Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Lighted Christmas Balls in Sunset Hills


Our neighborhood is well lit these days with hundreds of chicken wire lighted Christmas balls in the oak and other trees. It is very hard to take pictures of the lights. Here is a relative closeup of three (look carefully and you will see the blue ball on the left and up from the red ball) just as it is getting dark. I timed the traffic tonight and there are 30 cars per minute. Ours is not the only street that is well lit so I expect others are seeing traffic increases also. We have written instructions if anyone needs the PDF file. For more pictures see www.lightedchristmasballs.blogspot.com. I wonder what the neighborhood looks like from above.

Monday, October 09, 2006

The Day after the Crop Walk

I did it. I walked. My left knee did not like it, but I finished, came home and iced my knee. Thanks to all who supported my walk. It looks as though Greensboro did better than last year, but we still can't catch Charlotte! Still three NC cities lead the country in raising money: Charlotte, Durham, and Greensboro. We walk so other people can eat.

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Crop Walk


Hello Friends,
I will be walking on October 8 in Greensboro's Crop Walk. Greensboro has the second or third largest Crop Walk in the country and we are striving to be number one. If you would like to walk, please send me email at mrpratto@acm.org. Please use subject Crop Walk.

My friends Jonathan and Ann Smith are sponsoring my walk in memory of two dear people. Hang Kpa, a little Montegnard refugee died this week of a brain stem glioma. She was five years old. (Please pray for her family). Dear David Pratto graduated from life on earth in October 2002. He had an inoperable brain tumor. Thank you to Ann and Jonathan.

Other sweet friends are sponsoring my walk also, the Knoxes, Ms. Penny, my children, Ms. Jeffus, my mom, Ms. Lautermilch, the Hermans, Ms. Capone, the Kellys and the Buschs. Thanks to all for feeding people in Greensboro and around the world.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Reminder

Current events are reminding me of this poem. Perhaps events do not remind you of this poem, but the poem is worth reading anyway. I am including the link to what is supposed to be the original (in German) and then some translations. First they came..

When teaching high school religion classes, almost 40 years ago, we used these passages with a wonderful film strip to kick off a discussion with high school students.

Monday, September 18, 2006

Central Wildcats 1956

Via request, I have created a blog for our high school class from Pueblo Central 1956. I am still working on inviting people with email addresses to become members of the blog. It will take awhile since I have to do them three at a time by copying and pasting the email addresses from my address book to the invitation page of the blog.

At any rate, check it out. http://wildcats56.blogspot.com

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Nice to help when you can


I get lots of email and I don't want to pick out any individuals nor any specific emails (mostly forwarded messages written by some unknown person). However, I would like to respond to a large group of persons that perpetuate mail that is not friendly to others of those among us. There is an old saying, "It is better to light a candle, than to curse the darkness." So when you wish to complain about one group or another in the US, your town, my town, the world etc, consider doing some volunteer work and helping someone.

Monday, June 05, 2006

Mario in Japan and Central 1956 in Pueblo

I just read part of Mario from Greensboro's blog. Mario is teaching in Japan and you might find his diary about Japan and his photos of Japan very interesting. The blog is marioinjapan.blogspot.com. Check it out.


I think of going to the internet first for information so if I suddenly or not so suddenly remembered that I graduated from Central 50 years ago this year, I would start hunting for information about a class reunion. SO, in case anyone else does the same thing, we are having a class reunion September 8,9,10. Send me email (mrpratto@acm.org) and I will put you in contact with the reservation maker. But you can send me your biography so I can finish the bio book before I leave for Italy the end of June. So far this has been a fun endeavor, but also time consuming. If any classmates are out there with some great old photos, please send them.

Monday, May 22, 2006

sex kittens and horn dawgs fall in love, part 3

Remember I said this was a totally "darling" and cute book and just a sweet book for teens to read. Well, the book is supposed to be banned in one school in Central Florida. I can't believe it. This book is just so nice, such good kids, trying to learn about love in a very positive way, and trying to do good things. Those who would have it banned, have not even read the book.

The author has posted the links to the St. Petersburg Times on her blog: www.maryrosewood.com. Check it out and then I hope you will read this book so you too can know to what low depths the world has sunk.

My granddaughter, who read the book, said it is akin to the Princess Diaries in "niceness". Another book on the list is one I just gave to my then 10 year old grandson! I read the books before I give them which is more than I can say about would-be book banners.

Monday, April 10, 2006

Free Reading, Listening, Viewing

Free reading, listening, and viewing on the Internet.

Yesterday our local newspaper ran an article on free or near free sources on the Internet. I thought I would key them in once so other people can find them and add one of my favorites, missed by the article author. A really interesting site for those without sight is www.librivox.org. At this site you can get books for listening or volunteer to read for others.

Good old Wiki has two places where you may find interesting or necessary material. The first has books, speeches, essays etc by people you may want to reference sometime (especially for students!). Wiki also has books in several languages. Now you can read some books as originally written.

The Internet is a great archive and now there is a site dedicated to archiving of interesting items such as old cartoons, feature films etc. Go check it out.

Of course there is the famous Project Guttenberg. Go get yourself a classic to read today or this week or whenever. There are only 17,000 items to choose from, including the book I tortured by book group into reading once, Ulysses by James Joyce. My suggestions are now taken with a large grain of salt.

The author left out the Internet Public Library, but it has books for various age levels and displays just as if you walked into a library.

So if you are homebound or just curious or you just have to look at something new today, try these places. Oh, if you have a young person around, note there is not an excuse for getting to the library for a book, but do keep an extra ream of paper on hand if that person has to read on paper!

Thursday, March 30, 2006

sex kittens and horn dawgs fall in love, part 2


I edited my review of Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love because I finished the book a long time ago and I had not updated. So go back to my late January post and read some more. The book is really cool and fun to read. My granddaughter liked it. Maryrose Wood's second book will be out in May so you should read this one now.

The picture on the left is my little dog, Prima, one of the cuter dogs in the universe. She doesn't consider herself a dog though, except when she is out walking.

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Homeless in Greensboro


Yesterday our local newspaper carried a story about a homeless man who writes a blog using the public library's computers. I think lots of my friends would be interested in reading it now and then so here is the link to View from the Sidewalk.

The library in Greensboro has computers in all branches. If you walk in to check out books, you will find every computer in use. Some are reserved for school work from about 3 until 8 so that all children who are able to get to a branch have a computer to use for assignments. The major problem is that we don't have enough branch libraries, although we have many and some are lovely with special functions. Maybe what we need is better and more complete bus service! For those of you who grew up in Pueblo, remember how much time we spent on the bus (mostly in the back, laughing).

Remember to check out Sex Kittens and Horn Dogs Fall in Love for all the teenagers on your gift lists this year.

Spring is springing, although yesterday was really cold.

Sunday, January 29, 2006

sex kittens and horn dawgs fall in love


Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love is in bookstores now. Check out this cover and it will be easy for you to spot. You can buy this book for your favorite young thing, 12 and up, this year for birthdays. It is witty, well-written (isn't that wonderful?), and a nice guide to some spots in New York. It has a bit of poetry, a little on the scientific method and fun to read. Grandmas read this book and then give it your granddaughter.

The kids in this book have a few adventures, relate to the well-to-do and the much-less-well-to-do in New York, they play music, they learn new things, they are excited about life and learning. And it is a clever story. How much more can you ask for in a book taking place in our day?

I would be less than honest if I didn't say that the author, Maryrose Wood, is the sister of my son-in-law, but those who know me know I am pretty brutally honest so I am not just saying good words about this book because she is "family".

I know Barnes and Noble has it, as does Amazon. It is solving my birthday problems this year. Every young person twelve and over gets one!