Funny Monday

Peter of Holtie's House is the host for the last Fun Monday of 2007. Peter has set an appropriate task for this holiday eve. He is asking "I want you to tell us your favorite joke and/or show us your favorite cartoon, don’t worry if there is some duplication that just means more than one person found it funny.So come on and regale us with your best joke and/or cartoon, remember its New Years Eve and we feel like a good laugh, before 2008 comes along and does its thing on us."

Well, Peter the problem with jokes is that sometimes (most times) I cannot remember the punchline. Or if I remember the punchline, I cannot remember the setup. Hence, my joke telling is rarely funny. I do, however, have a favorite cartoonist and a favorite cartoon character. Our son, Luke , created a comic strip in college called "Void Where Prohibited." His comic strip was published in the Purdue University newspaper, The Exponent, during Luke's junior year at Purdue. One of the main characters of "Void Where Prohibited" was a duck named Miles. Miles as some of you may know is the first name of our own Daddy D. The duck was named by one of Luke's roommates, who had been a student in Miles's physics and chemistry classes.

This version of Miles did not appear in "Void Where Prohibited". Luke created the chemist duck for a booklet that Miles and I created for a science teacher's inservice.

After college, Luke created another strip called "Caffiene." This comic strip is about a young man, Jonas. Jonas works in a coffee shop but is seeking a professional employment. Luke featured a three week series on his blog, Useless Clutter starting on August 11, 2004.

The original of this comic is actually a traditional four-panel strip. This presentation allows easier reading. I love the cute fierce-looking dog.

For more joy and laughter, visit our other Fun Monday participants. Check out the list of particpants at Peter's place at Holtie's House. Have a wonderful end of the year, and may the year 2008 be your best year yet.

Happy Anniversary to Me and Daddy D

Once upon a time this kitty lover

grew up to be a cowboy.

And, this dark-haired maid

became a cowgirl.

The two cowhands met in July of 1964, and wed on December 26, 1966.

Now, the happy couple looks like this.

Merry Christmas

May this holiday bring you joy and peace.

My First Weekly Words Challenge

Update: My daughter-in-law, Bree, professionally writes a blog for Parents.com called Parental Discretion Advised . While Bree is in the hospital recovering from delivering an eleven pound baby, guests are writing posts for her professional blog. My entry of Luke's birth is the first of these guest posts. Luke ,of course, is Kara's daddy.

This week's words are

White and Life

for my very first entry the

Weekly Words Challenge

Sponsored bt Tink at Pickled Beef.

Meet a new life, the lovely Miss Kara, and her mom, Frema, of What're you looking at? Our new granddaughter weighing in at 11 pounds and four ounces of life.

A layer of white snow is a common sight in northwest Indiana.

The Baby Is Here.

Our new granddaughter has arrived weighing in at an awesome eleven pounds four ounces. Her grandpa, Daddy D, and I will be leaving shortly to meet her. Of course, we will be returning with pictures. Until then, you can read about and see pictures of the little (or not so little) sweetie at her mommy's blog, What're you looking at? , compliments of the lovely, beautiful, kind, and talented Molly of Lost a Sock.

Tradition

In November when Deborah, The Humble Housewife, the Fun Monday hostess asked about holiday traditions, I spoke about Thanksgiving because we keep Christmas rather simple. And then later, Karisma asked about a childhood memory, I spoke about my childhood fear of Santa. Last Monday, Kaytabug of Lady K asked us to show our favorite ornament. As I visited other Fun Monday sites, I noticed many of the participants had fully decorated homes. These events as well as driving throughout our town viewing the festive decorations of the homes in my community caused me to reflect. Although our decorating is low key, Daddy D and I do have a few decorating traditions that we practice every year.

For example, we display Christmas cards above our doorway; this tradition is past down from my parents. However, as they were conscientious and sent cards, they received many cards in return.

Our tree has mostly been small. Our current version is actually the top of an artificial tree. The ornaments are those with special meaning, gifts from students, or made by our children. Under the tree are floppy reindeer from some fast food giveaway.

Another tradition, which we started because of cats and small children, was hanging breakable ornaments on the kitchen bulletin board. We no longer have cats, and our children are in their thirties, but we still display some special ornaments on the bulletin board.

We have a creche that my parents gave us many, many years ago. And, we have a whimsical Holy Family created by the youth at church. One of our newer customs is to display the flower pot Mary and Joseph on our kitchen table. We also keep these snowman salt and pepper shakers as part of the holiday decorations.

I sometimes think that we are not especially attached to traditions. However, although our displays are simple, I realized that we do decorate a certain way each year. Furthermore, although our decorating tends to be like our shopping a last minute affair, when I could not find some of our ornaments on Friday night, I was distraught. Maybe I do like a few traditions.

Waiting for the Call

Sort of a update: As of 4:14 PM Central Time, Sunday, December 16. 2007, the baby has not arrived. If she does not decide to come out on her own, her parents, Luke and Frema, have scheduled an appointment to induce labor on Monday, December 17, at 7:30 AM so by tomorrow our little grandchild will make her grand entrance to the world. Luke and Frema have been blogging about their activities and the status of the weather in the baby's hometown.



Our son, Luke, and his wife, Frema, are expecting a baby girl. In fact, the official due date was yesterday, December 10th. Frema has been posting about her pregnancy on her blog, What're you looking at?. She also writes a professional blog, Parental Discretion Advised at Parents. com.

For the past few weeks every time the phone rings, I think that Luke will be on the other end telling us his baby, our grandchild has arrived. Maybe that call will come today. You can be sure that I will let you know when we get the CALL.