Valentines, Fish Therapy, & a Mormon Photo Shoot
Tuesday, February 14, 2006 – Valentine’s Day
[7:06am] Collette was tired of hearing of poor Vice President Cheney’s incident with the shotgun. The media never could manage to leave people alone for such stupid things. But there was a good story for the Chinese in pairs figure skating, who won the silver medal even after the young girl had injured herself, and the crowd gave them a standing ovation at their display of courage.
That morning, as Norway raked in another silver and bronze medal to make their count eleven, Carrie-Bri was busy reforming the household with her latest fashion trend, inspired by Ernest and Rock ‘n Roll Soldiers, and other such things:
“Hey, baby,” she called to Frances who was reading Salt on the couch, “you wanna wear an ascot?”
Meanwhile, Bode Miller had sadly been disqualified from the men’s down-hill ski combined event, (though he had won the silver in Salt Lake City), as he had straddled a gate on the way down. At least there were four other events in which he would likely participate. And his teammate did score the winning gold in the end, bringing the United States into a tie for third place with five gold medals (still in the lead).
And soon Grandma Combs was over with gifts for Frances (one of which he opened early to complete his army regalia) – a beret of a Major. And there were three fluffy metallic trees (one of light green and two of rose) which somehow worked quite nicely on the piano for the remainder of the winter. There was also a pan of homemade chocolate M’nM minis brownies with powdered sugar patterned over heart cut-outs. And to top it all off, Grandma had a Tupperware of three beautiful red Amaryllis blossoms which they placed in a glass bowl of water on the kitchen table for the festivities.
Meanwhile, Mom and Carrie-Bri had been invited to lunch with Mrs. English and Eve that Friday before madrigals, to discuss Eve’s trip and other things. And Mom and Grandma Combs would possibly be heading to New Mexico in March for Great Uncle Harry & Great Aunt Patsy’s 50th wedding anniversary. Along with all other news, Mom was telling Grandma about how Rose gave Craig the fish, therapy, by trying to straighten out his body with her hand, massaging him. Rose, however, was now convinced that Craig would not live through the night.
And seeing that it was Valentine’s Day, (which Collette could not manage to remember for the life of her), she did, however, remember to pop a couple too many chocolates and was reminded of Diana in Wheaton, and whether or not her ‘little romance’ was headed in a positive direction. And as always, during the Olympic weeks, she wondered where everyone would be situated two years (or two and a half) later at the next Games. Joe would be practically twenty and in college. Carrie-Bri could be half-way across the globe while the Games were conducted in China… but that was in God’s hands.
Frances and Linnea were outside running around in the balminess of a temporary break in winter – Linnea with her nut brown hair pulled up in a disheveled clip, wearing two shirts (the top one of pink stripes) and a pair of stretchy capris in a print of big flowers with two faded pirate tattoos on her arms. She was barefoot as usual, being rather warm-blooded, and she ran around with a handful of seeds of which she had unearthed somewhere in her adventures with Frances about the house.
[9:39pm] Later in the afternoon, Mom and Grandma stepped out for about an hour to a little shop in Cottleville. They returned with a lovely mother-of-pearl ring which Grandma had found, sculpted into a flower with gold accents around it. It reminded her of Hawaii. And Mom cut out red heart Jello jigglers.
Joe and Rose returned themselves from choir later with pictures from a photo shoot involving Curly dressed as a Mormon in white shirt, tie, and black pants, with a black umbrella, a school bus, dumpster, and Evrain Orange as props. And during the rehearsal, a candy heart had landed in Joe’s lap from the back row which read (written in pen) – ‘U suck,’ which Joe thought was rather hilarious, and Mom, of course, thought not. But there had been a new revolution in choir begun by Mrs. South which required all choir students to sit according to their grade level by rows (for the girls anyway). So Rose proudly took her seat in the second row as a sophomore. And during the after-choir session, Rose amused herself watching the guys play football sitting with a friend who had a crush on Othniel-Navy Avonlea while Rose crafted a miniature representation of the stone table from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe out of various little pieces from nature. When asked by her friend if she had made it, Rose responded in the all too familiar Rose fashion:
“No. The ants made it.”
And soon Dad arrived with Grandma Snicketts who had a box of valentines for all the kids but OLeif and Collette (whom had received their valentine in the mail) which read:
“Enclosed find the picture (of myself) I’ve forgotten for two years. I was going to put it in with your Christmas money. Maybe you can use it for dart practice.”
And there was chicken casserole and biscuits for dinner along with an ice cream cake which Susie Plum had selected when OLeif ran inside, as she was there eating dinner with Richie and their grandmother. There were Olympics and gifts for Frances, laughter, and the usual. And Frances spent most of the day in full military gear.
“…put my tears in your bottle…” – Psalm 56:8b (reminiscent of Nero)