A few of my favorite people

The majority of my family was able to get together over Christmas this year, which was awesome. We had a good time spending time together. At least I think we did. I did, anyway. So, here are a few pictures from our few days together. By the way, you may notice Mom and Mark are not in the skating pictures. They were hanging out outside the rink, watching the excitement.

Making cookies for Santa

Emma tested the gingerbread cookies to make sure they were OK. They were.

After Nathan read the Christmas story, the kids helped Grandma retell it using flannel-graph figures.

The kids needed to know where Santa was before they went to bed, so Ken checked the tracker for them.

On Christmas morning, we were able to talk to Andrew and Rachael via Facetime. Cool invention!

Avery read the Christmas story again on Christmas morning before we opened presents.

Under the high chair was the perfect place for Erin and Emma to browse their new Kindle Fires.

We went to the Railyard in Lincoln Friday night to try the ice at the Ice Rink. Nathan and Amanda thought it was good. I think they were just looking for an excuse to hold hands.

Emma

Avery

Ryan

Ken, Brenden and Alissa

Dads and daughters - Ken, Erin, Emma and Nathan

Erin

We went to Lazlo's for dinner, but Mark was too busy checking his phone to pay attention to us mere mortals. His fans, Ryan, Avery and Brenden, took their style cues from him.

Emma and Erin had fun at Lazlo's, too.

Erin and Ryan helped Grandma take down her Christmas tree Saturday to make more room for football game seating.

Ryan, Avery and Erin got a bit carried away with the tape, though. Just ask Brenden.

Pick a screen, any screen.

Pete the Cat was popular reading material. Between Grandma and me, I think we read Brenden's new books about a hundred times. Did we cry? Goodness no. We kept walking along and singing our song. Oh, wait ...

 A good time was had by all. And I hope we have more of them in 2015. Happy New Year, everyone.

Because tomorrow is Christmas Eve

I don't know if I'll be near a computer tomorrow to write anything. So, I'll post this a day earlier than usual. Spoiler alert! It's my Christmas letter. If you usually get one from me, it's on the way. If you're not on my mailing list and wondered what my Christmas letter might look like, here you go.

Have a wonderful Christmas, everyone. During the festivities, take a moment to remember why we celebrate in the first place - the birth of our Savior, Jesus, the Christ in Christmas.

I will be ready in time for Christmas, but "The Hobbit" is here.

I finally had a chance to do a little Christmas shopping for the small fry today, which was fun. So I'm closer to being Christmas-ready than I was a couple days ago. Unfortunately, the picture I'm working on for my brother Andrew and his wife won't be done for Christmas like I hoped it would be - unless the cross stitch elves come in and finish it for me. Maybe I'll have it done by their first anniversary.

On a completely unrelated note, the final "Hobbit" movie came out today. I'm happy and sad about that. I'm happy because I've been looking forward to this installment since the first of the trilogy came out. After what Peter Jackson did with Helm's Deep and Pelenor Fields, I'm curious to see what he does with this climatic battle scene - the titular battle of five armies.

But I'm sad for two reasons. One, this is the final time we'll be surprised by Middle-earth. Yes, we can go back and watch the Hobbit movies and The Lord of the Rings trilogy any time we want, but we've seen them so we aren't necessarily surprised by what happens. Of course, if you read the books, you weren't surprised to begin with. What was surprising to me about the movies was how Peter Jackson created Middle-earth. The actors he chose for the characters fit with my mental pictures of them, so it was easier for me to immerse myself in the story. But it was such a great story, thanks to J.R.R. Tolkien's incomparable writing, how could you not get sucked in?

Speaking of the books brings me to my second reason for sadness. I know who dies, and I'm not sure if I'm ready for that. I tend to get attached to characters in books and movies, and I cry when they die. Yes, I shed actual tears over fictional characters. "Where the Red Fern Grows?" Cried my eyes out. "Charlotte's Web?" I couldn't see the page to read the final chapter. By the way, Charlotte is the *only* spider I will *ever* cry for. "Little Women?" I sobbed when Beth died. I cried in "The Waltons" and "Little House on the Prairie." I'm not sorry. These characters become like family to me, and their deaths make me sad. And, based on Tolkien's book, I know who's going to die in this final installment. I want to see this movie in the theater, but if I do, I'm going to have to take a box of tissues.

The most list-iful time of the year

The song says "it's the most wonderful time of the year," but I might take exception to that. This time of year includes waaaaay too many lists for me. I mean, even Santa Claus is making a list. And checking it twice.

Now, don't get me wrong. I use lists myself. I rarely check everything on them off, but I use them. My unchecked lists are actually kind of depressing. But that's not my point.

The end of the year is when everybody comes up with their 10 (or any other number they choose) best whatevers of the year - from movies to albums to books to websites to teams. Why? Does anyone really pay attention to these lists? Are they put together because someone's boss said they needed to be done? They don't usually have anything to do with nominees for Grammys or Oscars or Emmys or any other industry prize.

And we make lists of what we want for Christmas. They may include practical things like clothes and books, but they may also include less practical things like big-screen TVs and Super Bowl tickets (both of which would be awesome, but I don't know where I'd put a big screen, and I don't know if I could take enough time off work to go to the Super Bowl).

We also make lists of resolutions for the upcoming year. I've made my share of resolutions over the years and have every intention of keeping them every year. The lists look pretty similar from year to year - drink less pop, get more exercise, send birthday cards before birthdays instead of after them - you know, the traditional goals. And within a week, I think, I've managed to not keep all of them. Yes, including the birthday cards.

With only a couple weeks left in 2014, my list of things to accomplish before the end of the year still has many items to cross off. Some will be carried over into 2015, but one that won't be is having a great time with my family over the holidays. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone who's coming to Nebraska. And I'll check that off my list with a flourish.

Getting in the Christmas spirit

It's that time of the year again. Time to think about evergreens and candles and red glass bulbs and holly and mistletoe. Yes, it's getting on toward Christmas.

And that also means all the Christmas specials are on TV. Some are must-sees for me. Shows like the Charlie Brown Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Nutcracker Princes and A Christmas Carol are among the titles I put on my viewing list every year. I also like Babes in Toyland, the one starring Keanu Reeves and Drew Barrymore. I realize it's a little on the cheesy side. The acting isn't very good and the story is pretty predictable, but it's one of those movies that appeals to me.

In case you were wondering, my tree is up and decorated. I'll try to include a picture next time. I've got a few new ornaments this year and some old favorites.

And Christmas music is in the air. Everywhere you go you hear the songs of Christmas. Some radio stations are wall-to-wall Christmas this time of year. I prefer to set my own playlist, which includes Mannheim Steamroller, Michael Crawford, The King's Singers and more Mannheim Steamroller. I know not everyone likes Mannheim, but I do, and if I'm listening on my headphones (which I usually do at work), no one else will know.

There are a few Christmas songs I just can't stand. "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby is one of them. I don't really have anything against the song - I've just heard it waaaaaaay too much. My apartment in Pawnee City was on the second floor of a downtown building, and the building owner played Christmas music during the season. One Saturday afternoon, someone must have hit repeat for "White Christmas" because it played over and over and over and over. All afternoon. Over and over and over. And then it played again. If I never hear it again it will be too soon.

And then there's "Wonderful Christmas Time" by Paul McCartney, which makes me want to put my head in a vise and tighten it. I can't even begin to tell you all the ways it makes me crazy. Simply put, that song makes me not have a wonderful Christmas time. Sorry, Mr. McCartney, it's not even close to your best work.

So, now it's time to start checking my list. Ordering/buying presents for the nieces and nephews - who gets what and do I take it with me to Mom's or mail it or maybe take it to Mom's and have one brother take it with him back to the other brother? What have I already gotten and who is it for? What about for Mom? So much to do, so little time.

Enjoy the season, everyone.

Busy but good week - so far

It's been a crazy couple weeks in my world. One of the high school teams I cover finished an undefeated season Monday and won the state championship. Woo hoo! Way to go, Exeter-Milligan Timberwolves! Plus, Monday was a whole lot nicer than the last couple games. The quarterfinals and semifinals were both in the single digits temperature-wise. Not the most fun to attend, let me tell you. While Monday was pretty windy, the temperature was nicer and the sun came out, which made it feel even warmer. And when you're shooting on the field at Memorial Stadium, can things get better? I submit that they cannot!

One would think there would be a bit of a break then. But alas, one is not in the cards. Concordia has already started its basketball season, and our winter sports preview comes out next week. That means high school wrestling and basketball are just around the corner, too. The good part is they're indoors.

I always look forward to the winter sports season because I get to cover wrestling. I know not all of you like wrestling, but we'll just have to agree to disagree on that. Wrestling is one of those sports that flies under the radar. The wrestlers spend just as many hours as the basketball players do, if not more in some cases, perfecting their techniques and improving their skills. It's a demanding sport, and a wrestler can't depend on a teammate to cover a mistake. It's mano a mano, as they say, and there's nowhere to hide on the mat.

I like covering basketball, too. I played basketball in high school. Well, I went out for basketball. I wasn't very good. I've never claimed to be an athlete, and watching me ply my basketball "skills" made that very evident. But I had fun on the court. I mainly played JV, which meant no pressure. If your team won, that was great. If it lost, it was JV and it didn't matter. I knew I wasn't anywhere close to varsity level, so JV was fine with me. My senior year, I got to sit on the bench for varsity, but it wasn't anywhere close to being as fun as playing at the JV level. Ah, well, one of the few regrets I have from high school.

Anyway, I love watching the improvements the kids make throughout the season. And I get to chronicle those improvements through the pictures I take and the stories I write. I just hope I do everyone justice this season. Go Bluejays, Eagles, Broncos, Clippers, Bulldogs, Timberwolves and Longhorns!

And Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

What to do when it snows, or what I want to do when it snows

I saw a picture on Facebook today that said you should keep three days' worth of books at home in case you get snowed in. Books, not books on an electronic reader. What would you do if it ran out of battery and you didn't have power?

You can never have too many choices when it comes to reading material. I like having a variety of books going, just so there's something to match every mood. I recently finished Ted Kooser's two new books - "Splitting an Order" and "The Wheeling Year." For those who don't know, Kooser is a former U.S. Poet Laureate and won the Pulitzer Prize in 2005 for his book "Delights and Shadows." He also lives about 10 miles from Seward.

"Splitting an Order" is a book of poetry and, while I don't consider myself an avid fan of poems, I like reading Kooser's. He takes ordinary things and creates lovely word pictures about them, encouraging the reader to take a second look. Reading Kooser's poetry is much easier than reading, say, T.S. Eliot. Kooser doesn't write poems with hidden meanings. If he's describing a leaf blowing in the wind, for example, the poem is probably about a leaf blowing in the wind and the reflections it generates.

"The Wheeling Year" is a book Kooser describes in the introduction as a field guide. He got the idea from an artist friend who has filled book after book with sketches and paintings over the years. Kooser went back to his notebooks and selected observations from a sentence long to a couple paragraphs and arranged them by month. It's a book that can be read in small pieces or in larger bites. At times, it reminded me of another Kooser book, "Local Wonders."

I also recently finished "Death Comes to Pemberley" by P.D. James. Yes, that Pemberley. Set six years after the end of "Pride and Prejudice," this book begins on the eve of one of the biggest social events of the season, Lady Anne's Ball. Leave it to the Wickhams, however, to upset the fruit basket and wreak havoc all over the expected festivities. The book was made into a Masterpiece Theatre production, which I haven't watched yet, but now that I've read the book I can critique the film more intelligently.

For those of you keeping score at home, right now, I'm reading "Inca Gold" by Clive Cussler and "The Realms Thereunder" by Ross Lawhead. There are a couple books on my shelf that I started reading a long time ago and need to get back to, but the mood hasn't struck me yet. There are also several that I'd like to reread, so we'll have so see how many snow days I get this winter.

Guess what. It's cold.

Now, I know it's November. And I know it's supposed to turn cold in November so we'll have snow by Christmas. I know that.

But I'm still cold. Not just chilly or feeling like the weather is crisp. No, I'm cold. C.O.L.D.

(Spoiler alert for those in my family who think it's funny that we always talk about the weather - I'm going to talk about the weather.)

Sunday was in the 60s. Monday the temperature dropped and we got a dusting of snow, some of which is still caught in the grass. Yesterday the north wind blew and the high was in the 20s. Today was more of the same. But yesterday I got to go to a football game. An outdoor football game. And it was cold. Frigid. You-must-be-kidding-me-that-I'm-standing-out-here-freezing kind of cold.

Now I don't mind the cold. I know it's a fact here in Nebraska that we will have cold days. I just wish we'd had a couple days of transition. You know, one day the high is in the 60s. The next it's in the 50s. The next it's in the 40s, and then we hit 30s. That would have been a little easier to deal with than the sudden extreme change. At least we could have pulled out the warmer clothes and been prepared.

I was wearing layers at the football game, but the wind was the kind of wind that goes right through you. When I got back to my car at halftime, I couldn't feel my finger against my camera's shutter button or on the on/off switch. I haven't been that cold in a very long time. Maybe ever.

I spent the majority of the second half in the car listening to the game on the radio. I got back out at the end as the team I was covering pulled out a come-from-behind win so I could get reaction shots. I have no idea what I got. Within a couple minutes I shivering again and my notes on those final plays are essentially illegible.

But it's November. And it's Nebraska. And it's cold. Welcome to winter.

Saturday again

It's another lovely Saturday. Ah, Saturday, that magical weekend day everyone looks forward to. Many people use Saturday as a day to get caught up on things around the house or go shopping or perhaps go to a football game. Me? Saturdays are just another day.

Why do I say that? Because a Saturday off is as rare in my world as, well, it's pretty rare. Today, for example, I took pictures at both football and volleyball games. I could have gone to a soccer game, but I chose to go home and sit on my couch for a few minutes instead. And then I got caught watching the first of the Masterpiece Sherlock movies (which are awesome!), so I was actually late for the volleyball game. I still got some good pictures, though, so don't worry.

I don't really mind going to stuff on Saturdays. Last Saturday, while I didn't have any games to go to, I went to Seward's Opening Night, which is the big fall vocal music concert. The performers did a very good job, and I enjoyed the concert. But you know, even if I don't have games/activities I need to be at, there's still Husker football to watch or listen to. So my Saturdays are always booked.

Days like today, though, offer a chance to get caught up on laundry, read a little bit or just watch a movie. I've done a little of each. I watched a movie, as I said earlier, read a little (I'm rereading The Hunt for Red October) and did a load of laundry. Not the most exciting of days, but sometimes it's OK to have a quieter day. It helps the mind unwind and allows the body to relax.

Ah, Saturday, that magical weekend day.

Sorry again

I was at two football games Wednesday and didn't get home until late. I'll try to provide an actual post tomorrow morning.

Christmas is coming ...

the goose is getting fat, please put a penny in the old man's hat.

I have no idea what that means. But it leads me to Christmas catalogs.

Ah, those Christmas catalogs. I looked forward to them when I was younger. I'd wait, not so patiently, for the J.C. Penny Christmas catalog to come in the mail. When it finally did arrive, I'm pretty sure I didn't get it right away. Mom had first dibs. When she finally allowed us (my brothers and me) to look at it, we took our time paging through, looking at all the options. We'd talk about what we liked and what we wanted.

But it didn't stop there. Oh no. Some of us were a bit obsessive about things like that. I would take that catalog, paper and a pencil and set up shop at the dining room table. I would go very slowly through the toy section (the rest of the catalog, all the clothes and other stuff, was wasted paper as far as I was concerned) and make my list. This list was not short, nor was it unclear. I included the page number, item number, item name, cost and probably anything else the catalog said about that item. And if we got a competitor's catalog, I probably had price comparisons. Just trying to save time for the parents.

I'm pretty sure Mom dreaded the day I finished my list. I don't remember if I gave it to her or not. I probably did. Did I get everything on that list? Of course not. Did I get anything on that list? Probably. Did I expect everything on the list? No. I knew better. We couldn't afford the thousands of dollars of toys I listed. It was wishful thinking on my part. I think it was more fun to consider what I could do with whatever the toy was.

But it was fun to dream.

I don't get many/any Christmas catalogs these days. I don't know if the major retailers even send them out any more. But they were fun. I kind of miss them.

Taking time

One of the things I like about my stamp collection is just looking at it. I'm always amazed at the level of detail in the artwork, especially on the older stamps - you know, the ones with the hand-carved designs. Modern stamps are beautiful, true, but they're done on computer. The challenges of personal creation aren't the same.

Have you ever looked at the stamps from the 1970s on back? The workmanship is exquisite. I wonder what kind of training it took to work for the U.S. Postal Service. I wish I could meet one of those artists and just talk to them about the amazing artwork they created. I have a mental picture of a person sitting in a studio, hunched over a tiny piece of wood or metal, staring intently through a magnifying glass and working with really small tools. Now, I took shop in high school, so I can envision some of the tools - the chisels, the knives. But what these artists must have used would be doll sized in comparison.

And did the artists create designs that weren't used? If so, what happened to them? What if the artist made a mistake in the design? Did he/she have to do it again? That must not have been fun, especially when you look at the amount of detail in some of those designs. They had to have exceptionally steady hands, so no coffee for them in the morning.

As I said, today's stamps are gorgeous, but they're designed and printed via computer. That means the artist can make changes quickly and print a new version almost immediately. They're not as invested as the early stamp artists must have been. Can you imagine, after spending hours and days on the tiny stamp design, finally seeing your work on a letter? I would think the artist might get irritated with the post office for the postmarks covering their hard work.

But their work is definitely valued and appreciated today. If you look through a stamp catalog and see what some of those old stamps sell for, you can see that. And those are the stamps I'll probably never own. Oh well. I'll appreciate the craftsmanship that went into the ones I have.

Ummmmm, go Royals?

Those of you who know me know I'm a Cubs fan. I cheer for them through thick and thin, wins and losses (of which there have been an awful lot of late). There was a time when I could recite the roster in order of jersey number. I watched the games religiously during the summer, even setting down my book to watch the game.

But what you may not know is that I followed the Kansas City Royals then, too. I remember listening to the games on the radio going to and from places. Denny Matthews was the voice of the team then, and I remember him talking about Amos Otis and Frank White and Hal McRae. There were nights on the way home from church or from a visit to the farm that Dad would find the Royals on the radio and we'd listen to the game.

I wasn't what you would call a die-hard fan, but I remember the Royals winning the World Series in 1985, beating the hated St. Louis Cardinals (sorry, but it's in the bylaws for Cubs fans to dislike the Cardinals with every fiber of our being). My brothers and I adopted the Royals, I think, so we'd have something to debate with our Avery cousins who cheered avidly for the Cardinals. While I wasn't necessarily part of the debates, which generally happened during games of catch or baseball in the front yard at the farm, I'm sure I talked my share of smack.

I've kept an eye on the Royals ever since, maybe figuring that they had a better shot of getting to the World Series sooner than the Cubs did. (Again, it's in the bylaws for the Cubs to be fatalistic when it comes to the outlook for a given season. Hence the phrase "maybe next year" which every Cubs fan begins chanting after the first game.) When they drafted Alex Gordon, who hails from just down the road in Lincoln and was a Husker in college, and he made the big leagues, that added a little local flair and drew my interest even more.

Plus, once Fox Sports Kansas City started broadcasting almost every Royals game, I had something to watch in the evenings. When I'd get home from work and not have a game to cover, I'd check on the Royals. If they were on TV, I'd have the game on.

And then, tonight, the Royals completed an improbable sweep of the Baltimore Orioles, earning a trip to the World Series. It's been quite a ride for the Royals, making the postseason as a wild-card, beating Oakland in extra innings in a play-in game, sweeping the Angels in three and then Baltimore in four.
I'm psyched for them. And honestly, I don't care if it's San Francisco or St. Louis in the World Series. Either way, it will be a fun, exciting, entertaining and, if history holds, extra-inning filled series.

Go Royals!

Not much today, sorry

Sorry I don't have much to say today. The last couple weeks have been extremely busy with work - from games to the Plum Creek Literacy Festival, which is a fantastic opportunity to hear children's authors and illustrators talk about what they day. Tonight I was practicing with a clarinetist, who's playing special music at church on Sunday.

So, the brain is close to mush, and I'm afraid that anything I say here can and will be used against me. So I'll stop now. I'll try to be more coherent later.

Been thinking

So I've been thinking about what to write all day. Should I write about one of the characters I have floating around in my head? But which one to choose? Should I write about work? I spend enough time at work that I don't really want to add it to my blog.

But I was at a Concordia volleyball game tonight (which was an outstanding game between two pretty equally matched teams that went five and Concordia won), and I decided to write about something else. How I am not an athlete.

It's true. I am about as far from being an athlete as you can get and still see the word athlete. I was never one who, with the game on the line, wanted the ball, as they say. I probably would have fumbled it out of bounds and lost the game for my team. I was much better sitting on the bench and cheering for my teammates or sitting up in the stands and keeping stats and cheering for my teammates.

I went out for basketball and track when I was in high school, so I do know that side of sports. I know the work that goes into being good. I know how helpful talent is to being good. I know I wasn't talented, nor was I willing to put in the long hours some of my teammates did. So I wasn't good. And believe it or not, I was OK with that. I liked being part of the team but without the pressure of being the go-to player. I liked playing JV basketball because the outcome didn't matter. I think my career high was 10 points in a game. Wooo!

Distance was my thing on the track team for two reasons. One, the team needed distance runners and no one else wanted to do it. Two, I didn't care if I finished last, which I usually did. I knew I wasn't fast, so sprinting was definitely out. I wasn't really coordinated enough to do any jumps or the hurdles, and I didn't have the upper body strength to compete in the throws. That left the mile and two-mile. The way I saw it, if me finishing last kept someone else from being lectured by a coach or a parent for finishing last, then good for me. Especially since I really didn't care. I don't think my parents were concerned about my placings - as long as I was having fun. Which I was.

Today, I cover sports. I take my camera to games/meets and take lots and lots of pictures in the hope that a handful will be usable. I talk to coaches each week and write game summaries for the paper. I honestly love what I do. And I like to think that my experiences on the bench and in last place on the track give me some sympathy for the athletes.

And when I watch athletes who are exceptional at what they do, I can appreciate the hard work and dedication they've put in to get where they are.

New seasons are coming

So, I probably watch too much TV. Sorry. But there are a couple of series that are starting this fall that have intrigued me.

First up is Gracepoint, which starts Oct. 2 on Fox. It's the American version of Broadchurch, which was on BBC America last winter. Both star David Tennant, an actor I like, as the lead investigator. The premise of both shows is that Tennant's character comes to a small town and ends up investigating the murder of one of the town's children. The investigation unfolds over the course of the series (in the case of Broadchurch eight episodes and in the case of Gracepoint 10). We get to watch the police as they piece together clues, follow leads and eventually find the killer. I tried to guess who the killer was on Broadchurch and I was so far off, it's a good thing I'm not a police officer.

Gracepoint takes the same premise and moves the murder to California. The previews show a very similar set-up, but everything I've read and watched so far says that the murderer is not the same character as the murderer in Broadchurch. Because I liked Broadchurch so much, I'll definitely make time for Gracepoint. If I'm not home, I'll record it or watch it later on On Demand. Either way, it's on my to-be-viewed list.

The Librarians, a series on TNT, is set to start Dec. 7. The story actually began in a series of three movies starring Noah Wyle, which were also done by TNT. The Librarians are the guardians of history's greatest treasures, and, of course, there are bad guys out to steal said treasures and use them for nefarious purposes. In the series, the Librarians are a trio with a leader, where in the movies, it's just Noah Wyle, who will reprise his role in the series. I think the show looks like fun, and it's another I'll make time to watch.

Hopefully, neither will disappoint. I'll have to let you know.

Could I do any better?

Have you ever finished a book and thought "I think I could have done a better job"? I recently did.

I found a little book for free on Amazon that was billed as being a book for prayer warriors. So I got it, thinking it might give me some guidance in improving my prayer life. Instead, it focused more on the armor of God from Ephesians 6, which is also a good thing that a warrior, prayer or otherwise, might need. However, when I finished this book, I felt a little bit robbed.

To be quite honest, I was disappointed. I'd never read anything by this particular author (Stormie Omartian is her name). While the information included was good, I was expecting more. It felt like more of an overview than a study, which is good as a starting point, but I'm afraid many people don't go any further than a book like this.

As I've thought about this, I've wondered if I could write something about the same topic that delves a little deeper. I know I could. I am, after all, a journalist and that's what we do. We write. So, I think I will give it a shot. I don't know how long it will take. And whether my effort lives up to my own expectations remains to be seen.

I'll keep you posted.

What constitutes poetry?

Here's a philosophical question for you. What makes a poem a poem?

We all remember high school English class where we learned about iambic pentameter and rhyming schemes and even wrote our own poems to be graded. But are rhythm and rhyme all there are to a poem? I don't think so.

Remember free verse? Yeah, that "poetry" where you, essentially, took a prose paragraph and broke it into smaller lines to make it look like a poem. It didn't have to rhyme. It didn't have to have a regular rhythm. It was free verse. You could do anything you wanted.

And what about forms like haiku? It doesn't rhyme, and its rhythm is simply a number of syllables. The accents could be anywhere. It could be just a series of words or a sentence broken into lines. I've seen haiku like that from the New York Times. It's interesting to see the "found haiku" they share on Twitter.

But what is the heart of a poem? Is it the rhythm? Is it the rhyming scheme? Or is it, perhaps, the subject matter? The poems we studied in high school supposedly had deep meanings hidden in innocuous symbolism. I'm still not sure how Emily Dickinson, for example, filled her poems with such deep meaning. After all, "Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me" is pretty straightforward.

Maybe a poet's gift is in the choice of words, the combinations placed on a page and sent out for all the world to see and for every English professor to dissect until the poet's original work has vanished.

I don't have an answer to my opening question. I've never had any aspirations to being a poet. I got frustrated when teachers "explained" the deep hidden meanings in a piece of poetry. I always wanted to ask "What if the poet didn't have an agenda when he wrote this poem? What if it just means what the words on the page say?" I'm sure I would have been sent to poetry purgatory and been forced to read Vogon poetry for days on end. Actually, that would be poetry hell.

I've often wondered who was the first person to "discover" a hidden meaning in a poem. What made them think the poem meant something else? How did they go about mining for symbols and their meanings? And do poets think about hiding messages in their works? Or do they think these discovered meanings are funny? I can just hear Shakespeare laughing with Homer - "Can you believe what they think that sonnet means?" - to which Homer replies - "I know, right? How about the symbolism of the Trojan horse? It's just a horse the Greeks hid in to defeat Troy. And I didn't even mention it!"

Trying not to labor on Labor Day

One of the most important holidays in the year is next Monday. Yes, Labor Day is just around the corner. Only four more shopping days, just so you know.

According to the Department of Labor's website, "Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country."

Nebraska was actually one of the first states to adopt legislation creating Labor Day. The first was Oregon in 1887. In 1894, Congress passed its legislation creating Labor Day on a national scale.

I guess we need to take the day and think about the people who came before us in our chosen fields and thank them for their work. So, thanks to the people who first decided to write down words in some semblance of order, preserving history in another, more permanent, format. And thanks to the scribes, who made copy after copy before photocopiers were invented. Thanks to the people who invented moveable type, allowing mass production of the written word. And thanks to those who invented the typewriter, then the linotype, then computers and all the word processing and desktop publishing programs that allow those of us in the print news world to work more quickly and still disseminate accurate information.

My goal is to not have to work on Monday. Our office will be closed, which is good, but if there are still stories to put on my sports pages, I'll be at my desk, hard at work. My plan is to have everything done by Sunday night, and then I won't have to be in the office Monday. That would be a fantastic way to celebrate.

So, from one working stiff (and some days that's more literal than I care to admit) to the rest of you, Happy Labor Day.

Thinking of characters

I read a lot. And I watch more TV and movies than I should, I'm fairly certain. But as I consider the books, movies and TV shows I like, they seem to have something in common. They have characters that change and grow throughout the course of the story.

Consider, for example, the series of William Monk detective novels by Anne Perry. Her protagonist, Monk, wakes up in a hospital in book one and has no idea who he is or what happened to him. As the series has progressed, he has learned about himself - both things he likes and things he doesn't - and he has used that knowledge to improve himself.

Look at Lewis Gillies, the protagonist of Stephen Lawhead's Song of Albion series. Through the course of the trilogy, Lewis goes from being a follower to being a leader.

Even characters like Elizabeth Bennett, of Pride and Prejudice fame, and Thursday Next, from the series by the same name, change as the story goes on.

It's harder to see the changes in TV characters because you only spend an hour or so a week with them. But when I think about Sherlock Holmes, as portrayed by Jonny Lee Miller in Elementary, I can see the changes in his character over the course of the first two seasons.

Perhaps the reason I like seeing characters grow and change over time is that the changes make them seem more human, more real, if you will. For someone who likes to imagine herself into the stories she's reading or watching, it helps to have that hook. (FYI, I've been "reading myself into books" for a very long time, long before I started reading Jasper Fforde.)

Now, if you will excuse me for a moment, I've got to figure out how I can get myself into Dickens.

Survived

Yes, I survived the county fair, though I was pretty wiped out afterwards. Sorry I didn't get anything posted last week. I was still recovering.

School started Thursday, too. I can't believe we're into the school year already. It seems like we should have another week at least. I must say I don't miss being in school. I never really liked school. I don't know if it was the structure of the day, being forced to be social or not being able to read all day, but I didn't like it. Some of my teachers understood and didn't take my book away from me. :)

It was nice to see friends again after the summer and catch up on what had happened since school got out. We lived next door to my best friend Lisa, so we didn't have much catching up to do since we'd pretty much spent the whole summer together anyway. But my friends who lived on the other side of town or out in the country - it was good to see them again.

One trick I learned to help make the interminable school days more bearable was to do my homework quickly and take tests fast. Once I was done with my work, I could go back to my book. That carried over to college, and I think I surprised one of the professors. My senior year I took an Intro to Business class - freshman level and much easier than any of my other classes as far as that went. The day of the first test, I think I finished it in about 10 minutes. I took it up to the teacher's desk, and I think he expected me to ask him a question. I didn't have any questions other than "where should I put this?" I went back to my desk and spent the next 40 minutes happily engrossed in whatever book I was reading.

Ah, school. I really don't miss you.

Fair week

It's county fair week this week. That means the fairgrounds will be humming with activity, and I'll be spending a lot of time taking pictures of kids and animals.

I've been covering the Seward County Fair for a long time. I don't like to think about how many pictures I've taken of champions and reserve champions since I've been here. The last couple years the animal shows have been my focus, which frees everyone else up to wander around and find the features at the fair. It's fun, though. I've been able to watch most of these kids grow up, improving their skills in the arena and becoming more confident as they've improved.

I never did animal shows when I was growing up. I was only in 4-H for a couple years, and my projects were more the sewing and cooking kind. Cooking wasn't bad - at least I could eat my mistakes. Sewing, though, that was was a completely different animal. I really didn't want to sew in the first place but figured it might be a handy skill somewhere down the line. Shockingly, I won a purple ribbon on a play apron I made for Alissa. I also remember a purple ribbon on peanut butter cookies one year and another on a set of storage cubes I decorated.

We didn't live too far from the fairgrounds, so we'd go one night to look through all the exhibits, ride a few rides and maybe take in a show, if there was one. The performers weren't famous, but still, it was fun.

I was always a little afraid going through the large animal barns. I feared being kicked by a horse or a cow - don't ask me where that idea came from. Most of the time, the cows stand with their back ends toward the walkway, so kicking seems like a logical thing to happen. I know, it's random. I still worry about that (why, I don't know), so every year I make myself walk through the cattle barn, past all the cows. I haven't been kicked yet.

I'll make the trip again this year, checking out the cattle, hogs, sheep, horses, poultry and goats. I'll take hundreds of pictures of the champions and reserve champions, learning the names of the young kids who are just getting started and remembering the older kids from previous years. I'll look through the static exhibits - the sewing, cooking, photography, flowers, vegetables, crafts, rockets, etc. - wondering how those kids come up with the projects they've created.

Good luck to everyone.

Reading and writing

So I like to read. It's no secret, no deep confession. I like to read. I take books pretty-much everywhere I go - to work, to church, to games. If I have a couple minutes (like at lunch or between games), you can probably find me buried in whatever book I'm working on.

I just recently finished Dan Brown's latest effort, Inferno. Although Brown will probably never win a prize for great literature, he can write an entertaining page turner. And Inferno fits that bill.

We ride along with Robert Langdon, Brown's most famous protagonist. He's the symbologist who solved The DaVinci Code, figured out the clues in Angels and Demons and roamed Washington, D.C., looking for The Lost Symbol. You'd think you know Langdon by now, after more than 2,000 pages. But in Inferno, Langdon's battling a new foe - himself. He wakes up in a Florence hospital with amnesia.

Interesting premise, but I've heard it before. Anne Perry used that device to introduce one of her protagonists, William Monk. Monk, though, can't remember anything of his past. Langdon is just missing the last couple days. He doesn't know how he came to be in Florence, what he's doing there or what happened to land him in the hospital.

Brown works a little bit backwards in Inferno, giving us why and what before we really know who and long before we know where. We follow along with Langdon as he tries to piece together what's going on. The character twists are pretty intense and leave Langdon, and the reader, shaking their heads. I'm not sure if that was a good thing, but the twists certainly drew me up short and made me ask "What? Wait, what?!"

As you may have guessed, Brown hangs this story on another great classic work. After focusing mainly on art and architecture in his previous works, he chose to go the literary route this time, taking his cues from Dante Alighieri's most famous piece, The Inferno. He brings in artwork, music and other literature based on The Inferno and uses them to frame the story.

For those of you who haven't read The Inferno, it's Virgil (yes, the Roman poet), guiding Dante through hell. Dante's hell has nine circles, with the bottom-most reserved for the worst sinners. His top, or bottom in this case, three are Satan, Judas and Brutus, all of whom betrayed those closest to them. Each level leading down to Cocytus (the ninth circle) is reserved for certain groups of people, and Dante chose punishments he felt fit the crimes.

Brown doesn't try to reinvent the wheel here, although his sections of exposition can get heavy-handed, as I have come to expect. Langdon tends to lecture, even in his memories, and that can bog down even the most exciting of stories. Even when his audience is fascinated by what he has to say, we're still reading a lecture.

Brown does keep the action moving most of the time with short chapters and lots of chases. Of course, Langdon uses his knowledge of symbols and classic works to solve the puzzle. Did he save the world, though? That's a question I'll leave for you to answer.

Vacation recap

So, my friend Melissa and I went on vacation last week with South Dakota as our destination. We went into Wyoming one day to see Devils Tower, which was an awesome site. So, for those who are curious, here was our trip.

Carhenge at Alliance - because if you're in western Nebraska, you have to stop at the 'Henge. You know Stonehenge? This is exactly the same only made out of cars. It's just one of those curious places you stop at just 'cause.

Museum of the Fur Trade at Chadron - I'd never been there and don't know much about the fur trade. It was a really interesting museum. Among the exhibits is a replica of the trading post, which is actually more of a dugout and includes stocked shelves.

Vore Buffalo Jump west of Spearfish - The site was essentially a sinkhole into which the Native Americans drove bison for easier harvest. The animals fell into the hole, breaking their necks and making it much simpler for the people to get what they needed.

Devils Tower in Wyoming - quite simply one of the most impressive natural monuments I've seen. We walked around its base, and it reminded me how creative God is. People were climbing it the day we were there. That's something I don't think I could do.

The Geographic Center of the United States at Belle Fourche, SD - Not a bad place but harder to find than I expected. Plus, their sign was wrong - the geographic center of the continental U.S. is Lebanon, Kan., not Smith Center. Close but no cigar. :)

Thunderhead Falls south of Deadwood - an underground waterfall that sends eight cubic feet of water over its edge per second. That's a lot of water. I was prepared, though, after the Mark Twain Cave in Hannibal. I made sure to wear a jacket!

Deadwood, SD - site of the graves of James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok and Calamity Jane, among others. Yes, we walked up the very steep hill to Mt. Moriah Cemetery where the two are buried side by side per her request. We also visited the Adams House, saw Wild Bill assassinated and witnessed a shoot-out on Main Street. Just another day in Deadwood, I suppose.

The Badlands - it's so spectacular there's not much I can say. It was a perfect day to visit the Badlands, and evidently a whole bunch of Corvette drivers agreed. I think there was a Corvette show in the area, and they were out touring. Almost as impressive as the Badlands, but not quite. :)

Ashfall Fossil Beds in northeast Nebraska - a functioning archaeological site, as you can tell by the worker in the distance. College students work there during the summer, excavating bones by the thousand. The site was a watering hole and a volcanic eruption sent ash this way, filling the water hole and killing hundreds of animals.

 Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha - need I say more?

All in all, it was a good trip. I got to see some cool stuff and even learned a couple things. Not a bad way to spend a week away from work. :)

Taking a break and not doing much of anything

I don't get to do vacations very often, so when I do, I try to find interesting places I haven't been before. Like Devils Tower. I was there yesterday. It was amazing, awesome, awe-inspiring - words actually don't do it justice.

And just so you know, it is Devils Tower, not Devil's Tower. Evidently, in the proclamation in 1906 that declared the site to America's first national monument, somebody left out the apostrophe. And no one caught it. So the tower's name is grammatically incorrect. I found that amusing. Sorry, it's a grammar thing.

Anyway, my friend Melissa and I walked the trail around the base of the tower, enjoying the pleasant weather, great sunshine, cool breeze and smell of fresh pine. The tower's look changes, depending on which side you're on, so it wasn't like you were seeing the same thing over and over. Plus, on the south face, a handful of people were climbing the tower. They had to be a little bit crazy, I'm thinking. But if that's their thing, then who am I to judge? Especially since I prefer doing things like watching shoot-outs on the streets of Deadwood.

That's right, friends. I was in Deadwood today and watched a shoot-out on Main Street. It was certainly loud, that's for sure. The nice thing was it wasn't fatal. Yes it featured actors playing roles and using cream of wheat in their load (according to them, they were cereal killers - I laughed). But the marshall didn't kill the man he was shooting at. He shot him in the leg so he could eventually stand trial. At least I'm assuming he could stand by that time.

I can't believe my vacation is half over. I wait so impatiently for each one and then it goes by so quickly. It just doesn't seem fair.

If a picture's worth a thousand words

If it's true that a picture is worth a thousand words, then here's about 14,000 words.

Ryan with some of his favorite toys

Brenden and Erin - goofy kids

It was a good day to stay cool, so Ryan, Brenden, Erin, Mark and Alissa took advantage of the pool at Mom's.

The happy couple - Andrew and Rachael Croston, July 5, 2014

Since they hadn't had a "proper" wedding cake, we made sure they got one. We even had them cut said cake. For those keeping score at home, the lady who made this cake also made the cake for Mom and Dad's wedding. Cool!

Le smooch. We couldn't allow the reception to continue without a PDA.

We siblings got to speak (unscripted and unrehearsed, of course), welcoming Rachael to the family and giving her a better idea of what she's in for. She didn't run screaming from the room.

I went back down to Mom's on Wednesday to catch up with the Pruetts. And since there were some fireworks left, the kids (big and small) decided to rectify that situation. Parachutes were a big hit, and Brian (the big kid in this picture) did a nice job catching them for the little kids (Hannah, Erin, Ryan, Nathan and Will)

Brenden liked the fireworks, too, although he chose to watch them from the other side of the street. For a minute, I thought he was part of the mural.

Even Will liked the sparklers. I think.

Ken made sure the sparklers stayed lit for Ryan and Hannah.

Karen (my cousin) and Will

Even Mark wanted to play with the sparklers.

We went out to Seth's (another cousin) Wednesday night and the big kids set off fireworks in the rain. Once the rain let up, the little kids had more fun with sparklers.

It was nice to see the Pruetts. I hadn't seen them since before Hannah was born. Although we didn't have much time to talk and truly catch up, at least we know we all still exist. :)

Hope everyone had a safe and happy Fourth of July!

A bit late - sorry

It suddenly occurred to me that today is Thursday. Not Wednesday, like I was thinking. Evidently my internal clock is *all* messed up. Oh well. Tomorrow is Friday.

Not just any Friday, though. It's the Fourth of July. And in Seward, that means everyone and their cousin comes to town. With the weather looking pretty much picture perfect for tomorrow, and the fact that Friday starts a three-day weekend, I'm anticipating a big crowd. Woo hoo!

So what will my day look like? Well, I'm planning on starting things with the anvil firing and the community prayer service. That's the best way to start the Fourth of July - with a bang. No, it's more like a BOOOOM that rattles windows and teeth. Watching the Boy Scouts raise the flag and hearing the people who come to the morning service sing patriotic songs is a great way to start. Then I'll probably walk through the displays at the civic center. This year's theme is "There's No Place Like Home," so there will be a display of memorabilia from "The Wizard of Oz" movie, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year.

I'll come back to the bandshell area for the pet parade, the cloggers (who blow my mind every year with their skill and enthusiasm), the apple pie eating contest and the band concert. I'll swing over to the pole vault competition and the water fights, which feel awesome on a really hot day. I'll have to stop by one of the food stands for lunch, and I'll probably take that to the office to sit out of the sun and rest for a few minutes.

I'll be checking in on the nine students who will be out and about helping us cover the day. They've been assigned stories and photos to get throughout the celebration.

Then there's the parade which starts at 4 p.m. It's kind of the culmination of the day's events and the final hurrah for the downtown activities. Then everyone migrates to the baseball fields for the fireworks, which don't start until it's dark. But people take frisbies and other things to play with, and there's a band concert in the park to help pass the time, as well. I probably won't get up to the fireworks this year. Instead I'll come home and watch the Capitol Fourth on TV. Fewer bugs.

It's a full day, that's for sure. But it's a good day. I won't make it to every event, but I'll get to as many as I can. Even if I just stop in for a few minutes at a concert, and there are a couple I'd like to hear a bit of, I can check that off the list.

On a semi-related note, I learned that today is actually the 200th anniversary of the Star Spangled Banner. Two hundred years ago, Francis Scott Key watched the bombardment of Fort McHenry and wrote a poem celebrating the flag's survival. Cool.

Have an awesome Fourth of July, everyone. Be safe.

Random thoughts about random things

1) Seward was "featured" on the Today Show yesterday. Actually, it was mentioned in a segment on places to spend the Fourth. I must confess, I was a little disappointed. We (the Independent) were asked to share some pictures, so I sent several to the people putting the piece together. Evidently a whole bunch of other people did, too. That's cool. If I were putting something like that together, I'd want a variety to choose from. The Seward portion ended up being three or four pictures and maybe a minute of encouraging people to come.

The disappointing thing to me was that the segment didn't mention that Seward is America's Small Town Fourth of July City or that the day is filled with activities for people of all ages, both indoor and outdoor, active and more stationary. The pictures selected didn't really represent the number and variety of things to do here on the Fourth. The pictures I sent included the parade, apple pie-eating contest, pole vault competition, craft show, fireworks and anvil firing. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

So if you're looking for someplace to be on the Fourth, join thousands of your closest friends and spend the day in Seward!

Thus endeth my sales pitch.

2) My family expanded by two on Friday, June 20. My little brother Andrew got married. I know, I know. I thought the world was ending, too. His lovely new bride is Rachael, and his new daughter is Lilah. From what I know of them (which isn't much yet, by the way), they will fit in just fine. Andrew and Rachael are coming out the weekend after the Fourth and are planning a reception at Mom's in Humboldt so Rachael can meet the rest of the Nebraska relatives.

Now I'm the only one in my family without a wedding ring. This will take a little getting used to, but I think I'll be able to carry the banner for spinsterhood pretty well. But then, spinster is such a cruel word. It sounds bitter and hateful, as though the woman to whom it's applied is angry that she's not married. That's not true in my case. I'm not angry that I'm not married. I'm perfectly happy being single. Think of all the perks - I don't have to check in with anyone when I want to do anything. I can eat whatever I want and don't have to make extra for someone else. I don't have to share the remote (very important). I can stay up as late as I want without bothering another person. It's a good life.

Thus endeth my thoughts on being married.

3) As you may have noticed, the Fourth of July is coming up. Seriously, if you don't have anywhere else to be, Seward is a great place to spend the day. The schedule is packed with stuff to do. The day opens with the anvil firing, which is a custom dating to colonial times, I've been told. The fire department sets a metal ring on an anvil, fills the ring with gunpowder, sets another anvil on top of that and lights the fuse. It's very loud. And if you're not ready for it, you will jump and possibly drop whatever you're holding. I know this from personal experience, although I did manage to hang on to the camera.

The pet show, best decorated bike/trike contest, cloggers, apple pie-eating and bubble-blowing contests and community band concert fill the day at the bandshell, with other concerts and lectures at the civic center. There's plenty of food on Food Alley, and then the parade finishes the downtown portion of the day. People head up to the ballpark for the fireworks to finish the celebration. I've heard this year's fireworks show is going to be better than past years.

Be safe on the Fourth, everyone. And Happy Independence Day (early).

Thus endeth my post.

Coach Burke enters the NSWCA Hall of Fame

Those of you who know Coach Stacey Burke will appreciate this. Stacey was inducted into the Nebraska Scholastic Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame last night (June 14). Mom and I were among the about 30 people with ties to Franklin High wrestling who attended to support Stacey and Claudia. Doug Walton, a former wrestler and assistant coach, introduced Stacey and talked about how important my dad, Tom Croston, was to the program, as well.

Dad was Stacey's assistant for a long time at Franklin. Even though he had never wrestled, he learned the sport and was Stacey's right-hand man, from what Doug and Mom said. Dad did the record keeping, wrote the newspaper articles and helped shuttle the wrestlers from one place to another at state wrestling.

I wish Dad could have been there last night. He would have had a blast! I think the most poignant moment for me was when Stacey leaned over to Mom and said he missed Dad. Evidently Dad was always the one to do the speaking at awards presentations and banquets, and Stacey would have loved to hand over his induction speech to him.

So, here are a few pictures I took at the banquet. You'll see my mom with Franklin friends Mel and Sue Falk and Craig and Chris Gilpin, as well as with Stacey and Claudia. Enjoy! And congratulations to Stacey. It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.