One small step. . .

...the adventures of a Flat Stanley in Huntsville.





Hi. My name is Flat Shannana and I'm from Memphis. I'm one of those Flat Stanley dolls that school kids mail to friends around the country to visit various places and get information and pictures sent back to them for a geography project. One of the places I got sent was to Huntsville where I had adventures in both the 1800's and in the Space Age. Here's some of the stuff I did when my helpers took me to the Space and Rocket Center.

First, I get to see some exhibits about Dr. Werner von Braun. He is one of my heroes. Here is a picture of me with a picture of him. I tell him my secret wish. He says he'll do his best to make it come true because he spent his life pursuing his dream and he thinks folks should have the chance to see their dreams fulfilled like his were.



I visit more exhibits where I learn about the history of rockets and space travel. Here I am sitting in the seat of one of the Project Mercury capsules from the early days of the American space program.



I'm so excited! This is where astronauts like Alan Shepard and John Glenn sat when they made some of America's very first trips into space. Take a look at this control panel.


This is just part of it. It stretches all the way across the cockpit. Compare it with the modern space shuttle cockpit in the next picture.




My next stop is the rocket park where I pick out a rocket for my dream trip.



Of course, I choose the Saturn V, the rocket that sent the astronauts to the moon.




Just look at those engines!



Now it's time for me to get my space suit on.



Here I am in the remote handling arm, all set for my Space Shot and ready to launch.



I can hardly believe it. My dream of one day being the first Flat Stanley on the Moon is about to come true. Here I am getting help once again from the remote handling arm to get down from the lunar landing module.



And here I am. Flat Shannana has landed!



I want give a big thank you to all the folks who helped me be the first Flat Stanley on the Moon. Thank you, Anna, for making me. Thank you, Miss Midge, for sending me to your friend, Miss Melissa. Thank you, Miss Melissa, for taking me to the Space and Rocket Center. Thank you, Dr. Von Braun, for your important role in the development of the US space program, and for giving me, a simple Flat Stanley, the courage to pursue my dream. Thanks to Miss Alice, Miss Melissa, and Mr. John for providing remote handling arms. And thank you, thank you to all the people at NASA, past and present, who have put all the countless hours into the work that has made it possible for my dream to come true. I had a great time and will never forget this experience.

Time Management

I guess I'm whining. I just can't manage to find the time for a new post. Sorry for the same ol' thing up for so long. I guess I'll just find a photo to add to this so we can all enjoy something else for a change.





I'm a fan of Patrick O'Brian who wrote the Master and Commander series of twenty novels about life in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, featuring the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin who serves as ship's surgeon. The beautiful sailing ship in the photo is the Rose which was used in the movie "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World." If you enjoy historical novels that deal with naval history, I recommend this series. The movie was pretty cool, too. Here's a picture of Russell Crowe as Captain Jack in the movie.

From One Year to the Next

It's 11:35 CST and 2008 is almost over. Boy, what a year! I have been thinking of doing a sort of "Year in Review," but haven't gotten around to it; maybe in this post, with a brief break to see in the New Year and drink a glass of champagne. I'll start this post this year and finish it next year. A few things have been particularly memorable. Let's see:

January: Life pretty much as usual--or at least what I remember of it


A little snow on the mountain

February: About like January

March: Ditto; I attend a couple of spinning workshops; youngest son completes requirements and earns his Life Scout rank, begins looking ahead to completing requirements for Eagle before turning 18 in September; husband steps down from three years as Scoutmaster back to Assistant Scoutmaster

Handspun for handknitting



Color in spinning





Life Scout with parents


Dad retires as Scoutmaster



April: I start this blog and get new glasses

New Transitions lenses


Seem to work outside even in shade


Spring comes to the Valley


May: Oldest son's birthday (37th); progress on Eagle Scout requirements continues, planning and preliminary work for Eagle project begins


Calling all blood donors, 5/31/08

June: Daughter made honors scholars' list at college with a 3.9 average for the semester and 3.7 overall; husband's birthday (58th); work on Eagle Scout requirements plods along; Eagle Scout project on June 8

7:00 a.m., 6/8/08: setting up for the blood drive


Folks waiting to donate


A few project helpers relaxing at the snack table at the end


Blood drive is a success: 64 units collected



Clearing out: 2:00 p.m., 6/8/08; putting away chairs




July: Must be something other than my birthday (57th), but I can't think of anything; gas prices too high to go on vacation anywhere, but we drive up to Chattanooga and go to Ruby Falls; youngest son still working on Eagle Scout stuff (two of the required merit badges require 12 weeks of planning, activities, and record keeping, another requires 13 weeks of same); Eagle Scout project report in progress

I'd like to be here


I get to go here
Ruby Falls or a UFO?


"Stalagstuff" in the caverns


He thinks he's heard this story before



August: I celebrate my one-year anniversary of no longer being a museum employee after many years in the profession; son still working on Eagle requirements; Eagle project report is finished


Back in the living history days


I really dig living history


Adjusting the spinning wheel


September: We celebrate our 38th anniversary; youngest son turns 18, completes last Eagle requirement the day before his birthday and gets all paperwork signed off and turned in, Eagle board of review pending

Some signs of autumn here and there



October: Garage catches on fire, youngest son saves our house, our rabbits, and probably our lives; I want to write about the fire, but can't; we get Dixie;

Charred water heater



Washer and water heater



It used to be a paper towel rack



Remains of some Christmas decorations



Some of the damage to the ceiling




Preparing to chew


November: Our daughter turns 21; we give thanks for having a house to live in and being alive; repairs on garage begin, but progress is slow and intermittent; we end up with the biggest water heater I've ever seen and I think it's really the second stage of a Saturn V rocket

Daughter with a friend at the botanical gardens



My girl




The new water heater



December: Our son's board of review for Eagle Scout was successful and he is now an Eagle Scout, Court of Honor TBA, probably in February or March with his other two new troop Eagles; construction on garage plods along, with the painters just coming yesterday and today (12/30 and 12/31) to do repairs to sheetrock, but we have a lovely new back garage door, the giant 80-gallon water heater, and new washer, dryer, and shelves, so far


New washer, new door, huge new water heater, and lots of painting to do



Just happy to be here


It is now 2009. Happy New Year.

The Twelve Days of Christmas

The Liturgical Year

For more information go to www.daily-word-of-life.com. Click on "Liturgy of the Word."

There are many other good sites for more information on the Christian liturgical year, including St. Mary of the Visitation Catholic Church at http://smvparish.org/liturgy/index.htm, Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liturgical_year, and many others.



As a child, I remember my mother rushing to get the Christmas tree and all the decorations down before New Year's Day. She said it was bad luck to leave the tree up after New Year's and that Christmas was over. She was also very annoyed with her brother's family's habit of not putting up their Christmas tree until Christmas Eve and then not opening all their gifts until the week after New Year's Day. Oh, they'd open a few packages, but most of them were saved until after New Year's. Their son had gotten the idea that since our family was predominantly of German descent, they should follow the more traditional German practice of decorating the tree on Christmas Eve and then follow the twelve days of Christmas of the liturgical church year, opening most of their gifts on the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6, the day designated as the arrival of the Magi to the manger in Bethlehem to present their gifts to the Christ Child. Their habit of not opening all their gifts on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day was greatly annoying to my mother whose secret Christmas habit was to sneak into the living room late at night after my father had left for work, open gifts that were that were of particular interest to her, then carefully wrap them back up. She would open not only gifts tagged for her, but those for anyone else she was curious about. I must have been about six or seven when I caught her doing this. She swore me to secrecy by some ominous threat that I have long since forgotten, but which must have carried lifelong repercussions because I knew she meant business and I'd better not tell anyone what she was doing.




At some point over the years, the words to "The Twelve Days of Christmas" began to make me curious as to what, exactly, were the Twelve Days of Christmas. I, like most of the people around me, especially my superstitious mother in her rush to get things put away before New Year's, had the general idea that the twelve days of Christmas were the twelve days before Christmas instead of the twelve days after Christmas. I hardly remember hearing the term Advent used for the period of time before Christmas in my own non-Catholic church or those of my friends at which I was a frequent visitor. Having been given a set of encyclopedias when I was eight, I eventually decided to look for an answer. I guess I must have been about ten at the time. When I found out the significance of the twelve days and their relation to the church year, things made more sense. In my child's understanding it was simply the matter that Jesus is born on Day One of Christmas and then the Three Wise Men, after their long trek, finally show up on Day Twelve bearing gifts.




For years afterward, there was usually some degree of argument in our family as to what constituted those twelve days as my mother continued to complain about that silly notion her brother's family had about not decorating their tree until Christmas Eve, not opening gifts until after New Year's, and not taking that tree down on New Year's Day. I can remember that during the Christmas season, every time we'd pass St. Patrick's Church (the only Catholic church in the county) my mother would make somewhat exasperated remarks about how those Catholics sure did leave their Christmas decorations up a long time. After I eventually became Catholic and became familiar with the various seasons of the Church year, I tried my best to get her to think of the twelve days of Christmas as the twelve days following Christmas Day, but to no avail. I finally just gave up and let her have her way. But...there was that one year when, for whatever reason, she left the Christmas tree up until well into February!



Guess I should include something about the song.





The Twelve Days of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
A partridge in a pear tree.

On the second day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
Two turtledoves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.

We'll skip ahead to Day 12:


On the twelfth day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
Twelve drummers drumming,
Eleven pipers piping,
Ten lords a-leaping,
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtledoves,
And a partridge in a pear tree!

(Oops! I forgot to write down the source for the lyrics! Probably Wikipedia.)


And now, borrowing the words of Clement Clark Moore (A Visit from St. Nicholas aka The Night Before Christmas):

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.





(Christmas tree, Wise Men, partridge and St. Nick graphics from www.photobucket.com )