working on skits, and we were running out to town to just get out of the house and do something today.  We stopped by Chick-Fil-A on the way home and had a nice meal together at home.

It was a bright spot in a rather gloomy day.  We had periods of rain, which of course, made the actual countenance of the skies somewhat melancholy.  But the spirits of our nation are troubled with another image from cellphone.  Unfortunately, these were not images of beautiful flowers, but instead the murder of a man by a police officer.  The video recorded bring to mind the images of the 60's, of the great Civil Rights Movement.  We took Madison down to the Atlanta History Center on Martin Luther King Day, and she experienced a virtual tour with the Freedom Riders, under attack and persecuted for no other reason than the color of their skin.  And here we are again.  There are no words, really.  The fear and rage are understandable.  The one thing that we try to do is educate Madison as much as possible about our nation's troubled history.  We have a great nation, the best there ever was.  But no nation is perfect, and we certainly have a long way to go with the issue of racism.  In the meantime, we educate the best we can, we listen the best we can, and we show love the best we can.

Writing

Around noon, we went to Oslo!  Not really, of course, but lately there have been these live tours of museums, and this was one we didn't want to miss.  We were checking out old Viking ships, carriages and leather shoes worn by Vikings on our tour, and it was just kind of neat to sort of feel like we were in Oslo there for a bit.

Well, the weather was wet today, and unfortunately it was a little too wet down at Cape Canaveral where the next rocket was due to be launched.  This one was significant, because there were two astronauts inside, ready to go up into space.  How ironic that we're doing this whole space series right now.  Anyway, we sat there waiting - and so did the astronauts.  So did the President, who was down there to watch in person. But it was not to be, as the weather presented a slight threat at the last minute.  Oh well!  Next launch is in a few days, and we'll watch that historic moment then.  Speaking of history...

Tonight was the beginning of the end for "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."  It was the start of season seven, and yes, they went back into history.  The goal was to stop some time travelers from going back and ruining the timeline, and so there they all are now, in 1931.  They've been hundreds of years in the future, in outer space, and all over the world pretty much.  Now the past, and it's been fun to watch.  We were there back at the beginning, and have seen every single episode as they came out at the beginning.  Madison wasn't old enough to see the first ones, but we'll be seeing those soon enough with her.  My favorite season was the first one, easily.  But this one looks like it is going to be lots of fun, with fedoras and aliens and President Roosevelt.  No spoilers here, but we all enjoyed the show a lot.  And we watched the post show cast reunion on Zoom, listening in as actors, producers and writers shared memories of the seven seasons that have gone by.  This is basically the only television show we actually watch on network television as each episode comes out, so how strange it was to be reintroduced to commercial segments again, and how boring they were with all the "this is the new normal" sort of talk.  So many commercials with people with masks on or Zoom conferences and so on.  It was just a little repetitive, that's all.

Anyway, it was a good day today.  Madison had a Zoom meeting of her own, a small group one:

She always has a good time with these.  Camille does such a great job managing it all, and keeping things going with spiritual lessons and fun.  Beyond that, we saw Camille at the office today, as we were doing a good bit of writing on our next script for Summer Xtreme.  We finished day one and it came out really well.  Two more days to go there.  But Madison contributed a bit as well, the three of us writing down in "Mission Control."

She did well helping out - we were there for a few hours, and it was nice having her nearby to listen in and learn a bit, and again, throw out ideas here or there.  She was a part of the process, and we'll no doubt have her back again doing just that for the next two parts.  In the meantime, she's also been writing a story on her computer in her spare time, an ongoing book that she's working on.  So she likes writing a good bit, and that's neat to see.

We read tonight, and we prayed tonight.  And then it was time for some rest.  The rain is plentiful out there, and it sounds so nice, the pitter-patter on the leaves.  A stronger rain is coming later on, but right now, things are nice, and we are blessed.

The Reluctant Astronaut

Today was Madison's last day at the school for seventh grade, although it wasn't for any class, of course.  She was there to pick up some items from her locker, and also pick up her yearbook.  

The school had things all lined up in a way to make it easy for all the students to go through the school at scheduled times, so we arrived a little after 11:00am, picked up her yearbook outside while Madison went in for the first time since earlier this March.  

She snapped a few pictures with her phone, and was pretty quick in-and-out of there, as they were all herded along in their masks and told not to converse with people so much.  This wasn't a reunion.  It was a recovery operation!

There's her locker there, which is now cleaned out.  She didn't get her art projects today, but after asking some teachers, we found out she'll get those the first of the school year.  Which is hopefully August.

Today we were doing a bit of research for our upcoming Summer Xtreme script.  We watched a few Disney Channel episodes that had a space theme, and then we watched this classic here:

"The Reluctant Astronaut."  We'll use that idea for a launch point of our series, as an explanation to why Nerdo is in space in the first place.  Anyway, we started the writing for this tonight, after watching the misadventures of Roy Fleming.  It's not a bad movie, although I'm sure nostalgia is a big factor in this one.  I wasn't even alive at the time of all this, but there's something super fascinating about the space program of that era.

Along those lines, there's an astronaut launch coming up soon this week, and that will be pretty amazing to see again in America.  It'll be down in Florida, and there's a lot of building excitement for that.

We did some work today, and we did some writing.  Here's something interesting we made too:

We were doing an experiment with the eyes.  If you stare at the point on Madison's nose above (the one with the three colors around it), and keep staring for about thirty seconds, your eyes will begin to tire of course.  You then immediately look to the white area to the right, and sure enough, you'll see the opposite colors there, and see what the original picture actually looked like.  Blink rapidly, and you'll see the image there in the white area.

Anyway, it was a fun idea we tried out.  It was a nice day today, but there's a little stress in the air as we build up for Summer Xtreme.  We have a lot of big plans and a short time in which to do them.  In other words, just like any other Summer Xtreme.  It's just amazing that we're doing one at all this year, even if it is all online.  It'll be amazing, I'm sure.  Here's an early design idea for it:

That's what the next few weeks will be like for us as we get ready.  It was a quiet night. After the movie, we read and we prayed.  Sleep came easy tonight, at least for us.  Ba-Ba has been having trouble lately.  We prayed for him, and have been praying for him - and all those struggling with cancer.  Particularly lung cancer.

We're grateful for what we have here, and grateful for our quiet home and a nice place to rest our heads.  There is much to be grateful for, of course.  We prayed and said our thanks, and prayed for healing for Ba-Ba, and for healing for our troubled country.

Patriotic Jam!

Oh my!  Mommy made this delicious strawberry jam today, and you can see here it is packaged quite nicely for the Memorial Day holiday.  She had jam on the stovetop, and we were waiting a bit for it to reach 220 degrees there, each of us taking turns holding that thermometer.  But in the end, it was worth it, because the end product was delicious!  And much appreciated!  

But not everything that goes near the oven turns out the way you expect...!

This is what happens when a potato explodes in your oven.  Yep.  Holes were poked in it, but nevertheless, the pressure built up inside and... BOOM!  Madison was working in the dining area and she heard the sound from the oven.  She quickly went over and turned the oven off immediately, and we told her she did the right thing.  The other potato was tasty, by the way.  It turned out fine.

Today was Memorial Day, which is traditionally a day off and the start of the summer, which is time off as well.  But for Madison, it's like any other day lately.  There is no great barrier between spring and summer now, as the two are blended together by day after day of isolation at home.  But at least there are no more classwork assignments.  She is quite done with that.

But today we made our way over to the grandparents' house, as is a Memorial Day tradition.  There was a lot of good and delicious food there, cooked burgers, corn on the cob and more.  It was a traditional Memorial Day feast, but the highlight of it all was having family together.  We spent a long time together, and even had several rounds of a game of dominoes.  It was a great time together.

We were quoting "The Emperor's New Groove" a lot lately, so that was our movie tonight.  I think it was related to the alligator story the other day.  You'd get that reference if you knew the movie as much as we do.

It was a good day - lots of rain again, as there's this tropical storm somewhere nearby.  We're supposed to have a good bit of rain this week.  That's no problem, as it cools things off, and is so refreshing.  It also sounds great when it is that gentle rain, just outside.

Tonight we read and we prayed.  Ba-Ba is having a more difficult week, this due to some medication designed to bring his blood count back up again.  The side effects are awful.  Mommy knows this first-hand, having had to do that time and again in the past.  But she beat cancer, and we're praying and believing that same outcome for Ba-Ba as well.

Sunday Skee Ball

This morning started out with church, both services online, of course.  We had plans to be back, but the spike in cases last month in this Gainesville area caused us to rethink that strategy. We will be back though, and although it may need to be in phases, we'll return with an amazing strength.

Today Daddy finished up with the pressure washer, hopefully for good this season.  The back concrete area is done, as are the sides of the house back there.  Webs and mud all gone.  There were a few rainstorms today, and even some hail south of us.  It's a late spring weather pattern now, with pop-up showers and so forth all around.

We had a delicious meal today, still using our corn and other entries that just reminded us that it is Memorial Day weekend.  I have to bring up that corn again, because it is so good.  We're still eating Mickey Mouse ice cream bars too.

The back deck is laid out, somewhat.  We were all sitting outside today, just enjoying the sounds of nature, and the cooler temperatures under the canopy that is now all set up.  It's a nice thing, having a cup of tea outside on the back deck.  We'll have to make a habit of it!

Check out this Skee Ball set that Madison just got.  It's not that big.  It's a a tiny one, in fact.  Madison got this from Camille in the mail, as a prize for something she did in last week's online small group meeting.  Madison set up the Skee Ball set on the table, and we had a few rounds.  Daddy got as high as 140, but Madison was clearly doing better today.

We did some other games, like the new Tetris game online (we got as high as #23), and we did some Super Smash Bros as well.  But Madison was wanting to watch the story of "Ruth" tonight, and that was our viewing for the night.  We saw Sight & Sound's production of "Ruth," and it was basically a new story for Madison.

There are some flourishes and new characters, but the essence of the story is there, and it was enjoyable.  There are certainly not the special effects you'd find in something involving Moses, Jonah or Noah - those come later.  But the heart of the story is what is compelling, and it was a very nice telling.  We all enjoyed it, and I believe Sunday night might be the best time to watch these the next few weeks.  We'll be cycling through these productions, enjoying them all from week to week, plus a few other inspirational movies we've picked up recently, and some we just haven't gotten around to watching yet.  That's a good movie marathon right there!

Tonight we read some more, and we prayed of course, all this after a game of hide-and-seek.  It was late.  Tomorrow is Memorial Day, the start of the summer.  This is a three-day weekend that doesn't seem to be as big of a deal as far as "time off" goes.  But the value of the sacrifice of soldiers is important to remember, and it's good to see that this is one thing that is not forgotten.

One last thing before we go here.

"Hitler's Alligator passes away at 84"

This story is so random.  I saw this last week, so I finally looked it up: the two words “Hitler’s Alligator” just brings up so many thoughts in my head:

* Did Hitler have a pet alligator in his basement with a little made-up swamp?  

* Was he like one of those evil James Bond villains who fed his failing underlings to the alligator via a hidden trap door?

* How come I’ve never seen Hitler’s alligator in any World War II movies?

* Shouldn’t all evil totalitarian dictators have pet alligators?

So I looked it up.  The truth about this gator is a little more realistic:  the alligator didn’t belong to Hitler, and instead was at the Berlin Zoo, one that Hitler visited.  He is reported to have liked the alligator (which I’m not entirely sure did him any favors with his other alligator friends).

He was born in Mississippi, and while other alligators have ordinary alligator lives there, this one gator was destined for greatness, getting shipped off to the big city.  Unfortunately for him, as mentioned in the title, Hitler is involved, and the big city is Berlin.  On November 23, 1943, the zoo’s aquarium was bombed, and he escaped the zoo there.  Not long afterwards, he was found wandering the streets with a few of the other survivors.  This too brings up some great imagery, doesn’t it? 

Anyway, that’s when he was captured and taken with the Soviets, going from Nazi alligator to a Commie one.  This supports my “evil totalitarian dictators have pet alligators” theory.  

He died of old age last week, but various zoo patrons there in Moscow didn’t do him any favors along the way.  Apparently, in Moscow, it’s okay to throw glass bottles and even a boulder at alligators there.  Both of these incidents nearly killed the alligator.  Fortunately, veterinarians were on hand, struggling to keep him alive for a few months after the incidents.

The link below goes to the wikipedia entry, which is a more straight forward telling of the story.  His name was Saturn, and hopefully not given this name because he ate any of his children.  Still, he led an interesting and somewhat tragic life, although his final years were more peaceful.  

I can’t wait for the animated version of this story to come out.

Zoom Piano Recital

Here's Madison, getting ready for the piano recital this afternoon.  It's a Zoom Piano Recital, so she didn't have to worry about the shoes.  But today at 3pm, she was there in front of the piano, and the computer, along with about seven other students doing the same thing from their homes.

Mommy and Daddy were off to the side, so we weren't necessarily in sight or anything.  It was just Madison playing for her peers, although I'm sure there were all sorts of relatives standing nearby.  The song Madison played was practiced a lot this weekend, but never done one hundred percent exactly right.  She did it time and again this morning, and was struggling a bit, and so we were somewhat nervous about things.  But regardless, it was time to play and we sat by to listen.

It was amazing.  She nailed it.  We've heard her practice this a lot over the last month or so, and she hit every single note exactly right.  All the way to the end, not even a spot where she slowed down or missed a note, Madison played very well.  She has been practicing quite a bit, and we were happy to see her do so well.  I didn't want to mess her up by having a camera nearby, so I didn't actually record her playing.  I wish I did, at least from another room, just to hear it.  Afterwards, I recorded her playing a bit, which you can hear a sample of in this clip below.

I left the camera on for a bit as a joke there, which had us cracking up a bit longer than what is recorded.  Anyway, she played second in line, so the rest of the recital was set, with all of us listening to the kids play various tunes, from old ragtime numbers to the "Avengers" theme song.

It was nice.  Hopefully we won't have to do it again though, as it is nicer to have the kids all together in person, with an audience to cheer them on after each performance.  But this is a strange time, and this is what we did.  And it went well for Madison.

The rest of our day was doing various tasks.  Mommy got those tomato plants in the ground, and Daddy started pressure washing again, this time doing the concrete in the back behind the house.

We were playing the Nintendo Switch tonight, and I got to replay a game that I haven't played since 1991 or so.  It was "Captain Commando," and I can specifically tell you the last time I played it:  in a small arcade on the banks of the Mississippi River, right there in St. Louis.  There were three of us on a journey west, and we were stopping in St. Louis to grab a bite to eat at a McDonalds there - I think it was on a riverboat - and sure enough there were video games nearby.  So we sat there and played through this game, using up a bunch of quarters despite the fact that we had many more miles to drive going west.

Fast forward to tonight, and here I am playing the game again, with my daughter.  I've sort of been looking for this game for a while, although not too intently.  So when I saw it was available to get for this system, I eventually got around to downloading it, and so tonight the two of us played as Baby Head, Mac the Knife, Ginsu the Ninja and Captain Commando.  It's not a terribly complicated game or anything - it's pure nostalgia.  But Madison did enjoy it.

Anyway, we went to bed tonight like we always do, with reading and prayers.  It was a nice day today, the highlight being the piano recital.  Madison did well.  We'll continue classes during the summer, but she can finally put this one song to the side.  She's ready to play something new, which we'll no doubt be looking for this summer.

Last Day of Seventh Grade

And here we are at the last day of Seventh Grade.  No ceremony or special moments, other than a few internet gatherings here and there.  It was just like every other day we've had the past few months, the big thing I guess being that there's no homework or classwork now for a few weeks.  I'm assuming we're starting up again in August, or perhaps in September (when we used to start up school).  But that's not officially decided yet.  You feel like there should be some moment where it all ends officially and you're there saying, "okay, that's that!"  Madison literally counted down the minutes in the school day - there were three minutes left until the dismissal bell, and she was counting those down with her friends online, all from home.  And when it was done, there was a small cheer - but that was that.

There is a gathering avalanche of support of people in this nation who have decided it is time to open up again.  Those who feel led to stay at home can do so - it's a free country.  Those who need to open up again and get back to work can do so - it's a free country.  It's been the debate of the year, balancing what we know with what we don't know, and of course much of that has been interchangeable.  One moment we're fearful of touching surfaces because we've been told to.  Then this week we're told we don't have to worry about that so much.  The debate about masks is nearly identical.  Or if people can catch this virus again once they've beaten it - early on we thought you could catch it again, and just this week, there's a report that once it is gone, it's gone.  All this information is so fluid, and the end result is that whatever is true is only what is true as of today.  Yesterday's truth might not be true anymore.

Along these lines, today the President made a proclamation that churches are "essential."  Obviously, we feel the same way:  they're essential.  Liquor stores have been declared "essential," the logic goes, because there are people with substance abuse issues and they need that, otherwise they'll be at the overcrowded hospitals causing trouble.  That's the thinking there.  Following this same logic, it stands to reason that the church also keeps people out of the hospitals.  Obviously, this is just as long as the church is following the latest necessary guidelines for safety.  We're a free country, and so long as we do things as safely as directed, what's the issue?

That being said, we're still not opening the church this weekend.  And we're not going back to work next week either.  That was a thought about a month ago, a wish for all of us.  And if we lived in another part of Georgia, it might have been what we would be doing this weekend.  But currently, Gainesville is still a "hot spot" for this virus, which is to say there was recently a surge of people testing positive for the virus.  But that number is going down.

Indeed, the overall cases for the state of Georgia are going down, and have been going down overall for weeks now.  The Governor was blasted for being too optimistic, and opening things too early.  He was thinking of small businesses, and he could see the numbers going down.  And again, the discussion was always not about the number of cases, but about the hospitals being overwhelmed.   That was what "flattening the curve" was about.  Anyway, we're getting closer.  The curve is flattening and the numbers are going down, slowly but surely.  The point is, we're getting closer to being a free country again.

Tonight, Madison and I were getting our baseball fix with a trip back to 1984's Nintendo baseball game.

Seriously, we played nine innings of this ancient game, just because it was on the Switch's gallery of games.  Madison was hankering for a game of baseball, and here it was.  And the game was a nail biter too!  It came down to the bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, and a super close play at third base. Madison won the game 8-7, and the crowd went wild!

We also visited an old game that I used to play just about every day after school over at a friend's house:  Mario Brothers.  Madison was introduced to this, and the game is so simple, getting turtles, crabs and fireflies.  But there's this somewhat competitive element that can get out of hand, and that's hilarious.  The game is instantly catchy, and this may have been the first time I've played it since 1988, possibly.  It was good to be back in the sewer.  Or wherever these pipes lead.  Anyway, we had fun with this, so much so that we played it for over a half-hour.

Mommy was making a meal that ended our game playing - we had that fresh corn on the cob, which was so incredibly good.  There was watermelon and cantaloupe, and some other Memorial Day fixings, all on patriotic placemats.  It was a nice seasonal meal there.  Mommy even has the new patriotic garden flag out there.  It's Memorial Day weekend!  You wouldn't know this exactly because of all the closures and regulations, but it's still there on the calendar.  The joke is that we all can stay home on Memorial Day because it's a holiday.

Tonight we finished our "Oz" marathon, at least for now, with "Return to Oz," which is possibly one of the most disturbing kids movies ever made.  We were laughing at the whole "head collection" scene, at how awful that must be for a kid to see.  And the faces of the Wheelies.  But I actually kind of like the movie in some ways.  Madison...  not so much!

We read tonight, and we prayed too.  It was a fairly productive day for Daddy, doing a bit of writing for Summer Xtreme, and finishing up the driveway finally.  It's pristine, and it only cost me a few pressure washing hoses.  We'll have to figure that out, because we had a few of them burst while the device was in use.

Regardless, it was a good day.  The last day of seventh grade, and not so much a bang as a fizzle.  But still, there are worse things than spending the day together with family, playing games, eating wonderful food and ending the evening with stories of pirates and adventure.

Knock it off!

This morning, Everest came up with Daddy to visit Josh, as you can see here.  Everest is a plush abominable snowman we got at the Big Foot Museum last summer, and he's been a projectile hurled at Daddy ever since, when he's least expecting it.  But today, he was along for the ride up to north Habersham county, where Daddy was dropping off some video files earlier.

I made it back just in time to get Madison to taekwondo.

You can see everyone is back at it again.  There were a few testing for belts in a separate room, but here you can see one exercise where students were kicking the cushions in an attempt to knock off the small disc object off at the top.

The impact of the kick shook each cushion.  Students were told to do one kick on the count of three, and then another after that, and then one kick after that and so on.  Whoever knocked theirs off at the end the most was the winner.  You can see Madison kicking off hers here - she was one of the first!

In the end, even though there were older and bigger boys in there, do you know who won?

Yes, that's right - Madison did!  She knocked hers off the most, surprising everyone, including herself perhaps.  She did great!  There were other activities as well, including one involving balancing those plastic discs on the students' heads.  It was a fun afternoon, a nice relaxing one, as is the usual custom after a major testing.

Daddy, Mommy (from home), Bart and Chris were all on a Zoom meeting right after this, and Madison was in and out for a bit too.  You might not be able to see it, but Daddy is calling from Lester's Possum Park.

During the meeting, Madison was also helping out and even co-hosting the Zoom class for the younger students still training from home.  But Daddy's meeting was about Summer Xtreme, which is rapidly approaching. We made some good advancements, including nailing down the messages and overall theme for the upcoming Summer Xtreme.  Yes, it'll be "Summer Xtreme:  United."  It will have a space theme, so we can use our "Tribes in Space" material from a few years ago.  We're adding a lot of new material too, but the older material allows us to build on something and have a greater end product.  "Tribes in Space" was five years ago, so it's been a while.

We got home, and we ate more of the orange chicken that Mommy had made up for dinner.  It was so good, using juice from freshly squeezed oranges.  She's made hot buffalo chicken for Madison too, and it's also really good.

Madison is pretty much done with school now.  There's I believe one last meeting tomorrow, and today had a few.  She's meeting with teachers and students online, and there's not necessarily anything work-related involved.  She's just saying hello - and goodbye, in a way.  She did well for seventh grade, and the surprise is that we might get yearbooks next week.

She hasn't been as affected as eight graders, and certainly not as much as seniors this year.  But it still is weird that tomorrow is the last day of school.  It seems like any other day, and in fact this is May.  It feels just like every other day we've had.  It's cold, and it rained a bit.  And there are no movies or shows or ball games to go to.  We just stay home day after day, and do our best to make things interesting, and of course do our best to be as productive as we can.

I didn't get to finish pressure washing the driveway, but Mommy has been cooking up so much lately.  On the way home from taekwondo, we brought her some ice cream.  And we picked up three boxes of Madison's favorite pizza snack, which has been sold out the last few times we were there.  Yes, I got three boxes.  Because I've been there three times and there hasn't been any of that particular pizza, okay?

Anyway, tonight we stayed up late playing video games, while Mommy was doing ancestry research.  Madison and Daddy were doing the Super Nintendo version of Mario Kart, and an old game with Kirby too.  We've just recently opened up this feature on the Nintendo Switch, and I have no idea why we waited this long!  It's got all the old classics, and soon Madison will be well versed with all things Mario from that era.  I'd love to see some stuff from the N64.

We decided to return to Oz tomorrow night, as the Nintendo library sort of overwhelmed us.  It was fun though!  We went to bed pretty late tonight, just saying our prayers and getting to bed rather quickly, as we have to get up a little early tomorrow.

No Place Like Home

Nerdo Jones - he's become pretty popular with our current series at KidPak online.  There's just been a strange fascination with Nerdo all these years, an indescribable quality that makes him irresistible to the kids.  We've got a lot of characters coming back soon - Daddy has some writing to do very soon.

It was raining today, as it will for much of the week.  It was a cool rain, the overcast skies keeping the temperature down lower today.  It's okay - Madison was needing to stay indoors to finish up all her classwork for seventh grade.  Yes, and here we are at the last week of seventh grade, not at all what anyone expected.  Parents are posting pictures of kids for their "last day of school" shots, and of course they're all taken at home now.

Tonight we continued our "Oz" movie marathon with the classic "Wizard of Oz," which is still such a great movie.  It's so timeless.  It's hard to believe how old this movie is.  Shortly after the release of this movie, America got involved in World War II.  So much history in real life between then and now.  It's such a well-made movie too.  Madison likes the one we watched last night a little better, as this one doesn't have the special effects and so forth.  But can we talk about those special effects in 1939?  The tornado?  The flying monkeys?  All of it is just amazing!

This watermelon and cantaloupe we've had from Jaemor Farms... it's been so good.  The strawberries were magnificent.  It's just been so much better than the grocery store.  We picked up ears of corn too, and can't wait to sample those as well.  Mommy has been cooking some wonderful meals lately, and this whole quarantine isn't going to prevent her from cooking up some wonderful feasts!  Lately, she's been making orange chicken, squeezing the oranges and making a delicious sauce to coat some gluten-free fried chicken.  Magnificent!

Madison was working on her piano some today, but she'll have to pick up on that more - there's an online "recital" on Saturday, and she'll be playing for a slightly larger audience.  She'll have more time to practice later.  In the meantime, we were reading tonight from our "Pirates" book, and we said our prayers for Ba-Ba, who has a lower blood count right now.  He needs it to be higher in order to get chemotherapy, which makes it lower.  Such is the process.  We're praying for complete healing.  If cancer were ever personified, I'm sure there'd be a tremendously long line of people waiting patiently for their turn to mercilessly pummel it.

Anyway, we got a few things done today, planting a few things and working on the driveway some.  We didn't go out beyond the filming of Nerdo, but that's okay.  There's no place like home.

Brown Belt Decided

We had a few things happen today, but this was one of the bigger events:  Madison has earned her brown belt decided!  You can see her above, going through her form, which she says is not as complicated as previous ones.  She nailed it, and Daddy was happy to have some great pictures of her today too.

Here she is, holding her belt afterwards.  The pandemic forced us all to be a little different in the presentation for the belt this time around.  Families weren't there nearby, pulling on the belt together to create the knot and so forth.  Daddy was at the entrance here, taking pictures of everyone with their belts, starting with Madison.

As for the testing itself, that was very much like a usual testing, except the lack of sparring.  There was no sparring, as that would involve contact.  The kids were socially distant, which means they were more than six feet apart as they did their testing.

And of course, everything was cleaned vigorously.  This belt was so unique in that it was earned with Zoom classes, and then these small setting classes with lots of cleaning agents all around.

Madison did really well with the nunchucks, twirling them around and looking like she was having a great time while doing it.

The class was larger than the six kids that were there for the 3pm slot this last week.  Some of the students from the later class shifted to an earlier time here to make more room there, as they were able to come in for the afternoon time.

But the class size was still small enough that there was plenty of attention given to each student by the instructors.  Again, we're so proud of Mr. and Mrs. Edge.  They've done such a fantastic job these last few months, striving to keep this all running as best they can, and they've been more exhausted than the kids in some places, as it is somewhat of a daily marathon with computers and energetic hosting, one segment after another.

Here you can see the students doing their form.  Madison is in the midst of a jump kick, and other other students are in the midst of other portions of their form as well.  There were differences, of course, in what things were done, as there were different belt ranks.  Madison has had her brown belt, and it was one that saw her through a very difficult season for the studio, in more ways than just the virus.

But how great that these students can keep moving forward, and how great to see the studio with more students again.  Eventually, we'll all be together again with full strength.  But this is the best we could do at the moment, and how great it was to see the parents all lined up at the windows - socially distant, of course - watching their kids earn a new belt rank.

Mommy was here too, watching through the window as Daddy was inside, snapping pictures.  I've sort of become the photographer for a lot of these families, catching whatever action shots I can.  Obviously, I've got a lot more of Madison.  There was a lot to take pictures of today.  The kids were focused on getting that next rank.

You have to go back to March 5th to see the last belt rank testing, when Madison first earned her brown belt recommended.  That was just on the edge of this worldwide pandemic, right when we were only just talking about it, and not even imagining a world where everything closes down.  And on this blog, you can see her progress through it all, training in front of a television screen on mats in the living room, or in these small afternoon classes these past two or three weeks.

She's been focused though.  Just as she's been focused in school, she's been focused on getting this next belt.  Hopefully the next time there's training, all of the students will be together, because she really misses some of them.  But she's happy to be with the afternoon class she's in right now as well.

Here you can see her sparring with a cushion.  There was no contact today, so she got busy using her skills to destroy her stationary opponent, raining down punishment with a foot-fist fiesta!

Nunchuck skills were a focus this season, as this was one thing that didn't require contact at all.  I think she's grown quite a bit with these, feeling a little more comfortable twirling them about.  I still don't entirely see how useful these can be in actual combat, but there's no denying they look pretty cool when you see your daughter flipping them all around.

Although these sorts of poses are the coolest of all.  There's a strength in her strikes, but also her defenses too, an intensity with her focus.  It's a choreography that is teaching her forms and postures that help prepare her, but also give her confidence.

And in the end, the students got their belts.  They were put in front of each student, still wrapped in plastic this time, all socially distant of course.  Daddy snapped pictures of each student as they were dismissed one by one to the entrance of the studio.  Each student posed with his or her belt, smiling at their accomplishment.

No group shot today, no family shots either.  Families were outside as the students trained inside.  They reunited when all was said and done, and there was much congratulating.  Madison did very well, as did all the others.  Not just today for training, but all through this, consistent and wanting to keep moving forward, despite all the challenges the world had to offer.

Of course, today was more than just a belt ceremony.  It's just that I had a whole lot of pictures from that, and it was in fact a pretty big deal, an achievement amidst the whole outbreak.

We were filming again today at the church, and it was an epic outdoor board game that we created for two adventurous contestants.  It was a game that involved clam juice, sardines, baby food, pickle juice, hopping on one foot, being blindfolded, and having a cream pie to the face.  In other words, typical KidPak.

Daddy stopped by a nursery on the way home.  It's only about two miles from our house.  A friend of ours works there, and we heard they had some tomato plants, so I picked up about nine of these.  We'll plant them soon enough, and they can join some of our other produce that we've already planted.  We're developing our garden now!

Tonight, we started an "Ozfest."  That'll be three movies, as far as I know.  Daddy was considering messages for these, a sort of "Oz" series for KidPak somewhere down the yellow brick road.  In the meantime, just watching the movies again will be nice.  Tonight, we actually started with "Oz the Great and Powerful," which sets up the classic "Wizard of Oz" tomorrow night, and then "Return to Oz" at the end.  The messages of "The Wizard of Oz" are fairly obvious, invoking courage, wisdom, love, and contentment.  Tonight's movie was great to see again, and there are good messages within as well about redemption, and again being content.  The last time we saw this movie, by the way, was on the Disney cruise. That got us reminiscing, and longing to go back again.  Some day.  Some day this will all be over with and we'll be free again.

Anyway, tonight we read and we prayed as well.  We prayed for Ba-Ba, who was taking a particular injection today that Mommy and I remember very well.  The purpose of it was to increase the blood count, and the side-effects of this were notorious.  This was one of those shots that caused more trouble for Mommy than much of the chemotherapy itself.  But she made it through, and we're praying the same for Ba-Ba.

After hide-and-seek, we gathered together our room to read about Carina Smyth a bit more.  We tucked Madison in, and tucked ourselves in after that, ready for a good night's rest.