Friday Five: Vacation Edition

Mary Beth at RevGals is thinking about VACATIONS! She poses these fun Friday Five questions:

1) What did your family do for vacations when you were a child? Or did you have stay-cations at home?

Summer vacations growing up meant family trips to the lake house, where we swam and water-skied and ate boiled peanuts in our bathing suits. When I was older I went to summer camp, year after year. I only remember a few big family vacations: New Orleans, NYC, and a northern college tour. Mostly, we hung out in Florida, where staycations were still fun. And hot.

2) Tell us about your favorite vacation ever:

Whichever next one I am planning! (Currently, England and Italy...without the kids!!!!)

3) What do you do for a one-day or afternoon getaway...is there a place nearby that you escape to on a Saturday afternoon/other day off?

This would be a good thing to figure out....I guess I'll say sometimes the movies by myself.

4) What's your best recommendation for a full-on vacation near you...what would you suggest to someone coming to your area? (Near - may be defined any way you wish!)

Beach and/or mountains. I love being close enough to drive to either.

5) What's your DREAM VACATION?

Water, seafood, time to read. And paid for by someone else. But I'll take England and Italy this summer.....!

Bonus: Any particularly awful vacation stories that you just have to tell? ("We'll laugh about this later..." maybe that time is now!)

Hmmm...the first thing that jumps to mind is getting pick-pocketed in the Florence outdoor market as a poor college student, and having very little extra cash for the next few weeks...I have a feeling I am forgetting a horrible vacation incident because I have blocked it out, and that is for the best, so I won't try too hard to remember....

Woe is the Blog

The blog lurks at the edges of my brain. Truly, it does. But the will to write is lacking. I'm okay with that right now. Busy with other projects. I'll be back eventually....

Friday Five: Favorite Things Edition

Songbird at RevGals invites us to list five of our favorite things. Here are mine:


1. Reading
I know the picture looks like clutter. NOT one of my favorite things, but one with which I am familiar. This is SuperGirl's "Reading Room" behind the blue chair. Apparently I have handed down the reading gene, because she has it bad, too. We are both just as happy reading as eating. Mostly novels. I've just started Julia Spencer-Fleming's clergywoman mystery series. And am reading Obama's Dreams From My Father. Oh, and some PCUSA booklets for an upcoming conference, but they are NOT pleasure reading!


2. Water
Lake, River, Ocean, Stream, whatever. I know I've listed this as a favorite thing somewhere on the blog before (maybe all of these....?) This is a picture of my childhood home's backyard view. I got spoiled early. Water views are now reserved for vacations, alas. I have a hard time choosing between beach and mountains, as a favorite destination. If there is water near the mountain, I am in good shape.





3. Travel
Love planning a trip almost as much as taking one. Mr. Incredible is taking a sabbatical leave this spring/summer (love the Lilly Foundation, too!) so we have a couple of trips planned. I am amazed that I can "walk" from our hotel in Italy to the place where I will take a cooking class, via Google Earth. Can't wait to go, but will be sorry when the trip is over, too.


4. Planning Education events for church families
While I tend to try to do it too much myself, and need to learn to delegate better (and start earlier), I do love to plan stuff. Right now I am working on a Holy Week walk-through of a sort of modified Stations of the Cross for all ages. I can visualize it: multi-sensory, something families can do together, and a great planning team to help me set up/clean-up that so far doesn't exist. Any fabulous ideas for a station on the trial of Jesus?


5. My Family
My husband, my kids, my sisters, my parents. They drive me crazy and I love them. They are fabulous people, and I am blessed.

6. Oh, and chocolate, naturally. With coffee. Good coffee.

Home

I'm back from a trip to a big churchy conference with a bunch of educators. My plane ride home was about half full of them, and it was loud! I loved walking down the aisle of the plane and overhearing snippets of conversation from them about spirituality, multiculturalism, construction paper, and beer. These are clearly my people. I caught up with friends, ate great food (the guacamole and beans were way better than what I can get here), and heard some good preaching and teaching. I returned to church this morning excited to nurture the children entrusted to my care.

It is good to get home. Even though our house has mounds of unfolded laundry and a funky smell from the heater somewhere. I miss my family when I am away. But I do like having the remote control to myself, although I must say that I was a little shocked at HBO in the hotel room.....didn't they used to just show movies?!

I go away again later this month to a small conference with mostly preachers, supposedly setting out some vision of re-forming ministry. While there will certainly be beer there too, I doubt there will be as much joy over construction paper.....

Christmas Countdown Friday Five

So long since my last post. Shame, shame, but there it is.

A Friday Five from Songbird at RevGals:

There are only five full days before Christmas Day, and whether you use them for shopping, wrapping, preaching, worshiping, singing or traveling or even wishing the whole darn thing were over last Tuesday, there's a good chance they will be busy ones. So let's make this easy, if we can: tell us five things you need to accomplish before Christmas Eve.

My five things I need to do before Christmas:

1. Loosen up my back, which I threw out yesterday while setting up for the Christmas Pageant. Ugh! I am now hobbling around, muttering under my breath. I do this every couple of years, and it takes a few days...(or more)...to get back to normal. Not good timing.

2. Remember where I have stashed all the things for the kids and Mr. Incredible. And wrap wrap wrap. While not bending over or stretching.

3. Finish the reader's script for the Christmas Pageant, rehearse, make sure youth who don't show up for rehearsal know what to do, give out costumes, and pull it off on Sunday morning. Oh, and finish the set-up which I couldn't do after #1.

4. Plan children's time and my part of the readings and prayers for Christmas Eve. Not too much to do, granted, but I need to think ahead.

5. Figure out what we are eating next week. It will be just the four of us, and for the first time ever we won't see other family on Christmas Day. I'm actually looking forward to it. All my family but one sister is out of the country this Christmas. We'll meet up with the other side of the family between Christmas and New Year's. It will be nice to have all Christmas Day to enjoy with one another and not rush off somewhere. But we will need to eat.....

Merry Christmas!

A Johnny Appleseed Friday Five

Questions inspired by Johnny Appleseed Day, from the RevGals site:

1. What is your favorite apple dish? (BIG BONUS points if you share the recipe.)

First let me put in a little plug for the apple slicer pictured here. I promise I am not a Pampered Chef person, but I must testify that I use this thing almost every day, and it works better than another one I have. I've given them away as gifts, I'm such a big fan. It makes healthy after-school snacks possible, and the following kid-favorite side dish quicker to prepare:

Cinnamon Apples
(serves 4 hungry or 6-8 not-so-hungry people)

4 Granny Smith apples
1 T. sugar
1/8 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. dried thyme
1/4 t. kosher salt
2 t. veg. oil

Core and peel the apples. Cut into about 10 wedges each. Toss with the sugar, cinnamon, thyme and salt. Heat oil in non-stick skillet. Saute apples over medium-high heat 7-10 minutes until softened, but not falling apart. Add 2 T. water if softer apples are desired.

2. Have you ever planted a tree? If so was there a special reason or occasion you can tell us about?

I've helped plant a tree to replace one lost in our yard. And I often think about a tree somewhere in the Minneapolis area that a friend planted in memory of our son Jack. I've never seen it, but I imagine it growing strong and tall.

3. Does the idea of roaming around the countryside (preaching or otherwise) appeal to you? Why or why not?

Can I travel some way other than horseback, like a circuit rider, or walking? I like travel. I like preaching. I don't think I would like traveling around planting trees, but I'm in favor of other people doing it.....

4. Who is a favorite "historical legend" of yours?

Good question, and I have no good answer. Johnny Appleseed's song "The Lord's been good to me...." has been sung by me since camp as a girl. I'd also have to say Joan of Arc....

5. Johnny Appleseed was said to sing to keep up his spirits as he traveled the roads of the west. Do you have a song that comes when you are trying to be cheerful, or is there something else that you often do?

When I'm not wallowing in self-pity, I like "His Eye is on the Sparrow" for a little lift. "I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free...."

Fall Equinox Friday Five

I'm up to my eyeballs in projects and have found no time to blog (like that's anything new), but can't resist a quick Friday Five about my favorite season, from Songbird over at RevGals:

As this vivid season begins, tell us five favorite things about fall:

1) A fragrance
The smell of burning leaves on a crisp day.

2) A color
The flaming red of a Japanese maple.

3) An item of clothing
My clogs.

4) An activity
I used to rake long trails for the kids in the yard before we moved. Now we live where there are no big oaks in our yard, only around the edges, and there's a lawn service that picks up the leaves, and something has been lost....maybe I'll manufacture a path this year.

5) A special day
Thanksgiving. My favorite holiday, with no gifts to buy, and no huge service at church.

God Days of Summer Friday Five

It has been far too long since my last post. But my fingers are itching to type a little today, and nothing else is pressing on me right now except the laundry. And the gorgeous weather today. So....an attempt to get back in the habit, with a summer Friday Five fromPresbyterian Gal at RevGalBlogPals:

1. What is your sweetest summer memory from childhood? Did it involve watermelon or hand cranked ice cream? Or perhaps a teen summer romance. Which stands out for you?

Sweet summer memories include long days at the lake with a big pot of boiled peanuts on the stove, eating dinner in my bathing suit, and making drip castles in the sand with my sisters.


2. Describe your all time favorite piece of summer clothing. The one thing you could put on in the summer that would seem to insure a cooler, more excellent day.

This summer it is my brown sandals. I spent awhile finding the right pair, and I love them. Clarks Indigo Hibiscus.....


3. What summer food fills your mouth with delight and whose flavor stays happily with you long after eaten?

See above picture of boiled peanuts. I will also now include grilled veggies from our new grill. Zucchini, onion, red pepper, whatever. Yum.


4. Tell us about the summer vacation or holiday that holds your dearest memory.

There were lots of summers spent at camp, both as a camper and a counselor. Plenty of family trips as a child. Summers now as a mom are different and memorable as I watch my children store up their own experiences. One summer that is standing out today is the one right before seminary. I spent about a month at home with my parents before starting Greek School. There was no job, no real responsibility. I recall lots of time at the pool down the street trying to learn the Greek alphabet, and looking forward with fear, trembling, and a sense of call to this new phase. Such anticipation. The summer I met Mr. Incredible during CPE has to be the winner, though. Falling in love in the hospital, over Snickers ice cream bars from the cafeteria and verbatims.....it was dizzying. (Note: I first wrote "Sickers" instead of Snickers.....)


5. Have you had any experience(s) this summer that has drawn you closer to God or perhaps shown you His wonder in a new way?

I suppose my hesitation at this question means I need to slow down and listen a little more closely. I've certainly felt grateful that my family is healthy this summer. For the first time in three years neither myself, nor any member of my extended family has been in the hospital or in treatment of any kind for cancer, brain injuries, whatever. At the same time there are others we know facing such a summer. I am cautious about just being grateful to feel well again, and not attributing it solely as a sign of God's grace, since there must be some grace in suffering. Other people say there is. I just haven't figured it out yet.....


Bonus question: When it is really hot, humid and uncomfortable, what do you do to refresh and renew body and spirit?

A shower, a tank top, a new book, and (new as of yesterday) fresh squeezed lemonade made with SuperGirl!

A Word Association Friday Five

From Singing Owl at the RevGals site, here is the Friday Five:
Think summer......are you there? Below you will find five words or phrases. Tell us the first thing you think of on reading each one. Your response might be simply another word, or it might be a sentence, a poem, a memory, a recipe, or a story. You get the idea:


1. rooftop
Surely someone else has mentioned this, but I haven't read any other blogs yet today, so here it is: James Taylor's "Up on a Roof". Such a summery voice, he has. Check it out here:


2. gritty
The feel of sand under my feet. I am headed for the beach TOMORROW!!

3. hot town (yeah, I know, it's two words)
Um.....it's hot here. As in temperature. Not really hot as in happening.

4. night
Up above is a great night picture that says "home" to me. The view from my childhood home's backyard.

5. dance
I'm also sure some of you have seen this before, but in case not, here is The Evolution of Dance:

Taking in the View Friday Five

Sally at RevGals asks these Friday Five questions:

1. How important is the "big picture" to you, do you need a glimpse of the possibilities or are you a details person?

I am almost all big picture. I can sometimes muster up an hour or two of detail work if needed, but that is all.

2. If the big picture is important to you how do you hold onto it in the nitty gritty details of life?

By avoiding the details, of course! Getting someone else to tend to them helps. But often I wait too long to ask for help from the right person, and end up having to do it myself anyway. I am also a list-maker, but seldom look at the list again after I make it, which exposes some drawbacks in my (visionary, big-picture, but short-on-details) system....

3. Name a book, poem, psalm, piece of music that transports to to another dimension ( one....what am I thinking....)

Oh, this this this!: Elgar's Enigma Variations - Nimrod:

4.Thinking of physical views, is there somewhere that inspires you, somewhere that you breathe more easily?

Anywhere around water. I grew up on a big river, and have to have my fix regularly. It can be ocean, lake, stream, whatever. Just blue and wet and wonderful. I also have a very physical response to a certain stretch of road leading to the mountains, where they first come into view and I do breathe deeply, without even trying.

5. A picture opportunity... post one if you can ( or a link to one!)
I scanned through a bunch of possibilities here, and finally settled on the one posted above, that is not too far from home - the Blue Ridge Mountains.

WonderBoy is 11!

A hot birthday morning here at the parsonage. Began with pancakes and enough time to try a little of the new Wii game he bought last night with birthday money: the new Lego Indiana Jones game. Then off to school. My job is to go buy the over-priced huge birthday cookie from the mall, then get to school in time to share it with the class at lunch. We've already had the friend party (small this year with just the 2 best friends) and the family party (early this year since Dad is out of town). So today is the school party (such as it is) with the cookie at lunch. It's been a whole birthday week, here. How is he 11? He was 5 just the other day!

I've posted before about the strange time of these four days between the birth and the subsequent death of his twin brother. Today is all about our WonderBoy, though, and what a gift he is. I can't wait to see what he does with his life, but I'm not liking how quickly we seem to be moving towards the day when we'll be waving from the end of the driveway as he drives off into that future. Middle school in a few months....(gulp) He'll be fine, but I have that same feeling I had about kindergarten. The lump-in-the-throat thing even while I am proud of him taking the next step. When I look at how he has grown and thrived after such a bumpy beginning, I am amazed.

Mr. Incredible is blogging now....

So we can both sit around with our laptops and post to blogs which, mostly, only the other reads. Takes longer and is more complicated than having an actual conversation. But fun, too. I set him up with a blog since he is off to his United Methodist Annual Conference, where he wants to report on all the crucial business of the day, like: What are the hip pastors wearing this year? What is the best answer to the question, "How are things going at your church?" And, what is that speaker really talking about, and is anyone listening? I plan to read his blog while he is away. I would post a link, but my anonymity bubble would shrink.....

Friday Five - Garage Sale!

Welcome to your irregularly scheduled RevGalBlogPals Fifth Friday Five, hosted by will smama and Songbird! Since will smama is preparing for a joint garage sale with her parents, and Songbird's church had a Yard and Plant Sale last Saturday, we have five enormously important questions we hope you will answer:

1) Are you a garage saler?
Not usually. It requires getting up and out the door too early on Saturday for me. Our one day to sleep in, apart from soccer games and such, and we like our lazy mornings when we can get them. I'll answer the other questions with the few garage sales I've been to in mind, though.

2) If so, are you an immediate buyer or a risk taker who comes back later when prices are lower?
Immediate. Stuff gets gone.

3) Seriously, if you're not a garage saler, you are probably not going to want to play this one.
(That wasn't really #3.)
Uhh...yep.

3) This is the real #3: What's the best treasure you've found at a yard or garage sale?
Three plastic mixing bowls 10 years ago. I use them all the time and they've held up well until just this year.

4)If you've done one yourself, at church or at home, was it worth the effort?
Haven't done a whole one myself. Mr. Incredible says he doesn't want church members in our neighborhood going through our old stuff. We did participate in a neighborhood yard sale, recently. No advertising. Just pulled some outgrown kid stuff out into our driveway, and sold it to the hordes driving by. Easy. I had a dream the night before, though, that people were coming in our garage and trying to buy things. Then they came in our house and were wanting to buy SuperGirl's shoes. Clearly, we have privacy issues.....

5) Can you bring yourself to haggle?
Not well.

BONUS: For the true aficionado: Please discuss the impact of Ebay, Craig's List, Freecycle, etc... on the church or home yard/garage sale.
Not an aficionado, but I will report that our recent hire of a non-ordained staff member at church came through a craigslist ad when our usual methods produced no resumes.....!

HTML Woes

I've been tinkering with my blog layout and finally got the header looking like I wanted it. (After 2 days of trying to figure it out. This is akin to reading ABOUT writing instead of writing. Reading ABOUT blogging instead of actual blogging.) Of course, I lost all my widgets, despite following detailed instructions on how not to lose them. I'm hoping the header looks good in other browsers than Firefox....I'm also hoping the beautiful picture inspires me to write a little more often, simply for the habit, if nothing else. I solemnly swear not to alter my blog layout again anytime soon.

Grand Tour Friday Five

In honor of several wonderful trips some of the RevGals are taking in the next few days, Songbird posts this Grand Tour Friday Five:

Name five places that fall into the following categories:

1) Favorite Destination -- someplace you've visited once or often and would gladly go again
Only one? Okay...I'll pick Australia. I went in 1991 for the World Council of Churches meeting. Got to stay a month on a study tour, but had almost no time to travel around, so I would like to see more of the country and go hang out in New Zealand at the same time. (But my favorite is probably just a regular old beach or mountain trip near to home.)

2) Unfavorite Destination -- someplace you wish you had never been (and why)
Besides the Oncology department, and the NICU (love how I sneak in more than one answer?), I would say....an unhappy trip to Rome with a sister and her husband when their marriage was breaking up. The tension on the trip took all the fun away, seriously. Ugh.

3) Fantasy Destination -- someplace to visit if cost and/or time did not matter
I don't know, but it would involve mountains and lots of water. An island somewhere, with someone to wait on me. And my family could come too if they let me sit and read a lot.

4) Fictional Destination -- someplace from a book or movie or other art or media form you would love to visit, although it exists only in imagination
Is it too cliche to say Hogwarts? Either that or one of the manor houses from Jane Austen's books. I'm rereading Persuasion now. And I did live in Bath for awhile, so that's not fictional, but the great houses where the characters lived otherwise are. And I would pick one of the big houses, not one of the small clergyperson cottages. I already live that life!

5) Funny Destination -- the funniest place name you've ever visited or want to visit
In preparation for a visit to England in January, I have been looking at maps, and I have to tell you British gals, there are some funny names there. But I do also like the little town in South Carolina called Pumpkintown.

And I am off on a little trip myself this weekend, which will involve a group of moms who write together, lots of good food, a great view, and skipping church. Lots to be done before I can leave though....

The Trinity Window

Trinity Window - Upload a doc

Mr. Incredible loaned me this idea. (He got it from Richard Lischer's book Open Secrets.) I am trying to explain the Trinity to my 3rd-5th grade Sunday School class. We've talked about apples: whole, cut up, applesauce, etc. but I like this visual representation too. Maybe we'll discuss it while we eat apples.....

Read this doc on Scribd: Trinity Window

The Name Meme (or how to procrastinate when there is lots of stuff I should be doing...)

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME (first pet, current car): Clover Odyssey
2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME (fave ice cream flavor, favorite type of shoe): Coffee Clogs (uhhh...yeah.)
3. YOUR NATIVE AMERICAN NAME (favorite color, favorite animal): Red Dog
4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (middle name, city where you were born): Blanche Jacksonville
5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (the first three letters of your last name, first two of your first name): MumQu
6. SUPERHERO NAME (2nd favorite color, favorite drink): Green Latte
7. NASCAR NAME (the first names of your grandfathers): Johnny Ray (I can see it.)
8. STRIPPER NAME ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy): Lavender Reeses Cup
9. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME (your fifth grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter): Hiett Hollywood
10. SPY NAME (your favorite season/holiday, flower): Fall Tulip
11. CARTOON NAME (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now): Strawberry Shorts
12. HIPPIE NAME (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree): Waffle Willow

Revelation Friday Five

With this Sunday's gospel reading in mind, that wonderful revelation of Christ to the companions on the Emmaus road. Sally at RevGals wonders where we might have been surprised by God's revelation recently.

So with no further waffle here is this weeks Friday 5:

How has God revealed him/herself to you in a:

1. Book
Most of the books I've been reading have been of the "let me escape" variety. Designed to entertain, and so long as I don't have to think too hard, I'm good. I did enjoy "Bread and Wine", what I read of it, and am glad I will have it for next Lent, as well. I finished "The Testament of Gideon Mack", and found in it God and the devil, both, so I'll leave it until the discussion to say more.

2.Film
Lately we've been watching the "Planet Earth" series. There is a segment where they show the Iguazu waterfalls on the border between Brazil and Peru, pictured above. The first time I saw it, it took my breath away. Living water, indeed.

3. Song
Here's a fun one someone pointed me to recently:
Billy Jonas, "God is In." Click on the little icon that says "Play."
http://www.billyjonas.com/index.php?page=songs&display=47

4. Another person
Yes, frequently. In my family, most of all.

5. Creation
I am looking out my window at the damp spring. Overcast and chilly again today, but, as SuperGirl likes to say lately, "it is really greening up out there". I can see a white-flowering Bradford pear tree, and a pink cherry blossom tree in the side yard, though the birch(?) tree nearest the window has nothing but bare branches yet. We are in the between time. Spring on the calendar, and the allergy producers are heating up, but the weather is still iffy every day, and there is a mixture of old and new life in the landscape. I can focus on the chill damp when I step outside, and grumble, or give thanks for the birds already singing and the green and pink and white, and the knowledge that the rest of the greening-up will come. It always does, thanks be to God.

Oh, and the Grand Canyon....

Bonus answer: your choice- share something encouraging/ amazing/ humbling that has happened to you recently!
The biopsy I had at the very end of January was benign scar tissue left over from my mastectomy and reconstruction. I am only now realizing that I had been holding my breath, and am starting to breathe deeply again....It took me getting through Easter to really shake the lingering fear I hadn't even acknowledged. And my mom is still healthy too....Hallelujah!

In preparation for the movement of Holy Week, Mother Laura from RevGals gives us... a Friday Five about time and transitions....

1. If you could travel to any historical time period, which would it be, and why?

I always wanted to be Laura Ingalls, and live on the prairie. It's a time when people lived a simple life. Not an easy one, but simpler. On the other hand, there is part of me drawn to the elaborate nature of the Tudor court around the time of Elizabeth I, and I'd visit that time if I was rich enough to wear a gorgeous dress and eat well in the castle. Contradictory? I guess.

2. What futuristic/science fiction development would you most like to see?

Teleporting. And holodecks. And the ability to teleport OUT of the holodeck if you start to get eaten by lions. (Flashback to "The Veldt"...anyone?)

3. Which do you enjoy more: remembering the past, or dreaming for the future?

I am most certainly a dreaming of the future person. But I sincerely hope to be able to appreciate the past, the older I get.

4. What do you find most memorable about this year's Lent?

I am enjoying reading "Bread and Wine".

5. How will you spend your time during this upcoming Holy Week? What part do you look forward to most?

I look forward to the Stations of the Cross on Friday at Mr. Incredible's church. I have no responsibility for it, and can simple move through it.

The Book Meme

I am probably the last person to get around to this, but here goes:

Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more.
The Chronicles of Narnia, taken from SuperGirl's "reading room" behind the chair. It's an edition with all the books bound together.

Find page 123:
Page 123 is in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Find the first 5 sentences.
Okay.

Post the next three sentences.

The reindeer were about the size of Shetland ponies and their hair was so white that even the snow hardly looked white compared with them; their branching horns were gilded and shone like something on fire when the sunrise caught them. Their harness was of scarlet leather and covered with bells. On the sledge, driving the reindeer, sat a fat dwarf who would have been about three feet high if he had been standing.

It occurs to me as a read these lines about Edmund, watching the White Witch approach in her fantastic sled: Sometimes evil comes to us disguised in such lovely trappings that we are lulled into accepting it, even valuing it. And by the time we figure out our mistake we have been drawn into a web of tangled strands, and getting out will be a job we can't do alone. I suppose there are preachers and churches that spend a lot of time trying to dissuade listeners from aligning themselves with evil/sin/the White Witch. I guess I am more comfortable being part of a church and tradition that recognizes how we have all jumped up on the sled and eaten our Turkish Delight of some flavor or another. We need each other to figure out that we really don't want any more, and in fact would rather be having tea with Mr. Tumnus and our family somewhere else altogether.....