Ten on Tuesday

1. I had an appointment with a back pain management and rehabilitation clinic today. I'm doing better, after a brief interlude of Sunday night spasms, but I was overdue for a non-chiropractic assessment of what's going on with my spine. I'll be having an MRI sometime within the next week to determine if there's some sort of disc problem.

2. If we ask Juliette how old she is, she'll put one finger up in the air. If she's in the mood. She can also follow directions touch her belly, spin in circles, dance, put her hands in the air, go get her socks, and pick out a book. And she says duck, quack, moo, Mama, Dada, and ball.

3. This is one of my favorite Gary Gulman clips, even though I love grapefruit. Oh, how I adore Gary Gulman. (My apologies for the less-than-G-rated moments of this clip...)




4. I'm two weeks behind on posting the photos-of-the-week. It's a wonder I've even taken any photos, the way things have been around these parts.

5. This weekend I'm teaching a seminar at the regional women's convocation on faith and humor. I'm starting with the Anne Lamott quote about how laughter is carbonated holiness.

6. I really enjoyed this LA Times piece in which thirty (famous) people told what they would do if they ran the NEA. Well, I enjoyed most of it, anyway. I'm definitely not in agreement with the tiny minority that says dismantle the NEA.

7. Speaking of the LA Times... despite the fact that we have repeatedly discussed canceling or limiting our subscription, we haven't done it. I love the newspaper, and can't imagine mornings without it. But today marked the first day of the even more eviscerated LA Times. The Sports page is overrun by classified ads, and the front section and California sections have been rolled into one. We rolled our eyes at the spin on that one - "LOCAL NEWS FRONT AND CENTER." I can see the inevitable, but I'm just not ready to give it up yet.

8. Nikki McClure illustrated Cynthia Rylant's newest children's book. I can't think of a lovelier combination of talents. And even though I don't yet have a copy, I can vouch for what a great book it is. When we were on vacation in Seattle in January, we took a day trip to Olympia and visited NM's studio, and got to peruse a galley copy. It's wonderful (as was NM). I'm betting on a Caldecott. 9. Juliette refused to go to the nursery Sunday morning; much screaming and clinging was employed to make her point. Complication: Ben was the lay leader, as well as Jesus in our little Lenten drama. We ended up passing her back and forth between us throughout the service. Not my ideal balancing of parenting-pastoring, but the congregation was just so sweet and understanding about it. The first person who spoke to me after the service, an 80-year-old man, said, "Katherine, we love her, and everything is okay."

10. The economy. That's it. Just: the economy. Because it's simply impossible to think about more than ten things these days without thinking about the economy.