Interview with Wyatt Roberts, Sr.

Inspired by my dear friend at Graceland, I decided to interview a family member for my next blog post. I will interview my husband Wyatt, as he usually is pretty funny, and is the only one awake besides myself. I chose to interview him about Father's Day, since we will be celebrating Father's Day in just a few short weeks.
Here goes:

When you hear the words "Father's Day" what do you think of?

WHR sr: I think of my shirt. (The kids and I made him a shirt with their handprints and footprints on it that reads "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord...")

Do you remember any gifts/cards that you gave your father as a child?

WHR sr: No.
(Really. That's all he said. And yes he has, and grew up with, a father.)

What has been your favorite Father's day gift thus far?

WHR sr: My ball cap. "Greatest Dad" ball cap.

Describe a perfect Father's Day.

WHR sr: "A day on which I get to take a nap and reflect on how blessed I am to have so many lovely children." (awwwwwe!)

What should people NOT buy their dad's for Father's Day?

WHR sr: "uh... I don't need...anything. I don't need any ties."

So, there you go. Now we know what men think about Father's Day.

At this point I decided to move on to another subject. My husband was working on his novel before we started this interview, so I decided to ask him about books. Here we go:

"Why do you like to read?"

WHR sr: "Because I like to learn. No matter what I am reading, I am deeply engaged in the process of learning. It is very satisfying to read a well written sentence...when an author can cause you to see a setting, or pinpoint a feeling, to understand a certain situation through succint and evocative writing...they can put you in a certain place or time..I learn from that."

You read both fiction and nonfiction. What are your favorite genres in each of these categories?

WHR sr: Suspense (particularly Dean Koontz novels) in the fiction category, theology in non-fiction.

What is the first book you remeber reading as a child?

WHR sr: "It was either Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn..I don't remember which one. I was 9 or 10 years old. I was sitting on a gold couch in Pensacola, Florida. That was in the fourth grade. I read that whole book that summer."

Who are your favorite fictional characters?

WHR sr: Huck Finn and Odd Thomas

Why those two?

WHR sr: Well, as for Huck Finn, I wanted to be like him. I tried my best to do many things that he did, such as build rafts...I spent a good deal of time trying to build rafts. To this day, when I pass over a river, I have this desire to hop on a raft and float down to the ocean."

What about Odd Thomas?

WHR sr: His sense of justice. And he is willing to risk his life to do what is right....And the fact that he likes C.S. Lewis...that we share a love for C.S.Lewis, 24 and The Office.

What is the first essay/poem/narrative you rememeber writing?

WHR sr: (smiles) A poem I wrote in first grade. It goes like this:

"I read my bible everyday.
I love to sing, I love to pray.
I love my sweet, sweet teacher.
I'd go to the moon to see a creature."

I also remember a story ...my dad used to have a typewriter. One summer, somewhere between 6th and 9th grade, I wrote several pages of a sci-fi story. I really wish I had that story...it was about some people who were shrunk down to the size of ants. I remember thinking, "This would be an awesome movie."

How do you find writing?

WHR sr: Painfully slow.

What is your biggest challenge?

WHR sr: Losing momentum. I guess because I am a perfectionist...it is difficult to allow myself to just put thoughts down in anything but their final form.

What makes a good storyteller?

WHR sr: Someone who can surprise you and still be believeable.

If you had to choose only 3 books for your library, what would they be?

WHR sr: The Bible....(sigh...thinking...) Websters Unabridged Dictionary....(more thinking....) The Complete Works of C.S. Lewis.
(so not a real book, but wouldn't it be great?)

Different Friday

This is a different Friday. Not the one I posted about last week. I say that so that every will be clear as to when I last blogged. (sheeesh!) So, I confess....It has been a full week since my last confess...er...blog post.

Anyway, I have to run to town to pick up my son. But when I get back I will have a big, fat, juicy new post for y'all. All 4 or 5 of you that read this. So, sit tight.

Friday

Now, today is Friday. I am still in my pjs because school is over and we have nothing planned until after lunch. Before we ate breakfast, we each packed up what we would be hauling to park day. Or church day, should it rain. At least two, possible three, of my children need a bath today, but I refuse to bathe them until we are back from the park. Why bother? Second-cup-of-coffee time will be a little early today...immediately following lunch...so that I will not yawn without ceasing through homeschool group. Dinner is already planned...whatever meal I had planned this week but never cooked, so now I must cook it before the meat goes bad and the salad wilts. Whatever housework I fail to do today I will do tomorrow while the kids are playing outside, their Daddy mows the lawn and the lil' tots nap. Tonight we watch National Treasure 2 after the kids are in bed. And then read well into the wee hours of the morning, because tomorrow is Saturday! Have a great weekend!

Thursday

Today is NOT Friday. That's why there is no Freebie Friday email in my inbox. That's why we did not rent a movie. Despite what I thought most of today, today is not Friday. It's Thursday. Also, Saturday is not the homeschool end of year party. That's next Saturday. Tomorrow (Friday) is not the last homeschool group park day. That also is next week. This should explanin why some people didn't know what I was talking about all day today.

I know, I know...

I know it's been a while since my last post. I've been planting stuff! I've had the fever and the weather has been perfect for it, so I figured I'd better strike while the iron is hot.
Plus, we are wrapping up the school year, so lots of review and assessments. Come back in a few days!

P.S. By the way, Prince Caspina was great!

Today! Today! Today!

Prince Caspian FINALLY opens today! This is big news for our crew, and quite frankly I'm surprised my husband didn't take the afternoon off and keep our son home from school so we could all go. (It's still not too late!!!)

Nevermind

ok, here's the scoop on the quote.
It is an excerpt from a novel written by Dinah Craik...check it out.

Typical

So, for several years now I've been passing around a quote of George Eliot's I heard at a bible study in Dallas. It's one of my very favorites. Today, I was inspired to share it with a friend who recently has felt rather cautious about what she can say on her blog. I couldn't remember the quote word for word, so I looked it up online. I found it...YAY! Only one problem. According to the fine folks at www.quotegarden.com, my very fav is NOT by George Eliot at all, but someone I never even heard of...Dinah Craik. So, if anyone knows the true author of this little morsel, please let me know! Here it is:

Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away. ~Dinah Craik ...or maybe not.

Favorite Spring Things

We've had the windows open for weeks now. Last night as I was getting the kids ready for bed, I heard a whip-poor-will. We stopped and listened by their window for a few minutes. Later, as I was laying in bed, I heard a nightingale. Although Autumn is my very absolutely favorite season, Spring is pretty amazing, don't ya think?

daffodils * chilly mornings, warm days, cool nights * spring break * song birds * warm rain * longer days * grilling * Mother's Day * gardening * END OF SCHOOL (one more week!) * redbud trees * dogwood trees * honeysuckle * newborn calves * sandals * Easter * white clothes * toe rings * trips to the zoo * picnics * capris * working in the yard * clotheslines * open windows * tulips * the lovely smelling shrub with little white flowers that grows like a weed all around here that I can never remember the name of (trivet? privet? some sort of hedge)

Steven Curtis Chapman Day

Here is a video I told my mom I would post, followed by one I saw on my girlfriend's blog.

What Would You Say?

Although I consider myself to be a fairly good reader,some words give me pause. There are some words that people say whatever way they choose. For example, beloved. Is it two syllables or three? What about caramel? In the northeast you drive on Route 6, pronounced root 6. In other parts of the country, you drive on Route 6, but it's pronounced rout. If your last name is Joaquin, and you live in New England, it's pronouced Jo-quin. Here in the south it's Wa-keen. Yes, I'm serious. Down here, the name Montague is 2 syllables...Mon-tage with a long "a" and hard "g" sound. In New England, it's 3 syllables...Mon-ta-gue, the last syllable being pronounced "gew". Up North, I celebrated Thanksgiving...that's "Thanks GIV ing." Down here in the South, I celebrate "THANKS-giving." Up there, I had "in-SURE-ance." Here, I have "IN-surance." As opposed to "outsurance," I guess. Children in the south drink water from a water fountain. Children in New England drink from a bubbler, and don't bother pronouncing that pesky "er" on the end of the word. It's "bubbla", got it? People up north have a love/hate relationship with the letter "r". You won't hear it in words like car, park, yard. We save it for words like idea (idear) and Rhonda (rhonder). People in south also have an interesting way with the letter "r". They don't "wash the oysters", they "warsh the irsters." And then they might ask you, "How you durn?" (That's "how you doing?" for the rest of us.) And while I'm at it, let me take a second to let all my wonderful Southern friends know that "pin" and "pen" do NOT RHYME! Neither do "tint" and "tent". And for all my northern friends, people eat jalapeno peppers...that's "hala-pay-nyo." not "hala-peen-o." The hotel chain is La Quinta, pronounced "La Keenta". It's Spanish, not english. When you say Mississippi, don't worry about those middle letters. It's Missippi. The middle "iss" will just slow you down let everyone around you know that you are not from here. And folks in the south, lets get this one cleared up as well. Say this with me... "Mass-a- CHU-setts". Notice the "t"s come at the end of the word, not the middle.


Love y'all!

Contemplating Motherhood

Doesn't this sum it all up?

Before you were conceived I wanted you.
Before you were born I loved you.
Before you were here for an hour I would die for you.
This is the miracle of life.

Maureen Hawkins

Books and Rumors of Books

A few posts back I mentioned the possibility of a new Dean Koontz book being available. I was unsure if I was remembering correctly of just wishing thinking. Well, today an inside source (inside my house, that it is)has informed me that YES! Indeed, Dean Koontz has a new book out!!!!!!!! And it gets better! Not just any 'ol Dean Koontz book, but an Odd Thomas book! WOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Now THAT is a party in itself, friends. In case you don't know who Odd Thomas is, check this out. Anyway, the latest Odd Thomas book is called Odd Hours, and I'm about doing the bookie-book dance just thinking about it. Now I really am torn! Odd Thomas or Jazz? I don't know, i just don't know. Yesterday it was all so simple. sigh!

The Results are in!

I just took a bunch of quizzes at www.blogthings.com. The results say I belong in Dublin, my kisses are pink, I have a purple brain, I'm 70% girl (uh-oh!)and 80% grown up, if I were weather I'd be lightning,if I were a spice, I'd be Basil, and if I were a cookie, I'd be Chocolate Chip. See....

You Are a Chocolate Chip Cookie

Traditional and conservative, most people find you comforting. You're friendly and easy to get to know. This makes you very popular - without even trying!

What Kind of Cookie Are You?

Oh, and my preppy name is Pratt Calloway Lock the 6th, but most people know me as "Cricket", and there's only an 8% chance that I've been abducted by aliens. So, there you go.

Be Back Soon!

Ok, It's been awhile since I made a sincere effort at blogging, but I do have 3 good excuses and 1 pitiful one. The pitiful excuse is the extremely habit forming game I've been playing. ( And yes I'm still stuck on 26)

Two of my good excuses are new bookie books!
The first is one I picked up at Hudson's in
Hattiesburg the past weekend. It's about
something that I had no idea about....
black slaveowners. It's The Known World
by Edward P. Jones and it's a veeerrrrrrryyy
interesting and heartbreaking read.


The second book is one I received from Compassion International. I have yet to really dive into it. I'm skeered. I know it's going to break my heart, so I'm easing my way into it by looking at the pictures, skimming a paragraph here and then. It's called Hope Lives: A Journey of Restoration by Amber Van Schooneveld. It's about poverty. I can't tell you anymore because like I said, I'm skeered.


And listen now, as far as books go, I'm just getting started! There's a new Miss Julia book out there I've yet to get my hands on, not to mention Death, Deceit and Some Smooth Jazz. (I have not purchased these two books yet for one simple reason. I AM HOPING TO RECEIVE THEM (or one) FOR MOTHER'S DAY!!!!! )Plus, I think my groovy book buddy has another Lisa Samson book for me, and I believe that Dean Koontz has a new one coming out. Not the dog one. A newer one. I think. Ok, don't quote me on that last one. Sooooooo, as you can well see, I have not yet begun to read!

Back to my excuses,...er, reasons for not blogging much...

My 3rd good excuse is the lapbook I'm working on for Sunday School class. It's half done...maybe...ok, more like 1/3 done. And Sunday is just around the corner ya'll, so I'm off. Time to say prayers, tuck the little boogers in and get cracking!