Marking births & passings

Welcome to my birthday post!

My birthday turned out to be bittersweet this year. Petite was very, very good to me; the week prior she took me to see Garrison Keillor at the IU Auditorium (as previously noted) which was uproariously funny, and then the day-of she only had to work a half day so was able to take me to lunch at Samira, a fantastic Afghan restaurant on the Square in Bloomington. (They have a weekday lunch buffet that is the best deal in town! If you go for dinner, i highly recommend the Kadu Pallao*.) All of that was lovely.

But at lunch Petite told me that she'd gotten a call about her horse Dandy, who had unexpectedly become ill that morning. We decided to go visit him after we ate. But when we called the PALS stable -- where Dandy worked with children as a "therapeutic riding" horse -- we learned the tragic news that the vet had already needed to put him down. It was profoundly sad and he will be missed by many; you can learn more about Dandy on Petite's blog.

On that somber note... my planned topic for the birthday post was a remembrance about a man who shared my birthday -- Johnny Cash. I shall now go on with that.

Johnny Cash was born on Feb 26, 1932. He's one of my very favorite musicians. Another fave, Bono of U2, had the following to say about The Man in Black: "Every man knows he's a sissy compared to Johnny Cash."

I love that quote. :)

Johnny is no longer with us... but for anyone who wonders what he's up to now, there's a great song that was found after his passing that gives some insight into his plans for the hereafter. The recording was behind his studio, in a box with some others of just him and a guitar, marked "Personal File". (If i learn to stream audio from my blog, i'll put it up but so far i don't know how; meantime it is available on iTunes for a buck.) It's called "One of These Days I'm Gonna Sit Down and Talk to Paul", and it's delightful!

One of these days I'm gonna sit down and talk to Paul
One of these days I'm gonna sit down and talk to Paul
I'm gonna ask him about his travelin'
And he will tell me about it all
One of these days I'm gonna sit down and talk to Paul

I'm gonna tell him I read all his books
I'm gonna tell him I read all his books
And that is sure was hard to follow down the same road that he took
But I'm gonna tell him I read all his books

He'll introduce me to Luke and Timothy
He will introduce me to Luke and Timothy
I will be so glad to meet them and they will be glad to meet me
He will introduce me to Luke and Timothy

One of these days I'm gonna sit down and talk to Paul
(Talk to Paul)
One of these days I'm gonna sit down and talk to,
Sit down and talk to Paul
I'm gonna meet his friends in Heaven
I'll be singin' with them all
One of these days I'm gonna sit down and talk to Paul

One of these days I'm gonna shake that healing hand
One of these days I'm gonna shake that healing hand
That hand that raised up Uticus, that old sleepin', fallen man
One of these days I'm gonna shake that healing hand

I know just how he felt locked in that jail
I know just how he felt locked in that jail
And I bet that him and Silas will have quite a tale to tell
I know just how he felt locked in that jail

One of these days I'm gonna sit down and,
Sit down and talk to Paul
One of these days I'm gonna sit down and talk to,
Sit down and talk to Paul
I'm gonna ask him about his journeys
And he will tell me about them all
One of these days I'm gonna sit down and talk to,
Sit down and talk to Paul

Must be a great conversation.

---

For a list of other events that happened on this day in history, or to find out what happened on your special day, check out The New York Times' "On This Day" site.

---

* Update: we returned to Samira for dinner with my father and his fiancé on Friday because 1) it is the official restaurant of Mari's birthday week, and 2) Kadu Pallao is unavailable on the lunch buffet. Following the amazing appetizer of eggplant, thinly sliced and marinated in spices and olive oil then served with flatbread, i partook of my favorite dish. It is comprised of several medallions of pumpkin or squash with sauces encircling a mound of spiced basmati
rice. It was heavenly. Thanks Dad!

Ski Paoli!

Gentle Reader:

Apologies to any who read my 50th Anniversary post and then came back on Monday (26 Feb, and tomorrow according to the time-stamp on this post) looking for the ski pictures that i promised. Things got busy. Unfortunately, pictures weren't that good, either. But here we go.

Point of order, BTW -- is it considered poor "form" to blatantly manipulate the date of Blog postings and write as if it were really that day? I have decided when doing so, i shall set the time to 12:00 a.m. on the fictional date. So, midnight posts don't mean i've been up all night blogging, but that i am fudging it.

Now, on with the post!

"Today" (see note above) we had the wonderful opportunity to go skiing with our neighbors. Despite the less-than-ideal weather (it rained about half the time), we had a great time! Pictured, at left, is Petite with our neighbor... we'll call her "L". (Note smiles indicative of having a great time, and gray sky, indicative of poor weather. I'm not making this stuff up!)

Paoli Peaks, about an hour south of Bloomington, turned out to be a pretty decent little ski resort. It wasn't Deer Valley or Alta or Loon Mountain or Breckenridge... but for the difference in plane fare, it was darned nice! (And huge props to them for actually having snow, in Indiana, near March, after a week of 40 degrees and rainy.) We'll likely go back next year now that we know.

As for this trip, we lucked into free passes that our wonderful and very generous neighbors had received and were awesome enough to share with us. We'll call our neighbors "C&L" due due the semi-anonymous policy of this Blog. "C" and myself are not pictured. Sorry.

After skiing we stopped in the charming Paoli town square for dinner at Los Compadres, an adorable (and colorful) little Mexican restaurant. Unfortunately i was the only one desiring dessert, and was actually pretty full after my "Dos Chimichangas" so i had to pass on the Flan. (Cry.) If anyone has tried it, let me know how it is.

One thing I noticed on the trip that i've not noticed at other resorts before -- and which betrays the fact that I am a boy, with tendencies toward geekiness -- was how they counter-balance the lifts. There is this huge block of limestone (pictured at right) that would rise and wane with the weight of skiers on the chairs. Is this how it's done elsewhere, or just at ski resorts within a stone's throw of the Limestone Capital of the World? (Folks, you won't find this kind of introspective musing on any other Blog.)

Thanks for stopping by!

50th Anniversary

Thanks for helping Mari Bébête exceed 50 visits in the first week!

Check back Monday for ski pictures. Our neighbors have invited us to ski Paoli on Sunday! :)

Narnia Personality

Just took the Narnia Personality test and found that my Narnian alter ego is a little girl!



Yes, i'm Jill Pole. Coincidentally that's the book we're reading now! Here's the rest of the comparison, for those who know these characters:

SCORES /500
331 Jill
331 Shasta
330 Rilian
323 Puddleglum
321 Mrs Beaver
321 Susan
319 Lucy
314 Tirian
313 Eustace
309 Caspian
307 Tumnus
301 Bree
299 Puzzle
295 Mr Beaver
294 Trumpkin
293 Peter
291 Edmund
276 Aslan
273 Jewel
237 Reepicheep
228 Jadis

Also, while we're at it... i've just learned that if i were a cooke, i would be Chocolate Chip!

You Are a Chocolate Chip Cookie

Traditional and conservative, most people find you comforting. You're friendly and easy to get to know. This makes you very popular - without even trying!

What Kind of Cookie Are You?

(I married a fortune cookie.)


Thanks to Beth for the fun links. :)

Ash Wednesday

Today i simply want to mark the beginning of the season of Lent.

May all of our spirits be renewed by a deeper understanding of God's grace, and may each of us take a moment to reflect on our individual callings for service in His name.

Birthday Treat

It is with much pleasure that i share the exciting news that on Wednesday night, Petite is taking me to see Garrison Keillor at the IU Auditorium for my birthday. (Actually, five days early.) I've been a fan, particularly, of the "News From Lake Wobegon" portion of his program for years and it is fantastic to get a chance to see him live.

[Prarie Home Companion website and podcast info]

It was awful nice of him to come to town for the occasion, and i'm sure Petite used considerable influence to arrange such a coup. She's so good to me. :)

The verdict is... to Blog!

Many thanks to all who visited my blog today. It was very nice to hear from everyone!

The initial feedback to my "To Blog or Not to Blog?" question came back overwhelmingly positive; the only dissenter suggested that i may be too old for this stuff... and i mean to tell ya' i laid some smack down on him. Oh, yeah. Without missing a beat i whipped out a link to a Nonagenarian's blog that is way better than mine; proving that i am NOT too old, but simply lacking in talent.

Did that come out right?

Anyway, i promised yesterday to explain the name of my blog, and i'm a man of my word. So here it is:

I take it on faith that the translation for "Mari Bébête" is "silly husband". Note that I am not so naive as to discount the possibility that -- in classic "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" style -- i've been given a self-deprecating thing to say about myself in a foreign language so that French speakers are having a heyday at my expense. In reality i only know enough French to discuss the whereabouts of ham (jambon)... but i digress.

Back to my story: Having been preceded in the blogosphere by my lovely, talented, and French-speaking wife, Petite, I had already been dubbed "Mari" for purposes of semi-anonymous online identification. (I am convinced that "mari" is, in fact, French for "husband".) Needing a "last name" to properly sign up for a G-mail account, I had to consult Petite for another French word that could fill that role. The first word or two we tried was already taken; "silly husband", however, was remarkably available both on Blogspot and G-mail. Plus it's quite fun to type é and ê on a Mac, putting PC users at a disadvantage to make two accents in such quick succession, which is like gravy. (Apologies to 95% of the computer-using world.)

So there you have it.

Perhaps tomorrow i'll tell you about my pending birthday present and/or celebrate the tenth (visit) anniversary of my blog. I will undoubtedly test my ability to incorporate an image into my blog. So come back real soon!

Priorities

Blogging, Day 2

Before the fun of Blogging really gets underway, let's pause to remember some prayer concerns, as it were. These are things i may or may not give more specific thought to in future posts, things i don't necessarily have answers for, but they're issues that i want to keep close to heart and mind as i go about a somewhat sheltered life; things that i should think of before spending $4 on coffee too often.

In no particular order...

The humanitarian crisis in Darfur.

The morass in Iraq, where 4-5,000 civilians are being killed and 100,000 displaced each month according to an NPR report yesterday. [Measuring Progress] [Fatalaties]

NOLA, a place in need of hope, protection, and rebuilding. [H-T ARTICLE]

America's public schools, which have been set up to fail by short-sighted politics.

The American people, hungering for leadership but filling the void with whatever comes along.

God's creation, which i'm hopeful that we're finally moving to take better care of, but which we've failed to tend to for too long.

No end in sight to the deficit spending that saddles future generations with debt.

AIDS and Malaria epidemics in Africa.

America's "non-system of illness care" (to quote Dr. Robert Stone, a health reform advocate in town). Our health care system worked well, i suppose, when "lifetime employment" with one large company was the dominant paradigm. But that is not the situation now. The W.H.O. ranks the US health care system approx. 35th in the developed world. We have a higher infant mortality rate and don't live as long on average as people in countries that spend 33%-50% what we do (per capita) on health. (i.e., France and Japan) [Hoosiers for a Commonsense Health Plan]

Little things we do every day can help or hurt the situations above. Let's encourage one another to help.

Perhaps on to lighter fare tomorrow, such as the origin of the name of this Blog!

Thanks again for stopping by. :)

To Blog or Not to Blog?

That is the question.

I often feel the lure of the blogosphere but must admit that i have some degree of technophobia and am not sure how i'll take to this. The thing that bothers me is not having something to say so much as being able to say it with the requisite style associated with the Blogs my wife is always looking at. (BTW, we'll call her Petite.) I confess, i have neither the creativity nor the time to be so dazzling. Apologies in advance; i won't be offended a bit if you go right to the "Next Blog" button.

But here's the thing: i'm so delighted to see Petite's posted musings and the interactions of friends on their blogs that i feel an almost magnetic pull to join in.

So, i've now gone so far as to have set up a Blog. We'll see if this is just a goofy phase.

Perhaps i'll post again... for now, thanks for stopping by!