Cupcake Avery for Halloween

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Without children at home, I think of Halloween as being connected with candy, so I have bags of chocolate fun bars. None have been opened yet; Chuck and I haven't started snacking on chocolate, which I hope we'll skip this year.

Avery is going to be a cupcake for Halloween. I can hardly wait to see pictures of her!

Two Visits to Austin in October

October 6, 2012 Grandpa and Avery

 Here is a picture of Grandpa Chuck playing with Avery at a park near her house in Austin three weeks ago.

In three weeks, we noticed Avery talking with multiple words and using more words. Her verbal skills are blooming, and she won't be 2 years old until Thanksgiving.

Her parents like to do things with her on the weekends, because she is in school all week while DC and AA are at work. As a mother and grandmother, I really like to watch AA and DC parent Avery.

October 29, 2012 Avery

 This week our daughters from Seattle AE and KA are visiting in Austin, which is why we drove to Austin this past weekend.

Yesterday Avery's parents, oldest son DC and his wife AA, took us all to a pumpkin patch on a farm in Marble Falls, TX. There were all kinds of pumpkins around, with activities, such as this tractor to ride on; bouncing on bouncy "berry fields" (which scared Avery); and painting pumpkins.

Chuck with DC and Avery before her bedtime.

Although our two youngest (of four) children could not join us in Austin, we really enjoyed being with our oldest children and their beloved partners--with Avery! Avery is the star whenever we are all together.

Before we left Austin today, Chuck and I met DC and Avery at her school. I was glad to see where she goes, as I have been impressed with all I have heard about its modes of operation.

October 25

I found this on Facebook today and thought it was funny. It added to a very happy birthday for me today. FB brings wishes from so many people, far and wide.

I started the day off by voting at an early voting locale. It took a long time, but oddly I learned that the man in front of me graduated from high school the same year Chuck and I did--1968--but he lived in Corpus Christi. When I told him I'd graduated in Washington, he asked me where in WA? When I told him "Bellingham," he told me he had just moved back to TX from there. Such an odd connection with a stranger in the line to vote. . . . I am glad I have voted, especially as I will be on a plane back from Salt Lake City to San Antonio on election day.

I love cards, and I got nice cards from many friends. BEST of ALL, I received cards from three of my four children. Friends surprised me by stopping by with little gifts.

And my two oldest children mentioned me on their blogs:

Oldest son DC put a picture of Avery up and oldest daughter AE posted a recipe for applesauce muffins.

  And I realized that I am the age my mother was when my second child (AE) was born in 1982. I like to picture her at the same age, though I realize at the time I thought she was older than I feel now. My perspective has definitely changed.

And for the rest of you, this is notice that it is two months until Christmas. Growing up, I always knew that on my birthday, Christmas was two months away.

Sorry: I'm too busy reading!

I've gotten hooked again on re-reading Patricia Cornwell mysteries. I keep checking them out of the library. This all started because I read her newest book in the spring, as recommended by my friend Paige. I couldn't remember all the past history of Kay Scarpetta, so I'll have to read the last book over when I get to it sequentially.

Besides that, I am still reading Living Buddha, Living Christ for the Wisdom Class and a book about Jung's letters about the God image entitled The New God Image: a Study of Jung's Letters on the Evolution of  the Western God Image, which luckily I purchased as a used book as it is an expensive one outright.

So my blogging is suffering with all this reading. I'm sorry I am not participating more in the blogging world currently. (And I found the image on my pinterest category "About Books.")

God and Politics

Thanks to Crystal on the RevGals FB site for this idea of God enduring our election process!

Happy Fall!

Fall in south Texas: 100 degrees F today! We were told that this is not only a record high temperature for today's date but is also an all-time high temperature for the month of October!

We are waiting for fall weather to arrive. . . . .

Literal reading?

From here.

Friday Five: Late Again!

Today's Friday Five is from Revkjarla at RevGalsBlogPals:

1. Tell us a moment of blessing that you have experienced in the past week.

The blessing that comes immediately to mind is the prayer time I had with my friend Louise yesterday, before the event of the SPIDER! The first time we sat together in silence, our minds raced around for much of the 20 minutes. But the second time, we both sunk into a blessed depth of silence.


This reminds me that meditation with others helps us to go deeper (or maybe not) into the silence of God.

2. Share the first thing/story that comes to mind when you read "When I was a child..."

When I was a child, I always wished I could have brothers and/or sisters--even one of them! I remember I'd ask my parents about this until in 5th grade, my mother told me while we were in the car together that she could not have more children, because they were born too early. After my birth, which was 1 1/2 months premature, four babies died in utero at 4-5 months gestation. I suppose in this day and age, at least one of them might have survived, but not in the 1950's.

3, 4, and 5. If you were the host of a t.v. talk show, what three people would you like to interview on your first show, and what would you ask them.

I would like to interview:

3. Dalai Lama--I liked Revkjarla's answer about him: ask him to share his heart wisdom. I have read that one can sit in a big auditorium and feel the Dalai Lama's PRESENCE even in the back of the room. I would like to meditate with him.

4. Eben Alexander, M.D.--I recently read an article about his new book Proof of Heaven and his experience of being in a coma for seven days when "the neurons of my cortex were stunned to complete inactivity by the bacteria that had attacked them....." First, I want to read his book and then ask him about his memories of this experience of another dimension of consciousness. The book will be published (or released?) on October 23, 2012. I'm sure more questions would arise.

5. Cynthia Bourgeault--I've loved her books. I heard her speak briefly about chanting at a Richard Rohr conference. I would like to ask her more about her experiences after Brother Rafe's death of his presence and what that means to her and to us.

A Day of Spiders, Visiting and Prayer

When we first moved to Texas in 1978, we met a man at a light store who had a huge lump on his arm from a black widow spider's bite. I have continued to hear about poisonous spiders living here in TX, but I have never had a friend or family member bitten by one. I have been frightened of the thought of spider bites.

A spider that looked a lot like the one on the left was on the driver's window and side-mirror on my drive all the way back from Sandia to Corpus Christi this afternoon. That trip takes about an hour.

I worried most of the time that the spider would not be off the car unless I did something. So I finally stopped in Corpus Christi and pushed it aside, only having it scurry to the bottom of the car.

Being too scared of the spider, imagining such fatal things as one of our dogs being bitten--by a presumably poisonous spider (Nothing like extreme reactions on my part!), I drove over to our local HEB supermarket that has both gas pumps and a car wash. I decided that a car wash should knock the spider off the vehicle, which I am still hoping for.

I only noticed that the spider was black with white spots, so googling that description brought the picture above--of a "bold jumping spider." According to Wikipedia, the jumping spider has distinctive green eyes. I didn't notice that, as I mainly watched its bottom on the window. So perhaps the spider was a jumping spider, which is not poisonous, but whose bite might cause allergic reactions.

So that was a dramatic end to a day of visiting my friend Louise who lives on a ranch in Sandia. Driving there, I drove through various thunderstorms, but it was sunny on my return--just "clouded" with the spider!

We had a good day of visiting, along with two periods of silence for contemplative prayer. Neither of us has been practicing meditation twice a day, so this was a nudge in the right direction. The second prayer time is reinforced in our minds and hearts, because both of us were more deeply in prayer than the first time today.

What's Wrong with This World

"There is an idea that has taken root in this world, that is at the root of everything that is wrong with this world, and that idea is that some lives matter more than others. At Homeboy Industries, the most important thing that we do is to say: you matter, you count, you are worth something." -- Fr. Greg Boyle

This was on Facebook yesterday. I liked the quote so much that I wanted it on my blog along with this picture of Father Gregory Boyle affirming this young man. I admire him and his organization of Homeboy Industries very much.

If you have not read Father G's book Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, you should! Anne Lamott says about this book:

"An astonishing book . . . about suffering and dignity, death and resurrection, one of my favorite books in years. It is lovely and tough and tender beyond my ability to describe and left me in tears of both sorrow and laughter."

She aptly describes how I feel about this book.

By e.e.cummings

I have always loved poems by e.e.cummings. I keep being surprised by his faith.

i am a little church(no great cathedral)
far from the splendor and squalor of hurrying cities
-i do not worry if briefer days grow briefest,
i am not sorry when sun and rain make april

my life is the life of the reaper and the sower;
my prayers are prayers of earth's own clumsily striving
(finding and losing and laughing and crying)children
whose any sadness or joy is my grief or my gladness

around me surges a miracle of unceasing
birth and glory and death and resurrection:
over my sleeping self float flaming symbols
of hope,and i wake to a perfect patience of mountains

i am a little church(far from the frantic
world with its rapture and anguish)at peace with nature
-i do not worry if longer nights grow longest;
i am not sorry when silence becomes singing

winter by spring,i lift my diminutive spire to
merciful Him Whose only now is forever:
standing erect in the deathless truth of His presence
(welcoming humbly His light and proudly His darkness)

~ e.e.cummings ~

(Complete Poems 1904-1962)

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Avery!

Friday Five: No Time!

Today's Friday Five for RevGalBlogPals is about art. I can't whip that out before leaving town, as I never think of myself as creative or artsy. Though I DO like art! Thanks to Rev. Pat Raube for bringing this Friday Five!

The only "creative" thing I do is blog (sometimes). Many "used to's" like baking and writing letters could be classified as "creative," but those are not done too much these days. Not artsy, but towards the creative side--I've started taking piano lessons!

What's taking up time right now is getting ready to leave town (for only the weekend) to visit Avery and her parents in Austin! Yay! What is holding up our departure is my almost-forgotten-haircut appointment at 12:15. So before driving to that, there are preparations to be made. We are lucky that a friend is coming over to stay with our pets.

So to lighten the mood, here is a cute cartoon I found on Pinterest (which is under my favorite label "About Books"):

Avery at School

Avery shouting "Hooray!" during her school's parents' night, with her mommy and daddy nearby.

50 State Salute to Banned Books

With thanks to Banned Books Challenge Blog.

Bill Moyers on Banned Books

Bill Moyers talks for about three minutes about banned books on his website, but I didn't know how to embed the video here. Instead, I copied the printed transcript below.

Bill Moyers on banned books:

"When I was growing up in East Texas we didn’t have any money for books. My reading room was the small local library run by an organization of business professional women. To this moment, I can remember checking out my first two volumes -- one was Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days; the other was a primer on Greek and Roman mythology (don’t ask me why.)

"Years later, when I walked into the much larger library at the state college as a freshman, I was practically overwhelmed. I looked down row after row of books and periodicals and thought: “Wow! All this for me?!” Some of the best hours of my life were spent in that library. I even considered majoring in library science, so that I could be near those books.

"Which is one reason it pains me today that even in this modern day and age, some folks in communities across America are saying: “No. That Book ISN’T For You” and for reasons that have nothing to do with the community, the school, or the reader -- and everything to do with prejudice.

"The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom reports 326 attempts last year to remove or restrict books from school curricula and libraries. Add those to thousands of formal complaints filed with a library or school in the last two decades -- complaints about a book’s content or appropriateness. Can you believe some people don’t want other people to read Brave New World, The Color Purple, To Kill A Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye, Of Mice and Men, The Kite Runner, A Wrinkle in Time, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, A Light in the Attic, the Harry Potter series, and – ironic if not surprising – Fahrenheit 451.

"Think of it: some of the most inspiring and mind-opening words ever written, threatened with removal because they offended a self-deputized vigilante over who wants to deny an entire community’s curiosity and passion to learn.

"Censorship is the enemy of truth -- even more than a lie. A lie can be exposed; censorship can prevent us knowing the difference. This is one reason that on my public television broadcast, Moyers & Company, we call out the censors every time we can. And it’s why we’re so grateful to the ALA – as well as the librarians, writers, booksellers, publishers, and neighbors who stand with the Association in observing the 30th anniversary of Banned Books Week, taking place this year from September 30 – October 6.
Banned Books Week reminds us of the foundation of our freedom -- the First Amendment -- and the freedom of all of us – including our kids – to read and think and nurture the life of the mind.

"You can learn more about banned books and banned books week at BillMoyers.com, ALA-DOT-ORG-SLASH-B-BOOKS, bannedbooksweek.org, or your local bookstore or library. Let’s tell the censors -- nothing doing."

 

(Thanks to Bonnie for sending me the embedding link.)

Banned Books Week: Censorship

Banned Books Week is all about censorship. George Bernard Shaw gives us hope that it will be reduced to "absurdity," but the years that the same books remain on banned book lists belies that.

Go here for the most frequently challenged books per decade.

To start off Banned Books Week, our local Half Price Books sponsored a Read-Out with the local ACLA chapter this past Saturday. There were perennial favorites, like Lolita, read. However I read from Shel Silverstein's A Light in the Attic. The poems are funny and sarcastic and fun to read--and people laughed! Here's one with an illustration: