Zoe's tale of horror

Zoe thinks she is being stalked.  She keeps a protective eye on her dinner and water dishes.  The iRobot roomba has threatened her territory.

I came home from an afternoon of shopping and found Bob sitting at his computer with an alert Zoe, ears up, on his lap.  “How was your day?” I asked. 

“I’m just exhausted.” Bob replied, “Don’t your hear the noise?”

Then it came to me.  He had purchased a new toy.  Sure enough, the roomba was swirling under the chairs and beds, doing the hula down the hallway, and heading back to its dock to be recharged.  I think I heard Zoe breathe the inevitable sigh of relief when the quiet returned.  Bob calls the robot “Mr. Roomba,” but Zoe is convinced it’s actually possessed and has dubbed it “Chucky.”

Since Bob retired, we’ve split the housework.  He’s in charge of floors, while I dust and clean the bathrooms.  With the faux wooden floors we have throughout the condo and the light coming in through the three sets of sliding glass doors, dust bunnies seem to be reproducing at an exaggerated rate.  Bob turned toward technology to replace his time behind the electric broom.  I’d be more satisfied with its performance if it did a better job on corners and mopped.  Probably the next generation will be so programmed.  (Now was I talking about roombas or men?)

Zoe has adapted pretty well to the robot now and usually escapes to our bed for a rest when she recognizes it has awakened.  However, since we moved a chaise lounge to the end of the bed, she has found another favorite place to nap.  It has long been my dream to have a fainting couch to snuggle in during the hours I spend reading, and this is a delightful luxury.  Luckily, Zoe shares it with me.  Bob, in jest, calls it the most expensive dog bed ever, and when I put our pole lamp with its three lights by it, he named it Zoe’s personal tanning couch.  She is unaware of all this though as she lays her head on the pillow and dreams of chasing the black squirrels.

Stormy weather

Our neighbor saw the vortex.  We stood stunned, unable to move even when we knew we should be concerned for our safety.   Large branches were flying off of the long-lived tree in front of the pier.  As the wind and rain increased, the right third of the tree began swaying almost rhythmically, its branches dipping close to the sand.  We expected to hear the crack and see it in repose on the ground.  Then, the storm increased in intensity, and we had no view at all.

This was the second storm of the morning.  The first, in the early hours, left us without electricity, without a way to brew coffee.  Seemed like a good idea to climb back in bed until the rain had stopped and the sun appeared.  Without access to computer or television, we read.

It was the darkness that alerted us to the approaching storm.  We had no other warning than the disappearing page.

Seventy to eighty mile-per-hour winds and two water spouts on Lake Macatawa were reported.  Our neighborhood had been ravaged.  Hundred-year-old trees lay fallen over electric lines, streets, houses, and cars, while the power plant was rendered impotent from a direct hit by a lightning bolt.  

It was Monday.  What an inauspicious way to begin a week.

Red velvet cake

Red velvet.  The cake.  The best cake in the world.  My love for this confection started some forty years ago when I dined at an antebellum home turned restaurant in Biloxi, Mississippi.  It has never wavered.

Red velvet.  The name as it’s spoken and the vision of velvet material prepare one for the exquisite taste and texture of this dessert.  It starts with four layers of Chocolate Devil’s Food cake made tender by the use of buttermilk and red by the addition of a generous amount of red food coloring.  Cream cheese frosting tops each of the layers and is to the eyes and the tongue a perfect counterbalance.

Does this delicacy represent a tug of war between good and evil?  Or is it simply a representation of both its deliciousness and amount of calories?  No matter, it is a dessert not to be missed.  A taste of heaven, I’m sure.

And now I just discovered that Marble Slab Creamery is offering red velvet ice cream.  Yes, it’s something that should be sampled.  Tonight.

The REAL joy of biking

Do you remember learning to ride your first bicycle?  My dad steadied me with a hold on the handlebars and seat and ran by my side as I pedaled down Coronado Drive.  It turned out that balancing  wasn’t difficult for me but learning to stop was.  Thankfully my father hadn’t become too winded by the time I was able to brake and put my feet down   For me, speed, distance, and freedom took on new meanings.  I imagine it does for all new bikers.

Last Sunday, at the Union Avenue Christian Church in Litchfield, IL, I was reminded of that adventure when a pediatrician spoke to the congregation about the five-day Tour d’Haiti that he and twenty-some other bike riders had participated in.  Over the course of 200 miles, the men visited Haitian children’s villages and gave away 200 Mongoose bicycles to orphaned and abandoned children.  The video presentation was heart-grabbing, while some of the statistics he shared were heart-wrenching.  For example, it’s estimated that there are over 250,000 orphans in Haiti, 100,000 in Cambodia, 85,000 in Chad, and nearly a million orphans or other vulnerable children in Rwanda.  These children need cared for, educated, and loved.

The Global Orphan Project (transforming lives through orphan care), www,globalorphanproject.org, is doing just that.  Although not affiliated with any denomination, the heart of this ministry is to “exist and operate as an expression of Jesus Christ’s radical love in a fallen world.”  It’s mission is based on James 1:27 Religion that God our father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Donations go to meet the critical unmet needs of children and for investment in agricultural and economic development to make local orphan care sustainable.  Donors can also sponsor a home or village. All administrative overhead and fund raising expenses have been covered by some very generous givers.

Please visit the web site and see this money at work  Then see how you can become involved.  You have the chance to be God’s hands and feet in a very concrete way.  You have the power to transform the lives of orphaned and abandoned children.