Christmas funny from Emma

As I was lighting our pellet stove this morning using rubbing alcohol as lighter fluid, Emma says, "I don't touch alcohol." pause... "Just eggnog." Now, where in the world she got THAT association, I have NO idea!

Dear Emma,

We're saving a spot for you at the front of the line. . .

And on the bench. 

We want to know how you are,

So we're looking forward to seeing you at Christmas!

Love,
Your expectant cousins, Gracie and Mary Clement

Acknowledgements

Hi, folks,

I got my dissertation submitted today, and I wanted to share the Acknowledgements with you all:

The University of Texas at Austin has been an excellent place to conduct graduate training and research. I am grateful for the collegial and supportive atmosphere of the Department of Government, and in particular the leadership, counsel, and encouragement that Robert Moser provides graduate students. I owe a great debt to my dissertation committee members, all of whom have been persistently helpful and supportive. Thomas Pangle and Robert Koons deserve special thanks for their extensive and insightful comments on my work throughout the project. Above all, I am indebted to J. Budziszewski, who possesses a wise and generous heart along with a precise and penetrating intellect. He is a man who inspires and merits emulation in many, many ways. I am deeply grateful for his mentorship. Beside the work of all of these scholars, I am very aware of the deficiencies of my own. I am, of course, responsible for those errors that remain.

My debts to family are even more numerous and profound. My wife and I have been continually blessed by the friendship, wisdom, and generosity of our extended families. We would not have made it without them. Whatever there is of value in Chapter IV was learned first experientially from Bill and Sarah Wright, and second, in my own practice of fatherhood. Among a thousand gifts that could be named, I thank Jackson, Harry, and Mary Clement for daily renewing in me the desire to achieve my best self. Finally, there is no way to thank Ruthie adequately. Her labor for our common good has been unstinting and often thankless. Her love, friendship, and creativity animate our life together and profoundly inform all that I am and do. This work is dedicated to her.

report from SLC

To bring everyone up to (my) date at once rather than multiple asymmetric (and unsatisfying given the state of my Mayflower Edition phone) calls, and to solidify my thoughts after a whirlwind trip in and out of Utah which included late nights, early mornings, dozens of snatches of conversations, and long airport layovers, I offer a

REPORT FROM SLC.

First, I want to put your minds at rest concerning that which everyone was not worried: Cody represented you all wonderfully, and his presence was appreciated not only by Sarah and me, but your cousins and the once-removeds. Thank you Cody, you have always been able to see Sarah’s needs and give support that I miss providing.

Second, Sarah needs to speak for herself, but I am sure she is in a better place after the viewing, the funeral, the trip to David’s apartment, the reception, the pictures, the conversations, the discussions and remembrances.

Third, the events of the death, reconstructed: David lived in a third floor apartment, next to a utility closet which housed a water heater and a trapdoor in its ceiling into an attic, which in turn contained a ladder leading to access to the roof. David had only to place a stool next to the water heater, place an aluminum ramp he used to load motorcycles into the back of pickups (6 1/2’ tall with cross bars useful as ladder rungs when placed vertically) on top of the stool, put a chair next to that to be able to climb onto the stool to ascend the ramp/ladder, crawl through the trap door, up the fixed ladder of the attic, and out onto the roof. Nothing to it.

There was a meteor shower that night, duly announced in the newspaper, and David had binoculars, camera, etc. to enjoy the show from the good vantage of the roof unencumbered at treetop level. Not many people have David’s combination of Rube Goldberg skills and dim warning lights to have pulled that off. Once on the roof things went bad. As everything else was in a nook at the crown of the roof, and his camera is in the gutter, it is reasonable to reconstruct the scenario: the camera slid down the raised seam metal roof into the gutter, David, wearing some non-non-skid footwear went after it, became unbalanced or slid, and fell off.

Fourth, let me say at this point that Sarah long ago quit cleaning gutters, and this year convinced me to do the same; however, standing at the spot he fell, being told that a) the police, who wanted the camera to see what he was shooting from the roof but unwilling to go get it themselves, and 2) they had called the fire department, who, not being able to get at the gutter from the truck due to a fence, were also unwilling to go out on the roof, I looked at the height ( only maybe five feet higher than places on my roof), and the pitch (4/12, same as mine), and the raised seam roof (ditto), and was thinking “That’s not so bad, I do (did) that all the time, I’ll go get that camera”.

I hesitated because 1) I was wearing slick shoes and my only suit, and b) Sarah and Cody were standing right there. So, the camera in still in the gutter, and a good camera too, I’ll bet.

The whole picture wasn’t as foreign as I had expected, not at all.

Fifth, my mind’s picture of Jennifer Bone Hannah is a 12-14 year old sitting on Johnny’s porch in Glenwood Springs one evening discussing religion. I don’t see her much and that image has never really been updated, but of course, everything else has moved on—the house is Deshea’s now—so I was mildly shocked the young girl standing in front of a full church (David had started going to church, although I doubt he had fully become a Methodist Mormon), magnificently giving a very complicated eulogy that was part remembrance, part explanation (she did not gloss over David’s addiction for speed and risk taking; Johnny said the car outside the apartment was turbo charged, had racing brakes, and David would hit 150 MPH down the interstate), and a good bit catharsis for her.

She did mention that she thought things worsened after Mrs. Bone’s death. You will remember that Mrs. Bone had been ill and descending, we called Johnny and David in, they arrived Super Bowl Sunday, she perked up and walked upstairs to watch the game with her boys, and died happy that night. David was asleep on the floor in her room; she had rolled of the bed on top of him; he understandably but incorrectly second-guessed the events of the night.

Sophie Hannah (granddaughter) sang, Jimbo told a few stories and sang one of David’s favorites (Forever Young), David’s cousin Tom read scripture, and the pastor did his funeral thing. All was done well and to everyone’s benefit.

Sixth, the Mayflower died the death today and I was on call. After two hours (mostly standing), two stores, and two sore knees, I now have an iphone. Same number: 1.501.MUSHROOM.

Seventh, it seems that there was more I was going to share, but it was late last night when I started this post, so I went to bed. That didn't work. BB

Yet again it's evident that we're doing a great job shaping our children's theology. The boys were writing stories this morning. Jackson's began, "You know in the Old Testament, how Sir Frances Haddock had a gold bowling ball. . ." and Harry's began, "One day a monster came down from heaven with a spiky rope." Hmmmmm.

Life here

A few things before I forget. I forget so much! Tacking a few pictures on the end as well. . .

Mary Clement at 2 & 3 mo.

When I tuck her in bed at night, likes to be "snug as a bug in a rug", which is me making her into a burrito with her favorite blanket, her giggling delightedly.

Calls her brothers, "boys" or "guys". We regularly hear her sweet call across the house when she wants them to see something, "Guys!", or when she wants to direct them, like when she knows it's time to be heading out the door, and they aren't moving fast enough for her, "C'mon, boys!"

"the house" seems to be a character in her life. She always says, "Bye house" when we're driving away, and when I play a little game with her, "Who loves Clemmie?" She'll list Mama, Daddy, boys, Jackson (Jaason), Harry (Hawee), Naynay (you loom large to her), and house. She often wants to pray for "house".

She loves to count. I count her snaps or buttons when dressing her, and she likes to do it with me, her favorite numbers being two!, "free!", and eight! of course completely out of order.

Refers to herself as "Kim-ent" or "Kim-ee" (we've started calling her Clemmie a lot)

At night or naptime I'll often sing to her Rock a Bye Baby and/or Jesus Loves Me. She puts these together and wanders around during the day singing under her breath, "Rockababy. Jeejuzz." over and over. Popular with the boys lately has been the little ditty, 'Hi. My name is Joe. I have a wife , 3 kids, and I work in a button factory. One day, my boss said to me, 'Hey Joe! Are you busy?' I said, 'no!'" Clemmie's oft-heard version is "Hi! Joe! Busy?" full of expression and arm motions.

Harry at 4, almost 5
Is cute in such abstract ways, they're hard to write down. He will say funny things, but they tend to be so abstract it doesn't translate into writing well. He's very imaginative, thinking in pictures. I've been pleased with how easy it has been to teach him to read. I must admit that I was dreading it, b/c he's distracted so easily, his mind wanders so quickly, but in some ways this has been an advantage. When he learns a new sound, without trying, his mind starts making picture associations between the sound and letter shape. Random things that make perfect sense to him but crack me up. He'll come up with about 5 associations within 30 seconds of learning a new sound. I've forgotten most of them, as does he, b/c he'll drop the association after he's gotten the sound on its own. A few examples I can remember of the dozens:
l looks like the base of a lamp, so "l"amp
w is like waves and water
u looks like a man under a bed (???), so "u"nder

Every day Harry yells (naked, of course) from the bottom of the stairs "Is it a church day?" so he knows what to wear. Dressing takes him so long he doesn't want to do it twice.

This head-in-the clouds boy still has to be reminded to go to the bathroom b/c he pays absolutely no attention to anything he's not currently working on in his mind. It's a good thing we feed him regularly; otherwise he might forget to eat. He's very sweet and sincere and I delight in him all day long. His blue eyes encapsulate his personality.

Jackson at 6, almost 7

Is into Tintin comics (How many times can you reread the same 2 books? You have no idea), Paddington Bear, & Boxcar Children, writing messages to everyone, spying, and soccer. He scored his team's only goal at his Saturday game (winning the 0-1 game)! He's naturally pretty athletic, and his height is coming in handy.

He's been particularly sweet with Mary Clement. He gets her out of bed every morning and walks her downstairs. If we're still asleep he'll get both Harry and MC a bowl of cereal. Just now he wanted to make sure that MC could come to his birthday party. He's tender-hearted, sharp, and sensitive.

Saturday morning game. Jackson is in navy, center right, with his arm up. The other team was either very short or the age below his.

Later that day we had a nice picnic at Eagle Lake, which is right by us. I took this one to show how the leaves are changing - there hasn't been one big burst or turnover, more like rolling change. We spent hours here just reading aloud, the kids playing (while I played Words with Friends!). Very restful. I lost my keys at some point on the small hike to the picnic spot, but thankfully a kind soul took them to the public library b/c I had several library key tags on it.

The left view from our front porch. This is the Davison's home, the family we're renting from (from which we're renting. whatever). See how we're down the hill a little.

The right view from our front porch. Love this house. This is where Kim (professor of education at MSU) and Kevin (works at St. Clare's) live, with their 2 college-age kids. They're the ones who spend $300 on candy every year at Halloween. Speaking of that, Jackson has decided to be a gargoyle, Harry a viking (again), and I've yet to come up with something for MC.

And this is our cute little house. Like the 2 sets of  "325"? :)

The view of the shed in our backyard, through the window screen of the children's attic "cave" room. They're all up there together. I love this shed. Doesn't it just say Kentucky?

Some day if y'all are lucky I'll show you pictures of the inside. 

Sent in TODAY! in all its completed, footnoted glory, for the November 7 defense:

A Vindication of Politics: Political Association and Human Flourishing 

by our very own Matthew Davidson Wright. A summary to whet your appetite:

Precipitated by important work in recent natural law political theory, this research revisits the relationship between political association and human flourishing. Does the political community itself realize some aspect of human sociability intrinsic to our full flourishing or is it simply an instrumental good? The inquiry begins with a thorough examination of the merits of John Finnis’s influential argument for an instrumental political common good, pointing to a significant lacuna in his inattention to the value of political activity, as opposed to the operation of government and law. In building an alternative positive account the argument relies upon both formal and substantive considerations, generally employing an Aristotelian methodology of understanding the whole via a consideration of its constitutive parts. First, drawing from Aquinas’s Aristotelian commentaries to unpack the basic structure of part/whole relationships within the “body politic,” I argue that political community is partially defined by the nature of its basic constitutive parts. The next chapter considers the substantive good of familial association, particularly in light of longstanding concerns with the family’s particularity and inequality. I argue that the intrinsically liberal and educative character of parental love rightly orients children to virtuous activity and invests familial association with an intrinsic rationality. The final two chapters bring direct focus onto the political common good: First, I argue that a normatively compelling account of the political common good must be both inclusivist, i.e., including within its purpose the irreducibly diverse goods of every individual and basic association within the community, and distinctive, i.e., including within the calculus of practical reason the good of the political association as such. Lastly, I argue that the political common good is intrinsically—though only partially—constitutive of the human social good. Aquinas makes a crucial shift away from Aristotle’s political primacy in his more pluralistic account of human sociability and emphasis on the extensiveness of the political good over the superiority of political activity per se. Nevertheless, there are essential human virtues—justice, love, generosity—that are uniquely, if not exclusively, fostered in political community and potentially realized in civic friendship. 

Because inventive spelling is cute

They framed their creations with paper and spoons. . .

Welcome to Rowan County: A Work In Progress

This county has so much going for it - and this is the best you can say to advertise yourself? "Rowan County: We're Getting There"

I pass this regularly, and had to pull over to take a picture for you (aren't I a good blogger?). Notice that, once again, it's dark and rainy. It has been raining A LOT here! I'm told that it rains more here than anywhere else in Kentucky. I wonder why?

Interesting side note: everyone from Kentucky identifies themselves by their county rather than city. Even people from bigger cities like Lexington say, "I'm from Fayette County."  We live in Rowan County. We're a work in progress.

Visitor Research

We're getting ready for your visit by doing area research. First we tried out Activity A:

Activity A: Throwing Black Walnuts into a field.

Assessment: 30 minutes of fun! Fun factor expected to increase if includes you.

Then on to Activity B: Visit an Apple Orchard (Head there expecting to pick apples and then learn that they just stopped their U-Pick service. Enjoy it anyway)

Remember to eat apple donuts and apple cider along with crisp apples. Come home to discover that Clemmie had taken a bite out of all the apples we gathered from the ground.

While at Orchard, enjoy their rope maze.
Assessment: Super fun, but next time, find an orchard where we can actually pick the apples!

Oh, and enjoy nature while there (aren't those the coolest seeds?)

And finally, Activity C: Attend the Cave Run Storytelling Festival. (While we didn't do it this year, I want to camp during festival weekend in future years)

While listening to a story, view from my left. Festival is on Cave Run Lake, 20 min. from home.

And view to my right.
Assessment: We'll plan on this every year, and would love to do it with you!

*Disclaimer. I know my pictures are really bad. I still only have my iPhone for pics, which are really poor quality. Is the iPhone 4 really better? I'm trying not to let this prevent me from taking pictures/posting. Will remedy soon. By the time you come visit, so then you're not in poor quality photos. :)

Done!

We're pleased with how it turned out. I wanted bright and fun, and I got it. I picked the color to coordinate with the painting on top of it (yet to be hung; one my grandmother painted of me sleeping as a child) and our duvet cover. I got going on it, cleaned and primed it, and my arthritic hand gave out. My knight in shining armor saved the day and ended up doing all the color. Fun, huh?

Random Bit of Info

Y'all have been documenting such wonderful things lately (births, birthdays, cross-country moves, deliveryman debacles, etc.), and I've been meaning to post comments on all of them but haven't had time. (I will, though. I really will.) So, while not as monumental as your recent events (well, except for BB's -- haha!), I thought I'd just drop a quick post about the last week of my life. As a favor for Tonya, one of my best friends, I catered (almost all of) the food for her wedding reception Saturday night. We ended up with about 125 people, but, as I discovered, I made enough for about double that. She had wanted to do southern food with a twist. So, the main course menu included a shrimp and grits bar (served in martini glasses and topped with shredded cheese, crumbled bacon and green onions), seafood Brie mac and cheese (with lobster, crab and crawfish), vegetable tian (which I "southerned up" with the addition of squash, pepper jack cheese, and a crumbled cornbread topping), cabbage, apple and pear slaw (with a whole grain mustard vinaigrette), and watermelon salad (with 24-hour pickled red onions, feta and mint). And, even though they aren't southern, I made (a kajillion...ok, 7 dozen) Parisian macarons tinted to the pale blue of the flower arrangements (the cookies themselves were vanilla-almond and filled with lemon buttercream). I shopped, prepped and cooked for three straight days (over 36 hours total, by my calculation) and, without the assistance from some of my friends (I had three of them peeling and deveining over 600 shrimp until midnight on Friday, while two others were breaking down red and yellow watermelons), I wouldn't have made my deadline.

I felt confident in cooking all of the dishes in small batches, but I was a little concerned that the quality would be diminished with such quantity (I cooked over 20 pounds of pasta for the mac and cheese, if that gives you an idea). However, everything came together, and the food was well received. Most importantly, though, Tonya and Scott were happy. In fact, Tonya, at the end of the night and after a few cocktails, offered me their firstborn, to which I quickly and instinctively replied, "Uh, I don't want your kids." Perhaps I should have been a bit more gracious, but oh, well. They did give me a brand new Cuisinart (mine recently died), which was a much more appropriate gift.

All in all, it was probably the most physically and mentally draining experience of my life, and I loved every minute of it. Just before dinner was served, a friend's mother asked me what medications I was on to be so calm, and I realized that I had been having such a good time I hadn't felt stressed or frustrated at any point over those three days. And it was an amazing learning experience. I talked to Diana Bratton yesterday (who owns Cafe 1217 and Taco Mama), and when I told her how exhausted I was, she simply said, "I know you are, but I can tell you have the bug now. I can hear it in your voice." So, while I may never cook on that scale again, I'm fairly confident that I can handle just about anything in the kitchen from here on out. And I'm already jonesin' for my next gig.

And now it's off to Austin on Thursday for the 10th anniversary ACL -- it's going to be strange that MRJKMC won't be there this time! Miss and love y'all and hope to see you soon! -Sus

one more reason to legalize marijauna

Sat 9/10/11 was a bright day, moderately hot, but feeling it's full 20 degrees cooler that the 104s we had been having. One young man was on his first day as a delivery driver for a gravel and dirt company. He was excited, so excited he ran a car off the road on his first delivery. He reloaded the truck an went for run #2, during which he got stuck in a ditch, requiring a wrecker. Fortified by something, marijuana is a possibility, he ran the next load--18 yards of gravel--out amity road. He missed his turn onto South Moore coming east, but cleverly whipped into the drive at 2428 Amity Road to turn around. He backed out of the driveway with enough force to demolish David's mailbox ( the mail was only a little dusty, David, and the CDs play all right) and continue down into the ditch, you will remember a fairly steep ditch at that. His second wrecker of the day was required.

I always thought the in would be disastrous for someone to try to run over the mailbox because of the ditch which flip them over. but I never considered a running start from our side of the street. The kid now has one car in the ditch, the truck twice, two indestructo mailboxes out of commission, and no job. He might still have a few reefers.

We are making plans to replace what we can on a telephone pole sunk 4 feet into the ground. BB

Two in One Day

Joke of the Day:

"I hear Jello has come out with a new Cook n' Serve. Instead of mixing with milk, you use rum. It's called Cook n' Swerve."

 (I'll give you one guess as to the author. Hint: It wasn't me or the children.)

So. I didn't capture the beauty of Carter Caves State Park (I only have my iPhone camera now, which didn't do well with the overcast, tree-covered day), but here's a few cute/blurry ones of the kids.

When I told Clemmie I was going to take a picture of her, she gathered these leaves, "fowers", to pose with. She now calls herself "Kim-ent"

And this next one I took a few weeks ago (also a dark, rainy day) of Jackson's soccer field, which, while not a great picture, gives you an idea of the mountains here. They're small (we're in the foothills of the Appalacians) and green:

Out of order, but here's our across-the-street neighbor Kevin (Keri, his wife's name is Kim!) showing off a catapult he built. Their children are both students at MSU. The back of their house faces campus. She is a professor there and he works at the local hospital, both of which they walk to:

Back to the soccer field. I took this one to show you the tobacco warehouses in the background. There are drive-through discount tobacco barns all over, but I haven't noticed more smoking here. MSU is "tobacco-free" for the first time this year. Our neighbor grew up farming tobacco every summer.

We got this desk from the First Baptist Church. They had a yard sale to raise money to repair the church, and this was leftover; they were happy for us to haul it away! (We visited last Sunday, but it's a no. Will try the Methodist church tomorrow.) I'm going to spray paint it and use it for my sewing table. Will post the after pics; I'm headed over to my neighbor's garage to work on it right now! (You see it in our back yard, but we ended up hauling it in there right after I took this picture.)

Love,
R

Boys

Look at me posting a picture (look closely to see why this is entitled "boys"). I'm hoping one quick picture will warm me up for more. We're headed to Carter Caves State Park today so heres to hoping I actually take some pictures! Love, R

Not to compete with M&R, but here's another...

 After cupcakes, we took up sidewalk art on the front porch.

Then, we moved on to the presents from her Nana and Papa.  A box of dress up clothes and toys!  Many of them made by her Nana!

A princess dress with matching dress for New Baby!

Complete with cape and gloves and shoes.

And a leotard and tutu for dancing—another of her favorite activities!

Thank you, grandparents, for a super fun birthday!

A Birthday Postcard

Pictures are really quite easy to upload.  This one is of my darling girl playing with the  cupcake set that Essie and BB gave her!  It is really the coolest cupcake set I’ve seen--complete with solid wooden cupcakes, a pan, cake papers, icing, icing pens, and four wooden candles that stick on top.  Since, Grace loves to cook and there are new play kitchen plans in the works, this will be loads and loads of fun for a long time.  Thank you BB and Essie!  It is only one of the gifts from BB and Essie, but one of her favorite.  A birthday video will follow.

Baking the cakes!

 And enjoying them on the front porch.

Gracie prefers vanilla.  I only got chocolate.

My Own Postcard

Dear All:

This is a so-called "postcard" post to let you know what I'm thinking right now. Let's see, I'm thinking that I want to proportionally counter my little brother's attempt to boost his post count by doing "postcard" posts (even if his include cute things that Gracie says). But I've also kept this post at a high level by posting a picture. (See above for a shot of a nice part of the MSU campus.) I'll also note that Mary Clement says "picey" for "spicy," and that Jackson said it "ssvicey." Harry didn't attempt it for a long time, then just said "spicy" slowly.

Ruthie and I have three children and no pets and hope one day to tour Belgium on bicycles.

Back to you, Dave.

Grace on Turning Two

Tomorrow Gracie will be two!  So, we’ve been prepping her for this telling her that she will be two, that it’s her birthday soon, etc.  Tonight before bed, we were all playing on the carpet and the conversation went something like this:

Lynn: Gracie, it’s your birthday tomorrow.”

Grace: Pause…  “Oh, YEAH.” (This is her new phrase she pulls out when she doesn’t know quite what to say.  She got it from me.)

Lynn: “How old are you going to be?”

Grace: “Cake!”

And this crystalizes her knowledge of what it means to have a birthday.  She’s been talking about making and eating cakes for the past three to four days when her mom mentioned that this is part of the birthday fun.

So, I end my first postcard post on the blog.  A new method I’m trying to use of quickly emailing in short posts of memorable events from the Wrights-in-da-burgh while simultaneously boosting our post count.

Katherine Lois Wright

Well, this was another Amazon woman birthing experience, producing the gorgeous 6lb, 9oz Katherine Lois Wright. Keri's uterus had been muscling up for weeks and so things moved quickly on August 4th from her first painful contractions at 2:30 am, to waking me up, bleary-eyed and incredulous, at 4am to taking the girls to our neighbors, Jim and Lea, at 5:20am to arriving at the hospital at 5:40am to holding Katherine at 6:49am. The obstetrician and nurses commented on how Keri was laughing through labor, since they'd only seen this before in a mother after her epidural.
The staff really were wonderful, largely in what they did not do. They placed Katherine on Keri with the cord still pulsing and left her there for over an hour, allowing Keri to nurse for almost two hours before they did all the weighing and washing, etc.
Jim and Lea, who were absolutely wonderful, brought Sophie and Emma over to see their sister later that morning. They even got to help with her first bath! Grandma and Opa arrived from California later on that evening and kept them for the night.
We left the hospital the next afternoon, hearing and all the other checks being OK.


Sophie and Emma are proving to be loving big sisters.

Our little bowhead, just out of her first bath.

(A note from Keri about her name: Katherine Lois is named for her two grandmothers, and her names mean "pure" and "more desirable" respectively, both of Greek origin. We're thinking of Phil. 4:8 as her life verse: "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.")

Swim Lessons

Jackson at swim lessons with his class of girls. He was one of 2 who got "Penguin" as opposed to "Goldfish", and after the test was completed, and I pointed out how well he did, he said, "Yeah, I was lucky."
Taking his test to see his "level":