still found a way to hone in on St. Patrick's Day celebrations.
Leave it to Grandma.
someone found a distant relative born in County Cork Ireland.
but it's enough.
she gave us a green and white family lolly for desert.
check out the newest Settlers commercial below.
love the Irish blessings.
The beautiful shots were taken at Harborcreek's Shades Beach Park
at a Team Adrenaline workout on Thursday evening.
The lake was choppy,
but as always,
beautiful.
Congratulations to my city!
Erie's Presque Isle won the title of Best Fresh Water Beaches!
Thank you to those who voted!
Although it never seems like it never will arrive,
signs of spring are popping up everywhere.
Spring blooms.
Morning fog.
Grandpa and his chainsaw.
Spring zoo.
And unfortunately, spring flu.
Flu for Lou
and Ellen Lou, that is.
Glad I got this in the mail.
Someone was a little snarly after a 4 day fever.
The title of tonight's blog is My Church.
The title ties together a few themes.
I usually let my readers put that together for themselves.
Finding common themes,
making connections,
those are all good skills I try to develop each week in school.
It's good brain work,
but I'm helping you out tonight,
because I have more for you to think about.
Keep reading.
My Church refers to a song that is stuck in my head this week,
My Church from new country artist, Maren Morris.
A photo video of sky shots appears at the end of this blog.
Check it out.
I'd be remiss in not putting a plug in for my home church,
South Harborcreek United Methodist.
It's a great place to worship,
found in an out of the way location.
SHUMC is in the heart of Harborcreek's farmland.
Just look for the big lighthouse on McGill Road.
It has a cemetery just east of it.
I hope to be buried there one day after my time here has ended.
The church is at the end of one of my favorite challenging running routes
that I've named McHill.
I always tell my friends a church and a cemetery are at the end of a long, uphill climb,
and joke with them they can either thank God that they finished,
or we can bury them out back.
As great of a place South Harborcreek is,
East Assembly beat them out on the sign message this week.
Clever!
Another place that is almost holy for Eloise is school.
I love school and treat it with the utmost respect.
Each week I find joy in planning my lessons for my students,
and organizing events and activities that can set the students on a better path for life.
We've been studying governments for the past month.
To culminate our unit,
I read my classes a Dr. Seuss book.
Was this book one of your childhood favorites?
If so,
I hope you never named your pet turtle, Yertle.
Yertle represents Hitler.
Seuss inserted lots of symbolism and messages into his works.
Has it been awhile since you've turned the pages of a children's picture book?
If so,
let Mrs. Eloise take you through a lesson,
right here at the Lamp Post.
Sala-ma-Sond represented a well functioning Germany at the beginning of Hitler's reign.
Yertle, the Turtle King
represents Hitler.
He is shown here on this stone throne.
Soon, the pond wasn't enough.
Yertle wanted a larger pond.
Yertle the Turtle desired power.
So Yertle called upon is how turtles to make him a higher throne.
Look closely at the turtle on the bottom of the stack,
bearing all of the weight.
His shell is different.
It represents the Jewish people, as Hitler saw them to be.
Yertle was happy,
but at the expense of his people.
When he was questioned by a plain, little turtle,
lowliest of the low,
a lad named Mack
way, way down low,
at the bottom of the stack--
Yertle responded this:
When you are power driven,
nothing is never enough, it seems.
Yertle the Turtle King spied the moon.
What dared to be higher than He?
Yertle's turtles grew weary.
Look at their emaciated necks and wrinkled skin.
The ones with the X's on their eyes are dead.
This represents the concentration camps.
In the end,
it was the dying,
weak,
plain and simple Mack,
who was way, way down low,
at the bottom of the stack,
that caused the collapse.
Mack burped.
The system basically regurgitated in Yertle's face.
Yertle's tall tower fell down,
down,
down,
down
to the ground.
And Yertle the Turtle that great Marvelous He,
Became King of the Mud.
That was all he could be.
In keeping with lots of Dr. Seuss's books,
it was the lowliest,
the humblest,
and the smallest that made the difference.
Pope Francis agrees.
Don't give up hope, Americans.
The American Political System will remain strong.
And a Special Note to Parents---
stop telling your kids that if
Hillary Clinton
or
Donald Trump
is elected President
(I've heard lots of both in recent weeks)
that you will be moving to Canada!
They believe it
and you are upsetting them!
Pope Francis reminds us not to lose hope.
Let's apply that to the American political system.
Enjoy some nature photos set to Maren Morris's
My Church.
Spring has almost sprung.
Remain hopeful.
Happy weekend,
ELOISE
