Valentines

I hope you all had a nice Valentine's Day. We kept it simple: we went out for coffee without kids!

We've had a few fireplace fires this winter because we had those 5 trees cut down. It's been fun to sit and knit in front of the fire and, as you see, Bobbie has been fascinated by them also.

Our Spanish class went to see the ballet "Don Quixote" on Sunday. It was great: funny, interesting and romantic - perfect for Valentine's Day. The story line didn't follow much that we have read in class but the idealistic chivalry was evident. The tilting at windmills scene was in the second act though. Speaking of which, I read an editorial that compared Barry Goldwater in 1964 to Don Quixote. Even though he knew he had no chance of winning, his idealistic run for president changed politics in many ways. So we learn that idealism is important- even when it initially loses.

I read Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" this week. What a sad book it is as it shows how a life with no recognition of God and his law in it leads to a life with no opportunity for forgiveness. How sad when this is what you say at the end of your life:

Was it really true that one could never change? He felt
a wild longing for the unstained purity of his boyhood....
He knew that he had tarnished himself, filled his mind with
corruption and given horror to his fancy; that he had been
an evil influence to others, and had experienced a terrible joy in being so.... But was it all irretrievable? Was there no hope for him?...

Better for him that each sin of his life had brought its sure swift penalty along with it.There was purification in punishment. Not "Forgive us our sins" but "Smite us for our iniquities" should be the prayer of man to a most just God.

Along more personal lines, Jamie Friedline (Prindes now) told me she is pregnant and due in Sept/Oct. I am so glad for her. And our first grandchild is to be named Audrey Danielle. What a pretty name. Although I have to say that everyone who knows us is surprised that the baby will be a girl. It seems we are "known" for our boys!