Added to the finished pile:
King Lear by Shakespeare (I don't know why I was
never required to read Shakespeare in either
H.S. or college, even though I took tons of
English and literature classes. All the "End
of the World" books were the rage back then.)

The Legacy of Sovereign Joy: God's Triumphant Grace
in the Lives of Augustine, Luther and Calvin by
John Piper.

Contending for Our All: Defending Truth and Treasuring
Christ in the Lives of Athanasius, John Owen, and
J. Gresham Machen. by John Piper.

All three are highly recommended by your friendly blogger.

The Piper books are laced with marvelous quotes by the
great men of faith, but I'll only repeat one of them
here.

On the day before he died J. Gresham Machen said to his
friend Sam, "Sam, isn't the Reformed Faith grand?"

Indeed it is.

Weather Report from Mayberry:
Warm, moist and blustery. This afternoon will see sharply
falling temps to lead us to a cold Thanksgiving Day.

From the kitchen in preparation for the Feast tomorrow:
Fresh cranberry sauce (nothing is more beautiful than fresh
cranberry sauce in a cut glass bowl.)
Caramel Pecan Pie (one of Hattie's and my faves!)

And there you have it. A day in the life of a sometime blogger.

In case you are wondering how G'ma Opal,
Fernnook Farm, and Mayberry are all doing I do
apologize for the sparse updates. Being in a
travel mode this year is making it hard to keep
up with writing about the adventures of everyday
life.

But here is a quick overview.

1. G'ma Opal is well. She beat Hattie at Rummy
big time yesterday. She is still gloating over
her pile of birthday cards from her #97 birthday
party. I haven't gotten an update on the mouse
situation lately, but I know the Japanese beetles
are driving her batty (as they are me).

2. The farm is doing okay. We are hurting for hay
this year and sold several of the cows. We are
hoping to limp by 'till spring if possible without
selling the few we have left.

Our billy was suffering with foot problems, and though
we'd tried some home remedies, the problem wasn't
clearing up. So, we broke down and hit the vet's
office for some antibiotics that we don't normally keep
on hand and gave him all kinds of shots and foot
treatments. Yesterday, the head farmer told me
that Zac (the billy) was doing a lot better.

3. Mayberry is still there and as fun and funny as
ever. It is nearly deer season (gun season) and
life literally stops in Mayberry for deer season.
The kids get out of school for an entire week, everyone
plans their vacation for this time. It is really
rather amazing that you can even buy gas or groceries
during this week. Entire families go out and hunt.
It is definitely THE SOCIAL EVENT of the year.

But...we are going to miss the biggest chunk of deer
season this year because my niece is getting married
in Orlando this Saturday. So, we're off again, at
least as many of us as can get off are off. Some have
to stay and work. Poor Joel!

How can you help being ga-ga eyed over a guy who
not only understands the following comment, "Kent,
yesterday I got so hungry for Ephesians,", but
responds in like manner, "Laurie, you would not
believe how lonely I get for the book of John."

The last time I was in the Philippines was during a
rather tenuous time. I wasn't able to use public
transportation or visit a lot of public places.

This time Becky and I traveled using every imaginable
form of transportation. We had a lot of places to
get to in order for her to meet with all the people
she needed to meet with, and in order to get to those
places we walked, rode public city buses and public
city to city buses, we took the overnight boat, we
rode the LRT and MRT in Manila, we rode in jeepneys,
we hopped on motorellas, we mounted tricycads, we
were in taxis more than I like to remember (we found
out that taxi drivers in Manila work 24 hour shifts),
we were escorted in numerous private vehicles, and
we got in an out of airplanes a number of times. It
was fun and enlightening.















Here I am in a tricycad in Cagayan De Oro.

And here, in the very midst of Autumn, the promise
of things to come.

It has been the tradition in our family for Kent to
take the boys on special Father-Son trips when they
turn 10 and again at 13. It has also been the
tradition for me to take the girls on trips at
the selfsame ages. However, up to this point,
since we have only one daughter and since she is
the baby of the family, I've not had the opportunity
to do so.

This past week, though, I finally got my turn and Hattie
and I went on a jaunt to celebrate her being 10 years
old.

We had a marvelous time. We talked some about what it
means to grow into a woman of God. We touched on issues
such as not drawing too much attention to ourselves with
our speech and actions, dressing modestly, and feelings
we might be facing in the next several years. I didn't go
overly heavy on such things though, because these are
topics that are best dealt with in the heat of the moment.
Since I am blessed with getting to spend hours of every day
with my girl, I can deal with these things as they come up
in a very natural way.

We visited the Laura Ingalls Wilder home, we went shopping,
and we stayed in a motel. We are not very good shoppers.
Hattie said, as we were driving to Springfield, "So what's
a mall anyway?"

I did splurge on her though. At the Wilder gift museum she
fell in love with the bonnets, so, after trying them all on,
I bought her the one in the picture. And, at Kohl's, she
stood in front of a cute little shirt, and said, "I wish I
didn't get so many hand-me-downs that I never need to buy a
new shirt."

We walked out of Kohl's with one new shirt (and some socks).

The highlight of our trip, though, was eating pizza in bed!

Why was I never told what a rip-roaringly lovely read
Beowulf is? It is the earliest extant poem in a
modern European language, but the modern
translations today (the one I read was translated
by Burton Raffel) are not difficult to understand.

Beowulf is the hero who rescues the Danes from the
monsters Grendel and Grendel's mother. He then,
after a long and glorious reign, kills the dragon
that is assailing his own people.

Following is a sample of this little book:
...The monster would have murdered again
And again had not God and the hero's courage,
Turned fate aside. Then and now
Men must lie in their Maker's holy
Hands, moved only as He wills:
Our hearts must seek out that will. The world,
And its long days full of labor, brings good
And evil; all who remain here meet both.