Recovering!

Thank you for prayers for my knee arthroscopy and for healing. They must have helped because I managed to stay awake throughout the 1 1/2 hour procedure, watching the monitor most of the time to see what was being done. Though I must admit I had to close my eyes every so often. The worst moment was when I saw the doctor's clippers and HEARD the clipping! Another time to have my eyes closed.

I tried to pray the Jesus Prayer during the knee twisting and cutting. What is interesting was at one point, the doctor told me, "Whatever you're thinking, keep thinking that." That seems to be an affirmation of the effect of prayers. Maybe I was more relaxed then; I don't know.

So far it has all been better than I expected. The second day (Thursday) was the most painful, but I had also been told that that would be so. Each day I am feeling better. However, today I was so energized that I walked too much with crutches, and so now my knee is hurting again. My husband rigged up a seat by the computer, so I can sit with the keyboard on my lap.

Thanks to Songbird's suggestions, I have been reading Julia Spencer-Fleming books ever since I got back home. I'd checked out two of her mysteries from the library before the surgery, and then dear CB has gone to the library twice to get two of her other books. Surprisingly, I am even reading them in the order that they were written! (You can see the titles I've read by looking at my sidebar under "Books I've read in 2008.")

Today MJ (who came home from college for the weekend) bought me the last two books at Barnes and Noble, because the library doesn't have these copies. I figure I'll donate them to the library when I've read them. I am so enjoying reading mysteries as I recuperate; I am not much of a tv watcher and haven't managed to log onto the computer until today. I had almost forgotten how much fun it is to read fiction!

Annoying time change!

Here's hoping there will not be another time change for the knee arthroscopy scheduled for Wednesday morning. The doctor's nurse called to check the time with me, which is a good thing. If she hadn't done this, I would have shown up at the hospital THREE hours too early!

So now the procedure is scheduled for 10:30 am, with husband CB taking me there two hours earlier. More time to worry and/or be hungry and thirsty! On the bright side, we can sleep later in the morning, and this will be easier for CB.

This is kind of like expecting a baby: I keep hearing horror (and a few good stories) about arthroscopies of friends, relatives, and others people have known. It is a good reminder to me about what not to talk about to people having medical "events."

Knee arthroscopy

This time tomorrow morning this will be happening to me.

I'm glad the procedure will be early in the morning; I have to get to the hospital at 5:30 am, with the knee arthroscopy scheduled for 7:30. Maybe I'll be home by noon on Wednesday!

I got a note from a friend who reminded me of Psalm 121:8:

The Lord will protect your going out
and your coming in
from this time forth and forever more.

A good word and prayer for each of us, especially for those we love.

Sorting through books

I am cleaning out boxes that were packed in 1991, before we moved from Corpus Christi, TX to RI! I think they've been sealed since then. The only reason these boxes were taken down from the closet shelf was that about three weeks ago everything on that long shelf above clothes had to be removed, because insulation was going to be blown into our attic. MJ and boy friend CS moved all the boxes into big brother BJ's old room, where they've stayed despite a visit with BJ staying in there.

Most of the boxes contain books from when I taught second and third grades in VA and OR. I've filled two bags of "teacher" stuff that I'm giving to a friend, who may just throw them away--but that's up to her. (I tend to be a pack rat, which is probably obvious to you.) I am filling those little boxes again with children's books that I'll donate to the Brandeis Book Sale ladies. And of course, there are some books I cannot part with--for the someday grandchildren I'll have.

Some treasures I found:

• The slides of Japan my dad sent for AE to show in school. He kept asking where they were and I didn't know. Too late now.
• Two books of poetry husband CB gave me early in our marriage.
• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe that my mother's cousin Margaret gave me when I was in second grade.
  

I am running true to form--getting something accomplished before a deadline-- like a trip, people visiting or surgery. The out-patient knee arthroscopy is happening this Wednesday, so that must be why I decided to finally tackle this! (And there are still more boxes in the room to the left of the chair.)

Hammock View

Lying In A Hammock At William Duffy's Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota

Over my head, I see the bronze butterfly,
Asleep on the black trunk,
blowing like a leaf in green shadow.
Down the ravine behind the empty house,
The cowbells follow one another
Into the distances of the afternoon.
To my right,
In a field of sunlight between two pines,
The droppings of last year's horses
Blaze up into golden stones.
I lean back, as the evening darkens and comes on.
A chicken hawk floats over, looking for home.
I have wasted my life.

~ James Wright

... It's that last line. I have wasted my life.

Thanks to Jaliya at Pushing Fifty for this wake-up poem.

Is evolution only a theory?

Marc Simont (born November 23, 1915 in Paris) is an artist, political cartoonist, and illustrator of more than a hundred children's books. Marc, inspired by his father, Spanish painter Joseph Simont, began drawing at a very young age. Mr. Simont settled in New York City in 1935 after encouragement from his father, attended the New York National School of Design, and served three years in the military.

Marc's first children's book illustrated was published in 1939, and since then, he has received the Caldecott Honor for his illustrations of Ruth Krauss' The Happy Day and the Caldecott Medal for A Tree is Nice, by Janice May Udry. He also illustrated most of the Nate the Great books, as well as the book Top Secret.

He and his wife, Sara Dalton, currently live in West Cornwall, Connecticut.

~~~~~~~~~~~
I believe that God uses some form of evolution in creation--it's God's business, and I don't really care how it is done. Looking at it literally using the Jewish and Christian Bible trivializes the magnificence of the universe and the continuing creation, in my opinion. There is so much more, beyond the images and our comprehension.

Thunderstorms

Lots of thunderstorms this week. A loud one is overhead right now, so our elderly blonde cocker Baillie is sitting under my chair as I type. The most recent thunderclap was very loud for deaf Baillie to even hear (or sense?) it! She learned from her departed "sister" black Lab Licorice to fear thunder. Though Licorice died about three years ago, Baillie still does not like storms.

Joe Biden and LGBT

Go and see what Joe Biden's views/votes are on LGBT issues:

Obama-Biden '08 Pride?

Marriage Equality

The way I found this video on marriage equality was through Fran first, thanks to Susan Russell who found it at California Faith for Equality. This is beautiful. How I wish marriage equality was "legal" in every state in the USA. I want my daughter and her partner to have the same privilege as her brother and his wife to be married. I believe that both are unions of heart, soul, body and mind.

Mission Accomplished

Despite some mini-disasters beforehand, MJ is settled into her dorm at Trinity University in San Antonio, and we are back in our quiet house (unless the dogs bark) in Corpus Christi.

CB stayed at home awaiting the garage door repairmen, while MJ and I drove off in my car early in the morning. Her dorm was scheduled for move-in at 9:15 am; we got there ten minutes early and were directed into a parking garage to wait for ten minutes. We drove up and around the winding parkade after another car and turned around on the fifth floor and came down again. Then we were allowed to drive forward and wait in line.

It is a tradition for students and staff (in the maroon shirts) to help incoming freshmen move in. With my erratic knee, I so appreciated all these people carrying MJ's boxes and bags to her dorm (at the end of the block to the right) and second floor room. By the time I got to her room, she and her roommate from Nashville, TN had already made their beds.

There are big live oak trees outside the dorm on each side. Pretty view! This dorm is the last one in a string of lower campus dorms and so only has another building on the other side (with a tree in between the buildings). We also saw a yellow cat walking around and learned that there are 52 cats on campus!

While MJ was at meetings, I took her old phone to the T-Mobile store at the mall and easily had a new sim card put into it with her old number. The snazzy phone that DC and AA gave her for graduation has disappeared. It may have been left at the bank when she had a paper notarized, but a day later none had been turned in. (MJ kept her phone on "silent," not even on "vibrate," and so it could not be heard when ringing--but then it may not have been near us at all.) At least, she has a working cell phone with the old number.

CB met me in the stadium parking lot with MJ's car, which he had driven north to SA through heavy thunderstorms. We took MJ out to dinner at one of AE's and my favorite restaurants Twin Sisters and had a good dinner and nice time. THEN we reunited MJ with her car and said "goodby" and drove home, arriving here at 10:30 pm. Nice to finally get here! And there was little rain on the drive home.

A forgotten picture of the Schwan's truck!

Remember when the Schwan's truck backed into the rental car while I was stopped at a red light in Bellingham, WA? I forgot that husband CB took a picture of my friend and me after the accident report was finished. JDR lives in Connecticut and came for her high school reunion at the original Bellingham high school, and CB and I went to the second high school's reunion. (Ours was the "upstart" high school; we were in the first graduating class.)

MJ goes off to college!

Trinity University, San Antonio, TX
(New photo after taking MJ there!)

MJ moves into her dorm at Trinity University Friday morning. We will be leaving our home at 6:30 am to arrive at the appropriate time for her particular dorm. She is all packed.

Several complications have entered her leave-taking though. First, MJ lost her cell phone, the new one her oldest brother DC and wife AA gave her for her high school graduation gift. We've searched the house high and low. Possibly it was left at the bank today, but that cannot be determined until tomorrow when we're in San Antonio.

But now it looks like not ALL of us will be in SA. While I made a sudden trip to HEB (supermarket) for a few last-minute things for MJ, both CB and MJ heard a loud BANG. Only when I got home and tried to get the garage door to rise up did we realize that a spring broke that keeps the door stationary. It is impossible to raise the door. Luckily, one car is outside. MJ's car is in the garage and so she cannot drive it to school.

The solution to the problem is that I will drive MJ and her stuff to Trinity in the morning, while CB stays to get the Overhead Door people here to fix our door. When it is operational again, CB will drive the older car up to San Antonio to meet us there. That way MJ will have a car to drive, especially to drive home next weekend when boyfriend CS is back from his vacation.

And maybe CB will find the lost cell phone and bring it with him later in the day to grieving MJ. That would solve the first problem.

I am trying not to be superstitious about bad things going in a series of THREE.

Books I read on vacation (and still am)

Thanks to recommendations from bloggers, I took three books on vacation with me, plus I bought one while I was in WA:

• Outright Barbarous: How the Violent Language of the Right Poisons American Democracy by Jeffrey Feldman, which was recommended by Quaker Dave.

I wanted to leave this book for my daughter AE to read in Seattle, so I steeled myself from highlighting with yellow, which I usually do, much to her disgust. I actually took notes on this book in a little blue spiral notebook. So here are a few quotes:

"18th Century German military historian Carl von Calusewitz wrote, 'War is politics pursued by other means.'" (59)

"At the beginning of the 20th Century, Teddy Roosevelt broke the iron grip that industrial barons held over the rest of America; a few decades later, Franklin Roosevelt broke the grip of banking barons. In those waves of progressive reforms, a new era was ushered in whereby government stood between citizens and the private interests that sought to exploit." (71)

". . .the Bush administration chose to switch the public debate to the logic of hidden threats by arguing that Al Qaeda was not a network of individuals linked through a chain of responsibility, but an evil force lurking beneath the surface of all nations hostile to American interests. . . . so the logic of hidden threats leads to a radical form of government sponsored secret violence based on the idea that only a hidden cure can defeat a hidden threat." (168-169)

"Constant talk of murder, treason, gunshots and terrorism whip up the emotions and pulls people's attention away from analytical thinking. Public engagement becomes passive observation, participants become audiences, and conversation becomes entertainment. As John Dewey observed, sensationalism shuts down our curiosity about the relationship between things by overwhelming us with a focus on raw, isolated, and shocking events." (177)

• When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin, which was suggested by Yolanda.

This was the book I read on the flights to Seattle. It was easy reading, touching, and I even cried a few times. The story is about a little girl who needs a heart transplant and the man who can save her who is emotionally wounded from his own losses in life. I don't read much fiction anymore, so this was a good one for the plane ride.

• The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan, which was the one I bought at Fred Meyers in Bellingham and had been mentioned by a Corpus Christi friend and also KA, daughter AE's partner.

This book is the most personally monumental one that I've read recently. Learning how corn production, sponsored by the government, infiltrates all our food and lives is still reverberating in my mind.

"When food is abundant and cheap, people will eat more of it and get fat. Since 1977 an American's average daily intake of calories has jumped by more than 10 percent." (102)

"Most researchers trace America's rising rates of obesity to the 1970's. This was, of course, the same decade that America embraced a cheap-food farm policy and began dismantling forty years of programs designed to prevent overproduction." (102-103)

"Yet since the cleverest thing to do with a bushel of corn is to refine it into 33 pounds of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS)." (103)

"That at least is what we're doing with about 530 million bushels of the annual corn harvest--turning it into 17.5 billion pounds of high-fructose corn syrup. Considering that the human animal did not taste this particular food until 1980, for HFCS to have become the leading source of sweetness in our diet stands as a notable achievement on the part of the corn-refining industry, not to mention this remarkable plant." (103)

Learning (again) how farms, even "organic" ones are run, is disheartening. Hope is given with people like Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms in VA--go read about this amazing family and place!

• The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power by Jeff Sharlet, which was reviewed by Sherry.

This is the only book I haven't finished reading. It's a very thick book and reminds me of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein, which is still only half-read at my house. (Daughter AE told me every person in America should read this book after she read it. Ironically, it was given to her by our Canadian cousin, but then Naomi Klein is a Canadian news reporter.) Both are heavily documented with much historical evidence. However, Sherry found it much easier to read; I suggest you go and read her review!

Pictures from our trip to Washington

Our first day in Seattle, MJ and I spent the afternoon at Pike Place Market.

Daughter AE who lives in Ballard (in Seattle) took us to a park near her home and here is MJ being silly.

This is a picture of me with three friends of over 40 years--we went to high school together. The blonde with glasses is TFJ who always opens her home along with her husband to our family. She had a lunch for the four "girls," which was so nice because the two others did not attend our high school reunion. Those in the picture are: JJ, TJF, SF, and me. (JJ and TJF were bridesmaids at our wedding in 1971.)

Here are MJ and CB on the ferry to Victoria. This was during the hot spell in the Northwest, so we really enjoyed the cool winds off the water on the ferry.

This is the Sunken Garden at Butchart Gardens in Vancouver Island.

The Rose Garden at Butchart Gardens.

Boulevard Park, Bellingham, WA
MJ at Boulevard Park

This is me with my dear friend NM, who was also a bridesmaid in our wedding. We always go out to breakfast with NM. For the past few years we've gone to the Old Town Cafe, which is behind us in the picture.

CB's parents had a family gathering on the Saturday before we left. It was quite warm, even for a Texan as there's no air conditioning in the house! The newest member is three-week old baby Hailey, the first great-grandchild for CB's parents. The two with the baby on the left are CB's younger sisters. Then there's me, MJ and her cousin CT. CT's mother is the second from the left.

A few hours after the family gathering ended, CB and I went off to our 40th high school reunion! The invitation said "dress for a party," and we were more dressed up than many of the other people there. Guess it depends on what kind of party you go to for your attire!

The reunion was okay, but our friends did not go except for TJF. It seemed that most of those we knew in the honors classes in high school did not attend. That was disappointing. Most of the people there had stayed in Bellingham. We would have been the ones who had come the furthest away, except for a former cheerleader, who has lived the last 35 years in Australia as a teacher and principal. We are not sure if we'll go to another one, since we live so far away. (However trips like the one I made for NM's wedding four years ago are totally worthwhile.)

The Price of Sugar

The most current Sojourners magazine points to a 90-minute documentary "The Price of Sugar":

"After watching The Price of Sugar, a film by Bill Haney, you'll think twice about that sweet stuff you put in your coffee. The 90-minute documentary follows the work of Father Christopher Hartley, a Spanish priest who lives among Haitian sugarcane laborers lured to the Dominican Republic by the promise of employment. In reality, the Haitians work under armed guards, with little food, housing, health care, or wages. Where does most of the harvested sugar end up? The U.S."

You can watch the movie trailer here or down below:



As I am addicted to sugar, this is good for me to know more about.

Home Sweet Home

I am so happy to be home. When I looked for an image about "home sweet home," I suddenly remembered this favorite children's book. I so believe that children like the books the reader is enthusiastic about. I was always energetic about reading these old classics, like The Little House, Ferdinand, and Make Way for Ducklings, among many others, and my four kids liked them, too.

I remember my parents telling the story about me returning to their home after a trip to visit relatives when I was about three years old: I would go to each piece of furniture and stroke it, saying: "Nice chair. Nice table. Nice desk."

It is really wonderful to be back home, even when our old cocker is found in the kitty litter box--even when I have to clean up the mess from that! Even when it is hot and humid. And despite all the balloons (transferred from MJ's bedroom) amidst the piles of books in my office:

I'm glad to be visiting blogs again. Thanks for welcoming me back.

Home!

We got home a little before midnight last night (Monday). MJ found her room filled with balloons, streamers and a "Welcome Home" sign left from her boyfriend CS. (He and his family left on a vacation yesterday, so they won't see each other before she goes to college.) What a sweet surprise!

Our flights from Seattle, Oakland, and Dallas were all late, which turned out to be beneficial, since we were on all of them. All turned out well with our bags arriving when we did in Corpus Christi last night! YAY!

Eventually we rode a taxi home and got here at about midnight. It is good to be home.

Connecting in more ways than one!

Before I left TX, a friend from 10th grade called me up to see if I was coming to the 40th high school reunions in Bellingham. JDR lives in Connecticut, and we last saw each other in Seattle in 1972 before she moved to the east coast.

We decided that we would walk around Lake Padden together, so I picked her up at her brother's house. As we sat together in the rental car, waiting for the light to change for a left-turn, SUDDENLY the Schwan's truck in front of me started backing up!! I yelled and honked the horn, and the truck plowed into the car. The driver of the truck and I both got out to look--no damage on the truck, but the bumper of the gray Impala was scraped and dented, with the Washington license plate folded in half and lying on the pavement. He said, "I know I shouldn't have done that."

This is my first accident! So we both called the police and were told to relocate. With the policewoman stopping traffic we went from the left-turn lane to the right road into the funeral home parking lot. The next hour in the heat ensued--80 degrees F. The police officer who arrived in his squad car chastised me for not having an insurance card with me, since we assumed that our own car insurance would cover any eventuality. (Besides, who ever has an accident??)

I was glad that JDR was with me and that soon husband CB arrived. (We were about a mile from his parents' house.) Eventually, the police officer filled out his report and gave me a copy. We had a nice chat. It turns out that the Schwan driver was a manager training a new worker--now how NOT to get into an accident! I also learned from the police report that the driver was born one year before we graduated from high school, so I probably look like his mother! Poor guy.

After that hour, JDR and I finally drove to Lake Padden and walked around it. It's shady enough that it was quite pleasant and beautiful. Through the accident and our walk, JDR and I reconnected and plan to stay in closer touch than merely exchanging annual Christmas cards.

The Connections:

• CB took a picture of JDR and me in front of the Schwan truck, so I'll post that picture when we return to TX.

• The "good" thing about spending an hour in that funeral home's parking lot is that this memory may diminish the one that hits me each time we drive by it--Seeing the body of my dad lying on a table with only his underpants on. I'd flown in from TX when he died; he wanted to be cremated; they took him like that and left him like that. He was white and cold. I hope a new connection to that place will dominate my memory now.

• If you hadn't guessed, I'm also calling the accident a "connection" between the two vehicles! (And of course, with JDR.)
  

Friday Five: Fall Transformations

How quickly can I do this before we set out for activities here in WA? I'll try very quickly. . . .

Mary Beth proposed the RevGals Friday Five today on "Fall Transformations." Fall is my favorite season, but does not occur in south TX, so this will be fun in an abstract sort of way.

For this Friday's Five, share with us five transformations that the coming fall will bring your way.

1. MJ goes off to college--the empty nest finally arrives at our home.
2. Both husband CB and I are committing to losing weight. I think this will work better for us when we are trying to live healthier together!
3. Fall (even though it's hot in Corpus Christi) brings the atmosphere of school starting. I would definitely be transformed if I wrote my papers to earn my master's degree in Theology at OST. There's also the final Shalem paper to finish, which I hope to do on my return to TX next week.
4. Exercise to recover from the knee arthroscopy--and to continue on the road to health.
5. Follow the leadings for prayer more consciously than I have done on vacation!
   

Bonus: Give us your favorite activity that is made possible by the arrival of fall.

In south Texas, I guess I would say that cold fronts start reaching us every so often in October--that could be considered "fall"--then windows can open and it is fun to be outside! (These days are always reminiscent of summer days in Bellingham.)

Canada--and 800th post!

This is the Peace Arch Park, which is the division between Canada and the USA on Interstate 5. As my four children were growing up, we'd visit here each year. They always loved to stand where half of their bodies would be in one country and the other half in the other.

We drove this way to catch the ferry to Victoria. It was hot (80 degrees F.) and sunny there. We had fun, and I will post about it when I have more time.

This is also my 800th post! I mistakenly told someone that it would be 1,000. I am relieved that I have not posted that much yet.

I appreciate the comments you have been leaving me while I am in Washington State. I don't have the time to visit blogs these days, but will return to blogging routinely in Texas next Tuesday.

Friday and Saturday nights are our high school reunion activities. Tomorrow night is a casual get-together, and Saturday's is the more formal event which will include dinner and dancing.

Lake Padden

MJ and I just got back from walking the three mile loop around Lake Padden, pictured above. I was a little worried that my knee would hurt, but I only had a few twinges going up some hills. I was slow and cautious about going downhill. It is 72 degrees F. and beautiful! MJ got to see how people around here get out to sunbathe when it gets sunny, even if it's in the 60s!

The first time I ever walked around Lake Padden was in July 1992, the day after my mother's funeral. Husband CB suggested it; going for a long walk there helped give me some comfort in its beauty. It's odd that I'd never walked there before; I'd only heard about the Lake Padden Golf Course, not the park surrounding the lake.

Tomorrow we're going to Victoria!

Boulevard Park in Bellingham

Boulevard Park is off a street known as "the Boulevard" in Bellingham, which goes along Bellingham Bay from the downtown area to the south side that is called "Fairhaven." There are many condos built (and being built) on the hills above this park. It is a good thing this area was made into a city park when I was in college (1970's), or condos would cover the area.

All the summers we came to visit here as our children were growing up (and even pre-children), it was a tradition for my mother and me to walk around Boulevard Park. Since her death, we have continued to do this on trips back here, trying to be there for the sunsets. CB, MJ and I will walk there tonight and probably on Wednesday and Thursday nights, also. However, Friday and Saturday nights will be spent at high school reunion activities so no Boulevard Park, and we'll drive back to Seattle on Sunday.

Bellingham!

MJ and I got to Bellingham tonight! I always get excited when I drive over the Samish (mountains), which are the gateway to Bellingham. Lake Samish can't be seen as clearly as before because so many trees have grown up, but here's a good picture:

August 10

It is funny/odd how anniversaries of dates can affect one, without awareness of what day one is living in. I've been especially thinking of my mother today and feeling a little sad. Just a little while ago, I realized that today is August 10. That was my parents' wedding anniversary.

A few days before my mother died in July 1992, I was here in Seattle visiting TFJ. We went shopping and the only thing I was interested in finding was an appropriate anniversary card for my parents, because I knew it would be the last one they shared. I found a silver Asian floral card that was just right, which is now framed in my house.

One day after buying the card, I got the phone call in Seattle that my mother had slipped into a coma. She died the next day. So long ago and usually I do not think about it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One more day in Seattle before heading north to Bellingham. Husband CB went off on a Greyhound bus to Bellingham today. His parents met him at the bus station. If I had parents living, I'd rush up there, too.

Tomorrow MJ and I will visit the Music Experience and then meet AE at the University Bookstore, because it's a good place to find cards, which I love to send. Then we'll get KA at her office and go to Green Lake to walk around it. I am excited about walking around Green Lake. (Since it's flat, my knee should be okay; I've learned it hurts when I go downhill!) After dinner with the girls, MJ and I will drive the rental car to Bellingham to CB's parents' home, which is about a mile away from where my parents' house is/was.

It is wonderfully cool weather-wise and beautiful. It's hard to imagine Texas heat right now!

Something to remember

Do not be angry that you cannot make others

as you would wish them to be,

since you cannot make yourself

as you wish to be.

-- Thomas à Kempis

Seattle!

We arrived safely in Seattle, only an hour later than scheduled, yesterday. We have had wonderful meals and lovely, cool weather. Husband CB and I are staying with dear friends, while daughter MJ is sleeping at daughter AE and partner KA's apartment. We had breakfast near the University of Washington this morning with AE and KA. I had oatmeal with FRESH strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries! WA State has the sweetest and best berries! Now friend TFJ and I are going to walk her two fluffy white Samoyeds. On Monday we'll drive north to Bellingham.

Hiroshima Day

Another thank you to Ellie at Child of Illusion (again).

Also go and look at the picture posted by Quaker Dave.

And Cecilia has a prayer for us all to pray.

Leaving on a Jet Plane--for Seattle!

I'd forgotten how sweetly John Denver sang. I found this video of him singing "Leaving on a Jet Plane," which I had not heard for many years. It brought back memories of dating CB, which is most appropriate since we'll be going to our 40th high school reunion in two weeks.

CB, MJ, and I will be flying to Seattle tomorrow. MJ's boy friend CS is kindly taking us to the airport in the morning. Another "good-by" for him and MJ!

We will visit daughter AE and her partner KA in Seattle, as well as some old, old friends (back to high school days!). Then we'll go to Bellingham, where CB's parents and siblings live and also where our high school reunion will be.

I'll be able to blog every so often from CB's parents' computer. I'll be eager to catch up with blogging friends!

No Going Back

No, no, there is no going back.
Less and less you are
that possibility you were.
More and more you have become
those lives and deaths
that have belonged to you.
You have become a sort of grave
containing much that was
and is no more in time, beloved
then, now, and always.
And so you have become a sort of tree
standing over the grave.
Now more than ever you can be
generous toward each day
that comes, young, to disappear
forever, and yet remain
unaging in the mind.
Every day you have less reason
not to give yourself away.

~ Wendell Berry ~

(The Sabbath Poems)

Houston weekend trip

This was the view of Lakeshore Church in Houston from the other side of the freeway-- where we stayed with MJ's friend's family. That's the church of Joel Osteen. I would not go and see or hear him, but it was interesting to see how huge his church is. That's about the only picture I have relating to our trip, because I didn't take my camera.

The friend's family was very hospitable and friendly. They have two dogs, one cat, one rabbit, one snake, and two large lizards. I slept in one of the daughters' bedrooms with the molting and unmoving python in the aquarium, which luckily had a screen over its top.

23 year old son BJ drove from northwest Houston to have dinner with us at a Chinese restaurant on Saturday night. We had a nice meal and then MJ and boy friend CS went off to the Houston Dynamos soccer game. BJ and I went and sat at Starbucks and talked for a long time, which made me a happy mom.

Sunday we drove to BJ's rental house, which he shares with two college friends. The three work only about five minutes away from their home and come home each workday for lunch. Troy, the Brittany Spaniel, has a large backyard to run around in, with several large shade trees. BJ showed us where he works, too. We liked seeing some of his new life in Houston, where he moved about four months ago.

It was a much better weekend than I had anticipated. MJ and CS greatly enjoyed the soccer game, where the Houston Dynamos beat Columbus Crew 2-0.

"Fiscal Conservatives"

From Ellie at Child of Illusion:

Father Barnabas in Zambia!

Barnabas was a young seminarian from Zambia when I first met him four years ago at the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio. Now he has been ordained in the Roman Catholic Church in Lusaka, Zambia!

I vividly recall the conversation with him that opened up my life to Africa. Our class in moral theology was small and we met for dinner. I was sitting next to Barnabas, and I asked him where he was from. "Zambia." Then I asked him where Zambia was. As he described the countries surrounding Zambia, I had to tell him that I did not know where those countries were either! That's when he told me that the sad thing about most Americans and Europeans is that they do not know where an African country is unless something dreadful is happening there. GULP--so true!

Due to our friendship and continued contact, I was one of five students at OST who traveled to Zambia in June 2006 with a professor, Ursuline Sister Maria Cimperman, who is the author of When God's People Have HIV/AIDS: An Approach to Ethics, a book I highly recommend. The trip was amazing, especially with the time spent in outlying areas with Catholic missionaries connected with the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Our hearts and minds were stretched by what we saw and learned. We also met Barnabas' mother and his cousin who is a sister serving in Mongu, Zambia.

Since then members of our group have become priests, one continues his studies to become one, the sister continues in her process, and I started to blog. I was the only Protestant lay (older and married) person along on that trip; oddly, I added my mothering attitudes to our group and to what we saw, especially with the children, who varied from energetic to sick and apathetic in the villages, schools, and orphanages we visited.

I am grateful for Barnabas and praise God for guiding him and bringing him to the priesthood in the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. It is good that he has returned to Zambia.

Seek the Truth

From Jim Winkler, General Secretary, General Board of Church & Society, United Methodist Church:

"It always amazes me when I meet people who obviously don’t pay attention to what is going on in the world, but are nevertheless eager to express their opinion. At the same time, I know that many others feel beaten down, disheartened by the course of life. Too often, they are hungry, poor and sick. Many feel powerless and disenfranchised about life.

"There’s no easy answer to these sad realities. Once you know something about the injustices surrounding you, failure to act is irresponsible.

"The citizens of Nazi Germany learned that the hard way. After the war, millions claimed they didn’t know what was happening in their own country. They may have been fearful. They may have tried to ignore reality, but they knew something bad was happening — even with Goebbel’s masterful lying.

"Disease, poverty, war, violence, hunger, racism and other social ills confront us. Don’t bury your head in the sand. Seek the truth. Pay attention, please. Follow Jesus and get to work."

To read the rest of the article, go here.

Barack Obama's Stealth Socialism

I know I am naive and idealistic. I do not have the experience or the ability to write about political issues as other bloggers do. Still, I want to live like the swami quoted in the post below and as shown by Jesus.

A few minutes ago I received in my email an article from July 28, 2008 about "Barack Obama's Stealth Socialism" that was written in horrifying adjectives and descriptors about Obama's plans to redistribute wealth from the "successful" to the "others." While labels like "socialism" and "Marxism" were thrown around, I remembered how a philosophy professor told me once how Christianity and Marxism are closely related, with the latter refuting God, but that the actions advocated were similar. Think of how Jesus told people to live through the Beatitudes, which are believed by most scholars to be actual words of Jesus, and the Golden Rule.

Yes, impossibilities for individuals, let alone communities and nations, to live by. But what about aiming for them? What about trying to look out for someone's welfare other than my own? Sure, I can only change myself, but I can change things about myself so that life may be more equitable for someone else.

But do I? Do I really want to? I think that's the problem when one starts to criticize the policies Obama suggests. . . . These are scare tactics, which then cause people to react against them rather than to consider them. However, if they could be looked at and even analyzed, possibilities might open up.

I'm glad these proposals are out for public discussion and even ridicule--I believe we need to think and talk about them! Let's do something positive rather than arguing about such things as homosexuality and marriage!

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Among Obama's proposed "investments":

• "Universal," "guaranteed" health care.

• "Free" college tuition.

• "Universal national service" (a la Havana).

• "Universal 401(k)s" (in which the government would match contributions made by "low- and moderate-income families").

• "Free" job training (even for criminals).

• "Wage insurance" (to supplement dislocated union workers' old income levels).

• "Free" child care and "universal" preschool.

• More subsidized public housing.

• A fatter earned income tax credit for "working poor."

• And even a Global Poverty Act that amounts to a Marshall Plan for the Third World, first and foremost Africa.

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Maybe the adjective "free" is what upsets people. HOW will we pay for these things? It always goes back to higher taxes, which is not comfortable, especially as I age. Still, those proposals above are good things.

They would address the inequities that Missy posted about on July 27, 2008 (about the same time the above article was published!). Thank you to Border Explorer who made me notice this important post at Missy's.

Go and read Wealth and Poverty at Missy's and compare what she writes with the article about "Barack Obama's Stealth Socialism".

My wish

If you see good in people, you radiate a harmonious loving energy which uplifts those who are around you. If you can maintain this habit, this energy will turn into a steady flow of love.

Annamalai Swami 1906-1995

Going to Houston

Well, what was supposed to be a trip to see 23 year old son BJ in Houston and then to shop at the outlet mall near his house up in northwest Houston has morphed into a complicated trip. MJ's boy friend CS desperately wanted to go to the Houston Dynamos soccer team game on August 2, so it came about that he and MJ would go to that on THIS trip. (How convenient!)

CS even gave MJ a Dynamos shirt today to wear to the game.

Then MJ arranged with a friend from Laity Lodge Youth Camp that we would stay at her house, and this friend and her boy friend would also go to the soccer game. So tonight I call the friend's mother, who did NOT know that Margaret's mother is coming along! She thought only MJ and CS were coming. . . .

So after various phone calls, it is finally worked out that MJ, CS, and I are all staying at this friend's home in southern Houston, near 610 and 59. That is quite far from BJ's home, so he may or may not come and meet us around there. BJ lives in northwest Houston--by 290 and 8.

Through the telephone conversations, I jokingly told her we were becoming "new best friends," which is a term used on the first night of the Walk to Emmaus. It turns out that she and her husband have been on Walks, and we bonded as we talked of those team experiences, especially when I told her that I'd been a Lay Director in 2001. We've been invited to go to church with the family on Sunday morning.

Sometime on Sunday we'll drive to northern Houston to see BJ's house that he shares with two college friends and his energetic Brittany Spaniel Troy. Finally on Sunday afternoon I guess we'll go shopping.

MJ and CS are wanting to be together as much as possible, because he'll be off to Stanford University in the fall. CA and TX are very far apart. Their imminent parting is this coming Wednesday, the night before our family leaves for Washington State.

Friday Five: Lock Me Out, Lock Me In

From RevGalBlogPals:

1) How do you amuse yourself when road construction blocks your travel?
It’s easier when I am alone—listen to the radio or cd in my car. If my husband is driving, he’s complaining. Eventually, I end up praying, “Bless CB, change me.”

2) Have you ever locked yourself out of your house? (And do you keep an extra key somewhere, just in case?)

Once I had to break a little pane of glass on the backdoor to turn the deadbolt in the door to get in. No key is hidden outside.

What was much worse was when I took our big black Lab to the vet about five blocks away about seven years ago. I ran back to our house to get a key for the car, and I ran under/into a low branch of a mesquite tree! Suddenly I was on the ground, with blood pouring down. I didn’t realize that I’d been “scalped”! Someone in a car drove by and asked if I needed help, and I said no. I got home and was shocked to find blood pouring down on me. It wasn’t that bad really—looked worse than it was; blood flows easily from a head wound. My husband came home from work and took me to the doctor where I had 12 stitches.

(You can see how low the branches of a mesquite tree lean down.)

3) Have you ever cleared a hurdle? (And if you haven't flown over a material hurdle, feel free to take this one metaphorically.)
A landmark hurdle was when I learned to dive into a swimming pool in 7^th grade. When I was in 1^st grade, I’d fractured my skull. So for several years afterwards, I was warned not to dive into pools, and the fear instilled in me stuck. Finally, a swimming instructor kept urging me to try at the swimming pool at Yokosuka Naval Base, and I did it! It was a freeing experience that I still remember.

4) What's your approach to a mental block?

Go for a walk; do research on the internet; read a book.

5) Suggest a caption for the picture above; there will be a prize for the funniest answer!

(I'm not very funny--only unintentionally, it seems.)

What's the password?

Run, run, gingerbread men!