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KIDS &FAMILY

Donna’s Day: Creative Family Fun Give Jars in Bloom to Thank a Teacher

By Donna Erickson

Signal Contributing Writer

As the school year winds down, it’s time to show appreciation to a special teacher. Here’s a springy idea: Arrange a casual bouquet of flowers with offshoots of your child’s creativity.

First, choose some flowers and greens, such as hosta leaves and herbs for fragrance from your garden, or purchase a bouquet at your market. Let your child trim the stems, loosely arrange the blooms and greens in his hand, and then head for the recycle bin.

The perfect “vase” for the blooms just may be lurking behind a milk carton. I’m thinking pint-size pasta-sauce jars, but any glass pickle, mayonnaise or fruit jar makes a casual and charming “jar in bloom.” Simply wash with soapy water, remove the label, tie twine around the rim, and set the bouquet inside. Add some water and a card, and it’s ready to give.

It’s also fun for kids to decorate and personalize the jars before adding the flowers. Here are some handmade arty ideas using nontoxic paint pens, ribbon, wire, beads or anything that catches your child’s attention in your craft box. • Compose a jingle or rhyme about the teacher receiving the bouquet and write it on the jar with paint pens. Tie ribbon around the rim and thread a few small beads near the ends of the ribbon to dangle on the jar. • Use acrylic paints to paint designs or images of the teachers’ favorite things. • Simply write a thank-you greeting directly on the jar with paint pens, and then finish it off with copper

Kids can show their creativity by decorating glass jars. wire twisted around the neck of the bottle several times. Arrange a curly willow branch and two or three flowers in the modern vase. Extra Idea Painted and decorated jars make attractive containers for displaying kids’ summer camp and vacation nature finds. Write the place and date directly on the jar with paint pens and fill with pretty rocks from a lake in Wisconsin, mini pinecones from a woodland walk in Oregon, or sand from a beach in Florida.

Donna Erickson’s award-winning series “Donna’s Day” is airing on public television nationwide. To find more of her creative family recipes and activities, visit www.donnasday.com and link to the Donna’s Day Facebook fan page. Her latest book is “Donna Erickson’s Fabulous Funstuff for Families.”  © 2022 Donna Erickson

Distributed by King Features Synd.

26 · SUNDAYSIGNAL

MAY 22, 2022 CROSSWORD TIME PUZZLES

SOLUTIONS

Opinion Unless otherwise stated, the views and opinions expressed are those of the respective authors and do not necessarily represent the views of The Signal.

READER LETTERS

Power to Make Change

No matter what city or country you go to, poverty will always be an issue. Going to downtown Los Angeles or even just down the street, you sometimes will see people without homes; people who don’t have a house and do not know where their next meal is going to come from. Everyone deserves to have a roof over their heads and a hot meal. The government is supposed to help all citizens so they should also prioritize their citizens who do not have a home.

Santa Clarita has been over-building lately. Since they have been doing a lot of construction by making buildings and new structures, my eight-minute drive to work has turned into a 20-minute drive. Instead of continuing to build more houses and buildings that we already have, they can use that money to donate and give back to the communities around them.

With each passing day that I volunteer with The Borgen Project it makes me realize that we all can make a difference, not only in the country that we live in but also around the world. By living in a predominately white and expensive neighborhood, the residents of Santa Clarita have the power to make a change by donating and bringing awareness to the global issue. Sandy Ceballos Canyon Country

An Answer to the Question

Recently Lois Eisenberg penned a letter (May 13) wondering where the GOP had gone. She included in her scolding rant all the usual things people like her say about the GOP. Her bewilderment has caused me to author a response lest her confusion be needlessly prolonged. On behalf of the GOP, we’re not interested in what you think we should be or where we should go. We reject everything you stand for politically and we have no interest in capitulating to your favored form of governing policy. I cannot think of one thing leftists stand for that I favor and I would guess most of my fellow conservatives would agree with me. We stand against people like you who think as you do. Were I you, and thankfully I’m not, I would worry about your own party and your own failures. Any attempt by you and like-minded people to “fix” the GOP will be treated as the buffoonery it is. You’re welcome!

Brian Richards Stevenson Ranch

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ETHICALLY SPEAKING

The Rest of the Story

Iam just old enough to remember one of the all-time great radio newsmen. Every day in his News and Comments, Paul Harvey would bring the news succinctly and with his own cogent analysis. But what I remember most was his feature known as The Rest of the Story. In these segments he would narrate the backstory behind famous events and people, always ending with his famous tag line: “And now you know the rest of the story!”

I just wish he were around today because I’m getting quite tired of being asked to believe what turns out to be only part of the story. And, if you listen to, or watch the broadcast “news” sources, you certainly know what I mean. Years ago, Dr. J. I. Packer put it well: “A half-truth masquerading as a whole truth is actually an untruth.”

Here are a few examples of what I mean.

We’ve all just heard that the California drought has drastically diminished our water supply and the culprits are those of us with green lawns. So, we citizens are commanded to cut back, but we only have part of the story. So tell us the rest. How do we measure the water supply? What amount ought we to have? Where are the levels now? How much rain water has been captured? And why were a few people on the Coastal Commission allowed to scuttle a plan to build the desalinization plant like San Diego has, which would have produced 50 million gallons of drinking water a day?

And how about the COVID news? We hear that infections are up by some percentage. But a percentage of what? If there is a 20% increase, then what is the baseline? Where were infections all along the timeline of the past couple years? Where are the numbers of hospitalizations and deaths? How do they compare with previous months in real numbers and not merely percentages? What comorbidities have played a roll? What’s the rest of the story?

And of course, there are the arguments surrounding the abortion decision that we’re expecting from the Supreme Court. We’ve all heard the rhetoric on the thousands of women who will lose their lives if Roe v. Wade is overturned. Am I the only one who thinks the fact that 63 million lives have already been intentionally ended by American women is at least an important element in the overall discussion?

I also find the signs proclaiming “my body my choice” somewhat misleading, given all but a very small percentage of women seeking abortions made the choice to engage in sexual activity. Why isn’t the choice to exercise mature common sexual sense being argued in the public square? Why isn’t it deemed as grossly immature to insist that the baby both partners were complicit in bringing to life pay the ultimate price for their choice to ignore the possible consequences of copulation?

As for the “gender-affirming” trans movement, we really need the rest of the story. Why don’t we hear about the research that is shouting dire warnings against radical hormone therapy and “transitional surgeries” for anyone, but especially for elementary school-aged children? Why aren’t we provided stories about the predictions from legal authorities that in a decade there will be massive lawsuits filed by those children who, having been manipulated and mutilated, are now suing their parents, teachers and therapists?

And, in the ever-expanding world of “phobias,” when are we going to get the rest of the story? When will it become clear that disagreement is not “fear,” and disagreement does not equal hate? I believe sex outside of marriage between one man and one woman lies outside of our Creator’s design. Having said this, I am not “afraid” (the true meaning of the Greek words phobos and phobia) of those who practice what I consider wrong, and neither do I hate them given that, as a Christ-follower, I actually strive to love my neighbors as well as my opponents. Should I follow the trend and brand everyone who disagrees with me “Christophobic?” No, I won’t because they do not fear Christ, as their worldview clearly demonstrates.

So, where to end? My purpose here is simply to say to you my friends and my critics, don’t settle for partial truth. Don’t act on half of the story. And certainly, don’t hate others because you disagree with their point of view. The real pandemic is our culture’s pervasive incivility. It is everywhere. And this incivility is the product of half-truths brandished about as whole truths leaving so many blindly accepting untruths. It’s time we demanded the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Local resident David Hegg is senior pastor of Grace Baptist Church. “Ethically Speaking” appears

Sundays. 