We love Tuesdays. It's our day off. Don't get me wrong, we love going to "work" (play with kids, teach Bible stories, talk with 93 year olds), but days off are welcome. Yesterday, our socks were on by 7:20, shoes by 7:30 and we were running for our lives. One of the many things I appreciate about SG is that she's a runner. I run, but most days I wouldn't consider myself a runner. SG, on the other hand, is a fabulous runner, and is patient enough to drag me along whenever I like. So we ran.
This was followed up by a stint in the library nestled in the kids' section (the grownup section doesn't have bean bags). Right now, I'm reading A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle. It's not bad, but I look at it as sort of an ugly stepsister to anything C.S. Lewis wrote. She has some good ideas, but her wordcraft isn't as effortless. I know, I'm biased.
Speaking of books, can we take a break in our regularly scheduled blogging to talk about The Hunger Games? I know, you've all read them and seen the movie, the hype's ebbing and you're tired of hearing about it. But really, over here in small town Australia, I'm languishing away because book 3 is still checked out at the library! AHHHHHHHHHH. Do you hear me? Lang-uish-ing! Collins is a wonderful plot crafter, to be sure. While I question her liberal use of violence and nakedness to get her point across, there is no question that at least the first two books are cliffhangers of a narcotic sort.
How do we approach well crafted novels that have objectionable content in them? The violence is not seen in a positive light, but more of a necessary evil, and one that becomes quite common as the Games progress. Teenagers killing each other with their bare hands in order to survive. How much does that become modeling for teenagers and young adults reading the books? What process do we undertake to encourage free speech and great authorship while still being aware of the impressionability of kids' minds? Let me know if you have any great ideas.
Back to Tuesday.
When library time was over, it was coffee time. Coffee time is usually a daily ritual, but only on Tuesdays does coffee time take place in a café. SG and I are tightwads, to put it succinctly, so we generally only indulge in buying coffee on Tuesdays. We've tried almost all of the cafés on the main street, which is quite an achievement. This week, we chose poorly. In this café's defense, it's brand new, and there's still a bit of unfinished construction in the back corner. As noted in the previous post, the lattes were unremarkable. Coffee aside, we made use of the internet and booked our trip to Queensland. Frequent flyer miles, here we come.
We couldn't stay at the café too long because we had an afternoon engagement. Pastor John had commissioned George and old Ian (not to be confused with big Ian and Ian P) to show these uneducated girls Chariots of Fire (yay, running). George picked us up and Ian met us at George's. They've been friends for 20 years. They're both remarkable, kind, wonderful old men who deserve to have books written about them. We all sat in George's living room and watched the movie, turned up to full volume because Ian's going deaf. Afterwards, of course, was afternoon tea. George made the tea and then brought around rocky road fudge, short bread, and caramel slice (favorite!). Such a great way to spend an afternoon!
On the way back from George's, SG fished the grocery list out of her bag and we split to do some grocery battle. Back at the house, we unloaded the tahini, honey, eggs, and heaps of produce we plan on using in our week's menu plan. Yes, we meal plan, you can be impressed.
Zucchini safely in the fridge, we set off to Joan and Ian's (Ian P) for dinner with the Africans. I use the term African, not in an ignorant way, just as a short cut for saying they were from Zimbabwe, Angola, Malawi, etc. Joan and Ian are excellent hosts and had invited a dozen engineers studying for a month at a local university for dinner. I ducked out early to play on Chez's basketball team in place of Eliza, who's currently on her honeymoon in Vietnam.
Basketball. I quit basketball after basketball camp when I was 8 and discovered I couldn't dribble. I took it up again informally in high school and for one season for intramurals under my brother's coaching. That said, I don't have much going for me. I don't know very many of the rules, hardly any strategy, and I can't shoot. Oh, and I'm short. The one thing on my side is I'm aggressive and fouls don't worry me too much. The team we played was short and quick. They were aggressive and worked together pretty well. I got the ball a couple times and passed it off straight away. I think I still have a slight fear of dribbling. That aside, I did get my first chance at making a free throw. Although I had to ask which line I stood behind, I missed the first shot and nailed the second. We lost by one point.
Back to dinner with the Africans, where SG was playing co-hostess along with Ian and Joan's son in law and grandson. I got there just in time for dessert. Perfect. At the end of dinner, everyone said goodnight and thank you with various renditions of blessings in their heart language. We shook their hands and they piled back into the bus with the Chinese bus driver who always brings Ian and Joan's international visitors from the university.
We caught a ride home with Ian's son in law and promptly went to bed.
Goodnight, Tuesday, it's been fun.
Little Miss Sunshine
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