Backyard Nature Walk Gourd Turkey

Ducky brought home a gourd from preschool. The assignment was to make it into a turkey, with my help. My husband had the idea of looking in our back yard for craft materials, so Ducky and I walked around picking up any leaves, sticks, and other things that looked like they could be part of a turkey.

I got out my hot glue gun, Ducky decided what went where. He was very concerned about making the turkey realistic, having just learned about all the parts of a turkey at school. (Note the spurs on the backs of the legs: this is a boy turkey!)

Here's another angle. We cut the pine cone in half to make it look more like a turkey tail. The turkey is actually resting on the table with the feet just sticking out for balance. The gourd was slippery and hard as a rock and getting it to balance on sticks was not going to happen.

All in all, both Ducky and I were very pleased with how it turned out. It's going to make a nice centerpiece for Thanksgiving dinner.

Illustrated Tweets: @quinnorton and @listenyoungman

After a long hiatus, and thanks to some encouragement from Jenna H., they're back! Selected tweets from my feed, lovingly hand-picked and illustrated.

The Formula for Righteousness

Did you know that there's a simple formula for calculating righteousness?

Add together the value of everything you own, plus the amount in your bank account and any investments. Then subtract the amount that you owe, any loans and debts.

If the result is a large number, you are a righteous person! If it is a small number, or even a negative number, you are not.

But, you say, what if the number is small or negative, and you know that you are righteous? How can this be?

There is a simple answer: Someone is interfering with the way things ought to be. Someone is getting between you and the blessings you deserve, and those people MUST BE STOPPED!

Unless...

Unless righteousness is not a number. Unless God's approval is not measured in dollars and cents.

Perhaps a person's wealth or lack thereof has little to do with their character. You can be poor and good, or rich and evil, or vice versa. Maybe wealth isn't a measure of holiness, and material blessings are not all there is worth striving for.

And maybe instead of tearing each other apart, we should lift each other up. Maybe we should reserve our anger for a system that promotes inequality, and a culture that worships greed. Maybe we really should swallow our pride and work together for the good of all.

That would indeed be righteous.

"Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God." - Luke 6:20

Poem: View from 2063

There was a time, my child,
When we went wherever we wanted,
Ate whatever we wanted,
Played and used and spoiled,
Because we could.

There was a time, my child,
We thought the world existed
To serve our whims;
When wanting was having.
Our lives were glorious.

Curse us, despise us,
(I do)
But remember:
We were the kings and queens of the world.
How could any mortal resist
The draw of such power?