Our granddaughter, Liza, brings us much joy and laughter in a great many ways, but one of the things I find most interesting is observing her acquire language.  At four years old she's able to carry on a conversation, but she's still having trouble with certain sounds and with the past tense of irregular verbs.  I know from my study of linguistics, and especially of language acquisition in children, that she's on target (or even a little ahead) for her age, but some of the stuff she says is hilarious.

For example, last Saturday she spied a bowlful of tangerines that we had in the kitchen.  She wanted one, and she knew she had to peel it before she could eat it.  When I gave it to her, she said, "Grandpa, would you help me get the crust off?"  I'd be willing to bet money that she's never heard anybody refer to an orange peel as the crust, but somehow she decided that's what it is--the crust.  I corrected her and told her it's called the peel, but that didn't "take."  She'll figure it out eventually, but for right now I think calling the peel the crust is pretty inventive.

ED

Today, March 21st, is traditionally the first day of spring.  Technically, the vernal equinox occurred at 2:35 AM Saturday morning, so yesterday was the first day of spring scientifically.  Many centuries ago (actually, in something like 380 AD) a church council established March 21 as the first day of spring, and that's what it still is in canon law.  Why would the Church care about such a thing?  Well, it's necessary for calculating the date of Easter each year.  Easter is always the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox, and in the pre-scientific days when March 21 was chosen, they didn't know any better.

So, spring is finally here.  So why is it still so cold in Northwest Florida, and along the Gulf coast generally, that we're still running the heat and still wearing jackets when we venture outdoors?  We had a warm and sunny day yesterday, but it's cold today.  I went to a nursery to buy spring bedding plants this afternoon, and I was so cold that I cut short my search for plants to hurry back to my car.  I'm not one of those people who don't believe the scientists about global warming, but, frankly, this winter and spring have tested my faith in science.  We're a major Spring Break destination, and it's been so cold that people I know who engage in surfing haven't dared go in the water without wetsuits.  I don't know what the economic impact of our very cold (for us) winter and spring has been, but I bet businesses that cater to the Spring Break crowd are hurting.

ED

Liza spent the night with us last night, and today was loaded with activities.  It wore Liza out, but it also left Grandma and Grandpa dragging butt.

First, Liza and I went to Flapjacks for breakfast.  Flapjacks is a neighborhood diner, and we go there for breakfast every time she spends the night at our house.  We always get a plate-size pancake, which we share, and I get an order of patty sausage.  Liza doesn't ordinarily eat any sausage, but this morning she ate three pieces drenched in syrup.  She also finished her half of the pancake and ate a few pieces of mine, too.

Second, Beth and I took Liza to our local Junior Museum for their Spring Heritage Day celebration.  There were all sorts of things going on, but the thing Liza enjoyed the most was "shopping" in the kid size supermarket they have as a permanent display.  We had hotdogs, drinks, and popcorn for lunch, and we enjoyed a bluegrass band while we ate.  We then went on the seemingly endless nature trail on a boardwalk through a swamp.  I helped build the original boardwalk in the mid-1970's, but it's been renovated since then.  That was fun, but it was also tiring because it was so long.

Third, we came home and did garden work.  Liza loves flowers, and we had talked about the fact that some flowers grow from seeds.  I had bought two packets of seeds (morning glories and nasturtiums), and she and I planted those.  She then helped Beth burn rubbish in our firepit, and Liza got soaking wet (she was in charge of the hose). 

Fourth, Liza and I went to the 5:00 o'clock vigil Mass.  She had never been to Mass at our church before today, and she seemed enchanted by the whole thing.  We sat on the front row so she could see what was going on at the altar, and I thought she was pretty well behaved.  When a lady wearing slacks went up to perform the second reading, Liza leaned over and whispered to me, "She has a very big butt."  I started laughing because the lady did, in fact, have a very big butt. 

Fifth, after Mass Liza and I went to an Olive Garden to get meatballs and spaghetti to take home for dinner.  She had to go to the bathroom while we were there, and she handled that on her own without incident.

Sixth, the day finally caught up with Liza around 8:30, and she asked to go to bed.  Unfortunately, she had a little coughing spell, and she "frowed up."  I finally got her to sleep, and she's now totally dead to the world.  We had a great day (the weather was sunny and warm, for a change), and I think Liza learned a lot while she had a good time.

ED  

Today the word "abstinence" is associated with a movement that discourages people from having sex outside of marriage, but, when I was growing up, it meant something altogether different.  We had a church calendar on display in our kitchen, and many of the days had pictures of little red fish on them.  There was a fish on every Friday, but there were fish sprinkled on other days throughout the year as well.  Those days with the fish were Days of Abstinence for Catholics, and that meant that you were supposed to abstain from eating meat.  Fish and other seafood weren't considered meat, even though seafood might be much more of a delicacy than even the best cut of meat.  For example, a priest friend in Illinois loves oysters, and he told me this afternoon that he ate raw oysters for lunch today.  He had to drive 50 miles to find them, and they were about $22.00 a dozen.  Here raw oysters are about $3.00 a dozen.

Anyway, the Catholic Church made meatless Fridays optional a few decades ago, but one exception to this is the 7 Fridays of Lent.  Since today is one of those Fridays, I dutifully ate tunafish for lunch and fried oysters for dinner.  As I was waiting for my take-out oysters tonight, it occurred to me that the real sacrifice of not eating meat isn't having to eat seafood; the real sacrifice is having to make arrangements to obtain seafood.  We live in a seafood-rich area on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico, and fish and shellfish are abundant and cheap all year; my friend in Illinois, though, has to go to real trouble (driving 100 miles round trip) and expense ($22.00 a dozen) just to have a dish that we take for granted.  [In the interest of full disclosure, I should point out that my friend has people from Florida visiting him this weekend; he ordinarily wouldn't go to such lengths just to eat oysters, even on a Friday in Lent.]         

Practices like Days of Abstinence are greatly deemphasized--or ignored entirely--by the majority of rank and file Catholics these days, but I like following it because it sort of puts me in touch with a venerable, worldwide tradition.  Oh, and my Catholic calendar still has little pictures of fish on the Fridays of Lent.

ED

Today is St. Patrick's Day, of course, and for our extended family of friends (the Big8Little6), it's the day we welcome our newest member into life.  He was born around 6:30 this morning, and he and his mother are doing fine.  This brings to seven the third generation of this great friendship.  We're now the Big8Little6VeryLittle7--four boys and three girls. 

We knew the baby was coming soon, of course, and we knew he was going to be a boy.  What we didn't know was what his name was going to be.  This morning we found out: he's Cullen Richard Green.  "Cullen" is about as Irish a name as you get, and his last name is, well, green.  Congratulations to Keely and Ryan.  We can't wait to meet Cullen--and his infant cousin Logan--this summer and to swamp them with our love.

ED

This afternoon I finally discovered the movie vending machine at my local Publix supermarket, and the first movie that came up was Precious.  I watched part of the Academy Awards last weekend, so I knew that movie was greatly honored.  I went ahead and rented it (Beth is out of town, and I know she doesn't want to see it because she thinks it will make her cry her eyes out), and I watched it tonight.  OMG!  What a story, and what wonderful acting!

I won't try to summarize the plot because I don't want to spoil it for anybody, but I highly recommend the movie.  I once taught a girl named Precious, but she was nothing like the girl in the movie.  I wonder, though, how many girls like the movie character I taught and didn't know about.

ED

I've turned into quite a couch potato in the last two months, what with the earthquake in Haiti and the Winter Olympics.  But I've also discovered HGTV during that time, and I've spent many hours watching the various shows that come on that network.  One "concept" of interior design that I've absorbed from HGTV is the notion of de-cluttering a room.  Today I finally set my hand to this task in our den, and I was amazed at the ancient crap we had let accumulate on the built-in shelves that on next to our built-in TV.  I made three piles--keep, throw away, and give to the kids--and, after a couple of hours of work, I got us to the point where we can actually see the shelves again.  The oldest artifact I was able to unearth was a book that has been on the shelf, unopened, since 1995.  It was the yearbook in the Great Ideas Today series, and I think it was the last one they published.

There's something invigorating about throwing away stuff that is ugly and in the way.  I highly recommend it.

ED

It's been a couple of weeks since I've written an entry here, and I apologize for my laziness to any readers who have missed seeing what I have to say.  I am fully recovered from my recent injuries, and I'm fully back to normal.

Saturday we had Liza for the day, as usual, and we took her to the home of some friends on a 7-acre farm not far from our house.  They have a few cows, a donkey, about two dozen goats, and a few chickens.  They had a whole yard of chickens last summer, but two foxes got in the hen house and wiped out their flock. 

It was a real pleasure watching Liza with the farm animals and with all the open space to play in.  Two other kids were there, and the three of them had a ball. 

I'll try to do better with my updates now that I'm feeling completely well.

ED

Today is the 4th anniversary of the opening of Liza's Kitchen.  Cat and Mike had only been back in Florida for about 3 months when they opened the restaurant, and it has grown steadily since that Valentine's Day in 2005.  Today they had one of their best days in sales in the four years they've been open.

ED

This morning my son-in-law, Mike, had to have his dog put to sleep.  Her name was Tripper, and she was thirteen years old and very infirm.  Mike got her when she was a puppy, and the first thing he did was to drive from Florida to California alone with the puppy in his lap.  Her name comes from that trip, and she was a loyal friend through all those years.  She was a black Labradore Retriever, and she weighed about 100 pounds.  She was extremely gentle and friendly, although at the end she couldn't even stand up or control her bodily functions.  Mike is very sad, of course, but he knew he did the right thing for his buddy.

They told Liza this morning that Tripper wouldn't be at home when she got back from school today.  They told her Tripper was going home to God.  Liza cried a little, but she'll be fine.  Liza told her teacher about Tripper first thing this morning, and the class said a prayer for Tripper (Liza goes to a Catholic school).

I'm sad about Tripper, but I also know Mike would never have put her to sleep if it wasn't the best thing for her.  Liza wants to get a cat now, but her mother doesn't see that happening.  Liza's teacher used Tripper's passing for a religion lesson, and that can only be a good thing.

ED