I wanna be your hero

In my last post there was a link about a very special little boy named Sam who has leukemia and his family are doing their best to show him he is hero and (hopefully) a survivor. They are asking everyone who reads about him to pray--the family are Jewish but said to pray in whatever way you can, because God hears all our voices, no matter how we pray.

 They are also asking people to dress in their favourite superhero costume or tee-shirt and cape and take a photo of themselves and post it to him. His knows he is part of a superhero team that are all praying for him and even if they don’t know him, care about him. He is bored and restless in hospital and the mail cheers him up enormously.  Their blog says this:

 Take a photograph of yourself wearing your favorite superhero shirt
(or holding up their logo...or just smiling!)

Print out the picture.

Put it in an envelope and mail it to:

Sam Sommer, E571

Children's Hospital of Wisconsin

P.O. Box 1997

Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201-1997

We will hang all the pictures on Sam's wall...Team Superman Sam!

I printed off a photo of one of the tarantulas and have attached the Spiderman logo to her carapace with a friendly note and am sending that off on Monday when I get to the post office. I urge anyone who reads this to do the same.

It’s just a little thing, but it means so much to a little boy. C’mon, be a superhero.

Being a Superhero

One of the blogs I read called  Peas and Thank You   recently wrote about teaching VBS (that’s Vacation Bible School for those not familiar with this concept) The theme was Superheroes. I know what you’re thinking--but it isn’t just that God is the ultimate superhero, but that every person and every child has the ability to be a superhero in their own life by putting the needs of others above their own.

One of my favourite poems  by vegetarian mystic Teresa of Avila is:

 Christ has no body now on earth but yours;

Yours are the only hands with which he can do his work,
Yours are the only feet with which he can go about the world,
Yours are the only eyes through which his compassion can shine forth upon a troubled world.
Christ has no body on earth but yours.

We can look up to Him and make the world a better place or we can look down and focus only on ourselves. Do you know which one will truly bring happiness? It is a proven fact that doing good for others increases the feel good chemicals in our brain. Plus the more you spread goodness and light and love the more there is in the world and the more comes back to you. Levavi Oculos--lift up your eyes. I have this tattooed on my arm to help me always to remember this fact. If you approach every situation with the thought, “What can I give here?” instead of “What can I get  here?” how much more blessed will your life be?  I’m not talking about being a doormat, I’m talking about basic kindness.

There are lots of things you can do to make the world better, small things that make a big difference. Thanks to Peas and Thank You for the ideas.

• Pack resealable plastic bags with toothbrush/paste, soap, socks, granola bars, etc. and drop them off at shelters or with the homeless.
• Let someone go ahead of you at the bank or the grocery store.
• Leave a kind, supportive comment on a blog or website
• Donate gently used grown-up books to your local retirement homes and care facilities and used children’s books to libraries, churches and shelters.
• Leave an Operation Beautiful note.
• Go through your pantry for canned food/dried goods donations for the local food share (here are the most requested items).
• Push your neighbor’s empty garbage cans from the curb to the side of their house.
• Write a thank you note to someone who you appreciate (your mailman, garbage man, the local fire or police department, that extra nice grocery clerk).
• Give a stranger, a friend, a child, a spouse (or all four) a sincere compliment.
• Take a picture of yourself wearing a superhero shirt or logo (or any shirt + a huge smile) and send it to “Superman Sam,” a Wisconsin six year-old battling Leukemia

 Things like “pay it forward” or “random acts of kindness” fit into this category. Most of these things are easy to do and at little to no cost to us because we have so much—we are so wealthy with enough food and shelter over our heads, whilst many have none. We feel loved and supported whilst many feel alone. There is a remedy for that.

 Be the remedy.

Confident or delusional?

There is a fine line between being confident and being delusional. As I child I loathed the Olympics because I could not see that those athletes were any better than me. Wearing a leotard and doing a wonky cartwheel or roller skating down the driveway in a tutu made me feel graceful, talented, every bit as good as the gymnasts and ice skaters I saw on telly. No matter how my parents tried to explain that those people had trained for hours a day for years to be able to do that I just went, “Pfffft. I could do that.”

the junior Olympic team at work

source: skatefresh.com

Clearly just wearing a tutu does not make you an Olympic skater, but somehow the tutu transformed me (in my mind) from a scabby kneed girl to a beautiful, graceful athlete. Same with the leotard. I can recall on a separate incident that I could not effectively clean house without a bandana tied on my head a la Aunt Jemima. The right clothes can make you feel the part.

I am sure my family would have called me delusional, but I called it an unwavering confidence in my grace and beauty and talent.

What I *feel* like

Source:music.syncweekly.com

what I *actually* sound like

 source: ukuleleworld.com

Cut to today. I am a self taught ukulele player. I adore playing with all my heart and when I’m alone in our bedroom plinky-plinking away I feel like a rock goddess—like Joan Jett if she were to be a ukulele player.  I rock out on the ukulele—which you can do more than you realize. I enjoy playing and singing along to familiar songs, I enjoy the challenge of learning a difficult chord (although I am prone to wimping out and just subbing in a chord that it easier and fairly close to the actual chord--my theory is a ukulele always sounds  slightly out of tune so I hope these substitutions are less noticeable) I take great pride in the calluses on 3 of my fingers and often pretend to be Bryan Adams in the summer of ’69 and hum to myself, “played it ‘til my fingers bled” after a long plinky-plink session where my calluses all have a groove in them from pressing on the strings.

The reality is I have lots of confidence when I play for myself.  But I struggle to play for others as I realize that the vision of me as rock goddess are less than true and when others are listening I become nervous and make more mistakes. The truth is--I will never be truly great at this no matter how much I practice. That’s not running myself down, that’s just honest. Strumming is hard for me to keep a consistent up and down rhythm and after a year is showing few signs of improving with practice. My friend Clare describes the movement you need to do for strumming as “lazy handjob.”  There is--and perhaps always will be--a 3 second pause before I play the chord Em as I have to look at my fingers to get them into the correct place. I am not delusional, I know exactly how I sound when plinky-plinking away like a mad woman. But somehow knowing I am just average doesn’t knock my confidence--at least when I am alone--because I really enjoy playing.

My goals are to feel like I’m wearing the tutu--and by that I mean do it in front of God and everyone and even if I fall and skin my knee I still feel beautiful and graceful and talented.

Plinky-plink.

 

The Wizard of Jaws

This is a new game we made up last night waiting outside the cinema when a man asked me (me of all people!) to take a photo of him next to the poster for the film Jaws--which some of you know is my worst nightmare film. I convinced my parents at age 6 that it would be a good idea to let me see and and I had nightmares for years after that. I still see a picture of a shark and shudder. Don't even think of asking me to go swimming in the sea after an up close and personal encounter with a shark at age 10.

 So when this dude said, "Would you take a picture of me in front of the film poster for Jaws?" I was all agreeable and friendly--mainly because I didn't think that is what he said!!! I thought he said Duel and I was thinking to myself, "When did they re-realease Duel?" Then, of course, I had to follow through.

It wasn't as bad as I thought. the image of that enormous shark coming up through the water to attack that lady swimming at the top was a familiar sight. For years as a child I obsessively drew that image by day in the hopes of exorcising the demon that would give me nightmares. Didn't work.

(at this point I had hoped to cut and paste a picture of the movie poster but the search scared me so bad as I caught sight of a gaping mouth, red gums and teeth--my heart is thumping away like a galloping horse--that I could only look at the screen over my shoulder and throught my fingers and so was not able to see an image clearly to do so.)

Anyway, Spiderman invented a game by combining my favourite film--The Wizard of Oz and my least favourite--Jaws. This is how it goes:

Cue music:
Scarecrow: And I'm sure to get a brain
Tin Man: A heart
Dorothy: A home
Cowardly Lion: The nerve
Brody: A bigger boat

So there you go. How many other films can you mash up?

Kukla, Fran and Asbo

We have a new game in our household based on a bizarre dream I had the other night. For my British friends--Kukla, Fran and Ollie was an American telly programme with puppets that first aired 1947-1957 back when TV was black and white. It was all ad libbed and very funny. Fran was the lady, Kukla the "human" puppet and Ollie the dragon.

In my dream it was Kukla, Fran and Asbo. For my American friends--an ASBO in an Anti-Social behaviour Order. If you are continually rude and obnoxious in public you can be slapped with one of these babies and you get a fine or put in jail for doing it again.



The game is played when you make up new dialogue for the characters.

KUKLA, FRAN AND ASBO

Fran: I hear there's a steel drum band playing in market square today. Shall we go and listen?

Kukla: Yes lets. I love the sounds of an authentic Caribbean band.

Asbo: Shut the f**k up, you f**king wankers, I've got a hangover. Bleeeech. (sound of retching)

Then Spiderman invented Kukla, Fran and Oral. For my British friends who don't know Oral Roberts was a conservative, evangelical pioneer in TV evangelism.

KUKLA,FRAN AND ORAL

Fran: Today we're going to see our friends Richard and Tommy.

Kukla:They're very excited to live in Vermont because the state of Vermont recognises same-sex marriages.

Oral: All queers burn in hell.

Then last night I thought of Kukla, Fran and Wally. He's known as the star of  "Where's Wally" books here--called "Where's Waldo" in the U.S.

KUKLA, FRAN AND WALLY

Fran: Today we're going to the beach. We can't go without Wally. Where is he? Have you seen him?

Kukla: I don't know but he'll be easy to spot in his stripy jumper and bobble hat.

Now you can play at home too!



Chocolate Cherry Dingle Dooty

Which is a name we just made up (based on the funny banter before and after that subversive trivia computer game You Don't Know Jack!) for a chocolate cherry ice-cream I made in my beloved Vita-Mix blender. Cherries are £1.50 for a pound in weight at the market right now.

Here’s what you have to do. *warning* don’t try this with your regular blender or you will burn your motor out.

1. Rinse cherries and let them dry well

2. Stone your cherries

3.  Put cherries in the freezer overnight.

4. The next day add 1 cup chocolate plant based milk to your blender, ¼ cup sugar and the frozen cherries. You can add 2 TB unsweetened coca powder as well to make it extra chocoate-y.

6. Then put the lid on and use the tamper to push the cherries into the blades with all your might while you blend on high and in about 1 minutes you get this:

7. Scoop it into bowls--it easily feeds four people (or 2 rather greedy people)

I think this may be our new favourite and will be a treat to look forward to when cherries are in season and  cheap.

Pussycat, Pussycat, where have you been?

from the Welwyn Hatfield Times

I've been to Hitchin to see the Queen!

Do you remember that old nursery rhyme? Well yesterday it came true for me! The Queen came to Hitchin! She was here as part of her Diamond Jubilee celebration and to give an award to our volunteers at the wonderful British Schools Museum which is the only surviving Lancasterian school in the world and to meet some local shopkeepers at places like Halsey's Deli which was opened in 1854.

The Good: All the schools were invited and because my school has special connections with the British Schools Museum we got a prime location. Plus 30 of our children were chosen to dress as Victorian school children and stand closer to the Queen when she came. The day arrived and amazingly the weather was good. Blue sky and not too cold or too hot.

from The Comet

The bad: The Queen was due to arrive in Hitchin train station at 10:30  and then come in her fancy motor car with giant crest on top like a Mohawk hair-do--just so you would know it was the Queen riding around--by 10:45. But streets were being filled up behind the barricades by 8:00am and schools had to be there by 9:15 to be in place. We registered the kids and then high tailed it out of there  and walked 200 children in a big crocodile down to the town centre. It is a VERY long wait for little ones, outside with nothing to do and no snacks or water and having to stand in one place for 2 hours. Everyone had plastic Union Flags and all sorts of games were devised (and stopped immediately) such as "who could spit through the hollow straw-like handle" and "use your flag like a sword and poke your neighbour"--we did allow them to play their flags like a trumpet as the brass band played, we're not total meanies.



from Heart radio

The Ugly: We did everything right and our children were beautifully behaved. However I cannot say that of other schools. Several schools arrived over an hour after we did and then wanted us to move over so their children could get a better view. there was pushing and shoving with people crushing our children into the barricades and name calling when we didn't agree to "squat down and let them see"--and that was from the TEACHERS! We were told that we should move back and let their children in and we refused. If they wanted to get a better view they should have come early like we did. Besides we were put in this spot by the police and told to stay here and so we were not moving. Other schools--children and teachers--shoved and insulted us, but we stayed firm. Our school also seemed to be the only one telling children off for behaving badly as all around us children from other schools spoke rudely to adults and ran around unsupervised whilst their adults stood and did nothing--or worse encouraged them to do so. We behaved with dignity and they were all little shits. I was proud to be from Wilshere Dacre School.

The actual visit and viewing was very brief for us--we saw her get out of the car, saw her walk in front of us and then she disappeared down the line to speak to others and our view was blocked. The Queen was lovely, smaller than you imagine, and looked like your sweet old granny in her Easter best.

I was thrilled to be a part of it and proud to be a British citizen. God save the Queen.