QOTD from Jenny

You have to understand, first of all, that Jenny is a very enthusiastic person, about many subjects.

--Horses! Oh, to have a horse, and to go galloping through the sagebrush, into the sunset! I had been looking for a cowgirl hat for her birthday and finally found one weeks later in, of all places, a truck stop in Idaho, with a wonderful rolled-up-at-the-sides brim. She loves it! And put together a cowgirl outfit with that tiered denim skirt her sisters bought her last summer. And Emily tied this pink fringed scarf around her shoulders and it just completed the look! Oh, to have a horse yet, that would be just every dream come true! And how terribly sad about Eight Belles!

--Dwight Howard! Oh, how wonderful he is, and how talented, and only 22, Matt’s age, and a Christian yet, and oh how terrible that the Orlando Magic lost on Sunday!

--Birds! Birds are soooo neat! And the other evening at the supper table she interrupted my story with a wild shriek when this bird! With a yellow stomach! And such bright colors! Flew into the grapevines! Oh, what was it?? A Western Tanager, said Dad. She looked it up in the encyclopedia and on the internet, and drew pictures of it. It was a truly wonderful bird!

--Piano! Oh, piano! Yes, she wants to take lessons all summer! And Mrs. Byers said she’s good at sight reading! And she is learning about slurs and the names of the lines and spaces!

So. Today I took Jenny to her piano lesson at Mrs. Byers’. She wore her complete cowgirl outfit, hat and all, beaming with pride. I dropped her off, did a bit of shopping and then parked in front of their house. The front door opened at 4:30 and out popped Jenny. She stopped abruptly on the front step and turned in her denim skirt and pink fringed scarf to very enthusiastically tell Mrs. Byers something. Her hands were gesturing and her eyes gleaming and her hat bobbing, and I caught the words "yellow stomach."

Finally she hopped in the car enthusiastically and I asked what she had been telling Mrs. Byers.

"Oh! I was just going out her door when I saw her two birds in the cages and that reminded me that I wanted to tell her about that bird we saw, you know that Western Turkaloo, because they were a little bit the same, you know, with the yellow stomach!"

That what??

"You remember, that Western Turkaloo we saw."

"But I thought it was a Western Tanager."

A very deflated sigh came from the back seat. "Ooooooohhhhh. You’re right."

"Where did you ever come up with a name like Turkaloo??" I said.

A very small, deflated voice in the back seat said, "That’s actually the name of this guy that plays for the Orlando Magic with Dwight Howard."

There was a pause. "Mrs. Byers said she’d never heard of that kind of bird before."

Another pause, and in a very small voice from under the cowgirl hat, "No wonder!"

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(Later: Ben helped me Google this and it’s actually Hedo Turkoglu, pronounced "Turkaloo" who was born in Istanbul. And just fyi, Jenny wasn't sure about posting this story but said I can if I pay her a dollar. Deal.)

Jenny with Sun Raider