Bits and Pieces of Our Days

Has it really been four days since I blogged?

Friday was a lovely day, a lovely birthday. Anne-with-an-e bought me beautiful flowers, Betsy gave me delicious chocolate, and Ramona made a great little pair of earrings for me. The kids had friends over all day and a dear friend of mine spent the afternoon here, too. I had told Atticus not to make me one of his famous chocolate cakes because we still had too much chocolate cake from Easter in the house, not to mention other kinds of Easter chocolate (everywhere I look.) Atticus and I went out for Chinese food for dinner, settled in for a date-night movie, and that was that. Perfect day.

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On Saturday, dear old pal Jack came to town for a visit, and we caught up on all things family, work, faith, and books. He always manages to say at least one thing that thoroughly annoys me, and I do the same to him, and then we move on, because none of that really matters when you've been friends since high school and will be friends until you die.

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On Saturday morning, we also set the wheels in motion (so to speak) to replace our nine-year-old van. We'd been talking about van shopping this summer when we'd really have time to focus on it, but on Saturday morning, the seemingly perfect-for-us vehicle popped up on a website I occasionally check. To make a boring story short and less boring, after having our mechanic check it out, blah, blah, blah, we ended up with a new (new to us -- it's used, of course) van.

We always name our vehicles (remember our beloved Putty? I wrote an ode to that guy.) Somewhere along the way, the kids dubbed our blue van The Knight Bus.

Ramona went with Atticus and me last night when we dropped The Knight Bus off at the dealer and picked up our new-to-us van. She said good-bye to every inch of it, and looked a bit droopy when she shut its door for the last time. Then we hopped in the new van and she started counting cup holders. She said we'd break this new guy in in no time, with plenty of his own crumbs on the floor.

She's over The Knight Bus.

Sorry, Knight Bus -- we loved you (maybe never quite as much as we loved Putty...it takes a lot for me to write a poem to a car) and you served us well. But (although I'll never have a favorite child) I do have favorite vehicles, and this new set of cupholders is in the running already. Now we just have to name it.

Poetry Friday: Birthdays and Bikes and Girls Who Grow Up

A busy, lovely day here, full of lovely thoughts and things -- my birthday (and flowers from my eldest daughter and surprises from the others that still await me tonight), and spring weather (real spring weather, skin-warming sunshine),  and looking ahead to the end of our school year -- to Betsy's graduation celebration, to a summer full of time to spend with Atticus. Pondering a year of changes ahead, too, as I will be left with only one child in our homeschool....

Atticus recently sent me this poem. I thought I had shared it here before, but I think I was remembering another lovely, throat-lump inducing poem. Atticus taught all three of our girls how to ride a bike, and Shearin is right. It does "not take long before" they leave us "standing in place."

A delicate and lovely poem, for a delicate and lovely time of life.


Teaching Mavis to Ride a Bike
by Faith Shearin

We practiced in Baltimore's alleys with her dress
tucked in so it would not catch in her wheels.

It was late summer and we waited until after supper
when the sun melts.

(Read the whole, short poem here, at The Writer's Almanac.)

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The Poetry Friday round up is at Tabatha Yeatts: The Opposite of Indifference. 

Revolutionary Women, Picture Books, and Bad Impressions

Because Ramona and I will never be too old for picture books, and because we are all about the Revolutionary war this year, we recently read these:

Thomas Jefferson: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Everything  by Maira Kalman.

Thumbs up from Ramona for the pursuit of everything in this one: the illustrations, the humor, the tidbits of information about the ever-fascinating Thomas Jefferson.

(Quick heads up: if you have very young children, please be aware that the book briefly addresses his relationship with Sally Hemmings.)

Founding Mothers: Remembering the Ladies 

This one covered some interesting ground and notable women, but the writing wasn't highly engaging. Does include a nice timeline, though, of the women, and the reading was good reinforcement for some women we'd previously read about in the following magazine:

Ramona loved this issue. I can't recommend Kids Discover highly enough. Good stuff for unschoolish learners.

Finally, we left the Revolution and took flight with these two:

Amelia And Eleanor Go For A Ride by Pam Munoz Ryan, with illustrations by Brian Selznick.

A fun read. As I was doing voices for it, my Eleanor impression suddenly sounded a little funny.

"Why does Eleanor Roosevelt sound like Julia Child, Mom?" Ramona asked, puzzled.

I stopped and frowned.

"I don't know," I said. "Let's find out what she really sounded like."

(Thank you Google -- love you for stuff like this. We listened to Amelia Earhart, too.)

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Now it's time to visit the library again. 

Happy Easter Monday! (And Our Sunday Visitor Is Having a Sale!)

OSV, the publisher of Deathbed Conversions, is running an Easter sale on the book! You can go here to find the paperback for just $9.00 (a price that will expire on May 16th.)

OSV is also sponsoring a giveaway of five copies of Deathbed Conversions. 

Until May 16th, I'm taking comments on this post. On May 17th, I'll draw the names of five winners. Our Sunday Visitor will send out copies to the winners. (If winners would like signed bookplates, I'll send those.)

When you leave a comment on the contest post, please be sure to leave your name and be sure to check back here on May 17th to find out if you've won. Thank you!

Christ is Risen!

Bouguereau, "The Three Marys at the Tomb"

He is risen indeed! Alleluia! 

Benedict Caterpillar-batch and Other Things on Holy Saturday

We've been making Lenten caterpillars for a long time, and this year was no exception. What was a little different this year was that when Anne-with-an-e joined us for a bit of family craftiness, she decided to change things up a Cumber-bit.

Her caterpillar -- second from left, above -- has a rather Sherlockian face, no? Betsy and Ramona thought she stepped outside the bounds of caterpillar rubrics, but I thought a caterpillar with the face of a high-functioning sociopath (do your research!) was inspired.

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Holy Thursday was beautiful, tear-inducing. Good Friday, too. I watched The Passion of the Christ last night, for the first time in years. Especially moving to me are the interactions between Mary and Jesus. Sobbing through some of those scenes. Disturbing, beautiful, terrible, wonderful movie.

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It's been such a good, spiritually fruitful Lent. I'm grateful for so many graces. I am ready, however, to celebrate the Resurrection. Bring on the Fifty Days, please. 

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Coloring eggs today! 

Photo credit: Free Images

Even Though My Triduum Won't Be Kidterrupted, This Might Be Helpful to Someone

It's been a long time since I had that feeling -- the Triduum Kidterrupted feeling -- but it might have been just last year for you. If that's the case, I hope this helps. (I first ran this post in 2008, when my girls were 14, 11, and 5.)

Here it is:

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I keep thinking about the idea that we envision a certain thing -- in this case, a certain thing about Holy Week and how it will, or should, play out -- and then we don't get what we wanted. We either don't get it at all, or we get some altered version of it, or we get frustrated with the final result.

Now that I've been through 13 Holy Weeks as a Catholic mom, I'm going to pretend that I'm an expert. And here's what I've learned over the last 13 Holy Weeks with kids:

* Very small children don't have to attend every liturgy of the Triduum. We have done it various ways, and each way we tried was simply what we needed to do that particular year. (The last two years it has actually worked for us to attend all of it, including the Vigil, and we've loved that. But that wasn't always the case.)

If the whole gang attending works well for your family, that's great. If it doesn't work for your family, for whatever reason (and please, people, let's not judge what the valid reasons are) then that's okay, too. Holy Thursday and Good Friday are sublime observances that can enhance one's celebration of Easter tremendously. But, the Church doesn't require you to be there. If you can't make it for some reason, don't be harder on yourself than the Church is. Do what works best for you and your domestic church.

* Very small children do not have to understand everything about Good Friday and all of its implications. They just can't always separate the solemnity of Holy Thursday/Good Friday from the approaching joy of Easter, and that's okay. They will learn to "get it" as they get older, with your teaching and guidance. That's why they're called children. They aren't grown up yet, and they don't get everything.

* Understanding that little children don't understand every nuance of Good Friday doesn't mean I'm sending you out to join in every local Easter egg hunt you can find. We happen to skip community Easter egg hunts that fall on a solemn day, but I don't keep Ramona from playing on Good Friday. As a matter of fact, I took incredible delight in her play this morning. We were outside on the swings, and talked about it being Good Friday and she belted out at the top of her lungs (to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It"): "If you love Jesus and you know it, shout Amen! Amen!"

She was pretty delightful yesterday, too, when, to celebrate Holy Thursday she drew a picture of Jesus and His apostles and then starting gift wrapping things she found around the house, because "people should have presents when we're happy." Did she understand all that we would feel and remember at last night's Mass? No. Did she understand that we were happy that Jesus gave us the Eucharist? Yes. The rest will come.

And that's what really got me started thinking about this post. I watched Ramona yesterday, when she drew her picture of Jesus. Her eyes were shining, and she was brimming with joy. And I thought, for a moment, that one of the reasons the Church wisely gave us Lent and penance, Holy Thursday and Good Friday, is that we grown-ups sometimes forget to shine.

We need reminders to shine properly. Lent is that reminder for me. The old cliche, "You don't know what you've got till it's gone?" It holds true for Lent. Loss brings renewal, and Ramona's shining eyes remind me that someday, God willing, I'll enter a paradise where I never again have to give something up in order to appreciate it. My eyes will shine all the time.

And I'll sing eternal praise that little children don't "get it" all the time, and that the many kidterruptions that happen in Mass, in Holy Week, and in life, were really small whispers from God, telling me how much He loves me.

Books We're Reading (From Atticus to Ramona)

Atticus is reading...

Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker by Stanley Crouch and Bruce Catton's The Army of the Potomac: Glory Road. (That one's a reread for him, but he can never get too much Civil War reading.)

He's also reading lots of these:

Thanks, Image Chef.  And yes, his students really do call him Mr. Ed. 

I am reading...
Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other by Sherry Turkle and Finding Your Element by Ken Robinson. I love this kind of stuff.

Anne-with-an-e is reading...
The Complete Sherlock Holmes. This would be even better if we could have Benedict Cumberbatch come over and read it aloud to all of us.

She's also reading Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis for a class and is really enjoying it.

Betsy is reading...
(I'll let her tell you in her own words. She just started a new blog, and did a post today about current reads.)

I've got a never-ending list of books, and not enough time to read them all. These are just a few of the books I've been reading.

I'm working my way through the Series of Unfortunate Events and I'm loving them. I'm on book nine. I've never read them before, and Lemony Snicket's humor has me in stitches. I love the intricacies of the story, and the way the plot lines blend together almost seamlessly.

At night, I'm reading Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg to my little sister. I've read this book so many times, and I love it. She has never actually read it, and I love being able to read it to her for the first time.

I started My Antonia this morning, and I'm really enjoying it. There's not much I can say about it at this point, because I've only read the first fifty pages. But I love the style of Willa Cather's writing, and the forming friendship between Tony and Jimmy.

I cried for the last twenty pages of The Book Thief. I adored this book. Every character became so real to me, and I loved them all. Max, Liesel, Rosa, Rudy, Hans. Each one of them. I just wanted to scoop them up and keep them safe from everything.

In my TBR (to be read) pile, I have The Raft which is a reread for my book group. I really enjoyed this book, by S.A. Bodeen. It's about a girl whose plane crashes, and she ends up on a raft with the only other survivor, Max, the copilot. Very intense, very good book.

Ramona is reading...
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (this is a read aloud we're doing together -- loving it) and Pinky Pye. (How I adore Eleanor Estes.)

The other day I mentioned that we just finished reading Rules. I tweeted about it, and shared Ramona's picture, and Cynthia Lord was sweet enough to respond and tweet back her reaction to Ramona's drawing (thanks for making her day, Cynthia!)

Hey, Twitter? Actually, hey, Whole Internet? Can I just tell you how much I love you for making it possible to easily connect my daughters with authors they love? If it weren't for the Whole Internet, would I ever have met Melissa Wiley? And ended up godmother to this adorable little kiddo? So. Great.

Poetry Friday: Eating Poetry with Mark Strand

Today is the birthday of poet Mark Strand and I can't think of a better way to celebrate than to eat some poetry. For dessert, I'll go read this interview between Wallace Shawn and Strand at the Paris Review.

Eating Poetry 
by Mark Strand

Ink runs from the corners of my mouth.
There is no happiness like mine.
I have been eating poetry.

The librarian does not believe what she sees.

(Read the rest here.)

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Michelle Heidenrich Barnes has the round-up at Today's Little Ditty.

Cynthia Lord's Rules (A Quick Review, in Which We Also Stroll Down Memory Lane With Frog and Toad)

Ramona *had* to draw last night, after we finished Rules.

Last night, Ramona and I finished reading Cynthia Lord's Rules. It's about twelve-year-old Catherine, who just wants a "normal" life, thank-you-very-much. And it's about her brother David, who has autism, but tries his best to follow Catherine's list of rules, such as, "No toys in the fish tank." (The fish, however, don't seem to mind an occasional visit from Barbie or a rubber duck.) And it's about Catherine's new friend, Jason, a silent, smart, wheelchair-bound boy she meets at David's OT office. Complicating Catherine's summer vacation is the fact that her best friend, Melissa, is spending the summer in California with her dad, and the new girl who just moved in next door is, well, nice, but maybe not the "morse code with flashlights at night" kind of best-neighbor-friend Catherine has always hoped for.

I won't say any more, but will add that Anne-with-an-e and Betsy both loved this book when they read it a few years ago, and so did I. It was delightful to share it this time around with Ramona, who was inspired by the book to hunt down all of our old Frog and Toad books. (I'll let you read Rules to find out why.)

A beautiful, funny, and touching read.

Honors, and Free Stuff, and Sales -- Oh, My! (In Which I Give Away Five Copies of My Book and Humbly Thank the ACP For a Finalist Honor)

Final update, June 2, 2014 
An alternate winner has just been drawn: Kim, you won! 
I just sent you an email, and please contact me with your mailing address. 
Thanks again to everyone who entered! 

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Update, May 27th:

I still need to hear from Mrs. Sharp. 

If I don't hear from you with a mailing address by May 31, I'll draw an alternate name. 
Thank you! 

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May 17th: The contest is closed. 

Thank you to everyone who entered and/or purchased the book through the sale at OSV! 

Winners: 
Mrs. F3
Kelly (of The Careless Catholic)
Sharon Weil
Mrs. Sharp 
House of Brungardt 

Please email me your mailing address, and then we can send your books out! 

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Our Sunday Visitor just delivered some great news!

The Association of Catholic Publishers announced finalists for their annual Excellence in Publishing Awards and Deathbed Conversions is a contender in the biography category. Winners will be announced in late May.

OSV is also sponsoring a sale and a giveaway.

The sale:
From now until May 16th, you can buy the book for just  $9 (down from the $13.95 cover price) through this link at Our Sunday Visitor.

The giveaway:
If you leave a comment on this blog post, I'll enter your name into a drawing (I like to have Ramona or Betsy draw the names from my current favorite coffee cup) to win one of five free copies of the book. OSV will be sending out books to the winners, and if you'd like a signed bookplate, I'll send that on from my end!

** If you leave a comment here, please be sure to leave your name, and be sure to check back here on the morning of May 17th to see if you have won. ** (Contest will close Friday night, May 16th, CDT.) 


So, if you ever wanted a deathbed conversion -- no, strike that (ummm, if you've ever wanted a deathbed conversion, go get busy right now on the converting stuff. Don't wait, thinking someone might write a book about you someday.)

Let me start that again ...

If you've ever wanted to read about deathbed conversions, now's your chance.

Can't wait to hear from you!

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Edited to note: Entries for a paperback copy of the book are limited to those living within the continental U.S. If you live outside the continental U.S., OSV can send a digital copy of the book if you are a winner. 

Speaking of Poetry, There's a Showdown at Think, Kid, Think!

Poets have been challenged, words* have been slung, and the voting closes this afternoon.

Visit Ed DeCaria at Think, Kid, Think! to read the competing poems and cast your vote:

Incontinent vs. Kerfuffle is here.

Confabulation vs. Defenestrate is here.

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*The poets have been charged with using the following words in their compositions: incontinent, kerfuffle, confabulation and defenestrate. I may be easily excited, but I'm thrilled by any contest that throws out the word defenestrate.

Poetry Friday: April is National Poetry Month

Poets.org explains:

Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month is now held every April, when schools, publishers, libraries, booksellers, and poets throughout the United States band together to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture. Thousands of organizations participate through readings, festivals, book displays, workshops, and other events.

Offerings and plans at Poets.org:

30 Ways to Celebrate

Subscribe to receive a poem a day in your Inbox

Poem in Your Pocket on April 24th

Poet to Poet Project for grades 3-12

Poetry Landmarks

For Educators

National Poetry Month FAQ

Do you have any plans for National Poetry Month?

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Plans
by
Stuart Dischell

She plans to be a writer one day and live in the City of Paris,
Where she will describe the sun as it rises over Buttes-Chaumont.
"Today the dawn began in small pieces, sharp wedges of light
Broke through the clouds." She plans to write better than this...

(Do yourself a favor and read the whole thing here, at The Writer's Almanac.)

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Poetry Friday is hosted today by Amy Ludwig VanderWater at The Poem Farm.

Lent: What's Working and What Isn't

What's Working:

With the girls:

Over breakfast, I read reflections, quotes, and prayers from Bringing Lent Home with St. Therese of Lisieux: Prayers, Reflections, and Activities for Families to Betsy and Ramona. This lovely book (part of a series by Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle) has also led us to more extended discussions about St. Therese, her Story of a Soul, and the sharing of insights I gained from a recent reading of Patrick Ahern's Three Gifts of St. Therese. 

I am also (again) using Sarah Reinhard's Welcome Risen Jesus: Lent and Easter Reflections for Families as part of our breakfast reading. The book's cover might lead you to think this one is for very young children, but (while it works on that level) it also works for entire families. Sharing the quick readings from this little book is a great way to bring Scripture into our morning.

I'm enjoying sharing these books daily with Betsy and Ramona, and then including the weekend readings at a family dinner on Sunday -- a nice way to bring Atticus and Anne into what we're doing.

I'm having Betsy read Mark Shea's By What Authority?: An Evangelical Discovers Catholic Tradition and for our holy hour, she often turns to Youcat: Youth Prayer Book, which she is liking a lot.

We are also keeping up with Operation Rice Bowl, trying recipes, and making donations based on their calendar, stories, and ideas.

For me: My Lenten Reading 

Interior Freedom by Jacques Philippe: So far, this is ranking with one of my favorite spiritual classics, Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean-Pierre de Caussade, which I return to again and again. Both books put forth a very simple truth: God is all.

For Atticus and me: fasting from foods: 

Giving up meat is surprisingly easy. Not surprisingly, I guess, when one considers that we didn't eat much red meat anyway but we do eat a lot of chicken. That's been quite easy to cut out or work around. My daughters are carnivores, though, and they still want hunks of flesh on the table, so I sometimes have to make different versions of our meals, or just add meat on the side of a dish for them to dig into.

But because it has felt so easy for us, Atticus and I decided to add another penance, so this falls more under the "tweaking" category than the "not working" category.

What Isn't Working: 

This is more of a sad realization, one I've known for the last couple of years, but hate to admit:

It's time for me to admit that Ramona isn't little anymore. Oh, sure, she insisted that we make the Lamb of God calendar again this year, the lamb that I've been making for, oh, a million years. (And I was really happy that she insisted.) She said it wouldn't be Lent without it. And sure, she insisted that it also wouldn't be Lent without the sacrifice jar, so we've got one of those out, too. But in the reality of day-to-day, those are activities that appeal to the very young child, the one who needs to see the days ticked off, and watch the pile of beans that will become sweet candy growing. Ramona (and the rest of us) forget about the calendar and the sacrifice jar.

And so the lamb, the jar of beans ... they are visible signs to me, Lenten signs, that everything changes and things fall away. Lent is a time in which I always realize (for the millionths time) that we  keep trudging on through life trying to hold on to the best of what we've found, and God keeps wrenching things away from us, teaching us -- through little things like cotton ball lambs and kidney beans -- how to let go, and how to love Him more.

So, really, I guess this stuff that's outwardly "no longer working" this Lent is working. Message received.

But we'll always make our Lamb of God calendar. It just wouldn't be Lent without it.

Deathbed Conversions is a Kindle MatchBook

What's a Kindle MatchBook?

Funny you should ask. I asked, too, because that is the kind of Amazonly-curious person I am.

Here's the short answer:

If you buy (or have already bought) Deathbed Conversions in print format, you can now also purchase the Kindle version for only $2.99.

A marketing savvy person would not say the following:

"What's the point of that? Why would I want it on Kindle if I already ordered the print version? Are you crazy, Amazon?"

Well, clearly, Amazon is not crazy and they are far more marketing-savvy than I am, so there must be a point.

Here are a few that occurred to me:

1. You bought the print version of Deathbed Conversions and you want to share it with a friend. But you know your dear friend never returns books, so you quietly (you would never hurt her feelings by coming right out and saying, "Now, you are going to return this, right?") buy the Kindle version for $2.99, just in case your friend continues to follow the pattern she's always followed and never gives you your book back. You really love your friend, and after all, it's only $2.99.*

2. You bought the print version, but then you felt the need to declutter your home and your book collection, because, let's face it, you have a lot of books. But you still might want to reread Deathbed Conversions someday because, wow, that Oscar Wilde story is amazing, and who knew about Kenneth Clark? And you'd like to look up that little bit about Roald Dahl again. So you buy the book on Kindle for $2.99, and give the print version to your friend, the one who never returns books, as a gift. Now you don't have to resent her. You really do love her. You're going to buy her a coffee tomorrow.

3. You aren't sure you even want to read Deathbed Conversions, so you haven't paid much attention to it. But your aunt in Tacoma wants to read it, so, you buy the print version on Amazon, have it shipped directly to her, and then order the Kindle version for yourself for only $2.99. Your aunt is so sweet, and she loved True Grit and she thought Gary Cooper was the dreamiest thing to ever light up a darkened screen, and she's going to love that book. Maybe you'll even read it someday. It's on your Kindle now, after all.

4. You are going to leave the print version of Deathbed Conversions on your overstuffed bookshelves (you love them that way) and also buy the book on Kindle because your Kindle fits in your purse (if it doesn't, you need a bigger bag) and you're more likely to read this book if you can pull out your Kindle while you're in the dentist's waiting room.

5. Your daughters are always walking off with your books but you always know where your Kindle is. (Unless Ramona is using it to play Stack the States. Do you have a Ramona doing that at your house, too?)

*Note to all of my friends: You are not this friend. I'm pretty sure I am this friend.

Bits and Pieces of Our Days

Conversation overheard between Anne-with-an-e (who works as a lab assistant at school) and Betsy (who lets her sister wear her clothes):

Betsy: You got what kind of bacteria on my Ravenclaw shirt?!

Anne: It's nothing deadly....

Betsy: Mom, she wore my Ravenclaw shirt to the lab.

Anne: ... and it's not a stain or anything. It might not have even landed on the shirt. I just saw a drop go flying....


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Reading with Ramona:

The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies, for one of her book clubs. We enjoyed it BUT we want the world to know that the book has a BIG Charlotte's Web spoiler. If you have a child who hasn't read the marvelous-wonderful-splendid Charlotte's Web, don't let them read this book. Ramona and I have spoken.

The Birthday Ball by Lois Lowry -- in progess. We've just begun, so can't say much yet.

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo -- also in progress.  This one is depressing Ramona. She calls it part of "the Island of the Blue Dolphins vicious cycle syndrome -- I want to find out what happens and it's an engaging story, but it depresses me to read it." Betsy has assured her it has a happy ending -- "ending" being the operative word.

Reading on her own: anything and everything Andrew Clements. His Frindle may be one of my favorite books of all time. The one she's reading now -- The School Story -- inspired her to suggest that she and I write a novel together.

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Overheard:

Atticus: What do you think of that play?

Anne-with-an-e (who is reading Richard III): Well, basically Richard is trying to kill everyone so that he can be king. And he's doing it sneakily.

Atticus: That pretty much sums it up.

**********

Prom?! 

I am going to prom with Atticus. (Ah, the extracurricular duties of teachers.)

Last year I didn't go with him because I had to be out of town.

"Hey, this year," he said, "I'll have a date. I won't have to bring a Graham Greene book."

"You didn't read during the prom last year," I said. "You had to talk to people."

"Well, I didn't get to use it, but I had the book in my jacket pocket."

Anne-with-an-e looked at us with a frown on her face. "Had to talk to people? What is wrong with this family?"

Oh, plenty, my dear. We've just scratched the surface.