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In Memory of Kathy Heenan

Recently, I had the difficult task of writing a memorial piece for a very special lady who died too soon. Kathy Heenan was a devoted teacher, wife, and mother who lost her battle to breast cancer. She could certainly teach us all a few lessons about living.

I Love Alligators

We've lived in this house almost three years now. During that time, I've often wondered, even suspected, that we have alligators living in the two big retention ponds at the front of our neighborhood. Since every body of water in Florida has an alligator, it's a safe bet that these do, too. In all this time, though, I've never seen one here.

On Friday afternoon, Keith and I were returning home from an errand and saw a beautiful alligator crawling out of the water to do a little sunning. He was good-sized for our little retention pond, maybe four-feet long.

On Saturday afternoon when Keith went for a run, he was startled by a much smaller alligator hanging out in a storm drain.

Last night as we were returning really late--think midnight-thirty--from our Small Group, we turned into the neighborhood to find the little guy on a midnight stroll. He was kind enough to pose for my iPhone camera before running off before I could get out of the car and in his face.

Staffing Up

A great and celebration-worthy thing happened this week: Roger was promoted to Staff Sergeant. Congratulations, little brother, on moving on up in the world. I'm very proud of you.

Space Shuttle Atlantis Launches for 30th Space Mission

This afternoon, the Space Shuttle Atlantis left for its thirtieth mission in space. For the 2:01 p.m. flight, Monty and I hustled ourselves to the top of the church's hill property to get a good unobstructed view of the launch. Unobstructed except for the massive wall of clouds formed by the sea breeze just before 2 p.m. this afternoon. Just in time to interfere with our shuttle viewing.

We arrived just a few moments before actual lift-off. Jeff Cooper was there with a couple of his relatives.

Even though it wasn't the most visually impressive launch I've ever seen, there is something terribly powerful about the sheer force necessary to send those astronauts to the Hubble Telescope. We're cheering them on to another successful mission.

A Saturday Morning, Good Friends, and A Hotel Implosion

Keith and I gave up a good Saturday morning sleep-in to leave the house at 6 a.m. to go camp out on the side of the highway and watch the implosion of a giant pink skeleton of a hotel.

The hotel was built before Disney World was in existence, and Disney executives used the Colony Plaza Resort in Ocoee, Florida as sort of a headquarters while they were buying up property and planning the empire. The picture at the right is what the resort looked like in its glamorous hey-day. The picture at the left is what it looked like in the middle of its implosion.

When we moved to this area in 1999-2000, the hotel-turned-timeshare wasn't nearly as run-down as it is now, possibly because it hadn't been sitting condemned for eleven years yet. In 2005, when we returned from our time in Dallas, I think the hotel had already become home to West Orange County's homeless population. (Here's some guy's flickr account with pictures of the hotel he uploaded in April 2008 to give you an idea of what it has recently looked like.)

At 7:10 this morning, thousands of people--including Keith, Rita, our friends Rebekah and Joe Fana and their daughter Libby, and Jeff Cooper with his son Johnathan--gathered along the corner of Highway 50 and Maguire Road to watch the end of the once-glorious hotel. After the demolition crew's countdown, charges exploded throughout the second floor of the hotel, and then it collapsed in a roar and cloud of dust. (Here's somebody's YouTube video of the implosion.) A very dramatic beginning to our day.

Recent Reading: gods in Alabama

A couple of weeks ago I read gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson (pronounced as if her first name contained no "h"). Joshilyn Jackson is one of the funniest people I don't know; some time ago I stumbled upon her web site and have been hooked on her blog from that moment on.

Because I love her blog voice so much and also because I just love Southern fiction, I picked up copies of Joshilyn's first two books (Between, Georgia being the second book). Here's the basic premise of gods:

Arlene Fleet flees Alabama for the safety and far-off distance of Chicago academia. In high school, she had made a deal with God that if He kept her secret, she would never lie, fornicate, or return to Alabama again. When Rose Mae Lolley shows up at Arlene's apartment, Arlene figures that if God has broken their deal, she certainly has the freedom to. Under pressure to keep her secrets secret, Arlene invites her black boyfriend to Alabama to meet her family. What Arlene learns along the way is that returning to Alabama may not be all that bad and that lies come in all shapes and sizes. You'll have to read it for yourself to find out what she learns about fornication.

I read this book very quickly. The characters are well drawn, and Arlene is just crazy enough to keep me reading. As I was reading, two things bothered me: 1. I'm not a huge fan of books that alternate past and present chapters, and 2. I dislike information dumps at the end of books. Now that some time has passed, my brain has somewhat reconciled those issues with the whole of the book.

And even though my mother and I don't have the same taste in books at all, I gave her this book to read last time she was over here. I don't know what she thought of it but perhaps she'll let us know.

When LOST Becomes Your (Okay, My) Life

Last night during LOST, when Eloise Hawking gave Daniel Faraday the fancy-wrapped box as a graduation present, I knew it was the journal he is always flipping through. I love journals; I knew.

But when he opened the box, I jumped from my chair and told Keith to pause the show. A brief rummage through my shelves of journals yielded this beauty and the ensuing photo opportunity.

Keith said, "Only in this house would we have that exact journal."

As of yet, my journal isn't filled with scientific scribblings and notations to find Desmond when my life starts zipping through space and time. It's not even filled with a loving inscription from a murderous mother. But it has so many possibilities, especially now that it feels it has a kindred spirit that contains all the answers to the island.

What Once Was Broken

Four things around here have been on the fritz in the past few weeks (or more, in some cases), so we've recently been about the business of getting everything fixed up and running smoothly again.

• Monty. In my opinion, this is the most important thing on this list. He's been ill with a variety of maladies for almost two months now and on antibiotics for about seven weeks. It's been difficult and sad to watch him suffer so. He should be running around the back yard enjoying himself, not moping and limping around like he's going to keel over any minute. We are well on the way to having most of the temporary issues remedied, which will only leave us with learning how to deal with the arthritis in his back.


• Car. Yes, my beloved mode of transportation started acting up a couple of weeks ago. Bad coils and/or coil wires. I got it back from the shop yesterday. It--and I--are both very happy now. Though, Keith and I don't have nearly as much money as we did yesterday morning.


• Sink Faucet. If you'll remember back to spring of last year, you may recall our kitchen makeover. After we installed that lovely kitchen sink and its equally lovely faucet, the faucet started leaking. Not a heavy, environment-killing leak but a slow, occasional drip kind of a leak. But we were so exhausted from three months of rebuilding the kitchen that Keith and I just decided to wait a bit before taking care of the thing. That was a year ago. Last weekend, we uninstalled the faucet and returned to Ikea armed with the faucet and the original receipt. Thanks to the original receipt and the ten-year warranty on the faucet, we now have a brand-new and leak-free faucet.


• Solar Panels. These are last on the list, because they're not fixed yet. They, too, have developed several leaks, which will require Keith to climb onto the roof and do some patching this weekend.

The Many Exciting Things We Did to Celebrate Easter

Usually holidays of all kinds are set aside for family around here. For some reason, we let it slip away this year with no regrets. But since it was such an out-of-the-ordinary Easter, I thought it should be documented.

• Awoke in the five o'clock hour (on a Sunday!) to attend a beautiful sunrise service on the hill property owned by our church, Avalon Presbyterian.


• Went to Wal-Mart to purchase ink cartridges so that I could finish printing the worship guides for last night's church service.


• Ate a nutritious breakfast of hot cakes and sausage (Rita) and breakfast burritos (Keith) from McDonald's.


• Attempted to diagnose why my car was misbehaving. Went to Advance Discount Auto Parts in search of spark plugs and an air filter. (Based on a conversation I just had with Roger, we chose the right place. Apparently, they are some of the only folks around who will carry in-stock various parts for my very cool car.)


• Keith took a nap while I did the print-and-fold job on the worship guides.


• I took a nap while Keith got started watching early Masters play.


• Keith took my car apart.


• Went to an Easter sunset service (not really). (If and when a photograph should become available, I will post it here.)


• Put my car back together and gave it a test drive around the block that got a thumbs-up and many atta-boys for Keith.


• Finished watching the Masters. It was a great day of high drama on the course, even if there wasn't much high drama at the Devlin house.
  

The Movement to Stop MS

I'm a little behind the times posting this article link. In the March 5 issue of The Southwest Orlando Bulletin, I have a short piece about some local MS Society events.

It's in the Air

How I know it's Spring:

• One of the planet's most intoxicating aromas--orange blossoms--makes me lose focus.
• Keith wants to spend all our time outside working in the yard.
• A nearby nesting pair of bald eagles eagerly awaits the moment when its two babies take flight.
• Birds everywhere--including two little bald eagles who are testing their wings--are playing in the wind.
• We are in the aftermath of the annual slaying of the crape myrtles.

A Place of My Own

Every writer needs a place to put words to paper. Over the past couple of weekends, Keith and I have worked hard to make my little office a far more appealing place for me to be in while I put words on paper. Because it is so beautiful, and because Roger asked so nice, I thought I'd share a photograph with you.

What we did:

• Removed the old stained carpet and installed bamboo flooring.
• Removed the old 3" baseboards and replaced them with 5+" baseboards.
• Framed out the doorways to the foyer and the kitchen with some lovely casing.
• Painted the new trimwork and touched up the wall paint.
• Bought and installed a new shelving system with drawers and doors to hide clutter.

And it looks great. You will notice that everything a growing writer needs is close at hand: Apple laptop, printer, calendar, iPhone, house phone, water, and tournament bracket.

Discovery Launch

Tonight's Space Shuttle launch was spectacular. While our friends were congregating on top of our church property to have a nice hilltop view of the launch, Keith and I played loner so that we could come home and grab a camera. While I missed the fun of watching the launch with our friends, it was worth taking the effort to get the camera, don't you think?

Sunset launches are fairly rare and oh-so-beautiful. The sun's rays play dramatically against the smoke trail to great effect.

Each shuttle launch gives me a thrill and a pride in the human race, our country, and all the Floridians who work so hard to make this program a success.

Here's hoping and praying for a very successful mission.

Recent Reading: Daisy Chain

Actual conversation #1:

Rita: I'm reading a book that has a preacher father who is a pillar of society and adored by everyone. But when he's at home, he's beating and belittling and terrorizing his family.
Roger: Nice.

Actual conversation #2:

Rita: So guess what the preacher was before he became a preacher.
Roger: A carpenter.
Rita: Bingo.
Roger: When did this woman steal your story?

Sometimes a book does more than transport you to another time and place. It does more than allow you to escape your world and trade it in for another for a few hours. Sometimes a book can seem to take your life and mash it up so that it's not really your life and serve it to you. It is frequently those books that I am unable to put down. Years ago, I figured out that I become overwhelmed with a need to know that the characters survived and triumphed over the evil in their lives.

So when Jed Pepper presented himself to me in Mary DeMuth's new book, Daisy Chain, I was hooked. Jed is a small-town Texas preacher's son. At fourteen, he must face too many demons--the demons that have his father's voice and tell him he's not good enough, the demons in his father's fury and abusive hands, the demons that tell him he's not man enough to protect his mother and sister from his father, the demons that punish him for not walking Daisy Marie Chance home the night that she disappeared. And I became invested in the welfare of this young man.

Sure, it's a Southern (for the sake of this particular story, I'm going to suspend my belief that Texas isn't truly Southern but rather its own entity) coming-of-age novel full of a cast of characters burdened with their own damaging secrets. And yes, it's full of dysfunctional people who aren't really doing the best that they can. It's just the formula I love in a book.

I almost laughed out loud at the end, not because it is in any way funny, though. My friends know that I don't like neat little tied-up endings, especially when they are forced into dialogue. Maybe I'm not your average reader, but I want a writer to let my brain do some of the work. There are absolutely no clean endings in this book. But since DeMuth has planned a trilogy, I hope that some mysteries will play themselves out in fuller detail later. Or perhaps sooner would be better.

Miscellany

• For their winter break from school, the nephews, chauffeured by Keith's brother, came to Florida for a few days. It rained the first day they were here, which allowed Eric and me to get in a few games of Scrabble with minimal complaining. Since Keith is in the midst of building a home media center computer, Ben and Joey were able to learn some marketable skills (see photo). On Saturday, I had the good sense to stay home while they all went to play paintball. I did, however, have the joy of washing the paintball gore from all their clothes. And finally, and since Aunt Rita has no desire to play Risk ever again, perhaps Joey will continue not to learn a valuable lesson: "When Aunt Rita says she won't play Risk unless you eat the dinner she cooked for you, she's serious."
• One of the highlights of our week is our Saturday night time with our church small group. We've been attending Avalon for not quite a year now but have made some dear dear friends. Nearly every Saturday we get together with a group to have a Bible study, discuss a book, and/or enjoy social time together. At first I thought I'd resent losing the freedom of our Saturday evening, but now I look forward to this time with friends.
• Monty was sick for most of last week. We don't know what, how, or why--just that we took turns a couple of nights sleeping on the couch to more easily let him in and out of the house. A few days of nothing but rice and chicken stock seem to have fixed him up, though.
• The other night, Keith and I were reading the book of Esther. After the king's wife embarrasses him in front of his buds, his advisors bring in all the virgins of the land so that he can choose a new wife. While all these virgins are being readied for the king, they are pampered and spa-treated and made over to make them more appealing to the king. Last night I told Keith that my mom and I would be playing today and intended to get a pedicure. He said, "So you're getting a beauty treatment like Esther." Further proof that the Bible does apply to every-day life.

He's Smarter than a Fifth Grader

I have to tell you how cute and smart my little dog is. Read on, and you'll have to agree that he's smarter than your honor student. (Just kidding. Kinda. But I do hate those bumper stickers.)

Yesterday and today, many boxes came for Keith. He's working on a project; I'm responsible for inventory when the boxes arrive. When the UPS man left this morning's stack of boxes, I went to work by opening the largest of the boxes, which Monty could easily fit into.

It was filled with packing peanuts. Filled. Up.

I scooted the peanuts around enough to pull a decent-sized box out. As soon as I pulled the box out, Monty plunged his head into the box. Buried up to the neck in packing peanuts, he didn't knock one of them out of the box.

I checked the item in my hand off the list and looked to see what else I should expect in the box. Four cables. When I turned back to look for the cables, Monty was pulling his head out of the box. With one of the cables (in a plastic bag) in his mouth. At that point, I gave him my pen and let him finish the inventory job.

Felicities

• Gathering with friends to celebrate the union of a young very-much-in-love couple as they became husband and wife.


• Having Keith home from his business trip.


• Being entertained by friends and family while Keith was out of town.


• Anticipating dinner and a play on my birthday in two weeks.


• Watching my husband and my dog cuddle on the sofa every night.


• Surviving the deep freeze with the plants I care most about intact.

And Now a Word from Our Sponsor: The Ford Mustang

This morning at about 7:35, Roger (brother) called and told me that Mama (mother) had been in an accident. Indeed she had been. Had the pick-up truck struck her car just a few inches back, she might not have walked away with only the few minor bruises she sustained. While the front end of her car isn't where it's supposed to be, the passenger compartment held its integrity and saved her from serious injury. I am certainly thankful for the solid construction of this car that I totally underestimated and for the divine hand that protected Mama this morning.

By 1:30 this afternoon, Mama drove off the car lot with a new Ford Mustang to replace the old and now more-than-slightly used Mustang. (Between the two of them, she and Roger have owned six Mustangs. Add me, and the total is seven. It's in the blood, I guess.)

Treebute

In the current issue of The Southwest Orlando Bulletin is an article I wrote about Windermere's annual Treebute celebration, which features fun and educational experiences for people of all ages. If you're in the area this weekend, go to downtown Windermere and learn something about trees.

Recent Reading: Marley & Me

Marley & Me by John Grogan. This is another of those books that has been on the shelf around here for a while. I was destined to read it but only now have been able to. I laughed. I cried. I laughed. And I cried. A lot.

Last Sunday marked the first anniversary of our loss of Timber. Even though that has brought a good bit of raw emotion to the surface from both Keith and myself, the impending release of the Marley & Me movie next week spurred me to read the book before Keith drags me to the theatre. Every time I see a trailer for the movie, I laugh out loud. I know that dog. I lived with that dog for ten years. I know it'll make me laugh and cry, but I have to see the movie just like I had to read the book.

As I read the book, I became more and more convinced that even though their personalities were vastly different, in many ways Timber and Marley are the same dog. From clearing a beach by squatting in the ocean to the wild variety of things they ate to their joy of life and utter loyalty, Timber and Marley proved to be kindred spirits. I enjoyed almost every moment of Grogan's life with his beloved dog. And relived my life with my beloved dog.

I owe Grogan many thanks for sharing his dog with me, even if it did make me cry and miss Timber.