Off on a Tangent

Bust or Blessing?

2010-09-06T08:32:00.005-04:00

Hurricane Earl passed us by on the East Coast Friday and many people are saying it was a flop, a bust. Weather forecasters are being laughed at. People are downright annoyed and angry.

Odd, isn't it, when we've seen the devastation of Katrina and the long term effects on New Orleans and the Gulf region that a hurricane can become such an event of ridicule.

I'm trying to fathom the reasons. My first thought is to blame the news media. "Let's talk to this lady walking along the boardwalk, 'What do you think of Earl, Miss, big deal over nothing?'" a reporter prompts, spooning words directly into her mouth and thoughts into our heads.

Perhaps it's more of a defense against the fear that seems to grip us at every turn: salmonella in a billion eggs, an economy that's still wobbly, people losing jobs, this or that nation brandishing the threatening sword of nuclear capability. Too many, too much, can't cope, system crashing, fear overload. All legitimate news, but often hyped beyond what's necessary.

Or do we, as humans, have an uncontrollable urge to put down those weaker than ourselves: the puny guy at the beach, the untalented singer ejected from American Idol, the kid in the family who doesn't measure up to dad's football expectations.

How about turning things around? How about a little dancing in the dry, windless streets when a hurricane passes by? How about telling the Weather Bureau we're grateful they tracked this massive, category four storm that had the potential to cause us great harm? How about telling God we're grateful to be spared.

Off on a Tangent

2010-09-01T05:22:00.005-04:00

Off on a tangent? Perhaps. Of all the ridiculous things, I'm posting on a blog I haven't touched in four years. What's more ridiculous is that it's 5:00 am!

My life has changed drastically in the last four years: I retired, sold my house, moved to a senior building, and have lots of things going on, some old--reviewing French and returning here, some new--helping to start a senior ministry at my church, working more with art journals than writing, even learning how to use my first digital camera.

Maybe this is just a tangent and I'll soon fade again into the mist, or maybe I'll stick around, offer an opinion now and then, and use this to organizer my other blogs. Only time will tell.

Right now I'm off to greet the rising sun!

9/11 We Remember and We Pray

2006-09-11T23:46:00.000-04:00

A prayer for all who perished and were injured on that sad day five years ago.

May the God who is from everlasting to everlasting wipe all the tears from your eyes. May the resurrection of our blessed Savior Jesus Christ bring you eternal life. May the love of the Holy Spirit overcome all hatred and bring peace to our weary world and may we meet again one day in joy. Amen

For memories of that day, click here

Purpose Driven Life Book Discussion

2006-09-07T10:34:00.000-04:00

I'll be doing a small group discussion using Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life with my church around the start of October. I've also decided to it would be fun to do it with an e-mail prayer group I've just started at Yahoo.

Purpose Driven Life has sold over 20,000,000 copies and is being used in churches all over the country. It's an easy to read book that emphasizes God's love for us and urges us to put our faith into action on a daily basis. The subtitle is 40 Days of Purpose and the book is divided into 40 short and easy to read chapters.

If you've been meaning to read it or even if you already have, why not join me in the Prayer Village to discuss it? New or almost new copies are available on e-bay at around $7.00 including postage. I was also able to find a large print version. Many public libraries also have the book.

Christ Cartoon

2006-09-06T09:15:00.000-04:00

I seated a child on computer in the library today and scanned the surrounding screens for mischief, as I always do. A ten year old boy was looking at a game in which the object was to crucify Jesus. A colorful cartoon of Christ on the cross was labled with instructions on how to pound the spikes.

Someone designed that game. Perhaps it was done in retribution for the insulting cartoons of Muhammed that were around a few months ago. Meanness for meaness. Maybe it's because of the war. Still meaness and it makes my heart ache.

I've had to take kids off sites that were vulgar. "But it's a commercial--it's funny, see?" This from a sweet little girl watching a man leap out of bed dressed only in his shorts. It was relatively inoffensive, but the fact that a woman was in bed with him had set my alarms off. I've seen little boys line up behind girls who were playing on paper doll sites where the dolls were life-like and dressed in bras and panties.

I once took a teenager off a game with such exquistite graphics of a small convenience store I first thought it was a video. Every item on the counter and shelves behind the clerk was clear and identifiable. The problem arose at checkout time when the customer shot the elderly clerk straight in the face with a gun.

We have My Space locked out on juvenile computers. Kids aren't happy about it but older ones just go upstairs and log onto adult computers where it's available. Several of my teens and twenties friends have great blogs on My Space, but they also have the maturity to know what to put in those blogs. Unfortunately, adults with ulterior motives trawl looking for pictures and personal information on young kids too innocent to realize they're putting themselves in jeopardy. It's also an easy way to pass on drug information.

So if your kids play games on computers, check to see if they're driving tanks through desert towns and blowing up civilians (yep, seen that one, too.) Do they have a blog on My Space? Are they old enough? Have you spoken to them about the dangers? Don't just read their blog, see who they're linked to. Do you like their choice of friends and subject material or does it require some input from you? Does you son say he looks at funny stuff? You might want to give that a gander and see if his idea of funny includes bashing minorities or if this is where he's getting his sex-ed.

If the screen is off, but the computer light is on and your child is "doing" homework, check. Look at the bottom of the screen to see if the buttons listed are as innocent as the homework screen. One more thing. IM messages can take up all your kid's time. Do you know if they have that program? Do you know who they message. Work, huh?

Don't Toss That Mini Photo Book!

2006-07-04T18:34:00.000-04:00

I'm a big fan of those little photo books that are popping up in the mail as free gifts from charities. I know, most folks toss them, but they have some dandy uses if you just think creatively. I like the ones best where you can insert your own cover photo but the others will do in a pinch.

Tuck small note cards with envelopes inside the sleeve or cover; add a couple of stamps and address labels and you can write a friendly greeting whenever you have a spare minute, especially if you include addresses. I also use it as a mini control journal (ala FlyLady). On separate index cards I write my morning and evening routines, current to-do list, folks I'm praying for, Bible verses or bright ideas. I jot down writing prompts so I don't forget them and prayer requests when someone tells me their problems. Keep blank cards in the back; when a card has served its purpose, throw it away.

You can use them for gifts, especially for seniors (they're light as a feather.) Put your picture on the front, or your friend's pet, add specially chosen Bible verses or quotes, a couple of ATC's, if you make them, a tiny sketch, a recipe, stick in a few store coupons, phone numbers for local cab companies, extra index cards.

If you want it to be a bit more attractive cut colored paper to size, but as FlyLady says, don't obsess, it doesn't have to be perfect, your friend will enjoy its convenience and your thoughtfulness.

Freecycle -- Bless Folks and the Environment All at the Same TIme

2006-06-13T22:57:00.000-04:00

I recently signed up with a local Freecycle group. It's a dandy idea, especially when you've caught the declutter bug from FlyLady. People post anything they want to offer (for free--no making money here) and wait to see if they get any takers. My sweet Amazon parrot died of old age a couple of months ago so I offered her lovely big cage. Last count I had seven hopefuls. The first fellow in the e-mail queue came but couldn't get the cage in his car. He'll be back tomorrow, and if not, there are six more bird lovers waiting in line. I have things I've been wanting to give away for years--now I can finally connect with people who can use them. Of course, Freecycle works the other way around too. You can post whatever you need and wait for someone to reply. What a nice way to bless folks and the environment, too. Check Yahoo Groups for your local chapter.

National Parks: Please Don't Preserve and Protect Them for Future Generations

2006-06-10T19:57:00.000-04:00

I visited National Parks Conservation site today to see if I wanted to download some new wallpaper for my "Baby Dell." The scene I'm currently using is of giant sequoias and every time I turn on my computer I feel like I should walk right into the picture and disappear down the dirt road. NPCA is a great site for exploring and getting information on all our national parks. Of course, it's also full of ecological news, budget cuts and the general disrepair of the parks.

I spent my time today reading an article titled "who's Ruining Our National Parks?" printed in the current on-line issue of Vanity Fair magazine. It's long, but very worthwhile. As usual, the Bush administration's single minded dedication to big business is doing damage that may be irreversible. To paraphrase, "Their system is to starve the beast." By constantly cutting back on parks' budgets, the case is made for getting more "entertainment" value out of them. Enter snow mobile and jet ski companies and the whole idea of a National Park goes down the tubes.

"Almost no one outside of (the) Interior (Department) had heard of Deputy Assistant Secretary Hoffman until last year, when he produced a startling document to further his kinds of fun: a revision of management policies for the 390 units of the U.S. National Park Service, one of the nine public-lands agencies under Interior's aegis. Like so many of the environmental changes wrought by the Bush administration, this sounded bland and unimportant. It wasn't. The management policies are the Park Service's bible," writes Michael Shnayerson.

"What concerns me," says a Park Ranger named Reynolds, "is the idea of changing the Organic Act.Â It is the law that establishes the Park Service. It is the law that binds all the Park Service areas as units. Congressional intent tells us that 'preserve and protect for future generations' is paramount, and that if we're going to err on any side of protection versus use, we're going to err on the side of resource protection. That's part of one's indoctrination. There are training sessions where the Organic Act is taken apart element by element.

"This is the issue," he says, "that many of us are willing to fall on our swords for."

And it may come to that for Mr. Reynolds. It seems that when employees don't agree with the politicall agenda of bringing in big business, park rangers have found themselves transferred to less visible parks or in some cases fired outright.

http://www.npca.org/ for: National Parks Conservation Association

Vanity Fair>

To learn more about the Bush administration's manipulation of scientific reports see: Union of Concerned Scientists http://www.ucsusa.org/

My apologies--the Vanity Fair link worked but not the other two. ???

Who Let the Blogs Out?

2006-06-05T17:50:00.000-04:00

A co-worker did me the favor of handing me Who Let the Blogs Out? by Biz Stone a couple of days ago. In the first chapter he writes that blogging is a fairly new phenomana, having started in 1999. Since I'm generally about twenty years behind, and started blogging in 2005, I'm feeling positively up-to-date. Who wrote the foreward? Wil Wheaton of Star Trek fame. Now, how could I not read this book?

Besides the history of blogging, there's a mini lesson in HTML, some excellent hints on how to make a few dollars by putting ads on your blog and speculations on the impact blogging will have in the future of the world.

If you're reading this, you're into blogging, in which case get the book. It will add to your appreciation and enthusiasm and get you posting more often.

ashes and snow

2006-06-02T19:05:00.000-04:00

ashes and snow

My idea of heaven!

2006-03-14T11:52:00.000-05:00

What's on my mind today? I have, lately, been taking stock of the interests that I've had all my life, the ones that have sometimes been put on hold, but have never gone away: faith, reading, writing, art, languages, ecology. With a low energy level, it's always been do one or two and let the others slide. Now I'd like to see how I can blend them into combinations in order to get more "bang for my buck," so to speak.

Getting older. How long will I be here--how long will I have the freedom to do the things I love? No one knows. I recently read an actuary table that predicted I'd live until 73. Whoa, that's not very promising--I'm 62 now and somehow, I'd always figured on 80 as my "ideal" demise date.

I can't change the future too much, I can enjoy the present and reach back into my past to re-enjoy the good times and connect them with the joys now. How to connect all my dots, that's the question (and Hamlet thought it was to be or not to be, tsk)

(The Port) Deal or No Deal?

2006-02-26T21:15:00.000-05:00

What upsets me about this port deal? Where to start. First let me admit my ignorance. I was not aware that any of our ports was being managed by a foreign country. When did that happen? And why in the world would we do it? Globalization is a fine thing when it means we share medical information, help the impoverished, and cooperate instead of compete against other countries, but when it means handing over jobs related to our national security? Then there's the matter of the country who'll be doing the managing. First cut the nonsense about being anti-Arab. It's a known fact that Dubai had links to terrorists, we are still occupying Iraq after starting a questionable war, and if you Google "national security alert" you can go to the Department of Homeland Security and discover we're still on yellow alert (as of March 3, 2006.)

Then there's the matter of a president who claims it's no big deal and it's perfectly safe. Funny, he's one of the few who thinks that. Is he listening to Congress? Our elected officials are a little peeved that they weren't in the loop on this one. I can't say I blame them. Has he noticed that the governors of New York and New Jersey are filing suit? Since I live smack in between Port Newark and Manhattan, I find that reassuring and admirable. Thanks, gentlemen!

Am I anti-Arab? No, I was and still am against the war in Iraq. I work at a job where I meet and serve many people from middle eastern countries, mostly women and children. I happen to like them a lot. But permitting our ports to be managed by people who may have a connection, no matter how tenuous, to terrorists is a foolish and dangerous thing to do.

Computer Conundrum

2006-02-21T21:26:00.000-05:00

Would you believe I have two hard copies of a completed manuscript called the Christmas Eve Shop, but nothing on disk? Yep, I did it on a word processor before I got a computer and the disk wasn't compatible, so there it sits. Then I got a computer but no printer and wrote several chapters of Sparrow Hill on Corel's Word Perfect. Three months later my baby Dell got a virus and I lost everything. Ah, but I had most of it on disk. Only problem was my computer didn't like Corel (and neither did I) so we went back to Word 2000. Unfortunately, no one I knew had Corel. Then I wrote about fifty pages of The Home for Nanwrimo on Word 2000 and copied it to disk, but for some reason when I tried to print it out at work, the computers couldn't read my disk.

Are we seeing a pattern here?

I was finally able to print out the initial chapters for The Home and I'm now attempting to rewrite the two chapters I lost during the above named crash. As for Sparrow Hill, my coworker, Tracey, installed Corel's Word Perfect in one of the lab's computers at work and I was ecstatic to see my work after all this time! Then we discovered the machine didn't have a printer or Word 2000 in which to copy and paste. She loaded the program into another machine. That one refused to recognize Drive A so I couldn't open my floppy.

Bless her heart, Tracey offered to try a new machine for me.

Takin' any bets on this one?

Olympic Fever

2006-02-18T19:06:00.000-05:00

Okay, I admit it, I have Olympic fever. I like the skating best, but I've looked at quite a few of the evening shows all the way through to midnight. For some peculiar reason, I can watch skiers sail off into space and be completely awed, but the skeleton thing, where they go down the luge run head first, gives me hives.
I used to ride my sled that way and it was great fun, so I guess it's the speed and closeness of the walls that scares me. One of the women was two months pregnant. That's a risk I'd never take.

Athletes amaze me by continuing to compete when they're injured or sick. Because of my disability, I hate to see that. I always think of the possibility of permanent injury. I admire their single mindedness, but personally, I prefer the variety life offers.

The Blizzard of 2006

2006-02-12T10:17:00.000-05:00

At 10:30 A.M. the snow's finally tapering off. The blizzard is over; or is this just a lull? I'm trying to guess how much we got, at least a foot, I'd say. I can't open the front door, it's over two feet there, but that's from drifting. Mini drifts line the bottoms of all my screens, while above they're dotted with snow puffs resembling cotton balls.

People are out with snow blowers and shovels trying to remove at least a layer of the deep snow. The big problem is where to put it. Living in such a crowded area, our houses so close and yards so small, they'll soon be shovelling it over their heads.

I went off to do other things and left this as a a draft. Now at 3:00 P.M. it is still snowing--never stopped. I've been trying to feed the birds all day. For some reason my hanging feeder, that I can reach from inside, didn't seem to be working. Maybe the perches were icy, the seed came out when I poked the holes with a pen. Finally I just dumped it all under the tree and hoped it wouldn't sink in snow or be cover with more snow before the birds got it. Saw a cardinal in the back and swept off part of my back porch, but the seeds were soon buried and no birds came, ditto for the seed I placed on the kitchen window sills. A couple of boys came to shovel me out as well as they could. I threw seed on the top landing and finally my chippies were able to eat. Time to check and see if they need more.

It's Late

2006-02-04T23:32:00.000-05:00

It's late. Too late to write a lengthy post; I'm tired from cleaning, contented after seeing a good movie, (The Devil's Advocate--with Al Pacino)and I have church in the morning. I'm even too tired to go to care2 to click on their charities. Tomorrow is another day.

I Don't Buy Books. Usually.

2006-02-02T22:29:00.000-05:00

I don't buy books. Usually. However, a few months ago I purchased used copies of Time and Again by Jack Finney and A Pilgrim at Tinker's Creek by Annie Dillard on
e-Bay. Why these two?

Time and Again is a novel that encompasses a bit of a mystery, but although the plot holds my interest, it's the method of time travel that compels me to reread it, that and the exceptional feeling of living along side illustrator Simon Morley as he returns to New York City in the late 1800's. The time period from 1880 or so through the turn of the century and on, when so much was brand new and exciting: telephones, radio, automobiles, airplanes, even elevators, has always fascinated me and captured my imagination.

It was a simpler time, with less stress in many ways, but the romance dissolves and reality kicks in when Simon talks to a bus driver as his horse slips and slides in the snow and a bitter wind numbs both mind and body. He has to stand, the driver explains, because once a man returned to the station frozen to death in his seat. Then there's the description of entering a lobby full of spittoons. Finney switches again, to tell of a magical night when Manhattan was alive with young and old enjoying the new snow and crowding the streets in horse drawn sleighs. It's a wonderful book and one that I'm glad to own. And, it has a sequel, Time after Time, which was given to me as a gift.

I read less than half of Dillard's A Pilgrim at Tinker's Creek before I returned it to the library a few years ago, not out of boredom, but because it was just too full of possibilities for me to continue. Since I'm a nature lover and love to write, I found myself wanting to comment, or enlarge on her writing on each page. Almost every paragraph spun out at me like a writer's prompt, a call that hates to go unanswered. There was also the opposite feeling I get each time I'm face with awesome writing, "Pull the plug on the computer and bury the manuscript--you haven't a chance in hell of becoming a writer."

Perhaps.

But I intend to keep writing and to go back to Tinker's Creek with Annie Dillard and old New York with Jack Finney "Time and Again."

What Has Sixty Blogs and a Generous Heart?

2006-01-31T20:31:00.000-05:00

Heather Blakey of Soul Food fame, is now offering to help her graphically challenged members, bless her heart. Several of us were discussing the fact that we didn't know how to put pictures on her bloggers at Soul Food. There are over sixty blogs and the pictures that are posted frequently knock my socks off. Although Soul Food was started for those who want to make writing their daily practice the place is now also bursting with amazing artists and photographers.

I don't have a photo program, a camera, a scanner, or even a printer, so that may leave me out, but there's no reason why I can't just gather up any information the blog (Heather and helpers)produces and keep it for future reference. In the meantime I've just asked for an invitation to The Land of Dreams Blog. I finally finished my story, which turned out to be entirely different from what I first had in mind. Oh, well, Off on a Tangent again.

Nice Weather, Global Warming, and Stinky Toilets

2006-01-30T19:11:00.000-05:00

January in the Northeast has been splendid this year. Our temperatures have been way above normal and since there's been relatively no snow I haven't had to stress about whether it was safe for me to go to work or who was going to shovel me out. On a personal level, I'm all for global warming.

This attitude is what my dad used to call, "Hooray for me and the hell with you."

It's an attitude shared by the government and the oil companies. Can't blame them, I guess, everybody likes money and I sure enjoyed sitting outside in the almost 60 degree temperatures this afternoon before work.

I'm sure we'll be fine--but there are future generations to think about and, according to the Washinton Post, (Jan.28, 2006) the coral is bleaching. Huh? Water temperatures two degrees above average this fall bleached loads of coral from Texas to Trinidad. Keep that up and fishing will go down the tubes. Little island nations exist now, especially in the Pacific, that might not be here much longer. You don't have much leeway when your tallest rock is only six feet above sea level and ocean levels are beginning to rise. And the currents that moderate the climate in Europe--changing.

On a personal level, what do I know about this. Not much, I admit, I'm certainly no scientist. But I recognize the domino theory when I see it. I sailed on Grace Line's Santa Maria down the west coast of South America years ago. The first time we arrived in Callao, the seaport for Lima, Peru I nearly gagged when I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth. I discovered that one of Callao's main exports was fish fertilizer made from bird guano and the harbor water stunk from factories that manufactured it. The ship's toilets used harbor water.

A year later we made the same trip and I was telling a fellow passenger about the smelly phenomenon; only thing is it didn't happen, next morning, no smell. What was the mystery all about? El Nino had changed the Humboldt Current. The cold water that it brought from the Antarctic didn't come, so neither did the fish. No fish, no birds, no birds no bird guano and no fertilizer. How nice not to have that awful smell. Except Callao was in bad shape that year. No guano--no factories no jobs, no food for hungry people.

What's on the Good Stuff Agenda Today?

2006-01-29T16:11:00.000-05:00

What's on the good stuff agenda for today? Well, church for one. For a lot of reasons I haven't been able to go weekly lately, but today made two in a row and it's so good to be back. Pastor Shepler told an anecdote about monks who were disturbed by the noise brought into the abbey by visitors. When they complained to an elderly monk he told them, "Silence is not a lack of noise, it is a lack of self."
Ah! How hard it is to forget self and yet sometimes for brief moments, when I pray, there is only God and his awesomeness and our love for each other.

So much that I read now seems to be stressing getting in touch with your inner child or your true self. Maybe it is exactly what others need, but I grew up an only child, a disabled one at that, so there's been plenty of quiet time in which to delve into me. There is so much more, and it's not all about me.

My good friend Mike came to church today despite his chemo treatments and Ciel was there as well, only a couple of weeks after being hospitalized for a lung embollism.
It was a joy to be with them!

Tentatively Tenacious

2006-01-28T22:58:00.000-05:00

"Tentatively Tenacious" is a catch phrase at Reach-Dabble-Shine and it sums me up pretty well. I made the decision to blog every day and yes, I am tentative about it.

What else? Well, I'm starting a low-cholesterol diet and I am more than tentative about that. Give up dairy? What a horrible thought. I did tentatively purchase a couple of substitutes, two different margarines to compare the taste and two percent milk, which I now find is really just a transitional product and when I get serious I need to switch to one percent or no fat. I also bought oatmeal, cooked it in water and then added honey and enough two percent so it was drinkable. My Dad used to make it that way for me when I was a kid. It's still good.

In my fridge there's a container of no-fat sour cream (new) Some half and half (old)and tonight for dinner I used up the cheddar cheese. One step forward, two steps back? Oh, yeah, there's still a little left-over Haagen Daz. sigh.

Today's Happiness List

2006-01-27T17:07:00.000-05:00

1. I heard a live concert from Salzburg and hundreds of church bells proclaiming the joyful celebration of Mozart's 250th birthday.

2. Food shopping's done.

3. The new banister going down to my basement means I got laundry done today.

4. It's after 5:00pm and the sun is just setting. The days are getting longer.

5. This January has been a piece of cake, mild and sunny. It's almost February.

Lemony Who?

2006-01-26T10:11:00.000-05:00

Well I guess it's official, I am no longer on the S.S. rolls. I can't be the only one. It would be interesting to hear how many people have been accidentally bounced because they filed for disability at the same time as S.S. I wonder what the average time is to correct this error. Or maybe I don't

I'm beginning to feel like I'm in Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events.
Title: The Social Security Sinkhole--the sad tale of a perfectly innocent senior citizen whose well-being is endangered in a monumental paper collapse. Please, if you care for your own sanity, go elsewhere and stop reading this heartrending story. Can you bear to watch her go down the tubes when her Medicaid slips into a bottomless crevass? What governmental agency in the labyrinthine chambers of beaurocracy will strike her next from their rolls? Flee now, do not stay to see a model citizen forced to live in a leaky cardboard box under a crumbling bridge.

Waiting for Social Security

2006-01-24T19:36:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is a big day for me. Will I, or won't I receive my Social Security check for January? This should be a no-brainer, but when I filed for S.S. the beginning of 2005 I was urged to also file for disability at the same time. Friends said go for it, S.S. people said, nothing to it, if you're declared eligible they'll just switch you over to the higher disability amount. Smile.

Sounds good right?

I received my S.S. checks for four months and then a higher amount in October and November. Sweet, yes? No. I called S.S. office and said, there must be a mistake, I still haven't sent you some papers you just asked for. Ah, you must be getting Supplemental they said. Hmmm. I persevered and kept calling, but I hardly ever got through and the woman I left messages for never called back.

Are you ready for the good part? I get a bill from disability saying I owe them $4,893.00. Whoa, I say! Tops I owe you about $300 for the overpayment, but I didn't receive my Social Security in December, so you owe me the difference.

Stay tuned.

Three Extraordinary Sites

2006-01-23T21:22:00.000-05:00

As always, I am deeply entrenched in the marvelous halls of the Soul Food Cafe, writing and enjoying the writing of others. We have climbed The Faraway Tree and are watching and waiting as new worlds float by on the passing clouds. Right now I am in The Land of Dreams. Anyone who writes or creates art will fall in love with this site at www.dailywriting.net.

For the last few months I've been receiving e-mail from the FlyLady site, www.flylady.net. How can a site devoted to teaching you to clean your house get such an enormous following of loyal fans? How can it possibly be described as fun? You simply have to subscribe to the e-mails to believe it. "Shine your sink," FlyLady says and hundreds of women run off to shine their sinks, "You can do anything for fifteen minutes," she assures us, and we tackle jobs we've dreaded for years. With humor and love she dispenses common sense and wisdom. She has taken a simple thing like housekeeping and turned it into a life changing experience. If your house is clean but you're exhausted and resentful--try FlyLady--if your place is a mess and you're overwhelmed try FlyLady. You'll be entranced and your life will improve.

Reach--Dabble--Shine is the name of a delightful site, which is new, at least, to me. I enjoy encouraging people in their pursuits and also in just enjoying life, and this is what www.reach-dabble-shine.com is all about. The e-mail group is small right now, but I'm hoping it takes off into the stratosphere. What could be better than gathering together a group of people who are willing to share their dreams and to encourage each other to be "tentatively tenacious"?

The Internet is huge and the urge to explore it is hard to resist, but I've discovered three unique and wonderful sites in which to spend my time. Lucky, huh?

Do I Nanowrimo?

2005-09-27T23:30:00.000-04:00

Part of me is dying to sign up for Nanowrimo again. Last year I only finished about 17,000 words but I was pleased anyway, since I didn't think I'd even get that much written. I just reread part of my first chapter and I still think it's good. I can't latch onto the concept that writing junk is worthwhile, but it's certainly fun to give myself the limited time of one month to write my brains out.

This year it may be impossible:I'm entranced with Soul Food and have no intention of leaving it even for a month, Crown Financial will last most of November and Jim, from CoffeeHouse says we'll be starting up the crit group within the next couple of weeks.

Still. I have two ideas that have been niggling to be written for ages. One is a collection of short stories that I'd call The Girl Who Loved Doors, and the
other, a combination of fiction and non-fiction called Connecting My Dots.
So, we'll just have to see if it will happen.

Crown Financial Ministries

2005-09-25T21:51:00.000-04:00

What a satisfying day I had today. Our Crown Financial Ministries' group met for the second time after church. It's an interesting concept, studying the Bible to see what it has to say about finances. Turns out it's a lot more than "The love of money is the root of all evil." According to Crown, there are 2,350 verses linked to money, how we make, spend, give and save it.

We're a small group, just our leader Carlos, Ruth, Lois, Betty and I but our discussions have been animated and interesting. There's something about a small church study group that brings out the best in people. I already sense a new closeness and affection building among us. Reading our homework responses and discussing the Bible verses opens the door to sharing our faith and, although the opinions sometimes raise questions rather than answer them, faith is strengthened. It will be a good ten weeks

Thanks Blogger

2005-09-25T21:44:00.000-04:00

I got spammed today. The spammer seemed to think they were doing me a favor and promised to get in touch again. No thanks. Blogger now has word verification to discourage unwanted comments. Thanks, Blogger.

Katrina's Artists and Writers

2005-09-06T23:25:00.000-04:00

Soul Food has just set up a blog called Artists without Borders. It came about because of Katrina but will be available to displaced artists and writers anywhere in the world. We hope to offer a venue to writers and artists from the Gulf Coast who have access to computers and also to supply creative ways to help the victims of the hurricane. http://borderfree.blogspot.com/

Lost as Usual

2005-08-05T22:50:00.000-04:00

What you don't know can hurt you. Yep.

It looks like I've lost my original posts to The Lemurian Abbey, the first blog I joined at Soul Food. I hope Heather has some idea how to find them. I read today, in Blogger (where?) you can go as far back as 300 in the archives, just after I discovered the Abbey is now up to five hundred plus. I had some good stuff in there. I especially wanted to find the piece I meant to continue in Fantasy Cove.
I lost my Word copies when my machine crashed the beginning of the year. What I should do is make hard copies at work of all my posts. They can be found by title, but I doubt if I remember what I titled them.

Ah--a clarification--the blogs are there and can be accessed through the monthly archives, but they can't be edited after three hundred so they don't show on that screen. Happy again. Sigh.

Manipulating the News

2005-07-11T00:55:00.000-04:00

I don't usually look at TV news, especially just before I go to bed, but the night of the subway bombings in London I did. Big mistake. After the coverage of the tragedy in England, the station showed preparations etc. in the U.S., mostly NY-NJ, including a politician who described how under-funded and dangerous his own area is (so narrow no one would ever be able to get out alive--to paraphrase.) It's always amazing to me how much information we're willing to give terrorists. I guess we don't think they read the papers or watch the news.

The next story told about police officers who murdered eight or nine people for the mob. I turned the set off when it was followed by a hit and run in which a flower girl was killed. Enough--too much--please Lord, have mercy on our world and its people.

When events threaten to overpower me with sadness and fear I pray--I'm Christian--it's what I do--then I flip the messenger on its back and pummel all the good I can out of it.

Radio news and talk shows get to be too much--I turn on classical music and channel my emotions into a symphony by Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, or Dvorak (his Noon-day Witch and Watergoblin give fear a real workout!) Or. Light FM. Nothing's better than singing It's Rainin' Men with the Weather Girls.

TV's harder to deal with. For one thing, during a tragedy they beat you senseless with repetition. Pictures get burned into memory like acid on metal and the problem is it's hard to pull away. But I do. Eventually. Mindless comedies don't cut it for me, so I turn to PBS, or if there's a good drama on, I'll try that.

Computers work better than anything. I've been brushing up on my high school French at about.com, so for practice I go to Yahoo France, Canada, or Switzerland and try to read the same story I've been hearing all day in French. It's surprising how the mindset changes when it has to struggle to translate paragraphs into passable English.

Maybe that's the whole key to staying sane. Read and listen to the news only in a language you don't completely understand. And don't look at the pictures.

Prayers for England

2005-07-08T19:49:00.000-04:00

My heart breaks for the British people after yesterday's tragedy. My sadness today is for you--my prayers for your dead and injured and all who love and mourn them, my thoughts for your rescue workers, and my hope for your leaders. God's blessings to all of you. Have courage.

Bush and the Bunker Buster

2005-06-30T09:21:00.000-04:00

Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator or RNEP is the newest idea President Bush has for the war on terror. He wants to spend $8.5 to research a nuclear "Bunker Buster" that
could be used to blow up underground command centers or storage centers for chemical and biological weapons. The Pentagon already has an animation showing how many millions of people would either be blown up along with it or suffer from the fallout.
The Union of Concerned Scientists has already determined that it wouldn't go far enough into the earth to hit the bunkers, could miss destroying the chemical and biological weapons and send them up into the atmosphere along with the fall-out.

I have never been a political person, sometimes to my embarrassment, and this blog was never intended for politics, but what's with Bush? He's scaring us by saying Iran and Korea have nuclear weapons, we spent years trying to convince the Russians and the rest of the world to give up building and testing them and now he wants to research this thing? Are we supposed to be the only country trustworthy enough and moral enough to handle nuclear arms?

That's a scary thought.

Back to the Drawing Board

2005-06-18T16:14:00.000-04:00

Working on my website today. I found a pattern on Homestead that I really like, it's a faint map of the world used as the background. I wish I knew how to transfer text from my previous pages to the new design efficiently, but I don't. Cutting and pasting doesn't work. I'm stuck with retyping everything. I'll be changing a lot, but still, it's tedious and time consuming.

Homestead now has loads of stock photos available, thank goodness. I never had many graphics and my pages were visually boring. I found some great globe pictures that fit in nicely with my theme. It's revved up my enthusiasm! I won't even hazard a guess at how long it will take me to rewrite and republish, but I've started and that's the main thing. Back to work!

Opportunity Lost or Tragedy Averted?

2005-06-10T09:56:00.000-04:00

I woke up this morning to pouring rain and thunder. Since I can't use an umbrella due to a disability, I cancelled Access Link, which would have taken me food shopping, and rescheduled for tomorrow.

An hour later, the sun came out.

I hate shopping on the week-end. It's crowded, hard to get a motorized cart, and waiting for a cab while my Hagen Daz melts does nothing for my disposition.

Whenever I'm annoyed and second-guessing, I think about a friend of my Dad's, a truck driver, who swerved on wet pavement to avoid a collision and flipped his truck. He was pinned underneath and his ankle was shattered. The doctors were amazed that he walked again and went back to driving for a living. Determination and faith paid off. He was a gutsy guy.

He taught me a good lesson. I remember him talking about that day and musing that if he'd left home a minute earlier or later he wouldn't have been in the path of the other vehicle and the accident might not have happened; a tragedy would have been averted, months of pain and therapy cancelled out in a wink.

But--

why do we always tend to think in terms of opportunity lost? The job we didn't get, the love of our life who got away, the lottery ticket a number shy of a million dollars. Always a bridesmaid we complain, never a bride.

What about tragedies averted? Does it take more imagination than we possess to envisage a brick that wasn't hurled through our windshield, a divorce lawyer we didn't have to pay because we got dumped, temptations and vices we avoided because we never became rich enough to afford them?

Something really strange happened right after I finished writing this piece. My neighbor's gutter, over-full due to the storm, crashed down onto their half finished back porch. Fortunately, the carpenter was out to lunch. How 'bout that?

Tugging the Strings

2005-02-25T09:58:00.000-05:00

The Lemurian Abbey project at Soul Food Cafe has become an amazing experience for me. I'm always fascinated with how life tugs on all the strings at once when it decides it's "time" to learn or do a particular thing. So, here comes Lent and Heather announces she's going to build a monastery, I'm reading a Maxxie Dunnam book with a cloister on the cover, had already decided to do a series of meditations and there's an altered book on the prayer of St. Francis niggling at the back of my brain.

My creative plans usually take on their own erratic twists and turns and my meditations this year are no exception. I had expected them to be rather straight forward, but they've evolved into a fictional account of daily life in Lemurian Abbey. I've placed myself there along with my cat and parrot. The first thing I was told by the abbess was, "You have everything you need."

I've started writing every day and have begun the often put-off altered book. I've learned there are always too many choices and the trick is to choose and get on with it, I've discovered that lack of focus, and impatience can bring me down, but admitting my own faults can put me back on target.

This morning I woke up wondering if my cell at the abbey is the dry run for the move I must make one day. If so, I'll remember that all I took with me were my faith, my pets, and some art and writing supplies. And I'll remember the tiny window high up in the wall that supplied all the light I needed and grew bigger every day.

Learning from Mistakes

2005-02-21T22:41:00.000-05:00

I've been writing a lot for The Abbey in Soul Food Cafe. While checking the new posts today, I spotted three typos in the last paragraph of my carefully spell-checked story. When I went back to edit I discovered that every Oreo (my cat's name) and every Tookey (my parrot's name) had been changed to ore and took. I must have clicked something thinking it would keep all the Oreos and Tookeys, when in truth it replaced them all. As Edison once said, "I now know 100 or so ways not to make a lightbulb." Live and learn.

Learning from Others

2005-02-13T22:51:00.000-05:00

O Lord, teach me to live my life without the "buts." Teach me to not qualify my joys with constant disclaimers, but to accept and relish each one in its entirety.

Wasted Time

2005-01-24T23:03:00.000-05:00

I spent most of the afternoon writing a piece for Soul Food Cafe and it didn't publish. Talk about frustrating! The only thing I can figure is that blogger has a time limit and I exceeded it. From now on, I'll just have to cut and paste from Word to be on the safe side. You'd think they would tell you that somewhere in the FAQs. Shame on you blogger!

A Moslem and a Christian

2005-01-19T21:56:00.000-05:00

A few days before Christmas, a young Moslem woman asked if I'd show her how to write Merry Christmas so she could make 25 cards for her little boy to give to his classmates. I made a few samples and she copied them fairly well, but I could see the idea of writing so many was a daunting project for her.

I offered to write them and we began to talk. I told her I was sorry for what the decent Moslems had gone through since 9/11. I mentioned that I'd received an e-mail that quoted verse 9-11 in the Koran as saying, something to the effect, that the eagle would overcome them. When I checked on the Internet, verse 9-11 said nothing of the sort.

She told me she'd heard no Jews had died in the Towers and I promised to check. The next time we met I told her the victim's page had lots of Jewish names and they estimated that between 400-500 Jews died that day. So, two hateful myths were laid to rest.

This week she came to see if I'd receeived a gift she'd delivered two weeks earlier. While I was unwrapping a box of chocolates and a pair of candlesticks I hadn't known about, she left with a wave and an impish grin.

So, how about it world? Making friends isn't really that hard.

If you receive an e-mail or hear something aimed at making you hate or distrust, please check it out and set the record straight. Please.

From One Blog to Another

2005-01-18T23:20:00.000-05:00

Every time I add to my blog, I check out a couple of others. The variety is amazing, just today I saw a barely comprehensible teen-age blog, sped past a pornographic one, tried to decipher one written in Slovakian, where I think the writer was apologising for being sick ( cognates) and finally came to an Iranian one.

I scanned past the Arabic just to see if there were any pictures. There was one that I couldn't quite make out and it made me uneasy. Their laws state that for murder or sexual offense a girl can be executed from the age of 9, a boy from 16.

They mentioned the case of one girl sentenced for prostitution. Civil rights groups claim she is retarded and was forced into prostitution at age 8 and had a child at 9. The government disagrees.

The site also claims 20 or so people whipped each other into a suicide frenzy against the U.S. and that Iran recently unveiled a statue or column honoring the terrorists who killed American soldiers some years ago. No, I didn't keep the name of the blog.

Add scary to the list of blog topics. What a world.

Ah, Winter!

2005-01-18T09:45:00.000-05:00

The bitter cold we're having reminds me of a time years ago when my father and I had to transport several sick cats back and forth to the vet's. Dad was one of the gentlest men I've ever known, but he hated the cold with a passion.

"If cold was a living thing, I'd kick it in the shins!" he told me.

"And I'd hold it down," I admitted with a shiver.

"I'd pound on its head until its eyes popped," he continued.

The conversation got more gruesome each time we went out. Neither of us could believe the other could even come up with such horrible stuff.

I just went out in -2 windchill to feed the birds and squirrels--and ya' know, if winter was a living thing, I think I'd pull its hair out by the roots!

Depression

2005-01-13T11:11:00.000-05:00

I meet so many people on the internet suffering from depression. I know one can go through it for valid reasons, but there are also times when there seems to be no justification for it at all. It's frightening and puzzling to those around us and most of all to the person who's depressed.

I have no quick fix or easy answer. I read a line somewhere that made me smile. It said, "If you're going through hell, don't stop, keep going!"

So, keep going, try, stay connected with others, ask for help. Pray. Have courage and patience. Do something you love and are good at. Be kind to someone else and understand that we all suffer in this life. Be creative, draw or write. Practice the art of appreciation; depressed or not, a flower is still beautiful, a child, or animal still precious. Pamper yourself and smile, even if you have to smile through your tears. Bake cookies. Remember to love someone--even yourself.

A Good Beginning

2005-01-07T23:03:00.000-05:00

I used my new Keynote program today to jot down ideas for writing projects and themes for short stories that I hope to explore in the coming year. I was a little concerned when I had no idea what project to choose for January. The journal jar I received from Percy in Lookingland proved to be the answered to my question and the project chose me. I've decided to work on prompts this month and on brainstorming ideas and storylines to expand on during the upcoming months.

This evening I also reread excerpts from The Home that I posted in LL during Nanowrimo. I think it has promise and I'll return to it from time to time and write more.

Tsunami Victims Need Longterm Help

2005-01-02T11:03:00.000-05:00

The 2004 tsunami victims need both immediate and longterm help to put their lives back together again. I cannot even begin to fathom the pain and fear they must be suffering after surviving an earthquake, a tidal wave, and God only knows what physical injuries while losing family members and friends and everything they own.
Now the threat of disease and starvation is everywhere. The need for food will go on for months and the rebuilding of entire villages will likely take years.

If you are concerned about the future these people face, please check out www.planusa.org for information on how to sponsor a child with a monthly contribution of only $24.00.

I discovered the organization, now called Childreach, and formerly known as Foster Parents Plan, after a trip to South America in the seventies. When I returned home and thought about the level of poverty I had witnessed and the lack of opportunity faced by the children I decided to see how I could help.

My parents and I returned to S.A. the following year and met our foster children. Nothing has ever touched me more than meeting Ignacia and Wilson and knowing that with our help they would eat more, go to school and have a chance for a brighter future. One of the things I admire about Childreach is their all-encompassing way of working. The foster child is helped, the family is helped, and neighborhood projects are encouraged, planned and implemented.

Please don't let the enormity of this disaster leave you feeling numb and helpless. Enormous amounts of money are pouring in now for immediate relief, but the effects will go on for years. Consider adopting a child today and experience love from a world away when you receive your first letter and picture. A life is in your hands.

Wings of Hope

2005-01-01T12:17:00.000-05:00

It wasn't in me to celebrate New Year's Eve, all I could do was whisper a prayer of thanksgiving that 2004 was over.

Rains hamper relief efforts in Asia, but the day here is sunny and the temperature nearly sixty. Although it's just the beginning of winter, the springlike weather reminds me of rebirth and gives me hope.

Like a phoenix rising out of the ashes, I'll get past my problems, adjust to whatever changes are needed and get on with my life. I'll pray for my family and friends and this hurting world.

Lord, in the midst of war and great tragedy, offer this planet of despair the wings of hope to begin again.

Prayers and Blessings to the People of Asia

2004-12-31T16:55:00.000-05:00

For the first time in my life, I can truly say that I'm glad to see the year come to an end. This past twelve months has been difficult for me and even tragic for many people I know and love. The coup de grace was the horrible tsunami the day after Christmas. My heart and prayers go to all who were affected by it. How do you pray for 80,000 people I wondered, then watched as the count continued to climb.

Soon the media will begin saying how badly the relief efforts are going, but as I looked at the pictures on CNN, all I could think of was, "where do you start?" As I pray for the victims, and their families and friends, for the lives that have been taken and those that will soon be lost from the after effects of the tidal wave, I will also pray for the survivors and the people who offer to help. My prayer is that God will give each one the strength to begin life again in 2005. Through my tears I ask God to bless every one of you.

The Child Within

2004-12-26T16:14:00.000-05:00

The day after Christmas and I'm at home searching for the perfect creative project for the spare hours remaining to me in December and the upcoming month of January. I have a mini teapot stuffed with writing prompts, which is a gift from an on-line friend, two novels in progress, my website, several drawing ideas, a lovely stack of unread books next to my reading chair, and an idea for an altered book. I'm considering using embroidery to decorate the pages and I have no thread. Naturally, this is the project that's calling to me!

Does this remind anyone else of a child surrounded by Christmas toys, tugging on mama because she's bored?

How embarrassing!

Merry Christmas!

2004-12-25T10:40:00.000-05:00

A Blessed and Merry Christmas to all who read my blog and to all who don't!

I thank God for the joy, hope and peace of being a Christian and of knowing that nothing can ever separate me from the love of God.

Joy to the world and peace and blessings to all our people in the military. I pray you will return to your loved ones soon. God bless you!

I'm Feeling Much Better Now.

2004-11-20T22:11:00.000-05:00

Sometimes all it takes is a baked potato.

Procrastination

2004-11-13T14:16:00.000-05:00

I'm supposed to be writing my nano novel, or doing any of a dozen other practical things that desperately need doing around the house. Why am I here? It's either this or the chocolate chip cookies. I baked them yesterday and gave myself permission to eat six a day. I just finished the seventh. Okay, confession is good for the soul and I've confessed. Back to the novel.

Word Lover

2004-11-11T14:08:00.000-05:00

I'm a word lover--a reader, writer, talker. I love words in any form: fiction, essay, poetry, conversation, anecdote, lyric. Foreign words like pamplemousse, (grapefruit in French)and miercoles (Wednesday in Spanish) delight my mouth and my ear. Surnames challenge me to discover their meanings: Guttschmidt, (German for good smith)Kaminski, (Polish for Stone.)

The only word I truly hate is the *f* word.

Its meaning is foul and the very sound of it is displeasing, hard, guttural, and angry sounding to my ears. Everywhere I go I hear it, even from children in grade school, and I'm puzzled by its appeal.

I once got so annoyed at a co-worker's constant use of it, despite the fact that I'd asked him politely to refrain from saying it around me, that I told him I considered it "verbal rape" and that its only legitimate use would be if he came home and discovered his wife in bed with another man. His jaw fell open and I realized he actually found speaking without it nearly impossible.

You'd think that any word that could be used as so many different parts of speech would elicit my admiration. Sorry, but no. Why rely on constant repetition when the world's full of glorious evocative words? Is it laziness? Ignorance? A lack of education? A glitch in the brain? Is that really how people want to be perceived?

What a shame. What a lack of imagination.

Nanowrimo Time

2004-11-10T22:11:00.000-05:00

My mind loves to go off on a tangent, to stray off target. It tends to get seduced and captured by random thoughts. It yearns desperately to ditch the current idea and delve into something (anything) more fascinating than what I'm committed to writing. Index cards come in handy. I write a word, a question, a sentence, put it aside, and get back on track.

Life's like that, going off on tangents, being seduced by things that take you away from the task at hand. My task right now is Nanowrimo. No, it's not baby talk, it stands for National Novel Writing Month and I'm signed up to write a 50,000 word novel in November. I'm behind and I probably won't make the goal, but I'm committed to giving it my best shot.

So why am I here? Because this blog is my pack of index cards, a place where I can get the surplus thoughts out of my head so I can get back to whatever it is I should be working on. Done. I'm outta' here. It's nano time!