Wisdom of the Dinosaur

Yesterday I held a sick child for almost the whole day.  ‘Sunshine’ had been sick with fever and vomiting the night before, and was staying home from kindergarten.  She lay across my lap while we rocked, and I caressed her face and hair.  In my grandma kingdom, this was a great day.

released in 2009

We watched a selection of Disney movies, starting with “Dinosaurs”.  We have watched this movie many times, but I have never been plastered in the chair by a five-year old with a fever of 101 degrees.

 Usually, Sunshine and I watch a movie, and she gives me a running commentary on the movie along with her own unique insights.  You would be amazed by the perspectives a kindergartner has about life and theology.

The plot is straight-forward:  a dinosaur egg miraculously escapes many brushes with crushing, ends up hatching in the tree occupied by a family of primates.  They adopt the adorable newly hatched dino and name him “Aladar”.  All goes well, happy times ensue, and Aladar (who is fortunately an herbivore) develops friendships and family. 

(Carnosaur) This is a very bad dinosaur, Grandma!

There are some universal truths conveyed in that movie.  Go with me on this:

Everyone needs to love and be loved.

Everyone needs to know they are not alone.

Everyone needs to make conscious decisions for good or evil.

Aladar and his love interest
Iguanodons and lemur friends
Normally mammals and dinosaurs are not close friends.

Everyone needs to be believed in and encouraged.

Everyone can change and grow.

Everyone has the potential to learn and the capacity to give to others.

Everyone must take chances, to make ‘a leap of faith’.

Everyone needs to trust and believe in something bigger than themselves, something they cannot see.

Okay, these are not a profound revelations.  I have never evaluated a movie for universal elements before, and I was struck by the way the movie displayed these characteristics. 

Then we watched “Night at the Museum (has a dinosaur)”, and “Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure (no dinosaur)”.  We both nodded off before Tinkerbell was able to repair the moonstone.  Dang.

This is a re-post of 2011 post.  We are preparing to go or may even be gone to Switzerland by this post.  I will be holding two grandsons by then, hopefully healthy boys.

Fry everything, oh yes you can

It starts here.

Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, beats a State or County Fair!  Just say those words aloud in a conversation, and see what happens.  Everyone has a memory of a trip to the FAIR.

I believe our memories are firmly anchored by the odors and scents that come with the State/County Fair visit.  Whether it is the walk-throughs of the cow, pig, goat, or sheep stalls or the multiple stops at the food vendor courts, our sense of smell locks in the memories of going-to-the-State-Fair.

So it is with great pleasure, I bring you Fried Foods at the Fair!

Chocolate-Covered Bacon Walking Taco from Coco Flow Chocolate Shoppe

These foods go beyond unhealthy or indecently pleasurable. These deep-fat fried foods venture into a realm of absolutely unique.  Here is a minimum list of currently-on-the-menu at different fairs:

 Fried Cola             Fried Margarita    Fried watermelon 

                                          

                        Fried Energy Drink

deep fried kraut balls

Fried mac and cheese; cheese on a burger with cheese, on a Krispy Crème Donut topped with chocolate covered bacon---it is all there.

thick-cut slices of pork belly bacon, top it with red cabbage slaw and smother it in adobo barbecue beer sauce.

Fried Scorpions   Fried Captain crunch burgers  

          

      

gum with marshmallow

fried butter

             

           

Need I go on?  These adventurous food vendors spend years on experimenting with new ideas.  Who knows what we will see at the next fair, and absolutely have to try?

I have my nose, eyes, and tastebuds ready for Fried Red Velvet Funnel Cake with Cream Cheese topping.

Now, what would you seek in this world of heart attack foods?


This is a blog from 2012.  Since I will be absent from the blog world I decided to dredge some old posts.  I'll see y'all when we return from hugging and kissing my grandsons.

Sunshine: Theology as seen by a four year-old

Sunshine:  Theology 101 according to a four year-old.

After I pick up Sunshine from Gateway Christian Preschool, we always have lunch together.

Having lunch with Sunshine is always an interesting event, even if it involves copious amounts of pbj, milk, and applesauce.  All it takes is a simple question, and her vast wealth of knowledge and opinions come flooding out like gold coins from Scrooge McDuck’s vault.

All I have to ask, “What did you learn at school today?”

Just before Easter, Sunshine’s eyes brightened at that question, and without missing a bite of pbj, or a drop of the jam from the oozy edges, Sunshine told me.  “I learned all about Jesus.  And, Grandma, did you know…”  

She paused for a swig of 2% milk, and to allow me to mop off her face.  “Did you know that Jesus gotted nailed to a cross?  That’s a thing that has two pieces of wood that make a small ‘t’.  The bad Romans (Where did she hear about them, I wondered.) took big nails, Grandma, really big nails.”  She spread her hands about a foot apart.  “And then they hammered them through Jesus’ hands, really hard.  Right through Jesus’ hands.”

Her wide blue eyes made contact with my green eyes, to make sure I understood what she said.  Oh, I understood.  I could feel His bones breaking, and the blood dripping onto the wood.  My green eyes became misty with tears.

With casual care, Sunshine licked off the strawberry jam that she had squeezed out from the bread, on purpose.  She likes to do that, and I don’t blame her; so do I.

“Then they stood the cross up like this,” Sunshine demonstrated with her yellow IKEA plastic spoon, “and dropped it in a hole like this.”  She brought down the spoon hard into the bowl of applesauce.  “That woulda really hurted, you know.”

Again her eyes looked deeply into mine, checking for understanding just like any good teacher would.  Oh, I understood how the cross would have hit the ground with a vibrating thud, and how this would have shook Christ’s body with waves of pain.  My eyes blinked at hers several times.

She told me the whole story, event by event, while I remained very still, listening and watching as my almost 5 year old granddaughter explained salvation to me.  “Miss Kenny gived us each a paper cross we color on, and I decided to color my cross like a sunset.”  I looked confused, I suppose, for now she patiently explained her ideas as if I were only 4 years old.  

“You see, Grandma, the red is for the Blood of Jesus, which He gave away so we can see Him in Heaven.  Then the orange is for the sunset when Jesus died.”  Another bite of pbj, and the last swallow of milk.  

“Can I have some more milk, Grandma?”  Without missing a beat while I automatically poured the milk into her pink IKEA cup, Sunshine lowered her voice to a whisper.  “Then I used yellow.  You know why I used yellow?” 

I shook my head, for at this point I didn’t want to or couldn’t talk.  “Well, the yellow is for sunrise, when Jesus got up out of His grave.  That meaned that He wasn’t dead anymore, that He was alive!”  She slammed her hand on the table.  “There!  See!  Jesus is alive!”

With the last bite of pbj, and the last swipe of the spoon around the bowl of applesauce, Sunshine finished up.  “Then I colored around the cross in blue, ‘cause Jesus went up to Heaven, and He’s waiting there for all of us.”  She gazed into my eyes and asked, “Grandma, why are you crying?  This is good news, not bad.  Jesus is alive!”

I pulled her into my lap and wrapped my arms around her.  Sunshine wiped her gooey face into my tee-shirt, and filled me with her warmth.  Yes, He’s alive, Sunshine.

Susan Kane

April 27, 2011

This is a re-post from six years ago.  I had forgotten about until I checked comments in Hold for Moderation section.  Sunshine is now eleven, my height, with the amazing blue eyes.  And she still knows what Jesus did for us.